eal or assumed insanity--for to be mad in Barbary is to have one's
thoughts so occupied with things of heaven as to have no time left
for things of earth,--and often they are written by ordinary public
scribes, or schoolmasters, for among the Moors reading and religion
are almost synonymous terms. There are, however, a few professional
gentlemen who dispense these writings among their drugs. Such alone of
all their quacks aspire to the title of "doctor." Most of these spend
their time wandering about the country from fair to fair, setting up
their tents wherever there are patients to be found in sufficient
numbers.

Attired as natives, let us visit one. Arrived at the tent door, we
salute the learned occupant with the prescribed "Salam oo alaikum"
("To you be peace"), to which, on noting our superior costumes, he
replies with a volley of complimentary inquiries and welcomes. These
we acknowledge with dignity, and with as sedate an air as possible.
We leisurely seat ourselves on the ground in orthodox style, like
tailors. As it would not be good form to mention our business at once,
we defer professional consultation till we have inquired successfully
after his health, his travels, and the latest news at home and from
abroad. In the course of conversation he gives us to understand that
he is one of the Sultan's uncles, which is by no means impossible in a
country where it has not been an unknown thing for an imperial father
to lose count of his numerous progeny.

Feeling at last that we have broken the ice, we turn the conversation
to the subject of our supposed ailments. My own complaint is a general
internal disorder resulting in occasional feverishness, griping pains,
and loss of sleep. After asking a number of really sensible questions,
such as would seem to place him above the ordinary rank of native
practitioners, he gravely announces that he has "the very thing" in
the form of a powder, which, from its high virtues, and the exceeding
number of its ingredients, some of them costly, is rather expensive.
We remember the deference with which our costumes were noted, and
understand. But, after all, the price of a supply is announced to be
only seven-pence halfpenny. The contents of some of the canisters he
shows us include respectively, according to his account, from twenty
to fifty drugs. For our own part, we strongly suspect that all are
spices to be procured from any Moorish grocer.

Together with the prescriptio