Metchnikoff had not much taste for sight-seeing, but, with his inquisitive and observing mind, liked to understand what he saw, and never failed to acquaint himself with the history of the countries which we traversed and which, with his ever-ready solicitude, he wanted us to see. We therefore saw every interesting town on our route through Spain. In the evenings we read together works on the history and art of the country, and in the day-time we went for long rambles in order to examine all that there was to see. The history of the country, full of the sombre fanaticism which is reflected in its art, the austere aridity of the central plateau of the land, the reserved temper of the population—none of that found any echo in the vibrating, sunlight-loving soul of Metchnikoff.
Gentle Italy, her exuberant life and highly-cultured past, charmed him much more. He was consequently better pleased with Southern Spain, which is more similar to Italy. He was greatly impressed by the grandiose site and luminous atmosphere of Granada and the Alhambra and by the superb gardens of Malaga, with their tropical plants and avenues of palm trees.
At Gibraltar, he was greatly interested as a zoologist in the only monkeys (Macaques or Barbary apes) which have remained wild in Europe; he never tired of watching their habits whilst those amusing creatures jumped from tree to tree above our heads.
He had ample leisure to do so, for a frightful tempest kept us at Gibraltar, preventing the crossing of the Straits. As Metchnikoff was very anxious to set to work, we took the first steamship which ventured out, but the sea was still running so high that our ship was damaged and we had to go back. A panic took possession of the passengers, during which my sisters and I were struck by the calmness of Elie, who did not seem to realise the danger. After a delay of a few days, we were at last able to cross.
Our first impression of Tangiers, an Arab port of a thoroughly Oriental type, was extremely vivid. The city lay before us with its tall minarets and flat roofs, shining white under the burning sun. The steamer dropped anchor some distance from the landing stage, and we were taken ashore on small boats, immediately to be surrounded by a motley crowd with faces varying from the pale olive of the pure Arab to the coal-black of the negro. All these people, in brilliant and picturesque garments, were shouting, gesticulating, fighting for the possession of passengers and their luggage, dragging them into the boats or carrying them on their backs, themselves standing up to their waists in water.
That feverish agitation, noise, and glaring sunlight introduced us suddenly to new and violent sensations.
Already at Gibraltar, Metchnikoff had made arrangements with a Spanish-speaking Arab from Tangiers who undertook our installation. He provided us with a very primitive dwelling, himself serving as our guide, cook, and general factotum.
We hastened to look for zoological material: alas, the sea was almost a desert. After a long search we only found a few rare sea-urchins, and Metchnikoff had to content himself with this meagre fauna during the whole of the winter. He resigned himself to the study of the embryology of sea-urchins in order to fill a few lacunæ in his previous researches. As he could not work much for lack of materials, he came with us for long excursions, during which he used to improvise interminable and very amusing tales with which to entertain my little sister.
At the beginning of our stay we were greatly interested by the life and customs of the country. The picturesque and varied crowd, the dignified and biblical types of Arabs, the bronzed Berbers, negroes, fanatical sects of Aïssawas, snake-charmers, the jousts, and mad races of cavalry across the sandy beach; opium smokers; mysterious silhouettes of veiled women; the call to prayer from the tall minarets—all that strange and exotic life fascinated us. But after a time the wild customs, continual shouting on the occasion of every ceremony, vendettas, cruel fanaticism, and also the absolute lack of intellectual resources, began to tell on our nerves. Inactivity weighed heavily upon Metchnikoff; nevertheless, he bore his ill-luck with his usual courage and gaiety, finding great consolation in the excellent influence that the climate of Tangiers had upon all our healths.
At last, in the spring, we started for Villefranche, where he immediately set to work with success upon the embryology of jelly-fish; an important monograph on that subject was published by him in 1886. In it he gave definite form to his theory of the phagocytella and the genetic relationships of animals and of their primitive organs, a theory already mentioned above (p. [110]).