feasts, and obligatory
festivals, their existence is one round of eating and drinking. These
feasts, besides, do not take place in a corner, nor are they barricaded
from public, or envious, or inquisitorial view, but are open to all,
being attended by Christians, Moors and Arabs.

These wedding-feasts are substantial things. Here is the entry in my
journal of an account of them: "A bullock was killed at the house of the
bridegroom, tea and cakes and spirits were freely, nay universally
distributed there. The company afterwards went off with the bridegroom
to the house of the bride, where another distribution of the same kind
took place, whilst half of the bullock was brought for the bride's
friends. Here the bridegroom, in true oriental style, mounted upon a
couch of damask and gold. The bride, laden with bridal ornaments of gold
and jewels, and covered with a gauze veil, was led out by the women and
placed by his side. She was then left alone to sit in state as queen of
the feast, whilst the company regaled themselves with every imaginable
luxury of eating and drinking. Her future husband now produced, as a
present for his bride, a splendid pair of jewelled ear-rings, which were
held up amidst the screaming approbation of the guests. The Jewesses
present, were weighed down under the dead weight of a profusion of
jewels and gold, tiaras of pearls, necklaces of coral and gems, armlets,
wristlets and legets of silver gold and jet, with gold and silver
braided gowns, skirts and petticoats.

This fiesta was kept up for seven days. Astonished at the profusion of
jewels worn by the various guests, I received a solution by a question I
asked, touching this mavellous circumstance. The greater part of the
jewels, worn on these occasions, are borrowed from friends and
neighbours; they must belong to some of the Jewish families, and their
quantity shews the great wealth possessed by the Jews living under this
despotic government,

I assisted at the celebration of the nuptials of a portion of the family
of the feather merchants, a rich and powerful firm established in the
south for the purchase of ostrich-feathers.

This was a wedding of great _eclat_; all the native Jewish aristocracy
of Mogador being invited to it. The festivities, beginning at noon, I
first entered the apartment where the bride was sitting in state. She
was elevated on a radiant throne of gold and crimson cushions amidst a
group of women, her hired flattere