On The Other Hand, If You
Absolutely Wish Him To Be Punished, He Is In Your Hands, For In My
Empire No One Shall Fear Injustice Or Violence, With The Assistance Of
God."
A whimsical story is current in Tangier respecting the dealings of the
Shereefian Court with the Neapolitan government, which characteristically
sets forth Moorish diplomacy or manoeuvring.
A ship load of sulphur was
sent to the Emperor. The Moorish authorities declared it was very coarse
and mixed with dirt. With great alacrity, the Neapolitan government sent
another load of finer and better quality. This was delivered; and the
Consul asked the Moorish functionaries to allow the coarse sulphur to be
conveyed back. These worthies replied, "Oh dear, no! it is of no
consequence, the Emperor says, he will keep the bad, and not offend his
royal cousin, the King of Naples, by sending it back." The Neapolitan
government had no alternative but to submit, and thank the chief of the
Shereefs for his extreme condescension in accepting two ship-loads of
sulphur instead of one.
There are occasional communications between Tangier and Tarifa, in
Spain, but they are very frequent with Gibraltar. A vast quantity of
European merchandize is imported here from Gibraltar for Fez and the
north of Morocco. All the postal and despatch business also comes
through Tangier, which has privileges that few or no other Maroquine
cities possess. The emperors, indeed, have been wont to call it "the
City of Christians." In the environs, there is at times a good deal of
game, and the European residents go out to shoot, as one is wont in
other countries to talk a walk. The principal game is the partridge and
hare, and the grand sport, the wild boar. Our officers of the Gibraltar
garrison come over for shooting. But quackery and humbug exist in
everything. A young gentleman has just arrived from Gibraltar, who had
been previously six weeks on his passage from Holland to that place,
with his legs infixed in a pair of three-league boots. He says he has
come from Holland on purpose to sport and hunt in Morocco. Several of
the consuls, when they go out sporting, metamorphose themselves into
veteran Numidian sportsmen. You would imagine they were going to hunt
lions for months in the ravines of the Atlas, whereas it is only to
shoot a stray partridge or a limping hare, or perchance they may meet
with a boar. And this they do for a couple of days, or twenty-four
hours, sleeping during the night very snugly under tents, and fed and
feasted with milk, fowls, and sheep by the Arabs.
Morocco, like all despotic countries, furnishes some severe examples of
the degrading of high functionaries. There is an old man,
Sidi-El-Arby-Es-Said, living there, who is a marked victim of imperial
tyranny. Some years ago, the conqueror despoiled him of all his wealth,
and threw him into prison, after he had been twenty years bashaw of this
district.
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