Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1881-02-03
Life In Tanglers.

The first appearance OF Tangiers Il
certainly not cheerful one to the late
sojourner at Gibraltar. The visitor
cannot amuse himself, or rather her
self. by gazing at windows and APP
praising wares. The shops are mean
! to d degree. Those In the only square,
around which are the various legations,
are wretched. Here is the well-defned
shore upon which the sea or barbarism
breaks--a line of civilization merely.
The rest is all barbaric--a dead sea Of
unknown extent.
But if the aspect of the city be dull
during the day, what shall we say Of it
at nightp Fully Illuminated by re-
fu3gent moon, which lights up the
white walls with almost dazzling
splendnr Tangiers is 8 city OF the dead.
The cloaked specters have disappeared
into the whited sepulchres houses.
A bundle ofrags will stir at your feet; !;
it is an Arab. You tread upon the
skeleton of cat, al d recoil. Your foot
steps echo in the deserted lanes, and
probably the beating of your own heart
will be all the sound you will hear. All
is mute and iifeless around you.
Apropos of the bundle of rags, "
nothi-g will surprise the visitor to
Morocco more than the extraordinary
manner in which the native will curl
himself up in corner, or lie down
against 3 wall. In q spot where we
should fancy boy or bundle would
find insufficient and uncomfortable
space, an Arab will sit or crouch in
perfect happiness. He spreads him
self on wall like a bass-relief, and
fiattens himself upon the ground like a
sheet spread out to dry" And in all
these attitudes he appears alternately
headless, legless, or trunkless. q ball, 8
cube, or a nonGescript His adapta-
bility is wonderful
The dress of the people is very pic
turesque. That of the men is ordinarily
a white mantle, but on gala days is
more elaborate. The women cover
their faces with the end of their long
mantles, under which they wear q
wide-sleeved garment bound round the
waist with cord. Nothing but the
eyes, fingers, and bare feet thrust into
slippers is visible. They are q sad,
weary race, priced till twenty, then
they get old and withered, and are
treated like beasts Of burden till they
die.
In the whole town there il not cart
nor carriage. No itinerants go round
with wares, no street occu upation absorbs
pedestrians, no movement to speak Uf,
no bells, no cries, no invitations to pur-
chase. Repose has settled upon all !;
even the active-minded visitor will sue
cumb at last, and sit for hours doing
nothing, not knowing what to do. And
in this sOmnolent city you can wander
about at will, and will lose yourself, no
doubt, in the hopeless maze of little
houses and lanes and alleys. Every
lane is like every other lane, all the al
leys and tiny squares are fac-simiies of
other alleys and squares, and one might
very easily disappear never to return.
In this labyrinth you may, as a Chris
tian, wander unharmed and almost un-
noticed. No pickpocket of civilization
will modest you, and foreign ladies
carry their purses in. their outside
pockets without fear of loss.
Outside the town one may find many
curious features. For instance, all
around the city walls is "girdle of
gardens, !" rich in q sort of vegetation,
but too neglected. Aloes, Indian figs,
oaks, oleanders and numerous shrubs
grow thickly, and intertwine their
branches with the ivy, vine and cane.
Rank and luxuriant grass, quantities of
flowers, in places growing two feet
high, small white house, q wheel, q
well by means of which irrigation is
carried on at times through trenches,
but not living being is to be seen AL
is rank and luxuriant in vegetation,
but all is dead and lonely 20 far as
the people are concerned. Here the
cultivation ends. Beyond this zone