and a few other small fish swarm in the streams, but for the angler there is little real sport.
Flora.—From the presence of a large proportion of plants of central and northern Europe (none of the northern plants, however, being of alpine or arctic type) and the absence of southern types characteristic of the sub-tropical zone, Ball concluded that “the Morocco flora is altogether a portion of that great Mediterranean flora which, with local peculiarities, one finds from the Indus to the Atlantic Islands,” but that “the mountain flora of Morocco is a southern extension of the European temperate flora, with little or no admixture of extraneous elements, but so long isolated from the neighbouring regions that a considerable number of new specific types have been developed.” Of the individual plants none are more remarkable than the arār and the ārgān. The former (Callitris quadrivalvis, or Thuja articulata of Shaw) is a cypress-like tree that grows on the Atlas both in Morocco and Algeria. It furnishes gum sandarach; and its beautiful and enduring timber has been identified with the alerce with which the Cordova cathedral (mosque) was roofed, and with the citrus-wood, arbor vitae, of the ancient Romans. The ārgān, Elaeodendron argan (Argania sideroxylon) is confined to a tract of country extending about 150 m. along the coast, from the river Tansīft almost to the river Sūs, and about 30 m. in breadth; and it is found nowhere else in the world. The fruit, which ripens between May and August, is an olive-looking nut, greedily eaten by camels, mules, goats, sheep and horned cattle (but not by horses) for the sake of the fleshy pericarp, and crushed by the natives to extract the oil from the kernel. Though “its strong and fulsome savour” renders it nauseous to the European palate, this oil is largely used in the cookery of southern Morocco. The “prickly pear” and the aloe form part of the features of the landscape from the coast up to the slopes of the mountains, but neither is indigenous. The cork tree has lost ground enormously though it probably forms the staple of the Ma‛mora forest, which extends for some 20 m. between the Bū Ragrag and the Sebū. The palmetto is often locally very abundant, but the most common wild tree on the plains is the thorny lotus or mimosa: in the mountainous regions it is reduced to a mere scrub. Lentisks, arbutus, oleanders, junipers and broom are also common, but vast stretches of country are devoid of either trees or shrubs. Citrons, lemons, limes (sweet and sour), apricots, plums, melons, mulberries, walnuts and chestnuts are common in many parts. Tetuan and Laraish are famous for oranges, Mequinez for quinces, Marrākesh for pomegranates, Fez for figs, Tafīlālt and Akka for dates, Sūs for almonds, Dukālla for melons, Tagodast, Edanan and Rabat for grapes, and Tarudant for olives. The grape is extensively cultivated, but principally for eating; the Jews manufacture crude but palatable wines. Sugar, once grown in Sūs, to supply the demands of the whole of Morocco, has disappeared as have also cotton and indigo. Indian hemp and tobacco are cultivated under the restrictions of an imperial monopoly—the former (of prime quality) being largely used as hashish, the latter, though never smoked, as snuff. Barley is the most usual cereal; but excellent crops of wheat, maize, millet, rye, beans, peas, chickpeas and canary seed are also obtained. Potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages and beets have been introduced from abroad; otherwise the ordinary vegetables are peas, beans, turnips, onions, garlic, capsicums, cucumbers, marrows and carrots. Sweet herbs are extensively grown for use in cooking and in the preparation of tea.
In some of the Atlas valleys there is a wealth of timber, enormous conifers, 10 to 12 ft. in girth of stem, oaks, &c., but the greater part of the country has been cleared of forest, exhibiting only brushwood, and the lesser fruit-trees. Cowan, writing more immediately of the country between Morocco and Mogador, speaks of “drifts of asphodel, white lilies, blue convolvuli, white broom flowers, thyme and lavender, borage, marigold, purple thistles, colossal daisies and poppies”; and Trotter tells how for miles the undulating plateau of Kaṣar Farā‛ōn was covered with wild flowers, whose varied colours, and the partiality with which each species confined itself to certain ground, gave to the landscape a brilliant and unique appearance. Dark blue, yellow and red—iris, marigold and poppy—occurred in patches an acre in size; farther on whole hills and valleys were of a delicate blue tint from convolvulus and borage. At times the traveller’s tent is pitched on a carpet of mignonette—indigenous to the country—at times on a carpet of purple bugloss. In the country of the Benī Hasan squills are so abundant that the fibres of the bulbs are used instead of hair in making tent-cloth; and in the north of Al Ḳaṣar al-Kebīr the moors are covered for miles with a beautiful white heather. From such gorgeous combinations of colour one can well imagine that the Moors drew the inspiration of their chromatic art; but the season of floral splendour is brief, and under the hot sun everything soon sinks into the monotony of straw.[1]
Inhabitants.—No well-founded estimate exists as to the number of inhabitants within the Moorish Empire, and the suggestions vary between five and ten millions. The majority of the inhabitants are pastoral and agricultural in their pursuits; but while large stretches of country are inhabited sparsely or not at all, other parts, especially along the Atlas slopes, are closely dotted with considerable villages Whose hardy occupants cultivate every foot of level surface which it is possible to till and irrigate. Three races inhabit Morocco, and the members of two others are continually being introduced. The most numerous and important are the aboriginal Berbers (q.v.)—known locally also as Amazīgh—who inhabit the mountainous districts, and whose blood to a greater or less extent permeates the whole population. These were the people who thrice conquered Spain—once from the Visigoths, and twice from their less stalwart co-religionists. It has been its constant reinforcement by this Berber element that has maintained the independence of Morocco alone among the countries of North Africa. The plains are for the most part occupied by Arabs (q.v.), introduced in the 11th and 12th centuries, long after the so-called “Arab invasion” of the 7th century, which would have left few traces but for the Moslem missionaries who came after them. A large number of the plainsmen are, however, composite Arabicized Berbers, known to foreigners as “Moors” (q.v.) to which division also the mixed race of the towns belongs. Arabs are never found in the mountains save as religious teachers or authorities, but only a small proportion of them continue nomadic.
The third race which may be considered native is the Jewish, consisting of two distinct sections: those settled among the Berbers from time immemorial, speaking their language, and in addition a hideously corrupt Arabic; and those expelled from Europe within comparatively modern times, who have got little farther than the ports, where they speak Spanish with the addition of Arabic. These latter are the most progressive and flourishing of all the inhabitants of Morocco, and in their hands is much of the foreign trade. It is a remarkable fact that several of the so-called Berber tribes are believed to have been of Jewish origin, having embraced Islām on the coming of Mulai Idrīs. To these white races constant additions of a negro element are being added by the slave-trade with the western Sudān, while inter-marriages between negro and Arab or Berber have produced a proportion of mulattos.
The last class consists of the small colonies of Europeans settled at the ports, for the most part engaged in trade. The largest of these colonies, in this case principally Spanish, is found in Tangier. All such foreigners are under the local jurisdiction of their own consular courts. They possess moreover the right of claiming the protection of their authorities for natives entrusted with their interests, without which, in the absence of justice, commerce with the interior would be impossible.
Language.—The language of Morocco is Berber, of which several dialects are spoken, notably that of the Rīf, towards Algeria, and the Shilha of central Morocco and the Sūs. Of these very little is known; but they do not essentially differ from one another or from those of Algeria, notwithstanding considerable variations of pronunciation and a varying proportion of Arabic or other admixtures, there being no written standard to maintain. On the plains and coast of central Morocco, however, Arabic has superseded Berber, as the language of creed and court. Since the 15th century, when Ibn Khaldun found the Arabic of Morocco very corrupt, it has made great strides, and having always been a foreign tongue with the Korān as its model, it has escaped many of the faults into which Eastern Arabic outside Arabia has fallen. This is especially noticeable in the correct Arab value given to the alphabet and in the strictly classical use of many terms, especially among the litterati of Fez.
Provinces and Towns.—Political divisions can hardly be said to exist in the Moorish Empire to-day, although it is formed of what were at one time or other the independent kingdoms of Fez and Marrākesh, and the important provinces of Sūs, Tafilālt and the Rīf, together with the Saharan oases. As administrative units the various subdivisions change according to the relative strength of tribesmen and government. Central Morocco, between the two spurs of the Atlas ending towards Rabat and at Cape Ghir, is, however, naturally parcelled out by its rivers into the districts of Tamsna, Shāwīya, Dukālla, Abda, Shiādhma and Ḥāḥā, running from north to south along the coast, and Sraghna and Rahāmna lying inland from the last three.
- ↑ The botany of Morocco has been explored by Balansa (1867), Hooker, Ball and Maw (1871), Rein and Fritsch (1873), Ibrahim Ammeribt (a Berber collector, 1873, 1876), the Rabbi Mardochēe Abi Serur (1872–1873); and the results have been systematically arranged in Cosson’s Compendium florae atlanticae: ou Flore des états barbaresques (Paris, 1881, &c.).
