Some of the houses in these villages have two stories, and are well built; each place has its mosque, its school, its kady, and its sheikh, and the whole agglomeration of oases is governed by a Sheikh Kebir, appointed by the Sultan of Morocco.  These Saharan villages are eternally in strife with one another, and sometimes take up arms.  On this account, they are surrounded by crenated walls, defended by towers solidly built.  The immediate cause of discord here is water, that precious element of all life in the desert.  But the imaginations of the people are not satisfied with this simple reason, and they are right, for the cause lies deeply in the human heart.  They say, however, their ancestors were cursed by a Marabout, to punish them for their laxity in religion, and this was his anathema, “God make you, until the day of judgment, like wool-comber’s cards, the one gnawing the other!”

Their wars, in fact, are most cruel, for they destroy the noble and fruitful palms, which, by a tacit convention, are spared in other parts of the Sahara when these quarrels proceed to bloodshed.  They have, besides, great tact in mining, and their reputation as miners has been a long time established.  But, happily, they are addicted to commerce and various branches of industry, as well as war, having commercial relations with Fez, Tafilett and Touat, and the people are, therefore, generally prosperous.

CHAPTER VII.

London Jew-boys.—­Excursion to the Emperor’s garden, and the Argan Forests.—­Another interview with the Governor of Mogador on the Anti-Slavery Address.—­Opinion of the Moors on the Abolition of Slavery.

We have at times imported into Mogador a stray London Jew or so, of the lower lemon-selling sort.  These lads from the Minories, are highly exasperated against the Moors for treating them with so much contempt.  Indeed, a high-spirited London Jew-boy will not stop at Mogador, though the adult merchant will, to get money, for mankind often learn baseness with age, and pass to it through a golden door.  One of these Jew-boys, being cursed by a man, naturally cursed him again, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”  Mr. Willshire did not think so; and, on the complaint of the Moor, the British Consul threw the British Jew-boy into a Moorish prison, where he remained for some days.  This is one more instance of the disadvantage of having commercial consuls, where everything is sacrificed to keep on good terms with government authorities.

A fire happened the other night, breaking out in the house of one of the rich Jewish merchants; but it was soon extinguished, the houses being built chiefly of mortar and stone, with very little wood.  The Governor got up, and went to the scene of “conflagration;” he cracked a few jokes with the people and went home to bed.  The Moors were sorry the fire did not extend itself, wanting to have an opportunity of appropriating a few of the merchant’s goods.