For Myself I Can Say, That Though
Unable To Enter Into The Spirit Of It From The Circumstance Of Not
Perfectly Understanding The Language, Yet I Was Much Pleased With The
Effect.
I shall conclude this letter with a short description of an
entertainment which I gave to several of the inhabitants of this place
a few days since.
Having invited as many as I could conveniently
accommodate, I regaled them with all the most exquisite things the
market afforded. I passed the bottle pretty briskly, telling them the
liquor was a favourite decoction of mine, which they might drink
without any scruple. They did not seem to wish to doubt this
assertion; and having raised their spirits to a flow of mirth and
jollity, I told them, that, as they had done me the honour of coming
to dine with me, I would endeavour to amuse them with a small specimen
of what the doctors in England commonly make use of in certain
chronical complaints. I then placed my electric machine in the centre
of the court, and having loaded it with a sufficient quantity of
electric fluid, produced such a powerful shock to about a dozen of the
stoutest, that, either from surprise or terror, they fell apparently
senseless on the floor. The consternation and confusion which ensued
were beyond description; the rest were all retiring precipitately with
the most dreadful yells and cries imaginable, expecting to share the
fate of their companions. With much difficulty I prevailed on them to
remain, and, raising the men from the ground, I convinced them they
had received no injury; upon which they unanimously attributed it to
my great skill in magic, and loaded me with a thousand compliments, I
repeated the experiment three or four times, to their inexpressible
wonder, and I was at length almost hailed as a supernatural being. The
report of this extraordinary phenomenon soon spread abroad, and a vast
concourse of people assembled; but my guard would not allow any one to
enter without my permission. In the evening I sent for a band of
music, and my company continued dancing and rioting till morning. They
brought in several Jewish women, and carried the farce to such a
length, that I was completely rejoiced to get rid of them,
determining, in my own mind, never again to venture such another
entertainment.
LETTER XXI.
_Prevalent Diseases - Abuse of Stimulants - Medicinal
Well - Sorcery - Hydrophobia._
Mequinez.
Although the plague is not so common in these states as in Turkey and
Egypt, yet it is often brought hither by means of the caravans, and
several articles of luxury imported annually by the merchants from
Mecca and Medina; and, for want of proper precaution, it is suffered
to spread, to desolate, and to stop of its own accord; for the Moors
continue obstinately blinded by the same superstitious and absurd
notions that are entertained by the Mahometans of the Turkish empire,
of its being a punishment occasionally inflicted upon the true
believers by their angry Prophet, and that it is incurable; and here I
receive on this subject the same tales and romantic accounts that I
did during my residence in Egypt in the year 1801.
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