The Sum Which He
Demanded Appeared Exorbitant To The Hadji, Who, Forgetting That He
Was A Saint, And Fresh From Mecca, Fumed Outrageously, And In
Broken Spanish Called The Boatman Thief.
If there be any term of
reproach which stings a Spaniard (and such was the boatman) more
than another,
It is that one; and the fellow no sooner heard it
applied to himself, than with eyes sparkling with fury, he put his
fist to the hadji's nose, and repaid the one opprobrious name by at
least ten others equally bad or worse. He would perhaps have
proceeded to acts of violence had he not been pulled away by the
other Moors, who led him aside, and I suppose either said or gave
him something which pacified him, as he soon got into his boat, and
returned with them on shore. The captain now arrived with his
Jewish secretary, and orders were given for setting sail.
At a little past twelve we were steering out of the bay of
Gibraltar; the wind was in the right quarter, but for some time we
did not make much progress, lying almost becalmed beneath the lee
of the hill; by degrees, however, our progress became brisker, and
in about an hour we found ourselves careering smartly towards
Tarifa.
The Jew secretary stood at the helm, and indeed appeared to be the
person who commanded the vessel, and who issued out all the
necessary orders, which were executed under the superintendence of
the old Genoese mate. I now put some questions to the hadji, but
he looked at me askance with his sullen eye, pouted with his lip,
and remained silent; as much as to say, "Speak not to me, I am
holier than thou." I found his negroes, however, far more
conversable. One of them was old and ugly, the other about twenty,
and as well looking as it is possible for a negro to be. His
colour was perfect ebony, his features exceedingly well formed and
delicate, with the exception of the lips, which were too full. The
shape of his eyes was peculiar; they were rather oblong than round,
like those of an Egyptian figure. Their expression was thoughtful
and meditative. In every respect he differed from his companion,
even in colour, (though both were negroes,) and was evidently a
scion of some little known and superior race. As he sat beneath
the mast gazing at the sea, I thought he was misplaced, and that he
would have appeared to more advantage amidst boundless sands, and
beneath a date tree, and then he might have well represented a
Jhin. I asked him from whence he came, he replied that he was a
native of Fez, but that he had never known his parents. He had
been brought up, he added, in the family of his present master,
whom he had followed in the greater part of his travels, and with
whom he had thrice visited Mecca. I asked him if he liked being a
slave? Whereupon he replied, that he was a slave no longer, having
been made free for some time past, on account of his faithful
services, as had likewise his companion. He would have told me
much more, but the hadji called him away, and otherwise employed
him, probably to prevent his being contaminated by me.
Thus avoided by the Moslems, I betook myself to the Jews, whom I
found nowise backward in cultivating an intimacy. The sage of the
beard told me his history, which in some respects reminded me of
that of Judah Lib, as it seemed that, a year or two previous, he
had quitted Mogadore in pursuit of his son, who had betaken himself
to Portugal. On the arrival, however, of the father at Lisbon, he
discovered that the fugitive had, a few days before, shipped
himself for the Brazils. Unlike Judah in quest of his father, he
now became weary, and discontinued the pursuit. The younger Jew
from Mequinez was exceedingly gay and lively as soon as he
perceived that I was capable of understanding him, and made me
smile by his humorous account of Christian life, as he had observed
it at Gibraltar, where he had made a stay of about a month. He
then spoke of Mequinez, which, he said, was a Jennut, or Paradise,
compared with which Gibraltar was a sty of hogs. So great, so
universal is the love of country. I soon saw that both these
people believed me to be of their own nation; indeed, the young
one, who was much the most familiar, taxed me with being so, and
spoke of the infamy of denying my own blood. Shortly before our
arrival off Tarifa, universal hunger seemed to prevail amongst us.
The hadji and his negroes produced their store, and feasted on
roast fowls, the Jews ate grapes and bread, myself bread and
cheese, whilst the crew prepared a mess of anchovies. Two of them
speedily came, with a large portion, which they presented to me
with the kindness of brothers: I made no hesitation in accepting
their present, and found the anchovies delicious. As I sat between
the Jews, I offered them some, but they turned away their heads
with disgust, and cried haloof (hogsflesh). They at the same time,
however, shook me by the hand, and, uninvited, took a small portion
of my bread. I had a bottle of Cognac, which I had brought with me
as a preventive to sea sickness, and I presented it to them; but
this they also refused, exclaiming, Haram (it is forbidden). I
said nothing.
We were now close to the lighthouse of Tarifa, and turning the head
of the bark towards the west, we made directly for the coast of
Africa. The wind was now blowing very fresh, and as we had it
almost in our poop, we sprang along at a tremendous rate, the huge
lateen sails threatening every moment to drive us beneath the
billows, which an adverse tide raised up against us.
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