BARBARY. 



Trd 



Barbary. very glutinous nature, exceedingly apt to imbibe hu- 

 ' ' v ' midity, and so deficient in strength and inflammabili- 

 ty, that one oun- of European manufacture is equal 

 to three or four of the Barbary article ; but a certain 

 Arab tribe, named Wolled Abbusebah, are said to 

 possess the secret of making a species of gunpowder 

 superior to any other in the world; leather, made of 

 goat skin, the mode of tanning which they are very 

 careful to conceal, and the softest and finest of which 

 resembling silk, and impervious to water, is prepared 

 at Tafilet. The manufactures of Algiers and Tunis 

 are brought to a state of greater perfection, than 

 those of Morocco ; and the inhabitants of the northern 

 districts are a more enterprising and commercial peo- 

 ple, than those of the south. The Moors are utterly 

 unacquainted with the art of casting cannon, the 

 manufacture of glass, the invention of pumps, and 

 the use of wheel carriages. They take no care to 

 make or repair public roads, and have very few 

 Trade. bridges. Hence their inland traffic is extremely li- 

 mited; and is confined almost entirely to their mar- 

 kets or fairs, which are held in different districts for 

 the accommodation of the neighbouring inhabitants. 

 At these fairs they assemble, from a considerable 

 distance, to buy and sell cattle, corn, vegetables, 

 dried fruits, carpets, hayks, and the various produc- 

 tions of their country ; and in one quarter of the mar- 

 ket-place are to be found always a number of itine- 

 rant barbers or surgeons, to whom the diseased are 

 brought for cure; while there is generally a guard of 

 soldiers sent by the governor of the province, or of 

 the nearest town, to prevent those bloody quarrels, 

 which not unfrequently take place at these resorts, 

 between the different Arab tribes. All the states of 

 Barbary indeed, by means of caravans, carry on a 

 very lucrative and extensive commerce with Mecca, 

 the most consecrated seat of their religious faith ; 

 and with Tombuctco, the great emporium of central 

 Africa. For the expedition to Mecca, several thou- 

 sands of camels, horses, and mules are collected, 

 carrying merchandise to the value of two millions of 

 dollars. Besides woollen stuffs, leather, indigo, co- 

 chineal, ostrich feathers, the traders never fail to take 

 with them, or to purchase by the way, such articles 

 of commerce, as can be sold with profit, at Alexan- 

 dria, Cairo, and the other towns, through which they 

 pass. These companies of merchants and pilgrims 

 (for the two characters are generally united in this 

 journey to Mecca), bring back with them Levant 

 and Persian silks and muslins, amber, musk, essence 

 of roses, &c. The caravans, which penetrate the in- 

 terior of Africa, are neither so numerous nor so va- 

 luable as those which go to Mecca. They travel 

 through the desert of Sahara, occupying several 

 months in this toilsome journey; but we must refer 

 the reader to Jackson's Account oj Morocco, for a 

 more particular and very interesting narrative of their 

 perilous progress. The articles, which they trans- 

 port to Tombuctoo, are linens, muslins, silks, light 

 hayks, red caps, spices, sugar and tea, but chiefly 

 .ceo and salt ; and the produce, returned from 

 Soudan, consists principally of bars of gold, gold 

 dust, and gold trinkets, (in the manufacture of which 

 he natives of that country display the greatest in- 



III. PART II. 



genuity,) elephants teeth, gums, and slaves, besides Barbary. 

 ambergris and ostrich feathers, collected by the way "~ "'' 



on the confines of the desert. 



The commercial intercourse between the north of Political 

 Africa and the kingdoms of Europe is extremely li- an d com- 

 muted and fluctuating ; and the treaties, which have J nercial re ' - 

 been formed, at different periods, between the trading 

 nations of Christendom and the piratical states of 

 Barbary, were intended rather for securing protec- 

 tion from the African corsairs, than for promoting a 

 mutual exchange of commodities. The instability 

 and tyranny of the several governments in Barbary 

 must still be regarded, as an almost insuperable ob- 

 stacle to the industry of the natives, and to the con- 

 fidence of foreigners. The wants of the inhabitants 

 also are few and simple ; and those habits of luxury, 

 which are the great springs of commerce, are either 

 altogether unknown among them, or, at least, re- 

 strained from open indulgence, by the lawless acts of 

 extortion to which every opulent individual is inva- 

 riably exposed. The little foreign traffic, which the 

 people, or rather the rulers, of Barbary do carry on, 

 has been chiefly engrossed, of late years, by the 

 French, Americans, and British. The principal ar- 

 ticles imported into the north of Africa, are, broad- 

 cloths, linens, muslins, silks, metals, hardware, mir- 

 rors, sugar, tea, gun-powder, and Mexico dollars ; 

 and those hitherto exported are, gums, almonds, 

 dates, aromatic seeds, ivory, leather, hides, ostrich 

 feathers, olive-oil, wax, and wool : The former, it is 

 to be observed, are chiefly manufactured goods, and 

 the latter, raw materials, of the most essential use in 

 the manufactories of our own country. It has, there- 

 fore, been strongly urged by those, who are most 

 competent to judge of the subject, that a close con- 

 nection between Great Britain and Barbary might be 

 of the very greatest advantage, both in a commercial 

 and political point of view ; that it would provide a 

 most abundant supply of provisions for our fleets in 

 the Mediterranean, and our troops at Gibraltar ; as 

 well as open a way for our manufactures into the 

 very heart of Africa. It has likewise been shewn, 

 that the northern states of that country are more in- 

 clined, than ever, to encourage such an intercourse ; 

 and that nothing is wanting to establish it on a solid 

 foundation, than proper attention and respect on the 

 part of the British government, and especially the 

 appointment of agents well acquainted with the lan- 

 guage and manners of the people. It has also been 

 suggested, that the inhabitants of South Barbary, in 

 particular, are very favourably disposed towards the 

 Brit.sh ; that a purchase might be made from the 

 Emperor of Morocco of his most distant and disaf- 

 fected province of Suse ; that at least, in consequence 

 of his alliance, a British factory might be established 

 at Agadeer (Santa Cru/.), which would afford secu- 

 rity both to the African and European trader, ac- 

 custom the natives to the appearance and manners of 

 foreign residents, become in a short time the empo- 

 rium of Barbary and Soudan, and open a path for 

 the progress of civilization and knowledge over these 

 extensive regions of barbarity and ignorance. See 

 Letters from Barbary, Sec. Abbe Poiret's Travels 

 m Barbary. Shaw's Travels in Barbari/. Chenier'- 

 2 m 



