which the sanctity of the tomb was held, that incredible numbers of
pilgrims resorted thither in consequence of vows made in situations of
imminent danger, and encamping round the holy spot, had the appearance
of an army bivouacking in the wood.
In the year 1513, having seen whatever he judged most worthy of notice
in Morocco and Fez, and still considering his travels as only begun,
he once more left home, and proceeded eastward along the shores of the
Mediterranean towards Telemsan and Algiers. Upon entering the former
kingdom he abandoned the seacoast, and striking off towards the right,
through mountainous ridges of moderate elevation, entered the wild and
desolate region called the Desert of Angad, where, amid scanty herds
of antelopes, wild goats, and ostriches, the lonely Bedouin wanders,
his hand being against every man, and every man’s hand against him.
Through this desolate tract the merchant bound from Telemsan to Fez
winds his perilous way, dreading the sand-storm, the simoom, the lion,
and other physical ministers of death, less than the fierce passions of
its gloomy possessors, stung to madness by hunger and suffering. Leo,
however, traversed this long waste without accident or adventure, and his
curiosity being satisfied, returned to the inhabited part of the country,
where, if there was less call for romantic and chivalrous daring, there
was at all events more pleasure to be enjoyed, and more knowledge to
be acquired. Passing through various small places little noticed by
modern geographers, he at length arrived at Hunain, an inconsiderable
but handsome city, on the Mediterranean, surrounded by a well-built
wall, flanked with towers. Hither the Venetians, excluded from Oran by
the Spaniards, who were then masters of that port, brought all the rich
merchandise which they annually poured into Telemsan, in consequence
of which chiefly the merchants of Hunain had grown rich; and taste and
more elegant manners following, as usual, in the train of Plutus, the
city was embellished, and the comfort of the inhabitants increased. The
houses, constructed in an airy and tasteful style, with verandahs shaded
by clustering vines, fountains, and floors exquisitely ornamented with
mosaics, were, perhaps, the most agreeable dwellings in Northern Africa;
but the inconstant tide of commerce having found other channels, the
prosperity of Hunain had already begun to decline.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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