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. 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. The bridegroom was conveying his bride to his
home. A crowd of the friends of the newly-married couple, followed the
camel which carried the precious burden; all were admitted to the feast
in the court-yard, and the doors were shut for the night.
At the wedding of the lower classes of the Jews, after dancing and
music, there is always a collection made for the bride, or the
musicians. On these occasions, the master of the ceremonies calls out
the names of the donors as they contribute to the support of the
festivities. I was somewhat taken by surprise to hear my name called
out, Bashador Inglez (English ambassador) when I attended one of the
weddings. But the fellow, making the announcement, attracted my
attention more than his flattering compliment. He was dressed in Moorish
costume with an immense white turban folded round his head. I could not
conceive the reason of a Moor taking such interest in feasts of the
Jews.
The secret soon transpired. He was a renegade, who had apostatized for
the sake of marrying a pretty girl. His heart is always with his
brethren, and the authorities good-naturedly allow him to be master of
the ceremonies at these and other feasts, to preserve order, or rather
to prevent the Jews from being insulted by the Mahometans.
There are always a few Jewish renegades in large Moorish towns, just
enough, I imagine, to convince the Mahometans of the superiority of
their religion to that of other nations; for whilst they obtain converts
from both Jews and Christians, and make proselytes of scores of Blacks,
they never hear of apostates from Islamism. The manner, however, in
which these renegades abandon their religion, is no very evident proof
of the divine authority of the Prophet of Mecca. Here is an instance.
A boy of this town ran away from his father, and prostrated himself
before the Governor, imploring him to make him a Mussulman. The
Governor, actuated by the most rational and proper feeling, remarked to
the boy, "You are a child, you have not arrived at years of discretion,
you have not intellect enough to make a choice between two religions."
The boy was kept confined one night, then beaten, and sent home in the
morning.
Another case happened like this when the boy was admitted within the
pale of Islamism. Jewish boys will often cry out when their fathers are
correcting them, "I will turn Mussulman!" A respectable Jew, who
related this to me, observed, "were I to hear any of my sons cry out in
this manner, I would immediately give them a dose of poison, and finish
them; I could not bear to see my children formed into Mussulman devils."
It really seems the vulgar opinion among the Jews and Moors of this
place, that females have no souls. I asked many women themselves about
the matter; they replied, "We don't care, if we have no souls." A Rabbi
observed, "If women bear children, make good wives, and live virtuously
and chastely, they will go to heaven and enjoy an immortal existence; if
not, after death, they will suffer annihilation."
This appears to be the opinion of all the well-educated. But a Jewish
lady who heard my conversation with the Rabbi, retorted with spirit:
"Whether I bear children or not, if my husband, or any man has a soul, I
have one likewise, for are not all men born of us women?"
All, however, are well satisfied with this life, whatever may happen in
the next; male and female Jews and Mussulmen hold on their mutual career
with the greatest tenacity.
