n up and down for months on the coasts of Spain and
Portugal, being at last driven into the Straits by almost miraculous
interposition.

What was this Moorish boat in which I went on shore? A mere long shell
of bad planks, and scarcely more ship-shape than the trunk of a tree
hollowed into a canoe, leakily put together. It was filled with dirty,
ragged, half-naked sailors, whose seamanship did not extend beyond
coming and going from vessels lying in this little port. Each of these
Mogadorian port sailors had a bit of straight pole for an oar; the way
in which they rowed was equally characteristic. Struggling against wind
and current with their Moorish rais at the helm, encouraging their
labours by crying out first one thing, then another, as his fancy
dictated, the crew repeated in chorus all he said:--"Khobsah!" (a loaf)
cried the rais.

All the men echoed "Khobsah."

"A loaf you shall have when you return!" cried the rais.

"A loaf we shall have when we return!" cried the men.

"Pull, pull; God hears and sees you!" cried the rais.

"We pull, we pull; God hears and sees us!" cried the men.

"Sweetmeats, sweetmeats, by G--; sweetmeats by G--you shall have, only
pull away!" swore the rais.

"Sweetmeats we shall have, thank God! sweetmeats we shall have, thank
God!" roared the men, all screaming and bawling. In this unique style,
after struggling three hours to get three miles over the port, we
landed, all of us completely exhausted and drowned in spray.

It is usual for Moors, particularly negroes, to sing certain choruses,
and thus encourage one another in their work. What, however, is
remarkable, these choruses are mostly on sacred subjects, being
frequently the formula of their confession, "There is no God, but one
God, and Mahomet is his Prophet," &c. These clownish tars were deeply
coloured, and some quite black. I found, in fact, the greatest part of
the Moorish population of Mogador coloured persons. We may here easily
trace the origin of the epithet "Black-a-Moor," and we are not so
surprised that Shakspeare made his Moor black; indeed, the present
Emperor, Muley Abd Errahman, is of very dark complexion, though his
features are not at all of the negro cast. But he has sons quite black,
and with negro features, who, of course, are the children of negresses.
One of these, is Governor of Rabat. In no country is the colour of the
human skin so little thought of. This is a very important matter in the
quest