Other governors had been bled, fleeced, and impaled over and
over again; but the caitiff, Haj, always remained in possession of the
fruits of his tyranny.
The reason for this tolerant conduct of the Emperor towards him is, that
when Muley Abd Errahman was in difficulties and obliged to fly for his
life, in the convulsions previous to his reign, Haj Mousa sent the young
prince a mule and thirty ducats; with this, the prince was enabled to
escape, and he saved his life to be afterwards proclaimed
Meer-el-Moumeneen. On receiving the mule and money, he exclaimed in a
transport of gratitude to the Governor of Mazagran, "I will never forget
you!" It is unfortunate the good faith of the Emperor's word has been so
deplorably abused by this tyrant, for it is considered certain, that
though temporarily removed from Mazagran, he will return, or be made
governor of another city.
A Sous Jew called upon me one day, who is well acquainted with the
Shelouh or, Berber of the South. On asking if he would make a
translation of the book of Genesis from Hebrew into Shelouh, he replied:
"No, I cannot. In the first place, the Emperor would cut off my head for
doing such a thing; and, again, it would be a sin to convert the Holy
Hebrew character into such a language of Infidels."
We continued our discussion on a more practical subject.
_Traveller_ (to the Jew) - "I am told that among you, Jews of Morocco, it
is a merit to rob us Christians and the Moors. Your young children are
even praised by their mothers if they commit a theft without being found
out: [27] is this right?"
_The Jew_. - "You are all _Goyeem_ [28] (Gentiles), but it is not true
that we rob you, Christians. If we rob Mussulmen, it's because they rob
us first."
The case really is, the Jews are literally being robbed every day by the
Moors one way or the other, and, if the people do not rob them, the
constituted authorities continue to make exactions under every pretence.
I am inclined, nevertheless, to think, without prejudice, that it is a
received maxim with _all native_ Barbary Jews, "to rob unbelievers,
Moors and Christians, when you can do so _safely_." This was the opinion
which a very respectable European Jew, resident in Tunis, entertained of
his brethren. At the same time, Ihere are numerous exceptions.
Many of the lower classes of Moors likewise, think there is little or no
harm in robbing Jews and Blacks, that is, all who are Infidels and
Christians.
I may mention, in connection with the above, the system of
False-Weights, which is an enormous scandal to this great commercial
city. It appears that almost every tradesman, and every imperial
merchant have two sets of weights, one to buy and another to sell with.
A merchant once had the impudence to cry out to his clerk when weighing,
"Oh, you are wrong, these are my _selling_ weights; bring me my _buying_
weights.
