CHAPTER XII.

THE RAMADAN.

THE next public diversion in Tangier after the departure of the dramatic troupe, was the occurrence of the Ramadan.

Public diversions of any kind were scarce, and in the bad weather, when it was impossible to make excursions into the country, any change in the ordinary routine of life was hailed with gladness.

Not but that my joy, and the joy of other unenlightened visitors, over the occurrence of the Ramadan, soon turned into sorrow, when we discovered what suffering it entailed upon us. The whole town was turned-literally, because the natural order of things was really altogether inverted-upside down, to keep the Ramadan, the month of abstinence, which is strictly observed in all Mohammedan countries, in commemoration of the forty days' miraculous fast performed by the prophet. During this month no True Believer will either eat, drink, smoke, bathe, or indulge in any other bodily gratification, between the hours of sunrise and sunset.

The consequences of this are exceedingly unpleasant to unbelievers. For as no miraculous power in the present day seems to sustain the devoted followers of Mohammed

ithout food, and as it is therefore necessary that

they should eat and drink at some period during the twenty-four hours, various expedients are resorted to, to banish sleep from the eyes of the faithful, so that they may lay in a sufficient amount of provender during the night to support their bodies during the day. The consequence of this is, that between the hours of sunset and sunrise is a period of misery for the sleepy infidels, who don't want to keep awake in order to wash themselves, eat kesksoo, or take snuff,-one of the forbidden indulgences, till the small hours of the morning.

The Moslem inhabitants of Tangier must have had full reason to be satisfied with the measures taken to keep them awake during the nights of the month of Ramadan that I passed within the walls of that orthodox town; as they were fully successful in keeping me in a state of torturing wakefulness for the whole time the infliction lasted.

No sooner had the sun sunk beneath the horizon, than the discharge of one of the rusty old cannon from the crazy battery at the Waterport, was the signal for the Muezzin criers on the summit of each minaret in the town to commence independent musical performances upon brass horns of enormous length. No tune was attempted, but a "winding bout of lingering sweetness" was drawn out of the lungs of each of the performers for half an hour or more. At the end of this period, to prevent I suppose, a sameness and monotony which might otherwise have been felt in the entertainment, it

was changed to one of a vocal character, scarcely less horrible in its effects upon the ears, or of less duration in point of time. Through all, an accompaniment was kept up by accomplices in the streets, consisting of the constant discharge of overloaded guns and pistols, a rattling of tambourines, and tattooing upon drums,—the drums being formed of a thing closely resembling a piece of an earthenware drainpipe, with a bit of bladder stretched across the larger end.

There was a slight cessation of these horrid sounds between seven and nine o'clock, during which time men might be seen hurrying through the streets, bearing large round dishes of savoury smelling viands, covered with the strange, high, conical-shaped basketwork covers, like beehives, in vogue in Tangier.

At nine o'clock the firing, the horn-blowing, and the vocal and instrumental concert recommenced, and continued for an hour or thereabouts; at the expiration of which period, taking advantage of the cessation, I would retire to my couch, and endeavour to go to sleep.

Vain effort, and delusive hope! No sooner would a peaceful slumber have begun to creep over my tortured senses, than a band of musicians would commence to parade the narrow streets, armed with diabolical instruments for torturing the ears, compared with which barrel-organs, German bands, and street ballad-singers, are soothing and tender in their tones to the tympanum of the nervous and the weary. One of these instruments

consisted of a large, red, earthenware pot, over the top of which was stretched a dried rabbit-skin, having a hole in the centre; through this hole was inserted a long, closelyfitting stick, which being worked up and down by the performer, a series of tones was produced by the rasping of the stick against the skin, closely resembling the midnight salutations of the feline neighbours on London housetops. Another variety of the same instrument was formed of a barrel, with a goat-skin stretched across the open end. This was a bulky machine, and required two persons to manage it satisfactorily; when the result was a succession of sounds that might easily have been mistaken for the bellowing of a bull in the immediate vicinity. When these are played to the accompaniment of cymbals as large as frying-pans, and home-made flageolets of reed, the symphonious effect may be imagined. It cannot be described.

The dulcet sounds of this band had scarcely died away, when the howling at the minarets recommenced and continued, with the firing of guns. The result was to arouse, as well as the human inhabitants of the town, the hundreds of prowling street dogs, who added their quota of howls, whines, and barks, to the general enlivenment.

So the noise continued until an hour before sunrise, when a posse of wretches commenced to peregrinate from house to house, knocking at every door, to inform the inhabitants that, "Allah is Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet;" adding a request that they will "awake and

pray, for prayer is better than sleep." To the miserable and aggravated souls who, like myself, had been endeavouring, but vainly, to sleep, all night, this latter injunction must have seemed to come under the head of what Artemus Ward called "sarcasum." I felt it so-an addition of insult to injury. Now however, after bestowing, mentally, a few prayers of a very reverse order upon these fiends who mocked their misery, unbelievers were able to snatch a brief period of repose, while the pious Moslems returned to their devotions.

Such were the Arabian entertainments which made the nights hideous in Tangier during the month of Ramadan.

The fast concluded at the appearance of the new moon on the third evening of the next month. The faithful all went out of doors, the women on the house-tops, to watch for the moon, for until it becomes visible the fast must not cease; and if the sky be cloudy, so as to obscure the view; the fast must continue until the following night, or until the moon be seen. Consequently, its appearance is watched for with the greatest anxiety. Fervent petitions for fine weather, have a large place, I should think, in the prayers to Allah on the preceding day.

The Fast of the Ramadan being over, we could again sleep in peace. It was pleasant to reflect that no more should the stillness of the night be broken, and all chance of rest destroyed for unhappy unbelievers, by the