The record-union., 1892-02-06

JtAt Itltlll is DelJeT5 at Tile Il1dIhSl. Ouo
is chanting somewild song of the jungles,
and she is now and then encouraged by
shrill. .cries.of "Jaleo i-Jaleo ~ from her
companions. They are indescribably
ugly, with short, puffy bodies, tremend-
Gus heads and short, huge necks, lumpy
cheeks and square jaws, nostriis fiattened
bac k almost ia "a line with the facial an
gle, and lips like pair of eboniZed conch
shells. Their haikS are always OF the blue
and white checked variety, intensfying
the luster and depth of color of their coal
black skins. Some of them are Veiled,
giving them an air of monumental coyish-
ness and skittishness. Beside the haik
and veil little should be said about their
costume. Below the haik ale cascades
and cataracts of garmentary all-sorts
TWO wear the cast-off trousers of some
consular attache. A pair of cavalry boots
ornament the feet and legs of third. The
rest are barefooted and their feet are like
huge claws. They are slaves, and were
born in the jungles below Sahara.
But here is bevy of Jews on their way
to the place of customs at the waterside,
on some errand connected with lmporta-
tions, and few Jewish women are with
them. There are 5000 of these folk in
1angler, and not one is poor. They
could not but welcome incoming civiliza-
ton Tor now none of them can ride upon
horseback, and must perforce employ q
donkey, nor can they come into the pres
ence of Moors or Arabs connected Off
clally with the sultanate without re-
peated salaams, kissing the hem of their
rulers Durnous and other confessions of
humiliation and degradation. They are
nearly all dressed similar to the Arabs,
with long flowing white robes, turbaned
heads, richly embroidered waists and
sashes, ample trousers caught with jew
eled bands below the knees, blue silk
STOCKINGS oil
feet few have the red Tarboosh with
blue and black taSsel, betokening that
the WearerS are Tunisian Jews.
Inc women IN their company give an
excellent example not only of the beauty
OF the female members of this race as
they are found near and in the Orient,
but also OF the costumes of the better
class of these in Tangier. Long, straight
gowns, without drapery and OF the rich
est silk, green, orange or purple, en-
circled at the waist by cords of silk, gold
and silk or chains Of pure gold, constitute
the sole outer garment, strikingly differ
ent from the Arab womans. Their feet
are encased in colored pointed slippers.
Each woman wears a black silk scarf,
bound tightly acress the forehead,
gathered closely over the head, falling in
delicate folds behind, held in place at the
back by great gold or jeweled ornaments.
This, with plain band of spotless white
linen drawn tightly across the chin, and
magnificent Indian shawl carried upon
the arm or thrown across the shoulders,
completes the costume of these, the most
stately and beautiful women of Tangier.
Besides these there viii troop by you
hundreds OF the BiSkris-the scavengers,
Water-carriers and men-of-all-work OF
Tangier-bare and shaYen headed, fine
featured and with splendid form and
muscular development. Impish little
Of I
form any diablerie, from backing and
SHINING their own faces to plumping an
eye out and into its socket. for but one
copper hu for each exhibition, are dane
ing about you. Snake-charmerS with
hldeouS cobra-de-copelloS wound about
their filthy bodies will pass you. NEGRO
mancers who really eat fire are as COM
mon ia the streets as are those who do
not at our summer resorts and nickel
shocker museums. Moorish soldiers,
barelegged and barefooted, and ever on
the trot, skurry past you. Half-grown
negroes from the Soudan, with scant
breechclouts of untanned hides for raj
ment, are here. Venerable Rifans, apa-
thetic as opium-eaters and withered as
mummies, pass tremblingly by; while
genuine Bedouins, on skinny steeds
magnihcently caparisoned, each hump
Ing beneath a WOndrOus burnous, dash
recklessly through the crowds.
And still there are trains of donkeys
and OF camelS laden with merchandise for
far Berber villages and farther oases of
the desert; women with servants in whose
baskets are fowls for beheading at the re-
voting ''Negress Sacrifices; hundreds
of hhabyles with leather aprons and
shaven heads, their strong wives, un-
yelled, with long chemises reaching to
their feet and girdled at the waist With
bright sashes, who work with their hus-
bands everywhere and anywhere, pro-
vide an ample study Of African hill-men,
while thousands of the native Arab and
Moorish men and women sweep by with
swish of robes and jingling jewels and
ankletS like weird and softly musical
wraiths in white. Some of these are
plodding toward khouba or marabout to
mourn beside their dead. or are gliding
from home or shop to shadowy mosque
to pray.
All architectural beauty is found in
carved Moresque archways, among which
are many magnificent specimens; in
bases and capitals of spiral stone pillars
supporting arches, vaulting over which
superstructures often shut out the sky;
and these are in the pure Arab style of
LOCO years ago; about the facadeS and
fonts of numberless fountains set in cool
alcoves, projecting Unexpectedly from
blank walls, or built upright from the
center Of tiny squares, the only places in
all this ancient city where sunlight ever
reaches the earth, and behind the mass
i've walls in interiors, whose structural
grace and exquisite ornamentation are ar
endless feast of artistic delight
The shops of Tangier are all merely
tiny inches in the walls. The Moorish
merchant enters his little black den
through a trap-door; lowers the shutter
which falls often in steps to the street and
sits in the center of his possession, which
are all within reach, voiceless and grave
the day long like forsaken Punch in a
pantomime. Every manner of a shop is
just like his. In some, workmen are en-
broidering the white burnous, utilizing
their great toes to hold tight the disen-
gagged thread. In others greasy fritters
are fried in a solemn and stately manner
while one waits. Some display ostrich
eggs and native ornaments. Here and
there is a seller of herbs and vegetables
Again white-robed and bearded men are
surrounded by crates of charcoal and
tiny bundles of fagots. In others almost
priceless oriental draperies are packed
and punched around a. merchant, who
smokes and dreams as if no thought
or traffic ever entered his head.
The ancient and venerable letter and
scroll writer has his niche or chair at
archway side, and waits with that stole
patience only an Indian or MoSlem can
command, to indite epistle or trace sacred
passage from the Koran upon egg-shelI,
or upon ribbon for some deyout one S
amulet. Shoemakers squat cross-legged,
sewing and hammering upon slippers
and sandals only. Bread-sellers crouch
against walls and doorways. Groups of
swarthy Khabyles with their copper ew.
ers are ever before the gurgling old
fountains. Yelled women wriggIe and
mince to and from market, or khouba or
mosque. Stately Arabs appear and dis
appear, their flowing robes shutting ont
the vistas of the narrow streets. Cloth
venders higgle-haggle at the cracks of
massive doors barely ajar. Funeral cor