hout danger, with
property or money, from one end of the empire to the other. Before
this system of policy was renewed, (for it is an old law of the
land,) travellers with property were obliged to have a _statta_:
thus, if a caravan was going from Terodant or Marocco to Fas, it
took a _statta;_ that is, two men, natives of the district of
321 Rahamena, who accompanied the caravan in safety to the confines of
their territory; they then received a remuneration, and delivered
over the caravan to two men of Abda, who conducted it to the border
of Duquella: it was then delivered into the hands of two Duquella
Arabs; and so it went through the different provinces till it
reached Fas, under the protection, through each province, of a
_statta_, each of which _statta_ receives a remuneration. So that,
by the time of arrival at Fas, the merchandise was sometimes
subject to a charge of 8 or 10 per cent. for _statta_ or convoy
through the various provinces.

Before the Emperor Soliman thus established his authority, caravans
of gums, almonds, ostrich feathers, gold-dust, &c. &c. from Suse,
were sometimes twenty days going from Santa Cruz to Mogodor, a
distance of less than one hundred miles, the _statta_ being changed
and paid at the entrance of every kabyl, of which there are twelve
in the province of Haha alone; the camels being also changed at
every change of _statta_, increased the charge on the merchandise
to an immoderate amount. It would be a great acquisition to
England, if His Majesty were to negociate with the Emperor of
Marocco for the port of Santa Cruz; for the province of Suse
produces in abundance olive oil, almonds, and gums; worm-seed,
annis-seed, cummin-seed, and orchilla; oranges, grapes,
pomegranates, figs, melons, &c. This port was farmed, during the
reign of Muley Ismael, for an annual stipend. It is the key to
322 Sudan, and a communication might be opened on an extensive scale
from hence with Timbuctoo, Housa, Wangara, and other regions of
Sudan, so as to supply, in a few years, the whole of the interior
of Africa with British and East-India manufactures.

_Muley Abdrahaman ben Muhamed_.

This prince, who was elder brother of the present Emperor Soliman,
had accumulated considerable treasure in executing the office of
(_khalif_) vi