CH. IV. JEWISH INTERPEETEE. 79 



ments for our convenience during our journey by selecting 

 such native attendants as we should require. One was 

 told off to each of us as a personal servant, expected to 

 be always in readiness to render any required assistance ; 

 and Hooker's English attendant, Crump, was included 

 in this arrangement. Tliis may appear superfluous, and 

 so it might be to ordinary travellers ; but for a party of 

 naturalists anxious to make the best use of their time, 

 it was almost indispensable. Several other men were 

 attached to the camp in various capacities, one of the 

 most useful being a saddler, daily in requisition to repair 

 damage done to leather work ; but by far the most im- 

 portant member of our suite was the interpreter to the 

 British Consulate, whose services were spared for fully 

 five weeks. Even with Mr. Carstensen's thorough know- 

 ledge of the language, this must have been felt as a serious 

 inconvenience, for Abraham proved himself active and 

 intelligent ; and the duties of a consular agent on the 

 Marocco coast being by no means of a hum-drum cha- 

 racter, the need of a man familiar with the country and 

 the people in the capacity of secretary and assistant is 

 daily felt. Being a Marocco Jew, born in a position of 

 relative inferiority to his Mohammedan neighbours, 

 Abraham no doubt felt a keen satisfaction in the sense of 

 security which he derived from his position in the British 

 service. To be able to converse in a tone approaching to 

 equality with powerful officials ; to emancipate oneself 

 from restrictions trifling, yet galling, in matters of dress 

 and demeanour ; to share in some measure in the vague 

 sense of power vested in the representatives of the great 

 European States — must be the climax of ambition to a 

 member of a despised nationality in a land where neither 

 intelligence nor wealth nor good reputation give a man 

 security or social recognition. 



It had been arranged that our escort was to consist of 

 four soldiers, under the command of a kaid, nearly equiv- 

 alent, as we were told, to a captain in European army 



