And Groping About, He Laid His Hand Upon My
Shoulder.
As night visitors were at best but suspicious characters, I
sprang up the moment he laid his hand upon
Me; and the Moor, in his haste
to get off, stumbled over my boy, and fell with his face upon the wild
hog, which returned the attack by biting the Moor's arm. The screams of
this man alarmed the people in the king's tent, who immediately
conjectured that I had made my escape, and a number of them mounted their
horses, and prepared to pursue me. I observed upon this occasion that Ali
did not sleep in his own tent, but came galloping upon a white horse from
a small tent at a considerable distance: indeed, the tyrannical and cruel
behaviour of this man made him so jealous of every person around him,
that even his own slaves and domestics knew not where he slept. When the
Moors had explained to him the cause of this outcry, they all went away
and I was permitted to sleep quietly until morning.
March 13th. With the returning day commenced the same round of insult and
irritation: the boys assembled to beat the hog, and the men and women to
plague the Christian. It is impossible for me to describe the behaviour
of a people who study mischief as a science, and exult in the miseries
and misfortunes of their fellow-creatures. It is sufficient to observe
that the rudeness, ferocity, and fanaticism, which distinguish the Moors
from the rest of man-kind, found here a proper subject whereon to
exercise their propensities. I was a _stranger_, I was _unprotected_, and
I was a _Christian_; each of these circumstances is sufficient to drive
every spark of humanity from the heart of a Moor; but when all of them,
as in my case, were combined in the same person, and a suspicion
prevailed withal, that I had come as a _spy_ into the country, the reader
will easily imagine that, in such a situation, I had every thing to fear.
Anxious, however, to conciliate favour, and if possible, to afford the
Moors no pretence for ill-treating me, I readily complied with every
command, and patiently bore every insult; but never did any period of my
life pass away so heavily; from sunrise to sunset was I obliged to
suffer, with an unruffled countenance, the insults of the rudest savages
on earth.
CHAPTER X.
_Various occurrences during the Author's confinement at Benowm - is
visited by some Moorish ladies. - A funeral and wedding. - The Author
receives an extraordinary present from the bride. - Other circumstances
illustrative of the Moorish character and manners._
The Moors, though very indolent themselves, are rigid task-masters, and
keep every person under them in full employment. My boy Demba was sent to
the woods to collect withered grass for Ali's horses; and after a variety
of projects concerning myself, they at last found out an employment for
me; this was no other than the respectable office of _barber_. I was to
make my first exhibition in this capacity in the royal presence, and to
be honoured with the task of shaving the head of the young prince of
Ludamar. I accordingly seated myself upon the sand, and the boy with some
hesitation sat down beside me. A small razor, about three inches long,
was put into my hand, and I was ordered to proceed; but whether from my
own want of skill, or the improper shape of the instrument, I
unfortunately made a slight incision in the boy's head, at the very
commencement of the operation; and the king, observing the awkward manner
in which I held the razor, concluded that his son's head was in very
improper hands, and ordered me to resign the razor, and walk out of the
tent. This I considered as a very fortunate circumstance; for I had laid
it down as a rule, to make myself as useless and insignificant as
possible, as the only means of recovering my liberty.
March 18th. Four Moors arrived from Jarra with Johnson my interpreter,
having seized him before he had received any intimation of my
confinement: and bringing with them a bundle of clothes that I had left
at Daman Jumma's house, for my use in case I should return by the way of
Jarra. Johnson was led into Ali's tent and examined; the bundle was
opened, and I was sent for to explain the use of the different articles.
I was happy, however, to find that Johnson had committed my papers to the
charge of one of Daman's wives. When I had satisfied Ali's curiosity
respecting the different articles of apparel, the bundle was again tied
up, and put in a large cow-skin bag, that stood in a corner of the tent.
The same evening Ali sent three of his people to inform me, that there
were many thieves in the neighbourhood, and that to prevent the rest of
my things from being stolen, it was necessary to convey them all into his
tent. My clothes, instruments, and every thing that belonged to me, were
accordingly carried away; and though the heat and dust made clean linen
very necessary and refreshing, I could not procure a single shirt out of
the small stock I had brought along with me. Ali was however
disappointed, by not finding among my effects the quantity of gold and
amber that he expected; but to make sure of every thing, he sent the same
people on the morning following, to examine whether I had any thing
concealed about my person. They, with their usual rudeness, searched
every part of my apparel, and stripped me of all my gold, amber, my
watch, and one of my pocket compasses; I had fortunately, in the night,
buried the other compass in the sand; and this, with the clothes I had
on, was all that the tyranny of Ali had now left me.
The gold and amber were highly gratifying to Moorish avarice, but the
pocket compass soon became an object of superstitious curiosity.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 40 of 146
Words from 40028 to 41045
of 148366
