M O R o c e o. 
4 
of the cafts who occupy the provinces of Morocco have 
been repulfed from the ealfern to the weftern Africa, 
during thofe different revolutions by which this part of 
the world has been agitated ; that they have followed the 
ftandard of their chiefs, whofe names they have preferved; 
and that by thefe they, as well as the countries they in¬ 
habit, are diftinguiflied. At prefent thefe tribes are called 
Cafiles, or Cabiles, from the Arabic word kobeila; and they 
are fo numerous, that it is impoflible to haye a knowledge 
of them all. Mr. Jackfon divides the inhabitants in ge¬ 
neral into four claffes, namely. Moors, Arabs, Brebbers, 
(which latter are probably the aborigines,) and Shelluhs. 
The Moors (he fays) are the defcendants of thole who 
were driven out of Spain ; they inhabit the cities of Mo¬ 
rocco, Fez, Mequinez, and all the coaft towns, as far 
fouthward as the province of Haha. Their language is a 
corrupt Arabic intermixed with Spanifh. 
The Arabs have their original flock in Sahara, from 
whence they emigrate to the plains of Morocco, when¬ 
ever the plague, famine, or any other.calamity, depopu¬ 
lates the country fo as to admit of a new colony, without 
injuring the territory of the former inhabitants. The laft 
great plague, which was followed by a great influx of 
Arabs from the Sahara, is defcribed by Mr. Jackfon in 
the following terms : “ The deftruftion of the human 
fpecies in the province of Sufe was confiderably greater 
than elfewhere. Terodant, formerly the metropolis of a 
kingdom, but now that of Sufe, loft, when the infe&ion 
was at its height, about eight hundred each day. The 
ruined, but ftill extenfive and populous, city of Morocco, 
loft one thoufand each day. The populous cities of Old 
and New Fez diminilhed in population twelve or fifteen 
hundred each day ; and in thefe extenfive cities the mor¬ 
tality was fo great, that, the living having not time to 
bury the dead, the bodies were depofited or thrown to¬ 
gether into large holes, which, when nearly full, were co¬ 
vered over with earth. Young healthy robuft perfons 
were for the moft part attacked firft; then women and 
children ; and laftly, thin, fickly, emaciated, old people. 
The mortality amounted to 124,000 fouls. After this 
deadly calamity had fubfided, we beheld a general alter¬ 
ation in the fortunes and circumftances of men. We 
law perfons who, before the plague, were common la¬ 
bourers, now in pofl'eflion of thoufands, and keeping 
horfes, without knowing how to ride them. Parties of 
this defcription were met wherever we went; and the men 
of family called them in derifion el wurata, the inheritors. 
Provifions alfo became extremely cheap and abundant. 
The flocks and herds had been left in the fields, and there 
was now no one to own them; and the propenfity to 
plunder, fo notorioufly attached to the charafter of the 
Arab, was fuperfeded by a confcientious regard to juftice, 
originating from a continual apprehenfion of difl'olution; 
and that the hhere, as the plague was now called, was a 
judgment of the Omnipotent on the difobedience of 
man ; and that it behoved every individual to amend his 
conduct, as a preparation to his departure for Paradife. 
The expenfe of labour, at the fame time, increafed enor- 
moufly ; and never was equality in the human fpecies 
more confpicuous than at this time. When corn was to 
be ground, or bread baked, both were performed in the 
houfes of the affluent, and prepared by themfelves; for 
the very few people whom the plague had fpared, were 
infufficient to adminifter to the wants of the rich and in¬ 
dependent ; and they were accordingly compelled to work 
for themfelves, performing perfonally the menial offices 
of their refpeftive families. The country being now de¬ 
populated, and much of the territory without owners, 
vaft tribes of Arabs emigrated from their abodes in the 
interior of Sahara, and took pofl'eflion of the country con¬ 
tiguous to the river Draha, as well as many diftriffts in 
Sufe ; and, in fliort, fettling themfelves, and pitching 
their tents, wherever they found a fertile country with 
little or no population.” Thefe Arabs live in tents, and 
fpeak the language of the Koran, fomewhat corrupted. 
They are a reftlefs and turbulent people, continually at 
war with each other: in one province a rebellious kaliyle, 
or clan, will fight againft a neighbouring or loyal one, and. 
will thus plunder and deftroy one another, till, fatigued 
by the toils of war, they mutually ceafe, when the next 
year, perhaps, the rebellious clan will be found fighting 
for the emperor againft the former loyal one, now become 
rebellious. This plan of fetting one tribe againft another 
is an act of policy of the emperor, becaufe, if he did not, 
in this manner, quell the broils continually breaking out 
amongft them, he would be compelled, in order to pre- 
ferve tranquillity in his dominions, to employ his own 
army for that purpofe, which is generally occupied in more 
important bufinefs. 
The Brebbers, or Brebes, inhabit the mountains of 
Atlas, north of the city of Morocco, living generally in 
tents ; they are a robuft neFvous people, having a lan¬ 
guage peculiar to themfelves, which differs more from 
the Arabic, or general language of Africa, than any two 
languages of Europe differ from each other; it is probably 
a dialeft of the ancient Carthaginian. The general occu¬ 
pation of thefe people is hufbandry, and the rearing of 
bees for honey and wax. 
The Shelluhs inhabit the Atlas Mountains, and their 
various branches fouth of Morocco ; they live generally 
in towns, and are, for the moft part, occupied in huf¬ 
bandry, like the Brebbers, though differing from them 
in their language, drefs, and manners; they live almoft 
entirely on barley-meal made into gruel, and barley roaft- 
ed or granulated, which they mix with cold water when 
travelling: this is called zimeta. Many families among 
thefe people are reported to be defeended from the Por» 
tuguefe, who formerly poflefled all the ports on the coaft; 
but who, after the difeovery of America, gradually with¬ 
drew thither. Eaft of Morocco, near Dimenet, on the 
Atlas Mountains, there is ftill remaining a church, hav¬ 
ing inferiptions in Latin over the entrance, fuppofed to 
have been built by them, which, being fuperftitioufly re¬ 
ported to be haunted, has efcaped deftrudtion. Their lan¬ 
guage is called Amazirk. 
The Moors, as well as the other natives of this coun¬ 
try, are generally of a middle ftature r they have not fo 
much nerve as the Europeans, and are, for the moft part, 
thick and clumfy about the legs and ancles, infomuch 
that a well-formed leg is feldom feen among them ; this 
may proceed from their conftantly fitting crofs-legged, 
with their legs under them, like the tailors of Europe, or 
perhaps from their wearing no covering to their legs, 
which are thus expofed to all weathers. Deformed per¬ 
fons are rarely met with ; the loofe Arabian drefs covers 
deformity, and their mode of bringing up children 
(every thing being left to follow nature) generally pre¬ 
vents it. Corns and deformed feet are unknown ; the 
toes take their natural growth, and are as ufeful to the 
mechanics as their fingers. Lame people are feldom feen; 
but the blind are more numerous than in Europe. Both 
fexes have very fine teeth. Their complexion, from fre¬ 
quent intermarriages or intercourfe with the Soudanic 
race, is of all fliades, from black to white. The women 
of Fez are as fair as the Europeans, with the exception of 
their eyes and hair, which are uni verbally dark. Thofe of 
Mequinez are in general fo handfome, that it is a rare 
thing to fee a young woman in that city who is not pretty, 
With large black expreffive fparkling eyes, they have 
a healthy countenance, uniting the colours of the lily 
and the rofe, that beautiful red and white fo much ad¬ 
mired by foreigners in our Englifli ladies; indeed their 
beauty is proverbial, as the term Mequinajia is applied to 
any beautiful woman of elegant form, with fparkling eyes 
and white teeth ; they alfo poflefs a modefty and fuavity 
of manners rarely met with elfewhere. Itis extraordinary 
that the inhabitants of two great and populous cities, 
fituated within a day’s journey of each other, Ihould dif- 
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