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
I know not whether the resemblance between the two edifices has been
observed by any other individual; and perhaps there are those who would
assert that no resemblance exists, especially if, in forming an opinion,
they were much swayed by size and colour: the hue of the Giralda is red,
or rather vermilion, whilst that which predominates in the Djmah of
Tangier is green, the bricks of which it is built being of that colour;
though between them, at certain intervals, are placed others of a light
red tinge, so that the tower is beautifully variegated. With respect to
size, standing beside the giant witch of Seville, the Tangerine Djmah
would show like a ten-year sapling in the vicinity of the cedar of
Lebanon, whose trunk the tempests of five hundred years have worn. And
yet I will assert that the towers in other respects are one and the same,
and that the same mind and the same design are manifested in both; the
same shape do they exhibit, and the same marks have they on their walls,
even those mysterious arches graven on the superfice of the bricks,
emblematic of I know not what. The two structures may, without any
violence, be said to stand in the same relation to each other as the
ancient and modern Moors. The Giralda is the world’s wonder, and the old
Moor was all but the world’s conqueror. The modern Moor is scarcely
known, and who ever heard of the tower of Tangier? Yet examine it
attentively, and you will find in that tower much, very much, to admire,
and certainly, if opportunity enable you to consider the modern Moor
minutely, you will discover in him, and in his actions, amongst much that
is wild, uncouth, and barbarous, not a little capable of amply rewarding
laborious investigation.
As we passed the mosque I stopped for a moment before the door, and
looked in upon the interior: I saw nothing but a quadrangular court paved
with painted tiles and exposed to the sky; on all sides were arched
_piazzas_, and in the middle was a fountain, at which several Moors were
performing their ablutions. I looked around for the abominable thing and
found it not; the besetting sin of the pseudo-Christian Church did not
stare me in the face in every corner. “Come here,” said I, “Papist, and
take a lesson; here is a house of God, in externals at least, such as a
house of God should be: four walls, a fountain, and the eternal firmament
above, which mirrors His glory. Dost thou build such houses to the God
who has said, ‘Thou shalt make to thyself no graven image’? Fool, thy
walls are stuck with idols; thou callest a stone thy Father, and a piece
of rotting wood the Queen of Heaven. Fool, thou knowest not even the
Ancient of Days, and the very Moor can instruct thee. He at least knows
the Ancient of Days who has said, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods but
me.’”
And as I said these words I heard a cry like the roaring of a lion, and
an awful voice in the distance exclaim, “_Kapul Udbagh_.” {351}
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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