Travels in Morocco, Vol. 1. | Page 3

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Among his unpublished letters, I find one addressed to the Christian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, _viâ_ 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. I have heard, through several
authentic sources, that there are few provinces in the interior of Africa
where Mohammedanism has not already begun to gain a footing."
It would be a great solace to me should this work be received
favourably, and be deemed to reflect honour on the memory of my
lamented husband; and, in the hope that such may be the case, I venture
to commit it into the hands of an indulgent public.
J.E. RICHARDSON.
London, November 15, 1859.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE

CHAPTER I
.
Policy of the Court of Morocco.--Its strength.--Diploplomatic
Intercourse with England.--Distrust of Europeans.--Commercial
Relations.

CHAPTER II
.
Arrival at Tangier.--Moorish Pilgrims in Cordova.--Address of the
Anti-Slavery Society.--Mr. D. Hay, British Consul.--Institut
d'Afrique.--Conveyance of Eunuchs in vessels under the French
Flag.--Franco-Moorish Politics.--Corn Monopolies in Morocco.--Love
and veneration for the English name--Celebration of the Ayd-Kebir, or
great festival.--Value of Money in Morocco.--Juvenile Strolling
Singer.--General account of the city of Tangier.--Intercourse between
the Moorish Emperor and the Foreign Consuls.--Cockney

sportsmen.--The degrading of high Moorish Functionaries.--How we
smuggle Cattle from Tangier to Gibraltar.--The Blood-letting of
plethoric Placemen.

CHAPTER III
.
The Posada.--Ingles and Benoliel.--Amulets for successful
parturition.--Visits of a Moorish Taleb and a Berber.--Three Sundays
during a