The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-02-03
Life in Tangiers.

Inc nrSG appearance OF langlcrS is
certainly not a 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 degree. Those in the only square,
around which are the various legations,
are wretched. Here is the well-defined
shore upon which the sea Of 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-
fulgent moon, which lights mp the
white walls with almost dazzling
splendor. Tangiers is city Of the dead.
The cloaked specters have disappeared
into the whited sepulchres--theh houses.
A bundle of rags will stir at your feet;
it is an Arab. You tread upon the
skeleton of cat, a. 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 lifeless around you.
Apropos of the " bundle Of rags"
nothi" will surprise the visitor to
Morocco more than the extraordinary
manner in which the native will curl
himself up in q corner, or lie down
against wall. In spot where we
should fancy boy or q bundle would
find insufficient and uncomfortable
space, an Arab will sit or crouch in
perfect happiness. He spreads him
self on a wall like bass-relief. and
fattens himself upon the ground like a
sheet spread out to cry" And in all
MT M o1i tol ~
headless, legless, or trunkless, ball, q
cube, or q nondescript His adapta.
bility is wonderful
The dress OF the people is very pic
turesque. That OF the men is ordinarily
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 a
wide-sleeved garment bound round the
waist with a cord. Nothing but the
eyes, fingers, and bare feet thrust into
slippers is visible. They are a sad,
weary race. priced till twenty, then
they get old and withered, and are
treated like beasts Of burden till they
die.
10 the who.e town there is not n cart
nor O carriage. No itinerants go round
vii wares, no street occupation absorbs
pe!2si rians, no movement to speak OF,
no bells, no cries, no invitations to pur-
chase. Repose has settled upon all;
even the acLive-minded visitor will sue
cumb ut 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 a.
legs and tiny squares are fac-similes OF
other alleys and squares, and one might
very easily disappear never to return.
In this labyrinth you may, as a Chris
tian, warder unharmcd ard 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 a sort of vegetation,
but too neglected. Aloes, Indian figs,
oaks, oleanders and numerous shrubs
grow tbickly, and intertwine their
branches with the ivy, vine and caue.
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 a living being is to be seen All
is rank and luXuriant in vegetation,
but all is dead and lonely so far rs
the people are concerned. Here the
cultivation ends, Beyond this zone
of verdure there are no trees,
nor hedges, nor boundaries TO be
seen. Rolling hills, undulating plains,
and verdant valleys stretch away, hut
scarce any tilling of the ground is at
tempted. Flowing is carried on in the
most primitive manner; q small So
called plow guided by one hand, while
the other wields the whip, carries US at
once back hundreds of years, when our
Lords rebuke- "No man having put
his hand to the plow, and looking back,
is fit tor the kingdom OF God '-must
have been literally applicsbl to the i'm
plement mentioned. The mode of using G
this plow is curious. Any animal is
pressed into the service; q goat, or a
mule, or both together; even donkey
and woman arc sometimes yoked, and
pull together very well in Morocco.
Agriculture is ofan extremely primitive
OF der, for were the land in any degree
cultivated-as we understand the pro-
eess--the ground would yield hundred.
fold increase to the possessor. Harper.
Weekly.