‘It is better as it happened,’ said the good-natured Basha, ‘we have learnt much and part good friends. You have taught me and my followers a lesson we shall never forget.’
On March 18 Mr. Hay reached Marákesh, and writes to his wife ‘I do not despair of doing some good, but shall have up-hill work.’
Days passed, still the promised interview with the Sultan had not been suggested.
Here we are still, and have not yet seen the Sultan, but expect the audience to-morrow.
I have had some disagreeable business, even been compelled to return the Minister’s letters. They have conceded some of the points I had demanded regarding etiquette, though little is gained towards the negotiations; but without proper respect in form we could never get any result in deeds.
We are all well, but rather tired of waiting here. Our weather is beautiful and not too hot. We have been amusing ourselves with sights of dwarfs, snake charmers, and a stone that talked (ventriloquism) and told me I had two little girls in Tangier, &c.!
If I have the audience to-morrow I shall try and push on the negotiation and hope in three weeks to set off again.
It was while he was thus waiting at the Moorish Court that Mr. Hay witnessed a curious performance of the ‘Hamadsha,’ a sect which in some respects resembles that of the Aisawa—or snake charmers—described in Western Barbary. The origin of this sect is remote and obscure, and probably its rites date from pagan times.
The Hamadsha, like the Aisawa, have a curious dance of their own; but the votaries of the former sect, unlike the Aisawa, cut themselves with knives and hatchets, run swords into various parts of their persons, and generally mutilate themselves when under the excitement of their fanatical rites. A large iron ball is carried in their processions, and this is constantly thrown in the air and caught on the heads of the Hamadsha as it falls. The dances of this sect are accompanied by ‘ghaiatta’ (pipes) and curious drums in the form of large earthenware cylinders with skin stretched over one end, that give out when struck a peculiarly pleasant, deep note. These drums are borne on one shoulder and beaten in that position by the bearer. Like the Aisawa, they dance in a circle, linked closely together by placing each an arm over the next man’s neck. Their Sheikh and fugleman stands with the musicians in the centre of the circle and directs their movements, as they jump in the air, rocking their bodies forward with a peculiar sidelong stamp of their feet.
No doubt these Hamadsha are more or less under the influence of ‘majun’ (a preparation of hemp), but there is also little doubt that the votaries of the sect are carried away by excitement when they hear the sound of the drums, or see their fellows jumping, and Mr. Hay related the following anecdote of what occurred at one of these performances when a passing body of Hamadsha entered the precincts of the house where the Mission was quartered.