All The Moors Of The
Town Came To See The Christians And Their Ladies Dance.
Our musician, or
fiddler, kept away from some petty pique, and we were accordingly
reduced to the hard necessity of making use of a drum and whistling,
both to keep up our spirits and serve up the quadrilles.
We had,
however, some good singing to make up for the disappointment. His
Excellency the Governor intended to have honoured us with his presence,
but he gave way to the remonstrance of an inflexible marabout, who
declared it a deadly sin to attend the marriages of Jews and Christians.
The marriage guests were of three or four several sets and sorts. There
was the European coterie, the choicest and most select, graced by the
presence of the bride; then the native aristocrats, and here were the
gorgeous sultanas and Fezan spouses; then the lesser stars, and the
still more diminished.
Finally, the "blind, the lame, and the halt," surrounded the doors of
the house in which the marriage-feast was held, receiving a portion of
the good things of this life. The whole number of guests was not more
than two hundred. Plenty of European Jewesses shone as bewitching stars
at this wedding; but all _param_ to us poor Christians. Indeed, there is
as little as no lovemaking, and match-making amongst the isolated
Nazarenes; for, out of a population of some fifty European families,
there are only two marriageable Christian ladies.
The bride is frequently fetched by the bridegroom at midnight, when
there is a cry made, "behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet
him!" (Matt xxv - 6). This ancient custom prevails most among the Moors.
Once, whilst at Nabal, in Tunis, I was roused from my sleep at the dead
of the night by wild cries, and the discharging of fire-arms, attended
with a blaze of torches.
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