830 



BARBARY STATES. 



though forbidden in the Koran, are drunk when they can be obtained, to excess. The duties 

 on opium are so great, that few use it ; but an extract is made from a narcotic plant, perhaps 

 a ivind of flax, whicli exhilarates without intoxicating. Tobacco is somewhat used in smoking, 

 and as snuft'. 



16. Diseases. Blindness is common, and the plague has sometimes nearly depopulated 

 cities. The general means adopted for cure is by charms, amulets, &c. 



17. Traveling. In the interior vi.'lages, a house is set apart for strangers, with a proper 

 officer to furnish one night's entertainment. In the cities, there are no inns. The general 

 mode of traveling is with mules, horses, or camels. 



18. Character., Manners, and Customs. The Moors of Barbary have been very proverbial 

 in Europe for cruelty, indolence, ignorance, and fanaticism. If the country does not derive its 

 name from its barbarous inhabitants, the name is nevertheless equally well deserved on that 

 account. The inhabitants, except those of towns, are divided into tribes or clans, which are 

 often at war, and which offer insuperable obstacles to civilization. They pass an active life, 

 and are hardy and warlike. The inhabitants of cities carry indolence to a Turkish extreme. 

 In Morocco, and other western cities, where men meet in the street, to converse, they forth- 

 with seat themselves on mats, and the streets are oflen filled with these groups. A shopkeeper 

 arranges his wares so that he can reach any of them without leaving his seat, and the very 

 watchman performs guard-duty in a sitting posture. I'he people of Tunis and Tripoli are the 

 least barbarous. The name of Algerine conveys to us the idea of a ferocious and bigoted 

 savage ; but Mr. Shaler, who has lived in Algiers many years, represents the people as insin- 

 uating, courteous, and without much fanaticism, though not without humanity. They are, 

 however, like iheir ancestors, inconstant and treacherous. The common salutation in Bar- 

 bary is, " Peace be with you." Merchandise is measured by the arm, from the elbow. The 

 females when they would honor a person, as the emperor, raise sudden and piercing shrieks, 

 and the manners and customs, generally, are those of a very rude state of society. 



The Jews in Barbary are a numerous and much oppressed class. The house of a Jew, 

 and all its sacred relations, is open to every Moor who will violate it. A Jew may be beaten 

 by men, and pelted by boys. When riding he is forced to dismount, if he meet a Moor ; to 

 make humble obeisance to one of distinction, and to walk with bare feet in cities. Even the 

 females are compelled to do this. The .Tews perform most of the trades, and monopolize the 

 commerce. They form the only industrious class in cities. In no other country are they so 

 much depressed as in Morocco ; yet here they are distinguished for being well formed, and 

 the females are considered as some of the most beautiful in the world. 



The Arabs chiefly occupy the plains, and they exhibit the same pastoral and migratory 

 habits, the same simplicity of manners, and the same union of hospitality and plimder, that 

 characterize their countrymen in Arabia ; they live in tents, a number of which forms a camp 

 under a sheik, and several camps often acknowledge a chief, called emir. 



Some of the Berbers or Brebers have the same migratory habits as the Arabs ; their food 

 consists of camel's milk and dried camel's flesh, that animal constituting their sole wealth. 

 They wear woolen gowns, which cover but a part of the body, and sometimes leather caftans 

 and shirts. Rush mats form their beds, and their tents are made of camel's hair, or a coarse 

 woolly substance, obtained from the date palm. Others cultivate the earth, and are stationary 

 in their habits. The Berbers, although Mahometans, do not scrupulously follow all the ordi- 

 nances of their religion ; thus they drink wine and eat pork. The Maraboots are a sort of 

 priests or saints, who are looked upon with great veneration by the Berbers ; they often exer- 

 cise great authority, and maintain a considerable military force. They alone understand 

 Arabic, and can interpret the Koran. 



19. Jlmusements. There are many equestrian exercises, for all the Moors are much attach- 

 ed to horses, and an Emperor of ]Morocco, improving on the example of his brother of Rome, 

 declared some of his horses saints ! The riders use a bit that will stop the horse in an instant, 

 when going at full speed. A Moor will spur his fleet horse at full speed towards a wall, and 

 when it seems that both must be killed by the collision, the animal is stopped within a few 

 inches of the barrier. Other amusements are juggling, exhibitions of dancing, story-telling, 

 and, about Tunis, hawking is practised. 



20. Education. To read in the Koran, and to write, are the ends of education in most 

 Mahometan countries. Education is often advanced thus far in Barbary. The Koran, 

 bowever, is sometimes committed to memory, and the reader goes over it like a parrot, with 



