The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1890-05-02
NECTAR OF THE mooRs.

NECTAR OF THE MooRs.
Such Is the Coffee OF the Orient Served In
tho Cafes of the City OF Tangiers.
1t was a midwinter night in tho old
city of Tangiers, the seaport OF Moroc.
CO. Dinner was over and We were
consulting u cigars on the antique
balcony c1inging to the side of our lofty
hotel, and admiring the spacious bay
and weird, silent city below us. As
we sat there wondering what we should
do with ourselves, aSpanish gentleman
of our acquaintance came out to us and
said, briskly:
well, gentlemen, how would you
like to make q call at the great Moorish
cafe of 'Murad ell Hassan' this EVENING"
| can assure you that it is well worth
a visit"
Delighted to CO." we all cried at
once, and forthwith started.
After winding through dirty, mar
row, and dangerous streets for some
fifteen minutes we reached a huge pile
of masonry, one story in height, from
whose low, open doorway a bright light
was streaming out into the darkness.
We entered, and at once found our
selves in a large, square room with a
low ceiling. On one side was a raised
platform, with ch;lirs scattered around
on it. BY far the larger portion of tho
room, though, was covered with mats
and rugs, on which perhaps fifty ma.
tives were stretched out smoking some,
narcotic that produced semi-intoxica,I
ton. !
The rear of the room had a huge open
chimney built into the wall, with o.
broad fireplace extending out from it.
much resembling a blacksmf.h's forge.
On this a ch%arcoal-fire was smoulder-
ing.
The proprietor, as he saw us, came
hastily forward and with many salaams
escorted us to seats upon this platform.
Then opening a dingy cupboard he
took out a table of inlaid mother-of-,
pearl, exquisitely beautiful, which he
set before us. He her took a small
iron mortar and putting into it two
pods, carefully pulverized them. The
dust he deposited in a delicate little
cup OF shell-like china, poured boiling
water upon it until it dissolved and be,
came a sort of liquid paste. and then
approaching us, offered it to me with
all the politeness of the oriental.
/ took it, of course, but with many
inward maledictions, for it was by no
means an acceptable offering. Its
color was a dingy, dirty brown, an un-
pleasant yellow scum tioated around
on the top of it, and altogether it was
as repulsive in appearance as one could
well imagine. But take it l must;
there was no escape. To refuse would
haveibeen to give a mortal o~ffense, and
so with Il sigh l resigned myself to the
inevitable.
With a small spoon I carefully brush.
ed away the frolhy scum, lifted a lit
tie of t.thc detestable mixture to my
lips. groaned, closed my eyes, opened
my mouth. and in desperation swallow,
ed it.
But behold the miracle! As tina
questionable looking compound gently
stole down my alimentary canal, to my
amazement did l find myself swallow
ing a nectar worthy of Olympus. ane
the dusky Moor for a moment seemed
/ to be a Gamymede himself. A deli
cious, aromatic, stimulating something
| of whose existence l had never evel
dreamed, introduced itself to me thel
and t~here--and l opened my eyes ant
formed the acquaintance of a frient
upon whom l never afterward turne,
my back.
1t was a new revelation, this COTE,
t of the oraent, and never again did
+ hesitate, whether in Arab camp o
$ Moslem city, to receive it with thank
f%ulness, be it even so dingy. l learne'
then what nutrition and %sustenanc
e could be put into it. and ceased to Won
e der how the nomad could live for week
t on n handful OF dates and a few doze
coffee pods.
The scene before US as we sat Their
w;ss weird beyond all imagination an
G made a picture worthy of the brush {
Gerome himself. Its frame, the 10,
h walls of the cafe, draped here and ther
o withscarlet hangings; its background
the broad chimney-piece, from which
u i glowing fire sent its rays across til
9 room; its center, the bright. rug-oo,
cred floor, with its motley collection
II Il d~ark-skinned Moors, all robed in whit
!, and its foreground, the richly garbe
senting on a silver tray his quaint lit
. cups of transparent china. Never d
- that great artist paint a more truly o,
T. euIdl pIGluIe. lildCcuy U WhS uulu
\ believe that we were not looking upe
~, his canvas, SO similar to his creation
was the reality before us.
:. They were a strange sig5t-tho
:. swarthy Moors-swathed to the We
eyes In coarse white cloths and stretc
~ cd at full length upon the rich rug
4 each gravely and silently putting avs
at a long Hnber-tipped pipe, and ca
10 lost under the influence of the subt
;s narcotic he was smoking. They we
40 there with us in the body. but throut
she power OF the mysterious drug hi
" Zen in their quaint pipes their spiri
were far away, reveling in the MUSE
q, mans paradise with the fair houris
lie his faith. Surrounded On all sides
ct dirt and degradation, their lives but
ed amending succession of pitiable dep
sh vations, their horizons limited by t
oh fanatical baroarism under which th
,r- live, only in such hours as this do tn
he escape from their environments al
of rise above their daily miseries. It "
he a sad enough spectacle to see the
NO scendants of a people once famous
Id a high culture and ripe civilizati
m. forced to find their solace in joys as t
le- substantial as the curling smoke {
,rs of which they were formed, and Will
a would but leaye the unhappy dream,
or the more enervated and the more {
no pressed.
Lcg Thus felt we all, and, as after g
evenings visit we once more sought c
a hotel, did we find ourselves unot
lss ~sciously meditating over their fall
greatness and lost estate. Such "
this old Moorish cafe, and such the
feet it had upon its visitors that m
winter night.-gChicago Times.
III How soon chickens forget the VOL
h;s they were fighting ove when the ha'
,sh NATURALIZATION Globe.
tie There are no good liars, though Sol
of them are very skiIiful and talent'
"" -New Orleans Picaywme.
ut Time will tell, but the ordinary m
Ken with an important secret won't 81
t;re n chance.-Sounnp1We Journal,