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governors." Thou must needs be very rich," said a shereef to a Moor, who, to preserve his garden-walls, had them white-washed. The Moors wear no jewels, and few of them have even a ring or a watch.

Power and weakness, rank and meanness, opulence and indigence, are equally dependent, and equally uncertain in Marocco. There are instances of a sultan elevating, at one stroke, a private soldier to the rank of a bashaw, or making him a confidential friend; and, at another, reducing him again to the situation of a common soldier, or sending him to prison; i of a governor deposed by the sovereign, and condemned to sweep the streets of the town he had governed. Yet, with such examples before them, when these people have attained a high station, they seldom fail to afford their sovereign a plea for punishing them, by abusing their trust. Once stripped of his effects, however, the governor may be re-instated in his former dignity; the sinner being absolved by rendering up his riches.

Near the north-west point of the walls of Marocco is a village of lepers. They are obliged to wear a straw hat, with a brim about nine inches broad, as their badge of separation from persons who are clean; but they are allowed to beg by the highway side, where they hold a wooden bowl before them, and exclaim, as people pass," Bestow upon me the property of God! All belongs to God!" I rode through their village, and saw many of them collected at their doors. In general, no external disfiguration was apparent; but

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their complexion was sallow; and some young women, who would otherwise have been very handsome, had either scanty eyebrows, or none at all.

CHAPTER XXI.

HOREM, ATLAS, TAFILelt.

MAROCCO TO RABAT, MEQUINAS, AND FAS.

DURING my stay at Marocco, I was sent for, in my medical capacity by one of the emperor's sons. The pavilion in which he received strangers and transacted business, was situated at the extremity of a long walk in a garden of orange trees. The prince expressed great pleasure at seeing me; said the English were his brothers and best friends; and desired me to feel his pulse, and inform him whether he was in health. When I had assured him that he was perfectly well, he desired me to be seated on a narrow carpet, placed within the circle formed by his courtiers, and ordered one of his pages to bring tea. Tea is the highest compliment that can be offered by a Moor, and it is generally presented to a respected visitor, whatever be the time of day. It is prepared by putting green tea, a small quantity of tansey and of mint, and a lage quantity of sugar, into the tea-pot; and when these are infused a proper time, the liquid is poured into extremely small cups of fine porcelain, and handed round to the company with

cakes or sweetmeats. Tea is so highly esteemed by the Moors, that they take it by very small and slow sips; and, as they drink a considerable quantity whenever it is introduced, the entertainment frequently lasts two hours.

When this ceremony was concluded, the prince ordered out his horse, which was a very beautiful young animal. The saddle was covered with rich velvet; the stirrups were of gold. The prince mounted, put his horse on full speed, rose up on the saddle and fired a musket, then stopped the animal instantaneously, and asked if we could do such things in England. He then ordered one of his attendants to catch a sheep in his grounds, and take it to my lodgings; wished I would visit him twice a day, during my stay in Marocco; and gallopped off.

Muley Yezzid, a late Emperor of Marocco, fired three times while galloping two hundred paces. He set out with one musket in his hand, another laid across his saddle, and the third balanced on his head. The first was fired immediately, and given to a soldier who ran by his side; and the second and third were successively discharged, and given, in the same manner, almost in an instant of time.

The Moors frequently amuse themselves with riding with the utmost speed apparently against a wall, and a stranger would conclude that they must inevitably be dashed to pieces; when, just as the horse's head is upon the point of touching the wall, they stop him with the greatest accuracy. A common species of compliment is to ride violently up to a stranger, as if intending to trample him to death; then stop short, and fire a musket

THE WIVES OF THE EMPEROR.

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in his face. I have experienced this mark of respect, and could have dispensed with the politeness of my friends.

The most distinguished honour I received at Marocco was an order from the sultan to visit Lalla Zara, one of his wives, who was indisposed '; and I was conducted to that sacred depository of female beauty, his majesty's horem. The entrance is by a very large arched door, guarded, on the outside, by ten body guards. This leads to a lofty hall, in which is stationed an officer, with a guard of seventeen eunuchs. The emperor's order being delivered to this officer, I was immediately conducted, by one of the eunuchs, into the court to which some of the apartments of the women open. Here I found a motley groupe of concubines, seated in circles on the ground, and of slaves, employed in needlework, or in preparing cuscasoe. I was instantly surrounded by a crowd of patients; some informing me of their maladies, and others begging me to inform them of theirs; and it was not without great exertions on the part of the eunuch, that I was permitted to pass on to the apartment of Lalla Zara.

From the court I entered first, I passed through two or three similar ones before I arrived at the habitation of my intended patient, whom I found sitting, cross-legged, on a mattrass covered with fine linen; and twelve attendants, black and. white, were sitting on different parts of the floor. A round cushion was placed for me near the lady, and I was desired to be seated.

Lalla Zara had been remarkable for her beauty and accomplishments, and had been a favourite wife of the emperor: the jealousy of her rivals had

been excited by this pre-eminence, and they had mixed poison with her food. The poison had not destroyed her life; but it had ruined her beauty, and left her in a state of hopeless debility. Without affording this unhappy lady any flattering hopes of a cure, I assured her that I would use every means in my power for the restoration of her health. Unlike the generality of Moorish females, she was affable, polite, and of a pleasing and interesting character.

I was going to take leave of Lalla Zara, when a female messenger appeared to request my attendance on Lalla Batoom, the first, and therefore the principal of the emperor's wives, and who bears the title of the Great Queen.

I found Lalla Batoom a perfect Moorish beauty; immoderately fat, with round and prominent cheeks, painted of a deep red, small black eyes, and a countenance wholly devoid of expression. To be fat is the grand criterion of Moorish beauty, and, to obtain this excellence, young women are fattened like fowls. The apartment of the queen had a much greater appearance of splendour than that of Lalla Zara, and the former had a whole square allotted to herself. Her complaint was a slight cold, occasioned by her desire to see the Christian physician; and when I had felt her pulse, and that of all the ladies in the room, they commented upon every part of my dress, and asked me a number of questions. Tea was then brought in. A small table, with four very short feet, supplied the place of a tea-board; the cups were about the size of walnut shells, and of the finest Chinese porcelain, and a very considerable number was drank.