CHAPTER  THE SEVENTEENTH
MOORISH   DIPLOMATIC   USAGES

IF  not,  perhaps,  unique   among  eastern   lands  in   its
treatment of the representatives accredited to it from
abroad,  Morocco  has  at   least   an   interesting

Original Custom.                     -.        tj^i                 i        i               rj*i            j.**^

record. In the early days ot diplomatic inter¬
course, the custom prevailed of sending a consul as a sort
of supercargo with each little trading fleet^—for vessels
then seldom ventured singly—and undertakings of this
sort were far from frequent, while a life among a people
so inhospitable offered few attractions. Even when the
settlement of merchants on the Barbary coast was
follow^ed by the appointment of resident consuls, their
offices were sometimes of a very informal character;
thus as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century
we find the Frenchmen settled in Tetuan nominating one
of their number to act as consul,^ an arrangement which,
having satisfied the Moors, appears to have satisfied Paris
as well.* Queen Elizabeth's envoys were "sworne Es¬
quires of her Majestie's person," the second of whom
" remained there as Liger for the space of 3 yeeres."^
The receptions of these officials by the Moorish ameers

* Marseilles had centuries before by a wise regulation authorised any ten of
her merchants residing in Syria or Barbary to select one of their number to act
as consul till a regular official was appointed.^

1 Godard, p. 355.               2 De la Faye.

3  Hakluyt, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 64-67, and 117; also Kerr's Voyages, vol. vii.

4  Mas Latrie, Relations, p. 165.

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