THE Present State OF THE EMPIRE OF MOROCCO With a Faithful Account Of the Manners Religion and Government of that PEOPLE By Monsieur de St. OLON Ambassador there in the Year 1693. Adorn'd with FIGURES LONDON Printed for R. Bently at the Post-Office in Russel-street in Covent-Garden W. Freeman at the Bible against the Middle-Temple in Fleet-street and S. Manship at the Ship in Cornhill 1695. The Audience given by the Emperour of Morocco to the French Ambassador Printed for R. Bentley W. Freeman and S. Manship TO THE Right Honourable Sir William Trumball One of the Lords Commissioners OF HIS Majesty's Treasury SIR THo' I have long been Ambitious of giving some publick Instance of the Veneration I have for You I would not have presum'd to have done it now had not the Book of which what follows is a Translation been written by an Embassador and dedicated to a King The Character which you have so honourably maintain'd not only at the Court of that Prince but with an Emperor greater than that of Morocco entitles You to the Protection of more finish'd Works than this the Author of which tho' a Person of great Skill in Business perhaps not unjustly thinks himself not altogether vers'd in the nice way of Writing Yet his Book contains so many pleasant and useful Remarks and may discover so many Mysteries to the piercing Eyes of a sound Politician that You are Master of too much Goodness not to allow it a Place on that Score among that admirable Collection which You possess no less in Your Mind than in Your Library Fear not SIR I should like many Dedicators attempt a Panegyrick instead of an Epistle I know You are so far from being the least indulgent to such a Practice that You more carefully avoid Addresses of this Nature than some who deserve them less industriously encourage them For still Your Modesty seeks as much to keep Your other Vertues veil'd as most of us Writers do to discover them and it has brib'd some of them into a Concealment of Your real Merit in a more liberal Manner than the Vanity of many has recompens'd a Publication of their imaginary Worth I dare not then pretend to mention those Qualifications that endear You to Your Country nor am I so partial to my self as to desire You to protect the Original or the Translation of this Book from the Censures of the Reader to whom I freely abandon it My whole Design is merely the Acknowledgment of Favors receiv'd tho' at the same time You cannot pardon this without conferring a new one since I know You would have bestow'd on me fresh Marks of Your Generosity had I consented to spare You the Blush which the sight of this will raise But SIR even those who are not able to return Obligations if of a grateful Principle do not love to be too much indebted and 't is some Ease at least to Acknowledge when we cannot Requite I only beg then to let all those who will read this know That I have the deepest Sense imaginable of Your obliging Goodness that singular Humanity or rather Charity which as it extends to many of our unhappy Refugiés has made me a sharer in the Effects of Your Bounty doubtless much more than the most tolerable of my Attempts as a Writer You pitied a Man who having the real Love of a Loyal English Subject for the Great Prince under whom we live endeavours to appear as much an Englishman as he can even in his Writings since he is driven on the barren Coast of Parnassus that idle Business Poetry for want of better May Heaven still preserve You for the Good of Mankind and more particularly of Your Country to whom You so wholly devote Your Self and may You believe me with the greatest Zeal and Respect SIR Your most humble and Most obedient Servant PETER MOTTEUX THE AUTHOR's Epistle Dedicatory TO THE KING SIR I Doubt not but that Your Majesty has from Time to Time been faithfully inform'd of what relates to the State Forces Customs and Religion of the Moors and indeed what I have seen in Print on that Subject generally agrees with what I have observ'd while I was in the Emperor of Morocco's Dominions Yet Sir Your Majesty's Orders and what I was enjoyn'd in my Instructions having oblig'd me to make there some newer and less common Observations I hope Your Majesty will not dislike that without affecting to swell the Memoirs which I now have the Honour to lay before you with superfluous Repetitions of what some Authors have said I only should give as a kind of Supplement such Observations as seem to have been omitted by them either in what concerns the Nature and Particulars of the Trade of that Empire the Character Manners and Genius of those who have the greatest share in the Government of it or as to what the Conquests of the Prince who Rules there at this time may have contributed to the Enlarging of his Dominions the encreasing of his Forces and the heightning of that Vanity that does not reign less in him than the other Qualifications by which he is so particular When Your Majesty did me the Honour to make choice of me to go in Your Name to conclude with that Emperor the Treaty of Peace of which for some Years he had shew'd himself so desirous that he even seem'd to have remov'd before hand all the Difficulties that might obstruct it in the Letter which he had written about it and sent to Your Majesty by the Consul of Sally You were already convinc'd by frequent Trials how little his Proposals and Promises are to be rely'd upon Accordingly one of the most essential and most inforc'd Articles in my Instructions was That I should take care not to be deceiv'd by them and therefore 't is what I chiefly apply'd my self to prevent by all the Means and Expedients that seem'd to me most proper to conciliate the Artifice of his Council and Ministers with the fervency and fidelity of my Zeal for Your Majesty's Service and Glory Even what I said to that Prince at my first Audience which I insert at the end of this short Treatise may also convince Your Majesty that I have not been sparing of such Encomiums and Insinuations as I judg'd most capable of flattering his Ambition and of inclining him to concurr with Your Majesty's Pious and Solid Designs for the Freedom of Your Captive Subjects and for the security of Your Merchants If the Memoirs or Journal which I sent to You of my Negotiation in that Prince's Country and at his Court have been read to Your Majesty You have not only seen that You had entertain'd very just Thoughts on that Subject but that far from my being able to remove that Punic Faith so general here at this time or root out its Scions grown stronger than their ancient Stock it has not been in my Power with all my Care and Endeavours to shake them in the least
Imprisonment so they only play at Chess Draughts and a kind of Tictack quite different from others neither do they make any great use of all these and I did not perceive by those I frequented that they are much given to Gaming They are not much more addicted to Reading and it may very justly be said That Sleeping Eating Drinking Women Horses and Prayers share and almost wholly engross their time the remainder of which is generally linger'd out in a tedious and unuseful Sloth and accordingly they are often seen sitting on their Heels along the Walls with long Strings of Beads which tumble through their Fingers with a nimbleness equal to the shortness of the Prayers they say at the dropping of each Bead for that Prayer barely consists in mentioning one of the different Attributes of God as in saying on one Bead God is Great on another God is Good on a third God is Infinite on a fourth God is Merciful c. I ought not to forget the particular Veneration they have for those who have been in Pilgrimage to Mecca they call them Hadgys or Saints and are so Supersitious on their account that they also esteem their Horses to be holy as their Masters They wrap the Animals in Shrowds and bury them when they die as they would their greatest Friends and Relations thinking it a Pleasure and Duty to visit them often and see them feed The King of Morocco had one of these Horses The first time I was admitted into his Presence it was led in State just before him and besides the particular Distinction which appear'd by the richness of his Saddle and Harness his Tail was held up by a Christian Slave who carried a Pot and a Cloth to receive his Excrements and wipe him I was told that the King from time to time went to kiss that Horse's Tail and Feet All the Horses who are thus sanctified are usually freed from all manner of Service and if the Masters cannot afford to keep 'em some Pensions are settled on them for their Subsistance out of the neighbouring Mosques They are distinguish'd by the Beads or Relicks about their Necks the latter of which are nothing but some Writings wrapt up in Silks or Cloth of Gold containing the Names of their Prophet and some pretended Saints of their Law They also are as so many Sanctuaries for Criminals like the Towns and Chappels of the Saints already mention'd These Places which are to be seen in many Parts of the Country are according to their bigness the dwelling of one or more Morabots or Talbs the Priests of the Moors who may marry and are very much esteem'd there chiefly by the Arabs they are maintain'd according to the Ability or Devotion of the Founders and lead a lazy and luxurious Life at the Expence of those deluded Creatures who esteem themselves happy in being able to bestow large Donations on them while they live or bequeath to them when they die Methinks these Places and their Foundations may justly enough be compar'd to our Abbeys Priories and Chappels Bur resuming the Idea of the King of Morocco's Picture which I had begun I shall observe that he is between forty nine and fifty Years of Age of a tawny Complexion and lean his Hair is black but begins to turn grey he 's of a middle size his Face oval his Cheeks hollow as well as his Eyes which are black and sparkling his Nose is little and hook'd his Chin sharp his Lips thick and his Mouth pretty well proportion'd He 's extream Covetous and Cruel Interest and an excessive love of Money can almost make him do any thing and he 's so much delighted in spilling Blood with his own Hands that 't is generally believ'd he must have put above Twenty thousand Persons to death himself during the twenty Years that he has fill'd the Throne I am the rather inclin'd to believe or confirm this having my self reckon'd up no less than Forty seven whom he killed during my one and twenty Days stay at his Court And besides he was not asham'd to appear before me at the last Audience he gave me by the Gate of his Stables himself being on Horse-back with his Cloths and Right-Arm all imbru'd with the Blood of two of his Chief Blacks whom he had just butcher'd with a Knife Every Nation is amaz'd to find his Subjects so submissive and Patient under so excessive and cruel a Tyranny but they must know that not to speak of the general and particular want of Power to oppose it they so fondly believe that dying thus by the Hands of a King who is a Xerif and descended from their Prophet they immediately go to Heaven that the greatest part among them esteem that a Happiness which a smaller and more judicious Number abominate but cannot hinder and indeed the latter keep at a distance from him as much as they can and think themselves as happy in not seeing him as the mad Herd in being kill'd by him Notwithstanding this 't is said this Prince is of a pretty good Temper when his Passion is over but he 's subject to violent Capricio's that are the more dangerous for being always cover'd with the Cloak of Religion of which he affects to appear an exact Observer and he is so firmly persuaded that his Subjects think him such that for that reason and being full of that prevention he assumes a License of doing whatever he pleases He only studies to be fear'd by his Subjects and cares very little whether they love him or no and therefore they generally tremble when they come near him and tho' they approach him out of Duty never do it out of Good-will the rather because none ought to come into his Presence but by his Order or Permission and not without Presents He has a great deal of Wit and Courage is Active Indefatigable and very Dexterous at all Martial Sports as Running with the Lance and Horse-Exercises in which Pastimes I must observe by the way that all the Moors are wonderfully expert and in this do not seem to have in the least degenerated from what History so much celebrates the ancient People of Granada for in their Turnaments He drinks no Wine because his Religion forbids it but when he takes Opium or drinks a certain Hypocras that he makes himself with Brandy Cloves Anniseed Cinnamon and Nutmegs which happens pretty often woe to him that comes in his way when the Fumes are got up into his Head 'T is also not very safe to meet him when he 's cloath'd in a yellow Habit for it has been long observ'd that this Colour is a dangerous Omen when he wears it and almost generally fatal to some of those who come near him at that time He had a Vest on of that Colour when he gave me the Audience of Leave all bloody as I have observ'd He 's very much given to Women and has near Four hundred in his Alcassave for his own use besides
cite him before it but at the same time it must be acknowledg'd that a fatal Revenge which surely wou'd follow sufficiently restrains 'em from it therefore generally that Jurisdiction does not affect him unless when he consults it or it thinks fit to make him some Remonstrances necessary to his Service and the Good of his Empire This Mufty is the proper and supreme Judge of Adulterers whom commonly he sentences to death he is so Absolute in what concerns all particular Differences that come before him that his Sentence admits of no Appeal nor Delay A Bastonado is always the Primum Mobile that hurries on the execution of his Decree and woe to him that summons a richer Man than himself to appear at his Tribunal or who is cited thither by such a one for the Cadies who are in the nature of Sub-Delegates to the Mufty in all the Towns and Villages always sell their Suffrages to them who give most and false Witnesses who are never punish'd there are so numerous and so cheap in that Country that no Man dares trust there to his own Innocency nor to the Justice of his Cause The Alcaydes substitute one Cady in every Town or Village within their Government but all under the Authority of the Grand Mufty and place there besides two other Officers who are fix'd as the former but such as they may depose at Pleasure in which these differ from the Cadies over whom the Alcaydes have not the same Authority The first of these Officers is the Calif or Deputy-Governour who takes care of all that relates to the Particulars and Authority of the Government and takes cognizance of all the Faults and Complaints of the Moors and of the Jews determining their Differences which ever redounds to the profit of the Alcayde because the guilty or wrangling Parties are always either punish'd or redress'd by the expence of their own Money The Calif is accountable for this Fine to his Governour but neither of 'em have power to condemn any one to death at least without an Order from the King This Officer likewise assesses the People within the extent of his Province fixing the ordinary and extraordinary Taxes or Garams which are never levied or got in but by some Black whom the King sends on the places for that purpose The other Officer is the Amokadem a sort of Judge whose business 't is to set a Tax and Price upon Victuals and Fuel which are all sold by weight and to see that due Order be kept in these Matters The Duties and Fees which he claims and receives for every one of these Wares wou'd make this Post very gainful if he alone were to receive the benefit of it but if the yearly Presents he is oblig'd to make to his Alcayde and sometimes to the King Himself do not sweep away all his profit at least they diminish the the greatest part of it Thus much may be observ'd of the Government of this Great Kingdom whose strength by Sea and Land and Commerce now remains to be examin'd that we may perfectly know the State of it I have already made it appear that its strength at Sea is inconsiderable what may be said of its Land-Forces is that they might be Formidable if this Prince knew how to discipline his Subjects and had a sufficient quantity of good Arms for them but you may judge of them by their real wants in these two Points as well as by the King 's not keeping any Forces in constant Pay Whenever some Expedition is intended he commands his Alcaydes to raise him the number of Men he designs shall serve in it upon which it is agreed amongst them what each ought to furnish proportionably to the extent of his Government where the Division is made according to the Rolls of those that pay Taxes Then they impress and force such marry'd Men to March as do not voluntarily List themselves into the Service or at least they are oblig'd to send others in their room Two Brothers may be taken out of three but they must be Marry'd for the younger and unsettl'd can't be compell'd to go These Men so rais'd be they Officers Foot or Horse-men are oblig'd to Mount Arm Equip and Maintain themselves at their own cost during all the Campaign and as for the most part they have neither Fire Arms nor Powder they march only with Swords Lances or Staves However in every Town or Village a certain number proportionable to the largeness of the Place is continually to be in Arms and ready to March at the first Command Those only who are design'd for Horse men have Horses given 'em which they must keep and all of this number be they either Foot-Soldiers or Horse-men are free from all Taxes Thus they may be said to be kept not at the King's Charge but at that of the Place to which they belong When they are ready to give Battle they range their Armies after this manner They divide their Horse into two Bodies and place one on each Wing The Foot is in the middle so that the whole is in the form of a Crescent They put but two Ranks of Soldiers when they fight on a Plain but when they fight between the Mountains where they can't spread themselves they put more Before the Ingagement begins they make a great Shout which is follow'd with some short Prayers to beg of God to give 'em the Victory Such of the Horse as always keep near the King's Person are all Blacks and wear Fusils and Scimeters with Pistols at their Girdles Those that are more distant have partly Lances and partly Musquets as for the Foot one part is Arm'd with Fusils and t'other with Cross-bows Slings Clubs Half-Pikes long Darts and Cutlasses When they are at War among themselves they go but unwillingly into the Field but when with Christians then every one is eager and proud to go that they may gain Indulgencies for the expiation of their Sins and then their Armies are very numerous All the Arabs and Barbarians by whose Dwellings the Army passes are oblig'd to provide gratis where-ever it encamps Wheat Meal Butter Oil Honey and Cattle for its subsistance and this upon pain of being plunder'd of all that they have and cut in pieces themselves 'T is said that upon any pressing occasion that concerns Religion the King might raise an Army of an Hundred Thousand Men half of which shou'd consist of Horse but not above five and twenty Thousand of 'em at most wou'd be well Arm'd 'T is thought the King has for that purpose ten Thousand Musquets in his Armory which he keeps as likewise his Treasure for that Son whom he designs for his Successor that he may leave him in a capacity of maintaining his Crown against any of his Brothers or others that shou'd dispute it with him for it is certain as I have observ'd before that he who is Master of the Arms and Money soon becomes so of all the Kingdom which
Fifteenth of Zil Hadge in the Year 1104. that is the Eighteenth of August 1693. By the Servant to the Throne who was rais'd by the Grace of God Aly the Son of Abdalla Hamamo whom God protect The LETTER which the Alcayde Aly Ben Abdalla writ to Monsieur de Pontchartrain God grant that this Letter may come to the Hands of the Grand Visier Pontchartrain Chief Minister of State to the greatest Monarch of Christendom The Salutation of Peace be given to him who follows the ways of Truth In the Name of God the Merciful there being no Power nor Strength but from Him who is the most High and the most Mighty WE received your Letter and understood the Contents of what you writ to us You desired us to take care of the Embassador De St. Olon you must know that as soon as he came to us and Landed at the place where we were we gave an Account of it to the King our ever Victorious Master and having ask'd his leave for him he permitted us to let him come to him imagining he was come with a large and full Power from you but when he was arriv'd at the Royal Court and His Majesty had enquir'd of him he found that he had no Power to enter into a Negotiation but concerning the Slaves for which reason he could not have a further Conference with His said Majesty for want of sufficient Power for that purpose Since he came back from Court I writ two or three Letters to our Emperour concerning that Affair and he return'd me this Answer That he had already told me he gave me full Power to make what Agreement I should think fit with the Embassador provided I did find he had full Power to treat of some Affairs of great Moment that would be a means to fulfil whatever can be desir'd of you but not to come to any Terms if he had not such a Power Now the Emperour our ever Victorious Master has writ to yours and fully inform'd him of this Affair We our selves also have had some private Conferences with your Embassador De St. Olon in which we have open'd our mind to him letting him know what we desir'd and fully acquainted him with every thing When he arrives at your Court and shall have given you an Account of these things be pleas'd to write to us to let us know your Thoughts about it and we will return you an Answer to whatever you shall desire continuing to hold a Correspondence by Letters about whatever may redound to the common Good of both Empires And may Salvation be given to him who keeps in the ways of Truth Written the Fifteenth of Zil Hadge in the Year 1104. that is the Eighteenth of August 1693. By the Servant to the Royal Throne Aly the Son of Abdalla Hamamo whom God Protect OTHER OBSERVATIONS To be made A Colonel of Spanish Horse who was a Slave at Mickeness Treated with the King of Morocco about his Freedom which he was to have for a very rich Sword which had been formerly taken from a King of the Moors and which Muley Ismael had a great desire to get out of Spain where 't was kept This Officer did not only cause it to be got and presented to this King not doubting but he might rely on his Word but gave him also with it a valuable Rarity hoping by this means to be the sooner and more genteely Redeem'd At first he thought he had not been mistaken in his Measures for the King of Morocco took the Sword and Present with such Testimonies of Joy and Satisfaction as besides his Freedom that had been promis'd him got him that of his Servant about which they had not agreed he also gave him a Letter by which he gave Orders to the Alcayde Aly Ben Abdalla Governour of Tetuan to let him go out without the least Molestation but a private Order to detain them having been sent away before the Letter the poor Officer soon found himself depriv'd of his Hopes and of the return he had reason to expect for his Present His Complaints and Petitions were as unsuccessful as his Bargain with the King and procur'd him no other Answer from the Alcayde but that the King his Master had forgot when he releas'd him that he had had taken a solemn Oath never to set free any Men of his County but by an exchange of Ten Moors for one Spaniard so that he was not to expect his Freedom but on those Terms In vain he pleaded that he had made an Agreement with the King that he had given him a Sword accordingly with a Present besides and show'd the Letter for his Pasport All these Expostulations were as ineffectual as they were Just so that after many Contestations and Delays this Officer who was also a Man of Quality could not get away 'till he had got Eleven Moors whom he had still the Power to procure out of Spain and of whom he gave Ten for himself and One for his Man nay they reckon'd it a special favour that they let his Servant come off so cheap This is a late and very remarkable Example that shows us how far we may depend on the Words and Promises of this Princes and his Alcaydes Here is another of the same kind A Moor whose Name is Hadge Achmet of the Kingdom of Morocco having been taken and carry'd into France after he had been a Slave Eight and Twenty Years in the Gallies found means to Redeem himself by an Exchange that was to be made of him for one Venelle of Provence who was also a Slave at Mickeness This according to an Agreement with the King of Morocco who gave his Word of it to Venelle which he confirm'd in Writing to Achmet promising that as soon as this Moor should arrive in Barbary the French Man should be immediately sent back into his own Country The Agreement being thus concluded and perform'd on the part of Venelle's Relations Hadgy Achmet is set free gets to Mickeness casts himself at his King's Feet gives him thanks for his Liberty and begs of him That of the French Slave which was to be the Exchange and the Price of it The Prince tells him he is a Dog that he cheated him that he can get Ten Thousand Crowns for Venelle that he does not intend to release him and that for his part since he is free he has no more to ask or to do but to go home about his Business The Moor wondring at this refusal and being mov'd with a sentiment of Honour so-much the more to be esteem'd in him as 't is uncommon amongst those of his Nation complains of this Infidelity tells the King of his Royal Word and Writing and intreats and presses him either to perform it or give him leave to go back to Marseilles The King denies his Writing and refuses to grant Achmet's Request commands him to hold his Tongue and be gone home not without Threats of severe usage and even of