The Seraglio Of The Emperor, And Indeed The Harams Of Men Of Less
Rank, Are Sacred.
No strangers are admitted, and it is profanation in
a man to enter; but as a _tweeb_, I am privileged, and enjoy a
liberty, never granted before.
The day after my arrival, His
Excellency the _Sheik_ called upon me, and requested me to go home
with him. He informed me that he had been assured, in the most
positive manner, by all the doctors, and female attendants, that his
wife had a dead child in her, and that nothing less than a miracle of
their great Prophet could save her. The poor man was very much
agitated while giving me this account. I find she is his favourite
wife, and no wonder, for she is a very lovely woman. Upon
examination, I found that what they imagined to be a dead child, is a
protuberant hardness in the region of the liver, extending nearly all
over the abdomen. The tumefaction was considered as a case of
pregnancy; and she having considerably passed her time, the child was
thought to be dead within her. I have begun a course of medicine,
which I flatter myself will entirely eradicate the disorder.
My stay was so very short, when I was here before, that I could give
you no account of the town, &c. The city of Mequinez is in the
kingdom of Fez, and thirty miles from the capital of that name. The
dynasty of _Mequinez_ were the founders of this town, which they
erected upon the ruins of the old one.
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