1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
43 
donkeys, or asses, are used as beasts of burden; but 
the beast of all work and all drudgery is the donkey ; 
on his back are borne loads of wood, stone, straw, s-and, 
lumber, manure, wild Arabs, live sheep, and in fact, 
everything portable. A drove of forty of these ani¬ 
mals marched in defile before my door the other day, 
all laden with sand, to be used in re-building a portion 
of the consular house. 
On market days (which take place on Thursday and 
Sunday of every week,) hundreds of these patient ani¬ 
mals, and hundreds of camels, may be seen winding 
their way along the rugged mountain passes, and 
through the intervening valleys, and pouring from the 
hill-sides into the market place, (or soco, as it is call¬ 
ed,) laden with the strangest looking cargoes and 
most wild and grotesque looking beings that man ever 
looked upon. You will see the wild Bedouin Arab 
from the desert, the ebony negro, the fierce mountain¬ 
eer, the swarthy Kabyle—many with their huge shoul¬ 
ders and bronzed breasts, and their long brawny arms 
and legs, entirely naked—some mounted on lumbering 
camels, some on mules and asses—-with the tattered 
remnants of their garments streaming to the breeze— 
some dashing onward on foot, driving droves of beasts 
before them:—and then, as they enter the soco, to see 
them running furiously through, and mingling with, a 
crowd of a thousand persons, composed of troops of 
fine, manly looking Moors of the town, with their 
. white flowing haiks and their snowy-white turbans—and 
sharp-eyed Jews, with their close black caps, shrug¬ 
ging their shoulders and seeking for a close bargain— 
and amidst all this, to hear the loud yells, the almost 
deafening clamor and confusion of tongues, winch rend 
the air—such scenes as these—so strange and so novel, 
combining the oriental with the grotesque, the savage 
and the ludicrous, are beyond any thing that the wild¬ 
est imagination, in its strangest flights of fancy, can 
well conceive of. 
But I am digressing. In speaking of the domestic 
animals of this country, I omitted to notice swine, for 
the very good reason that here they rank as wild ani¬ 
mals instead of domestic. You are aware that the 
creeds of the Jews and Mahomedans interdict the use 
of pork. Consequently, there is nothing of the swine 
species to be found in this country, excepting the wild 
Boar ; and these are quite abundant. Hunting the wild 
boar, is rare sport, and very exciting, withal. I have 
been on one of these wild forays among the mountains, 
and had two fair shots at a young Boar, and one at an 
Ichneumon, but my little daughter, v T ho accompanied 
me to our encampment, says that I w r as 11 too humane 
to kill the poor creatures.” I was obliged to accept 
of her ironical apology, for the want of a better one. 
Our party, however, killed two huge wild Boars, and I 
must confess that my “ humanity” did not deprive me 
of tire gratification of u being in at the death.” They 
had immense tusks, and would weigh, I judged, 2001bs. 
each, although they were not fat. Their hair was of 
a dark iron gray color, and quite coarse. The meat 
of the wild Boar is sometimes very tender and of good 
flavor. 
I have been trying to procure a young wild Boar to 
send you alive, but have not yet succeeded; for neither 
the Moors nor Jews dare be seen bringing one of them 
in—they dare scarcely touch these 11 unclean beasts,” 
as they regard them. They do occasionally, however, 
slip a pig under their haik or blanket, and bring them 
stealthily into town. When I succeed in obtaining one, 
I will send him to you, if you wish. If they will not 
beat your neighbor Bement’s Berkshires in bearing 
down the scales, they certainly will in running. Leeches 
put up for market, sell here for $14 per 1,000. 
Well, I find I have written you a long, miscellane- 
- OU5 letter, without touching upon half the subjects I 
designed to. As to the modus operandi of tilling the 
soil, sowing and planting, and harvesting the various 
crops—the qualities of soil, and many other like matters 
—I shall have to defer a description of them until ano¬ 
ther time; if, perchance, you and your readers are not 
sated wfith a perusal of this lengthy, disjointed letter, 
which I have been obliged to dash off in great haste, 
without regard to method or systematic arrange¬ 
ment. 
I must, how r ever, before closing, notwithstanding its 
irrelevance, tell you of a self-resurrection wfiiich took 
place here the other day. Some two or three weeks 
since, while passing across the soco, or market place. 
I saw a troop of Moorish cavalry winding their way 
up the crooked road leading from the beach ; after them 
and with another detachment of cavalry in the rear, 
came about one hundred prisoners, on foot, marching in 
single file, wdth a long, heavy chain extending along 
the whole line, resting on the shoulders of the prison¬ 
ers, with a smaller lateral chain fastened around the 
neck of each prisoner, and made fast to the main chain. 
In this position they were marched from the prison at 
Tetuan (about thirty miles distant) for the purpose of 
being secured in the castle at Tangier. On the way, 
and just before reaching this place, one of the prisoners 
fell, exhausted with fatigue. On taking him up, they 
found him lifeless. When they arrived at the soco, it 
was nearly sunset; the cavalcade halted, and the offi¬ 
cers held a consultation as to what should be done with 
the poor fellow r ’s remains. They finally determined to 
deposite them in an open u saint’s house,” which stands 
near the centre of the market place, until morning, 
when they w^ould have them interred. The body was 
taken upon the shoulders of three or four Moors, and, 
with the legs and arms dangling, as they passed by 
where I stood, thus conveyed to this temporary dead 
house, and there left, without a single watcher to guard 
it from violation. * * * * In the morning, they found 
that the dead man had run away ! 
Yours, truly, T. H. H. 
P. S. It may not be known to the American commer¬ 
cial interest that there has recently been a radical re¬ 
duction in the tariff import duties of this country. The 
duty used to be 20 per cent—it is now reduced to ten 
per cent, ad valorem —on all articles imported save on 
iron, which is reduced from $5 to 4 per cw T t. Raw 
cotton to $3 per cwt.; raw silk from $1 to 50 cts. per 
lb. It is hoped that this favorable change may give a 
new impulse to our commerce with this country. 
To Prevent a Cow from Kicking. —An exchange 
paper states, that a piece of wood in the shape of the 
hind leg of the cow, and made to fit the gambrel or 
hock joint, may be strapped and buckled on the leg so 
as wholly to prevent her from kicking. 
Acres of Land in England. —The total acreage 
of England, is said to be 32,342,400, which is divided 
as follows:— 
Statute acres 
Amount of arable lands and gardens, .... 10,251,800 
Meadows, pastures, and marshes,. 15,379,200 
Wastes capable of improvement,. 3,454,000 
Incapable of improvement,.... *.». 3,256,400 
To exterminate Sorrel. clover seed very 
thickly, wfith a small portion of timothy. 
Sale of Short-horns in England. —At the recent 
sale of Sir Charles Knightly, twelve bulls and bull 
calves hrought the sum of £7;69, 13s., ($3,853.25.) 
One thirteen months old, brought 140 guineas, ($700.) 
Another six months old, 115 guineas, ($575.) At 
another sale, 16 animals brought an average of £43 
($265) each. At another very large sale,.the average 
obtained w r as £30, 9s., ($151.25) each. 
