JDH describes to Sir John Hay Drummond Hay the struggle his party has had with the authorities, to get suitable housing in Marocco [Marrakech]. He gives a detailed timeline of events from their reception in the city by a Mr Hunot, formerly of Messrs. Perry & Co. of Liverpool, to their finally getting assigned the house previously occupied by [Moses] Montifiore the following day. He gives the date they took up their quarters as 5 Aug but this should read 5 May. The initial date of the letter on page 1 has been corrected, in pencil, from 4 Aug to 4 May. The Montifiore house was only secured for JDH by the intervention of the Viceroy after Ben Daoud tried to make them stay in houses that were too small or dirty, against the instructions of the Sultan. They spent the night camping near the great mosque, under the protection of soldiers supplied by the more hospitable El Grauoi.
Transcript
to the quarter not far from the Great Mosque, where the V[ice].Gov[eno]r dismounted at the mouth of a filthy lane, darted down it leaving the mounted escort to follow, when the former conducted me to a disgusting wretched hole with 4 rooms on the ground, swarming with vermin, & no other accommodation of any kind. I thereby sent to Ben Daoud a message insisting that this would not do. That I expected to have as good[?] large & good a house assigned to me as the Queen gave me in England & that I had a right to one & a garden as good as they Sultan gave to Sir M. Montefiore*4 -- after some delay answer was brought from Ben Daoud begging me to stay there the night & a better house would be assigned prepared next day,-- I sent again returned a peremptory refusal to occupy the house for an hour, to which Ben Daoud sent a message for reply "that he had no other house for me & that if I did not like it this one Marocco was big enough, & that I might find a house for myself." Meanwhile your Grauoi*5
Marocco [Marrakech, Morocco]
Aug May 4 1871
Copy*1
My dear Sir John*1a
Here we are at last & handsomely housed, after a struggle with the authorities, of which I shall now give you an outline. On arrival at reaching the outskirts we were met by Mr Hunot*2 an Englishman (formerly of Perry's house)*3 who had tea prepared for us in a garden outside the walls. Here the soldier I had sent to announce our arrival, brought word that Ben Daoud, the governor of the city, had placed a house with 2 rooms at my disposal. I sent back to say that this would not suffice, as there were 4 of us, with servants, to which answer came, that a house with 4 rooms & other apartments was at my disposal. At 5 pm we proceeded to the city & were met outside by the Ben Daoud's Deputy Govnr of the city, & a squad of soldiers to conduct me to the House. These [led] me
to the quarter not far from the Great Mosque, where the V[ice].Gov[eno]r dismounted at the mouth of a filthy lane, darted down it leaving the mounted escort to follow, when the former conducted me to a disgusting wretched hole with 4 rooms on the ground, swarming with vermin, & no other accommodation of any kind. I thereby sent to Ben Daoud a message insisting that this would not do. That I expected to have as good[?] large & good a house assigned to me as the Queen gave me in England & that I had a right to one & a garden as good as they Sultan gave to Sir M. Montefiore*4 -- after some delay answer was brought from Ben Daoud begging me to stay there the night & a better house would be assigned prepared next day,-- I sent again returned a peremptory refusal to occupy the house for an hour, to which Ben Daoud sent a message for reply "that he had no other house for me & that if I did not like it this one Marocco was big enough, & that I might find a house for myself." Meanwhile your Grauoi*5
sent me a mona*6 of 6 dishes which I sent thanks for, but returned with word that refused to eat it in the house in such a hole as Ben Daoud had assigned me & left the place requesting Mr Hunot to conducted me to the troops best campers[?] camping ground he knew of, which was that opposite the Great Mosque & there I camped: sending a message to the Viceroy*7 excomplaining matters of my treatment. 7PM Viceroy answered that he had sent sent me a written order for Ben Daoud to provide a good me with a suitable house immediately. The soldier stupidly bringing the said order to me. Which I sent it on immediately at once to Ben Daoud who returned& which brought back a response, that he could provide no house that night; but would next morning.
9PM Graoui sent his Vice& a guard of 25 soldiers to sleep round our camp, with another & handsome mona of 6 dishes.
11 ½PM Ben Daoud sends a guard of 10 men, whom I refuse to receive. Bengrawis[sic]men at the same time chaper[one]'d them from our camp & they retired behind the mosque!
Midnight a third mona from Grauoi arrived -- & so to bed --
Aug 5 Ben Daoud sent his vice at 6 am to say we might camp in an adjoining garden; I
refused to see the Vice as to take] let him approach or to occupy the garden -- but sent the captain of the guard to the Viceroy asking an early interview. 10 am answer comes that the Viceroy sent welcome & had ordered Ben Daoud to give us the house that Sir Moses Montefiore had occupied to be opened up for us & that it would be ready in half an hour, & that the house was I was to consider it as given by the Sultan & not by Ben Daoud. [Something inserted -- I need not say that we returned thither in all haste & found it being swept if not garnished & there & then took up our quarters in it.*8 No one it appears had occupied it since Montefiores went & the gate had been bricked up ever since; it is however a capital residence.
I have since heard from a Maoor Moor of influence here, who was present at on the time occasion that the Viceroy sent for Ben Daoud, the first thing very early this morning & blackguarded him in the presence of an august assembly for his treatment of the Sultan's orders & his own[,] how much this is worth you know better than I do; but up to this moment we have received the most cordial hospitality from Grawi & we have no reason to suspect the Viceroy of participation in Ben Daoud's conduct. The Viceroy further said that it would be time to talk of an interview after we were properly settled in the housed. Which is probably to be translated as a polite refusal:-- of course I shall not press it.
We have had long interviews with a Jew today. *9
1. Although this letter has been marked as a copy, it is an original manuscript written in the hand of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. The annotation 'copy' may indicate that this was a draft of the letter rather than the copy actually mailed out, it does contains a large amount of corrections and struck through text. The letter is unsigned but has been transcribed in full as it survives in the archive of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
1a. Sir John Hay Drummond Hay (1816--1893). Diplomat who spent his career, between 1845 and 1886, in Morocco.
2. Brother of the British Vice-Consul at Saffi and representative at Marocco, of the Messrs, Perry & Co. of Liverpool.
3. Messrs, Perry & Co. of Liverpool.
4. Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, FRS. Visited Morocco in 1864 as part of his trips to alleviate the distress of Jews abroad.
5. Governor of the mountain district Hooker and his party wished to explore.
6. Offering of food.
7. The Sultan's son.
8. The text which runs from here until 'I have since heard' is inserted in the right margin of the page.
9. The letter is unsigned but has been transcribed in full as it survives in the archive of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It is written in the hand of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible.
Powered by Aetopia