and he led us to a small dirty apartment on the other side the court, where we found our mattress spread upon the top of an old wooden chest. I was now greatly astonished and delighted to hear our really handsome conductor say, in a rich, full-toned voice, "Samuel Bendenhen speak English for you. Two years him in Gibraltar, learn it very well; you wish something him can give you? Him very glad to get you some pleasure." Rejoiced to have such a friend at court, I immediately begged of him to procure us some clean water for use in the morning. He disappeared with alacrity, and soon returned with a damsel, bearing a large brass stew-pan full of water, some soft soap in a vine leaf, and the sleeve of an old cotton shirt in the place of a towel. This last was evidently a part of the plunder of some European's wardrobe. Bidding us good night, the courteous fellow added, "me see you more days."

The survey of our chamber, which we made when we were left alone, did not afford us any promise of comfort. The walls were black and rough, and above were lofty rafters heavily draperied by the industry of many full-grown spiders. The floor was strewn with unwashed wool, that smelt most offensively, and a part of the room was rudely boarded off from the rest, to serve as a sort of granary. Earnestly thanking God that our lot was not a worse one, we extinguished the lamp we had no means of re-illuming, and laid ourselves down, in the hope that we might find a little refreshment and forgetfulness in sleep. This hope was however, indeed, a vain one, for as soon as the light was out, a chorus of noises began below, and a chorus of noises above. The screaming, screeching, and racing on the ground we at once knew could only proceed from an army of rats, resentful at our intrusion into their domains. But what the flying, fluttering, and squeaking over head might indicate, was more than our imagination could fathom. Our attention was soon, however, taken off from these diagreeable sounds, by sensations that were more imperative-our mattress was already shared with us by thousands upon thousands of virulent and hungry fleas.

Finding our night even more wretched and wearying than our day had been, we were glad enough to escape from it by rising early. Very soon after we were up, our young friend Bendenhen arrived. When we spoke of the nocturnal noises over head, he pointed out to us that the upper part of the chamber was inhabited by numerous small birds, which he told us bore the name of "birds of Jerusalem." The houses of Salce are all filled with them,

and they are great favourites with the inhabitants, who never molest them; they build at their own pleasure, wherever they like, and seem to be upon the best possible terms with their landlords. Bendenhen caught one of them in his hand, to show me how pretty and tame it was. It was a small black and white bird, with delicate head and pointed beak; it did not seem to have the slightest fear of its captor.

The young Hebrew's manner was as kind as it was pleasing. He told us this morning that he had a house in Jew Town, "half-an-hour away," with "von little wife, and von little childs," and then explained that no other Jew besides the consul was allowed to dwell in Salee. He had himself remained in the town, during the last night, under the governor's special order, to aid the consul, who was his father-in-law, in the matter of the imperial despatch. I asked him where his own father was?" He answered, "very dead." The elder Bendenhen had been possessed of considerable wealth, but as the emperor had constituted himself heir-at-law to all the Jews in his dominions, his property was confiscated at his decease to the imperial use, excepting only a small amount that had been turned over as the portion of the widow and her child. This, however, had prospered marvellously, and the Bendenhens were already rich again.

As soon as Samuel Bendenhen took leave of us, our waiting-maid of the last night came in. She wanted the brass stewpan, as the cooking could not be done without it; but she was manifestly very glad to avail herself of this culinary necessity, as an excuse for gratifying her curiosity, for she walked wonderingly round me, and examined different parts of my dress, particularly the cap, which seemed most to excite her admiration. While she made her survey of my person, I returned the compliment by doing as much for her, and she had little cause to shrink from the inspection. She was a young Jewess, probably of about eighteen years of age, with a bright brown skin, and beautiful innocent-looking countenance, set off by the finest display of long waving black hair I have ever seen; her features were full of expression, and beamed with gentle and kindly sympathy. Irresistibly attracted by her look, I extended my hand, she took it, coaxed it, and then dropped upon the floor, and laid her beautiful head upon my feet. For the first time since our capture tears rushed into my eyes; I was glad to find my interesting acquaintance answered to the pretty name of Una.

As soon as Una had carried off her stewpan, a man and a boy entered our apartment; they were the remaining members of the consul's establishment, and had come to take their turn in gazing at the strangers. The man opened the door, which I may remark, admitted the light as well as himself, and stalked in towards us. When tolerably near us he extended one arm, and, in a deep sepulchral tone pronounced, in English, "good night." This phrase, it afterwards appeared, was the measure of his proficiency as a linguist. He had managed to pick it up somewhere, and was so proud of his attainment that he took good care to lose no opportunity for its display. From morning, through noon, to night, this phrase was ringing in our ears in the death-bell tone of Abram. The monotonous repetition at last made me so nervous, that I reckoned escape from it as not the least among my joys when I turned my back upon Salee. The man was very tall and thin, almost a black, but with hollow features that were devoid of any trace of negro physiognomy. The expression of his countenance was disagreeably acute, and of so ambiguous a nature that I could not have said whether his age was nearer to twenty or to seventy. He was wrapped in the customary flannel garments, and I think might have made a little fortune, without a single alteration in his outfit, had he appeared as stage ghost at one of the minor theatres of London.

When this ghost and his little satellite had gazed their fill, they made way for the next arrival. This proved to be our hostess herself. She had come for me to return with her to the room we had occupied on the previous evening. I expressed to her, as well as I could, my willingness to be her companion, and she led me across the inner court of the house. This I was now able to observe; it was open to the sky, of a quadrangular form, and surrounded by galleries; into these galleries the doors of the several apartments led, but none of the rooms had windows of any kind.

When we reached the apartment of state, I found a large party of ladies already assembled, although it was yet only seven o'clock. I had gcod cause to rejoice in my ready acquiescence in my hostess's invitation, for the company were partaking of coffee and biscuits, and I gladly joined them in their occupation, and made a refreshing meal. When coffee drinking was ended, Una brought in a flask of white spirit, smelling strongly of aniseed, and most of the ladies took their three and four glasses of the cordial-I fear I suffered a little in their

esteem in consequence of my inability to do the same. During the repast, my companions were seated on carpets on the floor; I was placed conspicuously on a lofty ottoman. In one sense, this arrangement was a very satisfactory one, I was too high to come in for any share of the frequent embracings and kissings which turned out to be important features in the ceremonial, and which, I suppose, I should not have dared to refuse had they been tendered to me.

As soon as the coffee and aniseed had been discussed, the general attention was turned upon me. I had made such slight improvement in my personal appearance as the contents of my carpet bag allowed, and I suppose my hostess received this as a compliment addressed to herself, for she was much more familiar with me than on the occasion of our first interview. The ladies all came round me, and made signs that they wished me to stand up. I complied, and they then commenced a minute and careful scrutiny of my dress, examining all parts of it, the inner as well as the outer. While they were thus occupied, I took the opportunity to make my own observations. Excepting in the particular of stature, I could see very little difference in the persons of my examiners; some might be a little older, and some a little younger-some a little dirtier, and some a little cleaner; but all were alike ugly and disagreeable, with dusky complexions, and with frightfully full figures. They were mostly short as well as stout, with large coarse inexpressive features, by no means improved by the effect of a circle of black paint surrounding each eye. The palms of their hands were dyed of a deep saffron colour, and their finger and toe-nails stained of a rosy red.

Their dress consisted of a chemise of coarse calico, fashioned something like a gentleman's shirt, but without collar or wristbands. Its seams and edges were trimmed with black and silver cord, and the bosom and shoulders embroidered with gold and silver thread. The chemise closed in front by means of gold buttons, and its large loose sleeves were sometimes worn low over the wrists, and at other times were tucked up above the elbows, according to the caprice of the moment. Over the calico chemise was drawn a striped jacket, of pink and white cotton, with short sleeves, and open in front; this also was devoid of collar, and trimmed out with gold lace. A straight piece of dark green cloth was wrapped tight round the body, by way of a skirt, and this was ornamented at the bottom and along the outer edge by a broad binding of scarlet

satin damask, finished with golden cord. A scarlet sash encircled the waist, and concealed the union of the jacket with the skirt. No hair was visible about the head-a skein of black worsted was bound tightly round, where the commencement of the hair should have been seen. Immediately above this circlet, a series of yellow and red silk handkerchiefs were pinned, and their ends were allowed to fall over behind, in a sort of drapery, and were there festooned up into the sash. A short tuft of black feathers took the place of hair on each side of the face, and low down upon the forehead, almost touching the eyebrows, a band of red cloth was placed, as the recipient for a row of large and very beautiful pearls. In each ear were two pairs of ear-rings, the upper of the two suspended from the top rim of the organ, so as to conceal its orifice. Large embossed bracelets and anklets of silver and gold adorned the arms and legs. Some of the anklets must have weighed at least ten or twelve ounces, and many of them had a very antique look. Those in particular that were worn by the wife of the Jew, possessed this attribute in so marked a degree that I could not help fancying they might be some of the very ornaments which her husband's ancestors had borrowed of the Egyptians, when they made their exodus from the land of bondage. The skirt of the dress was so short, that it exposed the bare legs almost up to the knees. The feet also were quite uncovered; the loose slippers of red and gilt leather being left at the threshold of the apartment, and only assumed with the flannel wrappers, upon the rare occasion of their mistresses having cause to venture abroad.

The details of this description apply more particularly to the habiliments of my hostess, but all the rest of the company were arrayed in a similar costume; this lady herself proved to be far more accomplished than I had anticipated. She had the reputation for being able to converse fluently in the several languages of the Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, and Arabic, but I could not put her abilities to the test. While we were mutually engaged in improving our acquaintance, Samuel Bendenhen came to the door of the apartment, and I asked him to express for me my regret that I was not able to talk with my entertainers. He told me I need not mind this, for they were very well pleased with me as I was. They said they found me as fresh as a flower, and as gentle as a dove. I felt this to be a very pretty compliment, but I was totally unable to return it, for I thought them as unlike to

flowers or doves as it was possible for living things to be. They all took snuff profusely, and they had but one handkerchief among the party, which did duty for the whole. Now it was engaged in one place, in relieving some dusky skin of superfluous moisture, next it was applied to the nose or mouth of some other borrower, and then it was used to dust the feet and anklets of its owner, before it was restored to its proper resting-place in her girdle, as a preparation for a fresh start. By the time I had noted all these particulars, my companions seemed to have satiated their curiosities, for they commissioned Bendenhen to tell me they were very sorry I could not talk freely with them, as they would have liked to hear all about my country. They then took an extra pinch of snuff, jerked up their several girdles, and giving me familiar nods as they passed me, they took themselves off to a vapour bath, that had been steamed up in some recess of the inner court, and I was left alone.

There was one particular in this singular interview that puzzled me not a little at the time. Each lady, after she had made an end of her inspection of my person and dress, gave me her wrist to feel, and looked in my face with an air of anxious inquiry. I afterwards found that my old friend, the giant Abdallah, had established me in a reputation that many a veteran professor of the healing art might have envied. He was himself one of the grandees of Salee, and as these ladies all belonged to the same distinguished grade of society, they were at once put in possession of the gossip about my remedial skill. My fame was not, however, long confined to the elite of society, for before I had been two days in Salee, crowds of patients flocked to me; every woman and child who could get near enough, thrust a wrist into my hand: I must have counted some hundreds of Moorish pulses before I left the town. I soon learned that there was some little excuse for the extravagant estimation in which my assumed medicinal powers were held, for Bendenhen assured me that there was not a single practitioner of medicine in the dominions of Morocco, to dispute my reputation with me. No one could be found to undertake the treatment of disease in a land where the loss of a patient's life was very likely to involve the unpleasant consequence of the removal of the doctor's head.

When all my companions were gone, I had to exert some little courage to retrace the galleries, and regain our sleeping place, for the court below was now crowded with a levee of Moors and negroes. My husband was not

in our room, but he soon rejoined me there, with an account of his morning's proceedings. He had found up the consul, and by dint of cautious questioning, had made out that the captain of the Austrian brig was in an unfurnished neighbouring house, under a guard of soldiers, in company with his entire crew, and the four men belonging to our own ship who had been taken on shore with us. Having ascertained this fact, my husband had persuaded him to send for the poor captain to breakfast with us, and was now expecting his immediate arrival. Shortly before noon our visitor came, accompanied by a soldier with a loaded musket, who stood guard over him, so long as he remained with us. He had been much worse treated than ourselves. He was captured by the same cruizer that had laid hold upon us, but his detention was without even the shadow of an excuse, for he had a Mediterranean pass in his possession. His determined refusal to leave the ship upon its arrival at Salee, had led to his being severely beaten, and afterwards bound; he was not allowed to take even a change of linen on shore with him. A valuable gold watch had been removed from his person, and forwarded as a present to the emperor; a silver one of less worth found its way into the possession of the old white-bearded governor. As he had no money with him, his keepers had brought him to the verge of starvation; he partook of the fare that we were able to set before him with an eagerness that painfully testified to the state in which he was. Our Jew host had furnished us with biscuits and coffee, and we had induced Abram to purchase for us, in addition, at an enormous price, some very good bread and fresh eggs; upon this simple fare our half-famished companion in misfortune regaled himself to our heart's content. was a tall, white-headed, venerable looking man, of at least sixty years of age, and with gentlemanly bearing. He told us he had a wife and daughter at Trieste, who would be broken-hearted about him; and he seemed almost on the verge of despair. Our expressions of warm sympathy appeared to cheer him a little, and we found an opportunity during a momentary absence of the consul from the table, to hint to him that we had ground for anticipating a change in the aspect of affairs, and to assure him that under no circumstances should he be forgotten when good fortune happened to ourselves.

He

The poor Austrian was not allowed to remain long with us. As soon as he was gone, Una beckoned to me to go with her; she

took me to see the ladies of the family in their morning employments. The mistress of the household was dressing wheaten corn for the family use; she was seated on the floor in all her finery, and held a large basket sieve between her extended mahogany limbs, Una supplied the grain from an open sack close by. Not far off, an older person, also an Algerine Jewess, was engaged in pounding spice and garlic in a marble mortar placed between her knees. Portions of these ingredients were added, from time to time, to a mess that was simmering over a pan of burning charcoal in my hand basin. The old lady who was superintending the cooking department, I now ascertained to be the mother of my hostess, and one of the usual residents in the house; I learned from her that her daughter's name was Miriam.

Playing about in this cooking apartment was a very pretty boy, of tender years, who answered to the name of Judah. I was delighted at the anticipation of having some one near me, in the human form, who might prove too young and inexperienced in the ways of the Moorish world to have yet imbibed the prejudices and dislikes of caste; I therefore did all I could to induce him to be on friendly terms with me. At first, he screamed violently if I only looked at him, but, by degrees, he abandoned this noisy demonstration, and seemed to overcome his fears; eventually, I made him sufficiently familiar to spit at me, and pelt me with whatever missiles his little hands could reach. My ire was somewhat raised at this issue of my wellmeant coaxings, and I subsequently talked with Samuel Bendenhen about the child. From him I had this dainty piece of puerile biography: Judah was an orphan nephew of the consul's, and had been adopted by him.. A few weeks before our arrival at Salee, the child had been refused, by his uncle, some trifle that he wished for, and had resented the affront by stabbing him in the face with a knife; upon this, the consul struck the little fellow a slight blow, but the recipient had, in consequence, sulked resolutely for two days afterwards, refusing either to eat, drink, or sleep. This was taken as an indication of high promise, and the fiat had been issued that the determined spirit of the child was not to be crossed on any account again. When I had heard this tale, I no longer wondered that Salee was so eminent as a nursery of pirates.

During this afternoon, my husband had attempted to get a look at the town. The consul had given him permission to do so, and had furnished him with a guard of honour for his

protection; his walk proved a very short one, however, for he was stoned and struck at with sticks, until he was again housed. During his absence the consul came to me and requested that I would go with him to the top of the house, to show myself to the crowd who were waiting in the court-yard to catch a glimpse of me. I obeyed, and exhibited myself from the parapet. The square below was filled with a heterogenous crowd, mostly consisting of Moors, some of these extended their arms towards me, and pronounced the word "bona;" others attempted to spit at me, others kissed their hands and bowed their heads; one ugly-looking fellow pretended to form a crown about his head, and then drew the edge of a sabre across his throat. The interpretation of this pantomimic language was, that the king was coming, and my head was going. The consul was at this time standing by my husband's side, upon the lower gallery, and manifested marked displeasure at the proceeding, whereupon the prophet took to his heels and disappeared, and I seized upon the excuse his conduct afforded to follow the example he had set.

Soon after we had returned to our apartment, Abram came to us with his mournful "good night;" this time the greeting meant that dinner was ready. We rose at the summons, and followed our guide to the apartment that had been appropriated to the meal; our party consisted of the consul, Samuel Bendenhen, the hopeful Judah, and our two selves. We were accommodated each with a ship's chair, but our companions squatted cross legged upon the floor. The table consisted of an old stool, scarcely a foot high, and was covered with the body of the old shirt, whose sleeve I possessed for a towel. My recovery from sea sickness had now left me with a keen appetite, I therefore endeavoured to overlook the disagreeable way in which the repast was served, and to confine my attention to the necessity of appropriating some portion of it. I declined the soup, for I could not altogether forget the stew-pan, but I took a plate containing pieces of beef, which the consul fished out for me, and quietly consumed them. The meat was neither delicate nor pleasant in flavour, but hunger had been so effectual a teacher that I screwed up my courage to the point of asking for more, and looked towards the consul with the purpose on my mind; he had just then discovered something in his own share of the dish that was not to his palate, and forthwith returned the offending morsel into his plate, and then emptied its entire contents

back again into the bowl. This was enough for me, my determination and courage were dissipated by the act. When the soup had been discussed, a second course appeared, which was composed of a dish containing melons, herbs, and spices, mashed together with rancid oil; this I could not touch, but I was soon after made glad by the arrival of some deliciously fine grapes; by means of these, and by eking out their palatable juice with some black bread, I was enabled, at last, to accomplish a tolerable meal.

During our dinner, the lady consul sat upon a mat at the door, serving as a sort of telegraph between the dining-room and kitchen. She repeated aloud any order that fell from the mouth of her lord, regarding the service of the meal. As soon as we left the table, she came to it, and a second party then sat down; this comprised herself, Abram, Mehemed the boy, and Una. They all simultaneously attacked the contents of the bowl, some using spoons, and others fingers; none of them had plates. Poor, pretty Una! how I pitied her.

During the whole of this long day, the court yard continued to be crowded with visitorsas soon as one party left, another occupied the place. I hoped this was merely the influence of novelty, and that in a day or two we should be relieved of the annoyance, but I was mistaken; so long as I remained in Salee the show continued. The commoner herd were confined to the court-yard, but the fashionables came up at once into the room where we chanced to be. Day after day the exhibition went on, now from the house-top, now from one of the galleries, now in the dining-room, or even in our very chamber we were not free from the intrusion, even when taking our meals; but from the smaller number of our visitors at those times, I always suspected that our host, like the masters of travelling menageries, charged something extra for showing us at feeding time. I do not doubt that our knife and fork performance, as we sat perched on our wooden chairs, was always deemed a highly amusing exhibition.

There was one piece of persecution that irritated me excessively, but which was nevertheless continued until we left Salee. A fat young man, whom I at once perceived to be a personage of high importance, in consequence of the fineness and whiteness of his flannel robe, the delicacy of his hands, and the sparkling beauty of his diamond armlets, tock the fancy into his head to pay us a visit every morning; if we were not visible elsewhere, he bounced into our room, and sat himself down