No Jew Or Christian Was Allowed To Approach The Magic Or Sacred Circle
Which Enclosed Them.
This being concluded, down ran a butcher with a
sheep on his back; just slaughtered, and bleeding profusely.
A troop of
boys followed quickly at his heels pelting him with stones. The butcher
ran through the town to the seashore, and thence to the house of the
Kady - the boys still in hot and breathless pursuit, hard after him,
pelting him and the bleeding sheep. The Moors believe, if the man can
arrive at the house of the judge before the sheep dies, that the people
of Tangier will have good luck; but, if the sheep should be quite dead,
and not moving a muscle, then it will bring them bad luck, and the
Christians are likely to come and take away their country from them. The
drollest part of the ceremony is, that the boys should scamper after the
butcher, pelting the sheep, and trying to kill it outright, thus
endeavouring to bring ill-luck upon their city and themselves. But how
many of us really and knowingly seek our misfortunes? On the occasion of
this annual feast, every Moor, or head of a family, kills a sheep. The
rich give to the poor, but the poor usually save up their earnings to be
able to purchase a sheep to kill on this day. The streets are in
different parts covered with blood, making them look like so many
slaughter grounds. When the bashaw of the province is in Tangier,
thousands of the neighbouring Arabs come to pay him their respects. With
the Moors, the festivals of religion are bona fide festivals. It may
also be added, as characteristic of these North African barbarians,
that, whilst many a poor person in our merry Christian England does not,
and cannot, get his plum-pudding and roast-beef at Christmas, there is
not a poor man or even a slave, in Morocco who does not eat his lamb on
this great feast of the Mussulmans. It would be a mortal sin for a rich
man to refuse a poor man a mouthful of his lamb.
Of course there was a sensation among the native population, and even
among the consular corps, about my mission; but I have nothing very
particular to record. I had many Moorish visitors, some of whom were
officers of the imperial troops. I made the acquaintance of one, Sidi
Ali, with whom I had the following dialogue: -
Traveller. - "Sidi Ali, what can I do to impress Muley Abd Errahman in my
favour?"
Sidi Ali. - "Money!"
Traveller. - "But will the Emir of the Shereefs accept of money from us
Christians?"
Sidi Ali. - "Money!"
Traveller. - "What am I to give the minister Ben Dris, to get his
favour?"
Sidi Ali. - "Money!"
Traveller. - "Can I travel in safety in Morocco?"
Sidi Ali. - "Money:"
Indeed "money" seems to be the all and everything in Morocco, as among
us, "the nation of shopkeepers." The Emperor himself sets the example,
for he is wholly occupied in amassing treasures in Mequiney.
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