We rose at sun-rise, passed through the picturesque district of Idaugourd and the Woolja, and entered Mogodor at four o'clock, P.M.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND DECREASE OF THE PLAGUE _That ravaged Barbary in_ 1799; FAITHFULLY EXTRACTED FROM LETTERS WRITTEN BY THE HOUSE OF JAMES JACKSON AND CO., OR BY JAMES G. JACKSON, MERCHANTS AT MOGODOR, TO THEIR CORRESPONDENTS IN EUROPE, DURING THE EPIDEMY.
When the Emperor's army proceeded from Fas to Marocco in the summer of 1799, a detachment of which passed by Mogodor, consisting of 20,000 horse and 10,000 foot, it had the plague with it; so that, wherever it passed, the plague uniformly appeared three days after its arrival at the respective douars near which it encamped; those who died were buried in the tents, and the people of the provinces knew little about it.
A large _akkaba_[122], consisting of upwards of 1700 camels, 157 arrived 23d August, 1799, at Akka from Timbuctoo, laden with gum-sudan, ostrich-feathers, and gold dust, which had brought also many slaves; this _akkaba_ had deposited its merchandize at Akka, till the plague should disappear and the country become healthy; as the people of that territory, unlike Muhamedans in general, will hold no communication with the infected, nor will they admit any one from these parts.
[Footnote 122: An _akkaba_ is an accumulated caravan.]
A violent fever now rages at Fas: some assert it to be the plague, but that is Moorish report, and little to be depended on; the European consuls at Tangier, and the Spanish ambassador, who, having terminated his embassy, has lately left Mequinas, mention it as an epidemical disorder.
May 20. The small-pox rages violently throughout this country, and is of a most virulent kind: its origin is ascribed to the famine that has of late pervaded this country, and which was produced by the incredible devastation of the devouring locusts; the dregs of olives, after the oil had been extracted, has been the only food that could be procured by many thousands.
Various reports reach us daily from _the city of Marocco_, respecting the epidemy that prevails there, some say 200 die, some 158 say 100, others limit the daily mortality to 50, in a population, according to the imperial register, of 270,000.