We Returned, Through Several
Intricate Streets, To The Jews' Quarters, Much Fatigued, And Worried
With The Impertinence And Curiosity Of The Inhabitants.
LETTER VIII.
_Tetuan - The Jews much oppressed there - particularly the
Females - Costume - Singularity of the Streets in the Jewish
Town - Ceuta - Would be invaluable to England - Melilla - Summoned to
visit the Emperor._
Tetuan, - - 1806.
There is little that is remarkable in this town, beside what I
mentioned in my last. It is distant twenty miles from _Ceuta_, a
Spanish fortress, and twelve from the Mediterranean, and is nearly
opposite to the rock of Gibraltar. It has a good trade, and contains
about eighty thousand inhabitants, twenty thousand of which are Jews,
said to be very rich. The Jews are tolerably civilized in their
manners, but are dreadfully oppressed by the Moors. Seldom a day
passes but some gross outrage or violence is offered to the Jewish
women, the generality of whom are very handsome, though their dress is
by no means calculated to set off, but rather to detract from, their
beauty.
Men, women, and children, still preserve the same costume as in the
time of Moses. You cannot conceive any thing more ridiculous than the
_tout ensemble_ of a Barbary Jewess in full dress. Every part of her
apparel is rich, but is so heavy, that, to an European, nothing can
appear more awkward and unbecoming. The Jewish ladies wear immense
ear-rings. I have observed several full twelve inches in
circumference, and of a proportionate thickness; and a few ornaments
being affixed to the ear-ring, I leave you to judge what materials
their ears must be made of, to bear such a weighty appendage.
The Jewish town is quite distinct from that of the Moors; but the
difference between them is very little: the streets are equally narrow
and dirty, and the houses have no windows on the outside; the roofs
are also quite flat; the only variation is, that the streets are
covered with a roof extending from the houses on each side, and have
the appearance of subterraneous passages. There is a regular
communication between the houses at the top, which is the favourite
scene of recreation. Some of the women scarcely ever take the air,
excepting on these flat roofs: in short, the inhabitants, both Jews
and Moors, dance, sing, and take all their amusements on them. The
rooms of the Jewish houses (as well as of the Moors) are long, narrow,
and lofty, resembling galleries. Most of the houses are occupied by
several families, which are generally large. Those inhabited by the
more opulent are kept tolerably neat, and are adorned with rich and
curious furniture; but they are, for the most part, exceedingly dirty;
and the exhalations from the garlic and oil, which they use in great
quantities in frying their fish, are enough to suffocate a person not
entirely divested of the sense of smelling. Their taste is so
exquisitely refined, in regard to the oil they use, that they prefer
our lamp-oil to any other, on account of its high flavour.
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