_Alcasser-Quiber_ Is A Place Of Some Note, Carrying On An Extensive
And Profitable Commerce With Tetuan And Other Places.
The town and its
environs suffer greatly by the occasional overflowing of the river
Luxos, which might however easily
Be remedied; but the Moors have no
notion of altering things; therefore, without endeavouring to secure
themselves from a recurrence of such disasters, they allow their
houses to be filled with water, and themselves to be, not
unfrequently, washed out of them.
This town contains upwards of fifteen hundred families, exclusive of
six hundred Jews, whose quarter is distinct from the Moors. It is
commanded by an Alcaid, subject to the authority of the Governor of
Larache, and ranks among the principal cities of the empire of
Morocco.
LETTER V.
_Leave Larache with an Escort - Curious Custom on returning from
Mecca - Arrive at Tetuan_.
Tetuan.
His Excellency the Governor of Larache being perfectly recovered, I
took my departure from that city. For the sake of novelty, I proposed
returning to Gibraltar, by this route, rather than by Tangiers. I
obtained a letter of recommendation to _Sidy Ash-Ash_, and was
accompanied by a strong guard, provided with a tent, and all other
necessaries for the journey.
On my way hither, I was highly entertained by the Serjeant of the
guard. This man had not long returned from Mecca and Upper Egypt. He
spoke Italian tolerably well, was full of strange notions, and
considered himself quite a superior genius. He told me, that he
expected to be promoted in a very short time, and asked me, whether I
were present at his public entry into the garrison of Larache, on his
return from the sanctuary of Mecca. I smiled, and answered him in the
affirmative. He asked me, why I smiled? "At the novelty of the
exhibition," I replied, "in carrying you to all the mosques, and
afterwards in escorting you in state to your humble habitation." - "It
is but too often the practice," rejoined he, "of petulant infidels to
ridicule us, in the exercise of pious customs and religious duties."
Then spurring his horse, he muttered something abusive, which I
pretended not to hear. However, I found no great difficulty in
appeasing the pious and sanctified serjeant. In short, I dispelled all
his glooms and ill humours, and drowned his scruples, in a cup of port
wine. It is customary among the Moors, when any of them return from
the pilgrimage of Mecca, to go out in great procession to meet the
devout pilgrim, whom some of them carry on their shoulders with great
solemnity through the town and to his own house, where he sits in
state for three days, receiving visits and donations from all classes
of people, who flock with the greatest eagerness to obtain a sight of
him. The conversation was insensibly renewed, and he told me, that of
a company of fifteen pilgrims, who set out for the holy city of Mecca,
he was the sole survivor, the others having all perished in the
deserts. He was the only favoured and true believer that was permitted
to visit the holy sepulchre. He added: "As the dangers attending the
pilgrimage are great and various, does not the happy being, who
returns safe to his native place, deserve the honours and compliments
paid him, for his great perseverance and patience in such a dangerous
undertaking, the success of which is the result of his innate
rectitude?" I gave him to understand that he had made the case
clear. "The French," he continued, "had a design upon the treasures of
Mecca." I agreed that they certainly had; and asked him, by what power
he thought the French army was prevented from possessing itself of
Mecca. "Unquestionably," rejoined he, "by the invincible and invisible
power of our Prophet." In reply to my intimation that it was the
British arms which defeated the French before Acre and Alexandria, and
compelled them to give up the conquest they had made in Egypt, he went
on to say, that "all the great acts of mankind are guided and governed
by a supernatural power. The French were defeated by the English,
because the latter fought under the invincible standard of _Mahomet_;
and so fully convinced are the true believers of this, that we now
consider the English as brethren. I hate the French mortally; they
are a set of bloody impious infidels, and treacherous to a degree; I
would not escort a dog of a Frenchman for all the treasures of the
Emperor; I would rather lose my head than protect one. I fought the
dogs in Egypt; but I took care not to spare one; I laid many of them
in the dust. It behoves every honest Moor to be on his guard against
the intrigues and duplicity of the French. A Moor can certainly face
six of them. The Emperor's troops have more bodily strength than
theirs. By the by, it is whispered about, that they intend paying us a
visit to plunder us, and ravish our fine women. Let them come, we will
meet them, I warrant you, and give them their due. Not one will return
to France to tell his story." I then filled him another cup of port,
to drink destruction to the French, whenever they should attempt
either his shores or ours - and here ended our dialogue. I found him a
_bon-vivant_, willing to overlook certain restrictions of his Prophet,
and to drink his wine like an honest Englishman.
The second day of our journey I had raised his spirits to such a
height, that he wantonly picked a quarrel with the muleteer, and gave
him two or three slight cuts with his sabre, which so much provoked
the honest driver, that, being a stout robust man, he soon dismounted
my hero, and would actually have sent him to the shades below, but for
my interference. When the Serjeant recovered his senses, he was very
much alarmed lest his conduct should be exposed, or reach the ears of
the Governor of Larache.
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