The
Men Supped By Themselves, And The Women Of Course Were Also Apart.
My host, anxious that I should see all, insisted upon my going to have a
peep at the ladies whilst they were supping.
Unlike us men, who sat up
round a table, because there were several Europeans among us, the women
lay sprawling and rolling on carpets and couches.
In their own allotted apartments, these gorgeous daughters of Israel
looked still more huge and enormous, feasting almost to repletion, like
so many princesses of the royal orgies of Belshazzar. But this was a
native wedding, and, of course, when we consider the education of these
Barbary women, we must expect, when they have drink like the men, white
spirits for protracted hours until midnight, the proprieties of society
are easily dispensed with. Happily the class of women, who so kept up
the feast, were all said to be married, the maidens having gone home
with the bride.
Very different, indeed, was another distinguished wedding at which I had
the honour of assisting, and which all the European consuls and their
families attended, with the _elite_ of the society of Mogador; this was
the marriage of M. Bittern, of Gibraltar, with Miss Amram Melek. The
bridegroom was the Portuguese Consul, the bride, the daughter of the
greatest Jewish merchant of the south, and consequently the Emperor's
greatest and most honoured debtor. The celebration of this wedding
lasted fourteen days.
On the grand day, a ball and supper were given.
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