As I Passed One Of The Courts Of The Palace Yesterday, A Fellow Was
Receiving Punishment For A Robbery.
The right hand and foot were
severed at the articulation, by a single blow of a large axe; the
stumps were immediately immersed in a vessel of boiling pitch; and in
this miserable condition he was turned about his business.
I once
attended a man who had suffered these amputations; he soon recovered,
and, to my great surprise, instead of sorrowing for his loss, he
skipped about as nimbly as possible, and afterwards enlisted in the
police. After the fellow was turned away yesterday, a peasant, who had
walked nearly two hundred miles, presented himself before the Emperor,
to complain of the Governor of his province, for not having done him
justice in assisting him to recover a debt of about six shillings. The
Emperor listened to his grievance, issued an order to enforce the
payment of the debt, and gave the poor man a sum of money to enable
him to return home.
LETTER XVIII.
_Moorish Character - Form of Devotion - Meals - Revenue - Poll-tax on the
Jews - Royal Carriages - Ostrich-riding - Public Schools - Watch-dogs._
Mequinez.
The established religion of the Moors is Mahometan. Formerly, as well
as at present, women were considered by the Moors as the mere objects
of sensuality, and only esteemed while in full bloom. At the age of
thirty, or at most forty, they were looked upon as an inferior order
of beings, and doomed to the most abject and insupportable slavery:
indeed, the latter circumstance still exists, though considerably
mitigated. No wonder then that the doctrine of Mahomet should be
cordially embraced by a people with whose inclinations it so exactly
coincided. But that part only was adopted, which indulged them in the
gratification of their wishes; that which imposed restraint was
renounced, or only nominally acceded to. And fortunate it certainly is
for the security of the neighbouring countries that they did so; as,
when formerly they were inured from infancy to all the hardships of a
warlike life, and possessed much skill in war, they were undoubtedly
very formidable; but since their conversion to Mahometanism, they have
gradually become inactive, and their natural passion for war and
conquest has changed to absolute effeminacy. The illiterate system of
the Moors has also completely shut the door against the arts and
sciences, and all knowledge of the value of a free and secure
commerce. Yet, notwithstanding this people are no longer either in
appearance or reality those fierce barbarians they once were, nor can
their actions in point of valour bear any comparison with those of
their ancestors, like them they retain a most inveterate antipathy to
all Christians; and a propensity towards cruelty, revenge, rapine, and
murder, still continues to form one of the most prominent features of
their character. However, under the comparatively mild government of
the present Emperor, their behaviour towards Christians has visibly
undergone a favourable change, which would almost persuade some to
indulge a hope of the entire annihilation of their aversion; but I am
sorry to add, that I am not so sanguine, as from accurate observation
I have been led to conclude, that nothing but an immense length of
time can overcome their habitual prejudices and constitutional
inclinations.
The male inhabitants of these states are obliged to attend their
places of public worship four times in the course of twenty-four
hours. The first prayer begins about half an hour before sun-rising,
and is so regulated that they may, just as the sun rises, finish eight
adorations. They pray again at noon, at sun-set, and at midnight: they
are very fervent in their devotions, and always turn their faces
towards the east: they fast three times in a year; the first time
thirty days, the next nine, and the last seven: during these fasts
they abstain from beans, garlic, and some other pulse and
vegetables. They call the Almighty, _God of Gods_, and _Lord of
Lords_; and they all believe that the souls of wicked men will be
punished till a certain period, when they will be received to mercy.
In the morning, after prayer, they drink strong tea, which they prefer
to coffee. At eleven o'clock they, go to dinner, which consists of
fruits, sweetmeats, and their favourite _cous-ca-sou_, piled up in a
large wooden bowl. Their chief meal is after their return from
evening prayer. They eat cakes made of fine wheaten flour; and as they
consider it a crime to cut bread or meat of any kind after it is
dressed, these cakes are made so thin that they may be easily broken
with the hands; and their meat, which is generally mutton or fowls, is
so prepared that they can without difficulty separate it from the
bones with their fingers. They sit cross-legged upon cushions, and
devour their food very greedily and without the least
ceremony. Although sobriety is strictly enjoined by the Mahometan law,
yet the Moorish inhabitants of the principal towns in Barbary make
free with most excellent wines and spirits of their own manufacture.
The revenues of the Emperor have of late augmented prodigiously. He
receives a tenth part of all the property of his Mahometan subjects;
and he compels every Jew residing in his dominions to pay a poll-tax
of six crowns annually. The number of Israelites subject to the
Emperor of Morocco exceeds one hundred thousand. They are strictly
guarded, and cruelly oppressed, and are not permitted to quit the
states without a special leave from the Emperor, to obtain which they
are obliged to pay down a large sum of money.
The authority of the Emperor is unlimited, as is that of his
Governors, who possess a power of life and death. No rank nor
condition of Moors is exempt from taxation, excepting the immediate
princes of the blood, and the _Xeriffes_, which are the only degrees
of nobility the Moors have.
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