We must kiss this money." He then put it upon his
head, pressed it to his eyes, and finally kissed it with enthusiasm
as did successively all his brethren.
Then regaining it, he
returned it to me, with a low reverence. Griffiths subsequently
informed me, that the fellow refused to work during all the rest of
the day, and did nothing but smile, laugh, and talk to himself.
"Allow me to offer you a glass of bitters, sir," said the queer-
looking personage before mentioned; he was a corpulent man, very
short, and his legs particularly so. His dress consisted of a
greasy snuff-coloured coat, dirty white trousers, and dirtier
stockings. On his head he wore a rusty silk hat, the eaves of
which had a tendency to turn up before and behind. I had observed
that, during my conversation with the hamalos, he had several times
uplifted his eyes from the newspaper, and on the production of the
shekel had grinned very significantly, and had inspected it when in
the hand of the capitaz. "Allow me to offer you a glass of
bitters," said he; "I guessed you was one of our people before you
spoke to the hamalos. Sir, it does my heart good to see a
gentleman of your appearance not above speaking to his poor
brethren. It is what I do myself not unfrequently, and I hope God
will blot out my name, and that is Solomons, when I despise them.
I do not pretend to much Arabic myself, yet I understood you
tolerably well, and I liked your discourse much. You must have a
great deal of shillam eidri, nevertheless you startled me when you
asked the hamalo if he ever read the Torah; of course you meant
with the meforshim; poor as he is, I do not believe him becoresh
enough to read the Torah without the commentators. So help me,
sir, I believe you to be a Salamancan Jew; I am told there are
still some of the old families to be found there. Ever at Tudela,
sir? not very far from Salamanca, I believe; one of my own kindred
once lived there: a great traveller, sir, like yourself; went over
all the world to look for the Jews, - went to the top of Sinai.
Anything that I can do for you at Gibraltar, sir? Any commission;
will execute it as reasonably, and more expeditiously than any one
else. My name is Solomons. I am tolerably well known at
Gibraltar; yes, sir, and in the Crooked Friars, and, for that
matter, in the Neuen Stein Steg, at Hamburgh; so help me, sir, I
think I once saw your face at the fair at Bremen. Speak German,
sir? though of course you do. Allow me, sir, to offer you a glass
of bitters. I wish, sir, they were mayim, hayim for your sake, I
do indeed, sir, I wish they were living waters. Now, sir, do give
me your opinion as to this matter (lowering his voice and striking
the newspaper). Do you not think it is very hard that one Yudken
should betray the other?
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