Influence of French Consuls.--Arrival of the Governor of Mogador from
the Capital; he brings an order to imprison the late Governor; his
character, and mode of administering affairs.--Statue of a Negress at
the bottom of a well.--Spanish Renegades.--Various Wedding Festivals of
Jews.--Frequent Fetes and Feastings amongst the Jewish population of
Morocco.--Scripture Illustration, "Behold the Bridegroom
cometh!"--Jewish Renegades.--How far women have souls.--Infrequency of
Suicides.
Notwithstanding the sarcasm of a French journalist that the French and
other Europeans consuls are "consuls des jusifs, et pour la protection
des jusifs," the French consuls both here and at Tangier, have real
power and influence with the Government.
The Governor of Mogador, Sidi Haj El-Arby, arrived from Morocco. His
Excellency feared an attack from the Shedma and the Hhaha people, and
was obliged to have a strong escort. Not long ago, the Sultan himself
had a narrow escape from falling into the hands of a band of insurgents;
their object was to make their lord-paramount a prisoner, and extort
concessions as the price of his liberty. This will help us to form an
opinion of the want of sympathy between potentate and subjects in
Morocco.
His Excellency brought an order from the Imperial despot to imprison the
late governor, if the balance of 6,000 dollars was not instantly
forthcoming, he having only paid nine out of the 15,000 demanded. The
late governor was confined in his house, instead of in the common
prison. It was said he was worth 30,000 dollars, but that he was afraid
to make too prompt a payment of the demand of the Emperor, lest he
should be called upon for more. However, his furniture, horses, and
mules were sold in the public streets; a melancholy spectacle was the
degradation of a former governor of this city. [23]
The Moors look upon these things as matters of course, or with
indifference, quietly ejaculating, "It is destiny! who can resist?" but
the Moor, nevertheless, can clearly discern that wealth is a crime in
the eyes of their sovereign. I am not surprised at the present governor
absolutely rejecting all presents, and making the people call him by the
_soubriquet_ of "the Governor of _no_ presents,"
A short time after his appointment, a merchant having left his
Excellency a present during his absence from home, was immediately
summoned before him, when the following dialogue ensued:--
_His Excellency._--"Sir, how dare you leave a present at my house?"
_The Merchant._--"Other governors before your Excellency have received
presents."
_His Excellency._--"I am a governor of no presents! How much do you owe
the Sultan, my master?"
_The Merchant._--"I--I--I--don't know," (hesitating and trembling)
_His Excellency._--"Very well, when you owe the Sultan nothing, bring me
a present, and take this away, and make known to everybody, that Haj
El-Arby receives _no_ presents."
The fact is, the Governor knows what he is about. Were his Excellency to
receive 16,000 dollars per annum as presents from the merchants of
Mogador, the Sultan would demand of him 15,999; besides, there is not a
merchant who makes a present that does not demand its value, a _quid pro
quo_ in the remission of custom-duties. Sidi-El-Arby is also a thorough
diplomatist, so far as report goes; he promises anybody anything; he
keeps all on the tiptoe of most blessed expectation, and so makes
friends of everybody. "To his friend, Cohen," he says, "I'll take you
back to my country with me, and make you rich; we are of the same
country." To Phillips, "You shall have a ship of your own soon." To the
merchants, "The Sultan shall lend you money whenever you want it." To
the Moors in general, "You shall have your taxes reduced." In this way,
his Excellency promises and flatters all, but takes very good care to
compromise himself with none.
The frequented as well as the unfrequented spots are centres of
superstition. In the Sahara, by a lonely well, in the midst of boundless
sterility, where the curse on earth seems to have burnt blackest, a
camel passes every night groaning piteously, and wandering about in
search of its murdered master, so the tale was told me. Now, about two
day's journey from Mogador, there is also a well, containing within its
dank and dark hollow a perpetual apparition. At its bottom is seen the
motionless statue of a negress, with a variety of wearing materials
placed beside her, all made of fine burnished gold, and so bright, that
the dreary cavern of the deep well is illuminated. Whoever presumes to
look down the well at her, and covets her shining property, is
instantaneously seized with thirst and fever; and, if he does not expire
at once, he never recovers from the fatal effects of his combined
curiosity and avarice. People draw water daily from this well, but no
one dare look down it.
Truth may be in this well! since there is a sad want of it on this, as
on other parts of the world.
I was introduced to a Spanish renegade, a great many make their escape
from the presidios of the North. On getting away from these convict
establishments, they adopt the Mahometan religion, are pretty well
received by the Maroquines, and generally pass the rest of their days
tranquilly among the Moors. I imagine the better sort of them remain
Christians at heart, notwithstanding their public assumption of
Islamism. This renegade was a stonemason, whom I found at work, and he
was not at all distinguishable by strangers from the Moors, being
dressed precisely in the same fashion. I had some conversation with him,
which was characteristic of conceit, feeling and honour.
_Traveller_--"How long have you escaped?"
_Renegade._--"More than twenty years."
_Traveller._--"Do you like this country and the Moors?"
_Renegade._--"Better is Marruécos than Spain."
_Traveller._--"Shall you ever attempt to return to Spain?"
_Renegade._--"Why? here I have all I want. Besides, they would stretch
my neck for sending a fellow out of the world without his previously
having had an interview with his confessor."
_Traveller._--"Are you not conscience-stricken? having committed such a
crime, how can you mention it?"
_Renegade._--"Pooh, conscience! pooh, corazor!"
Many of those wretched men have indeed lost their corazor, or it is
seared with a red-hot iron.
Some hundreds of these Spanish convicts are scattered over the country,
but they soon lose their nationality. It is probable that, from some
knowledge of them, the Emperor presumed lately to call the Spaniards
"the vilest of nations," and yet at various times, the Maroquines have
shown great sympathy for the Spaniards. Some of these renegades were
found at the Battle of Isly in charge of field-pieces, where, according
to the French reports, they displayed great devotion to the cause of the
Emperor.
When the governors of the convict settlements find too many on his
hands, or the prisons too full, they let a number of their best
conducted escape to the interior. The presence of those cut-throats in
Morocco may have something to do with such broils as the following, of
which I was a witness. Two fellows quarrelled violently, and were on the
point of sticking one another with their knives, when up stepped a third
party and cried out, "What! do you intend to act like Christians and
kill one another?" At the talismanic word of Eusara ("Christians, or
Nazareens,") they instantly desisted and became friends. The term
"Christian or Nazareen," is one of the most oppobrious names with which
the people of Mogador can abuse one another.
The weddings and attendant feasts of the Jews are the more remarkable,
when we consider the circumstance of the social state of this oppressed
race in Morocco, their precarious condition, and the numberless insults
and oppressions inflicted on them by both the government and the people;
I was present at several of these weddings, and shall give the readers a
glimpse of them. I had read and heard a great deal about the persecution
of the Jews in Morocco, and was, therefore, not a little surprised to
meet with these continual feasts and festivals among a people so much
talked about as victims of Mussulman oppression.
I find two sentences in my notes containing the pith of the whole. "The
Jews continued their feasts; about a third of their time is spent in
feasting." Again--"Amidst all their degradation, the Jew we saw to-day
recreating themselves to the utmost extent of their capacities of
enjoyment." It appears that during the time I was at Mogador there was
an unusual number of weddings, and then followed the feast of the
Passover. I think, whilst I was at Tangier, weddings or celebration of
weddings were going on every night. It may be safely asserted, that no
people in Barbary enjoy themselves more than the Jews, or more pamper
and gratify their appetites. What with weddings, feasts, and obligatory
festivals, their existence is one round of eating and drinking. These
feasts, besides, do not take place in a corner, nor are they barricaded
from public, or envious, or inquisitorial view, but are open to all,
being attended by Christians, Moors and Arabs.
These wedding-feasts are substantial things. Here is the entry in my
journal of an account of them: "A bullock was killed at the house of the
bridegroom, tea and cakes and spirits were freely, nay universally
distributed there. The company afterwards went off with the bridegroom
to the house of the bride, where another distribution of the same kind
took place, whilst half of the bullock was brought for the bride's
friends. Here the bridegroom, in true oriental style, mounted upon a
couch of damask and gold. The bride, laden with bridal ornaments of gold
and jewels, and covered with a gauze veil, was led out by the women and
placed by his side. She was then left alone to sit in state as queen of
the feast, whilst the company regaled themselves with every imaginable
luxury of eating and drinking. Her future husband now produced, as a
present for his bride, a splendid pair of jewelled ear-rings, which were
held up amidst the screaming approbation of the guests. The Jewesses
present, were weighed down under the dead weight of a profusion of
jewels and gold, tiaras of pearls, necklaces of coral and gems, armlets,
wristlets and legets of silver gold and jet, with gold and silver
braided gowns, skirts and petticoats.
This fiesta was kept up for seven days. Astonished at the profusion of
jewels worn by the various guests, I received a solution by a question I
asked, touching this mavellous circumstance. The greater part of the
jewels, worn on these occasions, are borrowed from friends and
neighbours; they must belong to some of the Jewish families, and their
quantity shews the great wealth possessed by the Jews living under this
despotic government,
I assisted at the celebration of the nuptials of a portion of the family
of the feather merchants, a rich and powerful firm established in the
south for the purchase of ostrich-feathers.
This was a wedding of great _éclat_; all the native Jewish aristocracy
of Mogador being invited to it. The festivities, beginning at noon, I
first entered the apartment where the bride was sitting in state. She
was elevated on a radiant throne of gold and crimson cushions amidst a
group of women, her hired flatterers, who kept singing and bawling out
her praises. "As beautiful as the moon is Rachel!" said one. "Fairer
than the jessamine!" exclaimed another. "Sweeter than honey in the
honey-comb!" ejaculated a third. Her eyes were shut, it being deemed
immodest to look on the company, and the features of her face motionless
as death, which made her look like a painted corpse.
To describe the dresses of the bride would be tedious, as she was
carried away every hour and redressed, going through and exhibiting to
public view, with the greatest patience, the whole of her bridal
wardrobe. Her face was artistically painted; cheeks vermillion; lips
browned, with an odoriferous composition; eye-lashes blackened with
antimony; and on the forehead and tips of the chin little blue stars.
The palms of the hands and nails were stained with henna, or brown-red,
and her feet were naked, with the toe-nails and soles henna-stained. She
was very young, perhaps not more than thirteen, and hugely corpulent,
having been fed on paste and oil these last six months for the occasion.
The bridegroom, on the contrary, was a man of three times her age, tall,
lank and bony, very thin, and of sinister aspect. The woman was a little
lump of fat and flesh, apparently without intelligence, whilst the man
was a Barbary type of Dickens' Fagan.
The ladies had now arranged themselves in tiers, one above the other,
and most gorgeous was the sight. Most of them wore tiaras, all flaming
with gems and jewels. They were literally covered from head to foot with
gold and precious stones. As each lady has but ten fingers, it was
necessary to tie some scores of rings on their hair. The beauty of the
female form, in these women, was quite destroyed by this excessive
quantity of jewellery. These jewels were chiefly pearls, brilliants,
rubies and emeralds.
They are amassed and descend as heir-looms in families, from mother to
daughter. Some of the jewels being very ancient, they constitute the
riches of many families. In reverses of fortune, they are pledged, or
turned into money to relieve immediate necessity. The upper tiers of
ladies were the youngest, and least adorned, and consequently the
prettiest. The ancient dowagers sat below as so many queens enthroned,
challenging scrutiny and admiration. They were mostly of enormous
corpulency, spreading out their naked feet and trousered legs of an
enormous expanse.
Several dowagers seemed scarcely to be able to breathe from heat, and
the plethora of their own well-fed and pampered flesh. We had now music,
and several attempts were made to get up the indecent Moorish dance,
which, however, was forbidden as too vulgar for such fashionable Jews,
and honoured by the presence of Europeans. Not much pleased with this
spectacle, I looked out of the window into the patio, or court-yard,
where I saw a couple of butchers' boys slaughtering a bullock for the
evening carousal. A number of boys were dipping their hands in the
blood, and making with it the representation of an outspread hand on the
doors, posts and walls, for the purpose of keeping off "the evil eye,"
(_el ojo maligno,_) and so ensuring good luck to the new married couple.
I then mounted the house-top to see a game played by the young men.
Here, on the flat roof, was assembled a court, with a sultan sitting in
the midst. Various prisoners were tried and condemned. Two or three of
the greatest culprits were then secured and dragged down to the ladies,
the officers of justice informing them that, if no one stepped forward
to rescue them, it was the sultan's orders that they should be
imprisoned. Several young Jewesses now clamourously demanded their
release. It is understood that these compassionate maidens who, on such
occasions, step forward to the rescue, and take one of the young men by
the hand, are willing to accept of the same when it may hereafter be
offered to them in marriage, so the contagion of wedding-feasts spreads,
and one marriage makes many.
I now proceed to the supper-table of the men, where the party ate and
drank to gluttonous satiety. Several rabbis were hired to chant, over
the supper-table, prayers composed of portions of Scripture, and legends
of the Talmud.
The dinning noise of bad music, and horrible screaming, called singing,
with the surfeit of the feast, laid me up for two days afterwards. The
men supped by themselves, and the women of course were also apart.
My host, anxious that I should see all, insisted upon my going to have a
peep at the ladies whilst they were supping. Unlike us men, who sat up
round a table, because there were several Europeans among us, the women
lay sprawling and rolling on carpets and couches.
In their own allotted apartments, these gorgeous daughters of Israel
looked still more huge and enormous, feasting almost to repletion, like
so many princesses of the royal orgies of Belshazzar. But this was a
native wedding, and, of course, when we consider the education of these
Barbary women, we must expect, when they have drink like the men, white
spirits for protracted hours until midnight, the proprieties of society
are easily dispensed with. Happily the class of women, who so kept up
the feast, were all said to be married, the maidens having gone home
with the bride.
Very different, indeed, was another distinguished wedding at which I had
the honour of assisting, and which all the European consuls and their
families attended, with the _élite_ of the society of Mogador; this was
the marriage of M. Bittern, of Gibraltar, with Miss Amram Melek. The
bridegroom was the Portuguese Consul, the bride, the daughter of the
greatest Jewish merchant of the south, and consequently the Emperor's
greatest and most honoured debtor. The celebration of this wedding
lasted fourteen days.
On the grand day, a ball and supper were given. All the Moors of the
town came to see the Christians and their ladies dance. Our musician, or
fiddler, kept away from some petty pique, and we were accordingly
reduced to the hard necessity of making use of a drum and whistling,
both to keep up our spirits and serve up the quadrilles. We had,
however, some good singing to make up for the disappointment. His
Excellency the Governor intended to have honoured us with his presence,
but he gave way to the remonstrance of an inflexible marabout, who
declared it a deadly sin to attend the marriages of Jews and Christians.
The marriage guests were of three or four several sets and sorts. There
was the European coterie, the choicest and most select, graced by the
presence of the bride; then the native aristocrats, and here were the
gorgeous sultanas and Fezan spouses; then the lesser stars, and the
still more diminished.
Finally, the "blind, the lame, and the halt," surrounded the doors of
the house in which the marriage-feast was held, receiving a portion of
the good things of this life. The whole number of guests was not more
than two hundred. Plenty of European Jewesses shone as bewitching stars
at this wedding; but all _param_ to us poor Christians. Indeed, there is
as little as no lovemaking, and match-making amongst the isolated
Nazarenes; for, out of a population of some fifty European families,
there are only two marriageable Christian ladies.
The bride is frequently fetched by the bridegroom at midnight, when
there is a cry made, "behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet
him!" (Matt xxv--6). This ancient custom prevails most among the Moors.
Once, whilst at Nabal, in Tunis, I was roused from my sleep at the dead
of the night by wild cries, and the discharging of fire-arms, attended
with a blaze of torches. The bridegroom was conveying his bride to his
home. A crowd of the friends of the newly-married couple, followed the
camel which carried the precious burden; all were admitted to the feast
in the court-yard, and the doors were shut for the night.
At the wedding of the lower classes of the Jews, after dancing and
music, there is always a collection made for the bride, or the
musicians. On these occasions, the master of the ceremonies calls out
the names of the donors as they contribute to the support of the
festivities. I was somewhat taken by surprise to hear my name called
out, Bashador Inglez (English ambassador) when I attended one of the
weddings. But the fellow, making the announcement, attracted my
attention more than his flattering compliment. He was dressed in Moorish
costume with an immense white turban folded round his head. I could not
conceive the reason of a Moor taking such interest in feasts of the
Jews.
The secret soon transpired. He was a renegade, who had apostatized for
the sake of marrying a pretty girl. His heart is always with his
brethren, and the authorities good-naturedly allow him to be master of
the ceremonies at these and other feasts, to preserve order, or rather
to prevent the Jews from being insulted by the Mahometans.
There are always a few Jewish renegades in large Moorish towns, just
enough, I imagine, to convince the Mahometans of the superiority of
their religion to that of other nations; for whilst they obtain converts
from both Jews and Christians, and make proselytes of scores of Blacks,
they never hear of apostates from Islamism. The manner, however, in
which these renegades abandon their religion, is no very evident proof
of the divine authority of the Prophet of Mecca. Here is an instance.
A boy of this town ran away from his father, and prostrated himself
before the Governor, imploring him to make him a Mussulman. The
Governor, actuated by the most rational and proper feeling, remarked to
the boy, "You are a child, you have not arrived at years of discretion,
you have not intellect enough to make a choice between two religions."
The boy was kept confined one night, then beaten, and sent home in the
morning.
Another case happened like this when the boy was admitted within the
pale of Islamism. Jewish boys will often cry out when their fathers are
correcting them, "I will turn Mussulman!" A respectable Jew, who
related this to me, observed, "were I to hear any of my sons cry out in
this manner, I would immediately give them a dose of poison, and finish
them; I could not bear to see my children formed into Mussulman devils."
It really seems the vulgar opinion among the Jews and Moors of this
place, that females have no souls. I asked many women themselves about
the matter; they replied, "We don't care, if we have no souls." A Rabbi
observed, "If women bear children, make good wives, and live virtuously
and chastely, they will go to heaven and enjoy an immortal existence; if
not, after death, they will suffer annihilation."
This appears to be the opinion of all the well-educated. But a Jewish
lady who heard my conversation with the Rabbi, retorted with spirit:
"Whether I bear children or not, if my husband, or any man has a soul, I
have one likewise, for are not all men born of us women?"
All, however, are well satisfied with this life, whatever may happen in
the next; male and female Jews and Mussulmen hold on their mutual career
with the greatest tenacity. I made inquiries about suicides, and was
told there were never any persons so foolish as to kill themselves.
"We leave it to the Emperor to take away a man's life, if such be the
will of God!" and yet the Moors are habitually a grave, dreamy and
melancholy people. No doubt the light, buoyant atmosphere keeps them
from falling into such a state of mental prostration as to induce
suicide.
I now found that many people looked upon me, in the language of the
Jewish renegade, as an ambassador, and some went so far as to say, "I
can make war with the Emperor if I like;" others persisted in saying "I
am going in search of the murdered Davidson." A man took the liberty of
telling Mr. Elton. "A very mysterious Christian has arrived from the
Sultan of the English. The Governor hearing that he had ordered a pair
of Moorish shoes, sent word to the shoemaker to be as long about them as
possible. This Nazarene is going to disguise himself as one of us, in
order to spy out our country."
The Moors are certainly a timid and suspicious race. They feel their
weakness, and they are frightened of any Christian who does not come to
their country on commercial pursuits, as a sportsman, or in some
directly intelligible character.