Omaha daily bee., 1881-06-16
TIL q JACKAL
On Shipboard from Gibraltar to
Tangier.

'ltt llldl plltS bClNNNh 'i'A''A'"' "h''
Morocco, and | am positive that since
Noah's ark no vessel ever put to sea
with a more %variegatcd and incongru-
on lot of passengers than saluted my
eyes as | stepped on board the
"Jackal one April afternoon. The
instant l set foot on deck | had
passed out of Europe Here were the
squalor and the glitter of the orient
the solemn dusky facer that look out
on the reader from the pages of the
Arabian Nights, and the thousand and
one disagreeable odors of which that
fascinatin chronicle make nomention.
Such a c%hattering in Spanish, Portu-
guese, Hebrew, and Arabic. Such
queer brown-legged figures in pointed
hoods and yellow slippers! Though
there were first and second class fares.
there appeared to be no distiction in
the matter of accommodation. From
stem to stern the long narrow deck
was crowded with Moors, Arabs,
negroes, Jews, and half breeds, in
e~xtricably mixing themselves up with
empty fruit crates, bamboo baskets,
and bales ofmerchandise. | specialized
as to what would become of all that
loose luggage if we were to encounter
a blow outside; for this placid-looking
summer sea has a way of lashing itself
into an ungovernable rage without any
perceptible provocation. In case of
wet weather there was no shelter ex.
cept n sitting cabin between-decks,
whore the thirsty were waited upon
by a feH-crowned mar carved out of
ebony, who dispensed a thin sour
wine from a goat-skin, which he ar
ried under his arm like a bagpipe.
Not liking the look of the water-tana
'midships, | tested the wine early in
the voyage, and came to the conclusion
that death by thirst was not without
its advantages.
The steamer had slipped her moor
ings, and was gliding out of the bay
before | noticed the movement, so alb
sorbed had l been in studying the
costumes and manners of my fellow
voyagers. What agayly colored, shah
by, picturesque crowd. 1t was as if
some mad masquerade party had burst
the bonds of a ballroom and run away
to sea. Here was a Tangier merchant
in sky-blue gaberdine, with a Persian
shawl twisted around his waist, and a
black velvet cap set on the back Of his
head; there a Moor, in snowy turban
and t1eecy ~caftan, with a jewel-hilted,
,rno,nnt l1nlnl l-,eN - Ia, ,,,l1,
Tall, slim Arabs, in dingy white robes
like those worn by Dominicans, stalk.
ed up and down between the heaps of
luggage, or leaned over the tafIrail III
the pit:less sunshine, gazing listlessly
into the distance. Others slowed
themselves among the freight, and
went to sleep. If you seated your
self by chance on what appeared to be
a bit of old sail, something stirred
protestingly under you, and a bronze
visage slowly unshelled itself from the
hood of a burnoose. Everywhere was
some strange shape. In the bow of
the 20 g. "a ,a5:, frun "te Suri-
dan sat cross-iegged, counting his mo-
ney, which he arranged in piles on u
rug, the silver on one side and the
copper on the other. He looked like
a Hlndoo idol, with his heavy-lidded
orbs and baggy cheeks, the latter sag
ging almost down to the folds of
flesh that marked his triple chin,
those rings of the human oak. Near
him, but not watching him, and evil
IDENTIFY not caring for anything, stood
a bare-headed, emaciated old man.
His Uranium, as polished and yellow
as ancient ivory, was covered with a
delicate tracery of blue veins, and re-
sembled a geographical globe. At
his girdle hung a leather pouch, APP
parently containing a few coins. Both
his person and the negro, as well as a
majority of their companions, were
returning from a commercial visit to
Gibraltar. The chief trade of Tan
gier and the outlying districts consists
in supplying the English garrison and
the cities of Cadiz and Lisbon with
cattle, fowls, fruits, and green stuff.
l saw none of these people on the
streets of Gibraltar, however. They
probably Rugged the waterfront,
where the markets are, and did not
enture into the upper town. With
heir graceful dresss they would not
have been out of place among the
Highland kits and scarlet coats that
light up the alameda of a pleasant
afternoon.
There were several Europeans
abroad besides myself, if l may pass
for a European "a Marseillaise gen
tleman about to join his wife, the
guest of her brother, the French con-
sui at Tangier; an Italian gentleman
travelling for pleasure mot that the
other was not; a Dutch painter from
Antwerp, with al amazing porcelain
pipe; and last, but not least, a Briton,
among whose luggage IA a circular
tin bath-tub, concerning which the
Mohammedan mind had swamped it.
self in vain conjecture. Was it piece
of defensive armor-a shield, for ex-
ample or wa it a gigantic frying-pan?
These Christian dogs, they have such
outlandish fashions! No Arab passed
it without a curious glance, and at in
tervals quite a little crowd would
gather about it. Now and then jew,
who knew what the article was, though
he had never used it, smiled supercili-
ously,
We had been under way an hour or
more, when / observed the English
man in a deep with a person
age who had greatly impressed me
as / caught a glimpse of him on the
gangway at Gibraltar before the boat
started. | had lost him a moment
afterwards, and reluctantly concluded
that he had gone ashore again. But
there he was, wherever he came from.
BY tho gracious dignity of his manner
and the richness of his dress, he might
have been Haroun.a al Masehid him
self. He was Moorish, but clearly of