Observe Those Two
Men, They Are Algerines And Good Moslems; They Fled From Zair
(Algiers) When The Nazarenes Conquered It, Not By Force Of
Fighting, Not By Valour, As You May Well Suppose, But By Gold; The
Nazarenes Only Conquer By Gold.
The Moor is good, the Moor is
strong, who so good and strong?
But he fights not with gold, and
therefore he lost Zair.
"Observe you those men seated on the benches by those portals:
they are Mahasniah, they are my brethren. See their haiks how
white, see their turbans how white. O that you could see their
swords in the day of war, for bright, bright are their swords. Now
they bear no swords. Wherefore should they? Is there not peace in
the land? See you him in the shop opposite? That is the Pasha of
Tangier, that is the Hamed Sin Samani, the under Pasha of Tangier;
the elder Pasha, my lord, is away on a journey; may Allah send him
a safe return. Yes, that is Hamed; he sits in his hanutz as were
he nought more than a merchant, yet life and death are in his
hands. There he dispenses justice, even as he dispenses the
essence of the rose and cochineal, and powder of cannon and
sulphur; and these two last he sells on the account of Abderrahman,
my lord and sultan, for none can sell powder and the sulphur dust
in his land but the sultan. Should you wish to purchase atar del
nuar, should you wish to purchase the essence of the rose, you must
go to the hanutz of Sin Samani, for there only you will get it
pure; you must receive it from no common Moor, but only from Hamed.
May Allah bless Hamed. The Mahasniah, my brethren, wait to do his
orders, for wherever sits the Pasha, there is a hall of judgment.
See, now we are opposite the bazaar; beneath yon gate is the court
of the bazaar; what will you not find in that bazaar? Silks from
Fez you will find there; and if you wish for sibat, if you wish for
slippers for your feet, you must seek them there, and there also
are sold curious things from the towns of the Nazarenes. Those
large houses on our left are habitations of Nazarene consuls; you
have seen many such in your own land, therefore why should you stay
to look at them? Do you not admire this street of the Siarrin?
Whatever enters or goes out of Tangier by the land passes through
this street. Oh, the riches that pass through this street! Behold
those camels, what a long train; twenty, thirty, a whole cafila
descending the street. Wullah! I know those camels, I know the
driver. Good day, O Sidi Hassim, in how many days from Fez? And
now we are arrived at the wall, and we must pass under this gate.
This gate is called Bab del Faz; we are now in the Soc de Barra."
The Soc de Barra is an open place beyond the upper wall of Tangier,
on the side of the hill. The ground is irregular and steep; there
are, however, some tolerably level spots. In this place, every
Thursday and Sunday morning, a species of mart is held, on which
account it is called Soc de Barra, or the outward market-place.
Here and there, near the town ditch, are subterranean pits with
small orifices, about the circumference of a chimney, which are
generally covered with a large stone, or stuffed with straw. These
pits are granaries, in which wheat, barley, and other species of
grain intended for sale are stored. On one side are two or three
rude huts, or rather sheds, beneath which keep watch the guardians
of the corn. It is very dangerous to pass over this hill at night,
after the town gates are closed, as at that time numerous large and
ferocious dogs are let loose, who would to a certainty pull down,
and perhaps destroy, any stranger who should draw nigh. Half way
up the hill are seen four white walls, inclosing a spot about ten
feet square, where rest the bones of Sidi Mokhfidh, a saint of
celebrity, who died some fifteen years ago. Here terminates the
soc; the remainder of the hill is called El Kawar, or the place of
graves, being the common burying ground of Tangier; the resting
places of the dead are severally distinguished by a few stones
arranged so as to form an oblong circle. Near Mokhfidh sleeps Sidi
Gali; but the principal 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 Hadge, 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
spacious 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
summerhouse, 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.
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