round the
sides, serve to support the roof, and from the ridge-pole hangs a
bundle which we are informed contains semolina. I once saw such a
bundle suspended from a beam in a village mosque in which I had passed
the night in the guise of a pious Muslim, and, observing its dusty
condition, inquired how it came there.

"A traveller left it there about a year and a half ago, and has not
yet come for it," was the reply; to judge from which it might remain
till Doomsday--a fact which spoke well for the honesty of the country
folk in that respect at least, although I learned that they were
notorious highwaymen.

Though the roof admits daylight every few inches, the occupier remarks
that it keeps the sun and rain off fairly well, and seems to think
none the worse of it for its transparent faults. A sick woman lying in
a native hut with a thatched roof hardly in better condition than this
one, remarked when a visitor observed a big hole just above her pallet
bed--

"Oh, it's so nice in the summer time; it lets the breeze in so
delightfully!"

It was then the depth of winter, and she had had to shift her position
once or twice to avoid the rain which came through that hole. What
a lesson in making the best of things did not that ignorant invalid
teach!

Having bid the amiable water-carrier "a Dieu,"--literally as well as
figuratively--we turn towards a group of tents further up, whence a
white-robed form has been beckoning us. After the usual salutations
have been exchanged, the eager inquiry is made, "Is there a steamer
yet?"

"No; I've nothing to do with steamers--but there's sure to be one
soon."

A man who evidently disbelieves me calls out, "I've got my money for
the passage, and I'll hire a place with you, only bring the ship
quickly."

Since their arrival in Tangier they have learnt to call a steamer,
which they have never seen before,--or even the sea,--a "babor," a
corruption of the Spanish "vapor," for Arabic knows neither "v" nor
"p."

Another now comes forward to know if there is an eye-doctor in the
place, for there is a mist before his eyes, as he is well-advanced in
the decline of life. The sound of the word "doctor" brings up a few
more of the bystanders, who ask if I am one, and as I reply in the
negative, they ask who can cure their ears, legs, stomachs, and what
not. I explain where they may find an excellent doctor, who will be
glad to do all he can for them gratis--whereat they open their eye