In the Moorish army there is a prodigious number of blacks, who are reckoned very loyal, and perfectly devoted to the Emperor.  This accounts for so many black governors being at the head of the most important districts and provinces of Barbary,

I returned very late from the review, and had scarcely dined when a messenger came to request my early attendance the following morning, to be presented to His Imperial Majesty.  I repaired betimes to the palace, which is an immense pile of buildings, enclosed by a strong wall and a large deep ditch.  It has four great gates, plated, both on the outside and in, with sheets of iron.  I entered the front gate, and by a covered way reached a spacious court, surrounded by a piazza, under which several field-pieces and small mortars were placed.  Here I was met by Sidy Ameth, a black officer, who acts as master of the ceremonies, and lord in waiting.  He received me with great politeness, and conducted me, through another gate and covered way, to a second square more spacious than the first.  In the centre was a most beautiful white marble basin, into which played a fountain of water clear as crystal.  Over it was a kind of rotunda, supported by columns of elegant black marble.  This superb square is paved with small pieces of marble, intermixed with pebbles of various colours, in the mosaic style.  It is formed by four wings of the building.  The front wing, exclusive of its magnificent entrance, contains several apartments and waiting-rooms, occupied by the great officers of state; the right, the library, and the treasury of the Emperor; the left, a superb mosque, and a school-room for the use of the Emperor’s children, where they are taught to read and write, and study the Alcoran; and finally, the back, the great hall of audience, in which His Imperial Majesty was seated cross-legged upon a kind of couch, under a crimson velvet canopy, most beautifully decorated with figured work in gold.

I was introduced by Sidy Ameth; and after making my obsequious reverence, I stood at a great distance, waiting the Imperial commands, when His Majesty was graciously pleased to order me, by signs, to draw near, and then, by means of an interpreter, he informed me, that, in consequence of the good I had done his subjects during my residence at Larache, he had long been anxious to see and consult me.  He desired me to ask any favours I chose, either for myself or my country, and they should be granted immediately.  I thanked His Majesty for his condescension, and then presented him with a patent pistol, with seven barrels, which he examined very attentively in every part, and appeared highly pleased with its construction.