specting the
cultivation of land. The German and Portuguese Chief Rabbis came, and
after some conversation, Sir Moses decided to distribute personally
the money he had brought for the relief of the sufferers by the
earthquake, according to the number of souls. A Spanish dollar was
given to every man, woman, and child over thirteen, while two dollars
were given to the blind, and no distinction was made between
Portuguese and German. The money sent from London soon after the
earthquake had been distributed by the Portuguese, who gave the
greatest part to those learned in our Holy Law, leaving but little for
all the other sufferers, which Sir Moses considered unjust. The
spiritual head of the German congregation, the Rev. A. Dob, said that
the money was divided amongst their congregation according to the
amount of loss sustained by each individual. Nor did the German
committee ever retain one penny more for themselves than for the other
members of the congregation. "This," said Sir Moses, "appears to me
the most honest way of acting."

The Portuguese gentlemen, however, in justification of their own
course of action in this matter, explained that those who are engaged
in imparting religious instruction to the community, taking charge of
all their institutions, devoting their time to the interest of the
rising generation, having no business or occupation that would
adequately secure their maintenance, ought naturally to have some
additional share in the offerings of their wealthier brethren abroad,
offerings intended not only for the relief of distress, but also for
the preservation of a religious community. The same, they said, would
be done in Europe, where the teachers in schools and colleges, or the
managers of communal institutions, happen to be without income or
salary for their maintenance.

Sir Moses having inspected the new buildings, regretted to find that
most of them were but poor miserable hovels, built over the ruins of
the old ones, high up the hill, close to the edge of the mountain, so
that the slightest shock of earthquake would bury the inhabitants one
above the other without hope of escape. The houses were built on the
side of the mountain, row above row. On inquiring the reason of this,
he was informed that by building over the old houses they were saved
the expense of making excavations, these being already there; they had
no fear of earthquakes, all they dreaded being the Mooslemin
inhabitants and