He Carried His Sword Unsheathed, And Was Preceded
By A Splendid Standard, And A Band Of Music; He Was Followed
By a kind
of palanquin, supported on the shoulders of four stout black slaves, a
detachment of cavalry firing off
Their pieces every minute, and a
procession of relatives and friends, the whole moving with great mirth
and jollity,
Before they reached the house of the bride, the cavalcade halted, and
the bridegroom dismounted, assisted by his negro slaves, and knocked
loudly at the door three times. The lady was brought out in a covered
chair, attended by four women, completely muffled up. The whole party
of the bridegroom turned their backs, and she was smuggled into the
palanquin: they then returned in the same style to the house of her
lord, where, before she was allowed to enter, he placed himself at the
entrance, and extending his right arm across the door-way, she passed
under, as an indication of her voluntary and unconditional submission
to his will and pleasure.
After this ceremony, the bridegroom was obliged to retire to the house
of his nearest relation, where he continued three days and nights,
feasting, and receiving presents from all his male friends, while the
bride was paid the same compliments by her female acquaintance. At
the expiration of the appointed time, the gentleman returned to his
own house.
The Moors are not allowed by their law more than four wives, but they
may have as many concubines as they can maintain; accordingly, the
wealthy Moors, besides their wives, keep a kind of seraglio of women
of all colours.
From their marriages, I am insensibly led to the subject of the burial
of their dead. Not that any idea strikes me of an analogy between the
situations of a married person, and one consigned to the "_narrow
house_," as Ossian poetically styles the grave; but from a certain
succession of thought, for which one is at a loss to account. In the
burial of their dead, they are decent and pious, without pomp or
show. The corpse is attended by the relations and friends, chanting
passages from the Koran, to the mosque, where it is washed, and it is
afterwards interred in a place at some distance from the town, the
Iman, or priest, pronouncing an oration, containing the eulogy of the
deceased. The male relations express their regard by alms and prayers,
the women by ornamenting the tomb with flowers and green leaves. Their
term of mourning is the same as ours, twelve months, during which
period the widows divest themselves of every ornament, and appear
habited in the coarsest attire. Their burial-grounds are inclosed by
cypress and other dark lofty trees, the lower parts of which are
interwoven with odoriferous shrubs and creeping plants, forming an
almost impenetrable hedge. Some of their tombs are very curious,
though they exhibit specimens of the rudest architecture. There are
also several saints' houses in their burying-places, which render
them doubly sacred; and no Christian or Jew is suffered to enter, on
pain of death.
Friday being their Sabbath, the day is kept perfectly holy; all the
Moors are employed in prayer, reading the Koran, or visiting the tombs
of their departed friends.
Curiosity prompted me to go and see an assemblage of fanatics, at a
celebrated saint's house, in the neighbourhood of this town. They
were to perform many wonderful things, such as tearing a live sheep in
pieces, and devouring the flesh, fighting with wild beasts, and
several other barbarous exhibitions. These people, called in Barbary
_Free Masons_, are nothing more than a set of canting, roaring
companions, surcharged with wine and other liquors, and assembled in
this holy place, for the sole purpose of giving free vent to their
brutal passions. This society is peculiar to itself, having no
connexion with our ancient or modern Free Masons. I have however
obtained a free access to their saints' houses and secret meetings,
with permission to go any where unmolested; but I always take the
precaution to go well armed, and escorted by the Emperor's guards, as
nothing can exceed the barbarous acts of this fanatic set of people.
I am extremely happy to say, that my most sanguine expectations with
regard to the poor man, whose accident I mentioned in my last, are
realized; every unfavourable symptom has vanished, and I can safely
rely on his perfect recovery. The complaint of my female patient has
also given way to a proper course of medicine, and the Governor is one
of the happiest of men. When I announced the pleasing intelligence of
her disease being removed, he embraced me with such ecstacy that I
almost dreaded suffocation; in short, he has spared nothing that can
evince his gratitude and satisfaction, for what he terms the
inestimable benefit I have conferred upon him.
The country round this city is inexpressibly rich and beautiful, being
laid put for several miles in gardens, abounding in flowers and
fruit-trees; among the latter the vine sands pre-eminent, yielding
most delicious grapes. The air here, as in the other parts of
Barbary, is very pure and salubrious.
LETTER XVII.
_Depart for Morocco - Roads dreadfully infested, by Robbers - A Tribe of
aboriginal Freebooters - Description of Morocco - Filth of the common
People - Tobacco disallowed - Justice of the Emperor_.
Mequinez
Since I wrote last, I have taken a trip to Morocco and back again. As
I had a great deal of leisure time, and every thing here having lost
the attraction of novelty, I determined to go further up the interior
of the country; and accordingly applied to the Emperor for permission
to visit Morocco, which he granted, but with the injunction that I
should return as quickly as possible.
I set off, accompanied by my usual guard, which I assure you I never
found so necessary as on this journey; for the rapacious spirit of the
peasantry exposed us continually to the danger of being plundered, we
were therefore obliged to keep watch alternately, to prevent our
property, perhaps our lives, becoming a prey to these wretches.
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