Commerce, which was neglected by his predecessors, has all his
attention. The cruelty of the former sultans is exchanged for the
avarice of the present. The history of these Shereefian princes is a
chain of unheard-of atrocities. The present sultan keeps not a single
promise when his interests interfere."

M. Rey gives us this flattering tableau as a social picture of Morocco.

Covetous governors are continually succeeding one another, they are ever
eager of enjoying the advantages of their position; their thirst for
plunder is so much the more intense, as they are not allowed time to
satisfy it, so they prey on the people. The inhabitants of towns and of
the country live in rags in miserable hovels. What raiment! what food!
mortality is dreadful, the children are invalids, and the women,
especially in the country, are condemned to do the work of beasts of
burden; such is the picture of society.

I have quoted these few passages from the "Mémoire" of M. Rey, because
he was resident many years in Tangier, and his account of the country
discovers talent and intelligence, but is, of course, coloured with a
strong anti-English feeling. Mr. Hay wrote on the back of his
Mémoire,--"All that is said in reference to Great Britain is false and
malicious." M. Rey's opinions of the Moors and the present governors are
still more bitter and unjust.

I had an interview with El-Martel-Warabah, government auctioneer of
slaves, from whom I obtained details respecting the slave-trade in
Tangier and Morocco generally. There is no market for slaves in Tangier.
The poor creatures are led about the town as cattle, particularly in the
main street, before the doors of the principal merchants, where they are