Phillips Observed,
"I Am Obliged To Eat Meat According To The Law, Or I Should Have No
Peace Of My Life."
A good many people were affected by colds, but the climate of Mogador is
reckoned very good.
All the year round there is not much variation; N.W.
and N.E. winds bring cold in winter, and cool refreshing breezes in
summer. There was not a single medical man in Mogador, although there
were some fifty Europeans, including Jews. Some years ago a clever young
man was practising here. For one year, each European paid his share of
salary; but alas! those whom God blessed with good health, refused to
pay their quota to the support of a physician for their sickly
neighbours, consequently, every European's life was in the greatest
danger, should a serious accident occur to them. With regard to money,
they would prefer a broken leg all their life time to paying five pounds
to have it set. The consuls of Tangier subscribe for a resident
physician.
[Illustration.]
One afternoon, I went to see the Moorish cavalry "playing at powder,"
(Lab Elbaroud) being a stirring and novel scene. A troop of these
haughty cavaliers assembled with their chiefs almost daily on the playa,
or parade. Then they divided themselves into parties of twenty or
thirty; proceeding with their manoeuvres, the cavaliers at first advance
slowly in a single line, then canter, and then gallop, spurring on the
horse to its last gasp, meantime standing up erect on their
shovel-stirrups, and turning from one side to the other; looking round
with an air of defiance, they fire off their matchlocks, throw
themselves into various dexterous attitudes, sometimes letting fall the
bridle. The pieces being discharged, the horses instantaneously stop.
The most difficult lesson a barb learns, is to halt suddenly in mid
career of a full gallop. To discharge his matchlock, standing on the
stirrups while the horse is in full gallop, is the great lesson of
perfection of the Maroquine soldiery. The cavaliers now wheel out of the
way for the next file, returning reloading, and taking their places to
gallop off and fire again. Crowds of people attend these equestrian
exhibitions, of which they are passionately fond. They squat round the
parade in double or treble rows, muffled up within their bournouses, in
mute admiration. Occasionally women are present, but females here join
in very few out-door amusements. When a whole troop of cavaliers are
thus manoeuvering, galloping at the utmost stretch of the horses'
muscles, the men screaming and hallowing "hah! hah! hah!" the dust and
sand rising in clouds before the foaming fiery barb, with the deafening
noise and confusion of a simultaneous discharge of firelocks, the
picture represents in vivid colours what might be conceived of the wild
Nubian cavalry of ancient Africa. [16] Today there was a mishap; several
cavaliers did not keep up the line. The chief leading the troops, cried
out in a rage, and with the voice of a senator, "Fools! madmen! are you
children, or are ye men?" Christians or Jews standing too near, are
frequently pushed back with violence; and we were told "not to stand in
the way of Mussulmen."
These cavaliers are sometimes called _spahis_; they are composed of
Moors, Arabs, Berbers, and all the native races in Morocco. They are
usually plainly dressed, but, beneath the bournouse, many of them wear
the Moorish dress, embroidered in the richest style. Some of the horses
are magnificently caparisoned in superb harness, worked in silk and
gold. Fine harness is one of the luxuries of North Africa, and is still
much used, even in Tunis and Tripoli, where the new system of European
military dress and tactics has been introduced. The horse is the sacred
animal of Morocco, as well as the safeguard of the empire. The Sultan
has no other military defence, except the natural difficulties of the
country, or the hatred of his people to strangers. He does not permit
the exportation of horses, nor of barley, on which they are often fed.
[17]
But the defeat of the Emperor's eldest son, Sidi Mahomed, at the Battle
of Isly, who commanded upwards of forty thousand of these cavaliers, has
thrown a shade over the ancient celebrity of this Moorish corps, and
these proud horsemen have since become discouraged. On that fatal day,
however, none of the black bodyguard of the Emperor was brought into
action. These muster some thirty thousand strong. This corps, or the
Abeed-Sidi-Bokhari, [18] are soldiers who possess the most cool and
undaunted courage; retreat with them is never thought of. Unlike the
Janissaries of old, their sole ambition is to _obey_, and not to _rule_
their sovereign. This fidelity to the Shereefs remains unshaken through
all the shocks of the empire, and to the person of the Emperor they are
completely devoted. In a country like Morocco, of widely distinct races
and hostile tribes, all naturally detesting each other, the Emperor
finds in them his only safety. I cannot withhold the remark, that this
body-guard places before us the character of the negro in a very
favourable light. He is at once brave and faithful, the two essential
ingredients in the formation and development of heroic natures.
It will, I trust, not be deemed out of place to consider for a moment
the warlike propensities and qualities of the negro. Every European who
has penetrated Africa, confesses to the bellicose disposition of the
negro, having seen him engaged with others in perpetual conflict. The
choice and retention of a body-guard of Blacks by the Moorish Emperor,
also triumphantly prove the martial nature of the negro race. But the
negro has signally displayed the military qualities of coolness and
courage in many instances, two or three of which I shall here take the
liberty of mentioning, in connexion with the affairs of Algeria.
Mr. Lord relates, on the authority of the French, that, when the
invading army invested Fort de l'Empereur, and had silenced all its
guns, the Dey ordered the Turkish General to retreat to the Kasbah, and
leave three negroes to blow up the fort.
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