Presently A
Face Peered In At The Opening, Strange And Wild.
I was half
asleep, and at first imagined I was dreaming, for the face seemed
more like that of
A goat or an orge than of a human being; its long
beard almost touching my face as I lay extended in a kind of berth.
Starting up, however, I recognised the singular-looking Jew whom I
had seen in the company of Judah Lib. He recognised me also, and
nodding, bent his huge features into a smile. I arose and went
upon deck, where I found him in company with another Jew, a young
man in the dress of Barbary. They had just arrived in the boat. I
asked my friend of the beard who he was, from whence he came, and
where he was going? He answered, in broken Portuguese, that he was
returning from Lisbon, where he had been on business, to Mogadore,
of which place he was a native. He then looked me in the face and
smiled, and taking out a book from his pocket, in Hebrew
characters, fell to reading it; whereupon a Spanish sailor on board
observed that with such a beard and book he must needs be a sabio,
or sage. His companion was from Mequinez, and spoke only Arabic.
A large boat now drew nigh, the stern of which was filled with
Moors; there might be about twelve, and the greater part evidently
consisted of persons of distinction, as they were dressed in all
the pomp and gallantry of the East, with snow-white turbans,
jabadores of green silk or scarlet cloth, and bedeyas rich with
gold galloon. Some of them were exceedingly fine men, and two
amongst them, youths, were strikingly handsome, and so far from
exhibiting the dark swarthy countenance of Moors in general, their
complexions were of a delicate red and white. The principal
personage, and to whom all the rest paid much deference, was a tall
athletic man of about forty. He wore a vest of white quilted
cotton, and white kandrisa, whilst gracefully wound round his body,
and swathing the upper part of his head, was the balk, or white
flannel wrapping plaid always held in so much estimation by the
Moors from the earliest period of their history. His legs were
bare and his feet only protected from the ground by yellow
slippers. He displayed no farther ornament than one large gold
ear-ring, from which depended a pearl, evidently of great price. A
noble black beard, about a foot in length, touched his muscular
breast. His features were good, with the exception of the eyes,
which were somewhat small; their expression, however, was, evil;
their glances were sullen; and malignity and ill-nature were
painted in every lineament of his countenance, which seemed never
to have been brightened with a smile. The Spanish sailor, of whom
I have already had occasion to speak, informed me in a whisper,
that he was a santuron, or big saint, and was so far back on his
way from Mecca; adding, that he was a merchant of immense wealth.
It soon appeared that the other Moors had merely attended him on
board through friendly politeness, as they all successively came to
bid him adieu, with the exception of two blacks, who were his
attendants.
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