Truth may be in this well! since there is a sad want of it on this, as
on other parts of the world.
I was introduced to a Spanish renegade, a great many make their escape
from the presidios of the North. On getting away from these convict
establishments, they adopt the Mahometan religion, are pretty well
received by the Maroquines, and generally pass the rest of their days
tranquilly among the Moors. I imagine the better sort of them remain
Christians at heart, notwithstanding their public assumption of
Islamism. This renegade was a stonemason, whom I found at work, and he
was not at all distinguishable by strangers from the Moors, being
dressed precisely in the same fashion. I had some conversation with him,
which was characteristic of conceit, feeling and honour.
_Traveller_ - "How long have you escaped?"
_Renegade._ - "More than twenty years."
_Traveller._ - "Do you like this country and the Moors?"
_Renegade._ - "Better is Marruecos than Spain."
_Traveller._ - "Shall you ever attempt to return to Spain?"
_Renegade._ - "Why? here I have all I want. Besides, they would stretch
my neck for sending a fellow out of the world without his previously
having had an interview with his confessor."
_Traveller._ - "Are you not conscience-stricken? having committed such a
crime, how can you mention it?"
_Renegade._ - "Pooh, conscience! pooh, corazor!"
Many of those wretched men have indeed lost their corazor, or it is
seared with a red-hot iron.
Some hundreds of these Spanish convicts are scattered over the country,
but they soon lose their nationality. It is probable that, from some
knowledge of them, the Emperor presumed lately to call the Spaniards
"the vilest of nations," and yet at various times, the Maroquines have
shown great sympathy for the Spaniards. Some of these renegades were
found at the Battle of Isly in charge of field-pieces, where, according
to the French reports, they displayed great devotion to the cause of the
Emperor.
When the governors of the convict settlements find too many on his
hands, or the prisons too full, they let a number of their best
conducted escape to the interior. The presence of those cut-throats in
Morocco may have something to do with such broils as the following, of
which I was a witness. Two fellows quarrelled violently, and were on the
point of sticking one another with their knives, when up stepped a third
party and cried out, "What! do you intend to act like Christians and
kill one another?" At the talismanic word of Eusara ("Christians, or
Nazareens,") they instantly desisted and became friends. The term
"Christian or Nazareen," is one of the most oppobrious names with which
the people of Mogador can abuse one another.
The weddings and attendant feasts of the Jews are the more remarkable,
when we consider the circumstance of the social state of this oppressed
race in Morocco, their precarious condition, and the numberless insults
and oppressions inflicted on them by both the government and the people;
I was present at several of these weddings, and shall give the readers a
glimpse of them. I had read and heard a great deal about the persecution
of the Jews in Morocco, and was, therefore, not a little surprised to
meet with these continual feasts and festivals among a people so much
talked about as victims of Mussulman oppression.
I find two sentences in my notes containing the pith of the whole. "The
Jews continued their feasts; about a third of their time is spent in
feasting." Again - "Amidst all their degradation, the Jew we saw to-day
recreating themselves to the utmost extent of their capacities of
enjoyment." It appears that during the time I was at Mogador there was
an unusual number of weddings, and then followed the feast of the
Passover. I think, whilst I was at Tangier, weddings or celebration of
weddings were going on every night. It may be safely asserted, that no
people in Barbary enjoy themselves more than the Jews, or more pamper
and gratify their appetites. What with weddings, feasts, and obligatory
festivals, their existence is one round of eating and drinking. These
feasts, besides, do not take place in a corner, nor are they barricaded
from public, or envious, or inquisitorial view, but are open to all,
being attended by Christians, Moors and Arabs.
These wedding-feasts are substantial things. Here is the entry in my
journal of an account of them: "A bullock was killed at the house of the
bridegroom, tea and cakes and spirits were freely, nay universally
distributed there. The company afterwards went off with the bridegroom
to the house of the bride, where another distribution of the same kind
took place, whilst half of the bullock was brought for the bride's
friends. Here the bridegroom, in true oriental style, mounted upon a
couch of damask and gold. The bride, laden with bridal ornaments of gold
and jewels, and covered with a gauze veil, was led out by the women and
placed by his side. She was then left alone to sit in state as queen of
the feast, whilst the company regaled themselves with every imaginable
luxury of eating and drinking. Her future husband now produced, as a
present for his bride, a splendid pair of jewelled ear-rings, which were
held up amidst the screaming approbation of the guests. The Jewesses
present, were weighed down under the dead weight of a profusion of
jewels and gold, tiaras of pearls, necklaces of coral and gems, armlets,
wristlets and legets of silver gold and jet, with gold and silver
braided gowns, skirts and petticoats.
This fiesta was kept up for seven days.
