The Bible in Spain, Vol. 2 [of 2]: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the PeninsulaBorrow, George
Religion
The Bible in Spain, Vol. 2 [of 2]: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula
Borrow, George
Borrow, George, 1803-1881 -- Travel -- Spain; Spain -- Description and travel; Spain -- History -- 19th century
he, “I should as little have thought of speaking so at Charleston, for if
I held such conversation there, I should soon have had to speak to
myself.”
Had I known less of deists than it has been my fortune to know, I should
perhaps have endeavoured to convince this young man of the erroneousness
of the ideas which he had adopted; but I was aware of all that he would
have urged in reply, and, as the believer has no carnal arguments to
address to carnal reason upon this subject, I thought it best to avoid
disputation, which I felt sure would lead to no profitable result. Faith
is the free gift of God, and I do not believe that ever yet was an
infidel converted by means of after-dinner polemics. This was the last
evening of my sojourn in Gibraltar.
CHAPTER LIV.
Again on Board—The Strange Visage—The Haji—Setting Sail—The Two
Jews—American Vessel—Tangier—Adun Oulem—The Struggle—The Forbidden Thing.
On Thursday, the 8th of August, I was again on board the Genoese bark, at
as early an hour as on the previous morning. After waiting, however, two
or three hours without any preparation being made for departing, I was
about to return to the shore once more, but the old Genoese mate advised
me to stay, assuring me that he had no doubt of our sailing speedily, as
all the cargo was on board, and we had nothing further to detain us. I
was reposing myself in the little cabin, when I heard a boat strike
against the side of the vessel, and some people come on board. Presently
a face peered in at the opening, strange and wild. I was half asleep,
and at first imagined I was dreaming, for the face seemed more like that
of a goat or an ogre than of a human being; its long beard almost
touching my face as I lay extended in a kind of berth. Starting up,
however, I recognized the singular-looking Jew whom I had seen in the
company of Judah Lib. He recognized me also, and nodding, bent his huge
features into a smile. I arose and went upon deck, where I found him in
company with another Jew, a young man in the dress of Barbary. They had
just arrived in the boat. I asked my friend of the beard who he was,
from whence he came, and where he was going? He answered, in broken
Portuguese, that he was returning from Lisbon, where he had been on
business, to Mogadore, of which place he was a native. He then looked me
in the face and smiled, and taking out a book from his pocket, in Hebrew
characters, fell to reading it; whereupon a Spanish sailor on board
observed that with such a beard and book he must needs be a _sabio_, or
sage. His companion was from Mequinez, and spoke only Arabic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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