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the fire. In his unbounded confidence in the goodness of God he did not inquire whence came this abundant meal. The following day he went again to the mosque, and returning to his home found once more the table laid. The same thing happened every day without Aissa displaying the slightest curiosity to know the name of his benefactor, who was no other than an angel sent by Allah. The city was attacked with famine; and Aissa, with the fragments from his meals, was able to nourish the sick, and feed the starving poor. One time his wife, looking in the water she was about to use for her ablutions, found that the bucket was filled with gold coins; and this miracle was several times repeated. This gold was placed in a cupboard to furnish daily alms for the poor.

Encouraged by so many marks of Divine protection, Mohammed ben Aissa founded the order of Eisowys, whose special tenets are implicit faith in God, and passive obedience to their marabouts, to whom they should be "as a corpse in the hands of a layer out."

In order to establish his authority over his new-made followers, Mohammed ben Aissa employed the following He assembled his disciples, and said to them, "El Aid Hanwela"* is approaching: in place of the sheep

means.

"The ram feast," or El Aid Kebir "the great feast," known in the East as the Greater Bairam, and called in the Koran Id Al Korbên, "the feast of the sacrifice."

which it is the custom to slay on that holy occasion,

it is my wish to sacrifice you all. Those who truly revere me will follow me into my house."

Amongst all his frightened followers, but one could be induced to enter.

"Kill me," he said to the marabout, "if such be your pleasure, or if my death be of any service to you.” Aissa embraced him, and giving him a sheep, ordered him to kill it in such a manner that the blood should run from beneath the doorway into the street. The devoted follower obeyed. Mohammed ben Aissa then went out, and addressing the rest of the people, renewed his proposition; while the rivulet of blood was still reddening the earth. After a little hesitation a second disciple followed the marabout, who acted to him in. the same manner that he had done to the first. After this, thirty-six other men one by one presented themselves, resolved to submit blindly to the will of the marabout; and each, in recompense for his obedience, received a sheep in place of the death which he expected had awaited him.

It was with these thirty-eight apostles that Aissa established his religion.

Some time after, when he had gathered golden fruits from the branches of olive-trees, and after having broken his arm while wrestling with the fourth angel of heaven, it happened that as he returned in a triumphant march along the highroads, accompanied by

a crowd of his followers, these latter complained to him of the length of the way, of hunger and of thirst.

“Eat poison then," exclaimed the impatient marabout. Notwithstanding this speech, at the end of the journey he wished them to seat themselves round a table, well laden with savoury viands; but finding that they were no longer hungry, "What have you eaten?" he exclaimed.

"We have had confidence in thy words," they replied, "and have collected serpents, scorpions, and whatever else we could find that we thought might satisfy our hunger."

"As you have not doubted my power," said Aissa, "but shown the faith that you ought, you and your offspring, and all your descendants, and whoever like you shall enter upon the path which I have opened to you, shall have nothing to fear from venom or poison for evermore."

The story-telling is a more select and fashionable entertainment than snake-charming, the audience being largely composed of the rich and well-to-do, and consequently well dressed, Moors. They also sit crosslegged in a semicircle, round the story-teller, who stands, repeating his narrative in a monotonous drone, every now and then, apparently to mark the commas,—there seem to be no full stops in his tale,-striking a small drum. He is listened to with the most perfect silence

and attention, but his narrative appears to excite no emotion whatsoever in the breast of his auditory.

But the Soko with its business and amusements is, like the rest of Tangier, better viewed somewhat at a distance-from the gateway, or from the rising ground beyond; that is, for any one at all sensitive to disagreeable smells, or particular about what they walk on, or about what walks on them.

CHAPTER VII.

INDOORS IN TANGIER.

HAVING described some of the peculiarities of the streets of Tangier, I will now try to give an idea of the houses, which are as unlike European habitations as possible. On the outside of a Moorish house there are no windows, the walls are plainly white-washed and destitute of any ornament; nor are there any eaves, the roof being quite flat, so that seen from the outside the house looks like a solid block of masonry on every side but that on which the door is situated. This is small, but strongly made, studded with nails, and generally having a smaller door, "the needle's eye," cut into the centre of it. The sill is of stone or brick, and is kept constantly coloured with vermilion; while on each side of the door, will be depicted, in the same material, an open hand, as a charm against the evil eye; or a rude imitation of a palm branch, the emblem of fertility, which latter serves the same purpose as the old white kid-glove wrapped round the knocker in a London square. This, like many other customs, more or less of a superstitious nature, is common to both Moors and Jews in Tangier. The interior of the house is formed of a square patio, or courtyard, round which the rooms are built. Entrance to those in the upper stories is afforded by means of galleries

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