An account of the empire of Marocco, and the districts of Suse and Tafilelt; compiled from miscellaneous observations made during a long residence in, and various journies through, these countries. To which is added an account of shipwrecks on the western coast of Africa, and an interesting account of Timbuctoo, the great emporium of Central AfricaJackson, James Grey
History
An account of the empire of Marocco, and the districts of Suse and Tafilelt; compiled from miscellaneous observations made during a long residence in, and various journies through, these countries. To which is added an account of shipwrecks on the western coast of Africa, and an interesting account of Timbuctoo, the great emporium of Central Africa
Jackson, James Grey
Morocco
I have no doubt but the epidemy which made its appearance at Cadiz,
and all along the southern shores of Spain, immediately as the plague
was subsiding in West Barbary, was the same disorder with the one
above described, suffering, after its passage to a Christian country,
some variation, originating from the different modes of living,
and other circumstances; for nothing can be more opposite than the
food, dress, customs, and manners of Mohammedans and Christians,
notwithstanding the approximation of Spain to Marocco. We have been
credibly informed, that it was communicated originally to Spain,
by two infected persons, who went from Tangier to Estapona, a small
village on the opposite shore; who, after eluding the vigilance of
the guards, reached Cadiz. We have also been assured that it was
communicated by some infected persons who landed in Spain, from a
vessel that had loaded produce at L’araiche in West Barbary. Another
account was, that a Spanish privateer, which had occasion to land
its crew for the purpose of procuring water in some part of West
Barbary, caught the infection from communicating with the natives,
and afterwards proceeding to Cadiz, spread it in that town and the
adjacent country.
It should be observed, for the information of those who may be
desirous of investigating the nature of this extraordinary distemper,
that, from its character and its symptoms, approximating to the
peculiar plague, which (according to the before mentioned Arabic
record) ravaged and depopulated West Barbary four centuries since,
the Arabs and Moors were of opinion it would subside after the first
year, and not appear again the next, as the Egyptian plague does;
and agreeably to this opinion, it did not re-appear the second
year: neither did St. John’s day, or that season, affect its
virulence; but about that period there prevails along the coast
of West Barbary a trade wind, which beginning to blow in the month
of May, continues throughout the months of June, July, and August,
with little intermission. It was apprehended that the influence of
this trade wind, added to the superstitious opinion of the plague
ceasing on St. John’s day, would stop, or at least sensibly diminish
the mortality; but no such thing happened, the wind did set in, as
it invariably does, about St. John’s day; the disorder, however,
encreased at that period, rather than diminished. Some persons were of
opinion, that the infection maintained its virulence till the last;
that the decrease of mortality did not originate from a decrease of
the _miasma_, but from a decrease of population, and a consequent
want of subjects to prey upon; and this indeed is a plausible idea;
but admitting it to be just, how are we to account for the almost
invariable fatality of the disorder, when at its height, and the
comparative innocence of it when on the decline? for _then_, the
chance to those who had it, was, that they would recover and survive
the malady.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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