I have, in these prefatory remarks, extracted a few particulars from the
short chapter on Morocco, contained in my work on the "French in
Africa," and in advocating a crusade against the Mahometan races, I
believe I am recording the sentiments of millions of Europeans.
It now only remains for me to give expression to that universal feeling
of regret which prevails among my countrymen at the untimely fate of
poor Richardson, and to offer my congratulations that he has bequeathed
to us so pleasing an addition to his former works as the following
narrative of his "Travels in Morocco."
L. TRENT CAVE, F.R.G.S.
Author of "The French in Africa."
Army and Navy Club,
November, 1859.
PREFACE.
The present unsettled state of affairs in Morocco, in consequence of the
War in which she is now engaged with her more powerful and ancient
enemy - Spain, must, I conceive, render any information regarding a
region so little known peculiarly acceptable at the present moment.
In Morocco, my late husband laboured to advance the same objects which
had previously taken him to Central Africa, viz., the amelioration of
the condition of the strange and remarkable races of men who inhabit
that part of the world. He aimed at the introduction of a legitimate
commerce with a view, in the first instance, to destroy the horrible and
revolting trade in slaves, and thus pave the way for the diffusion of
Christianity among a benighted people. While travelling, with these high
purposes in contemplation, he neglected no opportunity of studying the
geography of the country, and of obtaining an insight into the manners,
customs, prejudices, and sentiments of its inhabitants, as well as any
other useful information in relation to it.
I accompanied him on his travels in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, in
which last city he left me, it not being considered advisable that I
should proceed with him into the interior of the country. We were not
destined to meet again in this world. My beloved husband died at Bornou,
in Central Africa, whither he was sent by Her Majesty's Government to
enter into treaties with the chiefs of the surrounding districts.
Of the many difficulties and dangers which the traveller is likely to
encounter in penetrating into the interior of so inhospitable a region,
the reader may form some idea by a perusal of the the following extracts
from my husband's writings.
"I am very much of opinion that in African travel we should take
especial care not to attempt too much at once; that we should proceed
very slowly, feeling our way, securing ourselves against surprise, and
reducing and confining our explorations to the record of matters of fact
as far as possible, or consistently with a due illustration of the
narrative. But, whether we attempt great tours, or short journeyings, we
shall soon find, by our own sad experience, that African travel can only
be successfully prosecuted piecemeal, bit by bit, here a little and
there a little, now an island, now a line of coast, now an inland
province, now a patch of desert, and slow and painful in all their
results, whilst few explorers will ever be able to undertake more than
two, at most three, inland journeys.
"Failures, disasters, and misadventure may attend our efforts of
discovery; the intrepid explorers may perish, as they have so frequently
done, or be scalped by the Indian savage in the American wilderness, or
stabbed by the treacherous Bedouin of Asiatic deserts, or be stretched
stiff in the icy dreary Polar circles, or, succumbing to the burning
clime of Africa, leave their bones to bleach upon its arid sandy wastes;
yet these victims of enterprise will add more to a nation's glory than
its hoarded heaps of gold, or the great gains of its commerce, or even
the valour of its arms.
"Nevertheless, geographical discovery is not barren ardour, or wasted
enthusiasm; it produces substantial fruits. The fair port of London,
with its two parallel forests of masts, bears witness to the rich and
untold treasures which result from the traffic of our merchant-fleets
with the isles and continents discovered by the genius and enterprise of
the maritime or inland explorer. And, finally, we have always in view
the complete regeneration of the world, by our laws, our learning, and
our religion. If every valley is to be raised, and every mountain laid
low, by the spade and axe of industry, guided by science, the valley or
the mountain must first be discovered.
"If men are to be civilized, they must first be found; and if other, or
the remaining tribes of the inhabitable earth are to acknowledge the
true God, and accept His favour as known to us, they also, with
ourselves, must have an opportunity of hearing His name pronounced, and
His will declared."
My husband would, indeed, have rejoiced had he lived to witness the
active steps now taken by Oxford and Cambridge for sending out
Missionaries to Central Africa, to spread the light of the Gospel.
Among his unpublished letters, I find one addressed to the Christian
Churches, entitled "Project for the establishment of a Christian Mission
at Bornou," dated October, 1849. He writes: "The Christian Churches have
left Central Africa now these twelve centuries in the hands of the
Mohammedans, who, in different countries, have successfully propagated
the false doctrines of the impostor of Mecca. If the Christian Churches
wish to vindicate the honour of their religion - to diffuse its
beneficent and heavenly doctrines - and to remove from themselves the
severe censure of having abandoned Central Africa to the false prophet,
I believe there is now an opening, _via_ Bornou, to attempt the
establishment of their faith in the heart of Africa."
He ends his paper by quoting the words of Ignatius Pallme, a Bohemian,
the writer of travels in Kordofan, who says "It is high time for the
Missionary Societies in Europe to direct their attention to this part of
Africa (that is, Kordofan). If they delay much longer, it will be too
late; for, when the negroes have once adopted the Koran, no power on
earth can induce them to change their opinions.
