Near Mokhfidh sleeps Sidi Gali; but the princ.i.p.al saint of Tangier lies interred on the top of the hill, in the centre of a small plain. A beautiful chapel or mosque, with vaulted roof, is erected there in his honour, which is in general adorned with banners of various dyes. The name of this saint is Mohammed _el Haji_, and his memory is held in the utmost veneration in Tangier and its vicinity. His death occurred at the commencement of the present century.
These details I either gathered at the time or on subsequent occasions.
On the north side of the _soc_, close by the town, is a wall with a gate.
"Come," said the old _mahasni_, giving a flourish with his hand; "come, and I will show you the garden of a Nazarene consul." I followed him through the gate, and found myself in a s.p.a.cious garden laid out in the European taste, and planted with lemon and pear trees, and various kinds of aromatic shrubs. It was, however, evident that the owner chiefly prided himself on his flowers, of which there were numerous beds. There was a handsome summer-house, and art seemed to have exhausted itself in making the place complete.
One thing was wanting, and its absence was strangely remarkable in a garden at this time of the year; scarcely a leaf was to be seen. The direst of all the plagues which devastated Egypt was now busy in this part of Africa-the locust was at work, and in no place more fiercely than in the particular spot where I was now standing. All around looked blasted. The trees were brown and bald as in winter. Nothing green save the fruits, especially the grapes, huge cl.u.s.ters of which were depending from the _parras_; for the locust touches not the fruit whilst a single leaf remains to be devoured. As we pa.s.sed along the walks, these horrible insects flew against us in every direction, and perished by hundreds beneath our feet. "See the _ayanas_," said the old _mahasni_, "and hear them eating. Powerful is the _ayana_, more powerful than the sultan or the consul. Should the sultan send all his _makhasniah_ against the _ayana_, should he send me with them, the _ayana_ would say, "Ha! ha!" Powerful is the _ayana_! He fears not the consul. A few weeks ago the consul said, "I am stronger than the _ayana_, and I will extirpate him from the land." So he shouted through the city, "O Tangerines! speed forth to fight the _ayana_,-destroy him in the egg; for know that whosoever shall bring me one pound weight of the eggs of the _ayana_, unto him will I give five _reals_ of Spain; there shall be no _ayanas_ this year." So all Tangier rushed forth to fight the _ayana_, and to collect the eggs which the _ayana_ had laid to hatch beneath the sand on the sides of the hills, and in the roads, and in the plains. And my own child, who is seven years old, went forth to fight the _ayana_, and he alone collected eggs to the weight of five pounds, eggs which the _ayana_ had placed beneath the sand, and he carried them to the consul, and the consul paid the price. And hundreds carried eggs to the consul, more or less, and the consul paid them the price, and in less than three days the treasure chest of the consul was exhausted. And then he cried, "Desist, O Tangerines! perhaps we have destroyed the _ayana_, perhaps we have destroyed them all!" Ha! ha! Look around you, and beneath you, and above you, and tell me whether the consul has destroyed the _ayana_. Oh, powerful is the _ayana_! More powerful than the consul, more powerful than the sultan and all his armies." {364}
It will be as well to observe here, that within a week from this time all the locusts had disappeared, no one knew how-only a few stragglers remained. But for this providential deliverance, the fields and gardens in the vicinity of Tangier would have been totally devastated. These insects were of an immense size, and of a loathly appearance.
We now pa.s.sed over the _soc_ to the opposite side, where stand the huts of the guardians. Here a species of lane presents itself, which descends to the seash.o.r.e; it is deep and precipitous, and resembles a gully or ravine. The banks on either side are covered with the tree which bears the p.r.i.c.kly fig, called in Moorish, _Kermous del Inde_. {365} There is something wild and grotesque in the appearance of this tree or plant, for I know not which to call it. Its stem, though frequently of the thickness of a man"s body, has no head, but divides itself, at a short distance from the ground, into many crooked branches, which shoot in all directions, and bear green and uncouth leaves, about half an inch in thickness, and which, if they resemble anything, present the appearance of the fore fins of a seal, and consist of mult.i.tudinous fibres. The fruit, which somewhat resembles a pear, has a rough tegument covered with minute p.r.i.c.kles, which instantly enter the hand which touches them, however slightly, and are very difficult to extract. I never remember to have seen vegetation in ranker luxuriance than that which these fig-trees exhibited, nor upon the whole a more singular spot. "Follow me," said the _mahasni_, "and I will show you something which you will like to see." So he turned to the left, leading the way by a narrow path up the steep bank, till we reached the summit of a hillock, separated by a deep ditch from the wall of Tangier. The ground was thickly covered with the trees already described, which spread their strange arms along the surface, and whose thick leaves crushed beneath our feet as we walked along. Amongst them I observed a large number of stone slabs lying horizontally; they were rudely scrawled over with odd characters, which stooped down to inspect. "Are you _talib_ enough read those signs?"
exclaimed the old Moor. "They are letters of the accursed Jews; this is their _mearrah_, as they call it, and here they inter their dead. Fools, they trust in Muza, when they might believe in Mohammed, and therefore their dead shall burn everlastingly in _Jehinnim_. See, my sultan, how fat is the soil of this _mearrah_ of the Jews; see what _kermous_ grow here. When I was a boy I often came to the _mearrah_ of the Jews to eat _kermous_ in the season of their ripeness. The Moslem boys of Tangier love the _kermous_ of the _mearrah_ of the Jews; but the Jews will not gather them. They say that the waters of the springs which nourish the roots of these trees pa.s.s among the bodies of their dead, and for that reason it is an abomination to taste of these fruits. Be this true, or be it not, one thing is certain, in whatever manner nourished, good are the _kermous_ which grow in the _mearrah_ of the Jews."
We returned to the lane by the same path by which we had come: as we were descending it he said, "Know, my sultan, that the name of the place where we now are, and which you say you like much, is Dar-sinah. {367a} You will ask me why it bears that name, as you see neither house nor man, neither Moslem, Nazarene, nor Jew, only our two selves; I will tell you, my sultan, for who can tell you better than myself? Learn, I pray you, that Tangier was not always what it is now, nor did it occupy always the place which it does now. It stood yonder (pointing to the east) on those hills above the sh.o.r.e, and ruins of houses are still to be seen there, and the spot is called Old Tangier. So in the old time, as I have heard say, this Dar-sinah was a street, whether without or within the wall matters not, and there resided men of all trades; smiths of gold, and silver, and iron, and tin, and artificers of all kinds. You had only to go to the Dar-sinah if you wished for any thing wrought, and there instantly you would find a master of the particular craft. My sultan tells me he likes the look of Dar-sinah at the present day; truly I know not why, especially as the _kermous_ are not yet in their ripeness, nor fit to eat. If he likes Dar-sinah now, how would my sultan have liked it in the old time, when it was filled with gold and silver, and iron and tin, and was noisy with the hammers, and the masters and the cunning men?
We are now arrived at the _Chali del Bahar_. {367b} Take care, my sultan, we tread upon bones."
We had emerged from the Dar-sinah, and the seash.o.r.e was before us; on a sudden we found ourselves amongst a mult.i.tude of bones of all kinds of animals, and seemingly of all dates; some being blanched with time and exposure to sun and wind, whilst to others the flesh still partly clung; whole carcases were here, horses, a.s.ses, and even the uncouth remains of a camel. Gaunt dogs were busy here, growling, tearing, and gnawing; amongst whom, unintimidated, stalked the carrion vulture, fiercely battening and even disputing with the brutes the garbage; whilst the crow hovered overhead, and croaked wistfully, or occasionally perched upon some upturned rib bone. "See," said the _mahasni_, "the _kawar_ of the animals. My sultan has seen the _kawar_ of the Moslems and the _mearrah_ of the Jews; and he sees here the _kawar_ of the animals. All the animals which die in Tangier by the hand of G.o.d-horse, dog, or camel-are brought to this spot, and here they putrefy or are devoured by the birds of the heaven or the wild creatures that prowl on the _chali_. Come, my sultan, it is not good to remain long in this place."
We were preparing to leave the spot, when we heard a galloping down the Dar-sinah, and presently a horse and rider darted at full speed from the mouth of the lane and appeared upon the strand: the horseman, when he saw us, pulled up his steed with much difficulty, and joined us. The horse was small but beautiful, a sorrel with long mane and tail; had he been hoodwinked he might perhaps have been mistaken for a Cordovese _jaca_; he was broad-chested, and rotund in his hind quarters, and possessed much of the plumpness and sleekness which distinguish that breed, but looking in his eyes you would have been undeceived in a moment; a wild savage fire darted from the restless...o...b.., and so far from exhibiting the docility of the other n.o.ble and loyal animal, he occasionally plunged desperately, and could scarcely be restrained by a strong curb and powerful arm from resuming his former head-long course. The rider was a youth, apparently about eighteen, dressed as a European, with a _montero_ cap on his head: he was athletically built, but with lengthy limbs, his feet, for he rode without stirrups or saddle, reaching almost to the ground; his complexion was almost as dark as that of a Mulatto; his features very handsome, the eyes particularly so, but filled with an expression which was bold and bad; and there was a disgusting look of sensuality about the mouth. He addressed a few words to the _mahasni_, with whom he seemed to be well acquainted, inquiring who I was. The old man answered, "O Jew, my sultan understands our speech, thou hadst better address thyself to him." The lad then spoke to me in Arabic, but almost instantly dropping that language, proceeded to discourse in tolerable French. "I suppose you are French," said he with much familiarity; "shall you stay long in Tangier?"
Having received an answer, he proceeded, "as you are an Englishman, you are doubtless fond of horses; know, therefore, whenever you are disposed for a ride, I will accompany you, and procure you horses. My name is Ephraim Fragey: I am stable-boy to the Neapolitan consul, who prizes himself upon possessing the best horses in Tangier; you shall mount any you please. Would you like to try this little _aoud_?" I thanked him, but declined his offer for the present, asking him at the same time how he had acquired the French language, and why he, a Jew, did not appear in the dress of his brethren? "I am in the service of a consul," said he, "and my master obtained permission that I might dress myself in this manner; and as to speaking French, I have been to Ma.r.s.eilles and Naples, to which last place I conveyed horses, presents from the sultan. Besides French, I can speak Italian." He then dismounted, and holding the horse firmly by the bridle with one hand, proceeded to undress himself, which having accomplished, he mounted the animal and rode into the water. The skin of his body was much akin in colour to that of a frog or toad, but the frame was that of a young t.i.tan. The horse took to the water with great unwillingness, and at a small distance from the sh.o.r.e commenced struggling with his rider, whom he twice dashed from his back; the lad, however, clung to the bridle, and detained the animal. All his efforts, however, being unavailing to ride him deeper in, he fell to washing him strenuously with his hands, then leading him out, he dressed himself and returned by the way he came.
"Good are the horses of the Moslems," said my old friend; "where will you find such? They will descend rocky mountains at full speed and neither trip nor fall; but you must be cautious with the horses of the Moslems, and treat them with kindness, for the horses of the Moslems are proud, and they like not being slaves. When they are young and first mounted, jerk not their mouths with your bit, for be sure if you do they will kill you; sooner or later, you will perish beneath their feet. Good are our horses, and good our riders, yea, very good are the Moslems at mounting the horse; who are like them? I once saw a Frank rider compete with a Moslem on this beach, and at first the Frank rider had it all his own way, and he pa.s.sed the Moslem, but the course was long, very long, and the horse of the Frank rider, which was a Frank also, panted; but the horse of the Moslem panted not, for he was a Moslem also, and the Moslem rider at last gave a cry and the horse sprang forward and he overtook the Frank horse, and then the Moslem rider stood up in his saddle. How did he stand? Truly he stood on his head, and these eyes saw him; he stood on his head in the saddle as he pa.s.sed the Frank rider; and he cried ha!
ha! as he pa.s.sed the Frank rider; and the Moslem horse cried ha! ha! as he pa.s.sed the Frank breed, and the Frank lost by a far distance. Good are the Franks; good their horses; but better are the Moslems, and better are the horses of the Moslems."
We now directed our steps towards the town, but not by the path we came: turning to the left under the hill of the _mearrah_, and along the strand, we soon came to a rudely-paved way with a steep ascent, which wound beneath the wall of the town to a gate, before which, on one side, were various little pits like graves, filled with water or lime. "This is Dar-dwag," said the _mahasni_; "this is the house of the bark, and to this house are brought the hides; all those which are prepared for use in Tangier are brought to this house, and here they are cured with lime, and bran, and bark, and herbs. And in this Dar-dwag there are one hundred and forty pits; I have counted them myself; and there were more which have now ceased to be, for the place is very ancient. And these pits are hired not by one, nor by two, but by many people, and whosoever list can rent one of these pits and cure the hides which he may need; but the owner of all is one man, and his name is Cado Ableque. And now my sultan has seen the house of the bark, and I will show him nothing more this day; for to-day is _Youm al Jumal_, {372} and the gates will be presently shut whilst the Moslems perform their devotions. So I will accompany my sultan to the guest house, and there I will leave him for the present."
We accordingly pa.s.sed through a gate, and ascending a street found ourselves before the mosque where I had stood in the morning; in another minute or two we were at the door of Joanna Correa. I now offered my kind guide a piece of silver as a remuneration for his trouble, whereupon he drew himself up and said-
"The silver of my sultan I will not take, for I consider that I have done nothing to deserve it. We have not yet visited all the wonderful things of this blessed town. On a future day I will conduct my sultan to the castle of the governor, and to other places which my sultan will be glad to see; and when we have seen all we can, and my sultan is content with me, if at any time he see me in the _soc_ of a morning, with my basket in my hand, and he see nothing in that basket, then is my sultan at liberty as a friend to put grapes in my basket, or bread in my basket, or fish or meat in my basket. That will I not refuse of my sultan, when I shall have done more for him than I have now. But the silver of my sultan will I not take now nor at any time." He then waved his hand gently, and departed.
CHAPTER LVII.
Strange Trio-The Mulatto-The Peace-offering-Moors of Granada-Vive la Guadeloupe-The Moors-Pascual Fava-Blind Algerine-The Retreat.
Three men were seated in the _wustuddur_ of Joanna Correa, when I entered; singular-looking men they all were, though perhaps three were never gathered together more unlike to each other in all points. The first on whom I cast my eye was a man about sixty, dressed in a grey kerseymere coat with short lappets, yellow waistcoat, and wide coa.r.s.e canvas trousers; upon his head was a very broad dirty straw hat, and in his hand he held a thick cane with ivory handle; his eyes were bleared and squinting, his face rubicund, and his nose much carbuncled. Beside him sat a good-looking black, who perhaps appeared more negro than he really was, from the circ.u.mstance of his being dressed in spotless white jean-jerkin, waistcoat, and pantaloons being all of that material: his head gear consisted of a blue _montero_ cap. His eyes sparkled like diamonds, and there was an indescribable expression of good humour and fun upon his countenance. The third man was a Mulatto, and by far the most remarkable personage of the group: he might be between thirty and forty; his body was very long, and, though uncouthly put together, exhibited every mark of strength and vigour; it was cased in a _ferioul_ of red wool, a kind of garment which descends below the hips. His long, muscular, and hairy arms were naked from the elbow, where the sleeves of the _ferioul_ terminate; his under limbs were short in comparison with his body and arms; his legs were bare, but he wore blue _kandrisa_ as far as the knee; every feature of his face was ugly, exceedingly and bitterly ugly, and one of his eyes was sightless, being covered with a white film.
By his side on the ground was a large barrel, seemingly a water-cask, which he occasionally seized with a finger and thumb, and waved over his head as if it had been a quart pot. Such was the trio who now occupied the _wustuddur_ of Joanna Correa: and I had scarcely time to remark what I have just recorded, when that good lady entered from a back court with her handmaid Johar, or the pearl, an ugly fat Jewish girl with an immense mole on her cheek.
"_Que Dios remate tu nombre_," exclaimed the Mulatto; "may Allah blot out your name, Joanna, and may he likewise blot out that of your maid Johar.
It is more than fifteen minutes that I have been seated here, after having poured out into the _tinaja_ the water which I brought from the fountain, and during all that time I have waited in vain for one single word of civility from yourself or from Johar. _Usted no tiene modo_, you have no manner with you, nor more has Johar. This is the only house in Tangier where I am not received with fitting love and respect, and yet I have done more for you than for any other person. Have I not filled your _tinaja_ with water when other people have gone without a drop? When even the consul and the interpreter of the consul had no water to slake their thirst, have you not had enough to wash your _wustuddur_? And what is my return? When I arrive in the heat of the day, I have not one kind word spoken to me, nor so much as a gla.s.s of _makhiah_ offered to me; must I tell you all that I do for you, Joanna? Truly I must, for you have no manner with you. Do I not come every morning just at the third hour; and do I not knock at your door; and do you not arise and let me in, and then do I not knead your bread in your presence, whilst you lie in bed, and because I knead it is not yours the best bread in Tangier?
For am I not the strongest man in Tangier, and the most n.o.ble also?"
Here he brandished his barrel over his head, and his face looked almost demoniacal. "Hear me, Joanna," he continued, "you know that I am the strongest man in Tangier, and I tell you again for the thousandth time, that I am the most n.o.ble. Who are the consuls? Who is the Pasha? They are Pashas and consuls now, but who were their fathers? I know not, nor do they. But do I not know who _my_ fathers; were? Were they not Moors of Garnata (_Granada_), {375} and is it not on that account that I am the strongest man in Tangier? Yes, I am of the old Moors of Garnata, and my family has lived here, as is well known, since Garnata was lost to the Nazarenes, and now I am the only one of my family of the blood of the old Moors in all this land, and on that account I am of n.o.bler blood than the sultan, for the sultan is not of the blood of the Moors of Garnata. Do you laugh, Joanna? Does your maid Johar laugh? Am I not Hammin Widdir, _el hombre mas valido de Tanger_? {376a} And is it not true that I am of the blood of the Moors of Garnata? Deny it, and I will kill you both, you and your maid Johar."
"You have been eating _hsheesh_ and _majoon_, Hammin," said Joanna Correa, "and the _Shaitan_ has entered into you, as he but too frequently does. I have been busy, and so has Johar, or we should have spoken to you before; however, _ma ydoorshee_, {376b} I know how to pacify you now and at all times; will you take some gin-bitters, or a gla.s.s of common _makhiah_?"
"May you burst, O Joanna," said the Mulatto, "and may Johar also burst; I mean, may you both live many years, and know neither pain nor sorrow. I will take the gin-bitters, O Joanna, because they are stronger than the _makhiah_, which always appears to me like water; and I like not water, though I carry it. Many thanks to you, Joanna; here is health to you, Joanna, and to this good company."
She had handed him a large tumbler filled to the brim; he put it to his nostrils, snuffed in the flavour, and then, applying it to his mouth, removed it not whilst one drop of the fluid remained. His features gradually relaxed from their former angry expression, and looking particularly amiable at Joanna, he at last said-
"I hope that within a little time, O Joanna, you will be persuaded that I am the strongest man in Tangier, and that I am sprung from the blood of the Moors of Garnata, as then you will no longer refuse to take me for a husband, you and your maid Johar, and to become Moors. What a glory to you, after having been married to a _Genoui_, and given birth to _Genouillos_, to receive for husband a Moor like me, and to bear him children of the blood of Garnata! What a glory, too, for Johar!-how much better than to marry a vile Jew, even like Hayim Ben Attar, or your cook Sabia, both of whom I could strangle with two fingers, for am I not Hammin Widdir, _Moro de Garnata_, _el hombre mas valido de Tanger_?" He then shouldered his barrel and departed.
"Is that Mulatto really what he pretends to be?" said I to Joanna; "is he a descendant of the Moors of Granada?"
"He always talks about the Moors of Granada, when he is mad with _majoon_ or _aguardiente_," interrupted, in bad French, the old man whom I have before described, and in the same croaking voice which I had heard chanting in the morning. "Nevertheless it may be true, and if he had not heard something of the kind from his parents, he would never have imagined such a thing, for he is too stupid. As I said before, it is by no means impossible: many of the families of Granada settled down here when their town was taken by the Christians, but the greater part went to Tunis. When I was there, I lodged in the house of a Moor who called himself Zegri, {378} and was always talking of Granada and the things which his forefathers had done there. He would moreover sit for hours singing romances of which I understood not one word, praised be the Mother of G.o.d, but which he said all related to his family: there were hundreds of that name in Tunis, therefore why should not this Hammin, this drunken water-carrier, be a Moor of Granada also? He is ugly enough to be emperor of all the Moors. Oh, the accursed _canaille_! I have lived amongst them for my sins these eight years, at Oran and here.
_Monsieur_, do you not consider it to be a hard case for an old man like myself, who am a Christian, to live amongst a race who know not G.o.d, nor Christ, nor anything holy?"
"What do you mean?" said I, "by a.s.serting that the Moors know not G.o.d?
There is no people in the world who entertain sublimer notions of the uncreated eternal G.o.d than the Moors, and no people have ever shown themselves more zealous for His honour and glory: their very zeal for the glory of G.o.d has been and is the chief obstacle to their becoming Christians. They are afraid of compromising His dignity by supposing that He ever condescended to become man. And with respect to Christ, their ideas even of Him are much more just than those of the Papists; they say He is a mighty prophet, whilst, according to the others, He is either a piece of bread, or a helpless infant. In many points of religion the Moors are wrong, dreadfully wrong; but are the Papists less so? And one of their practices sets them immeasurably below the Moors in the eyes of any unprejudiced person: they bow down to idols, Christian idols if you like, but idols still, things graven of wood, and stone, and bra.s.s; and from these things, which can neither hear, nor speak, nor feel, they ask and expect to obtain favours."
"_Vive la France_, _Vive la Guadeloupe_!" said the black, with a good French accent. "In France and in Guadeloupe there is no superst.i.tion, and they pay as much regard to the Bible as to the Koran; I am now learning to read, in order that I may understand the writings of Voltaire, who, as I am told, has proved that both the one and the other were written with the sole intention of deceiving mankind. _O_, _vive la France_! where will you find such an enlightened country as France; and where will you find such a plentiful country as France? Only one in the world, and that is Guadeloupe. Is it not so, Monsieur Pascual? Were you ever at Ma.r.s.eilles? _Ah quel bon pays est celui-la pour les vivres_, _pour les pet.i.ts poulets_, _pour les poulardes_, _pour les perdrix_, _pour les perdreaux_, _pour les alouettes_, _pour les beca.s.ses_, _pour les beca.s.sines_, _enfin_, _pour tout_."
"Pray, sir, are you a cook?" demanded I.
"_Monsieur_, _je le suis pour vous rendre service_, _mon nom c"est Gerard_, _et j"ai l"honneur d"etre chef de cuisine chez monsieur le consul Hollandois_. _A present je prie permission de vous saluer_; _il faut que j"aille a la maison pour faire le diner de mon maitre_."
At four I went to dine with the British consul. Two other English gentlemen were present, who had arrived at Tangier from Gibraltar about ten days previously for a short excursion, and were now detained longer than they wished by the Levant wind. They had already visited the princ.i.p.al towns in Spain, and proposed spending the winter either at Cadiz or Seville. One of them, Mr. ---, struck me as being one of the most remarkable men I had ever conversed with: he travelled not for diversion nor instigated by curiosity, but merely with the hope of doing spiritual good, chiefly by conversation. The consul soon asked me what I thought of the Moors and their country. I told him that what I had hitherto seen of both highly pleased me. He said that were I to live amongst them ten years, as he had done, he believed I should entertain a very different opinion; that no people in the world were more false and cruel; that their government was one of the vilest description, with which it was next to an impossibility for any foreign power to hold amicable relations, as it invariably acted with bad faith, and set at nought the most solemn treaties. That British property and interests were every day subjected to ruin and spoliation, and British subjects exposed to unheard-of vexations, without the slightest hope of redress being offered, save recourse was had to force, the only argument to which the Moors were accessible. He added, that towards the end of the preceding year an atrocious murder had been perpetrated in Tangier: a Genoese family of three individuals had perished, all of whom were British subjects, and ent.i.tled to the protection of the British flag.
The murderers were known, and the princ.i.p.al one was even now in prison for the fact; yet all attempts to bring him to condign punishment had hitherto proved abortive, as he was a Moor, and his victims Christians.
Finally, he cautioned me not to take walks beyond the wall unaccompanied by a soldier, whom he offered to provide for me should I desire it, as otherwise I incurred great risk of being ill-treated by the Moors of the interior, whom I might meet, or perhaps murdered; and he instanced the case of a British officer who not long since had been murdered on the beach for no other reason than being a Nazarene, and appearing in a Nazarene dress. He at length introduced the subject of the Gospel, and I was pleased to learn that, during his residence in Tangier, he had distributed a considerable quant.i.ty of Bibles amongst the natives in the Arabic language, and that many of the learned men, or _talibs_, had read the holy volume with great interest, and that by this distribution, which, it is true, was effected with much caution, no angry or unpleasant feeling had been excited. He finally asked whether I had come with the intention of circulating the Scripture amongst the Moors.
I replied that I had no opportunity of doing so, as I had not one single copy either in the Arabic language or character. That the few Testaments which were in my possession were in the Spanish language, and were intended for circulation amongst the Christians of Tangier, to whom they might be serviceable, as they all understood the language.
It was night, and I was seated in the _wustuddur_ of Joanna Correa, in company with Pascual Fava, the Genoese. The old man"s favourite subject of discourse appeared to be religion, and he professed unbounded love for the Saviour, and the deepest sense of grat.i.tude for his miraculous atonement for the sins of mankind. I should have listened to him with pleasure had he not smelt very strongly of liquor, and by certain incoherences of language and wildness of manner given indications of being in some degree the worse for it. Suddenly two figures appeared beneath the doorway; one was that of a bareheaded and bare-legged Moorish boy of about ten years of age, dressed in a _gelaba_. He guided by the hand an old man, whom I at once recognized as one of the Algerines, the good Moslems of whom the old _mahasni_ had spoken in terms of praise in the morning whilst we ascended the street of the Siarrin. He was very short of stature and dirty in his dress; the lower part of his face was covered with a stubbly white beard; before his eyes he wore a large pair of spectacles, from which he evidently received but little benefit, as he required the a.s.sistance of the guide at every step. The two advanced a little way into the _wustuddur_, and there stopped. Pascual Fava no sooner beheld them, than a.s.suming a jovial air he started nimbly up, and leaning on his stick, for he had a bent leg, limped to a cupboard, out of which he took a bottle and poured out a gla.s.s of wine, singing in the broken kind of Spanish used by the Moors of the coast-
"Argelino, Moro fino, No beber vino, Ni comer tocino." {382}
He then handed the wine to the old Moor, who drank it off, and then, led by the boy, made for the door without saying a word.
"_Hade mushe halal_," {383a} said I to him with a loud voice.
"_Cul shee halal_," {383b} said the old Moor, turning his sightless and spectacled eyes in the direction from which my voice reached him. "Of everything which G.o.d has given, it is lawful for the children of G.o.d to partake."
"Who is that old man?" said I to Pascual Fava, after the blind and the leader of the blind had departed. "Who is he!" said Pascual; "who is he!
He is a merchant now, and keeps a shop in the Siarrin, but there was a time when no bloodier pirate sailed out of Algier. That old blind wretch has cut more throats than he has hairs in his beard. Before the French took the place he was the _rais_ or captain of a frigate, and many was the poor Sardinian vessel which fell into his hands. After that affair he fled to Tangier, and it is said that he brought with him a great part of the booty which he had ama.s.sed in former times. Many other Algerines came hither also, or to Tetuan, but he is the strangest guest of them all. He keeps occasionally very extraordinary company for a Moor, and is rather over-intimate with the Jews. Well, that"s no business of mine; only let him look to himself. If the Moors should once suspect him, it were all over with him. Moors and Jews, Jews and Moors! Oh my poor sins, my poor sins, that brought me to live amongst them!-
""Ave maris stella, Dei Mater alma, Atque semper virgo, Felix cli porta!"" {383c}
He was proceeding in this manner when I was startled by the sound of a musket.
"That is the retreat," said Pascual Fava. "It is fired every night in the _soc_ at half-past eight, and it is the signal for suspending all business, and shutting up. I am now going to close the doors, and whosoever knocks, I shall not admit them till I know their voice. Since the murder of the poor Genoese last year, we have all been particularly cautious."
Thus had pa.s.sed Friday, the sacred day of the Moslems, and the first which I had spent in Tangier. I observed that the Moors followed their occupations as if the day had nothing particular in it. Between twelve and one, the hour of prayer in the mosque, the gates of the town were closed, and no one permitted either to enter or go out. There is a tradition current amongst them, that on this day, and at this hour, their eternal enemies, the Nazarenes, will arrive to take possession of their country; on which account they hold themselves prepared against a surprisal.
GLOSSARY.