A MOORISH WEDDING.
THE Moors, though very indolent themselves, are rigid task-masters, and
keep every person under them in full employment. My boy Demba was sent
to the woods to collect withered grass for Ali’s horses; and after a
variety of projects concerning myself, they at last found out an
employment for me: this was no other than the respectable office of
_barber_. I was to make my first exhibition in this capacity in the
royal presence, and to be honoured with the task of shaving the head of
the young prince of Ludamar. I accordingly seated myself upon the sand,
and the boy, with some hesitation, sat down beside me. A small razor,
about three inches long, was put into my hand, and I was ordered to
proceed; but whether from my own want of skill, or the improper shape of
the instrument, I unfortunately made a slight incision in the boy’s head
at the very commencement of the operation; and the king, observing the
awkward manner in which I held the razor, concluded that his son’s head
was in very improper hands, and ordered me to resign the razor and walk
out of the tent. This I considered as a very fortunate circumstance; for
I had laid it down as a rule to make myself as useless and insignificant
as possible, as the only means of recovering my liberty.
_March_ 18.—Four Moors arrived from Jarra with Johnson my interpreter,
having seized him before he had received any intimation of my
confinement, and bringing with them a bundle of clothes that I had left
at Daman Jumma’s house, for my use in case I should return by the way of
Jarra. Johnson was led into Ali’s tent and examined; the bundle was
opened, and I was sent for to explain the use of the different articles.
I was happy, however, to find that Johnson had committed my papers to the
charge of one of Daman’s wives. When I had satisfied Ali’s curiosity
respecting the different articles of apparel the bundle was again tied
up, and put into a large cow-skin bag that stood in a corner of the tent.
The same evening Ali sent three of his people to inform me that there
were many thieves in the neighbourhood, and that to prevent the rest of
my things from being stolen it was necessary to convey them all into his
tent. My clothes, instruments, and everything that belonged to me, were
accordingly carried away; and though the heat and dust made clean linen
very necessary and refreshing, I could not procure a single shirt out of
the small stock I had brought along with me. Ali was, however,
disappointed by not finding among my effects the quantity of gold and
amber that he expected; but to make sure of everything he sent the same
people, on the morning following, to examine whether I had anything
concealed about my person. They, with their usual rudeness, searched
every part of my apparel, and stripped me of all my gold, amber, my
watch, and one of my pocket-compasses; I had, fortunately, in the night,
buried the other compass in the sand—and this, with the clothes I had on,
was all that the tyranny of Ali had now left me.
The gold and amber were highly gratifying to Moorish avarice, but the
pocket-compass soon became an object of superstitious curiosity. Ali was
very desirous to be informed why that small piece of iron, the needle,
always pointed to the Great Desert; and I found myself somewhat puzzled
to answer the question. To have pleaded my ignorance would have created
a suspicion that I wished to conceal the real truth from him; I therefore
told him that my mother resided far beyond the sands of Sahara, and that
whilst she was alive the piece of iron would always point that way, and
serve as a guide to conduct me to her, and that if she was dead it would
point to her grave. Ali now looked at the compass with redoubled
amazement; turned it round and round repeatedly; but observing that it
always pointed the same way, he took it up with great caution and
returned it to me, manifesting that he thought there was something of
magic in it, and that he was afraid of keeping so dangerous an instrument
in his possession.
_March_ 20.—This morning a council of chief men was held in Ali’s tent
respecting me. Their decisions, though they were all unfavourable to me,
were differently related by different persons. Some said that they
intended to put me to death; others that I was only to lose my right
hand; but the most probable account was that which I received from Ali’s
own son, a boy about nine years of age, who came to me in the evening,
and, with much concern, informed me that his uncle had persuaded his
father to put out my eyes, which they said resembled those of a cat, and
that all the bushreens had approved of this measure. His father,
however, he said, would not put the sentence into execution until Fatima,
the queen, who was at present in the north, had seen me.
_March_ 21.—Anxious to know my destiny, I went to the king early in the
morning; and as a number of bushreens were assembled, I thought this a
favourable opportunity of discovering their intentions. I therefore
began by begging his permission to return to Jarra, which was flatly
refused. His wife, he said, had not yet seen me, and I must stay until
she came to Benowm, after which I should be at liberty to depart; and
that my horse, which had been taken away from me the day after I arrived,
should be again restored to me. Unsatisfactory as this answer was, I was
forced to appear pleased; and as there was little hope of making my
escape at this season of the year, on account of the excessive heat, and
the total want of water in the woods, I resolved to wait patiently until
the rains had set in, or until some more favourable opportunity should
present itself. But “hope deferred maketh the heart sick.” This tedious
procrastination from day to day, and the thoughts of travelling through
the negro kingdoms in the rainy season, which was now fast approaching,
made me very melancholy; and having passed a restless night, I found
myself attacked in the morning by a smart fever. I had wrapped myself
close up in my cloak with a view to induce perspiration, and was asleep,
when a party of Moors entered the hut, and with their usual rudeness
pulled the cloak from me. I made signs to them that I was sick, and
wished much to sleep, but I solicited in vain; my distress was matter of
sport to them, and they endeavoured to heighten it by every means in
their power. In this perplexity I left my hut, and walked to some shady
trees at a little distance from the camp, where I lay down. But even
here persecution followed me, and solitude was thought too great an
indulgence for a distressed Christian. Ali’s son, with a number of
horsemen, came galloping to the place, and ordered me to rise and follow
them. I begged they would allow me to remain where I was, if it was only
for a few hours; but they paid little attention to what I said, and,
after a few threatening words, one of them pulled out a pistol from a
leather bag that was fastened to the pommel of his saddle, and presenting
it towards me, snapped it twice. He did this with so much indifference,
that I really doubted whether the pistol was loaded. He cocked it a
third time, and was striking the flint with a piece of steel, when I
begged them to desist, and returned with them to the camp. When we
entered Ali’s tent we found him much out of humour. He called for the
Moor’s pistol, and amused himself for some time with opening and shutting
the pan; at length taking up his powder-horn, he fresh primed it, and,
turning round to me with a menacing look, said something in Arabic which
I did not understand. I desired my boy, who was sitting before the tent,
to inquire what offence I had committed; when I was informed, that having
gone out of the camp without Ali’s permission, they suspected that I had
some design of making my escape; and that, in future, if I was seen
without the skirts of the camp, orders had been given that I should be
shot by the first person that observed me.
In the afternoon the horizon to the eastward was thick and hazy, and the
Moors prognosticated a sand wind, which accordingly commenced on the
morning following, and lasted, with slight intermissions, for two days.
The force of the wind was not in itself very great; it was what a seaman
would have denominated a _stiff breeze_; but the quantity of sand and
dust carried before it was such as to darken the whole atmosphere.
About this time all the women of the camp had their feet and the ends of
their fingers stained of a dark saffron colour. I could never ascertain
whether this was done from motives of religion, or by way of ornament.
_March_ 28.—This morning a large herd of cattle arrived from the
eastward, and one of the drivers, to whom Ali had lent my horse, came
into my hut with the leg of an antelope as a present, and told me that my
horse was standing before Ali’s tent. In a little time Ali sent one of
his slaves to inform me that in the afternoon I must be in readiness to
ride out with him, as he intended to show me to some of his women.
About four o’clock, Ali, with six of his courtiers, came riding to my
hut, and told me to follow them. I readily complied. But here a new
difficulty occurred. The Moors, accustomed to a loose and easy dress,
could not reconcile themselves to the appearance of my _nankeen
breeches_, which they said were not only inelegant, but, on account of
their tightness, very indecent; and as this was a visit to ladies, Ali
ordered my boy to bring out the loose cloak which I had always worn since
my arrival at Benowm, and told me to wrap it close round me. We visited
the tents of four different ladies, at every one of which I was presented
with a bowl of milk and water. All these ladies were remarkably
corpulent, which is considered here as the highest mark of beauty. They
were very inquisitive, and examined my hair and skin with great
attention, but affected to consider me as a sort of inferior being to
themselves, and would knit their brows, and seem to shudder when they
looked at the whiteness of my skin.
The Moors are certainly very good horsemen. They ride without fear—their
saddles being high before and behind, afford them a very secure seat; and
if they chance to fall, the whole country is so soft and sandy that they
are very seldom hurt. Their greatest pride, and one of their principal
amusements, is to put the horse to its full speed, and then stop him with
a sudden jerk, so as frequently to bring him down upon his haunches. Ali
always rode upon a milk-white horse, with its tail dyed red. He never
walked, unless when he went to say his prayers; and even in the night two
or three horses were always kept ready saddled at a little distance from
his own tent. The Moors set a very high value upon their horses; for it
is by their superior fleetness that they are enabled to make so many
predatory excursions into the negro countries. They feed them three or
four times a day, and generally give them a large quantity of sweet milk
in the evening, which the horses appear to relish very much.
_April_ 3.—This forenoon, a child, which had been some time sickly, died
in the next tent; and the mother and relations immediately began the
death-howl. They were joined by a number of female visitors, who came on
purpose to assist at this melancholy concert. I had no opportunity of
seeing the burial, which is generally performed secretly, in the dusk of
the evening, and frequently at only a few yards’ distance from the tent.
Over the grave they plant one particular shrub, and no stranger is
allowed to pluck a leaf, or even to touch it—so great a veneration have
they for the dead.
_April_ 7.—About four o’clock in the afternoon a whirlwind passed through
the camp with such violence that it overturned three tents, and blew down
one side of my hut. These whirlwinds come from the Great Desert, and at
this season of the year are so common that I have seen five or six of
them at one time. They carry up quantities of sand to an amazing height,
which resemble, at a distance, so many moving pillars of smoke.
The scorching heat of the sun, upon a dry and sandy country, makes the
air insufferably hot. Ali having robbed me of my thermometer, I had no
means of forming a comparative judgment; but in the middle of the day,
when the beams of the vertical sun are seconded by the scorching wind
from the desert, the ground is frequently heated to such a degree as not
to be borne by the naked foot. Even the negro slaves will not run from
one tent to another without their sandals. At this time of the day the
Moors lie stretched at length in their tents, either asleep, or unwilling
to move; and I have often felt the wind so hot, that I could not hold my
hand in the current of air which came through the crevices of my hut
without feeling sensible pain.
_April_ 8.—This day the wind blew from the south-west; and in the night
there was a heavy shower of rain, accompanied with thunder and lightning.
_April_ 10.—In the evening the _tabala_, or large drum, was beat to
announce a wedding, which was held at one of the neighbouring tents. A
great number of people of both sexes assembled, but without that mirth
and hilarity which take place at a negro wedding. Here was neither
singing nor dancing, nor any other amusement that I could perceive. A
woman was beating the drum, and the other women joining at times like a
chorus, by setting up a shrill scream, and at the same time moving their
tongues from one side of the mouth to the other with great celerity. I
was soon tired, and had returned into my hut, where I was sitting almost
asleep, when an old woman entered with a wooden bowl in her hand, and
signified that she had brought me a present from the bride. Before I
could recover from the surprise which this message created, the woman
discharged the contents of the bowl full in my face. Finding that it was
the same sort of holy water with which, among the Hottentots, a priest is
said to sprinkle a newly-married couple, I began to suspect that the old
lady was actuated by mischief or malice; but she gave me seriously to
understand that it was a nuptial benediction from the bride’s own person,
and which, on such occasions, is always received by the young unmarried
Moors as a mark of distinguished favour. This being the case, I wiped my
face, and sent my acknowledgments to the lady. The wedding drum
continued to beat, and the women to sing, or rather whistle, all night.
About nine in the morning the bride was brought in state from her
mother’s tent, attended by a number of women who carried her tent (a
present from the husband), some bearing up the poles, others holding by
the strings; and in this manner they marched, whistling as formerly,
until they came to the place appointed for her residence, where they
pitched the tent. The husband followed, with a number of men, leading
four bullocks, which they tied to the tent strings; and having killed
another, and distributed the beef among the people, the ceremony was
concluded.