In One Of The Groves We Met A Dervish, Who Immediately Set About
Charming Our Boab.
He began by an incantation, then seized him round the
middle, and, stooping a little, lifted him on his shoulders, continuing
the while the incantation.
He then put him on his feet again, and, after
several attempts, appeared to succeed in bringing off his stomach
something in the shape of leaden bullets, which he then, with an air of
holy swagger, presented to the astonished guard of the Bey. The dervish
next spat on his patient's hands, closed them in his own, then smoothed
him down the back like a mountebank smooths his pony, and stroked also
his head and beard; and, after further gentle and comely ceremonies of
this sort, the charming of the charmer finished, and the Boab presented
the holy man with his fee. 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. But in this way much of
the oil is lost, as may be seen by the greasy surface of the water below
where this rude process is going on. Among the oil-women, we noticed a
girl who would have been very pretty and fascinating had she washed
herself instead of the olives. We entered an Arab house inhabited by
some twenty persons, chiefly women, who forthwith unceremoniously took
off our caps, examined very minutely all our clothes with an excited
curiosity, laughed heartily when we put our hands in our pockets, and
wished to do the same, and then pulled our hair, looking under our faces
with amorous glances.
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