The Ottawa free trader., 1884-05-03
A DAY IN TANGIERS.
The Women i'm the Market Place and
in the Harcms.


High above me | behold the buildings
and walls of Tangiers. The blue
Mediterranean dashes its waves against
a ruined mole and temporary pier for
the accommodation of travellers. Every
thing is different from European scenes.
Wild flowers grow in proiusion on the
roofs and old walls. Tho bright BIOS
SONS of the cactus glow in the sun
light. The prickly pear attains The
size and height OF trees, and in many
places forms arches beneath which
ride Moors and others mounted on
mules or donkeys. The natives eat
the fruit, cutting each pear from its
stem with twine.
just below the hotel and outside
the gate of the city is the Soko or mar
ket place On Sundays and Thurs
days it is filled with motley crowd,
who bring game, meat, eggs. fowls and
other provisions from the surrounding
country. 1t is here that Gibraltar OBJ
tans its supplies. The noise and din
in the market place is Internal. AT
least 5000 tongues are at work. You
an hardly force your way through the
crowd. Once on the outskirts you are
lost in great herds of cattle and strings
of loaded donkeys from Barbary.
These creatures carry wonderful loads.
They look small by the side of the cam
els. These animals, relieved of their
loads, are lying down in circle with
their fore legs tied together. Near
them are numbers OF goatskin tents,
filthy in the extreme and only high
enough to sit under. The confusion is
terrible. Some of the men are bang
ing on drums, and others are playing
the khutah, which is infinitely worse
than the Moorish drum.
Women, whose faces were covered
with the exception of one eye, crouched
on the ground near by, selling bread.
The magnificent Moor, in flowing white
robe and spotless turban, strutted ma
jestically by, not deigning to cast his
naughty glance at us. The streets
swarmed with children in various Co.'S
tunes. The small shops were packed
with men sitting cross-legged. Above,
below, around and beneath there was
dirt of every description. Fortunately
for us, the viler smells had been tenn
pered with recent rains. In summer
the stencil is said to be almost un-
bearable.
Here you see the genuine Bedouin
Arab Wild and dirty as he is, he is
clean when compared with the horrid
looking men from the Riff coast, de-
scendants of the old pirates. They are
wild and untamed, and tiercer than
wild animals They do not even cover
their heads. Their heads are closely
shaved after leaving lock by which
they fervently believe Mohammed will
pull them up to Heaven.
A few years ago an English lady
married Moor holding high position
in Tangiers. He promised that she
should be his only wife, but since then
he has espoused four other women.
She is allowed to walk out, but not un-
less she is guarded. II she left him,
she could take nothing with her If he
sent her away she would be entitled to
an income of e., 900 in cash. The poor
thing is virtual prisoner. We have
received an invitation to visit her, and
shall accept it. Yesterday we were
guests in two Moorish harems. The
inmates gave US very fine reception.
The gloomy appearance OF the outer
walls contrasted strangely with the in
side of the house. The halls were
tiled. Marble pillars, bright colors
and rugs gave the rooms bright ap-
pearance. Mattresses were laid on
the carpets in apartments facing the
courtyard. They were the bedrooms
of the wives There were no windows.
Each wife leaves her slippers at the en-
trance of her bedroom. We saw no
chairs. and only an occasional cushion.
The wives prefer to recline or sit on
the floor. One or two sat on sheep
skins.
In the first harem saw a widow
with seven children. all girls Two
were playing and Two were sewing.
None oil the girls had ever seen a man.
On Fridays only the widow is allowed
to 90 TO the Moslem Cemetery to weep
and pray over her dead husband. We
were offered coffee and cakes. Etiquette
required that we should drink four cups
of coffee and eat as many cakes. Our
visit was made very early in the
morning.
The poor wives seemed glad to see
US. They admired our dresses and
called each others attention to what
took their fancy in the way of jewelry.
They were dressed gayly. but they had
0 slovenly look and an ungrsceful walk.
Morocco Cor, ~ O. Times Democrat