We Dined At The Kaed's House; This
Functionary Was A Very Venerable Man, A Perfect Picture Of A Patriarch
Of The Olden Scriptural Times Of Abraham, Isaac, And Jacob.
There was
not a single article of furniture in the room, except a humble sofa,
upon which he sat.
We inspected the old Kasbah at Ghafsa, which is in nearly a state of
ruin, and looked as if it would soon be down about our ears. It is an
irregular square, and built chiefly of the remains of ancient edifices.
It was guarded by fifty Turks, whose broken-down appearance was in
perfect harmony with the citadel they inhabited. The square in a
building is the favourite form of the Moors and Mohammedans generally;
the Kaaba of Mecca, the _sanctum sanctorum_, is a square. The Moors
endeavour to imitate the sacred objects of their religion in every way,
even in the commonest affairs of human existence, whilst likewise their
troops of wives and concubines are only an earthly foretaste and an
earnest of the celestial ladies they expect to meet hereafter.
We saw them making oil, which was in a very primitive fashion. The
oil-makers were nearly all women. The olives were first ground between
stones worked by the hands, until they became of the consistence of
paste, which was then taken down to the stream and put into a wooden tub
with water. On being stirred up, the oil rises to the top, which they
skim off with their hands and put into skins or jars; when thus skimmed,
they pass the grounds or refuse through a sieve, the water running off;
the stones and pulp are then saved for firing.
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