Captain Rutherford (who commands the Swiftsure), on hearing of this daring outrage, could with difficulty refrain from making instant reprisals:  but unwilling to embroil the two nations, he sailed without delay, and arrived in the course of a few hours in this bay.  Two days after Mr. Wickes, the Lieutenant, joined the Swiftsure.  He reports, that, after a most painful march, he was taken before Governor Ash-Ash, who released him, immediately, and promised to punish the Captain of the fort for the insult; a promise which, I am pretty confident, he never performed.

Such an act will naturally inspire you with horror, and induce you to consider the Moors as a ferocious, barbarous set of people:  but, believe me, it could only have been perpetrated under the government of Ash-Ash.  At any other port of Barbary, a British officer will meet with a most kind and hospitable reception, and every mark of respect due to him.  The Emperor has given Ash-Ash positive orders to respect the English, and not to take the part of the French, directly or indirectly; but, as I observed in a former letter, I conceive this Moor to be completely under French influence.

I am extremely busy in making the necessary preparations for my next trip; and as you are kind enough to say you are gratified with the account I have already sent you of the empire of Morocco, and wish me to continue my remarks, I shall most probably trouble you with a letter, whenever I meet with any thing that may serve to interest or amuse you.

LETTER VII.

Sail for Tetuan—­Appearance of the Coast—­Enter the Boosega River—­Curious Towers of Defence—­Custom-house-Female Dress—­Enter Tetuan over a Road of unlevelled Rock—­Disagreeable Streets—­Well received by the Governor—­Public Markets—­Socco—­An Auction Market.

Tetuan; March 14th, 1806

One of His Majesty’s brigs having been appointed to convey me either to Tangiers or Tetuan, the wind blowing due west, we sailed for this port.  As the ship drew near the shore, I had a full view of this wild coast.  The tops of the lofty mountains are prodigious barren rocks, while their base is interspersed with broom and box.  The hills and dales are covered with myrtles of various kinds, assuming different shades of lovely green.  The towers and castles, which are of a delicate whiteness, rising in the midst of these groves of myrtles, render the scene interesting.  The plaster made use of in the erection of these towers is, of itself, extremely white; but the Moors are not satisfied with this, and they add a whitewash of lime.

The towers are harmless as fortifications, since, for want of skill in the manufacture of gunpowder, the Moors are very deficient in that necessary article.  No present therefore is more acceptable to them than a few cartridges of it.