The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-10-28

| Ihe American held to the doctrine o.
Sterne.
| to the sense of peril. They wraneled
quarrelled, snarled at each other, made
peace, embraced, kissed, laughed togeth-
er, made futile attempts to smoke theil
keef-pipes, and quarelled, barked and
bleated again.
either wondrously brave, or they have no
sense of the solemnity of DEATH
Neither" said the American; "they
are merely fatalists by virtue of their
faith. If it is now it is to come; If ii
is not to come then it is now
"There is sort of bravery in that"
| answered.
''And cowardice too,' said the Amer.
lean.
The night had closed in when we
dropped anchor by the ruins of the mole
at Tangier, and I saw no more of the
white town than l had seen of it from
the Straits. But If my eyes failed in the
darkness my other senses served me only
too we'll. The shrieking and yelping OF
the boatloads of Moors and negroes who
clambered aboard to relieve us of our lug
gage, the stencil of the town sewers that
emptied into the bay-these were my first
Impressions of the gateway to the home
of Islam.
The American went through the tur-
MOL with composure and an air of COM
mand, and having seen to my belongings
as well as his own, passing them through
the open office at the water gate, where
wo solemn Moors in white sat by the
| light of candles in the receipt of customs,
he parted from me at the foot of the street
that begins with the Grand Mosque and
is the main artery OF the town, for he
had written for rooms to the hotel called
the Villa de France, and 1, before leaving
England, had done the same to the hotel
called the Continental
Thither was led by barefooted cour-
Ter in white jellab and red tarboosh, amid
sights and sounds of fascinating strange
ness; the low drone of mems voices sing
ing their evening prayers in the mosques
the tinkling of the bells of men selling
water out of goats skins, the Allah" OF
blind beggars crouching at the gates, the
l"Arrah" of the mule drivers, and the
hooded shapes going by in the gloom OF
squatting in the red glare of the cafes
without windows or doors and open tc
the streets.
I met the American in the Sok-the
market place-the following day, and he
took me up to his hotel to see some native
costumes which he had bought by way OF
preparation for his enterprise. They were
haiks and selhams, jellabs, kaftans
slippers, rosaries, korans, sashes, satch
els, turbans and tarbooshes-blue, white
yellow and red-all right and none too
new, for he had purchased them, not a
the bazaars, but from the son of a learned
Moor, a Taleb, who had been cast int
prison by an usurer jew.
Sin these" said he, 81 mean to go ev
erywhere, and I'll defy the devil himsel
to detect me"
''Take care" said, "take care'
He laughed, and asked me what my
own plans were. 1 told him that
would remain in Tangier until received
letters from home, and then push on to
wards Fee.
J "I'll see you there he said; "but if
do not hail you, please do not know me
Good bye"
"Good bye,'' said, and go we parted.
I stayed ten days longer In Tangier
absorbed in many reflections, of which
the strangest were these two: first, thai
the Moors were the most religious people
the most wickedly irreligious and basely
immoral race on Gods earth. I was
prompted to the one by observation OF the
large part which Allah appears to play in
all affairs of Moorish life, and to the 9th
er bysclear proof of the much larger part
which the devil enacts in Allah's gar.
ments. On the one side prayers, prayers
moodden. the mosque, the mosque, the
mosque. Allah" in the mouths Of the
beggars, ALLAH from the lips of the
merchants, "Mohammed" on the inscrip
tions at the gate the "Koran" on the
soalfs hung out at the bazaars and or
the satohels hawked in the streets. And
on the other side shameless lying. cheat
ing, usury. buying and selling of justice
cruelty and inhunanity; raw sores or
the backs of the asses. blood in the
streets. blood, blood, blood everywhere
and secret corruption indescribable.
Nevertheless concluded that my nervous
malady must have given me the dark
glasses through which everything looked
so foul, and 1 resolved in the interests Of
health to push on towards Fee as soon as
letters arrived from home assuring me
that all were well and happy there.
/ But no letters came, and at the arriva.
of every fresh mail from Cadiz and
from Gibraltar, my impatience increased
At length I decided to wait no longer
and leaving instructions that my letters
should be sent on after me to the capital
called ON the English Consul for suof
official documents as were needful for my
journey.
When these had been procured from tn,
Kasbah, and was equipped for travel
the Consul inquired of me how l liket
the Moors and their country. I described
my conflicting impressions. and he sail
both were right in their several ways.
1.-The religion of the Moor" said he
sis genuine of it's kind, though 1t doe
not put an end to the vi lest government
on earth, and the most loathsome immor
alities ever practised by man. Islam is
sacred thing to him. He is proud of Il
jealous Of it, and prepared to die for II
Half his hatred of the unbeliever is fea
that the Nazarene or the Jew is eager t
show his faith some dishonour. An
that" added the Consul, reminds me I
offer you one word of warning: avoid til
very shadow of offense to the religion {
these people; do not pry into their beliefs
do not take note of their ordinances
pass their mosques and saints house