African Hospitalities 



had bought in the morning, they nearly cleared us out of 

 all our little means ; for in Gibraltar we could not raise any 

 money, because Harry had left all his Coutts's circular- 

 notes packed up in his portmanto at Seville ; and as there 

 appears to be no vessel going back to Europe, it is more 

 than probable that our excellent landladies, the Misses 

 Duncan, u^ill have to distrain upon our bodies, and sell us to 

 the Algerines to indemnify themselves for our sustenance. 



While I sat carving the pipe-stem, our early dinner was 

 ready, after which we wandered forth with Mohammed. 

 The corn-merchant of th^ felucca met us, shook hands with 

 great cordiality, and insisted on taking us to a coffee-house 

 to be treated, up a narrow flight of dark stairs into a narrow 

 court-yard covered with matting. Here were assembled a 

 group of chattering Moors all standing, for there was no 

 place in the floor clean enough to sit down upon. 



Coming down from the cafe^ we were met by another of 

 our fellow passengers, the young Moor who had drawn the 

 mosque-towers and fort in Harry's book. He also shook 

 hands most affectionately, and carried us over the way to 

 his shop, for it turned out he was a barber, and not a son 

 of the old corn-merchant. His shop was surrounded by a 

 sort of divan, covered with matting, on which we sat cross- 

 legged and smoked and drank more coffee, and talked as 

 well as we could in Alcoranic Arabic, which is very different 

 from Berber. 



A lame man came in and sat down. He addressed us in 

 broken English. He was from Mogador, and had been in 

 London with Batty's company as a Bedouin. He had been 

 in other parts of " London," viz., " Littlepol and My Sister 

 (Liverpool and Manchester), had married wife in England " 

 ("not lowsy woman"); he had had an accident which 

 caused his leg to be very " sick " ever since — had come 



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