MAHOMED SHERIFFE.

297

stones in the bed of the streamlet. We were now rather tired of antiquity-hunting, and determined on having a good gallop, for which purpose we regained the beach, and all set off as hard as our horses could carry us for a couple of miles, Mr. Sheriffe on his donkey being very soon distanced. We then pulled up, and I had dismounted for the purpose of taking a sketch of an old bridge,* when our guide came running up quite breathless, on foot, without his turban, and scarcely able to speak, from excessive agitation and fatigue.

As soon as he could find utterance, he began to abuse us most unmercifully for leaving his protecting wing, and thus exposing ourselves to the stray shot of some charitable Bedouin; in which case he, the said Mr. Mahomed Sheriffe, would have forfeited his head, which appeared to be his chief cause of distress. I,

* This bridge, which appeared to be neither of Moorish nor of Roman construction, is probably a relic of the English occupation of Tangiers during the reign of Charles the Second.

298

ANIMAL MAHOGANY.

however, with difficulty managed to pacify him, and we returned quietly home.

Mr. T joined our party after dinner, and as he had been many years in Barbary, had crossed the Atlas, and proceeded as far as Tafilet on the borders of the Great Desert, we got a good deal of amusing information from him, not unmixed with the marvellous. He said that, although to within a few days' march of the desert the country is a complete garden, it has at times been subject to dreadful famines, one of which he was an eye-witness to. He added, that happening to go into a deserted village with one of his fellow-travellers, he entered a hut, and in the dark passage stumbled against something, which he kicked. as far as the threshold of the door; this turned out to be the body of a child, not in a state of putrefaction, but, as Mr. T said, something like a piece of hollow mahogany! to which state it had unquestionably been reduced by starvation; "though," added the great traveller, "I can assure you, gentlemen,

—

MARVELLOUS NARRATIVE.

299

it is a common thing for the bodies of the Moors to assume this appearance after death, undoubtedly from the abstemious manner in which they live."

He mentioned a curious custom of the Bedouins, who are in the habit of ploughing and sowing a piece of ground, which they never again visit until the harvest time, when they return from probably hundreds of miles, and every man reaps where he hath sown. Another narrative of his was given, as far as I can recollect, in these words :

"We were travelling along these immense plains, the grass up to our horses' girths, but without any signs of inhabitants or habitations; indeed, we had not met a soul the whole day, when about three in the afternoon we saw in the distance a plough with two bullocks, and also two immense beings in the shape of men, but we could not believe them to be such from their size and uncouth appearHowever, we were obliged to pass near them, when they stopped and looked at us,

ance.

only making an extraordinary noise. I cannot say how big they were, but they were giants. My son in London has a sketch of these two extraordinary creatures, but what they were, or from whence they came, I could never learn."

CAPE SPARTEL.

301

CHAPTER XXX.

A trip to Cape Spartel-The Cave of Ashkhur-Millstones-Bedouins-Murder of an English boat's crew-Filthy habits of the people-The sokoVariety of costumes-Women of Tangiers-Plainness of those of the lower order-Bedouins-The Haïck camels-Articles for sale in the soko.

May 24, 1838.

EARLY next morning we were on horseback, and steering for the celebrated Cape Spartel, under the protection of one of the emperor's soldiers, and the guidance of Mr. Mahomed Sheriffe. It was a long and tedious march before we got a glimpse of the sea from the heights of Spartel, and passing on our way the small village of Mediona, which was, moreover, the sepulchral abode of a Moorish saint, we soon reached the object of our trip, the