DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0287
HOLY LAND, AND CYPRUS. 251
two or three miles of the mouth of the harbour of Valette,
when we were brought to by a row-boat from Tripoli, then
cruising against the Tunisians; and were literally obliged to
exert ourselves for defence, to prevent being boarded within
sight of the colours of the forts.
I found the four principal Moors were merchants from
Morocco, two from Fez and two from Tetuan; high minded
liberal men, whose conduct gave me a very different opinion
of the Moors of that country, from those of the Barbary
states. They had traded with Malta, Smyrna, and Cairo;
where, having disposed of their merchandise, they had pro-
ceeded to Mount Libanon to purchase silk, which they had
done to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars : they
had freighted the schooner at Beirutte; had an Arab as a
steward, a Mogadore slave as cook, and three negro boys as
servants—-and had given a passage to two Moors of Tunis.
The provisions they had laid in for the voyage were in extra-
vagant abundance, and their liberality in sharing it with the
master of the schooner, at whose table I ate, enabled him
to give me much better fare than he intended. The con-
versations I had with two of them related to some of our
customs; and their remarks showed much good sense and
observation.
Our system of bankruptcy astonished them: they were
surprised that men who failed for large sums still wore good
2 k 2
two or three miles of the mouth of the harbour of Valette,
when we were brought to by a row-boat from Tripoli, then
cruising against the Tunisians; and were literally obliged to
exert ourselves for defence, to prevent being boarded within
sight of the colours of the forts.
I found the four principal Moors were merchants from
Morocco, two from Fez and two from Tetuan; high minded
liberal men, whose conduct gave me a very different opinion
of the Moors of that country, from those of the Barbary
states. They had traded with Malta, Smyrna, and Cairo;
where, having disposed of their merchandise, they had pro-
ceeded to Mount Libanon to purchase silk, which they had
done to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars : they
had freighted the schooner at Beirutte; had an Arab as a
steward, a Mogadore slave as cook, and three negro boys as
servants—-and had given a passage to two Moors of Tunis.
The provisions they had laid in for the voyage were in extra-
vagant abundance, and their liberality in sharing it with the
master of the schooner, at whose table I ate, enabled him
to give me much better fare than he intended. The con-
versations I had with two of them related to some of our
customs; and their remarks showed much good sense and
observation.
Our system of bankruptcy astonished them: they were
surprised that men who failed for large sums still wore good
2 k 2