CH. 11. A GOVERNOR IN CHAINS. 37 



gives far too much importance to the comparatively low 

 hilla running from WSW. to ENE. on the south side of 

 Tangier, and not enough to the range which we crossed 

 between El Fondak and Tetuan. This extends from the 

 main mass of the Beni Hassan to Ape's Hill opposite 

 Gibraltar, and divides the waters running to the Atlantic 

 from those of the Tetuan river. Over against this (which 

 we had just crossed) rose a parallel and more lofty range, 

 terminating in the bold craggy mass of the Beni Hosmar 

 (B. Aouzmar of the French map), rising steeply from the 

 valley opposite Tetuan, and to ascend this was the main 

 object of our present excursion. 



Soon after we entered the main valley, and were riding 

 along a broad track parallel to the Tetuan river, we came 

 upon a group that for the first time brought home to us 

 an illustration of the true condition of society in this 

 country. A body of armed horsemen, many of them true 

 Negroes or mulattoes, were resting beside the way, broken 

 up into lively groups, laughing and chattering together. 

 Amongst them was a solitary man, poorly clothed, and, as 

 we observed, laden with heavy chains. He kept his back 

 turned towards the track, and seemed to take advantage 

 of the halt to dip his feet into the brook that ran along 

 beside it. So numerous an escort in charge of a single 

 prisoner suggested something unusual, and we were led to 

 make inquiry. According to the story retailed to us, the 

 chained captive was lately the powerful governor of a 

 distant province, who had ofifered a stout resistance when 

 summoned to the capital to give an account of his ad- 

 ministration. It is well understood in Marocco that such 

 summons, whether framed as a peremptory order or a 

 flattering invitation, has but one meaning — that the time 

 has come when it seems to the Sultan or his counsellors 

 that the wretched governor should be ' squeezed,' or, in 

 other words, be forced by torture to surrender whatever 

 wealth he may have hoarded. As the appointment of a 

 new governor generally means that the province will be 



