He then continued: - "I am happy to see
you before your departure. Whilst you have been here, I have heard
nothing of your conduct but what was just and proper. You are a quiet
and prudent man, [28] and I am sorry I could not assist you in your
business (abolition). The Sultan will be glad that you and I have not
quarrelled, but are friends." I then asked His Excellency if a person
were to come direct from our Government, with larger powers and
presents, he would have a better chance of success. The Governor
replied, "Not the least whatever. You have done all that could have been
done. We look at the subject, not the persons. The Sultan will never
listen to anybody on this subject. You may cut off his head, but cannot
convince him. If all the Christians of the world were to come and take
this country, then, of course, the Mussulmen would yield the question to
superior force, to the decree of God, but not till then."
Myself. - "How is it, Sidi, that the Bey of Tunis, and the Imaum of
Muscat have entered into engagements with Christians for the suppression
of slavery, they being Mussulmen?"
The Governor. - "I'll tell you; we Mussulmen are as bad as you Christians.
We are full of divisions and sects. Some of our people go to one mosque,
and will not go to another. They are foolish (_mahboul_). So it is with
the subject of slaves. Some are with you, but most are with me. The Bey
of Tunis, and the Imaum have a different opinion from us. They think
they are right, and we think we are right; but we are as good as they."
Myself. - "Sidi, does not the Koran encourage the abolition of slavery,
and command it as a duty to all pious Mussulmen?"
The Governor. - "No, it does not command it, but those who voluntarily
liberate their slaves are therein commended, and have the blessing of
God on them." [29]
Myself. - "Sidi, is it in my power to do anything for you in London?"
The Governor. - "Speak well of me, that is all. Tell your friends I did
all I could for you."
I may mention the opinions of the more respectable Moors, as to the
mission. They said, "If you had managed your mission well, the Sultan
would have received your Address; your Consul is slack; the French
Consul is more active, because he is not the Sultan's merchant. Our
Sultan must receive every person, even a beggar, because God receives
all. You would not have obtained the liberation of our slaves, but the
Sultan would have promised you everything. All that emanates from the
English people is good this we are certain of; but it would have been
better had you come with letters from the Bey of Tunis, shewing what had
been done in that country." Mr. Treppass is also of the opinion, that a
deputation of several persons, accompanied with some presents for the
Emperor and his ministers, would have produced a better effect, by
making an appearance of shew and authority, suitable to the ideas of the
people. [30] If coming direct from Government, it would have greater
weight.
He thinks, besides, there are a good number of Moors who are favourable
to abolition. Of the connexion between the east and Morocco, he says,
all the Barbary States look up to the Sultan of Constantinople as to a
great authority, and during the last few years, an active
correspondence, on religious matters, has been carried on between
Morocco and Constantinople, chiefly through a celebrated doctor of the
name of Yousef. If the Turkish Sultan, therefore, would _bona-fide_
abolish the slave-markets, I have no doubt this would produce an
impression in Morocco favourable to abolition.
During the time I was in Morocco, I distributed some Arabic tracts,
translated from the English by Professor Lee of Cambridge, on the
abolition of slavery. A few Arabic Bibles and Hebrew New Testaments were
also placed at my disposal for circulation by the Societies. I also
wrote an Anti-slavery circular to the British merchants of Mogador, on
Lord Brougham's Act.
CHAPTER VIII.
El-Jereed, the Country of Dates. - Its hard soil. - Salt Lake. Its vast
extent. - Beautiful Palm-trees. - The Dates, a staple article of Food. -
Some Account of the Date-Palm. - Made of Culture. - Delicious Beverage. -
Tapping the Palm. - Meal formed from the Dates. - Baskets made of the
Branches of the Tree. - Poetry of the Palm. - Its Irrigation. -
Palm-Groves. - Collection of Tribute by the "Bey of the Camp."
El-Jereed, or Belad-el-Jereed, the country of dates, or literally, the
country of the palm branches, is a part of the Sahara, or the hot dry
country lying in the immediate vicinity of the Great Desert. Its
principal features of soil and climate offer nothing different from
other portions of the Sahara, or the Saharan regions of Algeria and
Morocco. The Belad-el-Jereed, therefore, may be properly called the
Tunisian Sahara. Shaw observes generally of Jereed: - "This part of the
country, and indeed the whole tract of land which lies between the
Atlantic and Egypt, is by most of the modern geographers, called
Biledulgerid, a name which they seem to have borrowed from
Bloid-el-Jeridde, of the Arabians, who merely signify the dry country;
though, if we except the Jeridde, a small portion of it which is situate
on this side of Lesser Syrtis, and belongs to the Tunisians, all the
rest of it is known by no other general name than the Sahara or Sahra,
among those Arabs, at least, whom I have conversed with."
Besides the grand natural feature of innumerable lofty and branching
palms, whose dark depending slender leaves, are depicted by the Arabian
poet as hanging gracefully like the dishevelled ringlets of a beautiful
woman in distress, there is the vast salt lake, El-Sibhah, or literally
the "salt plain," and called by some modern geographers the
Sibhah-el-Soudeeat, or Lake of Marks, from having certain marks made of
the trunks of the palm, to assist the caravans in their marches across
its monotonous samelike surface.
