FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96  
97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   >>  
ense length of time can overcome their habitual prejudices and constitutional inclinations. The male inhabitants of these states are obliged to attend their places of public worship four times in the course of twenty-four hours. The first prayer begins about half an hour before sun-rising, and is so regulated that they may, just as the sun rises, finish eight adorations. They pray again at noon, at sun-set, and at midnight: they are very fervent in their devotions, and always turn their faces towards the east: they fast three times in a year; the first time thirty days, the next nine, and the last seven: during these fasts they abstain from beans, garlic, and some other pulse and vegetables. They call the Almighty, _God of Gods_, and _Lord of Lords_; and they all believe that the souls of wicked men will be punished till a certain period, when they will be received to mercy. In the morning, after prayer, they drink strong tea, which they prefer to coffee. At eleven o'clock they, go to dinner, which consists of fruits, sweetmeats, and their favourite _cous-ca-sou_, piled up in a large wooden bowl. Their chief meal is after their return from evening prayer. They eat cakes made of fine wheaten flour; and as they consider it a crime to cut bread or meat of any kind after it is dressed, these cakes are made so thin that they may be easily broken with the hands; and their meat, which is generally mutton or fowls, is so prepared that they can without difficulty separate it from the bones with their fingers. They sit cross-legged upon cushions, and devour their food very greedily and without the least ceremony. Although sobriety is strictly enjoined by the Mahometan law, yet the Moorish inhabitants of the principal towns in Barbary make free with most excellent wines and spirits of their own manufacture. The revenues of the Emperor have of late augmented prodigiously. He receives a tenth part of all the property of his Mahometan subjects; and he compels every Jew residing in his dominions to pay a poll-tax of six crowns annually. The number of Israelites subject to the Emperor of Morocco exceeds one hundred thousand. They are strictly guarded, and cruelly oppressed, and are not permitted to quit the states without a special leave from the Emperor, to obtain which they are obliged to pay down a large sum of money. The authority of the Emperor is unlimited, as is that of his Governors, who possess a power of life and de
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96  
97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   >>  



Top keywords:
Emperor
 

prayer

 

inhabitants

 
strictly
 

obliged

 
states
 

Mahometan

 

ceremony

 

Although

 

greedily


Barbary

 
principal
 

enjoined

 

sobriety

 

Moorish

 

generally

 

mutton

 

prepared

 

broken

 
dressed

easily

 

difficulty

 
legged
 

cushions

 

separate

 

fingers

 

devour

 
property
 

cruelly

 
guarded

oppressed

 

permitted

 

thousand

 

hundred

 
subject
 

Israelites

 

Morocco

 
exceeds
 

special

 

possess


Governors

 
unlimited
 

obtain

 

authority

 

number

 

annually

 

augmented

 

prodigiously

 

receives

 

revenues