I inquired particularly respecting
this project; but Mr. Treppass stated positively, that the French had
wholly abandoned the idea of establishing commercial relations with the
Sheikh of Wadnoun, or any tribes thereabouts, whatever might have been
their original intentions.
Vessels of war have frequently visited the
coast of Wadnoun, finding it the worst in all Africa. They, however, now
maintain friendly relations with the Sheikh, in the event of shipwrecks
or other disasters, happening to French vessels.
Nevertheless, it was at the particular request of the French Consul of
Mogador, that his Government broke off all communications with the
Sheikh, the Emperor having repeatedly complained to the Consul against
this intercourse assuming a commercial or diplomatic character. [34] The
whole coast, from the port of Mogador to the river Senegal, has been,
within the last few years, surveyed by the French vessels of war,
particularly by Captain E. Bouet; and there is sufficient evidence in
the reports of the people, and the remonstrances of the Maroquine
Government, to prove that the French did attempt a settlement on the
part of the coast above stated, but that it failed.
The French took the idea of the undertaking from Davidson, who proposed
to Lord Palmerston to enter into communication with the Sheikh of
Wadnoun, and establish a factory on the coast, somewhere about the river
Noun, just below Cape Noun. A British vessel of war was sent down with
presents for the Sheikh, and to ascertain the whereabout of the fine
harbour reported to exist there by the Sheikh and his people.
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