In the market-place meat may be purchased at 1¹⁄₂d. per pound, but a duty is paid upon every article of consumption taken from the town to any other country, unless for the British navy. Vegetables are also very cheap, new potatoes (very fine at this season) are about one shilling per bushel; large oranges twelve a penny. The market is a miniature Smithfield with respect to cattle, owing to the great number of horses, camels, and asses, used in bringing goods to it, as well as bullocks, sheep, and goats for sale. All goods are transported from one place to another on beasts of burden. I observed a great number of fowls at a dollar per dozen.
Their method of storing grain, in case of its not being sold or in case of rain, is very simple. At short distances from each other in the part of the market arranged or allotted for the sale of grain, holes are dug, about four or five feet square, and the same in depth, into which the corn is deposited until the next market-day. These pits are lined with wood, and when the grain or other goods are deposited, the cover is sealed by the market officer or sheriff, who regulates the price of every article of consumption exposed for sale.
The foreign inhabitants consist of various races, chiefly from France, Spain, Portugal, and England; the fewest in number are English, comprising only the English Consul’s establishment. With the exception of the native Moors, the French and Jews are the most numerous, and their character is the same as I have found it in all countries wherever I have met them. The moment you set your foot on shore you are assailed by a host of Jews and Moors, eager to direct you to their houses to trade with them. The Jews are generally most successful, being more civilized than the Moors. They speak good English, as well as many other languages, and most of the Moors who can speak English or French, are employed by the Jews as “cads” to direct strangers to their employer’s house. If they find you at all impatient at their solicitations, they invariably invite you to go to their house and drink a glass of wine with them. If you deal with them, you are supplied with a glass, or even two, but are sure to pay for it in the price of the article purchased. If you should not purchase any thing, whatever wine or spirit happens to be your choice, they are sure to be in want of, or it is so bad that they cannot recommend it; yet upon the whole they are preferable to the Moors. If you have money they treat you with great civility.
Their houses are remarkably clean, and their dress is very simple and graceful. Both male and female Jews dress in the Moorish fashion. They seldom seat themselves otherwise than on a mat. Upon my entering a Jewish dwelling, in a hall on the left-hand side, the occupant’s daughter was seated busily engaged in sewing. She was certainly one of the most beautiful and graceful women I ever beheld, and readily offered to shake hands with me. On the opposite side of the entrance-hall lay a heap of wheat. The latter no doubt for sale, and probably the former also to be disposed of in the matrimonial market. On entering an inner apartment, I was introduced to the rest of the family, five in number, all remarkably clean. In the corner of this apartment was a young man, about twenty years of age, apparently a Moor, who showed article after article for sale, as a hawker would in England. Amongst the articles exhibited were French and Spanish cottons, morocco slippers of various patterns, silk girdles beautifully embroidered, and ladies’ reticules of a very rich pattern, also beautifully embroidered with gold, on velvet of various colours, chiefly green or red.
I observed during my short stay only two different kinds of trade practised in Tangiers—shoe-making and gun-making. The gun-makers showed much ingenuity, considering the clumsiness of their tools: they even twist their barrels. In general, I cannot speak very favourably of the cleanliness of the Moors, as compared with the Jews. Their streets are very dirty,—sheep-skulls, horns, and other parts of different animals, being thrown into the streets; and on the outer skirts of the market-place may be seen a number of dead dogs and kittens, which have been carried there and left to perish, for they have not the humanity to put them to death by any other means.
I had an opportunity of visiting the Swiss Consul’s garden, which is laid out with considerable taste, and abounds with fruit, among which I observed very fine oranges and citrons, and remarkably fine figs. There is also a burial-ground, where Christians of all nations are interred, amongst which were pointed out by my Moorish guide the graves of an English family, consisting of a father, mother, and two children, who had been robbed and murdered by the Moors.
I was informed by several of the inhabitants that it is very dangerous for any stranger to proceed more than a mile or two from the town, unless attended by a mounted soldier, who is appointed by the Governor, and receives a dollar per day.
The cactus grows here wild, and of gigantic size; although in the immediate vicinity of the town little vegetation is apparent. Of the minor class, the orange, citron, and saffron shrub, with some large aloes, are the chief plants I observed. The place seems altogether poor; but from information I obtained, it would appear that trade was much better some time back, before many of the Jews left the place on account of the disturbed state of the country. In fact, the inhabitants are now in hourly expectation of the French blockading the town. There is at present a Spanish frigate at anchor abreast of the town; and since we dropped anchor this morning, a French man-of-war steamer has arrived and anchored near the Prometheus.
The Jews here make a good trade by changing English money. They deduct three shillings in the sovereign for exchange, and at Gibraltar, two,—a serious disadvantage to English visitors.
Mules and asses seem of all animals most used as beasts of burden. The Moorish market-women have a very singular appearance, owing to their dress, which consists of a piece of thick woollen cloth, the same as a blanket, which envelopes the whole of their body, and entirely conceals their faces. From the slowness of their pace, and their figure, excepting the colours of their dress, one might imagine them part of a funeral procession. The men are generally tall and muscular, though not fleshy, and strict Mahomedans.