第228章

The Jew secretary stood at the helm, and indeed appeared to be the person who commanded the vessel, and who issued out all the necessary orders, which were executed under the superintendence of the old Genoese mate.I now put some questions to the hadji, but he looked at me askance with his sullen eye, pouted with his lip, and remained silent; as much as to say, "Speak not to me, I am holier than thou." I found his negroes, however, far more conversable.One of them was old and ugly, the other about twenty, and as well looking as it is possible for a negro to be.His colour was perfect ebony, his features exceedingly well formed and delicate, with the exception of the lips, which were too full.The shape of his eyes was peculiar; they were rather oblong than round, like those of an Egyptian figure.Their expression was thoughtful and meditative.In every respect he differed from his companion, even in colour, (though both were negroes,) and was evidently a scion of some little known and superior race.As he sat beneath the mast gazing at the sea, I thought he was misplaced, and that he would have appeared to more advantage amidst boundless sands, and beneath a date tree, and then he might have well represented a Jhin.I asked him from whence he came, he replied that he was a native of Fez, but that he had never known his parents.He had been brought up, he added, in the family of his present master, whom he had followed in the greater part of his travels, and with whom he had thrice visited Mecca.I asked him if he liked being a slave?

Whereupon he replied, that he was a slave no longer, having been made free for some time past, on account of his faithful services, as had likewise his companion.He would have told me much more, but the hadji called him away, and otherwise employed him, probably to prevent his being contaminated by me.

Thus avoided by the Moslems, I betook myself to the Jews, whom I found nowise backward in cultivating an intimacy.The sage of the beard told me his history, which in some respects reminded me of that of Judah Lib, as it seemed that, a year or two previous, he had quitted Mogadore in pursuit of his son, who had betaken himself to Portugal.On the arrival, however, of the father at Lisbon, he discovered that the fugitive had, a few days before, shipped himself for the Brazils.Unlike Judah in quest of his father, he now became weary, and discontinued the pursuit.The younger Jew from Mequinez was exceedingly gay and lively as soon as he perceived that I was capable of understanding him, and made me smile by his humorous account of Christian life, as he had observed it at Gibraltar, where he had made a stay of about a month.He then spoke of Mequinez, which, he said, was a Jennut, or Paradise, compared with which Gibraltar was a sty of hogs.So great, so universal is the love of country.I soon saw that both these people believed me to be of their own nation; indeed, the young one, who was much the most familiar, taxed me with being so, and spoke of the infamy of denying my own blood.Shortly before our arrival off Tarifa, universal hunger seemed to prevail amongst us.The hadji and his negroes produced their store, and feasted on roast fowls, the Jews ate grapes and bread, myself bread and cheese, whilst the crew prepared a mess of anchovies.Two of them speedily came, with a large portion, which they presented to me with the kindness of brothers: I made no hesitation in accepting their present, and found the anchovies delicious.As I sat between the Jews, I offered them some, but they turned away their heads with disgust, and cried HALOOF (hogsflesh).

They at the same time, however, shook me by the hand, and, uninvited, took a small portion of my bread.I had a bottle of Cognac, which I had brought with me as a preventive to sea sickness, and I presented it to them; but this they also refused, exclaiming, HARAM (it is forbidden).I said nothing.

We were now close to the lighthouse of Tarifa, and turning the head of the bark towards the west, we made directly for the coast of Africa.The wind was now blowing very fresh, and as we had it almost in our poop, we sprang along at a tremendous rate, the huge lateen sails threatening every moment to drive us beneath the billows, which an adverse tide raised up against us.Whilst scudding along in this manner, we passed close under the stern of a large vessel bearing American colours; she was tacking up the straits, and slowly winning her way against the impetuous Levanter.As we passed under her, Iobserved the poop crowded with people gazing at us; indeed, we must have offered a singular spectacle to those on board, who, like my young American friend at Gibraltar, were visiting the Old World for the first time.At the helm stood the Jew; his whole figure enveloped in a gabardine, the cowl of which, raised above his head, gave him almost the appearance of a spectre in its shroud; whilst upon the deck, mixed with Europeans in various kinds of dresses, all of them picturesque with the exception of my own, trod the turbaned Moors, the haik of the hadji flapping loosely in the wind.The view they obtained of us, however, could have been but momentary, as we bounded past them literally with the speed of a racehorses so that in about an hour's time we were not more than a mile's distance from the foreland on which stands the fortress Alminar, and which constitutes the boundary point of the bay of Tangier towards the east.There the wind dropped and our progress was again slow.

For a considerable time Tangier had appeared in sight.

Shortly after standing away from Tarifa, we had descried it in the far distance, when it showed like a white dove brooding on its nest.The sun was setting behind the town when we dropped anchor in its harbour, amidst half a dozen barks and felouks about the size of our own, the only vessels which we saw.