Travels through the Empire of Morocco | Page 6

of these intestine broils, Edris, a
descendant of Mahomet, fled into Mauritania, to avoid the persecutions
of the Caliph Abdallah, who, to ensure the succession to his own family,
had caused the kinsmen of Edris to be put to death. Edris first settled in
a mountain, between Fez and Mequinez, called Zaaron, where he soon
gained the confidence of the Moors. He preached the doctrine of
Mahomet, and, by degrees, succeeded in establishing it throughout the
country. These people, fond of novelty, and extremely susceptible of
fanaticism, readily embraced a faith so well suited to their manners and
inclinations. They elected him their chief, and invested him with
supreme power; which he employed in reducing the Arab generals.
From that time, the characters of the Moors and Arabs gradually
blended, so that in after-ages, among the generality of them, scarcely
any distinction can be traced.
As it is foreign to my present purpose to carry you farther into the
ancient history of this country, I shall proceed to give you tho

particulars of my journey to this town. I left Tangiers, escorted by a
guard, consisting of a serjeant and six horsemen, accompanied by an
interpreter, and my few servants. We rode for several hours, alternately
through gardens and woods: the former full of fruit-trees; such as
orange, lemon, fig, pomegranate, apple, pear, and cherry trees. The
scene became every moment more interesting. As we advanced, the
country assumed a variety almost indescribable. The contrast was every
where infinitely striking. At one instant the eye was presented with fine
corn-fields, meadows, and high hills; nay, mountains, cultivated to the
very summits, are covered with immense flocks of sheep, and herds of
cattle; while the vallies conveyed to the imagination an idea of the
fertile plains of Arcadia; the simple manners of the Moors, who tend
these flocks and herds, still further inducing one to believe them the
happy, peaceful people, the poets feign the Arcadian swains to have
been. On the other hand are huge mountains, bleak and barren,
inaccessible to man, and scarcely affording food to the straggling wild
goats that venture to browse on them.
There is a degree of simplicity in the behaviour of the peasants, so
widely different from these who inhabit the towns, that it is impossible
to suppose them the same race of men. From the great affinity between
the manners and customs of these country Moors, and the Scenite
Arabs, the inhabitants of Arabia Deserta, we may naturally infer that
they must have derived those habits from the latter.
They reside in villages composed of tents to the number of forty or fifty,
which they remove at pleasure; when the pasture fails in one valley,
they strike their tents, and seek another, where they remain till the same
necessity impels them to quit that in its turn. This was precisely the
custom of the Arabes Scenitae. The vast plains of sand with which
Arabia Deserta abounds, were occasionally interspersed with fertile
spots, which appeared like little islands. These we're rendered
extremely delightful by fountains, rivulets, palm-trees, and most
excellent fruit. The Arabs, with their flocks, encamped on some of
them, and when they had consumed every thing there, they retired to
others. Their descendants, the present Bedoweens, continue the practice
to this day. The name given to this kind of village is the same as that of
the Arabs just mentioned, which is _Dow-war, or Hbyma_.
The families of the Moorish peasants appear to be very numerous, as I

observed that each tent was quite full. They flocked out as I passed, to
gratify their curiosity in seeing a Massarane (for so they denominate a
Christian). Yet, notwithstanding their antipathy to all Christians, I was
received with the greatest hospitality by these followers of Mahomet.
They seemed to vie with each other in presenting the bowl of
butter-milk, which they consider as a great delicacy, and. indeed, an
offering of peace.
In the centre of a plain, about eight hours journey from Tangiers, we
halted, and refreshed ourselves. After allowing my serjeant and guard
to perform their ablutions, and say their prayers, we proceeded on our
journey, and arrived, very late in the evening, at a village on the banks
of a large river, which, from its situation, I imagine to be the Zelis, or
Zelia, of the ancients, and which, by its annual inundation, fertilizes
and enriches the country to such a degree, that, with very little labour, it
produces abundant crops of all kinds of grain, particularly of wheat and
barley.
A number of rivulets have their source in those mountains, which,
joining others in their course, at length form pretty considerable rivers;
and these, meeting with obstacles from the projecting rocks over which
they pass, produce most beautiful natural cascades, which, precipitating