When I set out on my travels in Moorish guise, it
was with no thought of penetrating spots so venerated
by the Moors that all non-Muslims are excluded,
Bounds" but the idea grew upon me as I journeyed, and
the Moors themselves were the cause. This is
how it came about. Having become acquainted to some
extent with the language and customs of the people during
a residence of several years among them as a European,
when I travelled— with the view of rendering myself
less conspicuous, and mixing more easily with the natives,
— I adopted their dress and followed their style of life,
making, however, no attempt to conceal my nationality.
After a while I found that when I went where I was
not known, all took me for a Moor till they heard my
speech, and recognised the foreign accent and the blunders
which no native could make. My Moorish friends would
often remark that were it not for this I could enter
mosques and saint-houses with impunity.
For convenience’ sake I had instructed the one faithful
attendant who accompanied me to call me by a
Muslim name resembling my own, and I after-
G,terre." wards added a corruption of my surname which
sounded well, and soon began to seem quite
natural. * This prevented the attention of the bystanders
being arrested when I was addressed by my man, who was
careful also always to refer to me as “ Seyyi'd,” Master,
a term which is never applied to Europeans or Jews.
Having got so far, a plan occurred to me to account
for my way of speaking. I had seen a lad from Manchester,
born there of an English mother, but
My "Role." | ' r r j , , s .
the son of a Moor, who knew not a word ol
Arabic when sent to Morocco by his father. Why could
♦ A similar practice is' of necessity followed by foreign residents in
China, who never attempt to teach thè natives their real names, but adopt
Chinese pseudonyms, by which alone they are recognized.
I not pass as such, an one, who had not y e^ P er^ cte<J
himself in the Arabic tongue? Happy thought.
not born in Europe, and educated there? Of course I was,
and here was the whole affair complete. I remember,
too that on one or two occasions I had had quite a
difficulty to persuade natives that I was not similarly
situated to this lad. On the first occasion I was taken
b y surprise, as one among a party of
the only one dressed in Moorish costume, which I thought
under those circumstances would deceive no one. When
asked whence I came, I replied “ England and was
then asked “ Is there a mosque there? I » «
that I was not aware that there was one, but that i
knew a project had been set on foot to build one near
London.* Other questions followed, as to my fanny
and what my father’s occupation was, till I was astonished
at the enquiry, “ Has your father been to Mekka yet?
“ Why, no,” I answered, as it dawned u p o n me what
had been my interrogator’s i d e a - “ he’s not a Muslim 1
“ Don’t say th a tl” said the man.
.«But we are not,” I reiterated, “ we are Christians.
It was as difficult to persuade him that I was not at
least a convert to Christianity from IsHm, as I should
have thought it would have been to persuade Prgof 0f Success.
him that I was a Muslim. Bearing this in
mind I had no doubt that by simply telling, the strict
truth’ about myself, and allowing them to draw their
own conclusions, I should generally pass for the son of
a Moorish merchant settled in England, and thus it proved.
Once, during a day’s ride in Moorish dress, I counted
the number of people saluted by the way, and was
gratified to find that although on a European saddle
* Since erected at Woking in Indian style. Quite small, but pleasingly
designed. The Liverpool “ mosque” has been exposed by the Muslrms
in England themselves.