The Bible in Spain

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"Bestia," said he, "I saw by your looks that you wished to drink of
that bottle, and I said within me, even though I suffocate, yet
will I not leave one drop of the aguardiente of the Christian
Cavalier to be wasted on that Jew, on whose head may evil
lightnings fall."

"Now, Sir Cavalier," he continued, "you can go ashore; these two
sailors shall row you to the Mole, and convey your baggage where
you think proper; may the Virgin bless you wherever you go."

CHAPTER LV

The Mole--The Two Moors--Djmah of Tangier--House of God--British
Consul--Curious Spectacle--The Moorish House--Joanna Correa--Ave
Maria.

So we rode to the Mole and landed. This Mole consists at present
of nothing more than an immense number of large loose stones, which
run about five hundred yards into the bay; they are part of the
ruins of a magnificent pier which the English, who were the last
foreign nation which held Tangier, destroyed when they evacuated
the place. The Moors have never attempted to repair it; the surf
at high water breaks over it with great fury. I found it a
difficult task to pick my way over the slippery stones, and should
once or twice have fallen but for the kindness of the Genoese
mariners. At last we reached the beach, and were proceeding
towards the gate of the town, when two persons, Moors, came up to
us. I almost started at sight of the first; he was a huge old
barbarian with a white uncombed beard, dirty turban, haik, and
trousers, naked legs, and immense splay feet, the heels of which
stood out a couple of inches at least behind his rusty black
slippers.

"That is the captain of the port," said one of the Genoese; "pay
him respect." I accordingly doffed my hat and cried, "Sba alkheir
a sidi" (Good-morning, my lord). "Are you Englishmans?" shouted
the old grisly giant. "Englishmans, my lord," I replied, and,
advancing, presented him my hand, which he nearly wrung off with
his tremendous gripe. The other Moor now addressed me in a jargon
composed of English, Spanish, and Arabic. A queer-looking
personage was he also, but very different in most respects from his
companion, being shorter by a head at least, and less complete by
one eye, for the left orb of vision was closed, leaving him, as the
Spaniards style it, tuerto; he, however, far outshone the other in
cleanliness of turban, haik, and trousers. From what he jabbered
to me, I collected that he was the English consul's mahasni or
soldier; that the consul, being aware of my arrival, had dispatched
him to conduct me to his house. He then motioned me to follow him,
which I did, the old port captain attending us to the gate, when he
turned aside into a building, which I judged to be a kind of
custom-house from the bales and boxes of every description piled up
before it. We passed the gate and proceeded up a steep and winding
ascent; on our left was a battery full of guns, pointing to the
sea, and on our right a massive wall, seemingly in part cut out of
the hill; a little higher up we arrived at an opening where stood
the mosque which I have already mentioned. As I gazed upon the
tower I said to myself, "Surely we have here a younger sister of
the Giralda of Seville."

I know not whether the resemblance between the two edifices has
been observed by any other individual; and perhaps there are those
who would assert that no resemblance exists, especially if, in
forming an opinion, they were much swayed by size and colour: the
hue of the Giralda is red, or rather vermilion, whilst that which
predominates in the Djmah of Tangier is green, the bricks of which
it is built being of that colour; though between them, at certain
intervals, are placed others of a light red tinge, so that the
tower is beautifully variegated. With respect to size, standing
beside the giant witch of Seville, the Tangerine Djmah would show
like a ten-year sapling in the vicinity of the cedar of Lebanon,
whose trunk the tempests of five hundred years have worn. And yet
I will assert that the towers in other respects are one and the
same, and that the same mind and the same design are manifested in
both; the same shape do they exhibit, and the same marks have they
on their walls, even those mysterious arches graven on the
superficies of the bricks, emblematic of I know not what. The two
structures may, without any violence, be said to stand in the same
relation to each other as the ancient and modern Moors. The
Giralda is the world's wonder, and the old Moor was all but the
world's conqueror. The modern Moor is scarcely known, and who ever
heard of the Tower of Tangier? Yet examine it attentively, and you
will find in that tower much, very much, to admire, and certainly,
if opportunity enable you to consider the modern Moor as minutely,
you will discover in him, and in his actions, amongst much that is
wild, uncouth, and barbarous, not a little capable of amply
rewarding laborious investigation.

As we passed the mosque I stopped for a moment before the door, and
looked in upon the interior: I saw nothing but a quadrangular
court paved with painted tiles and exposed to the sky; on all sides
were arched piazzas, and in the middle was a fountain, at which
several Moors were performing their ablutions. I looked around for
the abominable thing, and found it not; no scarlet strumpet with a
crown of false gold sat nursing an ugly changeling in a niche.
"Come here," said I, "papist, and take a lesson; here is a house of
God, in externals at least, such as a house of God should be: four
walls, a fountain, and the eternal firmament above, which mirrors
his glory. Dost thou build such houses to the God who hast said,
'Thou shalt make to thyself no graven image'? Fool, thy walls are
stuck with idols; thou callest a stone thy Father, and a piece of
rotting wood the Queen of Heaven. Fool, thou knowest not even the
Ancient of Days, and the very Moor can instruct thee. He at least
knows the Ancient of Days who has said, 'Thou shalt have no other
gods but me.'"

And as I said these words, I heard a cry like the roaring of a
lion, and an awful voice in the distance exclaim, "Kapul Udbagh"
(there is no god but one).

We now turned to the left through a passage which passed under the
tower, and had scarcely proceeded a few steps, when I heard a
prodigious hubbub of infantine voices: I listened for a moment,
and distinguished verses of the Koran; it was a school. Another
lesson for thee, papist. Thou callest thyself a Christian, yet the
book of Christ thou persecutest; thou huntest it even to the sea-
shore, compelling it to seek refuge upon the billows of the sea.
Fool, learn a lesson from the Moor, who teaches his child to repeat
with its first accents the most important portions of the book of
his law, and considers himself wise or foolish, according as he is
versed in or ignorant of that book; whilst thou, blind slave,
knowest not what the book of thy own law contains, nor wishest to
know: yet art thou not to be judged by thy own law? Idolmonger,
learn consistency from the Moor: he says that he shall be judged
after his own law, and therefore he prizes and gets by heart the
entire book of his law.

We were now at the consul's house, a large roomy habitation, built
in the English style. The soldier led me through a court into a
large hall hung with the skins of all kinds of ferocious animals,
from the kingly lion to the snarling jackal. Here I was received
by a Jew domestic, who conducted me at once to the consul, who was
in his library. He received me with the utmost frankness and
genuine kindness, and informed me that, having received a letter
from his excellent friend Mr. B., in which I was strongly
recommended, he had already engaged me a lodging in the house of a
Spanish woman, who was, however, a British subject, and with whom
he believed that I should find myself as comfortable as it was
possible to be in such a place as Tangier. He then inquired if I
had any particular motive for visiting the place, and I informed
him without any hesitation that I came with the intention of
distributing a certain number of copies of the New Testament in the
Spanish language amongst the Christian residents of the place. He
smiled, and advised me to proceed with considerable caution, which
I promised to do. We then discoursed on other subjects, and it was
not long before I perceived that I was in the company of a most
accomplished scholar, especially in the Greek and Latin classics;
he appeared likewise to be thoroughly acquainted with the Barbary
empire and with the Moorish character.

After half an hour's conversation, exceedingly agreeable and
instructive to myself, I expressed a wish to proceed to my lodging:
whereupon he rang the bell, and the same Jewish domestic entering
who had introduced me, he said to him in the English language,
"Take this gentleman to the house of Joanna Correa, the Mahonese
widow, and enjoin her, in my name, to take care of him and attend
to his comforts; by doing which she will confirm me in the good
opinion which I at present entertain of her, and will increase my
disposition to befriend her."

So, attended by the Jew, I now bent my steps to the lodging
prepared for me. Having ascended the street in which the house of
the consul was situated, we entered a small square which stands
about half way up the hill. This, my companion informed me, was
the soc, or market-place. A curious spectacle here presented
itself. All round the square were small wooden booths, which very
much resembled large boxes turned on their sides, the lid being
supported above by a string. Before each of these boxes was a
species of counter, or rather one long counter ran in front of the
whole line, upon which were raisins, dates, and small barrels of
sugar, soap, and butter, and various other articles. Within each
box, in front of the counter, and about three feet from the ground,
sat a human being, with a blanket on its shoulders, a dirty turban
on its head, and ragged trousers, which descended as far as the
knee, though in some instances, I believe, these were entirely
dispensed with. In its hand it held a stick, to the end of which
was affixed a bunch of palm leaves, which it waved incessantly as a
fan, for the purpose of scaring from its goods the million flies
which, engendered by the Barbary sun, endeavoured to settle upon
them. Behind it, and on either side, were piles of the same kind
of goods. Shrit hinai, shrit hinai, (buy here, buy here), was
continually proceeding from its mouth. Such are the grocers of
Tangier, such their shops.

In the middle of the soc, upon the stones, were pyramids of melons
and sandias, (the water species), and also baskets filled with
other kinds of fruit, exposed for sale, whilst round cakes of bread
were lying here and there upon the stones, beside which sat on
their hams the wildest-looking beings that the most extravagant
imagination ever conceived, the head covered with an enormous straw
hat, at least two yards in circumference, the eaves of which,
flapping down, completely concealed the face, whilst the form was
swathed in a blanket, from which occasionally were thrust skinny
arms and fingers. These were Moorish women, who were, I believe,
in all instances, old and ugly, judging from the countenances of
which I caught a glimpse as they lifted the eaves of their hats to
gaze on me as I passed, or to curse me for stamping on their bread.
The whole soc was full of peoples and there was abundance of
bustle, screaming, and vociferation, and as the sun, though the
hour was still early, was shining with the greatest brilliancy, I
thought that I had scarcely ever witnessed a livelier scene.

Crossing the soc we entered a narrow street with the same kind of
box-shops on each side, some of which, however, were either
unoccupied or not yet opened, the lid being closed. We almost
immediately turned to the left, up a street somewhat similar, and
my guide presently entered the door of a low house, which stood at
the corner of a little alley, and which he informed me was the
abode of Joanna Correa. We soon stood in the midst of this
habitation. I say the midst, as all the Moorish houses are built
with a small court in the middle. This one was not more than ten
feet square. It was open at the top, and around it on three sides
were apartments; on the fourth a small staircase, which
communicated with the upper story, half of which consisted of a
terrace looking down into the court, over the low walls of which
you enjoyed a prospect of the sea and a considerable part of the
town. The rest of the story was taken up by a long room, destined
for myself, and which opened upon the terrace by a pair of folding-
doors. At either end of this apartment stood a bed, extending
transversely from wall to wall, the canopy touching the ceiling. A
table and two or three chairs completed the furniture.

I was so occupied in inspecting the house of Joanna Correa, that at
first I paid little attention to that lady herself. She now,
however, came up upon the terrace where my guide and myself were
standing. She was a woman about five and forty, with regular
features, which had once been handsome, but had received
considerable injury from time, and perhaps more from trouble. Two
of her front teeth had disappeared, but she still had fine black
hair. As I looked upon her countenance, I said within myself, if
there be truth in physiognomy, thou art good and gentle, O Joanna;
and, indeed, the kindness I experienced from her during the six
weeks which I spent beneath her roof would have made me a convert
to that science had I doubted in it before. I believe no warmer
and more affectionate heart ever beat in human bosom than in that
of Joanna Correa, the Mahonese widow, and it was indexed by
features beaming with benevolence and good nature, though somewhat
clouded with melancholy.

She informed me that she had been married to a Genoese, the master
of a felouk which passed between Gibraltar and Tangier, who had
been dead about four years, leaving her with a family of four
children, the eldest of which was a lad of thirteen; that she had
experienced great difficulty in providing for her family and
herself since the death of her husband, but that Providence had
raised her up a few excellent friends, especially the British
consul; that besides letting lodgings to such travellers as myself,
she made bread which was in high esteem with the Moors, and that
she was likewise in partnership in the sale of liquors with an old
Genoese. She added, that this last person lived below in one of
the apartments; that he was a man of great ability and much
learning, but that she believed he was occasionally somewhat
touched here, pointing with her finger to her forehead, and she
therefore hoped that I would not be offended at anything
extraordinary in his language or behaviour. She then left me, as
she said, to give orders for my breakfast; whereupon the Jewish
domestic, who had accompanied me from the consul, finding that I
was established in the house, departed.

I speedily sat down to breakfast in an apartment on the left side
of the little wustuddur, the fare was excellent; tea, fried fish,
eggs, and grapes, not forgetting the celebrated bread of Joanna
Correa. I was waited upon by a tall Jewish youth of about twenty
years, who informed me that his name was Haim Ben Atar, that he was
a native of Fez, from whence his parents brought him at a very
early age to Tangier, where he had passed the greater part of his
life principally in the service of Joanna Correa, waiting upon
those who, like myself, lodged in the house. I had completed my
meal, and was seated in the little court, when I heard in the
apartment opposite to that in which I had breakfasted several
sighs, which were succeeded by as many groans, and then came "Ave
Maria, gratia plena, ora pro me," and finally a croaking voice
chanted:-

"Gentem auferte perfidam
Credentium de finibus,
Ut Christo laudes debitas
Persolvamus alacriter."

"That is the old Genoese," whispered Haim Ben Atar, "praying to his
God, which he always does with particular devotion when he happens
to have gone to bed the preceding evening rather in liquor. He has
in his room a picture of Maria Buckra, before which he generally
burns a taper, and on her account he will never permit me to enter
his apartment. He once caught me looking at her, and I thought he
would have killed me, and since then he always keeps his chamber
locked, and carries the key in his pocket when he goes out. He
hates both Jew and Moor, and says that he is now living amongst
them for his sins."

"They do not place tapers before pictures," said I, and strolled
forth to see the wonders of the land.

CHAPTER LVI

The Mahasni--Sin Samani--The Bazaar--Moorish Saints--See the
Ayana!--The Prickly Fig--Jewish Graves--The Place of Carcases--The
Stable Boy--Horses of the Moslem--Dar Dwag.

I was standing in the market-place, a spectator of much the same
scene as I have already described, when a Moor came up to me and
attempted to utter a few words in Spanish. He was a tall elderly
man, with sharp but rather whimsical features, and might have been
called good-looking, had he not been one-eyed, a very common
deformity in this country. His body was swathed in an immense
haik. Finding that I could understand Moorish, he instantly began
talking with immense volubility, and I soon learned that he was a
Mahasni. He expatiated diffusely on the beauties of Tangier, of
which he said he was a native, and at last exclaimed, "Come, my
sultan, come, my lord, and I will show you many things which will
gladden your eyes, and fill your heart with sunshine; it were a
shame in me, who have the advantage of being a son of Tangier, to
permit a stranger who comes from an island in the great sea, as you
tell me you do, for the purpose of seeing this blessed land, to
stand here in the soc with no one to guide him. By Allah, it shall
not be so. Make room for my sultan, make room for my lord," he
continued, pushing his way through a crowd of men and children who
had gathered round us; "it is his highness' pleasure to go with me.
This way, my lord, this way"; and he led the way up the hill,
walking at a tremendous rate and talking still faster. "This
street," said he, "is the Siarrin, and its like is not to be found
in Tangier; observe how broad it is, even half the breadth of the
soc itself; here are the shops of the most considerable merchants,
where are sold precious articles of all kinds. Observe those two
men, they are Algerines and good Moslems; they fled from Zair
(Algiers) when the Nazarenes conquered it, not by force of
fighting, not by valour, as you may well suppose, but by gold; the
Nazarenes only conquer by gold. The Moor is good, the Moor is
strong, who so good and strong? but he fights not with gold, and
therefore he lost Zair.

"Observe you those men seated on the benches by those portals:
they are Mahasniah, they are my brethren. See their haiks how
white, see their turbans how white. O that you could see their
swords in the day of war, for bright, bright are their swords. Now
they bear no swords. Wherefore should they? Is there not peace in
the land? See you him in the shop opposite? That is the Pasha of
Tangier, that is the Hamed Sin Samani, the under Pasha of Tangier;
the elder Pasha, my lord, is away on a journey; may Allah send him
a safe return. Yes, that is Hamed; he sits in his hanutz as were
he nought more than a merchant, yet life and death are in his
hands. There he dispenses justice, even as he dispenses the
essence of the rose and cochineal, and powder of cannon and
sulphur; and these two last he sells on the account of Abderrahman,
my lord and sultan, for none can sell powder and the sulphur dust
in his land but the sultan. Should you wish to purchase atar del
nuar, should you wish to purchase the essence of the rose, you must
go to the hanutz of Sin Samani, for there only you will get it
pure; you must receive it from no common Moor, but only from Hamed.
May Allah bless Hamed. The Mahasniah, my brethren, wait to do his
orders, for wherever sits the Pasha, there is a hall of judgment.
See, now we are opposite the bazaar; beneath yon gate is the court
of the bazaar; what will you not find in that bazaar? Silks from
Fez you will find there; and if you wish for sibat, if you wish for
slippers for your feet, you must seek them there, and there also
are sold curious things from the towns of the Nazarenes. Those
large houses on our left are habitations of Nazarene consuls; you
have seen many such in your own land, therefore why should you stay
to look at them? Do you not admire this street of the Siarrin?
Whatever enters or goes out of Tangier by the land passes through
this street. Oh, the riches that pass through this street! Behold
those camels, what a long train; twenty, thirty, a whole cafila
descending the street. Wullah! I know those camels, I know the
driver. Good day, O Sidi Hassim, in how many days from Fez? And
now we are arrived at the wall, and we must pass under this gate.
This gate is called Bab del Faz; we are now in the Soc de Barra."

The Soc de Barra is an open place beyond the upper wall of Tangier,
on the side of the hill. The ground is irregular and steep; there
are, however, some tolerably level spots. In this place, every
Thursday and Sunday morning, a species of mart is held, on which
account it is called Soc de Barra, or the outward market-place.
Here and there, near the town ditch, are subterranean pits with
small orifices, about the circumference of a chimney, which are
generally covered with a large stone, or stuffed with straw. These
pits are granaries, in which wheat, barley, and other species of
grain intended for sale are stored. On one side are two or three
rude huts, or rather sheds, beneath which keep watch the guardians
of the corn. It is very dangerous to pass over this hill at night,
after the town gates are closed, as at that time numerous large and
ferocious dogs are let loose, who would to a certainty pull down,
and perhaps destroy, any stranger who should draw nigh. Half way
up the hill are seen four white walls, inclosing a spot about ten
feet square, where rest the bones of Sidi Mokhfidh, a saint of
celebrity, who died some fifteen years ago. Here terminates the
soc; the remainder of the hill is called El Kawar, or the place of
graves, being the common burying ground of Tangier; the resting
places of the dead are severally distinguished by a few stones
arranged so as to form an oblong circle. Near Mokhfidh sleeps Sidi
Gali; but the principal saint of Tangier lies interred on the top
of the hill, in the centre of a small plain. A beautiful chapel or
mosque, with vaulted roof, is erected there in his honour, which is
in general adorned with banners of various dyes. The name of this
saint is Mohammed el Hadge, and his memory is held in the utmost
veneration in Tangier and its vicinity. His death occurred at the
commencement of the present century.

These details I either gathered at the time or on subsequent
occasions. On the north side of the soc, close by the town, is a
wall with a gate. "Come," said the old Mahasni, giving a flourish
with his hand; "Come, and I will show you the garden of a Nazarene
consul." I followed him through the gate, and found myself in a
spacious garden laid out in the European taste, and planted with
lemon and pear trees, and various kinds of aromatic shrubs. It
was, however, evident that the owner chiefly prided himself on his
flowers, of which there were numerous beds. There was a handsome
summerhouse, and art seemed to have exhausted itself in making the
place complete.

One thing was wanting, and its absence was strangely remarkable in
a garden at this time of the year; scarcely a leaf was to be seen.
The direst of all the plagues which devastated Egypt was now busy
in this part of Africa--the locust was at work, and in no place
more fiercely than in the particular spot where I was now standing.
All around looked blasted. The trees were brown and bald as in
winter. Nothing green save the fruits, especially the grapes, huge
clusters of which were depending from the "parras"; for the locust
touches not the fruit whilst a single leaf remains to be devoured.
As we passed along the walks these horrible insects flew against us
in every direction, and perished by hundreds beneath our feet.
"See the ayanas," said the old Mahasni, "and hear them eating.
Powerful is the ayana, more powerful than the sultan or the consul.
Should the sultan send all his Mahasniah against the ayana, should
he send me with them, the ayana would say, 'Ha! ha!' Powerful is
the ayana! He fears not the consul. A few weeks ago the consul
said, 'I am stronger than the ayana, and I will extirpate him from
the land.' So he shouted through the city, 'O Tangerines! speed
forth to fight the ayana,--destroy him in the egg; for know that
whosoever shall bring me one pound weight of the eggs of the ayana,
unto him will I give five reals of Spain; there shall be no ayanas
this year.' So all Tangier rushed forth to fight the ayana, and to
collect the eggs which the ayana had laid to hatch beneath the sand
on the sides of the hills, and in the roads, and in the plains.
And my own child, who is seven years old, went forth to fight the
ayana, and he alone collected eggs to the weight of five pounds,
eggs which the ayana had placed beneath the sand, and he carried
them to the consul, and the consul paid the price. And hundreds
carried eggs to the consul, more or less, and the consul paid them
the price, and in less than three days the treasure chest of the
consul was exhausted. And then he cried, 'Desist, O Tangerines!
perhaps we have destroyed the ayana, perhaps we have destroyed them
all.' Ha! ha! Look around you, and beneath you, and above you,
and tell me whether the consul has destroyed the ayana. Oh,
powerful is the ayana! More powerful than the consul, more
powerful than the sultan and all his armies."