Exchange in and beyond the Cartas marruecas of José Cadalso

Abstract

Several days' journey removed from the palace of Mulay Mohammad bin Abdallah, the sultan who ruled Morocco in the latter half of the eighteenth century, an anonymous Spaniard recorded a series of observations about the indigenous trees beyond the city of Mogador. Though most would be unrecognizable in Spain, one tree of particular note, the author remarks, bears a fruit that "se asemeja a nuestras aceitunas sevillanas" (Antonio Rodríguez Villa 298). The extensive roots of this tree, the argan, span out in all directions so as to support robust branches that grow up from the ground without a central trunk, and it is added that the inhabitants of the region depend on the abundance of its fruit for their cattle, cooking oil, and other necessities. This account comes from a member of the official entourage of the Spanish ambassador, Jorge Juan, during a six-month state visit in 1767 spent in the company of Juan's Moroccan counterpart, Ahmad bin Mahdi al-Ghazal, or 'El Gazel,' as he was known in Spain. 1 At this moment in history, both nations found sufficient diplomatic cause to reach out across the Strait, and al-Ghazal, for his part, had traveled to Spain the year before, in 1766, with a lavish retinue hosted by Carlos 1 Annotated editions and studies of José Cadalso's Cartas marruecas most often refer to the Moroccan ambassador as Sidi Hamet(e) al-Ghaz(z)al(i), or simply, Sidi Hamet El Gazel. Although subject to variation across historical accounts of Morocco, his complete name, as documented by Thomas K. Park and Aomar Boum 136, was abû al-abbâs aHmad bn al-mahdî al-ghazzâl al-andalusî al-mâlaqî, while in Arabic, the signature of the 1766 al-Ghazal journal in al-Arabi's critical edition with facsimile reads My use of the modern accepted spelling of "al-Ghazal" throughout this paper follows that of Nabil Matar 486-87.