6 FOREIGN INFLUENCE. ch. i. 



Alpine mule-tracks, and disfigured by heaps of filth — 

 importunate beggars of revolting aspect, led about by- 

 young boys, assail him at every step — there is no bazaar, 

 as in eastern towns, and the miserable shops are mere 

 recesses, where, in an unglazed opening, little larger than 

 a berth in a ship's cabin, the dealer squats surrounded by 

 his paltry wares. 



On longer acquaintance, he will somewhat modify 

 his first unfavourable impression. Unlike the towns of 

 Southern Europe, where the main thoroughfares are cared 

 for by the local authorities, while filth is allowed to accu- 

 mulate in the byeways, the dirt and offal are here let to lie 

 under his nose in the most public places, while the steep 

 narrow lanes — reminding him of Genoa — that intersect 

 the masses of closely packed houses, are generally kept 

 clean and bright with frequent whitewash. The silent 

 dead walls that front the public thoroughfares conceal the 

 interiors of houses that are rarely opened to the eyes of 

 Europeans, but are not wanting in the signs of wealth and 

 of artistic taste. The dread of arbitrary exactions, that 

 elsewhere in Marocco drives the Moor as well as the Jew 

 to conceal the possession of property as carefully as men 

 elsewhere hide the evidence of guilt, is less keenly felt 

 here. For in and around Tangier, but nowhere else in 

 this country, it may be said that life and property are 

 tolerably secure, not only from outward violence, but from 

 the caprice and cupidity of men in authority. The pre- 

 sence of foreign diplomatic agents, and the constant com- 

 munication with Europe, have brought the Moorish 

 authorities at this spot to some extent under the control 

 of civilised opinion, and the disastrous encounters with 

 France and Spain have convinced the Moor that, with all 

 his personal bravery, he cannot resist the regular forces of 

 his European neighbours, and must not provoke an un- 

 equal conflict. 



Such historical recollections as are connected with 



