"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.
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