Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1881-08-04
Tan-.er.

III is very ancient CITY, lne oiueal
city but one in the world. The Moors
of Spain. in the time of Aboo-Abdallah,
made pilgrimages to it on account of its
antiquity. The cloth merchants. and
the swarthy money changers, and the
shrill water-carriers, were plying their
trade. and all the indolent. feverish life
we witness to-day was seething, in these
narrow streets, when Christ was little
child in Nazareth.
Founded in some unknown period. by
the Carthagin,ans, it is supposed, Tan
gier-the Tingis of the Romans-has
always been bone of bloody conten-
ton among the Nations. In the reign
of Claudius it became the capital of the
province Mauritania Tingitana, and was
an important city. Wrested from the
Romans, it passed successfully under
the rule of the Vandals. Greeks. Sara
Gems and Arabs. In 147l Tangier fell
into the possession of the Portuguese,
who. in 1862, coded il to England as a
portion OF the dover Of the lnfanta
Catherine of Braganza. Queen of Charles
II. The English, finding that the occu-
patton was not worth the cost, abandon
ed the place in 1854, after demolishing
the mole. Here a quaint and incoDgru-
Gus figure appears for an instant on the
scene--the figure OF Mr.. Samuel Pepys.
think il was conception of high hui
NOR on the part of Charles II. to send
Mr.. Pepys among the Moors, for it was
by the King order that he accompanied
Lord Dartmouth with the fleet dis
patched to destroy the sea-wall. This
precautionary piece of engineering left
the bay CT Tangier in such plight as 10
render. the town impossible of approach
by large vessels, except in the rarest
weather. The ruins OF the old mole are
still visible at low tide, ragged. honey
combed blocks of masonry. looking. when
seen through the transparent emerald
of the Mediterranean, like lodges of
silver.
The water in the harbor is so shall
low that. until the present Emperor pro-
jected landing for small boats. the
visitor arriving there by sea was forced
to 20 ashore On the back of a native.
This mas been the Emperor's sole con-
cession TO the spirit of modern progress.
During the last hundred years But
nv strong interest in the historic part
of Tangier ends with Mr.. Pepys.
From any point of view the hoary
little town is vastly interesting; the re-
moteness and obscurity of its origin,
the sieges. pestilences and massacres it
has undergone and the tenacity with
which it clings to primitive customs
and beliefs are so many charms. 10
walk its streets is to breathe the air OF
Scriptural times There TO-DAY fisher
mel costumed like Peter are dragging
their nets on the sandy shingle outside
the gates; at the fountain stands Re-
bekah with her water-jar poised on her
head and hand breath of brown
bosom living bare between the green
and yellow folds of her robe. To-day.
as eighteen hundred years ago. pal
lid, hook nosed man shufiles by count
ing some coins in his palm-the veri.
taOle thirty pieces of silver, perhaps.
If it be not Judas lscariot himself. then
it is descendant. and a striking family
likeness. In brief. Tangier is colossal
piece of bric-a-brac which one would
like to own.--T b. Aiirich, IN Harpcr'.
MdgdsiHt.
| R;chard II Dana who wrnfa .. T,rr