It is curious that there should be but two countries in the world that have adopted and restricted themselves to a single colour,—that these countries should lie opposite each other—that in the one it should be black, and in the other white; that the one should be the derivative of which the other is the original; that the wearers of black should be the offspring of the people of white, and that the white country should have the title of Mauritania!
It is not to be supposed that the black was assumed after the expulsion of the Moors. General usages are not of these days. We have besides proof that black was the colour of Spain twelve hundred years before the invasion of the Saracens: they wear “black sayas,” says the Greek geographer. But the people of Mauritania were not called black, because of their complexion,—they were a fair people: Scylax applies to them the epithet of ξάνθοι.[94] They were μανζοφόζοι, or clad in black, and hence, no doubt, their name. The two Mauritanias equally wore black, and no doubt the adoption of white by the Mussulmans of the West was the result of the establishment there of the dynasty of the Ommiades.
But beyond the zone of white, there is another zone of black, or of mixed black and white. A portion of the Tuarisks, who occupy the vast tract of Africa between the equator and the habitable portions upon the coast, wear the black sulam with black cowl,[95] a black turban rolled round, not the head only, but the face, the neck, and body, so as to leave exposed alone their black, small, sparkling eyes.
The mantilla is generally considered a relic of Mussulman usages, but the women in Morocco do not now wear the veil. There, men and women have one and the same dress: they wear it in the same manner over the head, the only difference being, that the women keep it closer drawn. The first clothing must have been the single garment, such as we see it in Africa still. Noble as it is simple, it conforms itself to every use in the adaptation, and displays every grace in the adjustment of its folds. It was subsequently divided and cut up into distinct parts or coverings; and dress became a set of integuments for casing the limbs, rather than for clothing the body. The veil cannot, therefore, be known where the original vesture remains in use.
The haïk, as worn by the Jewesses, is the saya manta. It is of enormous dimensions; from one and a half to two yards wide, and from six to eight long.[96] It comes four times round the body, one of the turns being measured by the outstretched arms to form the hood. The Jewesses double two yards and a half, one part longer than the other, so as to serve, when wrapped round the waist, for a petticoat; folds to give play to the limbs are added at one side, and secured by a large pin; a turn is then taken with the whole haïk round the waist, and the remainder is brought from behind over the head and shoulders. They of course wore it so in Spain.[97]
For the source of peculiarities in Spain it is natural that we should look to Morocco; not so for the origin of a costume apparently as different in form as remote in situation—the Highland garb; yet that it does come from the same stock is indubitable. It is no accidental coincidence here and there: the whole build and purpose are identical—every variation can be traced and accounted for. There is nothing that militates against this conclusion, which there is so much directly and collaterally to establish.
If the costume were an original one in its present form, we should have primitive names for kilt and plaid, its distinguishing features. Kilt is not a Gaelic word: there is no word in Gaelic for kilt. It is called “The short plaits” (fillibeg), as distinguished from the “long plaits” (fillimore),[98] now fallen into disuse. Plaid is not a Gaelic word, and for plaid there is in Gaelic no other name than brechan, or “colours.” Plaid and kilt are equally of the brechan, and it is admitted by the best authorities that formerly they were one: the belted plaid still shows it. With “long plaits” the plaid would reach to the dimensions of the present Moorish haïk. In putting on the plaid you bring the corner over the breast, take one turn round the body, and throw the end over the left shoulder: it is precisely the way a Moor accustomed to the haïk would put it on. The kilt and plaid alone are in tartan, being alike composed of the “flag mantle:”[99] the jacket, like the tunic of the Moor, or the body and sleeves of the Spanish lady, was of any colour. To the saya manta and the haïk the peculiarity of colour is in like manner reserved: brechan feil is the name of the Highland garb, and identical with saya manta. Thus, in the haïk still lives the common parent of the costume of the Highland clansmen and the Spanish lady: in the one case the name has descended on the covering of the shoulders (brechan,[100] Gaelic), in the other (saya) in that of the legs. It is curious that the old name is given in Spain to the petticoat of the women; in England to the breeches of the men.
In the mountains between Baeza and Guadix, which were the last refuge of the Moors, I have seen the manta worn by the men, corresponding in texture exactly with the haïk worn by the Arab women in the tents, which are sometimes striped in colours: the colours in like manner being pure, and of course rich and brilliant, are dyed at home. Sometimes the stripes are crossed, which is not the practice in Barbary. The first I saw was so like a Scotch plaid, that, until I examined it, I took it for a piece of English manufacture.
The manta or plaid of the shepherd is doubled, and stitched at one end to serve as a hood, just as our Highlanders do, to put the feet in at night, or to use as a hood or as a bag. In this part of Spain the men wear large white drawers, which leave the knee bare, and appear like a white kilt. The medias, like the Scotch hose, are bound below the knee, and are sometimes of leather like those the Moors use for riding. To the plaid and tartan, to the fac-simile of the kilt and hose, they add the strathspey tune, and the reel step, and “set,” to each other. Seeing them footing it toe and heel, smacking fingers, clapping hands, shouting and wheeling, I was carried at once to the glens and straths of the North. While this merriment was in progress, several carts stopped. These carts had two wheels and two horses, the pole resting on their necks. It was the ancient chariot. In the dialect of the country they are called Elheudi, pure Arabic for the Jewish.
Festivals or solemnities, meetings beyond the commonplaces of ordinary intercourse, are required from time to time to quicken the spirit of a people, and to refresh and preserve its costume. When, in the Highlands, you inquire the date of the disuse of tartan kilt and arms, they will reckon back to the time when they were last worn, “at church.” Yet our clergy have never cultured the Celtic spirit, and have held the trappings of our race but as pagan emblems, disloyal badges, or mundane toys.