296 Love, Law, and Physic in Barbary. [SEPT. 



hands into the culprit's bernoos,* bidding him get out of the way to 

 make room for another. Punishments of this kind may be considered 

 strong proofs of barbarism ; but this reproach will likewise apply to 

 Europe, where there is by far too great a display of public executions, 

 a practice at variance with our progress of enlightenment and the 

 ends of justice. The relation of the sufferings of a criminal or the 

 exposure of a corpse, without feasting the eyes of the multitude 011 

 the convulsions which attend an exit from life, would probably answer 

 all the purposes of legislature, and be just as effectual a check on crime. 



If a traveller is robbed in Barbary, the pacha or' governor of the 

 country in which he travels, is bound to make good the sum on proof 

 of the value of the articles stolen. The pacha has his remedy against 

 the inhabitants of the district, upon whom he immediately levies a fine 

 of three times the amount he is bound to pay ; this plan sets the whole 

 population at work to discover the robber, in which case he can seldom 

 escape. The Kobeyles, a hardy race of mountaineers in the kingdom 

 of Algiers, are proverbially known as great thieves. A friend of mine, 

 during his residence at Oran, employed several of these men as 

 servants; to avoid their depredations he would not allow them to 

 sleep in his house. During a tempestuous night, however, the Kobeyles 

 opened a mine from the street beneath the foundation, a thing by no 

 means difficult, and carried off a casket of jewels. Mustapha Bey, who 

 was then governor of Oran, having no clue to the robbers, levied a fine 

 of three times the value of the property stolen, on the inhabitants, and 

 likewise flogged the alcaid of the night-guard naked through the 

 streets, bound on a mule. These severities led to the discovery of a 

 string of pearls in the possession of a Moorish woman : she was brought 

 into the Bey's presence, and being reluctant to confess the manner in 

 which she had obtained them, the pacha pricked her with his khanjear 

 till she owned she had purchased them for a trifle from the Kobeyle 

 servants. The jewels were recovered and the fine taken off, but the 

 Kobeyles had fled to their mountains, where no power the bey possessed 

 could take them. 



The laws of the Koran require " eye for eye, tooth for tooth," &c., 

 which in case of any wilful infliction of injury cannot be considered 

 unjust ; but a great difficulty exists in Barbary regarding the distinction 

 between accident and design, the latter interpretation being generally 

 placed on every act wherein a foreigner may have the misfortune to 

 offend or harm a native as one or two examples will sufficiently prove. 

 It is better, therefore, to submit to almost any imposition than go to 

 law with a Moor, who is sure to be protected, to the certain sacrifice of 

 the stranger. 



An English merchant, Mr. D , whilst on a shooting excursion 



in Barbary, fired at a Moor, and lodged a quantity of small shot in one 

 of his legs. A Moorish surgeon performed the operation of extracting 

 the shot with a blunt-pointed knife ; this process inflamed and irritated 

 the wounds. During the time of the Moor's illness, he was maintained 

 at the expense of Mr. D ; this so well suited his taste, that when- 

 ever he approached a state of convalescence, means were employed to 

 retard the cure, which at last rendered amputation necessary. At this 

 crisis, Mr. D was arrested and thrown into prison, to wait the 



* The white mantle worn by the Moors. 



