DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0289
HOLT LAND, AND CYPRUS. 253
would take the dress of a Moor, and conform entirely to the
manners of the East.
With regard to their religion, though hatred to Christians
was mixed with it, not unlikely from the memory of the
persecutions of the Spaniards; yet their adherence to cere-
monies, and the solemnity with which they performed them,
could not but impress me with an idea of their sincerity. The
pains they took with their slaves evinced a feeling for their
condition which Europeans would do well to copy. The
Mogadore slave had grown up in the family of his master,
had been taught to read and write, and was always treated
with kindness. He seemed to obey willingly. The lessons
of his youth influenced him in manhood. His daily prayers
were never omitted : when the work of the day was finished,
I generally observed him apply to a book for amusement,
either the Koran or some comment on it; and on Fridays,
the sabbath of the Mahometans, he never failed to employ
a great portion of the day in the same way.
The negro boys were equally attended to; their masters
taught them to read, to repeat long prayers, and the cere-
monies of their religion. This they did as a thing of course,
and part of their duty as masters. The youngest boy, a
child of not more than six or seven years of age, surprised
me by repeating, with very little help, prayers and passages
of the Koran for at least an hour at a time.
would take the dress of a Moor, and conform entirely to the
manners of the East.
With regard to their religion, though hatred to Christians
was mixed with it, not unlikely from the memory of the
persecutions of the Spaniards; yet their adherence to cere-
monies, and the solemnity with which they performed them,
could not but impress me with an idea of their sincerity. The
pains they took with their slaves evinced a feeling for their
condition which Europeans would do well to copy. The
Mogadore slave had grown up in the family of his master,
had been taught to read and write, and was always treated
with kindness. He seemed to obey willingly. The lessons
of his youth influenced him in manhood. His daily prayers
were never omitted : when the work of the day was finished,
I generally observed him apply to a book for amusement,
either the Koran or some comment on it; and on Fridays,
the sabbath of the Mahometans, he never failed to employ
a great portion of the day in the same way.
The negro boys were equally attended to; their masters
taught them to read, to repeat long prayers, and the cere-
monies of their religion. This they did as a thing of course,
and part of their duty as masters. The youngest boy, a
child of not more than six or seven years of age, surprised
me by repeating, with very little help, prayers and passages
of the Koran for at least an hour at a time.