"I was acquainted," says a late writer, "with a very handsome Jewess, of Fez; she had but one eye, but that one was particularly brilliant. On asking her how she lost its fellow, she informed me that she was once standing in the street, at nightfall, when she was a little girl; a Moor, that was passing by, suddenly stopped, and said, 'Towac Ullah, (blessed be God,) how beautiful are your eyes, my child!' Whereupon she went into the house, but was presently seized with a dreadful pain in the left eye, which continued during the night, and the next day the pupil came out of the socket. She added, that she did not believe the Moor had any intention of hurting her, as he gazed on her so kindly; but that it was very thoughtless in him to utter words which are sure to convey evil luck." It is said to be particularly dangerous to eat in the presence of a woman; for the evil eye, if cast by a woman, is far more fatal and difficult to cure than if cast by a man. When any one falls sick of the evil eye, he must instantly call to his assistance the man cunning in such cases. The man, on coming, takes either a girdle or a handkerchief from off his own person, and ties a knot at either end; then he measures three spans with his left hand, and at the end of these three he fastens a knot, and folds it three times round his head, pronouncing this _beraka_, or blessing: "_Ben porat Josef, ben porat ali ain_," (Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well;) he then recommences measuring the girdle or handkerchief, and if he finds three spans and a half, instead of the three which he formerly measured, he is enabled to tell the name of the person who cast the evil eye, whether male or female.