Travels in Morocco, Volume 2. by James Richardson
page 57 of 181 (31%)
page 57 of 181 (31%)
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style in which the statistics of population in Morocco are and have been
calculated. Before the occupation of Algeria by the French, all the cities were vulgarly calculated at double, or treble their amount of population. This has also been the case even in India, where we could obtain, with care, tolerably correct statistics. The prejudices of oriental and Africo-eastern people are wholly set against statistics, or numbering the population. No mother knows the age of her own child. It is ill-omened, if not an affront, to ask a man how many children he has; and to demand the amount of the population of a city, is either constructed as an infringement upon the prerogative of the omnipotent Creator, who knows how many people he creates, and how to take care of them, or it is the question of a spy, who is seeking to ascertain the strength or weakness of the country. Europeans can, therefore, rarely obtain any correct statistical information in Morocco: all is proximate and conjectural. [18] I am anxious, nevertheless, to give some particulars respecting the population, in order that we may really have a proximate idea of the strength and resources of this important country. In describing the towns and cities of the various provinces, I shall divide them into, 1. Towns and cities of the coast. 2. Capital or royal cities. 3. Other towns and remarkable places in the interior [19]. The towns and ports, on the Mediterranean, are of considerable interest, but our information is very scanty, except as far as relates to the |
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