The General Language Of The Country Is Arabic; But In The Inland
Countries, In The Provinces Of Suz, Tafilet, And Gessula, The Ancient
African Language Is Still Spoken.
Those remote districts are now under
the sovereignty of the Emperor of Morocco; but I am told they contain
nothing particularly curious, except an immense number of pelicans and
ostriches, the latter so strong as to be able to carry a man upon
their backs.
I one day saw a Moor riding in a court here upon one,
which he had got from those parts, and tamed for. show.
The Moors write in the manner of the Hebrew language, from right to
left; they are wonderfully expeditious in it, and their seals are very
neat. Public schools have lately been established in all the towns and
villages of these states; but, as the children are taught by their
priests, a set of superstitious and fanatic people, no great benefit,
to change or improve their manners, can accrue from such an
institution.
I believe, in a former letter I told you that the peasantry reside in
tents; I have however observed a few huts built of clay, but very
few. In the centre of both the huts and tents, there is a hole dug in
the ground, where they make a fire, with an outlet in the roof to vent
the smoke. They generally burn wood, or a species of charcoal, in the
preparation of which they contrive to deprive it of the baneful
effects usually experienced from the use of it in England.
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