Here we have a Jewish quarter, also, which is locked at night. The daughters of Israel are very fair, and some of them beautiful; they don’t hide their faces like the Moorish women. Some disorders had occurred, and some of their houses been broken open and pillaged, for which they had no redress, as all foreign consuls were absent.
The climate here is delightful, being from seventy to seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit, and never varying more than ten degrees throughout the year.
One of our passengers, an English merchant long in this country, had left his house in possession of a trusty Moor, and found all satisfactory. Indeed, the residents among the Moors have more to apprehend from pillage on the part of the wild hordes of the country, than from those of the city. My friend, at whose house I am, will not remain, although he speaks Arabic, but will go on to the Canary Islands with us, with the intention of returning when the war is over. Another of our passengers, a merchant, who was born in a Mohammedan city, will remain and take his chance.
No sooner had we landed than we were surrounded and followed by groups of friends and listeners, who followed close on our heels to the house, which was closed by main force to prevent intrusion. Soon after, the familiar and monotonous songs of the Arabs, accompanied by primitive violins, reached my ears from the gallery. There sat five musicians, whose music and song was spiced from time to time with a peculiar howl or whistle from two blind women, which I at first took for the escape of steam from the steamer.
To my surprise the health officer, when he came off, spoke English and French. He looks the Moor in costume, with his patriarchal white beard, and is now seventy-six years of age. I have been to his house to-day, and found him squatted, legs crossed, upon a divan, taking his repast of tea, instead of coffee, with oranges, dates, raisins, pomegranates, and a liquor which he offered us, made from figs, from his little table about two feet high. His father was an Englishman and his mother a Spanish woman. He has been forty-six years in Morocco, having come as interpreter to an English gentleman who wanted to travel in the interior, and was there murdered. His speaking Arabic saved him from the same fate. When the war broke out he sent his family to Gibraltar, and is now quite alone.
CLVI.
Bathurst, River Gambia, West Coast of Africa, March 10, 1860.
From Mogadore we proceeded to the island of Lancerota, one of the group of Canary Islands, landing and spending part of a day at the principal town, Arecife, whence the island of Forteventura is in plain view.
The product of these islands, since the failure of the grape crop, consists mostly of cochineal, as the salubrity and uniformity of the climate are admirably adapted to the raising of the cactus plant upon which the insect feeds. The principal islands, Lancerota, Teneriffe, Gomera, and Palma, contain some one hundred and eighty thousand population.
My immediate destination was Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe, the capital of the Canary Islands, and the seat of the Spanish Governor. The approach to the well whitewashed town, with its large roadstead, backed by high mountains of hard basalt and soft pumice stone, of which it is built, is very picturesque. In the distance looms up the Peak of Teneriffe, said to be fifteen thousand feet high. The atmosphere was clear and soft, and overcoats and cloaks were no longer needed. They have had an unusually wet season, and apprehend a loss from excess of humidity in a climate where it rains usually so little.