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
“Observe you those men seated on the benches by those portals; they are
_mokhasniah_, they are my brethren. See their _haiks_ how white, see
their turbans how white. Oh that you could see their swords in the day
of war, for bright, bright are their swords! Now they bear no swords.
Wherefore should they? is there not peace in the land? See you him in
the shop opposite? That is the Pasha of Tangier, that is the Hamed Sin
Samani, the under Pasha of Tangier; the elder Pasha, my lord, is away on
a journey; may Allah send him a safe return. Yes, that is Hamed; he sits
in his _hanutz_ as were he nought more than a merchant, yet life and
death are in his hands. There he dispenses justice, even as he dispenses
the essence of the rose and cochineal, and powder of cannon and sulphur;
and these two last he sells on the account of Abderrahman, my lord and
sultan, for none can sell powder and the sulphur dust in his land but the
sultan. Should you wish to purchase _attar del nuar_, {361} should you
wish to purchase the essence of the rose, you must go to the _hanutz_ of
Sin Samani, for there only you will get it pure: you must receive it from
no common Moor, but only from Hamed. May Allah bless Hamed. The
_makhasniah_, my brethren, wait to do his orders, for wherever sits the
Pasha, there is a hall of judgment. See, now we are opposite the bazaar;
beneath yon gate is the court of the bazaar; what will you not find in
that bazaar? Silks from Fez you will find there: and if you wish for
_sibat_, if you wish for slippers for your feet, you must seek them
there, and there also are sold curious things from the towns of the
Nazarenes. Those large houses on our left are habitations of Nazarene
consuls; you have seen many such in your own land, therefore why should
you stay to look at them? Do you not admire this street of the Siarrin?
Whatever enters or goes out of Tangier by the land passes through this
street. Oh, the riches that pass through this street! Behold those
camels, what a long train; twenty, thirty, a whole _cafila_ descending
the street. _Wullah_! I know those camels, I know the driver. Good
day, O Sidi Hassim, in how many days from Fez? And now we are arrived at
the wall, and we must pass under this gate. This gate is called Bab del
Faz; we are now in the Soc de Barra.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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