The Dates Of Toser Are Esteemed Of The
Finest Quality.
Walked about the town; several of the inhabitants are very wealthy.
The
dead saints are, however, here, and perhaps everywhere else in Tunis,
more decently lodged, and their marabets are real "whitewashed
sepulchres." They make many burnouses at Toser, and every house presents
the industrious sight of the needle or shuttle quickly moving. We tasted
the leghma, or "tears of the date," for the first time, and rather liked
it. On going to shoot doves, we, to our astonishment, put up a snipe.
The weather was very hot; went to shoot doves in the cool of the
evening. The Bey administers justice, morning and evening, whilst in the
Jereed. An Arab made a present of a fine young ostrich to the Bey, which
his Highness, after his arrival in Tunis, sent to R. The great man here
is the Sheikh Tahid, who was imprisoned for not having the tribute ready
for the Bey. The tax imposed is equivalent to two bunches for each
date-tree. The Sheikh has to collect them, paying a certain yearly sum
when the Bey arrives, a species of farming-out. It was said that he is
very rich, and could well find the money. The dates are almost the only
food here, and the streets are literally gravelled with their stones.
Santa Maria again returned his horse to the Bey, and got another in its
stead. He is certainly a man of _delicate_ feeling. This gentleman
carried his impudence so far that he even threatened some of the Bey's
officers with the supreme wrath of the French Government, unless they
attended better to his orders.
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