第235章

Half way up the hill are seen four white walls, inclosing a spot about ten feet square, where rest the bones of Sidi Mokhfidh, a saint of celebrity, who died some fifteen years ago.Here terminates the soc; the remainder of the hill is called El Kawar, or the place of graves, being the common burying ground of Tangier; the resting places of the dead are severally distinguished by a few stones arranged so as to form an oblong circle.Near Mokhfidh sleeps Sidi Gali; but the principal saint of Tangier lies interred on the top of the hill, in the centre of a small plain.A beautiful chapel or mosque, with vaulted roof, is erected there in his honour, which is in general adorned with banners of various dyes.The name of this saint is Mohammed el Hadge, and his memory is held in the utmost veneration in Tangier and its vicinity.His death occurred at the commencement of the present century.

These details I either gathered at the time or on subsequent occasions.On the north side of the soc, close by the town, is a wall with a gate."Come," said the old Mahasni, giving a flourish with his hand; "Come, and I will show you the garden of a Nazarene consul." I followed him through the gate, and found myself in a spacious garden laid out in the European taste, and planted with lemon and pear trees, and various kinds of aromatic shrubs.It was, however, evident that the owner chiefly prided himself on his flowers, of which there were numerous beds.There was a handsome summerhouse, and art seemed to have exhausted itself in making the place complete.

One thing was wanting, and its absence was strangely remarkable in a garden at this time of the year; scarcely a leaf was to be seen.The direst of all the plagues which devastated Egypt was now busy in this part of Africa - the locust was at work, and in no place more fiercely than in the particular spot where I was now standing.All around looked blasted.The trees were brown and bald as in winter.Nothing green save the fruits, especially the grapes, huge clusters of which were depending from the "parras"; for the locust touches not the fruit whilst a single leaf remains to be devoured.As we passed along the walks these horrible insects flew against us in every direction, and perished by hundreds beneath our feet."See the ayanas," said the old Mahasni, "and hear them eating.Powerful is the ayana, more powerful than the sultan or the consul.Should the sultan send all his Mahasniah against the ayana, should he send me with them, the ayana would say, `Ha! ha!' Powerful is the ayana! He fears not the consul.A few weeks ago the consul said, `I am stronger than the ayana, and I will extirpate him from the land.' So he shouted through the city, `O Tangerines! speed forth to fight the ayana, - destroy him in the egg; for know that whosoever shall bring me one pound weight of the eggs of the ayana, unto him will I give five reals of Spain; there shall be no ayanas this year.' So all Tangier rushed forth to fight the ayana, and to collect the eggs which the ayana had laid to hatch beneath the sand on the sides of the hills, and in the roads, and in the plains.And my own child, who is seven years old, went forth to fight the ayana, and he alone collected eggs to the weight of five pounds, eggs which the ayana had placed beneath the sand, and he carried them to the consul, and the consul paid the price.And hundreds carried eggs to the consul, more or less, and the consul paid them the price, and in less than three days the treasure chest of the consul was exhausted.And then he cried, `Desist, O Tangerines! perhaps we have destroyed the ayana, perhaps we have destroyed them all.' Ha! ha! Look around you, and beneath you, and above you, and tell me whether the consul has destroyed the ayana.

Oh, powerful is the ayana! More powerful than the consul, more powerful than the sultan and all his armies."It will be as well to observe here, that within a week from this time all the locusts had disappeared, no one knew how, only a few stragglers remained.But for this providential deliverance, the fields and gardens in the vicinity of Tangier would have been totally devastated.These insects were of an immense size, and of a loathly aspect.