MUSK
HASHISH AND BLOOD
BY
HECTOR FRANCE
WITH TWENTY-TWO ETCHINGS
LONDON AND PARIS
PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
MDCCCC
F/f
INSCRIBED TO
EDMOND LEPELLETIER,
Who in the Reveil first gave a hearty wel-
come to these recollections of my life as a sol-
dier in Africa, and by whose advice I first
undertook the task of putting them in shape.
The credit for them, if credit there is any,
belongs therefore to him, who has also worn
as a volunteer the honourable garb of a soldier,
that fools and cowards try, and always have
tried, to turn into ridicule. For this cause I put
his name on the book ; and would crave leave
once more to repeat to him, as to all, the
words of Blaise de Montluc : Now I pray
you, knights and captains, which shall do me
the honour for to read my book, bring not any
ill intent to the perusal thereof; believe me
that I have told the truth, without filching
VI INSCRIBED TO EDMOND LEPELLETIER
away the honour of other men. And I know
right well some there will be that shall put my
writing to the essay to see if I have put forth
any lie ; them I do assure that I have left unsaid
manifold details the which I should have
given, for that I have never writ aught before,
nor studied the making of books I beg of
you, good knights, if my book do fall into
your hands, to make discreet judgement whe-
ther what I say be true or false, for that you
yourselves have seen some part of the deeds
therein writ... Many are alive which have been
my companions in arms, and many more-
over which have marched under me, all of
whom maybe faithful witnesses of those things
I have said .
H. F.
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
The Tales here brought together in one Volume
are in no sense a work of fancy pure and simple;
imagination has played quite a secondary part in
their evolution. They are rather what in French
we call pages vecues ; and indeed for ten long
years the Author actually lived them, when
wrapped in the scarlet burnouse of a Spahi,
he shared in many a wild foray and desert bivouac
on the Algerian frontiers.
Away yonder, altogether outside our civili-
zation, he spent the best years of his youth, far
from towns, and railways, and steam engines, and
factory chimneys, all those marvels of modern
Invention for which he must own he feels but a
very qualified admiration. He firmly believes with
Theophile Gautier, that there is not one of them
that has added one straw to the happiness of the
human race.
X FOREWORD
The Arab lives content beneath his tent of skins,
satisfied with his hunch of date-cake and the mess
of couscous his wives make ready for him, with
the milk of his goats and fresh water from the
well^ and rejects with well-grounded contempt
the interested offers of the Mercantis (European
traders), who would fain inoculate him with the
artificial requirements and expensive vices of the
Foreigner.
What is the luxury of our Palaces to him, when
a blanket and a straw mat are all he needs for a
couch and his horse's saddle serves him as a pillow,
as he falls asleep and dreams of the unknown
worlds that glitter above his head in the infinite
depths of the heavens?
After years of this ampler life, spent face to
face with the vast infinitude of the open desert, a
man feels ill at ease amid the stifling, cramped
conditions of our European cities. Thoughts of
the days that are no more arise, bringing to
mind the Poet's words :
Que vous ai-je done fait, 6 mes jeunes ann6es !
Pour m' avoir fui si vite et vous tre tloigntes
Me croyant satis fait ?
FOREWORD XI
Helas ! pour revenir m 1 apparattre si belles,
Quand vous ne pouvez plus me prendre sur vos ailes,
Qu'ai-je done fait 1 ?
(VICTOR HUGO, Let feuilles d'automne.)
For it was not, as might seem, beneath the dark-
blue sky of sunny Algeria, but amid the dismal,
smoky London fogs, that these pages were written,
in days when the Author had hungup beside
his work-table the cavalry sabre he is never, alas!
to wield again.
A soldier's duties, / am speaking of a soldier
on service, occupy his time much too fully to
allow him at the end of the hot, tiring day s work
to find the leisure and quiet needful for one who
would woo the Muses' favour. A man's one desire
then is to stretch his aching limbs beside the
camp-fire, to snatch a brief repose before the
reveillee sounds at daybreak to rouse him to another
1 . (0 years of youth! what have I done,
That you should fly so swift, and glide
So far ? Ye thought me satisfied,
And life and love but scarce begun !
Nay ! my full course is not half run ;
O cruel years! Can nothing bring,
Bring back lost days your hasting wing
Has borne away? What have I done?)
XII FOREWORD
day of hard riding and adventure. It is scarce pos-
sible adequately to fill two rdles at one and the
same time. Mars is much taken up with Venus', he
is within his rights to neglect Apollo. An ill-assor-
ted pair, the helmed god of War and he of the
golden bays ; and I can understand now a thing
that made me wonder once, how the soldier whom
the tarantula of literature torments is looked at
askance by his superiors. A good officer should not
be busy trimming his pen, but seeing to the welfare
of his men. Time enough to turn his thoughts to
the Muses, when the bugle has sounded the retreat
for good and all, and his fighting days are finished.
So these pictures are no mere impressionist sket-
ches drawn on the spot. They were written down
after the event, in cold blood. Then the mind is
more impartial than it can ever be when subject
to the direct, but at the same time fleeting, influence
of the moment.
So I have described things, not as they ought to
be, but as they are, as I saw them, and this
after due reflexion has ripened and matured my
judgement.
A few of the following pages I admit, may pos-
sibly shock some prudish souls always ready to be
FOREWORD XHI
shocked; and I hereby declare at once that my
book is not written for perusal in young ladies'
seminaries. But is Literature, I ask, to be confined
within the narrow limits of what young ladies may
with propriety hear and see ? I am aware there is a
school of mock-modest pedants that would have it
so; but the future of a Nation's Literature must
outweigh their scruples!
To others, less narrow-minded than these last,
but whom certain pictures I have drawn might per-
haps offend, I say : Remember this, the great
world, mankind at large, cannot be judged by the
standard of the familiar folk of everyday whose
whole life is passed within view of the steeple of
their Parish Church. It is ridiculous to suppose
you are the sole possessors of true Religion, or of
the only true Morality ; both Religion and Mora-
lity alter with the degrees of latitude. Each People
has its own customs, its own point of view; the
very thing we most admire at home seems a gro-
tesque absurdity to our neighbour living abroad
under another sky .
HECTOR FRANCE.
CONTENTS
PAGES
CHAPTER I. Murder ! 1
II. A Good Judge 19
III. A Short way with the Kroumirs. . 35
IV. The Patriarch 63
V. Stolen, a Hen ! 73
VI. A Living Death VHead 113
VII. The Biskri's Daughter 139
VIII. Short Commons 177
IX. Merzoug and his Equivalent 198
X. The Emperor's Birthday 245
XI. The Bridal of Little Zairah 269
XII. In Hashish-Land 285
XIII. Arab Hospitality 313
XIV. Militia under Arms 327
XV. A Moonlight Scene 355
XVI. The Complaisant Husband 369
XVII. Secrets of the Desert 381
XVIII. My First Lion 395
XIV. A Shrove-tide Interlude 427
XX. Notes.. 441
MUSK
HASHISH AND BLOOD
Would God we soldiers that do bear arms had
more taken upon us this custom of writing down
things the which we see and do. Methinks the
task were better acquitted by our own proper
hand, I mean in matter of war, than by men
of letters ; for that these disguise the things over-
much, and the whole doth overmuch smack of the
learned clerk.
BLAISE DE MONTLUG
Rights of Reproduction reserved.
t fc
MURDER ! "
44 MURDER !
It was white and smooth, giving somewhat
to the touch, soft and sweet to look at and of
line satiny texture, a young, healthy woman's
belly.
4 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Still I could not take oath to any of these qual-
ities ; for to tell the truth, I paid very little
attention to them. What I do remember exactly
is the knife, for I kept it for years after, hung at
my saddle-bow. A sound, strong blade, a good half-
inch broad and ten inches long, tapering to a
point with something of a curve towards the
extremity. The haft was of heart of oak, carved
with quaint arabesques, the handiwork of some
camel-driver of Flissa, an artistic genius without
knowing it.
I perfectly remember how I hesitated a minute,
then shut my eyes tight, and then... something
spurted up in my face and stung like a jet of scald-
ing water.
I can even now see the gaping hole and the
dripping blade. At the moment I seemed to feel
an Arctic wind laden with frosty ice-needles lash-
ing my head.
It was my hair that started up on end in a spasm
of horror ! First attempt of a prentice hand.; so
perhaps some little emotion was excusable. I was
barely twenty at the time.
But the thing that horrified me above all
was this. Gleaming through the faint, broken
light that brooded over the woman's form, I
caught sight of an eye fixed on me with a ghastly,
stony glare !
I must put an end to this at any cost ; and I
struck a second blow. In vain ! the glassy eye was
still upon me with the unpitying tenacity of some
demon of Remorse gazing sternly in from the land
of shadows through the casement of the other
world.
44 Curse you! you shall not stare at me! "I
cried ; and for the third time I plunged my knife
in.
In my youth and inexperience I was unaware
of the fact that the victims of murder always
depart this life with open eyes, as if loath to lose
from their ken the sights of everyday. Only a
touch of the finger was needed to close the eye for
ever ; but I did not know this, and went on savage-
ly dealing blow on blow.
I hacked and hacked ; and as I hacked at the
6 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
torn and bleeding flesh, a crowd of phantom
images passed in procession before my mind's
eye, a thronging host of memories.
I thought of those heroes of Antiquity, whose
doughty dagger-thrusts we are taught at school to
admire, or the reverse, acording as the cause
they served squares with the official creed of the
period or no ; of intrepid hosts, storming the breach
and gallantly giving to the sword every living soul
that comes in their way in all the panic-maddened
city, from the infant at its mother's breast to the
hoary Senator in his Gurule chair ; of pious Gap-
tains offering up to the God of Battles the unholy
blood of Unbelievers of either sex and every age,
wallowing in gore to their horses' girths.
I thought of the bloody deeds our fathers and
brothers are doing in war, and of those our sons
will do ; of all the mighty dramas of human carn-
age, some committed in the name of God, others
in the name of Emperors and Kings, others again
in the name of the Sovereign People, and yet
others, the latest of all, in the sacred name of
good government and Civilization.
And, after all these murderers famous or obscure,
my blood-stained knife grasped in my fist over a
1 MURDER! t
dead woman seemed a poor, pitiful thing, and I
felt small indeed.
u Still! it is not my fault, " I kept saying- over
and over again to myself, l ' that I have only one
belly to knife. My chiefs told me, " kill ", and I
have killed ; I have done my best. Now ! more,
more ! tell me to kill again, again !
And brandishing my flissa 1 that dripped gouts of
red dew, mad and murderous, I sprang to my
feet.
u You did wrong to give him hashish, 2 " whis-
pered a woman's voice; " his brain is torn with
delirium. "
1. Flissa, a weapon whose name is derived from a
small town in Algeria where they are made. It is slightly
bent with a very narrow blade-end, and forms rather an
elegant arm. The handle of the flissa is generally incrust-
ed with ivory, coral, silver, etc., and the blade engraved.
The common ones have a curved wooden handle. The
blade is usually very sharp and could easily slice off an
opponent's head. The size of this weapon ranges from the
pocket-knife to the coupe-tele, but the word, flissa is, we
believe, only employed in Algiers.
2. The use of this plant, practically unknown in Europe,
established itself according to the Arabian historian
Makrizi (born in Cairo about 1360 and dead in 1442), first
8 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
u Pshaw ! " returned the other ; " I know how
to get it out of his head again. "
I became conscious of a penetrating smell of
of all in India whence it spread throughout Persia Egypt,
Syria, and other Eastern lands. In Algeria hashish takes
the rank of the opium that exercises such a fascination
over the present day Indians and Chinese. But this pro-
duct of Asia Minor, according to D r Bertherand (Medecine
et hygiene des Arabes] does not give rise to sufficiently
agreeable sensations to please the sons of the desert. On
the contrary the Bed'awin poets extol the praises of the
fagir's or poor man's, herb, hashishat-alrfouqara so-called
because " a pin's point will cause him to lift up his head
proudly above that of princes".
This is no exaggeration. The grains and leaves of hashish
cooked and made up into pastilles, to which a little
sesame and sugar should be added, are considerably
sought after by common-folk; a very strong liquor may
also be made, capable of producing delirium and driving
the drinker to "exceeding great" excesses. Makrizi, after
quoting the poets on the virtues and exhilarating effects
of this drug and reviewing a book wherein its efficacy is
discussed, piouslv says "May God have compassion on him"
this is what our author arrives at. Let us leave these
paths where men go astray, for the truth is, nothing can be
more injurious to the health than this plant". Vide Sil-
vestre de Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe, pages 210 to 222,
d 8t vol. 2 nd edit. Parts, 1826). It is said that the word assas-
sin comes from this word through hashashin, a name given
in the Crusader's time to a band of murderers who distin-
guished themselves as Consumers of hashish in addition to
the throat-cutting trade;
MURDER !
musk, and felt something soft touching- my lips
lightly. Two hands were laid caressingly on my
brow, and the same gentle voice challenged me :
u Gome, Roumi! 1 awake. La! la! la! la! awake
I say... "
And I awoke, my lips nestling between
Meryem's breasts.
She stood aside and looked at me with smiling
eyes. Meanwhile Fathma, her elder sister, lifted a
corner of the tent and showed me the plain flooded
with morning sunlight.
The sun ! the glorious sun ! The mists of my
sinister nightmare fled away before his bright
beams. My bosom swelled, and a flood of ineffable
content passed over me, as I turned my delighted
eyes on the fair daughter of the Ouled-Nayl 2 .
1. Roumi or ouroumiliterally, a Roman, is a name given
by Arabs to designate Europeans of Christian origin. For
instance the great sepulchre of the Mauritanian kings west
of Algiers, known as the Tombeau de la Chr6tienne, is in
Arabic Kabr ar-Romia (Masc. Roumi, fern. Roumia).
2. As Algeria is not yet a British Colony and does not
show any signs of rapid anglicisation, English readers
Musk hashish and blood 2
iO MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
But to my dismay I saw her stoop, pick up my
flissa that was lying by the bed of goatskins and
may be excused if ignorant of the character of these charm-
ing dames. The Walad Nayl, also spelt oueled, ouled,
oulid, ould, oulyd, plural, ouldd, is a people that have
excited to no small extent the curiosity of the Anthropolog-
ist. In London and Paris it is considered incorrect for
women to prostitute themselves either before or after
marriage. Far more reprehensible is it for a man to profit
by money thus earned. The Walad Nayl have a different way
of regarding these things. There the more money a woman
gains by the sale of her body, the greater are her chances
of marriage and the greater the love of her husband.
Strange to say these women are said to live a chaste life
when once they are married, however shameless and
abandoned they may have been when plying their trade
of fornication. That widely-read Teuton Dr Ploss says :
" Exactly as it formerly was among the Lydian girls,
so is it to-day in the Algerian tribe of the Ouled Nail. The
ancient author, Valerius Maximus, lays stress upon the
immorality of the worship of Venus, which the inhabit-
ants of the country, described as Sicca Veneria, practis-
ed. According to him, even women of good family from
all parts of the Province used to flock thither, in order by
the prostitution of their body to earn a sufficient dowry to
bring to their future husband, and in such manner to
employ the most shameful of trades for an honourable
purpose. The ancient town of Sicca lay in that district,
now known under the name of Goff, or Keff. It is here that
at present are settled the Uled Nail; Paul Caffarel, our
talented friend, speaking of them, says that they form the
most important Arab tribe of the Sahara, and relates of
them" (P. Caffarel. Algtrie, Histoire, etc. Paris, 1883) :
" MURDER! ' H
examine it with care. Then with the tip of her lit-
" The Ouled-Na'il are the most considerable of these
tribes. They are divided into two great fractions, accord-
ing to their position, the Cheraga in the East and
Reraba in the West. They are, he considers, industrious
and apt for trade, good and hospitable, but of very dissol-
ute habits. Their daughters, much famed for their beauty,
enjoy the sorry privilege of being sacrificed, from their
early youth, to the mercenary Venus. Prostitution in that
tribe is a positive institution. Each young girl, before get-
ting married, goes, in the company of her mother or of
an elder sister, to abandon herself to the caresses of the
public. After having exercised this trade for a longer or
shorter time, they return to the tribe, purchase a flock, and
are the more sure to find a husband in proportion as the
sum they have amassed is the more respectable. These
Algerian courtesans are also in high repute as dancers ".
Von Maltzan, an observant German traveller, has also
visited this tribe and relates of it as follows. (V. Maltzan,
Drei Jahre im Nordwesten von Afrika. Leipzig, 1865) :
" This ancient feature of Numidian customs still exists at
present in the tribes of the Sahara. The girls of the Ouled
Na'il tribe, called Naylya, and also some from other tribes,
are in the habit of repairing in great numbers to the towns
of the Oases, much frequented by nomads and strangers,
for the purpose of remaining there several years to prac-
tise the trade of an Alma (originally dancer), until they
have earned sufficient money to return home a well-to do
woman to find a respectable husband; in which they
almost invariably succeed, for the men of the desert
are jealous only of the present life, but not of the ante-
cedents of their wives". Von Maltzan was personally
acquainted with highly respected Algerian chiefs, wearing
French decorations, who were not in the least ashamed
12 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
tie henna-dyed, thumb ! , she tried its edge and the
keenness of the point. My eyes followed her move-
ments, and once more I felt the hooked talons of
my evil dreams tearing at my heart. The blade
was red.
" There is blood on it, " I exclaimed.
" Yes ! " she answered calmly, " whoever used
it last forgot to wipe it.
She took a woollen rag and passed it slowly
along the blade , leaving a great red stain on the
stuff.
'* My God! it is true then, " I screamed in hor-
ror, " Look, the belly ! the belly I knifed ! "
For at that moment my eyes fell on a heap of
blood-stained remains lying in a corner a few steps
away.
" True! What is true?" Meryem asked, fol-
lowing the direction of my gaze. " Oh ! no ! it's not
to marry such a prostitute in order to obtain with her the
money she had earned in so disreputable a manner.
1. Henna in French henn, is the plant lawsonia inermis
and is much used by the ladies in Asia and Africa for
dyeing the nails. They take the dried leaves and reduce
them to powder. It is with this preparation that they
obtain that yellowish aspect of the finger and toe nails,
which by them it is the custom to regard as beautiful.
" MURDER! ' 13
the belly. It's the sheep's head and the hide. We
gave the belly to the dogs. "
Then I remembered how Fathma had had a
sheep killed the day before, and that I had offer-
ed my flissa for the sacrifice !
After a Homeric banquet, gorged with meat and
couscous 1 and intoxicated with love, I had lain
1. Couscous, sometimes kouskous, derives from kaskas,
Arabic verb to crush (Aroyer), break up into small pieces.
This name is given to a farinaceous dish, the component
parts being of the size of small peas cooked in steam. The
northern Arabs, and their neighbours the Berbers, are
inordinately fond of this food, the latter calling it souksou
and it appears to be exactly the same says Pihan (Diet,
ttymologique des mots /ran? ais dtrivts de I Arabe, du Per-
san, etc., Paris, J866), as what the French used to call cos-
cos&ons, a word that is to be found in honest old Rabel-
ais. Compare the Portuguese cuscuz, and the Spanish
alcuzcuz.
Baron Baude thought "couscous better than English pud-
dings, and a good addition to European cookery books. It
forms the bread, soup, bouilli and dessert of the Arab. It is
made of wheal bruised by the women in hand-mills, and
then thrown into a great vessel shaped like a kettle-drum,
a little oil being mixed with it, till it forms lumps of the
size of millet grain ; after which it is boiled over steam and
mixed with milk, broth, butter, etc."
44 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
down, my head resting on Meryem's lap. Then she
had amused herself by making me take puffs at
her little red chibouk 4 , the bowl of which was
loaded with hashish. I was infinitely enjoying the
sensation of feeling my thoughts slipping, slipping,
away from me and vanishing amid the little blue
clouds of smoke, when my eyes lighted on the
head and hide of the poor sheep we had been feast-
ing on thrown down in one corner of the tent.
By the light of the dying embers, the hide, turn-
ed inside out as it was, had a strange, uncanny
likeness to the belly of a human being.
Half asleep, half awake, in that comatose state
in which half-formed hallucinations abound and
phantoms hover, the brain oppressed with excess
of food, my consciousness presented just the back-
ground on which hashish projects visions of blood
and horror, when the uninitiated trespass on its
1. Chibouk or Chibouque is a Turkish word really signi-
fying a cane or baguette, but generally means the Ottoman
pipe with a long stem of cherry or jasmin wood. It is very
common in the East, but should not be confounded with
the Persian pipe, which is called the narguileh.
2. This is no overstrained description of the influence
of this potent drug. Its effect differs in men according to
" MURDER! ' 15
I forced myself to laugh at my terrors, but the
laugh froze on my lips at the recollection of my
whole conscious being, my every thought, thus
fouled with blood. Long afterwads in fact I was
still horrified when I thought of the sinister frenzy
that had seized me, and the fierce delight I had
experienced as I plunged, in my nightmare vision,
my murderous knife into the woman's gashed and
gaping belly.
In vain I tried to think what could have called
up the horrid vision ; for I did not then under-
stand how a man's surroundings give their colour
to his thoughts, and how with the very air he
breathes, he draws in vicious ideas and foolish
imaginings.
And so but few fulfil their original destiny ; and
temperament. I had a friend, an English colonel, who from
a long residence in the East, became rather addicted to
the use of this plant and he told me that it caused him
considerable local irritation sometimes rising to a sort of
priapism, and also to frequent impulse to urinate. Hashish
is of course, a positive aphrodisiac, the length of the vene-
real act being at once reinforced and repeated. Perhaps
this is the reason why opium and hashish are so great
favorites with the Oriental, and the part the former plays
in Chinese brothels and lupanars is well-known to the tra-
veller.
16 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
man, a straw blown about by the wind of circum-
stance, is the sport of the thousand and one
caprices of Chance.
"Blood, Musk and Hashish", that is to say,
War, Love and Dreamland! Amid these heady
fumes beats yet, in the wilds of our French possess-
ions in Algeria, the great heart of a People that
our European civilization stifles, a People that
is vanishing away little by little, dying out with
all its wild, fierce vices and its incomparable
grandeur.
These folk I would fain paint, such as I have
seen them and known them for ten long years.
I have elbowed my way among them, I have lain
and dreamed on the same couch, I have spoken the
same language,' clad in their native burnouse,
eating from their platter of wood, riding their
horses, loving their daughters, in one word
living their life, under the tent of the
Bedawin, the house of the Hadar *, the gourbi
i. Hadar derived from hadhar (verb) Arabice to reside in
a town as opposed to leading a nomadic life ; consequently
a town-dweller, an inhabitant of cities, a citizen, the coun-
ter part of beydawi or bedawi, which the French have
transmogrified into bedouin.
" MURDER! ' 17
(hovel) of the Khabyle *, on the mountain as
1. Also spelt Kabile from the arable qabaili, from qabail,
plural of qabeelat, tribe, family people. This name is given
to the numerous independent tribes inhabiting the neigh-
bourhood of the Atlas mountains. These Kabiles, the origi-
nal race of VAfrique seplentrionale must not be confound-
ed with the Bedawin, or Arabs of the wastes, nor with
the Moors, Numidians, or Berbers whom one meets above
all in the towns. The difference between the Arab and the
the Khabyle is enormous according to General Daumas
(Mceurs et coulumes de VAlg&rie. Paris, 1858). The Arab
has black hair and eyes. Many of the Khabyles have blue
eyes and red hair; their skin is generally whiter than that
of the Arab. The Arab's face is oval and his neck long,
the Khabyle, on the contrary, has the face square, and his
head is closer to his shoulders. The Arab must never
pass a razor over his face. Whereas the Khabyle shaves
until he attains the age of five and twenty ; at this age, he
has come to man's estate and allows his beard to grow.
This is the outward sign of acquired judgment, of matured
reason. The Arab keeps his head covered in all seasons,
and when he can, he walks with his feet shod. The Khabyle,
in summer as in winter, in snow or sunshine, always
goes with head and feet bare. If by chance one of them
is met with shoes on his feet, it is accidentally, and simply
the raw skin of a beast just killed. Those who live in the
neighbourhood of the plains sometimes sport the chachia
(the Turkish Fez). The only garment of the Khabyle is the
chelouhha, a sort of woollen shirt falling down below the
knees, which costs from seven to eight francs ; he protects
hie legs with knitted woollen gaiters without feet, which
are called bougherons. When going to work, he puts on a
vast leathern apron like* that worn by our regimental sap-
pers. He wears the Burnouse when his means permit him
Mask hashish and blood 3
18
MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
on the plain, and oftener still beneath the starry
vault of heaven.
to do so, and he then keeps it indefinitely without in the
least caring for its rents or its stains ; he inherited it from
his father, and he will leave it to his son. The Arab lives
under the tent ; he is a nomad on a limited territory. The
Khabyle inhabits a house ; he is bound to the soil. The Arab
covers himself with talismans ; he attaches some to the
necks of his horses and of his sleuthhounds, to preserve
them from the evil eye, from disease, or from death. He sees
everywhere the effects of sorcery. The Khabyle does not
believe in the evil eye and but very little in amulets.
"What is written by Allah", he says, "must come to pass ;
nothing can prevent it". Nevertheless, he grants to cer-
tain old women the power to influence domestic or love
affairs ; he admits of the existence of charms to induce
love, to excite hatred against a rival, or to obtain the
divorce of a woman whom one desires.
II
A GOOD JUDGE
II
A GOOD JUDGE
The hour of high market, and the great Square
of the Caravanserail is full of a motley crowd.
Bronzed, wild-eyed Bedawins, with patched bur-
nouses; white-faced Koulouglis i clad in sumptuous
1. " Koulougli " derives from the Turkish Koul slave;
and, oughli, sons, the offspring of Turks and Moorish
women; they are considered as an inferior caste.
This race possesses many of the qualities of the Janissar-
ies, and is separated from the natives by manners, and by
the use of the Turkish language, which they speak almost
universally. They answer excellently well as mediators and
channels of communication between the French and the
Arabs and Khabyles.
They are generally very handsome men, having regular
features, well-shaped eyes, a fair and smooth skin, strong-
ly developed muscles, and a certain embonpoint, proceed-
ing doubtless, from their mothers. The marriage of Europ-
ean with African blood can be detected in their appear-
ance ; for they have the nonchalance and haughtiness of
the Turks, blended with the lymphatic temperament of the
Morish women, especially the girls, who are also inva-
riably brought up like their mothers. Their costume is
the same as that of the Moors and Turks ; but they pride
22 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
robes ; short-frocked Khabyles and squalid looking
Biskris; filthy fawning Jews, stolid Negroes,
themselves on extreme cleanliness, and even a kind of
coquetry in their dress, which is not unbecoming their cha-
racter, and recalls the Asiatic tchelebis, Persian for gentle-
man, or dandy. Almost all rich enough to do nothing, they
follow no profession, scarcely taking the trouble to work,
and remain for days plunged in apathy, whilst their slaves
cultivate their gardens, and receive chastisement if they
are not satisfied with their work. The young men study
attitudes in walking, to display the beauty of their figure.
The Koulouglis are distinguished above all the races in
Algeria for excessive vanity and profound ignorance. In the
social machinery, before 1830, they were confounded
with the Moors, and had no right to the privileges of their
sires; yet they seldom had cause to fear any persecution
from the Janissaries, because of the affinity existing be-
tween them. They were only required to take up arms in
time of war; and their pacific character has impeded the
just appreciation of their natural valour.
The Koulouglis profess the Mussulman religion, in which
they are brought up; but their faith is characterised by
the same indifference which they display in all the acts of
life. They are not superstitious, and only attend to the
forms of religion to show they believe in God. Exceeding
the Turks in apathy, they do not make it a point of con-
science to attend the mosques. Whilst on this subject, we
must not forget to state that the Turks and Koulouglis,
who are Sunnites, or orthodox Mahometans, observe the
rite of Hanesi ; whilst the Arabs and Berbers are. Malek-
ites. The Turkish tongue was only used in the odjak of the
Janissaries and amongst the Koulouglis, and was employed
for all official acts.
A GOOD JUDGE 23
Caids and beggars, Mercantis, Colonists and sol-
diers, Moorish women closely veiled, Jewesses
with no veils at all, half-naked Negresses, are
elbowing and pushing, trafficking and idling, in
the middle of donkeys and mules, high-stepping
thoroughbreds and resting camels. In the brilliant
sunshine lie higgledy-piggledy heaps of watei>
melons, pomegranates, oranges, dates, onions,
Barbary figs, bowls of sour milk, horse-trap-
pings embroidered in gold, broken down pack-
saddles, rusty bits, stirrups of damascened steel,
girdles and silken stuffs, weapons, loaves of
bread, anklets, bracelets and earrings, oil-frit-
ters, strings of sheep's-heads, festoons of wild ar-
tichokes, carpets, scent-bags of musk, phials of
rosewater, lumps of incense, honey-cakes, and
dogs, and fleas, and lice, and children, and jewel-
ry, and rags and tatters.
On every side strange cries, witch-wives'
cries of incantation, furious wrangles about a half-
penny piece.
Abuse flies backwards and forwards from mouth
to mouth like a game of battledore and shuttle-
cock : cheat, fool, huckster, Jeiv, bitterest in-
sult of all! And heads bump together, and the
24 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
press gets thicker and thicker, and shouts of
Bale k ! Bale k \ (Make way! ) come from every
quarter at once. All the time the open-air dealers
are circulating among the different groups, offering
likely customers astounding bargains with hoarse
cries of Bab Allah ! Bab Allah \
But far aloft on the roof of the Mosque of Salah-
Bey, with its slender, graceful Minaret piercing
the deep blue of the sky, the storks sit motionless
on one leg, in high-shouldered dignity, gazing
down impassively at all the noisy turmoil of men
and cattle below.
And away beyond the Square another quarter
of the picturesque town is visible. From the long
terrace you look right down on a huddle of red
roofs running Southwards downhill, but stopping
suddenly at a narrow fissure in the rock, at the
bottom of which, 500 feet below, flows the
unseen Rummel with a dull roaring ; beyond
the green slopes of Mansourah and to the left
hand, the huge gloomy precipices of Sidi-Merid.
But it was not this panorama of the most strik-
ing city in Algeria (Gonstantine) that drew my
A GOOD JUDGE 25
gaze. A group of Moorish women were chattering
away close to my elbow; beneath the checked
moulai'as 1 in which their forms were wrapped, you
could see lurked youth and beauty, and " their
great dark eyes that burned like fire " suggested, in
spite of the veil, the charm of the hidden face, for
with such eyes a plain woman is an impossibility.
With fell intent on our peace of mind, they showed
just a peep of neat white stocking that encas-
ed their plump calves and finely cut ankles, round
which they wore silver rings with little copper
bells attached that tinkled out a merry music. Gay
chatter, tiny foot and little red slipper, neat ankle
and tinkling anklets, sparkling eyes and seductive
looks, all told one tale, each said the same thing
in its own particular way, and that was : " Follow
me, young man ! follow me !
However one of them, afraid apparently that I
was dull of comprehension, and not wishing to lose
a customer, came up to me :
u Come home with me, " she said' " I have
1. "A kind of plaid composed of two pieces of cotton
woven in small chequers of blue and white, or cross stripes,
with a mixture of red at each end ". See art. Dress in Hughes's
Diet, of Islam.
Mask hashish and blood
26 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
golden tobacco and black coffee ; my name is Ouri-
ka (Rosebud), and I am oh! so pretty. "
And seeing- me still hesitating, she drew aside
her veil . .
But at the same moment a plump hand, with
dirty finger-nails, touched me on the arm, and a
voice I knew directly, whispered :
" Pretty? Well, yes! but then she is at least
twenty, and for I dare say ten good years she has
welcomed Arabs and Roumis indiscriminately to
her alcove, and served them with coffee, rosebud
and cigarettes. Attend to me ; I want to show you
a fresher fruit. When once you have set eyes on
it, you will only turn them away to put your lips
to the same place. "
The pretty Moorish girls slipped away laughing
and were lost in the noisy crowd. Meantime the
black apparition that had come between us, look-
ed at me questioningly.
Oh, yes ! I recognized her right enough. Many a
time had I come across her wandering about the
corridors of the old Janissaries' barracks with a
crafty, cringing air. Thanks to her miserable appear-
A GOOD JUDGE 27
ance, she had extorted a pass from the Quarter-
master's pity, and we used to discover her at all
hours of the day prowling about the rooms, beg-
ging crusts of bread, buying old silver lace, worn-
out boots, left-off clothing generally, but never
paying up more than about half the price agreed
upon, pilfering scraps and candle-ends, every day
sent about her business, but re-appearing again
next day without fail, following the precept of
Jesus, whom she held accursed, grovelling under
insult, kissing the boot that menaced her, and if
she were kicked on the right buttock, turning the
left buttock also!
But as a matter of fact no one much cared about
touching, either with hand or foot, this lamentable
wreck of womanhood, this senile specimen of the
accursed race ; and it was only after the continual
disappearance of sashes and burnouses in a mys-
terious way that she was eventually pushed out of
doors by the shoulders, and orders given to the
Corporal of the Guard never to admit the creature
again.
*
* *
Two years had gone by since then ; but here was
the same wan face and muddy complexion, the
28 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
same blear eyes and facile tears, the same flabby
looking cheeks, the same whining sawney voice,
the same dingy widow's weeds, and the same rags
and general filth.
u Now attend to me, " the hag repeated. ' 4 I
have served Kebirs (great men) of your nation ; I
have procured them the very joys of Paradise, and
I keep their custom and their confidence to his
day. But not one of them all ever hesitated so
much as you do, no ! never, though I only ask
you sordis where I should have had douros from
them.
" You don't seem much richer for it all. ''
" Alas! and alas! we poor Jews are so robbed
by the Arabs and the Christians! Now, look
you! " she added, pointing to the Civil Courts,
the roof of which public building could be seen
alongside that of the old Palace of Bey Hadj-Ahme,
among the Hanafis { one sees yonder in long black
i. Hanif (pi. huna fa.) Lit. "one who is inclined".
(1) Anyone sincere in his inclination to Islam. (2) One
orthodox in the faith. (3) One who is of the religion of
Abraham. This word occurs ten times in the Qur' an. See
Hughe's Diet, of Islam for the citations.
The term was also applied in the early stages of Islam,
and before Muhammad claimed the position of an inspired
A GOOD JUDGE 29
gowns with a round cap and a baby's bib at their
neck, there is one in particular dressed in red, who
often comes to my house when the sun is set
behind Koudiat-Aty and the town is quiet. Ah,
ha ! he appreciates the fruit I offer. Now, are you
coming? "
We descended the steps leading from the
Square, making for the neighbourhood of the Syn-
agogue, just above the ravine and not far from
the spot where they used to throw adulteresses
over into the torrent below. Then through a maze
of alleys with crumbling hovels on either side and
arched over at intervals by darkling vaults, we
reached some steps built of fragments of Roman
prophet, to those who had endeavoured to search for the
truth among the mass of conflicting dogmas and superstit-
ions of the religions that existed in Arabia. Amongst
these Hanifs were Waragah, the Prophet's cousin, and
Zaid ibn 'Amr, surnamed the Enquirer. They were known
as Hanifs, a word which originally meant "inclining one's
steps toward anything ", and therefore signified either a
convert or a pervert. Muhammad appears from the above
verses (when chronologically arranged), to have first used
it for the religion of Abraham, but afterwards for any sin-
cere professor of Islam. Here used loosely as a popular
name for the learned pundits of the Law-Courts,
judges, avocats, and id genus omne.
30 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
stonework, and finally a stable at the back of
which was a door, at which the Jewess knocked.
She spoke her name, and a bolt was noiselessly
withdrawn. I crossed a tiny courtyard, climbed a
few steps, and suddenly found myself in a little
Moorish apartment, profusely ornamented with
heavy gilding, and furnished with lacquered what-
nots, mirrors and generally a degree of Oriental
luxury I hardly looked for judging by the appear-
ance of my guide and the sort of approaches we
had come through.
Two pretty children of seven or eight, a boy and
a little girl, lying at full length on a woollen rug
of thick, coarse texture, looked up at me, their
great eyes full of curiosity. A litter of toys, mani-
festly of French manufacture, a wooden horse, a
doll with porcelain head, lead soldiers, a Polichi-
nello, showed my arrival had interrupted them
in their play.
u Sit down, " the good woman said, pointing
me to a large cushion covered in tapestry worked
with camel's hair in an intricate pattern of many
hues, the kind the women of the Souf weave,
" behold the nest of Love! you are in Love's cosy
nest! "
A GOOD JUDGE 31
And lifting a Tunis frechia *, hung across the
doorway of a second small room, an alcove in fact
rather than a room, the floor of which was raised
a foot or so above the level of the first, she called,
" Hagar! Hagar! "
The fair Hagar, a damsel of perhaps fifteen sum-
mers, with a very pretty brown face of her own,
came out at once, and without further preliminar-
ies, sat down on the floor facing me.
u Hagar is my daughter. " said the dingy wi-
dow, who looked more squalid than ever in this
sumptuous chamber and beside the young girl clad
in the rich costume wealthy Jews affect, " the
last of five, my stay and my pride. The little ones
are my eldest daughter's children, and the hope
of my old age. Go, darlings, and kiss the Chris-
tian. He is going to give you each a pretty silver
bit, and your auntie will have a whole big douro.
Ah! my son, I am very unfortunate; the good
Hanafi, our protector, is gone with his wife to the
1. Carpet, or curtain ; " frechia " is evidently a vulgar-
ism for the classical /ars/i, pi. fouroush, from far ash " to
stretch out ".
32 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
land of the Franks, and will not return till the
month of the Simoom is passed. They call this
their " Vacation ", for they rest then and do not
judge men ; but, look you! for me it is a time of
distress and sore tribulation. Oh, yes ! he will come
back; he promised me he would; he is a pious
man and his word is sacred. But meantime we
must live, and my pretty dove yonder suffers,
drinking only her tears and fed on privations ....
A dourol only a douro because it is you, and
because we want you to come again Thank
you. Now take your pleasure in peace and
quietness ; she is well trained, and will do all you
wish. "
So saying, she went out, shutting the door dis-
creetly behind her, leaving us alone with the chil-
dren.
u Send them away, " I said to Hagar; "why
didn't your mother take them off with her? Don't
you see their eyes are bright with naughty curiosi-
ty?"
Oh? you don't want them here? " she
exclaimed in great surprise. " Why! it was to
please you my mother left them with us. His Re-
verence Ben Simoun, our Rabbi, says justly :
A GOOD JUDGE 33
fct Bad men gloat over enjoyment in solitude, hid-
ing the good thing that befalleth them from all,
but the good love to have spectators of their de-
lights" ; and he is a good man, is the old Hanafi,
for he always asks for the dear children to be here.
It makes him enjoy it more, he says. "
Musk hashish and blood.
Ill
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS
in
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS*
I
It is many a long year ago, but my remem-
brance of it all is very vivid still, for it was from
1. The Kroumirs, or Khroumirs are a semi-savage, inde-
pendent tribe occupying the mountains between Calle and
38 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
these incidents, I suppose, that our first advent-
ures with the Kroumirs dated.
At that time we occupied with our smala * the
bordj 2 of El-Meridj , an outlying fort built not long-
before on the Tunisian frontier, twelve leagues
North-East of Tebessa and within a gun-shot of
an affluent of the Oued-Mellegue 3 , to wit the Oued-
Hohrirh. This stream flowing deep down in its
rugged, crumbling, chalky bed, oleanders bordering
Bizerte of the Mediterranean littoral where they have taken
refuge from foreign domination. Their frequent incursions
from Tunisian into Algerian territory provoked the inter-
vention of the French military authorities and ultimately
led to the French Protectorate of Tunis which received legal
ratification in April, 1884 Some people say that the Kroumirs
were paid or incited to do this by virtuous France, but this
we are unwilling to believe in the absence of proofs. Their
country is admirable, and much resembles the Vosges and
Auvergne.
1. Smala, or smalah, an assembly of tents of a powerful
chief and forming so to speak, his moveable capital. In
common parlance, a numerous family; also a fortified camp
occupied by Spahis (cipayes).
2. Bordj, or borj (pi. borouj or abraj) means a tower,
castle, or citadel, a fortified structure.
3. Oued (wad, or wadi), a water course, a river; also a
valley traversed by a river. Compare the Spanish Guada,
in Guadalquivir, the great river; Guaroman, the river of
the pomegranates ; Guadarazas the river of lead ; Gua</ara-
ma, the sandy river, and many others.
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 39
it on either bank, separated us from the wide plain
that extends from the Keff to Galah, and is dotted
with the Douars i of the two Tunisian tribes of the
Ouled-Sebira and the Beni Merzem.
1. Douar, (dowar) the plural of dar, a group of Arab
tents or families representing a tribe, several dowars unit-
ing for safety form a farka and the chiefs of each circle or
group of tents, compose together a jama'a, or council to
watch over the common interests of the farka', one
amongst them, on account either of his superior nobility,
age, intellect or energy, being appointed the president of
the assembly.
These tents are composed of black or brown stuff, are
of an oblong form, and supported by stakes, which
moreover answer the purpose of suspending clothes, arms,
harness, &c. No beds are found in them, the Bedouins
rolling themselves up at night in a haikh. The middle of
the douar is commonly empty, like a court; and each
family possesses in general two tents, one for the family,
the other for the cattle.
The simplicity, or rather poverty of the family is remark-
able, their household only comprising the following
articles; some camels, goats, and fowls, a mare and its
harness, a tent, a lance thirteen feet long, a curved sword,
a musket, a pipe, a pot, a hand-mill, a coffee-pot, a mat,
some clothes, and some gold or silver rings for the
woman's wrists and ankles. With these the Arab is rich.
A night in a douar is distressing to Europeans, the fleas
and musquitoes allowing their victims no rest. This verit-
able plague is so deleterious, by depriving you of your
rest, that it greatly debilitates the French troops, colonists,
and visitors, rendering them unfit for work and ill, many
40 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Some time before the Cheaias, a section of the
Kroumirs, had made an irruption so far with their
tents and their flocks and herds, flying before the
tax-collectors of the Bey of Tunis, who supported
by a regular army fell upon them like a hurricane,
finally leaving them stripped as naked as a field of
barley after the passage of a cloud of locusts. It
so happened that to escape these foes, they cross-
ed the frontier; but doing so, they tumbled right
in the midst of our Bourns 1 , and these watchful
guardians of French territory harried them
without mercy.
Then, having neither stock nor grain left, and
not a tent to shelter them, these unfortunates,
pursued from the rear and pillaged from the front,
took to making reprisals.
There were numberless incursions and frequent
skirmishes among the frontier tribes. Algerians
and Tunisians, first one then the other, would
having died in consequence. The Arab women anoint
themselves with oil to keep off these enemies.
1. This word, employed only in Algiers, means the
contingent of fighters that each tribe furnishes for military
expeditions against another tribe. It also signifies an armed
gathering of Arab cavaliers, and is derived from the Arabic
koum y a people, sect, family, from the root,
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 41
cross the frontier, raiding* sheep, oxen, camels,
horses, and occasionally wives and maids.
Ghaouias and Cheaias, the one as great thieves as
the other, both equally poor and equally brave,
gave and took the same hard knocks.
Now the bordj of El-Meridj, just built by the
orders of General Desveaux, commanding in chief
in the Province of Gonstantine, on the site chosen
by the Colonel of Spahis l Flogny, commanding
the district of Tebessa, was put there for the very
purpose of pacifying this particular section of the
frontier by putting an end once and for all to these
mutual quarrels, and all these raids and counter-
raids.
1 . The origin of this word is found in the Persian Sipahi,
. Cavalier , derived from sipah u a troop of horse . In
Turkey, the corps of Sipahis, the institution of which is
attributed to Mourad I, was divided into two classes and used
the sabre and the javelin; but, since the introduction of
the new military system by Selim III, the Sipahis, like the
rest of the Turkish troops, have been disciplined on Europ-
ean lines. In Algiers, the Spahis, employed by the French,
are divided into regular and irregular, the former being
constantly in service and composed for the most part of
natives ; the latter, recruited amongst the natives, European
colonists, and members of various conquered tribes, forming
the reserve and only to serve if called out. The uniform of
these men is quite in Oriental taste, and very showy ; Cipaye
and sepoy, are evidently words derived from sipahi.
hashish and blood. 6
42 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
However this purpose was far from being fulfil-
led just at first, and divided as we were from the
Regency simply by a stream, fordable in Summer
at several spots, we were ourselves for a long time
exposed to the reckless attacks of the Tunisian
freebooters.
Then again, the very tribes we were there to
protect, in as much as our presence hindered them
from making reprisals as they would otherwise
have done, were continually addressing complaints
to the Commandant of the District as to robberies
of which they declared themselves the victims on
the part of the section of the Kroumirs that had
once been raided by them.
The Kroumirs in fact got the credit of every
misdeed, so evil was their reputation.
Thefts of the Beni Merzem, the Ouled Sebira,
the Ouled Embarkem, were all in our eyes crimes
done by the Kroumirs. All the robbers of the
whole frontier, be their tribe what it might,
we lumped them all together under this one
generic name.
Complaints grew so frequent that the Officer in
command of the smala, Captain F*** was order-
ed to have the plain patrolled day and night by
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 43
parties of Spahis, with orders to arrest every
native going- armed.
Now as the Arabs [ never, and least of all the
frontier tribes, start on a journey without a
musket on the shoulder and a flissa, in the girdle,
the silos 2 of the bordj were very soon crammed
with prisoners.
1. The Arab tribes may be divided into three classes :
those inhabiting the Tell ; those holding the plateaux in the
more elevated districts; and, thirdly, the Djeridi of the
oases. The first, who are agriculturists, inhabit that part of
Northern Africa called the Tell, bounded by the Mediterran-
ean to the north, and often by the mountains of the Lesser
Atlas to the south, though, as we have previously seen, the
district called Tell stretches farther inland in the east than in
the west of Algeria. This country is in general very fertile,
with good crops. The second class, belonging to the pastoral
society, live in the plateaux between the Tell and the oases,
which, though not so rich in grain, afford very goods spots
for pastures : they also roam over the vast plains of the
Sahara. The third class inhabit the Ksours, and carry on
the barter and carrier trade of the interior. A simpler and
shorter division is that into Tellians and Saharians, pre-
viously noticed.
The influence of blood-relationship, aristocratic govern-
ment, and the love of roaming, are common to all these
classes and subdivisions. The Tellians, being agriculturists,
are less addicted to roving than the Saharians, who, being
shepherds and carriers, are always on the move for fresh
pastures or for speculation.
2. Silos, subterranean granaries for corn, a cavern, or
44 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
These were despatched in batches to the Bureau
Arabe 4 at Tebessa , where the officials after an exam-
ination that could not but be summary in the
extreme, either released them or sent them on to
Constantine.
As generally happens under such circumstan-
ces, peaceful husbandmen of the plain were sent
to rot in the Provincial prisons of Algeria or were
transported to the hulks of Cayenne, while
highway marauders and professional brigands
were adjudged to be free from the least taint of
crime. It was not long before our patrols caught
red-handed in the act of robbery sundry Kroumirs
who had been previously arrested by them and
then released by order of the Bureau.
The Commandant of the Smala complained, and
received a sharp answer. He was told it was his
business to take measures; he had been specially
detailed for the purpose of maintaining peace
among the frontier tribes, and was responsible for
the consequences.
other profound and obscure place, hence a temporary
prison, or place of detention.
1 . The term bureau arabe means the military admi-
nistration that was devised to put down the native insur-
rections in Southern Algeria during the Second French
Empire, and still exists.
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 45
So, sick of complaints from the one side and
snubbings from the other, and particularly sick of
the continual thefts he had to put up with, he
determined to do justice himself. Such had been
the universal practice in all outlying posts ever
since the conquest of the country; and General
Ne"grier, whose name is to this day a terror to the
Arabs, used to do justice himself, to use the re-
cognized phrase, in the eyes of all men on the great
Square de la Breche at Constantine itself by the
sword of his faithful Chaouch 1 Braham.
After this, whenever our Spahis met an armed
native on the roads, they subjected him to a short
and sharp interrogatory.
" Where are you going? "
" To get in the harvest at the Meskiana. "
"Why do you carry a gun ? "
"You are Mussulmans; can you ask such a
1. Chaouch, General Daumas says it is difficult to give
an exact idea of this word. The chaouch appears to mean
a factotum, his functions differing according to the authority
of his employer; here he may be an ofllce-clerk, there a
police agent, and even an executioner or headsman. Littre
derives the word from (Turkish) chiaoux, a kind of usher,
or ambassador. La Fontaine employs this word (Fable I,
12). In the text chaouch means of course, the heads-
man.
46 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
question ? You know right well an Arab never quits
his gun. "
/'You are a Kroumir?"
u By the head of the Prophe't, I am of the Beni-
Merzem. You may see from here the tents of my
douar away beyond the river, at the foot of Bou-
Djaber. "
* ' Has not your Caid { warned you ? The Bureau
Arabe has made it known by the market-criers
in every village that they would arrest every man
found with arms. "
4 * Allah empty your saddles ! You know your-
selves the thing is not possible, nor is it just, on the
frontier. As well cast us naked before the lion's
mouth. "
\ . Caid also kaid, though it should be qai'd, because deriv-
ing from the Arabic qdd, to lead, or guide, means a gover-
nor, chief. In the Barbary States, the title signifies the
governors of provinces or cities, or military leaders who
command at least 500 men. I agree with Pihan that the
etymologists have erred in giving to this word the sense of
Judge or cadi, as it belongs evidently to a different root.
The title ofcai'c/ (oralca'id with the article), known in Spain
from the time of the Moorish domination, indicates an
official invested with the care and defence of a castle, and
whose powers and attributes are consequently different to
those of alcade, a kind of municipal functionary, or civil
judge.
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 47
He would be dragged off to the Bordj, and
there questioned again. If his answers seemed sa-
tisfactory, if he could name some one ready to
vouch for him, if he looked honest, he would be
dismissed after two or three days of silo. If he
could not fulfil these conditions, well ! the Gap-
tain sent for Ali-bel-Kassem .
II
There was good stuff in Ali-bel-Kassem. He was
a tall lamp-post of a man, with a skin of copper :
his jet-black beard was sprinkled with a few
white hairs, and cut to a point like Mephisto-
pheles'. Thin, bony and angular, he had a gallows-
look in spite of the rosary with ivory beads that
he always wore round his neck. The Spahis called
him the Grand Champetre, a corruption of Garde-
Champetre *, an office he had been invested with in
the smala and which he held in commendam with
that of Corporal.
" Ali-bel-Kassem ? "
He came at once, always punctual and always
i. Garde-champttre, corresponds to our rural constable.
48 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ready. A smile was on his lips ; he was clean, and
a fine figure of a soldier spite of a back something
bowed by long hours of lolling, jog-trot journeys
on horseback. He had a good seat on his tall black
stallion; with its intelligent eye, and look of
gentle sadness.
" What business had the creature to be sad? "
we used to ask one another with a laugh.
However the tragedies he looked on at so often
at his master's orders seemed to be reflected in the
sombre gaze of his dark eyes.
" Alii "
" Here, Koptanel "
t; A prisoner, ' the Captain would say, and
merely point out the man with a gesture.
Then Ali would cast a comprehensive look at
him that travelled from head to foot, the look
of a father and of a beast of prey rolled into one.
" Right about with you, " he cried in a pleas-
ant, hearty voice.
The prisoner went to the right about.
" Hands open and above the head ! v
The prisoner raised his hands above his head.
" No arms under the burnouse? "
" No, Sidi! "
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 49
u Throw your money on the ground. "
" No money, Sidi ! "
u Listen to. me; if you have any money, you
won't come afterwards complaining you've been
robbed of it. "
44 I have not a sordi . "
The inspection thus satisfactorily concluded, he
ordered the man to stand aside a few paces ; and
then, silent and steady, bridle in his left hand, the
right on his thigh, head up a d shoulders well
back but not too stiff, as the regulations prescribe,
he waited his superior officer's orders.
44 Take him to Tebessa, to the Bureau Arabe
there, ' the Captain said loud enough for the
prisoner to hear. Ali bent his head, then stooping
to the officer's ear and speaking low :
" Forced march, Koptanet "
u Yes! forced march. Must be there in three
quarters of an hour ! "
Three quarters of an hour! Tebessa, as we have
seen, was just twelve leagues from the bordj.
The Grand Champetre smiled a knowing smile.
He knew what the phrase meant, and the humour
of it tickled him. The Captain's witticism was the
1. A small piece of money, a sou; a centime.
Mask hashish and blood 7
50 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
same every time, but every time Ali appreciated
it with fresh gusto.
" Three-quarters of an hour! Ha! ha! ha! all
right ! Koptane \ Now, my man, quick march ! "
He drew himself up in his saddle, proud and
dignified, with a grave face that showed he felt
himself entrusted with a confidential task and real-
ized the importance it conferred upon him. They
left the bordj by the Great Gate, sallying out onto
the high ground from which you can look right
away over the Tunisian plain ; and the prisoner
would see once more the smoke from his native
douar floating away and vanishing in the soft
mists of the blue distance.
Or, if the douar was near at hand, he could
sometimes distinguish the white figures of the
women, anxiously looking out for his return.
The sentry, sitting on the ground with his back
to the wall of the Fort, his sword between his
knees, and his loaded musket within reach of his
hand, greeted them with a friendly nod as they
went by :
" Essalam-ou-Aleikoum * / Greeting be upon
your heads! '
1. As-Salam aleykoum (Peace be upon, or with, you), is
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUM1RS 51
" Alek Salam! On your head be greeting! "
they returned with one voice.
Presently the way began to descend. They made
a circuit, leaving the bordj on the right hand ;
used only by and to Muslims, the answer being, Wa-aleyk
as-Salam wa Rahmat -Ullah wa Barakatuh, "and on you
be Peace and the Mercy and Blessings of God", which is
generally shortened to Aleyk as-Salam, the longer formula
being used only by very devout persons. The following
Quranic passages show how careful was Muhammad clearly
to define the correct application of these greetings, far differ-
ent from the vulgar London How d'ye do? or How goes it?
or the Parisian, Comment $a roule-t-il? or Qa boulotte-t-il
bien? often to be heard on the French boulevards.
There is a quiet strength and dignity in these forms of
greeting which remind us forcibly of Puritan England
times.
Muhammad instructed his people as follows regarding
the use of the Salutation :
Surah XXIV, 61 : When ye enter houses, then greet
each other with a salutation from God, the Blessed and the
Good.
The person riding must salute one on foot, and he who
is walking must salute those who are sitting, and the
small must salute the larger, and the person of higher
degree the lower. It is therefore a religious duty for the
person of high degree, when meeting one of a lower degree ;
the giving of the Salam being regarded as a benediction.
For says Muhammad, the nearest people to God are those-
who salute first, When a party is passing, it is sufficient if
one of them give the salutation, and, in like manner, it is-
sufficient if one of the party return it of those sitting down.
52 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
then went down into the rudimentary village
made up of French, Maltese, Italians, Jews, a
whole horde of thieves, whose tents and hovels
were ranged in a broken line along the slope of
hillside. Spahis, squatting under the wattled
walls of the Caouadjis*, were drinking coffee, lei-
1 . Ca.oua.dji. This word, widely used in Algiers and the
Protectorate of Tunis, means "Coffeehouse-dealer", deriv-
ng from the Arabic qahwa and the Turkish termination
haji or hadji. The word kahwa, according to Fakhr-ed-Din
quoted in De Sacy's Chrestomathie (vol. I, p. 442-481), is
derived from the root ikha, which means opposition, dis-
like, or from the same root in its meaning of abstention,
because kahwa was said to beget a dislike for food. The
spread of this beverage forms a most curious chapter in
the history of civilisation. " Its peculiar property of dissi-
pating drowsiness and preventing sleep was taken advan-
tage of in connection with the prolonged religious services
of the Mahometans, and its use as a devotional antisopori-
fic stirred up a fierce opposition on the part of the strictly
orthodox and conservative section of the priests.
Coffee was by them held to be an intoxicant, and there-
fore prohibited by the Koran ; and the dreadful penalties
of an outraged law were held over the heads of all who
became addicted to its use. Notwithstanding the threats of
divine retribution, and though all manner of devices were
adopted to check its growth, the coffee-drinking habit
spread rapidly among the Arabian Mahometans, and the
growth of coffee as well as its use as a national beverage
became as inseparably associated with Arabia as tea is
with China. For about two centuries the entire supply of
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 53
surely, in little cups. Others from time to time
would dip their hand to the bottom of the deep
hood of their burnouse, and draw out a morsel of
biscuit and a handful of dates, their morning
meal, or a pinch of tobacco to make a cigarette.
Others again, stretched full length on their mat of
a/p/ia-grass, head on hand, eyes half closed in a
drowsy dream, were humming to a slow dragging
air some ballad of war or love :
Kradidja's brows and lids, Kradidja's hair,
Are dark as night ;
They're swords to pierce men's hearts , beware ! beware !
And sting the sight.
They broke off their song to watch the Kroumir
go by, saying like the sentry :
4 ' Greeting be on your head! '
Two or three, without rising, held out a hand
to offer their cup still half full of coffee :
u Drink, the way will be hot. "
And Ali-bel-Kassem, with an indulgent fatherly
smile, reined in his horse.
the world, which, however, was then limited, was obtained
from the province of Yemen in South Arabia, where the cele-
brated Mocha or Mokha is still cultivated".
54 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
11 Yes ! the way will be hot. Drink, my son ! "
Then when the prisoner handed back the empty
cup with thanks, they would wish him success on
his journey :
1 ' May your day be happy I "
' ' May your belly never be hungry !
Ill
But the mercantisj dealers in drugged absinthe
and doctored wines, swindlers, bankrupts, gaol-
birds, traders of every stamp, standing at the door
of their huts and tents and gourbis (shanties)
bursting with spoiled goods of every description,
would shout to the Corporal of Spahis :
" Oh, ho ! Grand Champetre, my man ! another
Kroumir ! But why take him all the way to
Tebessa ? Polish him off in the bush, I tell you,
'Twill always be a ruffian the less. "
" March! Quick march! " Bel-Kassem would
order, without condescending even to cast a look
at the beggarly rabble.
And the prisoner would resume his way, his
lifted chin and unwavering eye expressing the
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 55
utmost scorn. Yet he hurried past, for he felt his
ears burn, brave man as he was, and an Arab and
a bold highwayman, at the laughter and ribald
jests of these cowardly Christian pickpockets.
Soon they left the village behind, and entered
the stony track that led towards Tebessa, winding
between broom and dwarf palms and heath, what
the mercantis call the bush, already stung by the
sharp scorching of the morning sun.
The man walked fast. True he no longer heard
the Roumis' insulting laugh, but he felt the horse's
hot breath on the back of his neck.
Presently a delightful smell of fresh water
became perceptible, and the sound of a waterfall.
There was at this point, just where the road
makes a sharp bend, a charming spot, buried in
oleanders.
When the wild flowers were in bloom, brighten-
ing with their brilliant colours the dark green of
the foliage, it was a bit of heaven. Gay butterflies
and beetles and dragon-flies swarmed in thousands,
and the breeze blew with a gentle, flattering soft-
ness. Only houris were lacking to this terrestrial
Paradise, and even these were to be seen at times
descending in a merry band from the douars, arms
56 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
and legs bare, to draw water in the river that
clattered along- in its deep bed, tumbling over
great boulders of rock fallen from its banks during
the last great storm, and forming falls and rapids
and stretches of foam that threw off sparkles of
all the colours of the rainbow in the sun. Red
partridges would come to the pools to drink, while
great brown hares looked on from the covert of the
diss-tufts with ears pricked inquisitively.
This was the spot where we used to meet on
stifling summer afternoons the girls of the Chaouias,
and make love to them, a pistol always within
arm's reach, and our horse's bridle in one hand.
The frontier was here, three-quarters of an hour
from the bordj and the village of El-Meridj ; and
here Ali-bel-Kassem, keeping a keen look-out the
while, relaxed his pace.
So the other relaxed his pace too, and no longer
feeling the horse's nose at his back, began to recov-
er breath again.
He sniffed the refreshing breeze and delighted
with the shady nook before him turned round and
said :
" I beg a favour, Sidi. For eight days, as you
know, I was buried alive without water in the
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 57
filth of a silo ; in the name of the Prophet give
me leave to perform the oudou el serir. * "
1. The religion of Islam makes two ablutions, the wuzu 1 -
al-Kabir (great ablution) and the wuzu'-as saghir (small
ablution) absolutely obligatory upon its followers. The
latter is performed before each of the five prayers which
the Moslem is enjoined to make in the twenty-four hours.
They are entitled :
Salat al-fajar,... day-break prayer;
Salal ath-thahar,... afternoon prayer;
Salat al-aser,... three o'clock prayer;
Salat al-Moghreb,... sunset prayer;
Salat al-A'sha,... eight o'clock prayer;
The wuzu' al-Kabir, which is also termed the wuzu'-al-
jenaba, or " laving of the loins " is governed by certain
conditions of Islamic ritual, some of them being of a per-
fectly intimate nature, such as the cleansing of man, or
woman, after copulation, and into which we cannot here
enter. Hughes in his Dictionary of Islam (London, 1885)
gives the following description of the way these ablutions
are carried out : " The worshipper, having tucked up his
sleeves a little higher than his elbows, washes his hands
three times ; then he rinses his month three times, throwing
the water into it with his right hand. After this, he, with
his right hand, throws water up his nostrils, snuffing it
up at the same time, aud then blows it out, compressing
his nostrils with the thumb and finger of the left hand, this
being also performed three times. He then washes his face
three times, throwing up the water with both hands. He
next washes his right hand and arm, as high as the elbow,
as many times, causing the water to run along his arm from
the palm of the hand to the elbow, and in the same manner
he washes the left. Then he draws his wetted right hand
Musk hashish and blood. 8
58 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
How can a true servant of God refuse a prisoner
as he passes near a river the right to make ' c the
minor ablution " ? Ablution is as holy a thing as
prayer itself; and the pious Bel-Kassem would be
the last man to think of preventing it.
tc Do so, " he replied, unfastening the rosary
from his neck; u I will give you time enough,
as long as I shall take to pronounce the nine and
ninety names of Allah! "
And he began to tell the ivory beads one by
one, leisurely, murmuring as each passed through
his fingers one of the names of God :
God the Mighty ;
over the upper part of his head, raising his turban or cap
with his left. If he has a beard, he then combs it with
the wetted fingers of his right hand, holding his
hand with the palm forwards, and passing the fingers
through his beard from the throat upwards. He then puts
the tips of his fore-fingers into his ears and twists them
round, passing his thumbs at the same time round the
back of the ears from the bottom upwards. Next, he wipes
his neck with the back of the fingers of both hands,
making the ends of his fingers meet behind his neck, and
then drawing them forward. Lastly, he washes his feet, as
high as the ankles, and passes his fingers between the
toes. During this ceremony, which is generally performed
in less than three minutes, the intending worshipper usually
recites some pious ejaculations of prayers".
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 59
God the Merciful ;
God the Just;
God the Unchanging ;
God the Master of the Hour.
Meanwhile the Bedawin slipping down the
chalky slope of the river-bank and crouching on
the brink of the stream was bathing his face and
plunging his legs and arms in the water with
keen enjoyment.
Sitting motionless on his motionless horse on
the bank above, and never taking his eye for a
moment off his prisoner, the Grand Champetre
proceeded with his Litany :
God the Ever-Living ;
God the Most High;
God the All-Forgiving ;
Then when he had made an end, he repeated to
himself the verse :
The Prophet saith : " Whomsoever Death
shall find when his lips are moved in prayer, in
the midst of a praiseworthy deed or act of devo-
tion, the same is blessed 1 . "
1. The title Allah is called thelsmu 'z-Zat, or, the essen-
tial name of God. All other titles, including Ra&b (Lord),
being considered Asma'u 's-Sifat, or " attributes" of the
60 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
So saying, he carefully replaced the rosary about
his neck, outside his red burnouse, carried his
hand to the butt of his pistol, drew it out gently
from the holster, and cocked it softly.
Then bending forward in the saddle and steady-
ing his fore-arm on the horse's shoulder, he took
a leisurely aim for two or three seconds.
1 * *Tis by order of the accursed Christian dogs ;
but by the glorious Koran, you will rise up to
accuse them, when the sun shall be crumpled up
Divine Being. These attributes are called aJ-AsmaV l-hua-
na, or the " excellent names ". The expression occurs in
the Qur'an (Sarah. VII, 179), " But God's are excellent
names, call on Him thereby ". This verse is commented
upon in the traditions, and Abu Hurairah says that Muham-
mad said, " Verily, there are ninety-nine names of God,
and whoever recites them shall enter into Paradise".
The attributes of God as expressed in the ninety-nine
names, are divided into the asma'u 'l-jalalojah, or the glo-
rious attributes, and the asma'u 'l-jamaliyah, or the terrible
attributes. Such names as ar-Rahim, " the Merciful ", al-
Karlm, "the Kind", and al 'Afow, "the Forgiver", belong-
ing to the former; and al-Quarvi, " the Strong ", al Mun-
taqim " the Avenger ", and al-Qardi, " the Powerful", to
the latter.
In praying to God it is usual for the worshipper to
address the Almighty by that name or attribute which he
wishes to appeal to. For example, if praying for pardon,
he will address God as either al-Afoco, " the Pardoner ",
or at-Fauwab, " the Receiver of Repentance".
A SHORT WAY WITH THE KROUMIRS 61
in the sky, and the leaf of the Great Book unrolled.
That day their reckoning shall be a fearful reckon-
ing, and their abiding place Gehenna! But you,
you will be filled with joy, for you will have
crossed the Sirat^l Farewell, brother! the Archan-
gel Gabriel will take you, and you shall look on
the face of the Great Master. "
He muttered the words between his teeth, like
1. "Sirat", taken literally, means" a road". The word
occurs in the Qur'an thirty-eight times, in nearly all of
which it is used for the Slratu 'l-Mustaqlm, or the "right
way " of religion. In Muslim traditions and other writings
it is more commonly used for the bridge across the infer-
nal fire, which is described as finer than a hair and sharper
than a sword, and is beset on each side with briars and
hooked thorns. The righteous will pass over it with the
swiftness of the lightning, but the wicked will soon miss
their footing and will fall into the fire of hell. (Mulla 'All
Qan, p. 110.)
Muhammad appears to have borrowed his idea of the
bridge from the Zoroastrian system, according to which
the spirits of the departed, both good and bad, proceed
along an appointed path to the " bridge of the gatherer "
(chinvat peretu). This was a narrow road conducting to
Heaven or Paradise, over which the souls of the pious
alone could pass, whilst the wicked fell into the gulf below.
(Rawlirison's Seventh Oriental Monarchy, p. 636.)
The Jews, also, believed in the bridge of hell, which is no
broader than a thread, over which idolaters must pass.
(Midrash, Yalkut, Reubeni, sect. Gehinnom.)
62 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
a pious worshipper in prayer, while he got his
sight on the back of the man's neck.
" Go in peace, my son. It is written ! " And so
saying, he shot his man dead. He seldom missed.
If he did, he gave the coup de grace with his caval-
ry-sword. The body would roll over and over, and
finally disappear in the torrent. Sometimes the
wind blowing from the summits of the Bou-Djaber
would carry the report as far as to the village
of El-Meridj.
" Do you hear that? " the mercantis would
remark to each other. u Those foul Kroumirs
again, I warrant, murdering honest men in broad
daylight. The insolence of the beggarly black-
guards! "
IV
THE PATRIARCH
IV
THE PATRIARCH
A little maid, no higher than that, puny looking'
and thin as a lath. Her blue petticoat was open
either side, showing her little slim thighs to the
hips. Her chest was bare, and you could see the
prominent ribs, and two tiny breasts beginning to
show, each no bigger than a half-pomegranate.
Ten years old, perhaps eleven! Yonder, on the
plains of the Souf, the girls mature faster as a
rule ; but fever, or hardship, or vice, or may be
all three demons together, had put back her
time of blossoming.
Well ! well ! at any rate neither fever nor hardship
nor vice hindered a broad, merry smile from spread-
ing over the little negress's lips, lips that
formed a wide scarlet riband to set off the dazzling
ivory of her teeth. She laughed, and laughed,
for a yellow silk kerchief, brand new, was wound
about her close-curling hair, and from her ears
Musk hushish and blood. 9
66 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
hung quivering two great rings of copper. An
hour ago she had made her ' ' great ablution " at
the fountain of the ksour, and drying herself in
the sun the while, she was washing the rag that
served her for a gandourah. She was clean, and
bright, and fresh ; she smelt of musk as on festa-
days, and her great eyes that glittered like two
carbuncles lighted up her queer little black face.
It was her grandfather that led her to wards me..
I seemed to see one of the three magi approaching r
the wise men of the East who came to greet the
child Jesus one Christmas night long ago : so
venerable and se dignified was his appearence.
He was an old man of sixty. A white beard,
short and woolly, framed his black, deeply fur-
rowed face, while a dirty turban was twisted
round his head. As thinly clothed as the child,
he only wore a burnouse, which half a century of
hard wear had converted into a sort of open
lace-work, and which just now and again veiled
the patriarch's nakedness.
Bent somewhat under the weight of years, the
THE PATRIARCH 67
desert storms and the stress of life generally, he
leant as he walked on a long staff, wielding it
with as much proud dignity as ever did the
old Shepherd Kings the pastoral crook that was
the sceptre of their sovereignty.
By way of frankincense and myrrh and other
costly Biblical perfumes, he brought with him
only a strong smell of unwashed male. This he
lavished about him profusely, and charged
nothing !
u Greeting be upon your head, Roumi ! " he
said, kissing my shoulder respectfully, u lo! here
is the maid you are expecting. "
So saying, he pushed the little negress forward.
The girl made a sort of half-hearted resistance,
throwing back the upper part of her body with a
slight twisting of hips and shoulders, like a spoilt
child that wants to be pressed to do something,
her mouth all the while widening, widening so
with satisfaction that you could not help thinking
she was going to bite her own ears.
Deuce take me if I was expecting anyone,
least of all this little negro maid.
" Why ! " I cried, astounded, u why ! negro,
what do you want of me ? "
68 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
I had arrived only that very morning at the
ksour, for the purpose of occupying- an outpost
with a dozen native Spahis. I knew absolutely
nobody in the place ; and I was expecting nothing,
as I sat there under a lifted corner of the tent,
smoking my cigarette in silence and gazing out at
the great sandy plain blotched here and there with
stunted bushes reddening in the rays of the
setting sun. My word, no ! I was not expecting
anyone except my sergeant Messaoud. I had sent
him into the ksour to find me an Arab to be man-
of-all-work, as my Orderly had been bitten by a
leffah (horned viper), as we were leaving Zezibet-
el-Oued. In less than an hour he had gone to the
arms of Israfil, and the limited number of my men
made it impossible for me to detach one of them
from his military duties to attend to me.
u They have been making game of you, negro !
I am expecting nobody. "
u The wise man should be ever expecting,"
replied the old mage sententiously, u ever
expecting evil as well as good. When it is the evil
THE PATRIARCH 69
that comes, he meets it unmurmuring; but when
it is good that drops from the sky, the man's
name is fool who should refuse to stoop to pick it
up. Lo ! it is the good that comes to you! Stoop,
honoured Sir ! and pick it up. "
Then placing the girl before me, he continued :
u She is called Black Pearl, and is the child of
my daughter Zouza. Now pick up your treasure-
trove ! Take her : ' ' you will not find her like
every day on the Desert road. "
" But what should I do with her? "
" Your sergeant, Sidi-Messaoud, has been
inquiring in the ksour on your behalf for a servant.
Servant-man or servant-maid, I thought it
mattered little to you. She will kindle your fire
and sweep your tent. She will make your coffee and
prepare the couscous for you. She will go and cut you
tufts of alpha-grass or diss for your bed, and will
arrange your saddle in such wise that at night
you will find it make a soft pillow for your head.
In brief, all service you ask of her, she will give
willingly as far as her powers go. In return, you
will pay me a douro each month, and you will
feed her with what is left over from your table.
Sir! I am a poor man, and the child is hungry. Do
70 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
us this kindness, and at the day of judgement,
Rahman the merciful ! will never call to mind how
you were counted among the Christians. "
With these words he pushed the child beneath
the tent in spite of all my protests. Then stretch-
ing out a long, bony, black hand :
u Pay the douro\ for a month, the Pearl is
yours. "
*
*
The little negress sat crouching in a corner, her
back leaning egainst a bag of barley beside my
saddle. Silent and motionless, the broad smile still
on her lips, she kept her great eyes fixed on me r
surprise and a shade of anxiety in her look.
"What am I to do with you? " I asked her.
" What you please, Sidi. "
u Oh, ho ! what I please ; but then 1 must know
what I can use you for. "
' I know how to light a fire, to sweep out a
a tent, to make couscous. "
1. One of the names given to " Allah" and used by mil-
lions of Moslems every hour in the classic phrase Bismil-
lahi-Rahmam-Raheem (In the Name of God the Merciful,
the Compassionate).
THE PATRIARCH 71
u That is not enough. "
" Oh ! I know how to wash a turban too, and
how to put a nose-bag full of barley on a horse's
nose."
"What else?"
44 I will sit by you when you take your siesta,
and with a banana leaf I will keep off the flies
that come to disturb your sleep. "
44 But I have a mosquito-net. "
" I will wake you at dawn, at whatever
hour you bid me. "
" But that is the trumpeter's business. 1 shall
not want you for any of these things. "
44 Tell me what you do want. "
44 You must black my boots. "
44 You shall teach me how. "
"Furbish up my sword and my spurs. "
44 You shall teach me how. "
44 Glean my accoutrements. "
" You shall teach me how. "
44 And my horse's harness. '
44 You shall teach me how. "
44 You are very willing, indeed, my little black
Pearl. But if I am to teach you everything and
show you how to do it all, I am very much
72 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
afraid I shall have all the work on my hands for
many a long day yet. What else can you do?"
u She looked at me steadily, displaying her
beautiful white teeth.
" Yes! what else?" I asked.
And she replied, without the least embarrass-
ment :
" I know how to love men, Sidi ! "
1 ' Love ! love ! at your age ! And who was
it taught you?"
Then the little Negress, pointing in the direction
of the Ksour. showed me the old Patriarch of the
Soudan wending his dignified way homewards
along the rocky path.
u It was the old man, " she said, " yonder ! ".
STOLEN, - A HEN!
Musk Hashish and blood 10
STOLEN, A HEN!
I
" The fourth! great Heavens, the fourth in a
week ! ! " swore Lieutenant Fortescu, after he had
verified the fact that another hen was missing from
the hen-house of the Officers' mess of the Squa-
76 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
dron. u Skulking ruffians, those Zouaves 1 ! thie-
ving jackals and scoundrels ! "
Now that very morning his Captain, Captain
Fleury, had said at breakfast :
" Fortescu, you must keep a sharper look out!
1 . Much confusion seems to exist amongst Englishmen
regarding these men. According to Marshal de Castellane
(Souvenirs de la vie militaire en Afrique, Paris, 1852), the
Zouaves are a fabulous and historical troop, renowned
alike for extravagant daring and for disorderly behaviour
and rascality. They were organised by M. de Lamoriciere
soon after the French conquest of Algiers, and their uniform
was much the same as the Turkish costume, with green
turbans. The regiment was partly formed out of bodies of
French troops called volontaires Parisiens and bataillons
de la Charte\ and the Marechal adds, that these fire-
eaters were lead up the breach at Constantine, in 1837, by
Lamoriciere, amidst a tempest of bullets, through
springing mines and a chaos of ruins. Again at the Siege of
Zaatsha, in 1848, Colonel Canrobert (raised later to the
rank of General, and subsequently becoming le dernier des
marechaux de France), addressed them thus : " What-
ever happens, we must scale these walls; and if the retreat
is sounded, remember, Zouaves, it is not for you ". These
men remind one strongly for their sheer " cussedness " and
pure rascality, of the " ragged rascals" (88 th Connaught
Rangers) of Picton. All of them picked men, they are gene-
rally of rather short stature, broad-shouldered, deep-
breasted, and bull-necked ; much more serviceable men
for mountain-climbing and forced marches than our six-
foot grenadiers. They are brave, hardy soldiers, but sly,
mauvais sujets.
STOLEN, A HEN! 77
You are caterer to the mess, and you let the Zou-
aves laugh in your teeth. The cook declares he has
lost three hens since they made their camp near
the Bordj. "
Here was a pretty disaster ! a fourth disap-
peared.
So for a good hour there he was examining the
poultry, counting and re-counting them! Finally as
they were going home to roost, the cock at the
head of the procession, dignified and self-satisfied,
as unruffled as though nothing whatever were the
matter, the idiotic fowl ! he had duly verified
the terrible fact : there was undoubtedly one short
at the roll-call. " Great heavens, the fourth hen
in one short week ! "
" Trumpeter, sound for the Quartermaster. "
So saying, he began to pace the courtyard of the
Fort with every sign of the liveliest anger, letting
his old cutty-pipe go out in his preoccupation. He
never let the hen-house out of his sight, hoping
every moment to see the dilatory bird run up to
rejoin its companions. Meantime Villerval, the
trumpeter, half drunk as usual, turned the brazen
mouth of his instrument to each of the four points
of the compass in turn, and blew his rousing :
78 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
1 'Ho ! barrack-yard watch-dog ! holloa ! holloa ! !
' ; Ho ! barrack-yard watch-dog ! holloa ! holloa ! !
in fourfold repetition.
The barracks watch-dog, at that particular period
Quartermaster Pechine, was just finishing his
seventh glass of absinthe in company with the
Marchef 1 in the arbour of the Canteen, cracking
somewhat highly flavoured jokes the while with
pretty little Mother Jardret, lawful wife of Jar-
dret, Canteen-keeper and farrier.
Like a good-natured soul and no Puritan, she
was not backward in repartee and gave him a good
Roland for his Oliver. She had a loud, staccato,
merry laugh of her own; and as she laughed, her
plump bosom rose and fell seductively. True it had
suckled a round half-dozen little Jardrets for the
country's service, but for all that it made the two
Non-coms' mouths water ; for in an outlying post
on the Tunisian frontier the beauteous sex was
chiefly conspicuous by its adsence.
" Yes! Lieutenant? "
" The fourth in a week, Quartermaster! that's
1. This is military slang for mar6chal-des-logis chef
(Cavalry, or Artillery) corresponding to our rank of ser-
geant major.
STOLEN, A HEN! 79
the way you perform your duties. The fourth hen,
Sir! the fourth, by God! "
" Hen, Sir! what hen? " stammered the other,
taken aback.
44 Disappeared, I tell you! stolen, looted by the
skulking Zouaves. "
44 1 can scarcely believe it, "returned the Quarter-
master. u The Spahis on guard have strict orders to
watch all Zouaves who come inside the Fort. And
besides, ever since the Zouaves have replaced the
linesmen Company, the fowls are never allowed
out of the court-yard. "
44 Well then ! it's the Bedawins they allow to
sleep in the cellars. I shall go and ask the Captain
to make a clean sweep of the lot ; else I give up
the mess, and it may go to the devil for me! "
A thin, fine, cold, penetrating, persistent rain
was beginning to fall. All very well to be in
Africa, in the valley of the Ouled-Mellegue,
five and twenly miles south of the Kef; for all that
in February, when the wind comes from the North-
West bringing this confounded rain with it, it is
not exactly warm. And for the past fortnight it
had been raining and blowing every night ! so the
empty cellars of the unfinished bordj filled up
80 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
rapidly as night fell, There negroes, Biskris, Mozab-
ites took refuge, in fact all the Berranis, all the
Khrames, that as plasterers, ass-drivers, haul-
iers, day-labourers, hodmen, were in the Con-
tractor's pay at ten sous a day.
A score or so of poor devils, very quiet and well
behaved and speaking in subdued tones, were seat-
ed warming their toes round little fires of broken
planks, shavings and chips of wood, that burned
here and there in different cellars and gave out
tiny, feeble flickers of flame. They were regular
poor men's fires, humble, beggarly, lurking affairs,
ashamed and afraid to show a proper blaze.
The fellows were tolerated, and that was all.
At first they had slept outside, in the neighbouring
bush or sometimes under shelter of the ramparts,
wrapped in their ragged burnouses ; but when the
North West came on to blow, bringing that sort of
fine penetrating rain with it that soaks a man to
the bone in half an hour, they used to slip in
stealthily every evening and shelter in the sub-
structures of the Fort. First two, then three, pre-
sently ten, and soon the whole clan of them.
They gave no trouble, not they ! Coming in noise-
lessly, an hour after the fowls had gone to roost,
STOLEN, A HEN! 81
they would be cooking their scrap of frechteack in
battered pots, before stretching their limbs for the
night round the hot embers. At peep of day they
would be up and away, waiting in the work-sheds
for their masters the masons to rise.
Poor creatures ! A man must find somewhere to
sleep. The starry vault of heaven sounds well, and
is said to give golden dreams, but only in dry
weather ; and with ten sous a day you can't
aspire to a room at the hotel! Then outside the
walls of the Fort, except for the hovels of the mer-
cantis and the masons' huts, there was nothing but
the Lush or the open desert. So their presence was
winked at ; indeed the Captain went so far as to
say, u they helped to dry the foundations. "But
from the instant the ragamuffins began to repay
our hospitality by stealing our hens, oh, no! ....
The fourth in a week, great God! We were as
angry as Lieutenant Fortescu himself, and made a
dash for the cellars.
" Up and out, you dirty horde of savages! ' !
The unfortunates could see by our faces we
meant business. They turned pale and sprang to
their feet without a word, a dismal silence greet-
ing our furious inrush.
Musk lutshishand blood. 11
82 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
" Where is the thief? heaven and earth!
where is the thief who's been stealing the Cap-
tain's hens ? "
Panic-stricken, they looked at each other. Then,
after the first moment of stupefaction, there rose a
chorus of indignant denial and protestations of in-
nocence. They all swore with hand on heart, by the
head of the Prophet and the beard of their fathers,
they were incapable of so foul an outrage.
We maintained an attitude of cool, ironical in-
credulity. With a kick we sent the crazy pots and
pans flying, together with the evening pittance
that was simmering in them over the fire. Sauces
unknown to cookery sputtered in the embers,
blackened fragments, bits of sheep's head and
bullock's neck, rolled in the ashes; but of hen,
roast or boiled, not a vestige! Every corner was
routed out, the dingy little heaps of clothes and
scraps of rotten matting turned over with the foot;
but never a trace of what we sought ! Finally, to
satisfy our conscience and to stop anyone saying
we had been wanting in zeal, the wretched little
fires were swept clean away, and cooking utensils
and remains of food, roasted onions and charred
firewood sent skimming to right and left; and
STOLEN, A HEN! 83
Quartermaster Pechine retired to report the result
of his mission.
" Not a vestige of a hen! Sir! "
4 ' By the Lord ! now did you suppose they were
going to offer you my hen on a dish? But they've
eaten it, the dogs ! They've devoured it, never fear,
the greedy pigs ! Pitch'em out ; and never let me
see the brutes again ! "
II
So they pitche d' em out accordingly ; and it didn't
take long either, I can tell you ! The rain was
coming down harder than ever ; and the wind blew
in fierce gusts, making their wet clothes stick to
their poor shivering bodies. They disappeared,
God knows where to, taking their drenched belong-
ings with them. They made a melancholy, silent
company, bearing hungry bellies and sick hearts
without a murmur, bending low beneath the lash
of a hard fate.
When the last was gone, the Quartermaster
threw the light of his lantern into every corner.
He was just climbing the stairway again, when he
caught a groan. He instituted a fresh search and
84 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
directing the gleam into a dark recess, suddenly
flashed it on a group of two.
'" Holloa! who's there?"
In the very darkest corner, under the staircase
of the cellar, crouched an old negro shaking with
fever or cold, while seated by his side, supporting
the old man's head on his knees, was a second
negro, the latter a young, strong man, who was
endeavouring to restore some warmth to the aged
body. With this view he had stripped himself of
his burnouse and gandourah j , and stark naked
and shivering himself, was bending over his com-
panion and clasping him in his arms. But the old
fellow's teeth were chattering like castanets, and
you could see, and a right pitiful sight it made,
his white woolly beard that curled closely
under his chin, going up and down, up and down,
in rapid jerks, while his eyes were fixed in a
stupid unwavering stare on the flame of the lan-
tern.
The younger man, clinging tight to the old, and
encircling him with his arms, tried to hide him,
as one might a child, with his own body, at the
1. A large robe covering the limbs down to the ancles.
STOLEN, A HEN! 85
same time making himself as small as possible,
even yet hoping to escape notice.
" What! more of the savages! " shouted the
Quartermaster. " Why! I declare there are two
more of them there! Is there no way to be rid of
the vermin? Out with you both, by the Lord! out
with you!
He tried to lash himself into a passion ; but at
heart he was not a bad sort, and deep down some-
where he felt his heart swell at the idea of turning
out an old man dying of fever into the rainy night.
Then the younger man rose, and with humble,
fawning, supplicating tones :
" Sidi, I beseech you, let us stay. He is my
father. Look how the fever burns him ! I have
brought him from Souk- Arras to-day ; now he can
go no further. Do not turn us out, Sidi ! ! we have
done no harm. Had there been a douar near here,
we would have made our way to the douar, I
would have carried him there on my shoulders ; but
there is none. Leave us alone for one night, in our
little dark corner. We will not make any noise, we
1. "Sidi" is the popular transcription of the classical
Sayyidi, my lord, or sir, and much used by the Arabs of
Northern Africa.
86 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
will not budge a foot, and we will be off your
hands before daylight to-morrow. "
The Quartermaster turned his back, and climbed
the staircase once again.
44 All gone? " asked the Lieutenant.
u Yes, Sir ! all except an old negro, who
cannot walk. "
4 4 An old man ! Then he is a bigger scoundrel
than the rest, that's all ! No doubt he stole my
hens. "
44 I think not, Sir ! He is sick, and but just arri-
ved from Souk-Arras. "
* 4 Eh ? then what's all this story about his
not being able to walk? He comes from Souk- Ar-
ras, you say? Well then! he's a thief the Kroumirs
have sent; and he's sick with indigestion from
gobbling up my hen too fast, the greedy glutton !
Dog ! You're to turn him out, I say ; ancl mark
me ! quick's the word. '
The Quartermaster went down once more ; and
ashamed at heart of the orders he had to execute,
and still hesitating about carrying them into effect,
said to the young negro :
14 Gome, my man! be off with you. Take your
father away. The Captain won't allow anybody to
stay here. "
STOLEN, A HEN! 87
With this he left him, without insisting further
and without looking back, feeling sure the negro
would not folio w him, avoided Lieutenant Fortescu
and ran to the Canteen, where his dinner was
getting cold.
But Fortescu, wrapped in his hooded greatcoat
and puffing fiercely at his pipe, stood at the main-
gate of the Bordj. Presently seeing no signs of the
old fellow, whom he meant to give a piece of his
mind to as he went out, and getting tired of wait-
ing, he went down himself into the cellars, and
ended by discovering the two men. He began to
swear furiously,
" Sidi! he is my father, " the young man said
once more. " You too, perhaps you have a father
who is old and feeble. In your father's name, let
mine stay here a few hours. Have pity on him,
Sidi ! The Prophet says : ' ' Have compassion on
thy father and on thy mother, when they are
waxen feeble, even as they had compassion on thee
when thou wast a young child. " Look! he shud-
ders like the skirt of a burnouse shaken by the
wind. "
" Out with you ! out with you ! " shouted For-
tescu, now furiously angry ; " do you think my fa-
88 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ther is a starveling vagabond like yours? Be off,
both of you ; or I will see what a sound thrashing
with sword scabbards will do to get rid of you ! ?1
And he pushed the old man with his boot, who
gathered together all the strength he could muster
to get up and obey.
u Sidi ! do not strike him ; by your head, I say,
do not strike him, " the son cried, with blazing
eyes and trembling lips. His fists were clenched,
and he glared threateningly at the Officer.
The ruddy glare of the lantern brought out
purple tones on the bronze of his skin. A tall,
muscular, wild figure, he came near intimidating
Fortescu, who felt by no means eager to come to
grips in a cellar with the dusky giant. So, step-
ping back to one of the air-holes that opened
near the guard-room, he called :
'* Quarter-guard, here, I say ! "
Then, as soon as five or six Spahis were round
the young negro, he gave him three or four slash-
ing blows on the naked back with his cane.
Passion makes even the bravest of us do
cowardly acts sometimes.
Pointing to the old man, and you could hear
the very death-rattle in the old fellow's throat :
STOLEN, A HEN! 89
" Pitch me that garbage out of doors, " he said,
and proceeded to relight his pipe.
The son's eyes were blood-shot with fury ; but
he stooped down without a word, lifted his
father in his arms, wrapped him up carefully, and
putting him on his shoulders, like ^neas with
the old Anchises, sallied out, naked as he was,
from the Bordj, spitting behind him as he left the
gate.
The rain was coming down heavier than ever.
Little Madame Jardret, with the Marchefs bur-
nouse thrown over her shouldres, came running
up, laughing to see the tall negro, naked as
Adam, carrying an old man perched so comically
on his back, while the Mar chef behind her, taking
unfair advantage of the rights the loan of his bur-
nouse gave him and profiting by the darkness,
was tickling her in likely places, and making her
give little half stifled screams. But meantime,
yonder, out on the plain, a staggering figure,
lashed by wind and battered by the rain, was
gradually disappearing in the darkness.
Mvsk hashish and blood. 12
90 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
III
Some three weeks later, Lieutenant Fortescu,
pipe in mouth and cane in hand, was peacefully
promenading up and down, like any respectable
citizen, between the bushes of juniper and myrtle
that surrounded the bordj of El-Meridj. The sky
was indigo and the sun shining brilliantly, while
the swallows were arriving in their thousands.
For the first time since the beginning of the year
he had got out his suit of white duck and was
wearing a big palmleaf hat, a present from a
neighbouring Caid, Hamda-bel-Hassen. All the
while as he smoked his faithful pipe, he kept
hitting out angrily with his cane at the young
shoots of broom, like a Chaouch rapping Turks*
heads.
Yet he had made an excellent breakfast, enjoyed
his coffee, and his pousse-cafe taken in due order
his beer, a white-wash, a second white-wash,
then beer again. So what the deuce was he dissat-
isfied about?
Had another hen missed roll-call? Alas, yes!
and not one, or two, or three, but ten! Soon
STOLEN, A HEN! 9t
the defaulters were reckoned by dozens. The cock
himself, that noble Cochin-China, so proud and
haughty and so vigorous, that Hercules of the
poultry-yard, had vanished. Yet the cellars of the
Bordj sheltered no more Chaouias and no more
negroes. In fact Fortescu, by recognizing the
mutilated remains of the file-leader and husband
of his flock simmering along with boiled potatoes
in a camp-kettle in the lines of No. 4 Company
of the Second, had just had convincing proof it was
the Zouaves, and the Zouaves only, who devast-
ated his poultry-yard.
But this was not what troubled him, and made
him slash away the green boughs of the myrtles,
Venus' own tree ; for these thefts would in the
nature of things very soon end. The Company of
Zouaves was going back to Constantine. A few
days more and they would be rid of these trouble-
some neighbours.
And this was precisely the thing that annoyed
Fortescu so. During the two years the works on
the Fort lasted, the Smala of Spahis not being at
first sufficient to protect the work-people, the
authorities had in the first instance sent a battal-
ion. But presently the battalion was reduced to
92 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
two Companies, and later on to one. Now they
were withdrawing this as entirely unnecessary.
The country was pacified, the frontier tribes
brought to their knees, no more sentries murder-
ed, no more colonists' heads cut off, a dead calm
everywhere ! A man could go from Tebessa to
El-Meridj, from El-Meridj to Souk- Arras, from
Souk- Arras to the Tarf, and from there to La
Galle, calmy swinging his stick and smoking
cigarettes, as he might stroll from the Bastille to
the Madeleine, with only this much difference
that instead of paying for his refreshment on the
way at an exorbitant price, and giving a tip to the
waiter into the bargain, you were entertained for
nothing at every halting place on the road by the
silly Arabs, without feeling in any way bound to
say so much as u thank you ! " to them on leaving.
And this state of things had lasted now for
months and months ! And it might very well go
on lasting for months and months more, or even
years. Well and good ! well and good ! But then
God in heaven ! what about a man's promotion !
Quite true for six months past the terrible
fevers of El-Meridj had been at work on the Cap-
tain, leaving nothing but the bare skin on his
bones.
STOLEN, A HEN! 93
If he were to break his pipe, it would make a
vacancy. But when was he going to tuck in his
toes ? One sees men like that, weakly, suffer-
ing creatures, with one leg in the grave, men you
would think had only one other breath to draw in
this world, and lo ! they see the strongest into the
Church-yard.
Not that he had any grudge against that most
excellent fellow, Captain Fleury, individually.
Far from it ; he was devoted to him, and would
have had his own skin cut into ribbons to save him
in a charge. But deuce and all! as there was
nothing whatever in the pot in the whole blessed
country in the way of fighting, one couldn't help
asking if some of the seniors didn't mean presently
to attend a funeral parade.
Each for himself, that's the way, eh ? Anything
to do ? No ! good God ! nothing ! nothing at all ! The
miserable Bedawin are got so tame they can be
sheared like sheep. Pack of fools! if only they
would just kick up a dust now and then ! But all
they want is to live in peace and quietness. Peace
and cmietness ! Phaugh !
What cursed luck ! Twenty years* service, and
only a Senior Lieutenant ! He had made interest to
94 MCSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
secure a frontier command, counting on raids and
fighting and hard knocks, and he was putting
on flesh ! When was this blessed Government,
a Government of attorneys and cheesemongers ,
going to make up its mind to come down on
somebody or something ? Why ! if only the Emper-
or were there still, the thing would have been
done ages ago. How do you suppose Officers are
ever to become Republican, if the Republican
Government cuts off every chance of promotion !
Might just as well stay at home and be a tallow-
chandler. A man would make more, selling
candles. Service gone to the dogs in these parts !
Not ten months ago you couldn't have taken ten
steps outside the Bordj without a plum-stone at
your head, and here he was more than two hun-
dred yards away. 'A man is bound to reckon on
fever and dysentery, when there's not the very
faintest vestige of a bullet flying anywhere !
As if some good-natured Fairy had overheard
Fortescu's reflections and determined to satisfy his
wishes in this particular at any rate, there was a
sudden explosion and a ball whizzed hissing past
his ear, so close he could feel the wind of it.
He wheeled round with a quickness and nim-
STOLEN, A HEN! 95
bleness hardly to have been expected of so stout a
soldier.
" Stupid idiot! awkward fool! " he screamed.
44 It's that damned Marchef shooting hares ! Hi!
you there ! take care where you're shooting to,
confound you ! "
But at that moment a second shot, that made a
hole right through his favourite palm-leaf hat,
showed him conclusively that the sportsman,
whoever he was, was taking the greatest care
where he was shooting to, and that he was not
shooting at a hare ; and pale with anger and aston-
ishment, he perceived through the blue smoke
that curled gracefully from a thicket of tamarinds,
a fluttering white burnouse.
44 To horse ! to horse ! "
And still panting with his exertions, he showed
the Captain the hole in his hat.
44 Are they in force ? " asked the latter, spring-
ing out of bed, all shaking with fever as he was.
" I had no time to count them, Sir! they are
in ambush in the bush ; but they fired several
shots. "
44 I heard two. I thought it was that fool of a
Marchef out shooting. "
96 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
But there was the Marchef coming up at the
double from the Canteen, where he had been just
in the act of sweetening his sixth tumbler in the
course of his famous anecdote of the Amorous
Maiden, that alway made little Madame Jardret
ill with laughing.
" A platoon, to horse! " was the order. And
within five minutes the platoon under the com-
mand of Fortescu was leaving the Fort at a round
trot.
The covert was thoroughly beaten, and every
thicket searched. The men went down into the bed
of the Wad-Horhirh between the deep banks. But
not a thing could they find except some herd-boys
and two or three Chaouias sitting quietly discuss-
ing the news of the day.
The enemy had vanished.
A child who had scudded away at the approach
of the Spahis was quickly overtaken and brought
back. On being threatened that they would cut
her head off incontinently, if she did not tell the
truth and the whole truth, she admitted in fear
and trembling having seen a tall negro slip through
the bush and make off at a run towards the douar
of the Caid of the Ouled-Ali, Hamda-bel-Hassen,
STOLEN, A HEN! 97
from the further side of the Oued-Hohrirh, at
the foot of the mountain.
IV
The Caid Hamda-bel-Hassen had anything but a
good record in the books of the Bureau arabe. In
former times he had borne a share in every one
of the risings of the Nememchas ; and though he
had made formal submission during the recent
frontier troubles and had duly furnished his goum,
it was obvious to all he did so against the grain.
Nevertheless since the establishment of the
perpetual camp of El-Meridj and since the Fort
of the same name had been built, a standing
menace, on the very edge of his territory, he had
lived peaceably with his neighbours, as a wise
man should, dividing his interest between his
wives and his slouguis (hounds). Twice every year
he would present himself at Tebessa with his
Secretary and Treasurer-in-Chief to pay his assess-
ment, and was always accompanied by a mule
carrying a full load of Tunisian silks, braided
djebiras, ostrich eggs, and native arms forged in
the ksours. The presents were of no great value,
Musk hashish and blood. 13
98 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
but they served to keep up a friendly feeling, and
were such as the Officials of the Bureau could
accept without compromising their characters.
The sudden irruption of the red troopers there-
fore surprised him beyond measure. However he
received them with smiles of welcome, coming
forward to meet them escorted by the kebirs (great
men) of his douar :
u Welcome, thrice welcome ! Lo! you are sent
of heaven! " he cried. u Greeting be on your
heads, and happiness ! Can I believe my eyes ?
Yes ! joy of joys ; it is, it is he, my friend, the
brave and noble lieutenant Fortescu, lord of the
sword ! How goes it ? how goes it with you and
yours, my brother? "
u Gut short your compliments, " Fortescu
replied roughly, being a man who professed the
profoundest scorn for mere foolish civility, a thing
only fit for children, whether at home or abroad.
41 We know you, my noble lord, who you are
and what you are. This very morning men of your
tribe have fired on Officers of the Bordj. "
" Men of my Tribe ! " exclaimed Hamda-bel-
Hassen. Is it possible? I am amazed at what you
tell me. You have been misinformed, my son. "
STOLEN, A HEN ! 99
u Misinformed, by God ! Why ! two balls whist-
led by my own ears, and my hat was shot clean
through! "
" Since you say so, it is so ; for nought but the
truth can come forth from your lips. Tell me then
the name of the wretches ; and may Allah empty
my saddle and give my mare a Jew for master, if
they have not sharp justice and short shrift. "
u You mock me, Ca'id. How should I know
your savages one from another? But there was a
negro with them. "
" A negro ! There are no negroes at the douar
but my servant Salem. Salem, come hither. "
A tall negro 3 young and strong, came out of the
tent, laughing and wondering, showing his dazzl-
ingly white teeth.
" That's the man! " exclaimed Fortescu; " I
know him. I turned him out of the bordj three
weeks ago. He stole our hens. "
u What you tell me, dearest friend of my heart,
astounds me, " returned the Caid. This man can-
not have stolen your hens. He came to us from
Souk- Arras, at the last gasp from weariness and
hunger, carrying on his back his father's body,
the aged Bou-Beker, who died of fever that
100 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
rainy night ; and we made him welcome among
us."
" No doubt at all, now! It's our man. Spahis,
seize the scoundrel. "
44 Hold your hands, my children. You are Mus-
sulmans ; do not do an unjust deed. May Allah
desert me in my utmost need, if Salem has left the
douar this day ! '
In face of this oath, the Spahis hesitated.
" Flat mutiny! " screamed Fortescu. u Now
look here, Gaid Hamda-bel-Hassen ! I am going to
surround your douar , and drive you every one to
the Fort. The order hangs on your answer. Give
up the fellow with a good grace ; if not, why !
I take him by force, and then look out for broken
heads. If he is innocent, he shall be sent back
again. "
When he heard these words, the negro Salem
seized the hem of his master's burnouse and
throwing himself at his knees, cried :
44 Gaid, my good lord and master, do not give
me up ! I shelter my head under the skirt of your
burnouse. I am your slave and your guest. Do not
give me up ; they will never send me back again. "
Some way off the inhabitants of the douar were
STOLEN, A HEN! 101
looking on in sullen silence. But on the threshold
of the tents, the women were listening to what
passed, and more fiery than the men, more excitable
and also more keenly alive to injustice and the
breach of plighted faith, they cried :
" Do not give him up, Gaid. He is the guest of
the Tribe. By the head of the Prophet and the
oath of Ebrahim (Abraham) do not let him go.
You know, you know it was not he that fired at
the French officer, but his brother El Kenine (the
Rabbit), who has taken to the mountains by now.
The Roumi drove out his dying father ; he but
tried to avenge the cruelty. It is well done ! '
And all the men re-echoed :
" It is well done ! "
The Lieutenant gave the word to draw
swords.
Twenty-four naked blades flashed in the red
rays of the setting sun, and the sight put the
finishing touch to the women's fury.
u Out on the accursed dogs ! "they yelled, " dogs
and children of dogs ! Ho ! men, our husbands and
our sons, what! have you never a ball in your
pouches? "
But the Gaid, raising his arm and turning to the
102 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
shouting women, said in a stern voice of com-
mand :
" Peace, women! your tongues are like the tail
of the black scorpion ; when they wound, they
kill. Silence ! the men know what they have to
do. "
Then, addressing the Officer :
u Listen! what is written is written; but your
act is an act of violence. I have but to wave my
hand and the powder would speak. But I am the
friend of the Frenchmen, and I would fain live
without dispute between us. Take the man; I do
not give him up to you, for he is my guest ; but I
trust him to you. To-morrow, at mid-day, I shall
come to your Bordj to claim him back ; between
now and then you will have had time to reflect . . .
. . .Women, hold your peace! The Officer told us :
If he is innocent, we will give him back. I have
his word. My own head be accursed for ever, if
one hair of his shall suffer. "
It was late at night when they got back to the
Bordj, and the Captain turned out on purpose to
STOLEN, A HEN! 103
put the prisoner to a provisional and summary
examination.
This latter persisted in his denials. Was it he
that had fired on the Lieutenant ? Was it his bro-
ther El Kenine? Had he a brother named El
Kenine at all? It was never discovered. But after
all what did it matter? His brother or himself,
it came to the same thing. The essential point was
to punish the insolence of that Hamda-bel-Hassen,
and you could hardly find a better opportunity. To
remove any last scruples that might have troubled
the conscience of the judges, two or three Spahis
were ready to declare they thought they recogniz-
ed the darkey again as having seen him prowling
by night round the bastions. But then all negroes
are alike from the moment when you can no longer
make out the difference between a white thread
and a black.
With the limbs of a Hercules, intrepid, strong
and active, the man was only the more dangerous
for these qualities. Who knows he was not the
thief who stole the horse Quartermaster-Sergeant
Othman-ben-Khalifa had had lifted one night close
to his tent right in the very middle of the smala ? "
Why of course it must be him ! " He was thrown into
104 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
the silos meanwhile, until he could be conveyed to
the Bureau Arabe at Tebessa to-morrow morning.
But on second thoughts why bring him before
the Bureau at all?
A long discussion took place, as the result of
which two Zouaves were put on sentry-duty behind
each bastion, outside the Bordj, with strict orders
as to their duty.
The Corporal, Ali-bel-Kassen, on guard-duty
that night, enjoyed a private interview with his
Lieutenant. Then a strange thing happened; the
man, on duty as he was and as a rule a pattern of
vigilance, to-night of all nights fell so dead asleep
that he clean forgot to push to the bolt of the trap-
door closing the silo.
The said silo was a square hole ten feet or so
deep, and served as the negro's prison. It was
excavated in the South-East bastion, facing the
frontier, and was lined with masonry. It was enter-
ed by means of a ladder, which was drawn up as
soon as the prisoner had descended. But an active
man can dispense with ladders ; and accordingly,
towards three o'clock in the morning, a great black
shadow that seemed to issue from underground,
crept along the walls.
STOLEN, A HEN ! 105
" Glory be to God All-Merciful ! "
The Spahis on guard, wrapped in their burnouses
were snoring behind their horses. The phantom
glided between them and their horses' tails in the
gloom of the shed, patting the suddenly awaken-
ed animals and saying, " Steady there! steady,
my beauty ! " as a watchful man might do on
stable-duty ; then directly he was hidden by the
wooden bulkhead forming one side of the shed,
near the Canteen, he bent himself double in the
angle where the walls met, and by the help of
hands, knees and feet, with the agility of a panther,
in ten seconds reached the summit of the wall.
For an instant his naked body was visible astride
the top, looking for all the world like an antique
Florentine bronze. He scanned with longing eyes
the dark bush that blotched the stony soil below
him. Quite near, not five hundred yards away at
farthest stretched the grey Tunisian plain, from
which rose, like some Giant's table, the square
rock of Galash, and once there he could defy the
accursed Christians.
Five minutes' running, some leaping through
the broom and tall grass, and then, the frontier
and freedom!
Musk hashish and blood. 14
106 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
It may be he was seized by the strange spasm
they call a presentiment, the horrid feeling that
haunts men threatened by disaster ; at any rate he
hesitated, and turning his head so as to look back
into the great silent courtyard of the Fort, he
seemed to be debating if it were not better after
all to come down again, go back to his silos, and
submit to the good pleasure of the military tri-
bunal.
But suddenly, just below him, the Canteen-
woman's cock, awakened by the scraping and
scratching on the wall, made the whole Fort
resound with the shrill echoes of his morning
crow. The hens clucked, the whole poultry-yard
awoke, and the negro disappeared down the other
side of the wall.
He opened his arms wide, leapt forward and
fell lightly in the ditch, with legs bent under him
like an accomplished gymnast, and arms in front.
Then he cleared the counterscarp with one bound,
and away towards the broom.
" Glory be to God All-Merciful! " he said, for
the second time.
His escape seemed secure.
But at that moment he caught the ominous,
STOLEN, A HEN ! 107
familiar sound of a musket being cocked, and made
a spring to one side.
" Crack! crack! "
He leapt, his body bent double, into the darkest
covert.
A flash clove the darkness, a peal of thunder,
then silence.
Then a second flash and a second explosion. The
sound of a man's body striking the ground ... a
long choking moan . . . then nothing. And two
triumphant, but rather shaky, voices shouted :
" Hurra! he's got his physic. "
u Well shot indeed! "
Then two Zouaves, with bayonets fixed, rushed
up.
" Hilloa ! " they said, " why! it's a Negro ! "
VI
When the Caid Hamda-bel-Hassen arrived
towards eight o'clock, he was shown the corpse. It
lay in the same spot where the man had fallen,
face downwards, shot from behind like a runaway.
There were two hits, one in the shoulder, one
in the loins.
108 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The Caid bent his head in silence. Indeed there
was nothing to be said. It is the law of War : an
attempt at escape is always punished with a bul-
let.
He went home without lodging any complaint.
The women of the douar received him with hoot-
ing, and from Saturday to Friday his youngest
wife refused him her favours. But he swore before
them all, that to pay for his servant's head he
would throw them ten Roumis' heads.
The country till then comparatively peaceable,
grew disturbed, full of u excursions and alarums. "
Volcanoes of evil passions broke into eruption on
every side. The sleeping plains awoke, the mount-
ains and ravines shuddered.
The Caid Hamda-bel-Hassen kept his word. He
took the ten heads, one after the other, plucking
them from Christian shoulders like flowers from
the stalk, to pacify the angry women of the Ouled-
Ali. He had taken sanctuary amid the precipitous
rocks of the Djebel ; but every time he came down
into the plain, he left his mark there, and his
mark was a great splotch of blood.
The squadron of Spahis and Company of Zou-
aves became as of old insufficient, and were rein-
STOLEN, A HEN! 109
forced by troops from Souk-Arras and from Teb-
essa.
The banks of the Oued-Horhirh and the Oued-
Mellegue were red with carnage. Two other Tribes
had joined that of Hamda-bel-Hassen, the whole
force amounting to 800 horses and some 1200
muskets. It took several weeks to get the upper
hand again. Then the noble sport of man-hunting
began. Tracked like beasts of prey, they had to
surrender at discretion. No quarter was given;
such were the orders. Once taken, arms or no
arms, they were slaughtered like dogs. They
burned the clump of mountain country where
Hamda-bel-Hassen still held out. Vines, crops,
olives, fig-trees, all were soon in ashes.
The ancient forests of cork-oaks blazed like tinder.
The " insurgents" would not give in. Hacked and
slashed, undermined and blown sky-high, they let
fly their last cartridge. Cartridges finished, they
fought hand-to-hand with their flissas. Blades
broken, they bit, till our men took to the butt
and smashed their jaws.
Not having a Bazaine, they had no Metz. . . but
they had their Sedan. And as they possessed
neither tribunes, nor lawyers, nor professional
110 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
politicians, to sow discord and corruption among
them, the last survivors marched to their death
shoulder to shoulder.
Surrounded in a rocky hollow to the number of
two or three hundred, tattered and half naked, worn
out with utter weariness, dying of hunger and
thirst, they were shot down by two thousand
assailants. They fell to the last man. Once more
civilization gave a good account of her savage
enemies.
Fortescu, in all this rumpus, won his Captain's
badge. He had shown himself a brave man, and
no one could say he had not fairly won it.
He took up his quarters once more at the Bordj,
where he was second in command; and smoking
his old short pipe, dressed in his suit of white duck
and his brand-new ke*pi of sky-blue, he cast many
a look from the high ground on which the ram-
parts of El-Meridj rise proudly dominating the
bare country-side and the still smoking forests, and
smiling to himself like a man proud of his work,
would say :
*' And all that for a stolen hen! However we
have nothing to reproach ourselves with. No one
can say we began it. '
STOLEN, A HEN ! Ill
" No! Captain/" answered Sub-Lieutenant
Pechine, calling to mind the nickname of the negro
Salem (El Kenine), " it was the rabbit did it! '
VI
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD
Musk hashish and hlood. 15
VI
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD
I
TO MY FRIEND LEON CLADEL 4
I do not approve of persons who take the exec-
ution of Justice into their own hands; nor do I
recognize any more right as belonging to an
injured husband to kill his wife's lover or his guilty
wife herself than I do for a man who has just had
his watch stolen to cut the pick-pocket's throat.
The offence is not one deserving of the supreme
penalty of death, and the right to inflict it which
the wronged husband arrogates to himself, and
which every jury endorses, is a mere survival of
Greek, Roman and Jewish customs; for our own
1. A celebrated French novelist of the Naturaliste School.
- One evening, at Sevres, seated at the fireside of the
famous author of L'Homme de la Croix aux Bceufs, one
foot on the fender, I told him the tale. He was so greatly
struck by it as to make me promise on the spot to write it
down ; and on this account I dedicate it to him.
116 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ancestors, the Franks, were much more accom-
modating, being satisfied with making the lover
pay a fine of a hundred pence ! In England a hus-
band who kills his unfaithful wife or her lover is
hung, just like any other murderer.
Our neighbours across the Channel have here
and there good points about them we should do
well to imitate, such for instance as punctuality,
and the cat o'nine tails*.
Still when Justice makes herself the tacit accom-
plice of the murderer, and actually encourages
\. "Whip having nine thongs of leather tipped each with
a little ball of lead, used in the English prisons for the
correction of garrolters and burglars. The tender sensib-
ility of the philanthropists was shocked, and they gave
utterance to loud protests : but as a matter of fact since
the introduction of this " barbarous" punishment, crimes
of violence and night assaults have decreased 80 per cent in
London." It is quite agreable to find in Hector France an
exponent of this healthy Doctrine. We hate cruelty, a rem-
nant of our animal ancestry, the link that yet binds us strong-
ly to the untamed brute. But similia smu7t'Aus,an eye for an
eye, teeth for a tooth, we believe is the only practice that
will turn rddeurs de barrieres and foul-minded souteneurs,
whether of Paris or London, from fattening on the sale of
women's bodies, and attacking drunken, or defenceless old
men. Vide Etude sur la flagellation a travers les Ages aux
Points de vue Medical, Historique et Conjugal (Paris, 1899).
for further details concerning the efficacy and " beauty"
of corporal punishment.
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD 117
resort, as we have only too often seen, to the use
of vitriol and the revolver, she thereby authorizes
the victim to take the law into his own hands, or
the family to avenge their relative's death.
I should be very sorry to see the habits of the
Corsican u bush " introduced in France; but if my
wife were murdered, or my father, or my mother,
or my son, and the murderer were just quietly
sent home again safe and sound under the pretext
that he had made an unfortunate mistake, I should
not hesitate an instant to make another unfortu-
nate mistake and put a bullet through his head.
Readers must excuse my little preamble. I was
anxious to express my opinion on the remarkable
verdict in a late trial, in which the Jury by acquit-
ting a wife, a rather impetuous and very short-
sighted lady, would seem desirous of setting up
Lynch law in France. Personally, I should have
no objection; but they must confer on us at the
same time the other privileges of American liber-
ty.
And now I come to my story, a story of an
injured husband who followed so many good
examples, and took the law into his own hands.
118 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
It was the third time Ahmed-ben-Abderahman
had played the part of injured husband. True he
had never been thrashed into the bargain, but this
was a small consolation under the circumstances.
As a matter of fact his anger had been extreme,
as he sufficiently proved by his acts. When his
first wife went astray, he sliced her head neatly
off with a keen knife, following the time-honoured
custom of Mussulman husbands in such cases. This
brought him into serious trouble, from which he
only escaped with the utmost difficulty, mainly
owing to the influence of General Desveaux.
The second time, he copied the Moor of Venice
and smothered the frail offender, having first of all
broken the gay Lothario's arm with a musket bullet.
The latter was a young Official of the Bureau
Arabe, and got off without further inconven-
ience. On this occasion however, as it was a
second offense, Abderahman was condemned to
several years' transportation over seas by a Jury
who had every one of them suffered in the same
way as he had, but failed to consider the cirum-
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD 119
stance that the repetition of the crime was after all
a consequence of the repetition of the wrong 4 .
1. Except in very rare cases, adultery has always been
regarded as a grave offence and punished condignly. D r Ed.
Dupouy (Mtdecine et Mceurs de Vancienne Rome, Paris 1892)
gives an instance from Plautus, the Roman Comedian,
where the delightful operation of castration was performed
upon the male offender.
Quin jamdudum gestit moecho abdomen adimere,
Ut faciam quasi puero in colla pendeant crepundia.
Nowadays a little harmless shooting, or a fine in the
Divorce Court, appears to soothe the civilised husband's
wrath; but we know of the case of a celebrated translator
of an Arabic Story-book, who was said to be impotent, and
yet was "blessed" with a wife of a most ardent nature,
whom he surprised one twilight on a sofa with a lover. To
avoid a scandal he crossed the room without affecting to
see anything, but rumour hath it that he afterwards gave
her a severe private castigation. The Germans, according to
the Ethnographer, Letourneau, used to make the guilty
woman walk naked through the village. In some of the
Celtic tribes the husband used to test the legitimacy of his
newborn child by letting him float on a river upon a shield :
If the baby was drowned, the signification drawn was that
the woman had broken the conjugal part, and that she
ought to be put to death. As late as the Middle Ages, the
adulterous woman was shut up in a convent for the rest of
her life ; and in case of flagrant crime, the husband might
put her to death, claiming, too, if necessary, his son's
assistance. Such was the canon law; the makers of the
code, it would appear, did not even dream of punishing
adultery on the part of the husband. And still we hear of
the woman's emancipation being effected by Christianity 1
120 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Returning home from Cayenne, aged and bat-
tered, but in no way reformed or penitent, he took
a new wife, the old ones having meantime grown
to look worn out and ugly.
I had known Sidi-ben-Abderahman well when
he was Caid of Ouargla and more than once I had
found an opportunity of doing him some small ser-
vices. He still remembered these facts when he
met me at Gonstantine after his misfortunes. He
was then living in a handsome house built in the
Moorish style near the great Mosque, the Djema
el Kebir ; and was often good enough to invite me
to drink coffee and eat couscous with him. Amiable,
courteous and liberal, he allowed no trace to appear
externally of chagrin or ill-will. An Arab gentleman
of high birth, a scion of the powerful family of the
Ouled Khelif, he still possessed a comparatively
large fortune and maintained at his own cost, like
the Roman Patricians, a score of poor relations
belonging to his Tribe. In this way he brought up
a young camel-boy of the Sou/", in whom he had
noted a quick intelligence. He had him instructed
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD 121
in the learning- of the Talebs i and eventually
admitted as an Assessor in the Chamber of the
Amins (Court of Arbitration). The young man
lived in his patron's house, who employed him as
Steward of the household and Secretary, and had
made a friend and companion of him. No need to
say more to make you understand his opportunities
and foresee the result that followed.
I ought to add as an extenuating circumstance
that Ahmed-ben- Abderahm an was getting on for
sixty, a good age for a Bedouin who has spent
five years of his life at Cayenne, and like the old
Sheikh in the Ballad, has
u Grey-headed grown in camp and field. "
i. The word " talib" comes from the Arabic root talaba
meaning " to search, or enquire after " and is employed
generally to signify an educated man, a Iettr6. The studies
of the talibs or more correctly the tolab are confined to
Theological dogma, Grammar, Jurisprudence, a dash of
Astronomy, and the History of the Arabs. Nothing else is
considered worthy of the scholar's attention , unless it be
the commerce of the sexes, about which some capital works
exist.
For this reason as Daumas long ago noted (Moeurs et
coutumes de VAlgerie) the most learned are inconceivabily
ignorant of the Arts and Sciences of other peoples. They
study only speculative and conjectural matters and utterly
neglect those exact and positive connaissances which alone
open up the path of progress to mankind.
Mask hashish and blood 16
122 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
However grey hairs and wisdom by no means
invariably go together, and like many another, the
former Caid of Ouargla only got more unreasonable
as his beard whitened. The flaunts he had received
so far had failed to disillusion him, and he married
again, married the divine Hadjira.
I say divine advisedly, and you would have said
the same, had you seen her. She was the very
prettiest little Moorish beauty imaginable, and
except for her father, her brothers, her husband,
her lover and myself, no profane masculine eye
had ever polluted her sweet face. The moment I
set eyes on her, I understood the worthy Abderah-
man's infatuation.
Yes ! he loved her madly ; and the terrible ven-
geance he took on her when, within a few weeks
of the marriage-night, he discovered he had been
deceived again, was a mortal grief to the old
man.
Curiously enough I was the man who, without
knowing it at the time, suggested the nature of
the punishment to be inflicted on Amin Al-Askoub
But indeed the young Magistrate was an atrocious
scamp, as much to blame as Hadjira, or more, for
she was only a simple-minded child after all ; and
123
I salved my conscience with the phrase, "Evil
begets suffering, and evil-living evil dying. " But
really no remorse ever troubled my sleep, which
is they say the best possible proof of a conscience
void of offence.
To clasp a man by the hand, and betray him ;
to kiss his cheek like Judas, saying, " Friend, I
salute you," and run to sell him; to receive
hospitality, and steal away one's host's bride ;
to eat his bread, and rob him of his honour;
to shelter beneath his roof, and pollute his bed !
could anything be more currish than this ?
The Roman soldier guilty of adultery with his
host's wife was drawn and quartered; what
penalty for the wretch who dishonours the wife of
his patron and benefactor?
One day Ahmed happened to say to me :
" There should be available some form of punish-
ment worse than death! for death, when it strikes
unexpectedly is no punishment at all. Its approach
is never felt, and as often as not there is no
pain. "
1 ' You are right. The Ancients were more
logical than ourselves ; they invented a variety of
death penalties to correspond to various crimes.
124 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Our civilization makes the penalty always one and
the same, and by doing so is both illogical and
unjust, inflicting the same commonplace death on
the professional murderer and the unfortunate who
kills another by accident, on the man who in a
moment of passion slays an enemy and the ruffian
who cuts his father's and mother's throats, poisons
his wife, ravishes his own daughter and drowns
his children. "
The old Caid assented with a shrug.
11 You want refined punishments; " I went on,
smiling, " Very well! you should travel in the
Far East, or read the books describing the pains
and penalties inflicted among the Chinese, Japa-
nese and Mongolians. "
" I can only read my Koran " returned the Caid
modestly, * ' but if you will speak, I will listen and
learn. "
4 4 1 am going to describe the way they punish
traitors among the Tonquinese, to pass away a
half hour pleasantly. "
u I am all attention, my son! "
4 'Well! they take the man, strip him, and tie
him to a post on which is fixed an iron cage, and
in the said cage they enclose his head. "
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD 125
"Ho! ho, it begins well," ejaculated my
worthy host, stroking his venerable beard.
" Then they put two rats in the cage. "
"Why two, rather than one, or three?
' ' Because with three the thing would be over
too quickly, and with only one too slowly, it
appears. Besides a single rat would feel so
lonely. "
" And the rats?"
u Are fasting. You understand? "
"I take you," replied the patriarch, and his
eyes glittered.
" For the first hour or so, the poor animals are
excessively scared and feel very strange and out
of their element before all the crowd; for of course
there is a crowd, and it frightens them. They are
restless, running to and fro in the confined space,
climbing up and down the bars, scuttling about,
but taking care not to touch the head, which moves
in a terrifying way. After a time growing bolder,
they come up and sniff at it, and finding it harm-
less tell each other to be brave. By the time the
hour is up, there's no holding them! they are
quite tame now and they eye the thing hungrily.
The succulent tempting flesh is there, and their
126 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
little stomachs cry out : " Taste and try ! Gome,
taste and try ! " Finally they begin to nibble.
" Ha, ha! lean see them. And the faces the
head makes ! "
" Faces! I should think so. But the features
are disappearing ; the flesh is being stripped off bit
by bit. The rats are dainty, and pick and choose.
They begin with the dainty morsels, lips,
cheeks, nostrils, eyelids. At first they eat raven-
ously, afterwards when their first hunger is
satisfied, more and more slowly; finally gorged
and swollen and distended they rest awhile and
take a nap. Presently having digested their meal,
they return to the banquet, finish off the tender
bits and attack the tough. They eat the rest of the
nose, dissect the ears, lay bare the teeth, gnaw
away the scalp, the wretched man screaming,
screaming all the time without a moment's inter-
mission. "
u Can he see? " the old man inquired.
4 * Till the rats cleared out the eye-sockets,
leaving two black holes instead of eyes, I can
assure you he had something else to do than watch
the flies. After that, he can no longer see, or hear
for the matter of that ; but he can still scream, for
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD 127
the teeth have guarded the tongue, and this is
what keeps the spectators amused. Eventually
the rats bite through the sinews of the jaws, and
the patient becomes dumb. "
"I would rather he could see," Ahmed said.
i4 Now how long does the show last?"
' l Under two days the rats have bitten the skull
clean and polished the bone, displaying a death's-
head on a living body. He may live on another
day, for no vital organ is injured; and if need be,
some fortifying drug is poured down his throat.
Soliman of Aleppo, the murderer of General
Kleber, lived for three days after he was im-
paled. "
' 4 Andyou say they inflict this punishment on . . ? ' r
41 On traitors!"
" I thank you, my son ! Your account has made
a heavy hour pass lightly. I thank you ; and give
praise to God. "
II
At the edge of the deep ravine at the bottom of
which, more than 300 feet below, flows the
Rummel, in the South-East quarter of the city
128 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
facing the table-land of Mansourah, there still
existed a few years ago a huddle of old Moorish
houses, their foundations resting on fragments of
ancient walls, relics of some vast Roman edifice.
One of these houses, that hang literally suspended
over the abyss, belonged to Ahmed-ben- Abder-
ahman; and some months after his marriage,
making a pretext of repairs to be executed in his
regular dwelling in the Street of Sidi-Nemdil, he
took Hadjira thither with a single maid, his negro
Salem and a man of the Ouled-Khelif ', who had
served him as Chaouch at the time he was head-
man of the Oasis of Ouargla.
It is a well known fact that subterranean
passages and chambers pierce the rock of Gonstan-
tine in various directions, excavated in old times to
serve as a refuge for the women and children
in case of sudden assault, and as corn magazines
in case of siege.
An Arab Writer of the twelfth Century, the
Geographer, Mohamed Ed Edrisi, declares that
wheat remained in them unspoiled for a hundred
years. Be this as it may, it is certain that now-
adays these caverns fulfil no other useful purpose
but that of harbouring formidable hordes of rats.
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD i29
The abode in which the ex-Caid of Ouargla
temporarily installed his household gods had a
communication with one of these artificial caverns
in the rock; and from the other side of the
gigantic fissure you can to this day, by leaning
out over the precipice, distinguish half hidden by
lichen and rubbish the masonry of the archway
where the subterranean gallery opens on the
ravine.
Well! one night the divine Hadjira awoke
suddenly with a start, oppressed by a horrible
nightmare. She thought she had heard a cry of
agony, her lover's voice calling on her name in
piteous accents. She stretched out her arms,
and touched the shaggy beard of her husband and
lawful master.
He was bending over her, and in the gloom
she could see his faded eyes glittering like a wild
beast's.
Then in a panic of dread she buried her face in
the clothes, not daring to move, holding her
breath, but quite incapable of stilling the wild
beating of her heart.
" What is it? "demanded Ahmed; " why! you
are trembling like a haik shaken in the wind ; your
Musk hashish and blood. 17
130 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
heart thumps and thumps, as when a man beats
the tam-tam. "
"Oh! I am frightened!... Did you not hear
cries?"
u 'Tis only the jackals of Sidi-Mecid, scouring
the slopes of the Mansourahin search of food. "
He took the fair Hadjira in his arms, and
resting her head against his breast, he rocked her
like a child its nurse would lull to sleep, softly
fondling her breasts the while.
" Sleep, darling! go to sleep! "
But she insisted : " There is some one crying
out in pain. Yes! I can hear them! I swear by
the Prophet there are groans coming from under-
ground. Oh ! Ahmed-ben- Abderahman, why have
you brought me here? This old house is haunted;
it is the dwelling-place of evil djenouns * . "
" Peace, peace! my tender gazelle! What can be
troubling your soul so sorely, that ill-omened
voices sound in your ears at the hour when none
but robbers are awake, and watchmen , and
remorse. "
1. Spirits. Vide the Notes to Lane's version of the " Ara-
bian Nights" for information concerning the large part
played by the jinn in the Bedawin's cosmology.
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD 131
u I have no remorse, " replied Hadjira.
"Well, then! keep grief away. Grief is more
wearing- than fever. "
u I have no grief. "
"Then beware of sleeplessness. It dims the
brightest eyes, and more surely even than time
itself makes the face look worn and wrinkled. "
The girl ceased for fear of leading up to more
awkward questions ; for all through the past
week she had been shedding secret tears.
The handsome Amin, Al-Askoub, the beloved
of her heart, was deceiving her. He was engaged
in an intrigue, she had seen it, she was certain of
it, with her maid Aicha. Yet she was youger and
a hundred times prettier than Aicha ; and for Al-
Askoub 's sake was she not braving her husband's
wrath, and death itself?
"Oh! men, men! Ingrates and traitors, every
one of them! "
So for a whole week she had been waiting to
see the wretch. She was burning to reproach him,
to cast up his treason at him, to spit in his face ;
but he never came.
Where could he be ; what was he doing ? His
duties as a Magistrate could not be keeping him
132 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
all this time ! Besides, only the day before yester-
day she had overheard him below, in the anti-
chamber with its stone benches, in conversation
with her husband. Oh ! to see him, if it were
only for a moment ! She would forget her anger,
and her wrongs, and the strange dread that haunted
her. And she did forget everything, to let her
fancy linger about her lover. For a wife, once
started on the downward road, is blinded by
infatuation, and each step plunges her deeper in
the mire of falsehood and deceit.
And when the dawn reddened behind the rocky
heights of the Mansourah. her beautiful eyes were
still open, and their lashes wet with tears.
4 'Joy of my eyes and darling of my heart! "
said Ahmed next day to his young wife ; ' ' My old
friend the Caid of the Ouled-Ganem invites me to
the wedding of his youngest son. I shall take my
Chaouch with me, and be away a week. But
though my body will be far away, my thoughts
will be with you. "
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD 133
u Your thoughts are no protection," objected
Hadjira. " Oh! my lord ! what is to become of me
without you, in this dismal house, all alone with
Aicha and your negro Salem ? "
4 ; Al-Askoub will return this evening. He is my
friend and my son ; to whom else can I better
entrust the safety of my most precious treasure? "
' 4 You are my lord and master ; you do what
seems best to your good pleasure. "
And the girl dropped her eyes humbly to hide
the joy that sparkled in their glance.
" Ah, ha! What a night of intoxication and
delight they two would have. Al-Askoub ! Al-
Askoub! To be with him for hours and hours. To
go to sleep on his breast, with her arms about his
neck ! But first what a lover's quarrel they would
enjoy ! How she would torment him for a while,
and scold him and refuse, that they might kiss
and be friends again all the more deliciously after
wards ! "
Before sunset, she went with Ahmed-ben-Abd-
Arahman as far as the Jebbia Gate to see him
off. The old Gaid and his servant started, each
mounted on a good mule, and were to sleep at a
point beyond the village of El-Kroubs, so as to
134 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
arrive at their destination on the evening of the
next day. The instant she had seen them finally
disappear round the first turn of the road, she
returned hurriedly and bade Aisha dress her
out in her best, charging her to do her utmost
to enhance all her mistress's charms. The maid
dyed her hands and feet with henna, joined her
two eyebrows and painted her eyes with koheul,
then robed her in light silken stuffs, and the two
girls sat waiting.
The negro Salem was on the watch at the door
below.
Towards ten o'clock there came a knock.
4 * It is he! "cried Hadjira.
And Aisha repeated the words, "It is he! "
Still to make doubly sure the maid called from
the top of the staircase :
"Who knocks there?"
"Sidi Al-Askoub, " Salem shouted back. The
fair Hadjira's heart beat tumultuously. She threw
herself in a seductive pose amid the ample
cushions of the couch, and in the soft light of a
little alabaster lamp the flowing line of the flanks
could be plainly distinguished and the curves of
her ivory bosom.
135
4 ' I wish to speak with him ; tell him to come
up hither;" she said.
And Aisha repeated the order to Salem.
Then a strange sound could be heard on the
stone staircase, a sound as of rustling 1 phantons,
accompanied by such groans as never came from
human lips.
The frechia that hung across the doorway was
raised. Hadjira started up wildly on the couch,
while her maid fled in terror to her side.
Two men came in, one supporting the other; the
negro Salem pushing Al-Askoub in front of him,
exerting all his strength to keep him on his feet.
The young Amin wore the severely simple,
dark robes of the native Judges, and over them
the white burnouse with looped-up skirts, its
hood pulled down over his face.
" Why ! what is wrong? " exclaimed Hadjira,
indignant to see her lover pushed in after this
fashion by the negro; "is the slave drunk ? Al-
Askoub, is it you? uncover your face. "
With a quick movement of the hand Salem drew
back the hood, and on the living body of her
beloved the divine Hadjira beheld a grinning
death's-head!
136 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
She uttered a terrible cry, and the skeleton head
too saw her and forced a cry from the dry throat,
fixing the look of a ghoul on her face. For the
eyes still glittered in their sockets, a ghastly
sight, the fiendish vengeance of the implacable
Ahmed having contrived a way to protect them
from the voracity of the rats.
The wretched creature approached, making
inarticulate noises like someanimal, and stretching
out his arms that writhed and clutched in the
horrid anguish of mortal pain.
"Back! " she screamed. ''Help! the jenounsl
thejenouns 1 I "
And, frenzied by the aweful spectacle, she fled
shrieking like a madwoman into a corner of the
room, while the dying man sank, the death rattle
in his throat, on her couch.
" Throw him into the Rummel, " said Ahmed
ben Abd-Arahman, who looked on from the thresh-
old of the room at the scene ; ' ' before morning
the water-rats will have done the rest. So perish
all traitors! But, in Gehenna, they suffer
worse ; for directly their skin is consumed away in
i. The demons! the demons !
A LIVING DEATH'S-HEAD 137
the fire, lo! they are clothed in a new one, that
their torment may never end. So is it written in
the Koran ever-glorious, at the Chapter Of
Women 4 . God is great and all- wise! "
And the old Chaouch and the negro repeated in
chorus, u So perish all traitors! Amen! Amen !
1. A great deal of rubbish has been propagated by
Christian bigots and sciolists respecting the degradation of
women by Islam. The fact is that no religion in existence
possesses such a minute ceremonial and domestic ritual for
the guidance and protection of the female as that founded
by the Arabian camel-driver six centuries ago. Over against
the polygamy of the Moslem, I would invite the apolo-
gist to set the terrible and disgusting, syphilis-spreading
prostitution of the Christian.
This is no place "to advocate or refute one doctrine more
than another. Let the student procure A Plea for Poly-
gamy, the History and Philosophy of Marriage (Paris, 1898),
and meanwhile meditate the following from the Qu'ran :
(Surah LX, 10-12; and iv, i)\ "O Prophet! when believing
women come to thee, and pledge themselves that they will
not associate aught with God, and that they will not steal
or commit adultery, nor kill their children, nor bring scand-
alous charges, nor disobey thee in what is right, then plight
thou thy faith to them, and ask pardon for them of God : for
God is Indulgent, Merciful ! "
*' Men ! fear your Lord, who hath created you of one
man (nafs, soul), and of him created his wife, and from these
twain hath spread abroad so many men and women. And
fear ye God, in whose name ye ask mutual favours, and
reverence the wombs that bare you. Verily is God watch-
ing you !
Musk hashish and blood. 18
VII
THE BISKRI'S DAUGHTER
VII
THE BISKRFS DAUGHTER *
I
She had no other name that any one knew of,
or rather she had culled so ample a handful
1. The Biskris, natives of the district and town of Bisk-
ra lying to the southward of the Province of Constantine,
are found in large numbers as immigrants in all the towns
of Algeria, where they become messengers, porters,
142 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
from the Calendar of Mussulman beauties to plea-
sure her successive lovers that no man could tell
which of all the heap was her own. A'isha, Zohrab,
Messaouda, Mabrouka, Fatma, Baya, Meryem 1 9
what did it matter which ? The Biskri's daugh-
ter ! that was quite enough. It was a household
word through all the six squadrons of the Cavalry,
where every man had heard of her fame, not to
say notoriety.
Mention it suddenly amid a company of men sit-
ting deadly dull and silent, instantly a score of the
strangest stories, the very most rowdy tales, would
be bandied to and fro.
On long melancholy evenings in hospital, when
water-carriers, hodmen, muleteers, ass-drivers, street-
sweepers. In fact they are in the Algerian Tell what the
Auvergnats are in France. Hence it is customary to desig-
nate by the general name of Biskris all natives practising
these callings. The Spahis, who are exempt from certain
fatigue duties compulsory in other cavalry corps, hire out
of their pay, in each squadron-smala, or detachment, a
biskrij whose duty it is to keep clean the barrack-square
and stables of the quarters, or of the bordj (fort) as the
case may be.
i " Aisha" is a contraction of "Ayesha", the name of
the Prophet's favourite wife, and hence a popular appellation
for Bedawin beauties;" Mess'ouda" (the happy); " Ma-
brouka " (the blessed); " Baya " (the brilliant) ; " Meryem "
(Mary) ; " Fatma " " Zohrab ".
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 143
the accredited story-teller was boring his audience
to extinction with his Adventures of Corporal La
Ramee or his Princess that loved a Gendarme, you
had only to say the name to set the cripples in a
roar and wake up the sleepiest.
How many nights, from the Djurjura to the Salt
Lakes, from Djidjelly to Tougourt, in rain or
starlight, when the men sat toasting their legs at
the bivouac-fires, has her image come dancing in
the firelight, with merry tales galore, that circled
round the cheerful blaze !
Though out of sight, she was never out of mind.
Far, far away, buried though she was in a remote
corner on the distant Tunisian frontier, she was
nevertheless a never-failing stimulus to mess-room
jests, canteen wit and camp-fire anecdote, an object
of furious jealousy to guard-house Aglae's and of
much virtuous indignation to good women, a
coveted prize to all the Spahis in Algeria.
The Biskri's daughter ! all talked of her, yet how
few could boast they knew her ! She was like
those far away lands of wonder that everybody
descants upon without ever having seen. A poor
ten of us, at most, we had reckoned it up,
had sailed in her tropic latitudes, had been lulled
144 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
by the wind of her souak-scented breath and had
been burnt up like morsels of tow in the fierce
rays of her great dark eyes.
Accordingly the most contradictory accounts
were in circulation as to the details of her person-
al appearance.
Some declared she was as bony and scraggy as
the miserable donkeys that cart away on their raw
and bleeding backs the rubbish of Gonstantine to
the ravines of Koudiat-Aty ; others that she was
bloated and fat as a Lorraine sow. According to
some she stank like a negress after running full
speed to catch a hare ; according to others, she
was fragrant as musk.
The first described her as of violent temper, stub-
born and brutal as a she-goat in heat ; to believe
the second, she was easy-going, as slack and spir-
itless as a foundered camel.
What to believe ? One could only conclude these
illnatured Lotharios had never really got near her
at all ; poor foxes whining piteously outside her
door, they cried down the sour grapes. On the con-
trary, the happy few who had found means to
taste, spoke with languishing eyes and watering
lips of the rare flavour of the fruit.
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 145
Still all were agreed on one point. the unpar-
alleled beauty of the face ; and what is more, in
describing this beauty, the enthusiasts all told
one and the same tale. And the most extraordinary
thing" about it, this unanimity on the one point
combined with flat contradictions on all others,
was that for the last four or five years the success-
ive French Quartermasters appointed in turn to
command the smala (detachment) of El-Tarf, under
the superior orders of the permanent chief in com-
mand, Captain Ardaillon, the only men in the regi-
ment to have really had an opportunity of knowing
her, had regularly passed on this wonder of
Nature from one to the other as a mere item in the
barrack-list, along with the rest of the service
furniture of the Bordj .
Five camp-beds complete.
Three brooms.
Two jugs.
Two basins.
An iron pot.
Four mess- tins.
A guard-room mattress.
And the Biskris daughter \
She went along with the rest of the stuff, and
Musk hashish and blood. 19
146 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
fora certain number of months, varying from three
to ten, became the temporary property of the Non-
Com. for the time being in command, the
arrangement of course being provisional on his
paying over a reasonable rent to the worthy father
of the damsel.
So when my turn of duty with the detachment
came, and when after three long days on horse-
back my Spahi pointed me out on the slope of a
bare rounded hill a green oasis, flanked by a little
square building of white stone, with the words
El-Tarf, my thoughts turned to the Biskri's
daughter, and I ceased to feel my weariness.
" And where is she? " I found myself asking
my predecessor the same evening, when in the usual
routine he was going through the barrack-list
with me, as a preliminary to handing over the
effects :
Four mess-tins.
A guard-room mattress.
And the Biskri's daughter.
" After a short gallop from the Bordj, following
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 147
the river road, you will make out on the right hand
a half-dozen gourbis (huts) buried in fig-trees, cac-
tuses and aloes, that is the spot. "
u And the pass-word ? "
" Douro I " (a dollar), and it is given between
the fore-finger and the thumb. But now listen !
Of course you can't just walk in, as you might
into a Church. The matter needs some negociation
and the observation of sundry formalities, and a
little tact. Our Captain is a mighty stickler for
morality. He keeps a Moorish mistress at Bona
and a Maltese at La Calle, not to mention the
Negress he has at Souk- Arras, but he means teh
Tarf to be a home of virtue. Once already has he
threatened the Biskri to turn him out of the smala,
if he went on trading in the girl. So just let the
old man go his own way to work. He is no fool,
and when he thinks the moment opportune, will
make his offer. "
" So difficult to manage as all this? "
u Well ! well ! you are like everybody else, you
think he gives his daughter to the first comer,
first come, first served ! But she's no common
street- walker, I can tell you ; she is a good, obed-
ient girl, and must be justified with the paternal
148 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
approval before she grants her favours ; for she
knows, if he arranges things, that she is in good
hands. He takes his little precautions, examines
the ground, makes sure of the applicant's good
character. Don't you suppose then he is going to
throw the little Bedawin lassie straight at your
head. He's got to study you first, and see that you
are free from vice, which would make the bargain
impossible at once, and sound in wind and limb,
to make sure you take no suspicious pills or
mysterious drugs. Oh ! he's an excellent father, I
tell you ; and takes good care of his child. "
" Is she really pretty ? "
4 * I don't want to depreciate her ; but there are
dozens of girls at La Galle and Bona, and fine girls
too, whether white or copper-coloured or black,
worth half as much again and costing half the
price. Still a man takes what he can get. "
I slept badly. The Biskri's daughter went trip-
ping through my dreams. In spite of what my
brother officer said, and I stronggy suspected
him of being a lover who had been shown the
door, I saw her, fair and radiantly beautiful,
smiling and inviting me to her side. So you may
imagine how first thing next day, the very moment
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 149
first stable-duty was done, I set to work to
examine curiously the father of the mysterious
Almee (Arab dancing-girl), as he passed down the
lines of horses, adressing them in a sharp, guttural
voice :
Dour allemine, giaour!
Dour el assar, allouf !
Goudam, ad din Roumi!
Ouakkar^ Youdi!
" To the right, infidel ! To the left, pig ! -
Come up, Christian dog ! Back, Jew * ! " accord-
ing as the long broom in his brown wrinkled
hand was sweeping to right or left of the horse,
in front of his nose or behind his tail. These are
the everyday duties of a biskri, and he performed
them like another.
An old Bedouin, with small, evil eyes, half hid
under thick, bushy, grey eyebrows_, he wore a
short white beard, of a correct and orthodox cut,
that brought out in high relief the coppery tints
of his skin. The face, which wore a hang-dog
1. To the reader unversed in the mysteries of classical
Arabic it is necessary to point out that the phrases italic-
ised in the text are in Algerian patois and far removed from
the grammatical correctness of the Quranic model.
150 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
expression, was tanned by the desert winds, and
shrivelled under the scorching summer suns of
sixty years.
Old scamp ! he had just the sly, villainous look
you would expect in a father trading in his own
flesh and blood. His mouth was big and greedy
looking, and over the thin, evil lips there flitted
enigmatical smiles. Their very shape showed you
that, in secret, the narrow slit-like opening between
them would part in a cynical, noiseless grin, as
he pocketed the proceeds of his vile traffic.
A douro ! a crown-piece ! What depths of mean-
ness a man's soul will fall to ! The price of his
daughter's virtue ! For he always represented her
as virtuous ; she was a virgin he declared without
a stammer, to each new-comer he opened the bar-
gain with for the first time.
He would say : u Sir ! I swear by my head, no
man has sullied her maidenhood. "
And all the while who could count how many
times over he had sold the right to stain it ?
This human satyr of the filthy mind filled me
with ineffable disgust. But what I thought appear-
ed to matter to him as little as the heaps of dung
he swept up. He gave me back scorn for scorn ;
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 151
and his work done and his broom cleaned and
returned to its place, he went off to the horse-
trough and washed his feet and hands and finally
his face. This done, he put on his sandals, wrapped
his burnouse round him, and solemn as a Muezzin,
dignified as an Agha, left the Bordj, without so
much as deigning to observe a new client for his
daughter had arrived, and more douros for him.
The days passed one by one, and soon a week
had gone by.
The ruffian had at last condescended to notice
my presence. From time to time his wicked eye
spoke to me, glittering athwart the shaggy tufts
of his eyebrows, like a red coal behind the bars
of a grate; but his mouth remained padlocked.
Was he studying me ? Was he making sure of
the state of my health, and the state of my
morals ? Well ! he took his time about it ! Or was
he watching his opportunity, waiting the 4 ' psych-
ological " instant, the precise moment when he
must strike, intending to raise his tarif? But no!
not for me. I should refuse point-blank. A douro
152 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
was the covenanted price, the price paid by all my
predecessors. The fellow must not think to take
advantage of my youth and inexperience. I was
quite ready to give a crown, but not one single
penny more.
The needful douro I preserved religiously, taking
the greatest care not to break into it. I would
have fasted for a whole month from u twist " and
absinthe rather than make a hole in it. I had it
always on me, to be ready for anything, in the
lefthand pocket of my waistcoat, next my heart,
like a household god, a sacred relic, a St.
Joseph's scapulary, a medal of the Blessed Virgin,
any precious treasure in fact that will introduce
you to the joys of Paradise.
II
The gazelle of the hour went speeding on her
way, as the Poets of the Tell phrase it, bearing
away the days.
Meanwhile, impassible as Fate and inscrutable
as Time, the Biskri went on his way, wielding his
enormous broom in the courtyard of the Bordj
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 153
with grotesquely exaggerated, jerky movements,
and ugly smiles, as if he fancied himself mowing
down Christian heads at each sweep. But for me,
he seemed to pay no more attention to me than
if he had had no daughter to sell at all.
The sun was gathering heat and already begin-
ning to prick the skin and harass the flesh with
desire, and that awful Simoom-wind to send forth
its hot breath, that came blowing over fifty leagues
of desert, then suddenly puff ! it would be whis-
pering and sobbing inthe thickets like lovers' sighs,
tickling the fillies' flanks and starting them gallopp-
ing hither and thither over the plain, ever and anon
dancing coquettishly up and exciting our troop-
horses, where they stood shackled on the long-
rope, almost to phrenzy. The beasts would neigh
frantically, struggling to break away shackles,
pickets and all. Then when one did escape and
dashed w r hinnying and quivering with excitement
towards them, lo ! they would pretend to fly, eager
all the while to be followed and caught, as is the
way with the females of every race, creatures
of a thousand caprices and a thousand wiles.
I began to lose patience, and threw the old
fellow winks that, short of being a born idiot, he
Musk hashish and blood. 20
i54 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
could not fail but understand, as good as saying
right out :
* c Now then ! what say you ? About your daugh-
ter, you know ? Gome, make up your mind and
say the word. What are you waiting for? You
can see well enough I'm ready ! " All in vain !
Not a muscle moved ; a graven image could not
have been more impassive than the creature.
Two or three times I posted myself at the gate
of the Bordj and watched for him coming up the
hill. Than I would go to meet him, and halt like
a note of interrogation on two legs in front of him,
or else pass close by him, with the idea that, out
of earshot of every living thing, he would stop, or
at any rate throw me a word in passing : ' ' You're
ready ? Well and good ! Hand over the douro ; and
she shall expect you to-night. " But no ! Instead
of holding out his great greedy hand to me, he
would lay it on his heart, and all I got was a com-
monplace salamalek.
Go to ! you old scamp.
So his daughter was a myth ! Her fame, like so
many other women's, a traveller's tale ? Her story,
a mystification ?
I did not know what to think ; while disap-
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 155
pointment and curiosity both at once spurred me
on, as well as the languorous burning caresses of
the Simoom.
Under the walls of the Bordj, on the slope of
the isolated hill on which it stood, was a wonder-
ful garden, wherein flourished a Tropical flora in
all the luxuriant entanglement of a hot-house.
Bananas, citrons, pomegranates, fig-trees and
vines all grew in the crowded space thicker than
common weeds in our climate with its hike-warm
suns.
In a few years' time the Commandant of the
Bordj, one of the last of our " working " soldiers,
that ideal of old General Bugeaud 1 , had created
this fragment of the garden of Eden out of a bit of
moorland encumbered with bush ; and used to
1 . The name of Bugeaud is associated with many of the
most important successes of the French arms in Africa. He
beat Abd-el-Kader on the Sikkak, near Tlemsen, in 1836;
he overthrew the army of Morocco at Isly in 1844; and
he subdued the greater part of Kabylia Proper in 1846;
showing the greatest decision and the most determined
courage throughout. Marshal Bugeaud, who was created
Duke of Isly after his victory, had served under Napoleon
at Saragossa (1809), as we have previously seen, and pres-
ided over Algeria as Governor-General from 1841 to 1846.
He died at Paris, of cholera, in 1849.
156 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
show it with pride to the tourists, few and far
between, who ventured on our desert roads, as a
specimen of the wealth the Colonists could extract
from the Algerian soil, if only real live Colonists
could be drawn from the soil of France to try the
experiment. In the background, a close hedge
of thick-leaved plants surrounded a vegetable
garden and a cotton-field.
Beyond, extended the plain sown with barley,
wheat and maize, cut in straight lines by the
green rows of the oleanders, right away to the
horizon where stretched a dark, bluish, wavy line,
the strip of woodland fringing the banks of the
Oued-Zitoun.
A noble scene for an Idyll ; but where, oh !
where, was the nymph of the Idyll ?
Hidden in a fold of the plain, buried in the cac-
tuses, I had discovered the gourhis (huts) of the
Khrammes and many a time I would guide my
horse in their direction, yet without daring to stop
for fear of attracting the attention and mockery of
the little goat-boys who, lying full length on the
grass, stared with their great dark eyes at the new
Roumi as he rode by. It would never do to let
them suspect the secret object of my desires.
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 157
Goats, children, mangy donkeys, frowsy
camels, repulsive faces of miserable Bedawins eaten
up with abject poverty, an old man with horrible,
sore eyes, an ugly, tattered hag who never lifted
her eyes from her work of hunting her fleas, a
score of surly, half-starved dogs following the hens
about with hungry looks, these were all the
visible attractions.
And I would ride back the Bordj, more and more
exasperated with the Biskri.
Yet he had had ample evidence for a good
month past of my high moral characted and the
regularity of my conduct, for I never once left the
boundaries of the Smala.
The Chiebanas, it appears, were on the war-path.
A half dozen had been seen at the frontier shaking
out the folds of their burnouses in a tragic, threat-
ening manner. It was merely the South- wind
blowing them about, I thought for my part ; but
the Captain's cook, an old Ghas.-d'Af. (Chasseur
d'Afrique) who understood these things, said it
meant war. A fire too had been kindled at night
in the direction of Roum-el-Souk, a market for
miscellaneous produce where the Ouled-Dieb
barter the leeches they catch in their marshes
158 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
against the honey of the Beni-Amar. Last but not
least, only the other day an old woman passing
within two paces of a Moor, a Gendarme in the
service of the Bureau Arabe of La Calle, had
mumbled in a boding tone some words the man
had been unable to catch. Such a state of things
could not go on, especially when at the very
gates of La Calle, an Arab, as insolent as he was
ragged, had stolen two water-melons out of the
garden of an honest, peaceable innkeeper, and a
general dealer's wife, a woman of unimpeachable
veracity, declared she had seen him make off, the
fruit of his crime under his arm, in the direction of
the Kroumirs' country.
The smell of powder was in the air, and as day
by day we were expecting the order to mount and
ride to exact vengeance for all these outrages and
protect the threatened frontier, the Captain abso-
lutely refused all leave to visit the town.
Meantime the plain of the Tarf, till now a
deserted waste, began to show signs of life, and to
be dotted with brown spots arranged in circles.
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 159
These were the douars (village-encampments) l of
the Ouled-Ali, who, regardless of the rumours of
impending war, were flocking in for the harvest.
The far-spreading brown carpet of wheat and bar-
ley soon began to show yellow gaps. The men,
armed with the angular Arab sickle, cut the grain
and piled it in sheafs, while twice a day, before
and after the time of greatest heat, the women
wound in file along the narrow paths by the river-
side, some bent double under the weight of the
goat-skin water-bag, the dripping guerba, others
very straight and upright carrying on their head the
sebbal (earthenware bowl) with its Etruscan look.
1. "The arrangement of all the douars is similar, con-
sisting of about 20 huts or tents, according to the season,
one of which is devoted to each family. The tent is made
of a black and very thick wollen tissue, which swells with
the damp and keeps out the rain, requiring much labour
in its manufacture. The weather being very fine d'iring
two-thirds of the year, they only require a roof of branches,
supported on pickets of wood, for their huts, brushwood
being piled up on the weather side. These huts, placed at
about 10 metres apart, form a circle, with the cattle in the
centre, and contain numerous savage dogs as guardians.
The douars are moved when the neighbouring pastures
are exhausted, seldom remaining in one place above three
months together. The great quantity of dung accumulated
by their cattle forms the only manare they employ".
(Baude, I, p. 174).
160 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
At each step their short cotton tunic, tightened
at the waist by means of a woollen cord, lifted
lightly, widening the ample gaps at the sides and
giving excellent views to any lover of the nude.
Ah, me ! what a march past ! What a proces-
sion of dainty, toothsome morsels, and of
broken meats stale with over-keeping ! Thighs
white as milk and plump as a new Padisha's
wives' just bought in the slave market, limbs as
dark and dry and shrivelled as a Haymour she-
ass's legs ; hips recalling the seven lean kine of
King Pharaoh's dream, quarters huge as a Norman
roadster's, she-goat's dugs dismally beating
against the wrinkled body the passing-bell of
departed comeliness ; breasts so firm and rounded
Phidias might have moulded his immortal goblet
on them ; every tone that human flesh can show,
from dead white and tenderest pink to the deep
red of old Cordova leather ; all the harmonious
graces of youth and adolescence, all the battered
lines of old age and poverty ; hags and houris !
Bono la mouquera 4 , said a voice at my side in
petit sabir (pigeon French-Arabic), a voice I
recognized instantly and which dissipated my
1. From Spanish " buena mujer " (a good or fine woman).
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 161
brown study in a moment. I had stopped my horse,
and was watching this procession of Biblical figures
The voice went on : Mouquera bono besef */
u Why, yes ! Biskri, when she is pretty ! " I
returned.
u Mouquera arabia pretty besef.
" Not aU of them, my friend. "
" Ah ! you say well, Sir ! No ! not all, not all ;
for the Lord of the human seed-field has been un-
just in dividing the harvest so unfairly. He should
have made them all fair, that there might have
been more happy women in the world. But there
is a maid here ; turn your head a little and
look ! what think you of her? "
He winked his evil eye, turning back his thumb
over his shoulder, signing me to look behind him.
" Ah, ha! at last! "
Yes ! there she stood, within two steps of me,
the adorable creature ! Her bright young face half
hidden, half revealed, peeped out from the cactus
hedge, the yellow fruit and thick grey-green
leaves of which with their spiky brown thorns
made a quaint setting to her girlish beauty.
A heavy thud seemed to fall on my head, the
1. A suflicienthy fine woman.
Musk hashish and blood. 21
162 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
rebound from the sudden shock my heart expe-
rienced.
No ! never, in the Old town of Constantine,
in the low quarters round the Djebbiah Gate,
where you may choose at moderate prices among
assorted samples of every type of African beauty ;
never, in Algiers the White, where pretty girls
of every land from Timbuctoo to Tuggurt and from
Tunis to Tangier, Moorish, Berber, Bedouin fair
ones, beauties of the Sahara, Jewesses, Negresses,
are a drug in the market ; never, never had I
beheld any that stirred me so !
Glad in a striped gandourah, fastened at the
shoulders with two silver brooches and lifted in
front by the swell of her bosom, the two firm
pointed breasts making two long pleats down-
wards, as in some " deep-breasted " Greek statue,
with arms and limbs bare, the fair skin showing
glints of gold, youthful and slim and proud, she
seemed the very personification of Arab loveli-
ness.
Her great dark eyes, u deep as a well, where
trembles a star ", her full, finely cut lips, so red
you might suppose them painted, her long lashes
and her eyebrows joined to one another by black
THE BlSKRl's DAUGHTER 163
koheul *, the dazzling line of her teeth, the girlish
sweetness of her face and the womanly harmo-
nious curves of her figure, all made sweet proclam-
ation of youth and beauty, a gentle poem of
delight and love !
And even as I gazed, I felt her velvety eyes
cover me with their caress ; an enigmatical smile
flitted over her lips and the vision disap-
peared.
What ! vanished so soon ! Let me look again !
again ! I would fain surfeit my eyes on her
beauty !
The old rascal was smiling too ; and his eyes
1. "Kohol", a preparation of sulfurate of antimony, is
largely used by Bedawin women who claim for it several
qualities viz : that it gives greater lustre to the eyes by
framing them with a bluish-black border ; preserves the
sight from ophthalmia ; stops the flow of tears ; and, imparts
to the look greater boldness and limpidity. Tradition main-
tains that it was a Yaman woman who first used kohal to
mask a chronic inflammation of the eyelids and, it is assert-
ed, that she acquired a sight so piercing and keen as to
distinguish a man or woman at a distance of two day's
march ! Negresses, in imitation of their Bedawin maitresse,
are likewise given to the use of this chemical. We have
noticed that some Parisian prostitutes also employ it,
forgetful that Nature has made their eyes more lascivious
and fascinating than any cunning tricks of Art can ever do.
164 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
wandered tenderly over the spot where her form
had stood.
Disregarding in my excitement and pleasure the
rules of Mussulman politeness, which forbids any
man to question another as to the women of his
household, I said :
" Your daughter? is that your daughter? "
His eye flashed angrily, and he answered me
roughly, almost threateningly :
" She is what she is ! "
But what cared I for his anger ? Through the
gaps between the fluted boughs of the Barbary
figs, I thought I could still distinguish the soft
waving of her white robe and the glint of her fair
skin, and I was straining my eyes to see them better.
Then I caught sight of her once more, standing
in a flood of sunlight, her figure relieved against
the dark interior of the gourbi, the door of which
was open ; her silver ear-rings and silver brace-
lets threw off a thousand sparkles, and the bright
silk kerchief of Tunis that was round her head
blazed with its gold embroideries. Finally she
dived into the shadow of a hut and disappeared,
giving me a last glimpse of a lifted skirt and flying
gandourah.
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 165
u A douro for her ! a douro \ Holy Prophet of
God ! a douro \ And straightway I comprehended
the reckless madness of those Princes in the Fairy
Tales who spread out their kingdoms as a carpet
beneath the feet of the shepherdesses they
adored.
Ill
Towards the evening I enjoyed a short colloquy
with the Biskri, the immediate outcome of which
was the transference of a douro from my pocket to
his.
Later still, when the night was as black as ink
and all the Bordj was sleeping, and nothing was
to be heard on the plains but the barking of the
village dogs and the yelping of the jackals, I sal-
lied out wrapped in my burnouse.
At the foot of the slope, a gray shadow appear-
ed.
" My son ! before we go a step farther, tell me
if the douro you have given is for your servant.
166 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
" Certainly it is".
44 Well then ! add another to it for Her. "
4 ( I am only grieved I have not a hundred ; I
would give her them every one ! '
" Ah, ha ! you are a connoisseur, you are ! you
can appreciate our daughters' beauty. It is well ;
God shall open his hand and send you fair virgins
in showers.
He had opened his own at the word to grasp the
coin. He proceeded to rub it against his forehead,
to try it on the hard surface of his thumb-nail ;
finally, satisfied it was the genuine article, he
knotted it in one corner of his hai'k.
" Two words more. Keep your mouth closed;
avoid all noise. For my neighbours, theKhrammes,
might hear you, and the howls and hootings they
would lavish on you would be a cloud of infamy
to overwhelm my head, like a rain of locusts on
the fig-trees in bloom. Be dumb; Love has no
need of words. Follow me ! "
To tell the truth, I felt profoundly ashamed of
myself to be following a father in this way, who
was leading me the way to his own child's dishon-
our. A mother doing the same would have seemed
less revolting to me, perhaps only because this
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 167
sort of traffic is not uncommon amid the abomin-
ations of great cities ; but this old man who
could not make any pretence of dire poverty his
excuse struck me as an odious creature.
I scarcely believed in my good fortune now,
though the bargain was actually struck ; and I
was no sooner at the door of the gourbi than I
felt half inclined to draw back, now fearing some
mystification, now feeling repugnance at the base
bargain I was a party to.
A sort of stable, or rather shed, lay ambushed
behind a thick cactus-hedge, like a thief eyeing the
passers-by.
A short way off, in the midst of a clump of trees
whose branches were outlined as if in a charcoal
sketch upon the black blue of the sky, I recognized
the family gourbi, the domus sanctum, the home,
the house where the little ones sleep and no
stranger may enter.
I mentally thanked the Biskri for having so
much sense of shame left. At any rate he made a
secret of his trade to his belongings. It might have
been worse. The reports of our criminal courts
tell us from time to time of mothers at home who
have lost even this last rag of modesty. Thedoor
168 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
of the hut stood open. The interior looked dark
and forbidding. However my guide plunged into
the gloom.
"You are there?"
" Yes ! I have been waiting an hour, " answered
a low, timid voice.
Then, turning to me :
u Go in, my son ! Take your pleasure, and
never count the time. Minutes of pleasure are
pearls that God throws us on the stony road of
life. Stop and pick them up. "
With these words he went out and shut to the
door, as if, to accommodate his child's modesty,
he wished the hut even darker than it was before.
Bending double and groping in the gloom, I
stepped forward with a beating heart. A strong
scent of musk assailed my nostrils ; a hand drew
me down, arms that made a tinkling of silver rings
as they moved, folded me in their embrace and a
mouth was laid on mine...
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 169
Next morning 1 , after breakfast, I was striding
gaily over the undulating thorny common on the
slope of the hill behind the Bordj of El-Tarf .
My blood still fevered by my sleepless night, I
was recalling one by one the lovely features of
my Odalisque, repeating to myself the lines of a
poet of Bou-Saada :
Her locks caress her shoulders
Like two heavy meshes of silk ;
Her brows are two bows of ebony ;
Her eye is like the midnight sky,
Wherein glitters a star ;
Her lip, the open pomegranate
That a man bites when he is a-thirst.
Her bosoms are white as the snow
That falls on the Djebel-Amour :
They have the firmness of marble,
The elasticity of a well-filled Metara ;
They are sweeter than honey "
And so on and so on, down to her feet, and
their toe-nails, which were likened to the pretty
pink shells you pick up on the shores of the Great
Lake.
However, not to go beyond the actual truth, I
Musk hashish and blood. 22
170 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
was bound to admit that the description should by
rights stop short at the chin, for as a matter of
fact I had beheld nothing but the girl's face and
some curving outlines no sooner seen than gone
again. But these fugitive glances had justified the
highest hopes ; and as almost always happens, the
reality was far inferior to fancy's painting, and
possession fell much below the level of expectat-
ion.
" Roumi! Ho! Roumi. "
I turned to look. Under a bush of broom, a
woman sat crouching, stretching her legs in
front of her, all reddened by the sun and marked
with curious arabesques by a series of varicose
veins.
Her covering was a tattered robe of blue cotton
cloth ; and she was dirty, sun-burned and skinny.
Her skull was seamed with old scars, only half
hidden by thin wisps of brown wool that pretend-
ed to be hair. She was forty at the lowest com-
putation ; and had evidently lived a stormy life.
Through the rents in her rags she displayed, with
a fine scorn of appearances or possibly with an
evil intent, a pair of long, drooping, dusky-looking
breasts, while the front of her short petticoat,
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 171
drawn back between her legs, left her big, red-
dened thighs naked.
A little leather bag, stuffed full of musk, was
hung round her neck by a string of camel's hair,
and reposed in the depths of her deeply furrowed
bosom.
u Roumi! Ho! Roumi. "
She smiled at me amorously, making a gesture
to me to sit down by her side.
I merely cast a look of disgust at the creature,
and passed on without answering.
" Roumi ! " she cried after me, for the fifth
time.
** Well ! what is it you want then ? "
4 i What do I want ! Why ! I have been waiting
for you. The Khrarmnes of the Smala told me you
often took your morning walk among these lonely
thickets. The Roumis love the daughters of the
Chaouias, and here, behind the bushes, we can
have our pleasure without fear of prying eyes. "
I resumed my way with a shrug of the shoulders.
u Oh ! do not leave me so. Stop ! stop ! Listen ;
the Prophet says : u An honourable farewell and
a word of kindness is due to the woman you have
no need of more ; remember, when you are leaving
172 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
her, that erstwhile she gave you some moments of
pleasure. " But True Believers and Infidels are all
alike in this. Ingratitude is the badge of them all.
Once satisfied, they push away the dish, and turn
away their head and say, u I am not hungry any
more ! " But though satiated for the time, you
will be hungry again anon. Lo ! is it not the sea-
son when the Simoom fires the heart and inflames
the appetites ? Yes ! yes ! you will be a-thirst and
hungry for love, and you will thank Allah who
lets you find Jtfabrouka the Kroumir once more.
" You ! " I exclaimed with a quite unaffected
start of surprise and horror.
u Yes, I ! who but I? Lie down by my side ; I
would speak yet another word with you. I know
the way a woman can tame a recalcitrant lover.
My ears are astounded at your scornful words ; but
my heart tells me my ears have played me false.
Hearken to me, young Roumi. So long as the sickle
shall be busy in the fields, until the grain is dried
and the corn ground in all the plain of El-Tarf,
I shall tarry with the tents of the Ouled-Ali.
When you want me, you will always find me here
amid the junipers, morning and evening. You have
but to let me know the day and the hour; there
THE BISKRl's DAUGHTER 173
is no need to take the Biskri of the Fort as go-
between again. When a coin passes through many
hands, it loses weight sadly. "
Then, slowly, she untied a corner of the clout
that bound her head, and showing me ten half-
pence :
u Look ! " she said, how the coin you gave the
Biskri has diminished ! "
u What do you mean? " I cried, astounded and
horrified, seeing in a flash the whole hateful trutht
u The Biskri! Explain, woman! tell me what
you mean. "
' ' Why ! very likely you put in his hand a whole,
shining, bright dollar ; and there you see all that
has reached mine. "
u Two ! why ! I gave him two ! "
u The dog ! the mean cur! " she groaned, in a
pitiful whine. u May his wife, if ever he takes a
new one, cheat him every day and every night !
May his daughter, whom he guards and watches
over like stolen treasure, give him for sons-in-law
all the tribe of the Ouled-Ali, and of the Beni-
Amar, all the men of the Ghiebanas and of the
Kroumirs, and then make herself a slave to the
lusts of the Roumis ! Two douros, do you say ?
174 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Tell me again. It cannot be ! Two douros ! You
paid him two douros for me. Oh ! the cursed
villain! Eblis the Damned (the Devil) hurl him
into the Oued-Zitoum, a rope round his neck, like a
mangy hound. Why ! he has pocketed nineteen
bonnie bits of silver out of twenty, tossing me the
refuse like a gnawed bone ! Thief ! thief ! And he
has done it before ! For every year when I come
down to the plains for the harvest, he entices me
to his gourbi to sell me to the Christian dogs !
Allah ! Allah ! And yet big Bay a, of the Ouchtatas,
who comes down sometimes for the sowing, warn-
ed me too. For years she has been like me, let-
ting thebeggarly thief make his profit out of her ! "
And drunk with fury, with blood-shot eyes and
foaming lips, her features contorted in a hideous
grimace, she stretched out her shrivelled arm,
encircled with its copper bracelets, towards the
huts of the Krammds, then drawing herself up to
her full height, strode at me.
u You are rich, rich, if you pay two douros for
a woman ! I see ; you came to an understanding
with the old villain to swindle me, you dog you !
Cursed Roumi ! Give me ten halfpence more, thief
that you are ! '
THE BISKRI S DAUGHTER
175
I pushed the woman back with all my strength,
guarding my face the while against her long,
sharp nails. Then I took to my heels in a pas-
sion of shame and indignation, but with a
perfect comprehension from this time forth of my
predecessors' relations with the lovely Biskri's
daughter !
VIII
SHORT COMMONS
Musk hasltish and blood. 23
VIII
SHORT COMMONS
Everybody, that is to say everybody who has
had the honour to wear his country's uniform,
has more or less frequently, been on short com-
mons. But very few have ever been, like the
Officers and Non-Commissioned officers of the 4 th
Squadron of the 3 rd Spahis, in a position to enjoy
their short commons with uncommon gusto.
As a matter of fact, if we were reduced to dine
with Duke Humphrey, as the saying is, it was a
great deal our own fault. By the orders of General
Exea, long previous to the providential discovery
of the Kroumirs, we had made a descent on the
Tunisian frontier between La Calle and Souk-
Arras, and had wasted the country with fire and
sword.
To tell you why, is more than I can do.
An old hen stolen from an influential Colonist,
a wipe of a ruined Bedouin's matraque over the
180 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
pate of some thieving Jew usurer, sundry hun-
dreds of thousands of francs to be added to the pile
of some Army Contractor " in the swim ", and
crash! bang! smash! set to work rifles and
rockets and shells, sword and bayonet, and big
guns, and to finish up, fire the gourbis (native
huts), orchards and standing crops !
I can see them at this moment in my mind's
eye flaring up, and admire the graceful white puffs
of smoke from the long moukalas taking pot shots
from the bush, and the blazing ricks, and the
sappers' axes hacking furiously at the fig-trees
and olives and big old vine trunks, while the
foraging parties, little flames the while darting
hither and thither along the ground and snapping
up at their horses' legs, gallop madly through the
smoking fields of blackened wheat and barley
shrivelling in the heat ! and crash ! bang ! whoop !
the fugitives are sabred as they run, and fall
biting the smouldering ashes, all that is left of
their golden harvest.
When I think over these merry doings of my
young days, my old heart swells, I tell you, and
my rheumatic pains u of yester-year" feel warmed
and comforted.
SHORT COMMONS 181
Why, of course! a country-side reduced to ashes
to pay for the Mayor's hen, his Worship is the
Deputy's cousin, remember: villages burnt down,
and crops and olives and orchards consumed, for a
Jew swindler's broken head; hundreds of poor
devils sent to Kingdom Come, to give our worthy
friend the Contractor, one of the bigwigs of
Gonstantine, mind you! the chance of ridding
himself in favour of the Expeditionary Force of his
stock of brown-paper soled boots and rancid bacon
that was rotting in the warehouse ! Well ! well !
that's how we're made, we Europeans ; and then,
after all, with savages you know, no need to be
over particular, is there ?
But now, consider our situation ! Nothing eatable
left anywhere in the whole country-side ! The raid
had been perfectly fruitless, the flocks and herds
having been all driven off long before the attack
could be delivered; whilst we, who had been
thrown forward more than two leagues ahead of
the column to try and overtake them, were bound
to halt at the frontier.
Night had closed in, and we were sitting with
empty bellies and anxious hearts, toasting our legs
at the bivouac fires, waiting for fresh supplies
182 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
to drop down from heaven, But there! the God of
the Christians has completely run out of stock,
since he made manna to descend like rain in the
Desert for forty yours, time when he was God
of the Jews.
So we grumbled sulkily, like the Israelites
before the miraculous arrival of the quails in camp,
and our murmuring was directed in particular
against Mother Fortenpoil*, a stalwart matron of
1. Fortenpoil is rather a dangerous word to English.
The nearest equivalent is perhaps u Mother hairy-chops u
and the student needs hardly to be informed that this
expressive appellation extends to elsewhere than the
" chops". Hairy women have the reputation of being very
voluptuous. Numbers of women are to be met with in
France who possess very pronounced moustaches. This
" wolf-like fluff on the upper lip " is seen only in brunettes,
as a rule, but hirsuteness is also seen often in abnormal
rousses, or red-haired women. An English journalist in
connection with this fact, related to us that when on a
visit to a school of painting in the Quartier Latin he saw
three women-models absolutely naked, one of them being
a rousse (or rouquine), and on this latter Nature had best-
owed at the lower part of the abdomen a crinose manifes-
tation of triangular shape of a surprising and extraordinary
abundance. The pilous developement of the other two
females offered nothing out of the common. Many are the
curious notes we have made upon this out of the way
subject, but, alas ! Propriety sternly forbids their inclusion
here. In the Secrete of Women (Paris, 1899) the matter is
SHORT COMMONS 183
some forty summers and wife of a worthy eating-
house keeper of La Calle, known also and
indifferently according to circumstances as Mother
Fortenreins or Mother Fortengueule ^ These nick-
names speak for themselves ; so I need only add
that she followed the troops in the quality of
civilian, unattached canteen-woman, and that she
had that very morning promised us a tasty supper
after our hot day's march.
For a while we had seen her trotting steadily
at our heels, but then all of a sudden she had
disappeared in the confusion, mule and paniers and
all, without one word of warning and without
saying where she was bound to.
u She must have gone over to the enemy, " said
our Lieutenant, de Pracontal, with a grin ! she's
plump and fat, I'll be bound the Caid ofRoum-
el-Souk has made her an advantageous offer. "
u No! no! her moustaches are much too big, "
treated at greater detail, and in the Perfumed Garden
Man's Heart to Gladden, which we have done out of the
Arabic and shall shortly hand to the printer, we hope to
publish some very valuable information on lanuginous
women.
1. Try : Strong V </i'arm, Strong V th'back, Strong f
th' jaw.
184 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
retorted Captain Fleury ; ' ' Ca'id Salah is like the
examining Magistrate of Souk- Arras, he prefers
them beardless! "
" Short commons, and tough at that ! " mut-
tered little Clapeyron, our Sub -Lieutenant,
woefully, having just broken a tooth over a
hunk of burnt goafs-flesh a Spahi had brought us
in triumph ; ' l I'd rather have dry bread and an
onion. "
* ' Bread and an onion ! Why ! you're an Epi-
cure, Sir!" cried the Commandant Rambaut.
u Hold your tongue, Sir! you make our mouths
water. "
" Oh ! if only Mother Fortenpoil would but turn
up."
But as no Mother Fortenpoil did turn up, why,
they just went on with the tough goafs-flesh.
But really, what had they to grumble about, the
gluttons ? We poor Non-Coms were worse off
still ! we had no bread, no onion, no burnt goat's
meat to set our teeth in, not even the remains of
black biscuit and the half dozen dried dates, our
SHORT COMMONS 185
Spahis' regular rations. There was not a blessed
thing to put in Duke Humphrey's stew-pot, not a
thing to do but roast our legs before the camp-fire.
This we did with a will, while near by, our res-
pected superiors the Lieutenants, heartened up by
their goat's meat, were singing out, to the tune of
" Lampions ", for Mother Fortenpoil to serve round
the Liquor :
" Fort-en-poil ; Fort-en-poil ! " in chorus; then
once again, with variations, u Fort-en-poil! Fort-
en-reins! Fort-en-reins! Fort-en-gueule ! "
"Oh! call away," ejaculated a hollow voice,
u keep the ball rolling, gentlemen ! "
Then little by little issuing from the galley,
appeared in the circle of light thrown by the
camp-fire, the head of Jacobot.
Moustache bristling, coarse face, generally scar-
let, just now pale and haggard-looking, stove-
pipe Chechia, eyebrows forming two circumflex
accents and eyes like notes of interrogation, he
stood gazing at us.
You don't know Jacobot ; but I can assure you
he was very well known in the six Squadrons. He
had passed through all six one after the other,
drummed out of each in turn for chronic drunken-
Musk hashish and blood. 24
186 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ness. He had joined the regiment as Trumpeter,
and had come originally from the Chasseurs
d'Afrique. He would infallibly have been kicked
out for good and all but for the Commandant,
Rambaut, who did what he could for the clever
scamp ; for to his talents as trumpeter he added
those of an excellent Cook. I say an excellent
Cook, but it was something more than this ; he
was a Cook of quite extraordinary gifts, not
merely in the commonplace art Baron Brisse
preaches up, the art of using up the scraps, but
in the very much rarer and still more praiseworthy
one of making something and something
good, out of nothing at all, contriving delic-
ious soups out of common grass, and turning
potatoes into truffles.
But, as his talent was just as extraordinary for
breaking crockery and surreptitiously drawing
corks, the Commandant had dispensed with his
regular services, only calling in his assistance on
great occasions.
By the light of the embers, Jacobot proceeded to
scrutinize one after the other our faces, the long
dismal faces starved men pull, then broke out
in a silent grin that stretched from ear to ear.
SHORT COMMONS 187
This mysterious mirth exercised our curiosity
beyond all bearing.
" Halloa ! Jacobot, nothing to eat?"
The fellow winked in a knowing way :
" Why! that depends... " he replied.
We all looked up eagerly.
" Depends on what?"
1 ' Depends on how many pints of wine you are
good for, when we get back again to Bona or La
Galle. "
" A pint a head," cried the Marchef; u eh?
how's that?"
u Pooh! if I were to go to the Kebirs 1 tent, they
would promise me two, or three very likely ; but
I am not on speaking terms with them. Make it a
couple of pints a head, and I will give you the
preference. "
4 * Makes twelve pints we shall owe you ; it's a
bargain. Now, what are you going to fry us? "
u A lovely dish I have straight from Mother
Fortengueule. It'll make you lick your chaps. "
"Very good! and now serve up hot, and
quick. ''
" Ha ! ha ! how you run on, Marchefl Easy to see
you're no cook. Why! I shall want two good
188 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
hours at shortest. But there! just you think of the
long nose the Kebirs, who are cracking their
jaws over their braxy goat's meat, will pull,
when they smell my fry over here. "
And with these words, he slipped away, start-
ing off at a round pace for somewhere.
II
To satisfy your appetite after a long fast, to
have good savoury meat for your teeth to work on,
to eat your fill and say with the Arabs : ' ' God be
praised ; my belly is full, " is one of those pleas-
ures a man appreciates in direct proportion to
their rarity ; but that night we were very specially
and particularly well pleased, and as Brillat
Savarin J would have put it, our ' c palate was
surfeited with gastronomic delights. "
Oh ! the rich, juicy slices ! the tasty bits ! the
1 . Author of Physiologic du Gout, a French work which
appearing about 1860, created a great sensation for its
wit combined with clever directions in the culinary art.
It is still largely appreciated by the bibliophile savoureux.
SHORT COMMONS 189
delicious fat, that melted in the mouth ! What
was it we were eating? We hadn't a notion; but it
was a fine, steaming ragout, highly spiced, not too
thick and not too thin, rich, savoury, perfect, a
stroke of genius on the part of Jacobot : and
proving once again the truth of the aphorism we
owe to the one truly great Magistrate France can
boast since Montesquieu : "The discovery of a
new dish makes more for the happiness of man-
kind than the discovery of a new planet. ' '
We could not have enough ; we licked our
fingers, andlaughed, and cried, "Encore ! encore !"
We wished not to leave one mouthful, but we had
to, for the huge camp-kettle had been brim-full
to begin with. So with that praiseworthy generos-
ity and love for our fellow-creatures a good
dinner produces, we sent over the remains of the
good things to the next tent, where the Corporals
had been awakened by the appetising smell of the
meat and the noisy gaiety we indulged in in our
satisfaction, and were kicking their heels in the
dark, with greedy eyes and dilated nostrils.
' l What ever is it ? what have they got in the
pot ? My word, why ! they live like Aldermen.
By God ! but it smells good. Good old Jacobot !
190 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Where did you get your freschteak ? 1 Thief of the
world ! wherever did he sneak the meat?"
It was our brawny Commandant, Rambaut,
speaking. The good smell had brought him out
too, and up he came sniffing the seductive
odour.
"Beg pardon, Sir!" returned the Trumpeter,
who by rights should have been cordon bleu to an
Archbishop : " it's a dish, I won't say of my
own invention, for Mother Fortenpoil gave me
the recipe, and the ingredients ; but there, Sir !
I have done my best And if you wish, I can
serve you up another like it to-morrow for the
mess. "
1 c Why ! have you got any meat ? "
" I should not be called Jacobot the King's
Head-Cook, if I didn't know where to lay hands
on some. Only it is a long way, and thirsty
work. "
"That shall be made all right, sot that you
are ! Start in good time, and be back the same.
The mess counts on you. "
1. Algerian slang for "grub", boullotage, or boustifaille,
as food is called in French argot.
SHORT COMMONS 191
And the mess were justified in their confid-
ence, for Jacobot, not having enjoyed any
advantages in the way of political training and
being quite innocent of the education of cities,
never failed to keep his word.
Stable-duty was hardly done next morning
before the Officers found themselves seated in a
circle on the grey sand, tasting of the veritable
joys of heaven, embodied in the form of little
meat-pies. Little pies, all hot, browned and
crusty, crisp, tasty, rich, melting in the mouth.
Merely to look at them, your lips grew moist
with longing, as at the sight of a pretty girl's rosy
cheeks.
They were still busied with the pleasures of
the table when the Spahis on guard signalled the
approach of a sumpter-mule and panniers, just
topping the horizon. At first they thought it was
Madame Fortenpoil * arriving with the canteen
1. With further reference to the note of a few pages
back concerning this name, a correspondent of ours, a
medical man, sends us the following, curious case of extra-
ordinary pilous development.
192 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
supplies, and were just preparing to chaff the
good lady with all the gay self-assurance of men
When a student in Paris, many years ago, he came
across a grisette of about seventeen years of age, who pre-
sented a most curious abnormality : Just between her two
breasts, but a little lower dow r n, there grew a thick lock of
dark, wavy, hair some five inches long tapering to a point
and about one inch broad at its basis. This strangely situa-
ted, isolated tuft was of the same texture and gloss as the
hair of the head, in itself plentiful and handsome. There
was no possible connection between it and the hair on the
pubes, which merely covered the Mons Veneris. It was of
finer, more silky texture and very curly.
The young lady in question was rather proud of her
breast-lock, which somewhat resembled the beard of a
turkey-cock, and she was always ready to show it to those
who had sufficiently gained her esteem to deserve that
favour.
The Doctor also communicates to us a further case of
abnormal pilous development which came under his obser-
vation in the South of France, a few years later. This was
that of a rather handsome woman of about thirty years of
age, who presented a most wonderfully abundant develop-
ment of hair on and around the pubes. The mons veneris
was hidden beneath a dense forest of dark hair, which
extended on either side to the extremity of the iliac. But
the most extraordinary part of this exuberant growth was
that it extended also in thick, flocculent masses on each
side of the labia majora right down to their commissure,
so dense and long indeed, that the intervention of a comb
became at particular moments necessary to prevent an
obstruction of the hortus muliebris. The doctor adds that
this lady was a rich brunette of the South and with an
ardent temperament and a most amiable disposition.
SHORT COMMONS 193
who have dined well ; but, no ! they saw it was
only her husband, escorted by two horsemen of
the goum.
4 ' Ho ! ho ! t/ou're a nice fellow ! a broth of a
boy, aren't you now? You're like the great grand
Duke of York, who invariably came up just
three hours too late for the battle. You may just
go to the right about, and take your stinking
bacon with you. But, have you got any liquor,
anyhow ? "
"A dozen bottles, fresh supply!" replied
the man. "But you can't possibly have finished
the little cask my wife brought you in yesterday,
surely ? Halloa ! here's some little meatpies
tell me the goodwife isn't far off. "
"Your wife! my poor, dear Fortenpoil, we
have not seen so much as the shadow of her
moustaches. The little pies are the handiwork of
this noble fellow, " added the Commandant, point-
ing to Jacobot, who dropped his eyes modestly ;
4 'without him we should have died of hunger!"
"Not seen my wife!" cried the Mercanti\
"but then, where is she? The trollop, it's the
very last time she shall play me any of her tricks.
Why ! she's gone and carried off with her a tip-
Musk hashish and blood. 25
194 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
top ham, and a lot of tinned provisions I meant
for you, Gentlemen, and which I packed with my
own hands. I wager the good-for-nothing has gone
off with those Turco fellows. Yes ! indeed, Gent-
lemen, barring this dozen of wine, she's made a
clean sweep, and you see before you a starving
man, starving since yesterday. "
u And we are dying of thirst. Now you refresh
yourself with some of the pies : and Jacobot will
unpack the bottles. "
u No refusing you, Gentlemen. But, oh! what
lovely meat-pies I Jacobot, I am going to set up a
restaurant at Bona : when your 'time's up, look
you, I engage you as my chef. Oh ! the trouble that
wife of mine gives me ! " sighed the Mercanti,
swallowing an enormous mouthful. But it was a
mercy he did not choke himself, for at that very
moment there trotted up a third horseman of the
gown, mounted on a sorry, limping half-starved
nag, and shouting at the top of his voice :
" Ze madama in ze ravine, ze madama down in
ze ravine ! "
" What are you talking about? What
madama ? "
" Ze madama Mercanti, " answered the Bedouin,
SHORT COMMONS 195
and pointed to the dry torrent-bed a couple of
gun-shots away, where a ravine cut deep in the
chalky soil, behind a row of oleander-bushes.
And there it was we found Madame Fortenpoil.
Lying on her face, her head under a tuft of alpha-
grass, as if seeking shade, she looked as if she
were fast asleep, the sleep that knows no
waking !
The forehead had been split open with a sharp
flint, and the brains trickled through the gash,
making a little pool of blood and greyish matter
on the ground. The flies were thick on it, and it
was already drying up under the morning sun.
You might have supposed it an accident. But
a few yards away, lay the wine-barrel broached ;
the wine was spilt all about and the canteen-
baskets broken open and empty, all proving
the unfortunate woman to have been murdered by
the Bedouins.
" My wife! my poor wife!" cried the Mer-
canti.
' l And look ! they have violated her, as they
always do, " said I, pointing with the tip of my
sword-scabbard to the marks of bloody fingers
having been dried on her dress.
196 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
4 'Worse than that," screamed the Canteen-
man suddenly. Surprised at the unwonted appear-
ance the body presented as it lay face down-
wards, and looking to see if there were not some
other wound, he had just raised the petticoats ;
" worse than that, gentlemen! My God! look."
"Extraordinary idea the savages have had!"
ejaculated the Commandant ; ' 4 when she calls the
roster of her limbs at the Day of Judgement, the
hind-quarters won't be on parade, that's certain.
Why! what... the... devil has been doing?"
But suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a new
idea went through his head, and mounting his
horse with an oath, he galloped into camp.
" Wretch !" he shouted the instant he caught
sight of Jacobot, deeply absorbed in polishing up
a camp-kettle, " wretch ! what was it you gave
the Non-Coms for supper last night, you atroc-
ious pig, you? and us, for breakfast this
morning ? "
"Pig, pig*,..." mumbled the drunkard, who
had been indulging in big bumpers of the wine
just arrived, "it wasn't so piggish, when they
were licking their thumbs just now right up to
their elbows ! "
SHORT COMMONS 197
u Seize the fellow, and tie him up ! " shrieked
the Commandant, choking with disgust and fury.
Then, turning to the Officers, Quartermasters and
Corporals, who came running up from all sides :
u Do you know what it was the wretch gave us
all to eat ? do you know ? Fricassee a la Mother
Fortenpoil ! By God, was it ! The abandoned
villain ! Fricassee a la Mother Fortenpoil ! ! "
U A good wife too, she was," the widower
will say sometimes to this day, with a sigh. He
is now a well-to-do innke-eper at Bona, landlord
of a fine hotel and the happy possessor of a new
land-lady, a young and pretty woman ; a good
wife too, she is, but a bit of a scold.
And he generally finishes his narrative, one
he never fails to tell his customers, when he is in
a good humour, in these terms :
4 ' Yes ! those little meat-pies were very good
indeed, and the fricassee too, they say. Pooh ! my
boys ! It's a way we have in the Army, to make
up for short commons I "
IX
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT
IX
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT
I
He was a black stallion of the Ouled-Nails *, the
Tribe that is so prolific in thoroughbreds, both
mares and maids. From the lake of Sa'ida to Cons-
1. Pronounced Walad-Nails.
Musk hashish and blood.
26
202 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
tantine, from Bordj-bou-Arreridj to La Calle, every
householder, or rather ll tent-holder ", and
every entrepreneuse, is keen to procure the off-
spring of the land of Palms . Same opulence of breast ,
same fineness of shape, same luxuriance of mane,
and in their gazelle-like eyes, same fire and soft-
ness. The tresses on their brow are the horse-
man's love and pride, whether bestriding the
devourer of space he scours the plain to the time
of the ringing stirrup-iron, or whether reposing on
the bosom of the devourer of hearts, he falls softly
asleep to the tinkle, tinkle of the silver bracelets
shaken by the fondling hand.
For it is written in the legends of the Tell :
" The only Earthly Paradise there is, is the back
of a horse of race, or the lips of the beloved.
Again our poets sing :
The gallop of the war-horse
And the tinkle of a woman's ear-rings
Drive the maggots from your head.
His coat, u now iridescent like a pigeon's wing
in the shadow, or blue-black like the raven's in the
sun, " was never dulled by the foul exhalations of
a stable, nor polluted by the contact of the curry-
comb the Roumis make such excessive use of in
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 203
what they term rubbing-down their beasts, as
ignorant of the true hygiene of the horse as a lot
of Khabyle foot-men. Sound in wind and limb,
without spot or blemish, proud and strong, the
noble stallion Merzoug 1 knew no roof at night
but the starry vault of heaven.
1. More exactly marzouk, if examined etymologically.
The root is " razaka " which according to W. T. Worta-
bet's admirable Arabic English Diet. (Beyrout, 1893),
means "to grant; to bestow upon ; to provide the
necessaries of life (God) ", the secondary meaning of
marzouk, or merzoug being "happy", "fortunate". It is
a noteworthy fact that the Bedawin never gives a name
borne by a man to his horse, although the latter may be,
and often is more precious to him than any man. The reason
is to be found in religion, which dominates the whole of the
Arab's life. The names of men have been borne by the
Saints of al-Islam, and it would be an enormous sin, a
sacrilege without qualification, to apply to a mere animal
the names of those who have battled in the cause of Allah
and the Faith.
The thorougbred of the desert has from remote times been
famed amongst connaisseurs for elegance of body and
swiftness of foot. The secret is to be found in the purity of
the race and, what we may term their pre-natal training.
The stallion is led to the mare in the first days of
Spring, so that the foal may have before it at least two
seasons to obtain the strength necessary to enable it to
support the rigours of the winter.
The moment when the mare desires the stallion is recog-
nized by her urinating as soon as she hears him neigh,
when she discharges a whitish fluid, and then lowers her
204 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The Gaid Salah ben Omar, at the head of one of
our gowns, had carried him off in one of the fre-
quent raids from the Djebel-Sahari, occasions
head and turns it round to listen to his coming. Before
bringing the mare to the stallion, it is proper to diminish
her provender, and the night preceding her being covered,
no food at all is given her; which is said to cause her to
conceive better and more quickly. If it is thought neces-
sary to excite the heat of the mare, she must be sent to
graze in company with a small fiery horse, who by
playing with her, biting and teasing, excites her ardour
and brings her up to point. Friday is the day preferred for
getting the mare covered ; it is the Moslem sabbath, and is
supposed to bring luck. Either from a sentiment of
modesty, or in order not to disturb the attention of the
stallion, he is always made to cover the mare far away
from the tents. The mare is placed on an inclined plane.
The horse has only a halter, and is held by the tether; one
man draws aside the mare's tail, whilst another guides the
stallion's member.
The Arabs prefer the guided covering to the covering at
liberty, on account of the accidents which may occur in the
latter case. For instance, it is not rare for the stallion to
thrust his member between the mare's thighs and injure
himself; or else he introduces it into the rectum, thereby
causing the death of the mare. Besides the horse exhausts
himself far more when he mounts in liberty.
The covering of the mare is done in the early morning in
order to avoid the heat ; and it is entirely dispensed with
when the air is overcharged with the big flies the Arabs
call debabe. They annoy the animal, sting him till blood
flows, and are supposed to deposit beneath the skin their
eggs, which at first appear to create no disturbance, but
MERZOUC; AND HIS EQUIVALENT 205
when our men, after killing a sufficient number
of men and cattle, fired the ksours and cut down
the date-palms to teach the natives of the oases the
which bring about the death of the horse when the cold
first sets in, or when the snow begins to fall.
When about to present the stallion to the mare, says
General Daumas, walk him round about her, let him smell
her, then, when he is sufficiently in heat, lead him away,
and do not let him mount until you see him spill a whitish
fluid. Otherwise you would expose him to ejaculate on
merely touching the mare. As soon as the act is terminat-
ed, one should, if possible, wash the stallion, and give
him afterwards a good feed of barley. The mare must be
walked about gently after giving three or four slaps with
the flat of the hand below the flanks. Some people, think-
ing to help conception hasten also to make her an appli-
cation of henna to the abdominal tunic.
The stallion that does not produce is one whose member
is not long enough to reach the orifice of the mare's womb,
or whose sperm is liquid, but little white and without
consistency. The Arabs, in order to make sure of it, heat a
stallion together with a mare until he is brought to that
point which permits them to note the quality of his
sperm.
It is known if the mare has conceived, when, after
having been covered, she turns her head round to view
her flanks ; there is no doubt at all of the fact, if, at the
end of seven days, on being presented again to the stallion,
she presses her tail down tight and repels him with vigo-
rous kicks, or if she no longer spends that whitish fluid
which she used to at the approach of the male or at the
sound of his neighing.
When a mare will not conceive, she is forced to make a
206 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
rules of civilization. The colt was hardly a month
old, and on the long marches, when he could not
follow, the Caid would hoist the little creature on
his mule.
Thus he made one of the family. He had grown
up a playmate of all the youngsters of the douar,
the companion of all their gambols. Perched on his
back, without saddle or bridle, they would take
him after a long day's work to drink and bathe at
the falls of the Oued-Mellegue.
rapid and long gallop, she is then brought to the stallion,
breathless and covered with sweat, her two forelegs plung-
ed in a brook. If she was supposed to be barren, it would
then be necessary to give her a tall ass (masery) ; she will
give birth to a mule and become useful for reproduction.
The Arabs have other methods for combating the steril-
ity of the mare : a man anoints his arm with butter soap
or oil, he penetrates into the vagina of the mare, reaches to
the neck of the womb which he slightly opens by means
of a date held between his extended fingers, and finally
manages to introduce his entire hand ; he then, after with-
drawing his arm, presents the stallion. The mare conceives,
for she was but tied (maagouda). This operation requires
the greatest precautions, and he who practises it must be
careful to cut his finger nails quite short. Would it not be
a curious thing if the Arabs were to show us the way to a
precious discovery in medical science ?
See Les chevaux du Sahara et les moeurs du desert
(Paris, 1858).
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 207
All loved him and petted him ; he was the
pride of the whole Tribe. The Ca'id's wives gave
him his barley, used to saddle and bridle him, and
at evening when he returned from a journey the
youngest would wipe his face with her hai'k.
But one morning, oh! day for ever accursed,
just as the dawn was whitening the plain, there
rose a great cry in the douar :
i( Merzoug? where is Merzoug? "
The cry came from the women first a-foot in the
douar', then from the seventy tents of the Beni-
Rahan rose answering shouts of dismay :
u Stolen! Merzoug is stolen! '
Yes! in very deed he had been stolen, in the
black midnight, at the Gaid's own tent-door, where
he always stood picketed with a double shackle,
stolen right in the very midst of the camp, with
dogs and watchmen on every side, and in spite of
the leather scapularies, heurouse add jam,
holy talismans on which are inscribed the charms
and magic formulas that preserve the beasts from
colics, from strangles, farcy and footsoreness, from
foundering and robbers.
In vain the men of the Beni-Rahan, anxious to
avenge the insult and make good the loss, visited
208 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
every corner of the plain, making adroit enquiries
in the cfouarsofthe Nememchas, the Chaouias, and
even the Ouarghas on the far side of the Oued. In
vain men were charged to go round the markets of
the Meskiana, Ain-Beida, El-Meridj and Roum-el-
Souk, crying amid the groups of market-people :
44 Salutation to all Good Men ! Oh, yes ! Mussul-
mans all ! Whosoever shall bring home to the folk
of the Beni-Rahan the stallion of My Lord Salah
ben Omar, the Gaid, he shall win the lovingkind-
ness of God that loveth the doer of a good deed,
and he shall be rewarded in the sum of a hundred
douros ! Tell the news to all and sundry. Oh, yes !
Oh, yes!"
But there was no answer. In spite of the reward
offered, which was more than sufficient to tempt
the cupidity of the frontier-robbers and excite their
reckless daring, no one succeeded even so far as to
discover in what douar the noble Merzoug was
hidden away.
Finally, notwithstanding his repugnance to have
the Bureau Ara.be mixed up at all in his af-
fairs, the Gaid had to invoke assistance in that
quarter ; but all he got was the rough answer :
44 Keep a better eye on your horses! '
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 209
II
Meanwhile an old woman of the Nememchas
affirmed that on the night of the theft she had seen
at daybreak, as she was getting ready to grind the
day's corn, a naked rider on a black horse heading
at a gallop for the tents of the Ouchtatas.
The Ouchtatas, as everybody knows now that
recent events have made us all familiar with the
maps of the Tunisian frontier, did not as a rule
come down so far into the valley of the Oued-Mel-
legue. But it was the period of the tax-assessment,
and the Tribe was in flight before the Bey's troops,
hordes of half-starved, poverty stricken wretches
who had only these annual raids to trust to for
their war pay, their wages in time of peace
having long ago been reduced to zero.
Thus a section of the Tribe had scattered over
the Southern valleys, driving their flocks and herds
before them, dragging their camels and mules laden
with baggage, tents and provisions along with
them ; while the Tunisian soldiery having reached
the lower spurs of the fertile mountain region inha-
bited by the Eastern Khabyles, since known
Musk hashish and blood. 27
210 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
under the name of the Kroumirs, made halt there
for a time, devouring like a cloud of locusts what
the fugitives had been obliged to leave behind.
These latter were encamped two or three gun-
shots from the river, and from the bastions of the
Fort of El-Meridj we could see the fires in their
douays. Day after day hidden in the clumps of
oleander, we watched their women, old and young,
on their way to the river to draw water. General-
ly men armed with long muskets formed an escort ;
but either because they were busy elsewhere, or
because they had to guard their flocks against the
thievish Ouled bou Ghanem, it happened four
times out of ten that the women came unaccom-
panied within our range.
Then we would show ourselves, and hail them
and throw them kisses. The young women would
laugh, while their elders would fly in a passion
and overwhelm us with abuse :
1 1 You dogs ! you dogs ! you vile Christian dogs !
you spawn of hell! Go to, get yourselves circum-
cised, before you dare to look at unveiled women.
You filthy Roumi dogs! Ah, ha! your day will
come ! and the ravens shall pick out your eyes and
the jackals gnaw your bones ! "
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 211
Things were at this pass one day when the Gaid
Salah rode past quite near us, escorted hy a single
hdrseman. The Bureau Arabe at Tebessa had
shown him the door, and so he was coming to relate
his tale of woe to the Commandant of the Bordj.
u Ho! children of the Devil, " he cried to us
in a tone of good-humoured amusement, u why!
what have you done to make the blear-eyed beaut-
ies so furious? "
So saying, he dismounted, and sitting down in
the middle of us, accepted a cigarette, scrutin-
izing as he smoked it, one by one, the women of
the Ouchtatas with his vulture's eye. Amongst
them were some lovely girls, young and fresh as
a May morning, maidens just barely marriageable,
whom twelve or fifteen summer-suns at most had
kissed .
Two in particular charmed us, two sisters with
the same sweet, gentle faces and soft, graceful
figures. We pointed them out to the Gaid, while
they gazed at us from afar with great shy, startled
eyes.
u By the head of my father, " muttered Salah
in his beard, ' Paradise has opened one of its
gates; and two houris have slipped out. "
212 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
He scrutinized them like a connoisseur for a
long time without saying a word, then turning
round to his Da'ira, seated a few paces behind him,
holding the horses' bridles :
44 Look ! " he said. u From the salt lakes to the
sea, did you ever behold fairer maidens? "
44 My eyes are dazzled with their loveliness, '
returned the other.
44 Look once more, that you may know them
again. "
44 Their image is in my heart, and will never
fade. "
44 Now, to horse! "
We went along with the Gaid to the Fort.
41 Well! if it is the Ouchtatas who have stolen
your stallion, " the Commandant told him, " you
may give up all idea of ever seeing him again.
Why ! what weight can we bring to bear on
them? We are not allowed to pass the frontier. "
44 The foul Fiend grip me by the feet in mid
career, as I charge upon the foe, if I do not recov-
er my own ! There is nothing I will not do,
nothing ! Know you not how the men of the neigh-
bouring Tribes make a mock of me. They say,
44 Salah-ben-Omar is getting old, and the men of
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 213
his do war sleep as sound as women after the delights
of love. Two steps away from the mat where he
slept, they stole his war-horse from him! " I tell
you he is the very Prince of stallions ; you cannot
match him in all the six squadrons of your Spahis.
Again and again, in the grand raids of the Souf,
has he covered his eighty leagues in the four and
twenty hours, saddle on back for weeks and
months on end, and not a thing to crop during the
brief halts but the leaves of the dwarf palms ! Oh !
Merzoug ! Merzoug ! my brother, my son ! my com-
rade in days of peril ! What ! you say I am never
more to hear my good beast shake himself, when
I have dismounted from his back, with clang of
stirrup-iron and clash of sword and tinkle of the
silver crescent on his red head-stall, that the
youngest of my wives broidered for him ! Even as
I stand here detailing you my grievances, another
man is on his back, insulting my peerless Mer-
zoug! "
" What would you have me do for you? "
" Commandant, give me a free hand! Do not
interfere ; and I will soon prove there are as clever
thieves among the Ouled-Rahan as ever the Ouch-
tatas can boast ! "
214 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
u I never doubted the fact, " replied the Com-
mandant, with a laugh; " but what do you mean
by your phrase, * Give me a free hand. '
44 An idea struck me just now as I rode along,
and I think it is a brilliant one. Give me leave to
go down with a few horsemen to the river on a
day I shall select, and I warrant I find my horse. "
1 4 Find your horse ! Why ! is the thief so bold
he takes him to water at the Oued Mellegue ? I
give you full permission and a free hand; but
mind, no firing, whatever you do ! Remember
this, and don't get me into difficulties with the
Tunisian tribes. "
41 By the head of the Prophet, I swear there
shall not be a grain of powder burnt ; I swear not
a sword shall leave its scabbard. Allah abandon
me to my fate in fight, there betwixt friend and
foe, if you meet vexation or annoyance in this mat-
ter by me! "
III
A week later, and there was a quite unusual
stir in the douar of Caid Salah-ben-Omar. Some-
thing unwonted, something strange and exciting,
was doing.
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 215
A crowd of thirty or forty men pressed round
the dar-diaf, (public guest-tent), talking loudly,
pushing and gesticulating, like a mob of drunken
Roumis lost to all sence of dignity and self-res-
pect.
There were men of all ages, some old and some
quite young ; beards snow white and beards iron-
gray, black beards and beardless chins just shaded
by manly down.
There was much wrangling, amid which were
audible such phrases as these :
44 I tell you it is my turn now. "
" By the face of Allah, why am I to give up
my place to you ? "
44 The Almighty empty your saddle, young Sir!
I was at the wars, when you were still a brat,
hanging at your mother's breast! "
44 You are in the wrong, you own it your-
self. Shame ! shame ! Begone, and leave young
men their own. Your wives shout after you to
claim their rights. Can't you hear them, they say :
44 Ho! thief! thief! He is robbing us of our share,
a poor thing at best ! "
4 1 Silence ! What have wives to do with it ? This
is loot ; it is common property ..."
216 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
" Back, beardless boys; make room for your
elders ! "
" Love is for the young!
" No! for the old first ! They cannot wait, their
hours are numbered.
44 Ho! Gaid! I appeal. "
" Peace, my children! The fruit is cut. What
matters for the second or the twentieth slice, so
long as their is a slice for all? "
But it was only for a few minutes they obeyed
the old Caid's voice. Very soon a new dispute
broke out, and the pushing and confusion began
afresh.
Now and again sultry puffs of heated air blew
past, that seemed to issue from the mouth of a
furnace; and penetrating the heady languor that
hung over the crowd, there ran sudden, keen
breaths of brutal concupiscence, a wind of bestial
lust that shivered down the spine and urged
naked flesh to be rubbing against naked flesh.
And panting, pushing, mouths watering, and
eyes on fire, they besieged the tent, from the recesses
of which came the sound of cries and moans of
pain. At intervals a man would come out, his
place being instantly taken by another.
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 217
Four De'iras, in blue burnouses, armed with
heavy bludgeons, kept back the women from the
scene of action J . But this did not prevent their
howling forth a continuous stream of furious abuse,
drowning with shrill cries and screams of anger
the men's shouts.
1 1 Ah ! the abominables brutes ! the dogs ! the
accursed dogs ! They are dogs, you can see them
at dogs' work. "
" We will appeal for divorce. "
" Yes! but how can we trust to the Gaid's
doing us justice ? "
1. Nothing can be more foul than this violation of girls
and children, a common feature of barbarous life. Let not
the " civilized " man however, "lay the flattering unction
to his soul " that these things are done better in Christian
Europe. The "dailies" constantly publish half-stifled
records of the raping of child or maid, oft-times under the
very shadow of the church-tower and the magistrate's
court. At the time of writing a Catholic priest is accused at
Trouville (March, 1899) of having committed OVER Two
HUNDRED CRIMES AGAINST DECENCY. According, to the report,
his victims were little girls from 8 .to 12 years of age. We
prefer not to sully our pens with too exact a recital of the
immodest doings of this most immodest monster, suffice to
say that under pretence of giving the children a whipping
he took advantage of their nudity to handle them in an
ignoble manner and inculcate their infant minds with prac-
tices rarely met with outside the pages of Martial.
Mask hashish and blood. 28
218 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
u The Ca'id is a man; he is on their side. He
will back them, and put us in the wrong. "
" Ruffian! from henceforth your bed shall be
made on the left hand, and I will spread mine
to the right, with a saddle betwixt us! "
" In the very crisis of love's delight, may Eblis
the Damned (Satan) bite you in the back. May
you encounter a sharp thorn in your bed, when
you would fain lie with your wife. "
Other women, the young girls these, cried :
* c Poor toflas (damsels) ! why should they suffer ?
They are not Roumis' daughters. They are Arabs,
and, worship the true God, like us. "
" Go to, foolish girls ! do you think they suf-
fer?"
" Do you not hear their cries of pain? "
" It is pleasure makes them cry out! '
It was the old women who answered so, and
they gave an evil laugh, as they said it. After years
of suffering, when faith and hope are alike dead,
there is no pity left in a woman's heart.
So, ugly, bony and repulsive, with long skinny
thighs and dangling, blackened breasts, with skin
shrivelled in the wind stiff and hard as well worn
leather, and faces burnt up by the suns of sixty
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 219
summers, they stood tapping their fingers on their
mouth and rousing the echoes of the Bou-Djaber
with the merry staccato cry dedicated to times of
festivity and days of marriage !
11 Up! up! young folk; up and away! Up! up
gather up the good things God sends the poor. Yu !
yu ! yu ! yu ! yu ! yu ! "
But when they stopped to take breath, and there
was a moment of silence, piercing screams of
agony were heard in answer from the dar-diaf.
It was about five of the afternoon. The setting
sun glanced gaily over the inequalities of the plain,
darting flames here, casting long shadows there,
dyeing the tents with their brown and yellow
stripes a uniform purple, gilding ragged cloaks
and dingy burnouses, lighting up silken haiks,
flashing on blue and white robes, making rings and
brooches and bracelets of copper sparkle, gleaming
on the handles of flissas, the barrels of muskets, on
the steel of stirrups and the embroidered work of
saddles, throwing showers of gold and rubies on
all these gewgaws of war and peace, of plenty and
poverty .
220 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
IV
An Officer of Spahis, following the road from
Tebessa to El-Meridj, that passes within a half
gun-shot of the douar, had his attention attracted
by the tumult.
He questioned the native horseman, serving
him at once in the capacities of Orderly, Interpre-
ter and guide.
The latter listened, with outstretched neck and
one hand shading his eyes ; then indifferently :
11 Oh! nothing ; " he said, u only some woman
or other being violated. J
The officer was young, fresh from the mill of
the Military College.
Utterly unfamiliar as he was with Arab manners
and customs, and innocent of one word of Arabic,
he had been appointed Sub-Lieutenant of Spahis.
It is quite as much to the ignorance of young Of-
ficers, and of old Officers too for the matter of
that, men who know nothing whatever about
Africa, as to the inefficiency of Functionaries, who
whether high or low know still less, that the
MERZOCG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 221
ruin of Algeria will be due, a ruin that must
come, failing some drastic remedies.
His Interpreter expressed himself in that strange
Cosmopolitan jargon known as Petit-Sabir\ and
the young Officer thought he must have misunder-
stood the answer, and repeated his question. * ' Yes !
a woman being violated ! " the Spahi repeated, quite
distinctly.
Then, listening again, bending forward in his
saddle with excited eyes and twitching, widely
opened nostrils :
u It is a girl, " added the Arab, "perhaps
more than one Something like amusement
going on yonder ! " the last part of the sentence
with a regretful sigh.
41 What! what! Women are ravished publicly,
in broad daylight, in this country! " cried the Of-
ficer indignantly, urging his horse toward, the
douar.
" Stop! stop, Sir! " shouted the guide; " the
douar belongs to the Beni-Rahan. Better not go
there. They are mere savages ; and love not to see
strangers intermeddling in their business. "
But the Officer would not hear a word, and on-
ly drove in his spurs the harder.
222 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The Spahi followed him at a gallop, shouting
warnings all the time :
41 Listen, Sir! listen to me! by your own head
and mine, listen to me! You have not a beard on
your chin. Only an experienced Officer, one who
knows the Arabs, could venture what you are
doing. What are you going to say to them? Why !
you cannot even speak our language. They will not
understand what you mean. True, I will translate
your words, but indignation, however fierce, that
passes by another man's mouth, loses all its force,
especially coming from a mere child. You must
pardon me, Sir ! but indeed they will take you for
a child. They may respect the lace on your cap and
the gold braid on your sleeve, but they will not
respect you. "
The Officer did not hear a word ; he was already
close to the tents. A score of savage dogs darted
forward, barking furiously at the strangers. Some
of them tried to bite the horses 1 legs ; others, fierc-
er still, leapt stirrup-high to tear the rider's boot.
44 Ho! there, you of the douarl Gall off your
dogs, fellows ! "
The men looked round, and the women ceased
their cries, while ten or a dozen Bedouins came
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 223
slowly forward to confront the intruders, warning
off the dogs with shouts and gestures.
" What is going on here? " demanded the Sub-
Lieutenant haughtily, rolling his eyes and making
his voice big.
They looked him up and down from head to foot,
the beardless boy, with his arrogant look, his
white face and yellow hair, like a wench of the
Ouled- Aidoun * .
" The roads are free to all, " they answered
presently. " When we marked you yonder riding
along the highway, not one of us even thought of
leaving our doaar to come and shout at you,
4 Whither away? ' So you too can go by in peace,
without troubling your head about our business.
Now, march ! If you would reach the Fort before
nightfall, you must push your horse ! "
But the stripling, pale with anger at their inso-
lence, turned to his Interpreter, saying :
11 Tell them I belong to the Bureau Arabe\ tell
them they must speak more politely to me. "
u We respect the Department; " returned one of
the older men ; * ' but why do they bring over from
France children at the breast to govern men?
1. A Khabyle Tribe.
224 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Bearded men for bearded men ! Who ever heard
tell of things going right, when babes give orders
to old men. Dismount, my son, if you will. If you
are hungry and thirsty, and your joints stiff with
riding, follow me to my tent, and welcome! But
if curiosity is your motive, go on your way ! go on
your way ! I myself sometimes visit the towns of
the Franks, and I hear their women wrangling.
Or mayhap one Mercanti says to another, 4 You
thief, ' and the other retorts, u Bankrupt you, and
your father bankrupt before you! ' Many a time
they are drunk and begin to fight. But I, I go
about my business, and never turn my head. Rou-
rmV quarrels do not concern Arabs, nor yet Arabs'
quarrels Roumis. You have not learned even to
spell the divine Koran, or you would have seen
these words written there. Now, begone ! " . . .
The young Officer was no coward, and a healthy
curiosity urged him to persevere . Disregarding the
warnings of his Guide and the threatening attitude
of the tribesmen, he dismounted, and with the
sublime courage of ignorance and inexperience
pushed his way through the hostile crowd, repea-
ting the only Arabic word he knew, from having
heard it at every step in the streets of Gonstantine :
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 225
u Balek! balek! Make way! make way! " ad-
ding further :
lt Bureau Arabe! Bureau Arabe!"
He draped himself, as it were, in this name,
knowing the terror it inspires ; and as a matter of
fact all fell back before him.
Still there were some at sight of his white face,
ready to block his way. They stood with flashing
eyes consulting each others' faces ; and if one had
said, ' Strike, ' ten would have gone further and
cried, ' Kill! ' And they would certainly have
struck, every man of them. They only waited a
sign ; but the sign was not made.
On the contrary, the Gaid, who was seated at
the threshold of his tent calmly telling his beads,
he took care not to make himself conspicuous,
for fear of compromising himself, should matters
turn out ill, the Caid now lifted his voice and
said :
u Let be, my children, let be! True, he will
tell what he has seen. But what matter? We do
not make our hearts crooked to dissemble our pur-
poses; we raise no screen to hide our acts. Soul
for soul is our motto, and eye for eye; nose for
nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth. The Department
Musk hashish and blood. 29
226 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
answered me, ' Keep a better eye on your horses.
Very well ! the Department, to be fair, will ans-
wer the Ouchtatas, ' Keep a better eye on your
girls, you! ' Every man must needs look to his
own "
And a Sheikh, with a pepper and salt beard
added :
" The Arab and the dog are brothers in this! He
is poor ; he finds what he can, and picks up what
he finds. Often it is but broken scraps, bones
gnawed already; well! he gnaws them again, and
makes no complaint. Lo ! to-day they are tasty,
there is flesh on the bones; and he takes his
fill, and makes no great ado Leave us
alone!"
4 ' Deuce take me if I can understand one single
word of all your harangues ! " returned the young
Officer. " Gome now, make way ! '
They let him come close up. A young man stand-
ing by the tent even went so far as obligingly to
lift a corner of the canvas revealing a scene
he who saw it is never like to forget.
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 227
At first, in the twilight of the interior, he could
make out nothing- but vague, confused shapes.
But very soon the horrors of the place became vis-
ible.
On the floor of the tent was the usual palm-tree
mat ; on this, a woollen cushion under the loins,
lay extended a young girl, as naked as mother
Eve.
Her mouth was half open, and showed the dazz-
ling line of the white teeth, while her black hair
lay tossed about in confusion, as if clutching hands
had shaken her head this way and that. The great
dark eyes were glazed, staring vacantly into
space.
The Officer thought she was dead at first, her
body lay so stiff and rigid ; but presently he observ-
ed that her breasts, breasts on which the ancient
cup of Classical story might have been moulded,
rose and fell in jerks, and one of her legs shud-
dered in nervous tension with a quick, spasmodic
twitching.
Pale of face and sick at heart, the haunting op-
228 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
pression of a nightmare weighing on his senses,
he could not take his eyes off the childish form,
for she was hardly more than a child. He could
not believe he saw the torn and tortured victim of
the savage lust of these monsters. Horror, pity,
anger were striving for the mastery in his bosom,
when suddenly there rose the sound of agonised
sobs :
" Baba ! ia baba ! ia Sidi! (Father! my father!
my Lord ! )
Then he looked again, and saw a little further
off, pushed into a corner and propped up against a
saddle, another slip of a girl, smaller and slimmer
and even more graceful than the first. Naked like
her, her body stained and torn like hers, her eye
wild and terrified, she crouched there, waiting. . .
And in her terror and consternation, she kept on
repeating at intervals her cry for help, her despe-
rate appeal to her absent father :
" Baba !ia baba! SidiJ "
And she wept, and wept, as only a child can.
u Come now! said a voice behind him,
" make your choice. Take your share, if you will,
the share of the Bureau Arabe\ You are quite
entitled to it. "
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 229
" Let the girls alone, " vociferated the Officer,
frantic with indignation; u let the poor girls alone !
Cowards! blackguards! murderers! " and drew his
sword.
The blade flashed in the air ; but at the same
moment he was surrounded, seized, disarmed, push-
ed, carried, set on his saddle again. Then, res-
pectfully, one of the old men returned him his
weapon, reiterating what he had been told before :
u Go your way ! the roads are free to all, but
the douars of the Beni-Rahan belong to the Beni-
Rahan. "
" Then they belong to criminals and ruffians,
the young man retorted furiously. u You are a
horde of savages, who ravish young children! In
common justice you should be swept from the face
of the earth with fire and sword; and you shall be.
You have earned your death, and death you shall
have * ! "
1. Rape, defined in law to be the carnal knowledge of a
woman by force and against her will", Stevenson (Medical
Jurisprudence) states, has considerably increased since the
CAPITAL SENTENCE once meted out for it, has been abo-
lished. French novels are full of cases of rape and the medi-
co-legal archives dealing with this kind of " amusement"
form most instructive reading. D r L. Thoinot, Fellow and
Professor of the Paris Medical Faculty, and one of the
230 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The Caid's voice made itself heard through the
rout :
" You are young, " he said, u and you do not
greatest medical ex perts in France, has dealt with this
crime in a very clear and comprehensive way. We think it
not inappropriate to quote from his magisterial Attentats aux
MceurSj wherein he demonstrates the circumstances under
which, advantage is taken of the female.
Tardieu, he points out, has noted in his practice 80 cases
of rape on girls of from 15 to 20 years old, and 10 only
on girls above that age. The crime of rape committed on a
nubile virgin may be accomplished in two distinctly dif-
ferent ways : (I) The girl is in full possession of her will,
of her consciousness. (II) The girl has been naturally or arti-
ficially deprived of her free will. We could write a com-
prehensive chapter on the conditions under which rape has
been committed on girls or women deprived of their free
will, but we shall here treat only of ordinary rape, that
commited on a girl while thoroughly conscious.
It goes without saying, that whatever the conditions
under which the crime has been accomplished, the physi-
cal signs of defloration remain quite the same.
There is however a question which first of all presents
itself : Is rape possible on an adult girl, in full possession of
her will and of her consciousness*! This question cannot be
answered in full : here it is necessary to examine the nature
of the case. A rape is easily committed when several indivi-
duals combine to attack a girl, and such cases are far from
rare. Rape on the contrary attempted by a solitary indivi-
dual, on a vigorous girl, knowing very well what is wanted
of her and not consenting to it, seems a priori to be impos-
sible.
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 231
know. But I tell you there are men of my tribe,
and their beard is not grey yet, who have seen
their own mother's daughters made the plaything
In fact a very few movements of the girl's pelvis execu-
ted by her to impede the intromission of the virile member
will suffice " To artful girls, said Voltaire, who come
to complain of having been violated, the tale should be
related of how a certain Queen once rejected an accusation
of the kind brought to her by a woman. She drew a sword
from its scabbard and handing it to the woman, requested
her to put it back again into the scabbard, which she found
it impossible to do, the Queen moving it about conti-
nually"
As a fact this sort of rape is very rare and difficult to
accomplish, but it is not impossible and may be effected
under certain circumstances which we shall now examine :
(a) It may be that the girl, vigorous and in full posses-
sion of her consciousness, finds herself in a condition of
absolute physical impossibility to offer any opposition to the
rape, and that she assists powerless at the crime being
commited upon her.
Hofmann has published three very curious cases of the
kind, which will serve to illustrate these circumstances.
The first is borrowed from Berndt : a young peasant girl
had just finished making up a very heavy bundle of grass
and had wrapped it up in a sheet. That done, she threw
herself backwards, her back against the bundle, and passed
her arms into two arm-straps attached to the sheet, in
order to lift her bundle. The situation may be imagined; at
this moment she is surprised by an individual who violated
her while she was in that position and unable to make the
least resistance.
The second case is related by Maschka : a young girl had
232 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
of your country's soldiery. The Caid Salah-ben-
Omar remembers seeing his sisters' faces. They
were but children, no older than he; but the
allowed herself so to speak to be bundled up in a cart,
between some straw and a feather bed, and in that situa-
tion was obliged to submit to coition against her will.
Thet hird case is equally instructive. Apeasantgirl allow-
ed herself out of fun to be tied by her playmates in the
following fashion : the hands fastened together beneath her
knees, a stick was then passed between her arms and her
bent knees, and there she remained like a trussed fowl,
unable to make the slightest movement. Her comrades
then ran away leaving her in that position and commission-
ed an individual to go and release her ; but he took advan-
tage of her helpless condition and violated her, accom-
plishing coition from behind, more canum.
(b) A man alone may sometimes reduce a vigorous girl,
although she may have the free use of her hands and feet,
to the impossibility of defending herself. The following case
related by Casper will thoroughly explain our meaning :
L... enticed into a park the girl P..., adult and in good
health. There, seizing suddenly hold of her, he in a moment
threw her on her back, at the same lifting her clothes over
her head, and putting it thus out of her power to resist, he
violated her.
(c) It may also happen that the girl resists, and resists
vigorously for a certain time ; but at last exhausted by the
struggle, and overcome by the brutality of her aggression,
she finally gives way. Unable to continue her resistance
any longer, rendered powerless, she assists at the crime
perpetrated upon her. The student will find very many more
instances in The Ethnology of the Sixth Sense (2 vols,
Paris, 1899), where this subject is comprehensively han-
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 233
u blue greatcoats" worked their wicked will on
them, and then ripped them up. And if he escaped
himself to tell the tale, it was only that he slipped
away from the thrusting bayonets, and was so
small they could not find him in the thicket where
he cowered * . Recrimination is not in his way ; but
died. This work, by the able author of Untrodden Fields of
Anthropology, is probably the most extraordinary work in
English, or any other language, treating of the Crimes Ano-
malies and Perversions of what D r Jacobus calls the " Sixth
(or Genital) Sense". The following occurrence does not
seem to fall under any of D r Thoinot's classifications. Some
ten or twelve years ago a case was recorded in the French
newspapers of a rape committed on a strong and vigorous
girl, a milk-maid, in a field. Her aggressor, unable to con-
quer her resistance, suddenly seized her, two ankles and
lifting up her legs as high as he could, and putting them on
his shoulders, got between them and perpetrated the crime,
she being then quite powerless.
1 . Some day the long tale of the rapes and violences of
military history will be written down apart as a curious
chapter in the book of civilisation. The history of rape is
in fact the history of humanity. In the Ethnology of the
Sixth Sense by a French Army-surgeon, a case is noted of
a woman at Bazeilles who was violated by SEVENTEEN
SOLDIERS 1 From Bazeilles to Bengal is a far cry, but the
rumours of the excesses of the black mutineers high-
born ladies ridden naked through the Bazaars and made to
undergo unimaginable horrors did not fail to reach the
ears of their white avengers and this will account, in part,
for the thorough way in which they did their duty.
Musk hashish and blood. 30
234 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
remember, when the Bedouins bleed their neigh-
bours, they have been bled well nigh to death
themselves. But anyway, what have you to com-
plain about ? it is none of yours they are bleeding
now ! "
VI
The hour of the evening prayer was just over,
and the men of the Beni-Rahan, who had duly
prostrated themselves towards the East as the
fiery disc of the sun glided below the towering
crests of the Bou-Djaber, were rising and slowly
re-entering their tents. Here and there shrill
voices rose in fierce invective, and from time to
time grave, commanding tones were heard saying,
u Peace, you women! Peace!" In some tents
there were sounds of weeping.
Presently, little by little, silence settled down
on the douar .
Several grey shadows glided towards the Gaid's
tent ; and there was a whispered colloquy within.
Meantime not far off, beside the Dar-Diaf (Guest-
Tent), men were arranging long branches of
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 235
laurel in order on the ground, trimming them
with pruning-knives and cutting all to the same
length.
Darkness crept over the camp like a mourning-
veil. In the distance fires shone out in all direc-
tions ; while the horrid yelping of the jackals rose
amid the gloom, and from all the douars scat-
tered here and there on the wide plain, dogs
answered with loud barking.
Suddenly the " long-rope ", on which the mares
of the Beni-Rahan were shackled, shook from end
to end.
The beasts one and all tossed up their heads
sharply, drawing deep breaths of the wind, as it
blew by ; then nervous and restless, twitching as
at the cracking of a whip, stamping and scenting
the ground, they tore the silence of the night to
tatters with their volleying neighs. Instantly the
whole douar was astir.
" It is he ! it is he ! " they cried.
And stepping out beyond the circle of the tents,
silencing the dogs with stones and sticks, men
peered into the outer darkness, listening eagerly.
Some lay down full length and put their ear to
the ground.
236 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
u By the head of the Prophet, 't is he ! Is it good
or is it evil he brings us on his back?"
A far-off neigh made merry answer to the
mares' challenge ; and soon the thunderous hoofs
of a Devon rer of Space were heard beating the
earth.
Young men leapt to the beasts' heads, for they
were struggling hard to break their shackles, and
the douar shouted with one voice :
"Merzoug ! Merzoug ! Merzoug ! "
Then through the dark loomed the mighty frame
of the stallion.
Men, women, children, greeted him with
exclamations of joy, and for several minutes
together the echoes of the Bou-Djaber gave back
the name :
u Merzoug ! Merzoug ! "
A white-bearded horseman rode him bare-
backed. At some paces from the tents he slipped
to the ground, and holding the charger by a rope,
halter, cried, as soon as the tumult was hushed :
" Greeting to all! Men of the Beni-Rahan, I
bring you the horse of the Caid Si-Salah-ben-
Omar. "
" Thief," they replied, u you are welcome,
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 237
welcome, spite of the wanton affront you have
put upon us. They of the Ghaouias and the
Nememchas are laughing still; they say : u Ah,
ha ! those Beni-Rahan ; they had the prince of all
war-horses, and they let him be stolen under their
noses. The charger who saved his master in the
fight, his master could not save from robbers !
" Sheikh, you are clever, clever ! Greeting to you ! "
u Accuse me not, " returned the old Sheikh,
** of what I am not guilty. If I am to blame,
you may cut off my hands. But indeed they are
innocent of theft. To have tried and done such a
deed required the address and daring of the young.
The colour of my beard must convince you it was
beyond my powers, without my needing to swear
it on the tomb of the Prophet. Yet have I to pay
for other men's ill-doing, and pay heavily. To
redeem the horse, I have given a hundred douros,
my whole fortune ; I have sold my wives' brace-
lets to grasping Jews and their very silver khelalas * .
Long I begged and prayed ; more than once they
threatened to set the dogs on me. The thief is
one of the Ouled-bou-Ghanem. "
1. Khelalas, brooches fastening the women's dress at
the shoulder.
238 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
4 'His name?"
"I cannot give his name. Silence on this point
was one of the conditions of our bargain. "
' ' And is it not written : ' Take not your oaths
in vain, as a means unto deceit?"
"And now, Beni-Rahan, give me back my
daughters. "
His voice was trembling, as he said it.
Then the Gaid Salah-ben-Omar, who had just
completed a careful examination of his horse by
the light of a fire of dry twigs and had found not a
scratch upon him, came forward, his heart divided
between satisfaction and regret, and addressed
the Sheikh :
1 ' You have tarried long, Sir ! For a month I
have waited patiently ; for a whole month I said
each evening, " To-morrow he will be here!"
The other day, weary of waiting, I warned the
women of the Ouchtatas, when I went to the
river and culled your daughters like two water-
lilies; I warned them, saying : " Lo ! I give their
father twice four-and-twenty hours. After that,
tell him he need be at no pains to find them
husbands ! " Then I bethought me, and I granted
another day, the fourth, at dawn, though my
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 239
young men were wild with impatience. For we
must ever be merciful. Yea ! I waited yet another
day. We are how at the sixth day ; and it is three
hours since the sun disappeared yonder, behind
the peak of the Bou-Djaber. By dint of hacking,
the sword has touched the bone. "
41 What mean you? " exclaimed the old man, and
two big tears slipped down his deeply-lined
cheeks. " Where are my girls? Why do they not
come to greet me ? Why do not their fair, gentle
faces beam through the night and gladden a
father's eyes? By the Lord of the Hour, answer
me, Gaid ! "
4 * For six days they have been calling you, and
they are outwearied. From dawn to dusk, from
dusk to dawn, they have not ceased their cry :
"Father! father! my lord and father!" but
lo ! you came not. You were deaf as a hard old
judge before the sorrow of young suppliants.
But we are going to give them back at last. The
women of the douar are even now making them
ready to meet you in brave attire. Gome, Sheikh,
you are our guest ; will you rest, while you wait
for them, in my tent? "
4 4 Will you give them back unsullied ? " inquired
240 MUSK. HASHISH AND BLOOD
the old man, unsullied as the accursed day they
were stolen from me ? "
" Who can ever swear a maid is unsullied I
Greybeard, you know how the most innocent
damsel will cheat in this matter the most ruse of
Cadis. We are all of us deceived at times, my
father ; but may my head be accursed, if ever the
maidens I stole from you make complaint of
violence done them or ill-treatment. Come,
Sir ! "
They put before him a dish of wheaten couscous
garnished with slices of hard-boiled eggs and the
breasts of fowls, then dates and milk ; but he
merely touched the viands with his finger tips,
little passed his lips, and this only to avoid offence
to his host.
Devoured by anxiety, starting at the slightest
sound, he kept murmuring all the time the Caid,
sitting by his side and helping him with his own
hands, was pressing him to eat, murmuring :
u Yamine ! Meryem ! "
Finally, unable to restrain his eagerness longer,
he rose.
44 You must pardon my impatience, Caid Salah,
but I am longing to see once more the darlings of
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 241
my old age. When they came into the world, I made
merry, though such is not our custom. My friends
were amazed and said, ' What ! you make rejoic-
ings for the birth of girls ? ' And I answered
them, 'I do ; for the light of their eyes shall be
as gold dust brightening the blackness of my old
age ! ' Then they went off laughing and saying
over and over again, ' Adda maboul* 'the
man is mad. ' But they were the only madmen.
Fools ! for a dozen years and rr ore the girls have
been the sunshine of my days. 'Tis time to be
a-foot, Caid ! It is late, and the roads bristle with
perils, when you travel them by starlight with
two toflas (girls), that the folk of our douars have
named the u Two Roses. "
A happy smile lighted up his bronzed face,
and his eyes were moist. The " Two Roses ! "
he repeated the words proudly, with all the
harmless vanity of a father. The " Two Roses ! "
Name of fragrance ! He said the words once more,
proud that they should know, these Beni-Rahan,
beyond the river, that his girls, blossoms of his
declining years, had won the title.
u Have no fear," replied the Caid, "no man
will try to take them from you . I will lend you a
Musk hashish and blood. 31
242 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
good mule, and two of my De'iras shall escort you
as far as the Oued-Mellegue. "
So saying, he turned towards the dar-diaf, and
asked in a loud voice :
" My children, are you ready?"
"My lord ! we wait your orders. "
VII
Then the two horsemen came forward, issuing
from the gloom, while a fire which burned in a
brazier and which an old woman was stirring,
made them more and more clearly visible each
step they advanced.
Enshrouded in their great hooded dark-blue
burnouses, with pointed beard and sword under
thigh, pistol in holster and musket on back, they
looked like the robber-monks of the League we
read of, starting out on some dark emprise.
Each carried, lying across the front of his saddle,
a sinister looking package, a long roll or bundle
done up in laurel saplings and tied each end with
cords of camel's hair.
The middle being thicker than the extremities
MERZOUG AND HIS EQUIVALENT 243
made the branches gape, and through the open-
ings could be descried under the thin tissue of a
ha'ik gleams of white skin.
At the sight all fell silent. The men stood their
ground, looking on grimly ; the women fled
indoors and hid their faces, and in several tents
there rose a sound of stifled weeping.
Meanwhile the father looked too, and stricken
suddenly dumb watched the two De'iras as they
paced slowly forward. His mouth opened, but the
tongue clove to its roof, while his eyes, widely
dilated and glazed with horror, seemed to refuse to
take in the sight.
At length, dashing his two clenched fists to
his face, he tore out with his fingers handfuls of
his white beard ; then running up with tottering
steps, felt through the interstices of the boughs
the cold stiff bodies of his darlings.
"Yamina!" he called, u Yamina, and my
sweet Meryem ! "
And he went back and forth from one to the
other, like a madman. Then, in a moment, utter-
ing a terrible cry and whirling round, he fell flat,
his face to the gronnd.
" Raise him, and take him away, " ordered the
244 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Caid in a cold voice. ' i What is written, is written.
Some men act in one fashion, others in another.
God only knows the true way. A curse was upon
their heads. We are but clay, and the potter
makes of us what seems good to him. No man
can tell the fate in store for him. Listen, men!
you will cross the ford and lay him on the further
bank of the river between the bodies of his daugh-
ters ; and to-morrow the Ouchtatas., the Ouarghas,
the Bou-Ghanem, and all the Chaouias of the
plain will go forth and tell from douar to douar
and from market-place to market-place, how
there is no whit of gain to be got by stealing
the horses of the Bem-Rahan,
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY
X
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY
All the morning Lieutenant Clapeyron had
been on the top of the detached hill of El-Kouffa,
scanning the Desert horizon. But turn his field-
glass as he might this way and that, he could not
see a thing coming along the grey track that went
winding over the rolling plain in the blue distance.
True, the Commandant's young wife had promised
faithfully to be at the Bordj by ten o'clock ; but
there, what man can trust a woman's promises
and her sense of punctuality, above all when
she happens to be a Parisienne? For a true Pari-
sienne she was, fair and slim, graceful and engag-
ing, young and pretty, - - the lady they were
expecting. Gallant, as they all are, she was on
her way to join her husband amid the sandy
wastes.
Never did Jews expect the Messiah more impa-
tiently than the Officers of the Garrison did
248 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
on this ocasion the charming little wife of the
Commandant-in-Chief of Tuggurt. For a fete
without a lady, is a sea without ships, a head
without hair, a dinner without wine, an eye with-
out a sparkle, lips without a smile, in one word
life without love.
No doubt, the beauties of the Smala had been
invited ; and the Spahis, soldiers of the goums,
Sheikhs, and even Caid Ali, anxious to oblige
the Commander of the Bordj, had one and all
brought their wives and daughters and sisters.
But there ! Bedouin women, we saw enough of
them all the year round ; what we wanted was a
real Frenchwoman to preside on the great day.
Besides, these daughters of Fathma, with veiled
faces, and all muffled up like the sheeted dead,
most irritating for amateurs who love to gather
the encouragement that falls from a smiling lip,
these Moorish women all as stiff arid unassailable
as the Sphinx, never break their solemn silence
but to emit a short yu-yu of command, that sounds
more like a stifled yawn than anything else.
Captain Fleury wished for something a little
more exciting. Moula'ias, foutahs, musk, one
was tired to death of it all ; and longed for crino-
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 249
line, and patchouli, the smart crinoline that
reveals a neat leg in an immaculate stocking, the
imperial crinoline, last refinement of civilization,
supreme invention of the enchantress queen that
ruled from a throne in the Tuileries ensconced
in billowy gauze and silken draperies.
The Tuileries ! Heigh ho ! We were a very long
way from the Tuileries, away on the borders of
the Beled-el-Djerid ; and that is why we longed
so to taste, at any rate once in a year, in
the swish and swing of starched skirts, some
perfume of our native land.
When I say no crinolines were available, I exag-
gerate our state of destitution. There was quite a
large crop on the out-skirts of the Bordj, but
they were not presentable. To begin with, there
was Fifi Folderol, and when she tarried late, as
sometimes happened, on the field-paths among the
aloes, her breath left a strong smell of alcohol
behind ; then there was Paquita the Pimply, and
Zizi known as Zizi Poodle, and Fat Florence, and
Blondinette Big-Mouth, andDucky Dolores. These
good ladies, consorts of the Mercantis, who had
settled, or squatted if you prefer the term, and
built shanties, under the walls of the Bordj,
Musk hashish and blood. 32
250 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
formed in ordinary times at once the ornament of
the country-side and the delight of the garrison ;
but to disfigure our great ceremony with their
soiled petticoats, no ! it was quite impossible, in
common decency, to think of such a thing !
Respectability was a sine qua non\ a French-
woman, and an honest woman, we must have to
represent France. This was why little Lieutenant
Clapeyron was posted out to keep watch on the
Biskara road, for it was now a week since that
town had sent in word of the passing through of
the charming stranger. She had at once been asked,
and had graciously accepted, the task of presiding
at the proposed fete, gracing the jousts with her
presence and distributing the prizes.
Jousts and games and powder-play! General
Desveaux had given orders to the effect that, out
in this advanced post, no single thing should be
left undone that might dazzle and delight the
natives. It was growing to be a matter of the first
urgency to make the Emperor's name popular
with these frontier tribes whose minds were not
yet made up and their loyalty doubtful. There was
double pay for the Spahis and Mokalis, a franc a
head and a new burnouse for the horsemen of the
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 251
Go urn, feasts and compliments and princely
presents for the Gaids and Sheikhs; while to
satisfy the massive hunger of the crowd, there
hung on spits over huge fires festoons of sheep
and oxen, roasting whole.
So, with a whole year's semi-starvation to make
up for, all the douars of the neighbourhood came
flocking in to the Homeric banquet.
What a picture they made with their strong
teeth and hungry jaws working, working indefat-
iguably !
You should have seen the long, bony, brown
fingers of the men, and the poor pale children's
thin little hands, and heads and necks and bodies
straining towards the beef when it was finally
unhooked and carried steaming and sputtering, all
unctuous and savoury and juicy, into the middle
of the eager groups.
Look how their long nails tear the meat into
strips, and how their faces light up, as they cram
their mouths chock-full in their greediness. In two
twos the carcase is gnawed, scraped, licked clean,
as if a pack of jackals had been at it. But they are
not satisfied yet ; and proceed to crack the bones
and extract the marrow, finally leaving the famish-
252 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ed dogs who have likewise crowded in to the
feast nothing but the dry skeleton.
Then a sheep to follow, and then another ox,
and then more sheep and more oxen and
more and more, till the hour when the setting
sun glows in the sky as red as old Cordova
leather, and the country folk, though eaten up
with taxes and forced labour, duties and double
duties, peace-imposts and war-imposts, as much
as, more than, ever were the old serfs bound to
the soil, for once in a way stretch themselves out
luxuriously and digest the good things they have
enjoyed in the happy, lazy content of well lined
bellies. Forgetting all the long days when the
pangs of hunger made them writhe, lost in the
pleasure of the moment and a sense of gratitude
for one good meal at any rate, they cry to the
image of Caesar, emblem of the task-masters who
starve them all the rest of the year round :
* 4 Long live the Emperor ! Long live the Empe-
ror!".
Such a fte as none in all that country-side had
ever witnessed, one they would tell of for many a
day on the tablelands of the Tell I Sack-races,
horse-races, donkey-races, and all the rest of it;
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 253
then powder-play, and shooting, and a wonderful
sight that was to astonish- the simple folk beyond
measure! the whole to finish up with a general
distribution of burnouses, ha'iks, berimas and
chechias to the needy, in other words to every-
body.
Already volley after volley was rousing the
echoes ; impatient steeds were champing the bit
and stamping on the sand, and the gold-broidered
djellals (horse-coverings) floated in the wind.
Many an anxious look was turned towards the
Biskara road, but all in vain.
Shortly before mid-day, Clapeyron was observ-
ed coming in, looking crestfallen and melanchoy,
with his Spahis in attendance. Instead of the
charming Parisienne, he was escorting an old
Chaouia, bearer of a despatch. This announced that
the lady was indisposed, and would put off her
journey for one day.
What was to be done? Absolutely impossible to
postpone the ceremony till to-morrow, to change
the day solemnly fixed upon. Everthing was ready.
Handsome Gaid Ali, Sub-Lieutenant in the Squa-
dron, was in waiting with his Mokalis, his
womankind, his camels and his Goum. All the
254 MUSE HASHISH AND BLOOD
Chiefs, from the Bou-Djellel to the Djebel Han-
marah had arrived the night before and were
sitting their prancing horses and frowning at the
delay.
" Damn women and their indispositions" swore
Captain Fleury! chewing the end of his cigar
savagely ; 4 ' the Emperor's birthday fte will be
clean spoilt. Nobody ever has such confounded bad
luck as we do ! "
But, next instant, he slapped his forehead. He
had just remembered M me Michu.
No common person, M me Michu, by any
manner of means ; but the lawful wife of Mons.
Michu, Contractor for the works in progress at
the Bordj, a Colonial grandee, a man of weight,
and honorary Mayor of the rising Settlement.
Having to remain at least six months to com-
plete the works in hand, he had lately sent for his
wife from Gonstantine to share and charm his exile.
Thus socially and morally and so on, she left
nothing to be desired, while personally she was
quite presentable, a stout brunette, still attractive
enough. A fine down was distinctly visible adorn-
ing her upper lip, while the general embonpoint
was not less noticeable.
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 255
Nobody pretended she was immaculate. Imma-
culate characters don't grow in those parts as
common as as buttercups ; indeed if report was to
be believed, Michu should have had as many
horns sprouting- on his bald pate as there are olive-
trees in the forest of the Adjouzes. Scandal even
went further, declaring the dove had been soiled at
an even earlier date in several different houses of
indifferent reputation. But there, what would
become of us all, if we were to believe everything
people say! Besides, in the plain of the Souf,
some prejudices must needs be disregarded that
are scrupulously observed on the plain of Saint-
Denis.
After all, it was Michu's business, not ours.
He had chosen to cover up his wife's dead past
under the orange-blossoms of the wedding-day,
and why should we be more particular than he
was?
My word ! the excellent woman was a welcome
as the flowers in May, and the Captain set off
without another moment's delay to invite her
with his own mouth to preside over the fete.
She held back a little at first, from modesty, and
no doubt annoyed because she had not been
256 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
thought of sooner, but ended by consenting-, and
-was conducted all in a flutter of joyous excitement
and triumph to the platform, where she took her
seat with much dignity.
Decked out in her bravest attire, resplendent
with gold like an Indian Rajah, well preserved
spite of many a hard bout and nearly forty sum-
mers under an African sun, opulent in flesh
and high in colour, with the shoulders of a dray-
man and the quarters of a Limoges mare, she
was greeted with a murmur of admiration by the
crowd.
Koulouglis, Chaouias, Bedouins, all love well-
fatted dainties, and gazed on the lady's magnificent
proportions with wide-eyed, greedy looks, while
the Frenchmen present, Officers and Spahis,
showed very plainly that if tasting had been allow-
ed, they would have pushed their comrades to
one side without much ceremony to get a share.
The platform of state stood at one extremity of
the Main Court of the Fort, in which were crowded
together two thousand Arabs. Captain Fleury had
done things right royally. Rich Tunisian carpets,
lent for the occasion by Caid Ali, covered the
steps, and the sides were hung with frechias of
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 257
many colours, on which were fastened up warlike
trophies. But above all else the background excited
universal admiration. In the centre of a sun
formed of yatagan blades and cavalry swords,
blazed a bust of the Emperor made of gilt plaster,
and underneath an Arabic inscription in letters of
gold on a red ground setting forth the proud
device : "He illumines the Earth." Grossed
colours surmounted and completed the design.
Officers and Native Chiefs draped majestically
in their scarlet burnouses, adorned the back of the
platform, which was somewhat raised; then in
front of them, but on a lower level, were seated
in rows on taharas the wives and daughters of the
Kebirs, solemn and motionless beneath their veils
and moulaias of silk as so many statues of
Mystery. Near them were heaped the prizes :
weapons, djebiras, long spurs with gold-embroid-
ered leathers, stirrups of damascened steel, figur-
ed girdles and turbans, luxurious costumes, silk
handkerchiefs and haiks.
Self-conscious and self-important, proud and
dignified, M mc Michu sat queen and monarch of it
all. But before very long, clouds began to rise,
obscuring the empyrean of her in ward satisfaction,
Musk hashish and blood 33
258 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
and little bitter stings of fear and anger to pierce
her bosom.
Below, at her feet, lost in the common herd,
she began to notice enemies were astir. Looks of
hostility were fixed obstinately on her face, dist-
urbing her equanimity and making her exquisite-
ly uncomfortable.
It was Fifi Folderol, Paquita, the Pimply, Zizi
Poodle, Blondinette Big-Mouth, Fat Florence and
Ducky Dolores. What business had these wretched
creatures assisting at her triumph, these
despised concubines of the up-country squatters ?
Alas ! alas ! she had just recognized in them friends
and comrades of her youth, of those days when, a
foolish virgin, she used to kick up her heels and
send her petticoats a-flying over the moon. And
now the poor, degraded, insulted, disreputable
band was staring the new-comer, the triumphant
parvenue, out of countenance, fixing her with
eyes of grudging ill-will and malicious spitefulness.
Blondinette Big-Mouth would whisper to Fifi
Folderol, and both would jeer and laugh only too
audibly ; and words would reach M me Michu's ears
of the sort that blast a poor woman's character for
ever.
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 259
Cruel ! to have her triumph spoilt in this squalid
way ; to hear the yapping- of spiteful curs at her
heels at the very moment of her high promotion !
If M me Michu had been a student, she might have
remembered how Roman Generals at their Triumph
bore the insults of a paid calumniator, and have
been consoled ! but there, M me Michu knew
nothing about History, so she was filled with a
consuming shame and a feeling of sullen indigna-
tion that made her fingers itch to be at them and
her tongue long to scream : ' * Pack of dirty trol-
lops, hook it! Hook it, you minxes, or 111
come down, and curl your hair for you ! "
She turned to her husband Michu, who solemn
and stiff, wearing his municipal scarf about his
waist and a white tie, seemed positively uglier
and stupider than ever. She was on the point of
saying, u Look, man! look, you idiot, at those
women!" but little Lieut. Glapeyron was
gazing at her, and Captain Fleury making sheep's
eyes in her direction.
So she smiled sweetly instead; and the games
began *. All was going beautifully, and M me Michu
1. Students of Anthropology will better understand the
sous-entendu of the story, if we explain that the Bedawin
260 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
wrapped up in the duties of distributing the differ-
rent prizes, had quite forgotten her low-life critics,
when suddenly a loud noise was heard from near
the Gate, and two Spahis, muskets on thigh, rode
prancing into the Fort.
Then, a moment afterwards, appeared a lady,
young, fair-haired and entrancing, wearing a great
straw hat and a silk burnouse wrapped round her
slim figure* She was mounted on a white mule
and escorted by a band of Arab horsemen.
The officers came down eagerly from the plat-
form, and elbowing through the crowd, hurried
braves who took part in the races, ran ABSOLUTELY
NAKED ! And, owing to the presence of the appetising,
unveiled Parisiennes, and possibly the cognac consumed,
they were worked up into a tremendous pitch of VERY
EVIDENT excitement. Burton has pointed out the abnor-
mal size of the membrum virile even in a quiescent condi-
tion, amongst the Arabs, and Hector France assured me
that the sight that day of these bronzed children of a
larger growth in statu erectionis was at once comical and
instructive. These simple sons of the desert who saw no
shame in Nature's doubly-uncovered nudity, the gleaming
eyes of their wives as the panting prize-winners stopped
before the dais to receive their guerdon, the confusion
of the European ladies at the visible and unequivocal pertur-
bation of these men qui mulierem ardentissime cupiebant,
and the amusement of the French soldiers was a fete
that no lapse of time could efface from the mind.
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 261
forward to greet the pretty wife of the Command-
ant of Tuggurt, whom they had long ago given
up in despair.
A true Parisienne, she had so contrived as to
make her appearance all ready dressed for the
fte, having made all her preparations half a mile
before reaching the Bordj in one of the tents of
Gaid Ali's encampment. And now she came for-
ward, a brilliant, ravishing, adorable little figure,
and with many excuses for her late arrival, took
Captain Fleury's arm, and lightly mounted the
steps of the platform, amid the respectful homage
of Sheikhs and Caids bending low with hand on
heart.
But the Chair was occupied. M me Michu sat
there already, with a pale face and lips set hard
in uncompromising determination, watching with
supercilious looks and frowning brows her rival's
approach.
Then, cap in hand, Fleury came forward, in
great embarrassment.
" Madame, a thousand pardons. But but
Madame la Command ante, as you see, has arrived,
who was to have presided in the first instance... "
u Madame had only to arrive punctually,"
I
262 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
returned M me Michu drily, and without offering
to move.
U 0h! of course, of course!" stammered the
younger woman in confusion, " I did not know...
I would not for worlds take Madame 's place. I will
sit beside her. "
" Go and fetch another chair, " said the Captain,
I 1 we will have two fair patronesses instead of one, "
he went on gallantly. ** The fte will be just twice
as charming. "
"Two of us! No, never!" cried M me Michu.
" I give up my place to Madame. Indeed I don't
how I ever came to mix myself up with all sorts of
people here, as I have done. Michu, let us be
going. "
She had just noticed Fifi Folderol and Fat Flo-
rence tittering with the rest of the lot, and now
Blondinette Big-Mouth hearing these last words,
cried out in her shrill cockney voice :
"Garn, Mother Fat-head! Don't you try to
come the fine lady here. We know you. You
know weren't so grand once on a time at the Gat's
Paw, in Queer Street, Constantine, when they
called you Marie Moonface. Ya! go long ! "
1 ' Lies ! lies ! " retorted M me Michu.
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 263
"Not a bit of it! not a bit," shouted all the
rest in chorus. " Ya! Marie Moon f ace \ "
"Madame! Madame! I beg you" ejaculated
Fleury, driven to bay, " compose yourself... "
But the noise still continuing, while the Kebirs
and their womankind were staring in wide-eyed
astonishment, he shouted, to make a diver-
sion:
" Hi ! Clapeyron, old man ! off with the balloon ;
let fly all!"
The balloon in question formed the wonderful
spectacle promised, the spectacle he counted on
most of all to rouse the admiration of the douars
of the plain, and give the tribesmen who had
come in to see the fte an exalted idea of France
and the French Emperor. It was hidden, all ready
inflated, behind the hangings at the back of the
platform, to rise at a given signal majestically
above the Imperial trophy, carrying up with it
fireworks, a set-piece at which an Artillery
Sergeant had been working lovingly for over a
month past, representing the glorious eagle of
Austerlitz, and intended to go off in a blaze of
coloured lights twenty yards above the spectators '
heads.
264 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The detaining rope was properly speaking to
have been cut only at the moment when the sun
was disappearing below the horizon, but Captain
Fleury anticipated matters, anxious to distract
public attention from the awful scandal that
seemed getting more and more atrocious.
ct The balloon/' he repeated again, "off with
it, Clapeyron, off with it ! "
u Off with Mother Michu's crinoline, you should
say, " shrieked Blondinette Big-Mouth from the
crowd.
" If the old girl would only come down, wed
see to that!"
" If you cannot secure me common respect,... "
quivered M me Michu, livid with passion. " There!
I'm sick of the lot of you! Hi, you! you saucy
minxes, here's your crinoline for you! As for you,
you... you... set of silly old fogeys; here's all I
care for you and your blessed f6te ! "
And before it was possible to conjecture what
she would be at, she darted to the very edge of
the platform.
As she did so, the sun was just gliding down to
the horizon line, and the buildings of the Bordj
threw the crowd into deep shadow.
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 265
But the platform, standing as it did, right in
front of the gap between the two bastions that
flanked the Main Gate, remained still in full sun-
light, and the imperial bust, flushing purple amid
the blazing aureole of the grouped arms that glitter-
ed and sparkled against the blue of the crossed
flags, was of a sudden greeted with franticc heers.
Underneath, exactly underneath, the two queens
of the fte were the centre of aluminous haze; but
while the fires of the setting sun fell caressingly
on the fair hair of the younger woman and seemed
to surround her pretty head with a nimbus ot
youth and beauty, they lit up a very different face
when they shone on M me Michu.
Turning her back to the people and bending
double, reverting in her furious anger to a habit of
former days, she displayed to the astounded crowd
the part which, they say, M. Thiers exposed one
evening to his friends between two candles.
And amid the glories of the departing luminary,
the opulent rotundities of her person showed
dazzlingly for a second, the focus of a halo of golden
light i.
1. Shocking as the spectacle of this richly endowed
French lady may seem to the conventional English reader,
Musk hashish and blood. 34
266 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
First, there was a moment of breathless silence,
the silence of profound surprise, then a startling
cry of delight and enthusiasm rang out, to be
drowned almost instantly by a dreadful explosion.
students of Classic lore will call to mind its prototype in
plden story. The legend of the Callipygian Venus is familiar
to all. No shame saw the Greeks of the golden period in this
part of God's handiwork. Callipyge", as everybody knows,
derives from KaXXo?, beauty, and Tiuyrj, the buttocks, meaning
rich-buttocked. It was under this title that Venus was adored
at Syracuse in a temple erected in her honour by two young
girls, themselves of well-developed posterior. The sub-title
of Callipygehas also been given to several statues of Venus,
the most celebrated of .which, known as La 'Venus aux belles
/esses, was discovered in a villa of Nero at Naples. It is
actually preserved in the Museo Borbonico. The goddess is
represented standing looking over her shoulder whilst she
holds up her raised tunic to admire the exquisite contours
of her buttocks, which constitute, in fact, the best and
largest part of the statue. The origin is said to be as fol-
lows : At Athens young girls wrestled naked, and two
sisters thus engaged were so distinguished by the exube-
rant development of their /esses that they thereby made
the conquest of two very rich young men, who married
them the same day. In memory of the special charms to
which they owed their happiness they dedicated a temple
to the Callipygian Venus. (Denne-Baron in Le Dictionnaire
de la Conversation.) Paris, 1862. My friend, Amede Vignola,
the Parisian Artist, who has made a special study of this
fascinating subject writes " It seems, a priori, that diffe-
rent races stamp their particular seal upon the face of
the individual. But few people suspect that the same is
THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 267
The eagle of Austerlitz, fired by an awkward
hand, had gone off behind the platform, tearing the
balloon to shreds. Meantime the native crowd,
knowing nothing of what was happening, but
supposing themselves spectators of the promised
sight of wonder, intoxicated with gratification,
filled with ardent gratitude to the Sultan of the
Franks who gave them free, gratis and for
nothing, so pleasing a spectacle, enthusiastically
applauded the charms M me Michu had shown
them, raising again and again and again loud cries
of ' * Long live the Emperor ! Long live the Empe-
ror ! "
Then, naturally supposing the other fair foreign
lady had likewise mounted the platform in order
to make them the same gratifying exhibition and
getting impatient when she showed no signs of
moving, they clamoured insistently for this item
of the programme with vigorous shouts of, l ' The
other lady! now the other! the other! Your turn,
milady ! your turn now ! "
true when envisaged a posteriori. " He maintains that
nowhere is divergence of race represented more strongly
than dans la partie la pljs charnue de leur gracieuse per-
sonne, and that Venvers de la femme est marque du sceau de
la race!
XI
THE BRIDAL OF LITTLE ZAIRAH
XI
THE BRIDAL OF LITTLE ZAIRAH
I
Every Friday for six months I used to see her
arrive, trotting behind her father's mule, some-
times alone, but more often an old woman at her
side. She was quite little, barely twelve; but so
272 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
small and slender that she looked two years young-
er. Child of Baba Aaroun's old age, her mother
had died at fourteen in giving her birth. So the old
man loved her well, though she was only a girl;
and when her limbs began to bend under her with
fatigue, or the stones bruised her feet, he would
take her up before him on the bar da of his mule,
as he would have done with a son. But he always
put her gently dowh again, before he entered the
town of Djidjelly.
It was then that we used to see her pass, a care-
less, happy child, before the bordj of the Spahis.
But soon, like the sisters we read of in Leviti-
cus, she grew a woman, in a day. Her waist
grew small, her hips large ; two symmetrical
spheres of gracious curve showed beneath her cot-
ton gandourah ; the bud was almost a flower. The
child was now shy, and blushed at a look; at the
same time so pretty a little maid that every
market-day for weeks Arabs and Berbers would
take their seat at the Gate in the angle of the
bastion, at the hour when business opens, to see
this wonder of the Ouled-Aidoun pass by.
Then they would prowl round Baba Aaroun's
market-stall, buying his water-melons and figs for
THE BRIDAL OF LITTLE ZA1RAH 273
the privilege of admiring near at hand the fair-
haired Khabyle damsel, whose great startled
eyes reflected every tint of blue, of sky and
sea.
He knew what he was doing, did old Aaroun ;
he knew well enough that when his little Zairah
was with him, the double load of fruit from his
garden disappeared as though a benevolent Jinn
had touched it with his finger and changed his
wares into handfuls of sordis, for he had as pur-
chasers all the Spahis, and all the Turkos, all the
Mokalis, and every young Moorish exquisite in the
Town.
His neighbours made fun of him ; but what of
that? He knew with no less certainty that under
his eye the maid would be safe and unharmed far
more surely than if he were to leave her at the
gourbi and entrust her to the careless guard of her
step-mothers and her grown-up sisters.
There is not much to choose betwixt the two.
The towns are full of old men eager to taste the
unripe fruit ; the mountains swarm with striplings
keen and clever to mark down and seize the
prey.
And both classes longed to enjoy her favours.
Musk hashish and blood. 35
274 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
But the girl felt confused and ashamed. She was
old enough to understand, and when their ardent
glances fell on her, she would hide a blusihng face
behind the corner of her ha'ik.
Amid all this admiration, the Chaouch Ali-ben-
Said was conspicuous for his marked attentions.
True, forty years .had struck on the time-piece
of his days. But he still passed for one of the hand-
somest horsemen of his town and for one of the
most doughty champions with women; and this,
being united with qualifications that were quite
exceptionnal, had earned him the title of Bou-Zeb,
a name best left untranslated.
In a word, he had those qualities which Oholah
and Oholibah, enterprising ladies of Biblical fame
in the times of the Prophet Ezekiel, required their
lovers to possess.
He was a good dresser, and a good talker, cons-
picuous for his stylish turban with its embroid-
eries in yellow silk, his goldtrimmed vest, and
the dazzling whiteness of his burnouse . So Moorish
maids and Khabyle beauties made eyes at him,
and the Mercantis wives even confessed that for a
" Native " he was not so bad a figure of a man, in
other words that they thought him fascinating.
THE BRIDAL OF LITTLE ZA1RAH 275
He spoke French fluently, drank absinthe and
wine, and indeed any other liquor you were
good enough to offer him, wore stockings, used a
pocket-handkerchief, eschewed fleas, and scrupul-
ously abstained from keeping the Bhamadan (the
great Mohamedan fast).
He possessed some property, and could have
lived in idleness in a country where a douro a day
is an ample income. But wishing to shine in society
and knowing how women love best those who
make a show, he had entered the service of the
Bureau Ara.be, and flaunted, on days of cere-
mony, the blue burnouse of a Chaouch.
This secured him the pleasure of hearing himself
called Sidi (My lord) by his fellow-religionists, and
gave him the privilege of looking down on them
as a contemptible, lousy crew, without their daring
to retaliate with similar elegant names.
The Bedouins whom as a Koulougli (son of a
Turk) he utterly despised, paid him back his scorn
in petto, and would exclaim when they saw him,
u Son of Eblis the Accursed ", or in other words,
Good-for-Nothing. This he cared no more for than
he did for a scurvy Jew, knowing perfectly well
it is a title that rather commends a man than other-
276 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
wise to the daughters of Fathma, as to every
daughter of Eve.
Nothing surprising in the fact that this brawny
rascal fell fiercely in love with our little Za'irah.
But what did seem very extraordinary is that the
latter, passing one day on her mule, threw a smile
to the great, bearded, forty-year-old Ali.
Was it the blue Chaouch's burnouse that took
her maiden fancy? was it the Moor's braided robes?
or had the fame of the title of Bou-Zeb and its
owner's repute penetrated to the wilds of the Kha-
byle village where she dwelt? At evening, behind
the cactus hedges of the gourbi or under the fes-
toons of the wild vine, did she and her childish
comrades discuss the exploits of this champion
lover?
Yet who can ever tell the secret thoughts that
stir in a maiden's breast, the mysterious, wild crav-
ings of her young heart?
Or perhaps it was her old father, the wily
Aaroun, who was tired of keeping guard over a
treasure so liable to be stolen, and ordered his
daughter to smile on the rich suitor, who could
pay him, as he knew, a good price for her
hand.
THE BRIDAL OF LITTLE ZA1RAH 277
Whichever way it was, there is no doubt that
from that day " the blue-eyed witch " was no
more seen at the Souk-el-Kemmis (Friday market) ,
and the report went abroad in the town that Ali-
ben-Said had charged his old mother to go to the
Ouled-A'idoim to buy the maid from her father, and
that the latter demanded 200 douros.
Indeed the Azoudja (Old Woman), who had
started one morning for the douar of the Ouled-
A'idoun, returned at evening her mouth running
over with the most enthusiastic praises.
" Oh! The Queen of the roses! Oh! fairest
flower of Paradise! Oh! bud of entrancing
beauty "
Never ! never ! in all the fifty years she had
watched over young girls blossoming into beautiful
women, whether in town or country, in the moun-
tains or in the dacheras of the plain, never had
her eyes been gladdened with the vision of so much
loveliness !
For the Baba Aaroun, eager to win so influent-
ial a son-in-law, a Chaouch who had the ear of
the head of the Bureau Arabe, one who could at
any moment it pleased him enfold his father-in-
law's shoulders with the scarlet burnouse that pro-
278 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
claims a man a Sheikh, and is so warm and com-
fortable a wrap to old age, had artfully displayed
his child to the Azoudja unveiled in all her dazzling
beauty.
On her return, she sat for a full hour describing
one by one with the unwearying zest of a child the
charms and graces of the fair Za'irah. At once
minute and long-winded, she omitted no single
detail; while her son listened to her seductive
report with open mouth and watering lips, and
eyes aflame.
Accordingly the matter was soon concluded, the
sadouka * paid over to the father, and the wedding-
day fixed.
II
All along the gently sloping flanks of the Kha-
byle hills, between Milah and Djidjelly, in all the
villages of the Ouled-Aidoun, men still tell of the
bridal of little Zairah.
1. Sum of money paid by the future bridegroom as the
price of his wife.
THE BRIDAL OF LITTLE ZA1RAH 279
For the Bureuu Ara.be officials of the District
were present in a body at the wedding-feast,
to do honour to their head Chaouch ; and for three
whole days the feux de joie re-echoed over the
steep, wooded ravines, in the olive-clad gorges and
on the wide gorse-covered plain.
There was a grand procession, a grand display
of what most glads the sight of mountaineer and
lowlander alike, the long tresses of women and the
horses' long djelals*.
There was grand feasting too; sheep roasted
whole and vast dishes of couscous.
For three days the youthful bride was to be seen,
white and pale under her haiks. Her great liquid
eyes glittered in her face ; ane scented with attar
of roses and musk, decked out with copper gawds
and jewels of silver, she stirred many a man's
desire.
Old and young repeated : u Oh! beauteous cask-
et of love ! " while the women, matrons and maids,
envied her, for was she not to sit at her hus-
band's fireside without a rival, sole wife and mis-
tress of his home.
1. Horsecloths of silk embroidered with gold that rich
riders put over their horses' quarters on festival days.
280 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Then they would whisper tales of the exploits
of the happy man who owned this pearl of delicate
beauty.
Oh I the lucky scamp ! Clouds of envy gathered
about him, thick as the dust clouds a stallion of
the Haymour raises round his flying hoofs. What!
was it not enough for more than twenty years to
have been ever successful at cozening husbands
and seducing maids ? Was it fair that now, grown
grey in enjoyment, he should still find the
rosy cheeks of a virgin bride, a sweet maid of
twelve summers, to rub his grizzled beard
against ?
Bou Zeb! BouZeb! they muttered, and all laugh-
ed at the nick-name. But the matrons shook their
heads, commiserating in whispers the poor child
offered up a sacrifice to old Aaroun's lust of
gold.
At evening Ali-Ben-Said came on horseback to
conduct his bride home. To right and left on either
side two kinsmen held the reins of her horse,
while the wedding guests, each carrying a lantern,
followed in procession.
At the head went the musicians, preceded by a
Khabyle bearing a great branching candlestick
THE BRIDAL OF LITTLE ZA1RAH 281
blazing with lighted tapers and decked with flow-
ers.
At the door of the gourbi they halted, and the
Chaouch went in. Baba Aaroun presented his
daughter to the bridegroom, and she took off her
veil ceremoniously before the husband her father
had chosen.
Then Ali, dazzled with her beauty, cried out like
the Prophet of old at sight of the fair Zairah dis-
played half naked before his eyes :
u Praise be to God, Master of the hearts of
men! "
After kissing her on the mouth, he wrapped
her in the moulai'a, and mounted her on a white
mule. Then walking behind, his drawn sword lift-
ed above his wife's head as a sign of his rights,
he led her amid the escort of kinsmen and friends
to his home and hers. Two matrons shut to the
door behind them, while outside the crowd took
up its stand in the street, awaiting the customary
proofs of the bride's virginity.
They sat in front, ranged along the line of the
houses. But presently as they were imbibing the
cups of scalding coffee the caouadjis brought them,
loud cries of pain issued from the recesses of the
Musk hashish and blood. 36
282 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
house. Faint and stifled at first, they soon grew
shrill and terrible, freezing on the lips of those
who heard them the roguish laughter and merry
gibes that ran from group to group.
The screams lasted long, so long that the
wedding folk wearied of them and raised protes
ting cries from the street.
" Chaouch ", they shouted, *' be gentle
with the child. The pomegranate is not ripe
yet. "
And women took up the protest j crying indig-
nantly :
" Ali-Ben-Said, have some pity! Remember you
are thirty years older than the child. Remember
she is weak, whilst you are strong; and that the
ewe-lamb cannot support the he-goat's ons
laught".
Then other women, more angry yet, raised their
voices in loud appeals to the bride :
1 ' Zai'rah - bent - Aaroun ! Za'irah - bent - Aaroun !
Claim a divorce ! You should claim a divorce ".
But the agonized cries still went on, and they
threatened to go for the Cadi.
However of a sudden the cries stopped. There
was a deep silence ; then the little casement open-
THE BRIDAL OF LITTLE ZA1RAH 283
ed, and the two matrons, with dishevelled hair
and pale faces, shook out a sheet before the faces
of the crowd.
Then the men waiting below raised their lan-
terns, and seeing the linen stained with blood r
applauded the happy husband, and loudly shout-
ed, Bou-Zeb! Bou-Zeb!
Neither next day nor for several days following-
did the Chaouch appear. Doubtless he was resting-
by the side of his heart's mistress.
But the fifth day the narrow street was once
more crowded. The wedding folk were there
again.
The door was thrown open, and the bridegroom
came out pale and haggard, followed by two men
who carried a bier on their shoulders. On this lay
stretched a small and slender shape, wrapped in a
haik.
And chanting the verses of the Book :
" Wheresoever you be, Death stands in the
way to strike'* all followed to the graveyard the
body of little Zairah.
But when they had laid the child in the vault r
with the green cerecloth wound about her, and
the grave was filled in, the women of the tribe, as.
284
MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
they went by, spat upon old Baba-Aroun, who
with dry eyes and dazed brain crouched beside the
little mound of freshly turned earth.
XII
IN HASHISH-LAND
XII
IN HASHISH-LAND
" Have you ever seen ranged along the walls oi
the Geramicus at Athens, in the first days of the
New Year when the sun's rays, the genial Sun,
regenerator of all things living, warms them
to some show of life, a long line of men, haggard
and motionless, with hollow cheeks and dulled,
brutish looks ; some crouching low like animals ;
others standing indeed, but leant languidly against
pillars for support, bending nigh double under the
load of their nerveless frame ?
Spectres like these, that move through the fant-
astic pages of Charles Nodier's Tales, I have seen
any day in the streets of Constantino with my
own eyes. Howbeit the phantom forms I saw
walking there, with tottering gait, shuddering at
the cold and muffled like fever-stricken wretches
in their burnouses drawn close about fleshless
288 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
limbs, were no imaginary victims, like the hag-
ridden sufferers of Athens or Larissa, who fancied
themselves objects of the vengeance of Thessalian
witches. They were men possessed, it is true; but
rejoicing in their possession, or rather unconscious
of their degradation, slaves delivered over of their
own will to a master more puissant than all the
gods of Olympus, and all the genii of Eastern
climes, and all the fairy-kings of Western lands,
and all the wizards and all the witch- wives,
the mighty monarch Hashish.
I had for a very long time been consumed with
a desire to penetrate the mystic realms of this
Sovereign, so seductive that men devote them-
selves to him body and soul. But his Court is closed
against the profane, and the rites of initiation can-
not be performed in a day ; and so all my attempts
and all my efforts had been thus far in vain.
" The reason is you have no one to act as your
guide ", my friend told me, my friend the Thaleb,
El Hadj Ali Bou Nahr, a learned man and a wise.
He was of those who have studied more deeply in
the Book of Life, a book for ever sealed to fools,
than in the manuals of orthodox morality, at
once Mussulman and Epicurean, one who scouted
IN HASHISH-LAND 289
prejudices and scorned the asses that are ruled by
them, a sound judge of good wine and a pretty
face.
A few days later, one rainy evening in January,
I had taken shelter under the pent-house of a
native shop in the Street of the Mozabites, and
was amusing myself listening to the chatter of
two young negresses till the shower should clear
up, when a grave voice broke silence behind me :
" Ho, there! What are you squandering your
time on now, my son? Negresses, oh, fie! Leave
that to old men, who need a high-spiced dish ! Come
with me, and I will show you something better".
" Where are you going? "
" Melancholy comes with the rain; but 'tis for
men of wit and education to rise superior to the
common herd of fools, and let neither men nor
weather depress their spirit. I am going to under-
take a journey to Hashish-land, and if you will
come with me, I will open you the gates of Para-
dise.
" Whose Paradise? Mahomet's?"
" Mahomet's of course. ' Tis the only one seduc-
tive to mankind, and within the grasp of his
human intellect, a fact which proves the great
Musk hashish and blood. 37
290 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
superiority of Mohained son of Abdallah over Jesus
son of Joseph. Come, let us make a start".
We went down into the lower districts of the
town, where remained still quite unaltered the
strange, picturesque characteristics of the ancient
Numidian city, and that in spite of Theophile Gau-
tier's axiom that vanishing Barbarism hunted by
encroaching civilization invariably takes refuge on
the hill- tops. We halted eventually in a dirty lane
in front of a shop, or rather a sort of recess five
or six feet square, contrived in the basement wall
of an old house crumbling to pieces with decay.
It was raised quite a yard from the pavement, and
two venerable Bedouins, filthily dirty, but grave
and impassive as two mutes of the Seraglio, sat
within on the remains of a mat of a/p/ia-grass,
playing a solemn game of chess. One of them, evi-
dently the proprietor, smiled a dignified smile,
placed his hand on his heart, and then extended
it to each of us in turn to help us mount the enor-
mously high stone step giving access from the
street.
We penetrated into the shop, if shop it could be
called; for though the recess was much like the
nooks where Arab merchants ordinarily devote
IN HASHISH-LAND 291
themselves to the delights of business, there was
nothing to be seen within or without to attract a
purchaser. A few bundles of dried herbs hung on
the rough walls, leading one to suppose it the es-
tablishment of a herbalist, but a herbalist given
to darkling and suspicious practices, ready at a
moment's notice to procure abortion, or concoct a
love-potion, a professor of the art and mystery of
cupping, a dealer in amulets and charms, half
doctor, half sorcerer.
The general aspect of the place was sufficiently
unprepossessing. A single lamp, made out of a
chipped glass, hung from the ceiling by a brass
wire ; it was provided with some foul-smelling oil
and a smoky wick, and threw a feeble, flickering
light on chess-board and players, leaving every-
thing else in semi-darkness.
These latter moreover, as soon as ever we were
inside, no longer paid us the smallest attention,
but became once more absorbed in their game. So,
without further preliminaries, we advanced into
the cave, for a sort of cave it really was. Making
a sharp turn, it penetrated deeper and deeper into
the gloom, a second poisonous-smelling lamp only
serving to make the place look yet more dismal
and funereal.
292 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The further end of the vault was still invisible,
but there could be heard from that direction a feeble
tinkling of music, tarbouka and flute, the strange
wild notes seeming stranger still as their origin
was unexplained. But soon, as I groped along the
scaly, dripping walls, I felt my hand touch a door.
This my Cicerone pushed open, and we found our-
selves in another passage from the extremity of
which came a burst of light and noise.
A heavy curtain made out of a piece of an old
Tunis carpet closed the entrance of a vaulted hall,
full of such a dense smoke that I could make out
nothing whatever at first, and felt half stifled as a
man does who enters the hot-chamber of a Turk-
ish bath for the first time. It was of a keener and
more agreeable smell than tobacco, more highly
scented and of more pronounced narcotic quality.
You felt after a few minutes a sort of sweetness
on the lips and gentle languor in the brain, and
then a craving for absolute rest of body and mind.
We took out seats on mats, and gradually I came
to see what was passing about me and the sur-
rounding objects as it were through the mists of a
dream. The hall was simply a kind of cellar with
white-washed walls, an arrangement I was able
IN HASHISH-LAND 293
to explain to my satisfaction ; true, the entrance in
the lane by which we had come in was above the
street-level, but the room in which we now were,
owing to the steep slope of the rock, was in the
basement of a house in the lane above. With this
house it communicated by means of a winding stair-
way without balustrade. At one side was a stove
in which burnt a large fire, big enough to light up
the whole apartment. Near it stood a wild-looking
Caouadji, with naked arms and legs ; while crouch-
ing on the mats or extended full length, a dozen
Bedouins were passing tiny pipes of red earthen-
ware from hand to hand. They all wore a dull,
heavy, stupified expression of countenance, and
inhaled the smoke one after the other in perfect
silence. Facing them was an orchestra of three
musicians, a Rhebeb (sort of double bass), a Tam-
tam and a Flute Player.
But there, everybody knows, at any by hearsay,
all about the smokers of Kif, one of the forms of
Hashish. It is not these I want to describe, but the
effects it produced on mysetf.
Meantime the Caouadji brought us coffee, then a
supply of the Kif and pipes. However El-Hadj Ali
had to load up mine several times over before I
294 MUSE HASHISH AND BLOOD
experienced any other feeling beyond one of a
general drowsiness.
Presently sharp pain roused me from this plea-
sant languor. Dreadful cramps racked my nerves,
while I felt sharp twitchings in all my limbs, as
if I were being tortured with a thousand needle-
pricks. The pain began in the head, particularly
the back of the head, flowed like molten metal
down the spine, and seemed to run along the
marrow of the bones to the extremities.
The agony became at one moment so intolerable
I had to hold myself hard not to cry out, and hav-
ing put my hand to the back of my neck, the con-
tact was so painful it felt as though the bony enve-
lope were broken through and my brains yielded
under the pressure of my fingers.
u Let us go", I said to my companion : " I
have had enough of this. I can stand no more!"
4 4 Patience ! through this painful initiation must
needs pass the profane. Brave its terrors, and you
will enter the enchanted realm of Hashish-land.
44 I cannot! I wish Hashish-land and all its
enchantments at the devil ! "
4 ' Inhale a few more mouthfuls from this pipe ;
the pain will disappear. ".
IN HASHISH-LAND 295
But my skin was burning so fiercely that when
I would have taken the pipe, it was like a bar of
red-hot iron to the touch.
This was the end of my sufferings. The pain
went off by degrees, leaving behind a feeling of lan-
guorous happiness much more intense that that
experienced at first. As puff succeeded puff, I felt
a mighty, ineffable delight come over me, a heart-
felt, lasting feeling of enjoyment, an absolute obli-
vion of all the incommodities and sorrows of life ! I
felt myself the centre of a world-pervading love.
Eager to share my bliss with all the other guests
who had seemed to me a somewhat ragged, pover-
ty-stricken crew, I called the Caouadji, and feeling
in my pockets I tossed him with the gesture of a
Sultan a handful of copper coins and little silver
pieces, bidding him regale the company with cof-
fee, kif, and anisette, and send for dancing-
girls !
u Yes! yes! dancing-girls", echoed the Thaleb,
" make them send for dancing-girls! "
The My-smokers raised their heads. My order
had roused them from their heavy drowsiness. I
took an exquisite pleasure in noting their surprise,
saying to myself : " Ha, ha! the old cavern is
296 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
going to see some fun. Our friends are not so dull
as they look ".
44 Send for women ", repeated El Hadj Ali-bou-
Nahr again, in a tone of command ".
II
The Caouadji did not move. An empty cup in
one hand and the tiny, long-handled coffee-pot in
the other, he threw a gesture of interrogation
towards the Thaleb, no doubt amazed to hear an
order of the sort from a mouth that as a rule in
public gave utterance only to verses from the
Koran and precepts of morality.
But the latter, excited by the vapour of the
poisonous herb, his eyes flashing with anger,
shouted :
44 Caouadji, spawn of Satan, did you not hear?
The Roumi you see before you is my friend ; nay !
he is my brother. He asks for dancing-girls, and
he pays for them. Go, fetch us women. "
44 Yes! yes! " chorussed the Bedouins, " the
Roumi has paid. Women, Caouadji, you spawn of
Satan! women! women! "
IN HASHISH-LAND 297
They were all wide enough awake now ! and
lust lit up phosphorescent gleams that flashed fit-
fully from the eyes but now so dull and dead.
u The Roumi has paid ", they kept on saying ;
still I felt my handful of coins could hardly be
enough, and I understood the man's hesitation.
But the Thaleb had seconded my order, and he
was known to be a rich man. No doubt he would
make himself responsible for part of the
expense.
I turned and looked at him. He returned my
gaze with a smile and a nod ; and I could see it in
his eyes that the intoxication was working in his
brain. u Very good! very good! " he muttered,
" we are going to have some real fun now " ; and
as a matter of fact, I have said so before a
feeling of enjoyment already filled me to over-
flowing.
" Women ! dancing- women ! " The order was
magical in its effect on all within the hall. The
orchestra fell suddenly silent, as though the Music-
ians were reserving their strength to give their
rarest melodies presently, The Rhebeb-p\a.yeT^ an
old man x>f sixty with a deeply furrowed brow,
was passing his tongue softly over his white
Musk tuuhith and blood. 38
298 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
moustache, as if he felt the savour of a young
girl's kiss; the flute-player, a beardless youth,
was moving his flute with a cynical disregard of
decorum up and down in a highly suggestive
mimicry, affecting a love-sick pose, while the man
who thrummed the tarbouka, an aged negro with
a tattoo'd face rolled round his big eyes and show-
ed the whites, pushing his great thumb along
the parchment of his instrument the while and
then putting it to his lips with exaggerated gestures
of exquisite enjoyment, in so comic a way I posit-
ively crowed with delight.
In spite of the sudden intoxication that had
come over me so suddenly and strangely, I was
able to observe all my surroundings with perfect
distinctness, while at the same time the recollec-
tion of a previous conversation I had had with the
Thaleb was clearly present to my mind in its
smallest details. It related to a Moorish dancing-
girl, whose beauty and wanton charms had made
a deep impression on me a few days before in an
Arab cafe* near the El-Kantara Gate. Easy
IN HASHISH-LAND 299
then to picture my amazement when I saw the
pretty performer in question descend the winding
stair and take her place in front of the musicians,
who at once struck up one of their most impass-
sioned airs.
Her unexpected appearance confused me at first ;
but I was soon able to explain the riddle to myself,
concluding that the cellar where we were smoking
kif must be on the basement floor of a cafe. In fact,
on recalling the lie of the ground and the disposi-
tion of the lanes I had traversed in company with
the Thaleb, I made the discovery that we were at
that moment exactly under the very cafe at which
I had first admired the girl. Further remembering
the enthusiastic terms in which I had described
her only the day before to my friend Ali-bou-
Nahr, I could not help thinking it was he who
had been so obliging as to contrive a pleasant sur-
prise for me, and that he was even now tasting a
secret satisfaction in my wonder and delight.
I was on the point of making a little speech of
thanks, but when 1 looked at him, I saw a face
with such an expression of dull heavy content
and utter stupefaction that I could not restrain a
shout of laughter. Contrary to the usual habit of
300 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
/^/"-smokers, he had kept his pipe between his
teeth, and though it had gone out long ago, he
persisted with an idiotic assumption of determin-
ation in his efforts to make it draw.
Meanwhile the rapture that flooded my being
had redoubled at the coming of the dancing-girl,
and I fairly devoured her with my eyes, strain-
ing forward with beating heart and eager lips.
The sight of her beauty filled me with the most
delicious sensations, sensations so entrancing in
their intensity that all merely carnal desire was
stilled. For an instant I realized the bliss of the
Righteous in the Christian heaven, where the sole
contemplation of God suffuses the blessed with joy
ineffable. But it was only for an instant, for I
very soon came down again to the less exalted
beauties of Mahomet's Paradise, of which the
graceful damsel before my eyes seemed a living
and perfect specimen.
She wore the costume I remembered on the pre-
vious occasion : a long robe half blue half
yellow, drawn in at the loins by a green f out ah.
Under the thin gauzy material could be seen,
for the dress was open in front to the navel, the
twin globes of her polished bosom, and beneath
IN HASHISH-LAND 301
the tightly drawn foutah the almost exaggerated
prominence of the opulent hips.
The girdle of gold embroidery, a hand's-breadth
wide and worn very loose, fell low on the belly.
Her arms, large and magnificently developed,
were bare to the shoulder, bare also the calves and
small arched feet. A silver bangle tinkled on the
ankle, for she had kicked off her little red slip-
pers embroidered in gold and left them near the
orchestra.
I saw her very much better than on the former
occasion, first because I was nearer, but also
because my senses had acquired such keenness I
could have read the Arabic characters on the glit-
tering sequins that formed an ever-moving, gra-
ceful frame to her face, which was as fine and
regular as a statue's. I could even catch the scent
of musk that exhaled from a tiny silken sachet on
her bosom, and presently when she grew warm in
the dance the heady, moist perfume of her body.
The dance was the world-old Arab step, always
the same, but so imbued with a certain voluptuous
grace one never tires of it. The lovely girl smiled
softly as she glided from one seductive attitude to
another, faint with a languorous ecstasy, swaying
302 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
her striped silken kerchief this way and that,
turning, turning slowly on herself, with wanton,
suggestive tremors of the hips, in time to the
wild music. I was so lost in ardent contemplation
of her charms that I did not just at first observe
the extraordinary brilliance that lit up every cor-
ner of the underground hall. The two chipped
glasses filled with foul-smelling oil in which
floated a smoky wick, had disappeared, or at any
rate I no longer noticed them, their feeble
glimmer being drowned in the dazzling illum-
ination of blazing chandeliers in all parts of the
room.
However I had no time to indulge in wonder at
the sight. A still more astonishing one awaited
me. The hall was changing by degrees into a per-
fect harem, filling, filling with young and pretty
women. 1 could see then coming one after the
other down the stone steps of the little stairway.
Where did they come from? Was Gonstantine
sending all her dancing-girls from every Moorish
cafe" in the city? Or had the Thaleb brought rne to
the general headquarters of the profession? I
asked myself these questions, experiemcing new
and ever new sensations of voluptuous delight
IN HASHISH-LAND 303
within me ; and in my enthusiasm shook my com-
panion roughly, indignant at seeing him still idiot-
ically puffing away at his extinguished pipe and
drawing in imaginary smoke. I felt offended at
his drowsy looks, as he lay there with half-shut
eyes, quite indifferent in all appearance to the
procession of houris.
Ill
The new comers grouped themselves near the
original performer, and with the same graceful
undulations as hers, with the same voluptuous
rhythmical movements, the same play of eyes and
hips and kerchief, lips half open showing the
white line of dazzling pearly teeth, they marked
the beat of the music with their palpitating loins,
now slowly and languorously, now quick and
passionately , following the caprices of the players,
who were themselves half mad with excitement.
I experienced, besides, an unspeakable pleasure
in listening to the wild, barbaric music. I seemed
to be watching a series of marvellous arabesques
of the utmost complexity standing out in relief,
304 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
with an astonishing intensity of tone and an
incomparable brilliancy of colour, on a back-
ground of fresh lime-wash that covered the cracks
and stains of a crumbling wall. I was by now
floating in an ocean of voluptuous delight, a sea
of pleasure in which all my senses swam, each
severally stimulated by a delicious eddy of the
high-tide of joy ; and lo ! the dancers, as they
wound in and out in their graceful convolutions,
proceeded next to unfasten one by by one all the
different portions of their dress. First the brilliant
kerchief of silk and gold fell from the head, then
the striped foutah slid down the hips, the trail-
ing robes slipped off the shoulders, while the gauzy
vest fluttered a moment in mid air, then dropped
on the heap of many-hued garments on the floor.
And now the girls, crossing and re-crossing,
intermingling, intertwining, intertwisting, a maze
of waving limbs and amorous contortions, yet
never for an instant breaking the complicated
figures of their dance, displayed their naked bodies
to us, like a bevy of forest-nymphs.
And lo ! Fauns and Satyrs came and formed a
group, ringing them in and panting with desire.
Lost in an ecstasy, I had not observed that the
IN HASHISH-LAND 30*5
hall, almost empty on our entrance, was rapidly
filling with spectators. No doubt they came by the
same way as ourselves, by the little dark myste-
rious shop in the lane ; but you would have
thought the enchanted woods of Thessaly, first
sending us their gracious swarms of nymphs, had
then let loose their legions of goat-footed deities
to follow.
Under the ample folds of the Eastern mantle,
under the rags of the Bedouins, the rich finery of
the Moors, the striped sack of the Negroes, the
long robe of the men of the Souf : under turbans
and ha'iks dazzlingly white or yellow with secular
filth; under coats and vests and trousers, braided,
and green, blue, orange, scarlet in hue; limbs
bronzed and shaggy, boots of morocco leather
gold-embroidered ; under all this luxury and
under all these rags, rich and poor commingled,
all equal in presence of the same overmastering
human need, quivered the passionate fire of the
old Hebrew Goat-God, him to whom the love-
sick Jewish women made sacrifice, the erotic
hircus (goat) of Virgil, a true son of the Greeks,
the holy image of Mendes, son of the Babylo-
nians, the favourite mount of the Love-God-
Jl/us/c hnshish and blood. :j ( J
306 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
dess, hircipes (Goat-Foot), symbol of brute,
animal passion, such as at times bursts forth in
every age, the great God Pan, old as the hills,
eternal and divine, master of the World!
Up ! up ! fierce and furious is the love-frenzy
of wanton Fauns, and Satyrs, and Goats ! And
like the great Apelles, they drank in with eyes
intoxicate the fair sight of twenty Phrynes, as
naked as the Anadyomene and more lovely
when the artist gazed on the goddess of beauty
rising from the blue waves of the Saronic gulf,
nay ! more naked, for the golden-haired courtesan
of Athens had a veil in her long flowing locks,
while the dark tresses of the Moorish dancing-
girls, close twisted in a single plait, hid nothing
from the greedy eye.
Now I had come with the especial purpose of
experimenting on myself, so I tried hard to keep
my wits together, that threatened to slip away
out of my control.
The Thaleb had assured me that under the
intoxication produced by kif, a man could by
an exertion of will retain his consciousness of
realities. Accordingly I summoned up all my
energy of mind to gather together the fragments
IN HASHISH-LAND 307
of my reason, that was cracking and tearing like
an overstrained cloth.
What I particularly dreaded was to commit
some extravagance that would have made me an
object of pity to these men, who all succeeded in
maintaining under the lash of passion a perfectly
impassive demeanour. Their eyes, indeed, darted
flames, their features twitched in nervous spasm,
their chests panted hotly, but they held their
bodies still in a dignified quiescence. I could not do
this ; on the contrary I tossed and turned, ready
each instant to stretch out my arms and dart them
amid the intricacy of moving naked limbs, that
came so close in their fantastic gyrations I could
feel the heat of their proximity .
What struck me the most was, on the one hand
the feeling of mad hallucination creeping over my
brain and gradually overwheming my reason,
and on the other an astonishing vividness of the
senses, making me appreciate the exquisite charm
of the impressions made on them, but magnified a
hundred fold, as in the case of sight the micros-
cope is able to do. u The girls I see", I kept
repeating to myself, u are merely common wen-
ches, low-class prostitutes, most likely plain and
308 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
dirty ; the orchestra that ravished my soul, a
jumble of discordant noises; the perfumes that
intoxicate my senses, stinking musk and coarse
incense. Yet under the influence of the kif, I see
and hear and smell only delight ".
Although I was in* an altogether abnormal state,
my thoughts, it would seem, were not in any way
unreasonable ; and the sole annoyance I exper-
ienced was the trifling one that when I strove to
analyze my impressions and fix them in my mind,
they seemed to yield like melted wax under pressure .
Nor had I lost my memory. I recalled perfectly
how I had inhaled the smoke of six pipefuls of
the kif, also why and in what circumstances I had
originally come ; and I observed with the greatest
surprise the somnolent condition and dull, heavy
looks of my friejid the Thaleb, who still keeping
the useless mouthpiece at his lips, seemed all the
while utterly indifferent to the entrancing series
of pictures that passed before him.
As for me, no single thing in all the fairy scene
escaped me, nothing flawed the exquisite keenness
of my physical perceptions. My senses seemed to
have the gift of ubiquity, that of hearing being no
exception.
IN HASHISH-LAND 309
I could hear separately and distinctly each of
the wild notes of the three instruments, and each
gave me infinite gratification. I could hear at the
same time the light, rhythmical step of the dancers,
their quick breathing, the slight contact of their
hips as the girls glided by each other, the almost
imperceptible rustling of the silk kerchiefs they
waved over their heads, and of their rounded arms
as they were lifted, showing the armpits scrupul-
ously freed from hair ; I was equally conscious of
the silvery tinkle of bracelets and necklets, and
the still softer sound made by the rows of
sequins round the dancers' necks.
And among all the figures swiftly revolving
amid a ruddy haze of light, in all the whirl of legs
and arms, of polished bosoms and slim forms and
curving loins, swinging past, disappearing and
appearing once again, my ardent gaze, my longing
eyes, my heart, my whole being, w r ere directed
persistently to one beauteous shape, graceful and
statuesque, to Aicha, the first and fairest of the
dancers, who subjugated I suppose by the magnet-
ic attraction of the highly-charged atmosphere
about her, and having recognized me as the only
foreigner present, and possibly too as the young-
310 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
est and most enthusiastic of her admirers, present-
ly ceased to distribute her smiles and glances to
all and sundry with impartial indifference, as she
had been doing hitherto, and aimed her whole
battery of attractions at me alone.
She even managed to pass so close to me, slack-
ening her whirling steps in their feverish course,
that I brushed her white body with my lips, and
master of myself no longer, my resolution broken,
I waited for her with open arms, and as she
went by once more, I seized her frankly round the
waist and pulled her down on my knees, and
the seventh heaven opened its gates.
I know nothing of what passed round about
me, whether I was the object of the Arabs' rail-
lery, nor how the lights came to go out suddenly ;
but something resembling the blow of a hammer
on my forehead woke me sharply from my
exceeding happiness, and I heard Ali-bpu-Nahr
with his rather hoarse voice shouting in my ear :
" Well! are you pleased? Wake up. I say!
wake up ! "
I lifted my head painfully, it seemed to
IN HASHISH-LAND 311
weigh a hundred pounds, ant cast a scared look
round me.
The cellar had returned to its former dismal,
gloomy look. The two foul-smelling lamps were
smoking worse than ever, the stove was almost
out, and the Caouadji lay curled up on a bench,
fast asleep with his chin touching his knees, snor-
ing hoarsely in the otherwise silent room. Five or
six Bedouins, stretched here and there on mats,
were also sleeping.
" And the dancing-girls ", I exclaimed, u and
Aicha! Gone? all gone? "
" Oh, ho ! she is called Aicha, is she? Blondin-
ette is the name of mine. A French girl I know
well, sweet as a May morning, ardent as a mid-
day in July ; ah, me ! ah, me ! the peerless maid
she is ! "
' ' A French girl ! a blonde ! Why ! I saw none
but dark Moorish beauties. "
Each man dreams that which he has not, "
replied the Thaleb sententiously ? u and herein
lies the wondrous potency of the kif. The God's
hands are full of all delights that each man may
wish for. But we must not abuse his generosity,
like the degraded creatures you see yonder. "
312 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
So saying, he got up, re-arranging his turban
and putting straight the disorder of his dress with
the same calm dignity of demeanour as though
he had just risen from his prostrations in the
Mosque, where he had been reciting the verses of
the one True Book.
u What ! were there not dancing-girls here just
now, naked dancing-girls? "
44 Yes ! in your dreams, my son ! You have
taken the shadow for the reality. But the radiant
visions that lull us to sleep from the day they
take off our swaddling-clothes to the hour the
winding sheet is folded round us, tell me, are
not these the best and brightest thing we possess
in life?
XIII
ARAB HOSPITALITY
Musk liashish and blood. 40
XIII
ARAB HOSPITALITY
I
It was still early morning when Lieutenant F
started from Djidjelly, and following the coast
as far as the Oued Djidjin struck into the
316 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
mountain country. He was to make the midday halt
at the fort of Ghaamah, sleep at that of Fedj-el-
Arba, then next night with the Gaid of Milah, and
so arrive the second day at Gonstantine. Two
native Spahis and a muleteer in charge of his
baggage accompanied him.
On reaching the first spurs of the Djebel (Moun-
tain), a group of herdsmen, squatting on some
boulders of rock, hailed them :
" Ho ! there ! men ! where are you bound? "
" We are bound to Gonstantine, " returned the
Spahis.
" You cannot go beyond Ghaamah; the mus-
kets of the Ouled-Ascars spoke last night, and two
Mokalis* were killed.
The Lieutenant shrugged his shoulders incre-
dulously. Only the day before yesterday officers
of the Bureau Arabe at Djidjelly had been
shooting in this group of mountains and had seen
no signs of disturbance ; he rolled a cigarette with
all the calm assurance of five and twenty, and
pursued his way.
He arrived without adventure at Chaamah, and
1. Native horsemen attached to the service of the
Bureaux Arabes.
ARAB HOSPITALITY 317
rested there for two hours. But just as he was
leaving the Bordj (Fort), he met the old Sheikh
Ahmed, who rode up on his mule, having come on
purpose to warn him.
" Turn back! "
" I carry despatches, " the young Officer an-
swered simply ; and my orders are to present my-
self the day after to-morrow at the Divisional
Headquarters.
" You go to your death ! "
The sun was low on the horizon when the
horsemen began to climb the steep path leading to
Fedj-el-Arba. The whole place was solitary and
silent, and the gate of the Fort shut. A yellow-
looking globe hung on one of the great folding
doors, dangling from a nail.
The Officer at first thought what he saw was
some bird of prev such as sportsmen often nail up
on doors; but the Spahis, with eyes better pract-
318 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ised in scrutinizing distant objects, made no such
mistake.
" Allah empty my saddle! " ejaculated one of
them; " Sheikh Ahmed said true, the dogs have
begun their work ! "
And as F..., advanced slowly, he made out
more and more distinctly the Khabyles' trophy :
the shaved skull and distorted features of the head,
the murdered man's eye with its slaty glare, his
mouth twisted to one side, showing the great
white teeth, and the short black beard all sticky
with blood.
The small lock of hair carefully plaited that the
Angel of Death is to grasp to bear the elect to the
feet of God's throne, served to hang the head up
by.
u Oh! my children! " cried the other Spahi,
* l we are come at a time when a man's head sits
loose on his shoulders. I can already feel mine
shaking, and the sword working between flesh and
bone. The dogs have struck down a horseman of
the Beylik \ Two spahis of Constantine will hardly
over-awe them ! ''
Close to, in the ditch under the bastion, lay
two bodies wrapped in the blue burnouse. One had
ARAB HOSPITALITY 319
a few handfuls of long grass where the head
should be, thrown there to hide the naked gaping
section at the neck, while the smashed skull of
the other showed why it had been impossible to
hang it also on the Gate.
41 Look! " the SpaTii resumed, dismounting to
examine the corpses, u they have been killed by a
pistol shot fired point-blank, and they will do the
same for us directly. These hill-men are as savage
as the wild-boars of their own mountains. They
have seen us come, and at this moment they
are prowling in the bush and watching us.
God help us ! there is nothing left but to abandon
our baggage to them, and back at the trot to
Milah. "
u We should not have gone a hundred yards,
before Bou-Salem's men would have sent their
bullets flying after us. I only wonder not to hear
them whistling at our ears already. "
u Bou-Salem! ' exclaimed the Lieutenant;
why ! I have a letter for him from the old Caid
Abderrahman. He said, u If you are passing
through Fedj-el-Arba, go find the Sheikh Bou-
Salem and greet him from me; he will welcome
you as a son. "
320 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
And hunting through the pockets of his djebira,
he brought out a letter.
u To be shot in the bush, or to have our throats
cut in his douar, we have to choose between the
two. Well ! let us try the chance ; it is our only
one. "
" You are right, Lieutenant! Bou-Salem hates
the Roumis, who slew his father and his brothers
in the troubles with the Beni-Afeur ; but he is a
just man, and after all' tis God only is master of
the hour ! "
" On then! " and they began to descend the
further slope of the tableland. Soon they saw in the
hollow recess of the valley some thirty gourbis (huts)
hidden behind thick hedges of cactus and aloes.
The French Officer at first glance supposed the
village of the Khabyle chief abandoned, as not a
single human form was visible; but he quickly
understood the reason of the apparent solitude.
A gun-shot away, near a wood of olives, a
group of a hundred men or so crowded round two
or three figures that were gesticulating fiercely,
while the women and children seated outside the
press seemed to be listening eagerly to the proceed-
ings.
ARAB HOSPITALITY
321
But the Spahis had just been seen; men, women,
children, sprang up, and the crowd bristled with
long muskets.
Several men separated from the rest, and mus-
ket on shoulder, came slowly forward to meet the
strangers.
These too could ride but slowly, for the path
they had to descend was difficult. At length
when they were not more than perhaps twenty
paces from each other, the Officer shouted in
Arabic :
14 Where is the Sheikh Bou-Salem? "
11 He is before you ! " answered a man with a
red beard, and of a savage, menacing look. tl What
is your will of him ? "
" We would ask his hospitality. We have
found the two Mokalis slain at the Gate of the
Bordj . The place is not safe for a few men alone.
We are come to rest our heads under your
tent. "
u My tent ! " returned the Sheikh, with aston-
ishement. u Know you not....? "
1 I am your guest, and ask no questions, " the
Lieutenant interrupted. " Here is a letter from the
Ca'id Abderrahman. "
Mask hashish and blood. 41
322 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The Khabyle chief advanced yet nearer, and
looked defiantly at the Officer; then taking- the
letter, he opened it, examined the seal without a
word, then handed it to a young man who stood
near, a reed-pen with its case and an ink-bottle
in his girdle, he said :
" Krodja, read it. "
The Krodja (Secretary) read it in a slow mono-
tonous tone :
u I send you Lieut. F.... He is my friend.
Think it not enough to give the alpha-grass and
the diffa to him and his ; but be for him all the
Prophet bids us be for strangers that come as
friends. "
Meantime the people of the tribe had drawn
near, and the women, ignorant of what was a-foot,
screamed in chorus : u Death ! death to the Roumis !
and the hirelings of the Roumis ! "
At these cries the Sheikh turned upon them
with a dark frown and angry eyes :
ARAB HOSPITALITY 323
u Peace, women! " he cried; (i abuse is the
last weapon of the vanquished. But our young
warriors' pouches yet hold a good supply of
powder and ball. These travellers come to us as
guests, and we are bound to make them welcome.
Dismount, Sir ! " he went on, himself holding
the Lieutenant's stirrup. u My house is yours; use
it at your pleasure. So long as you shall sit beneath
its shelter, you shall not know hunger nor thirst,
and none shall harm one hair of your beard. "
The horses and the mule were taken into charge
by willing hands, whilst the Chief led his guest
to his gourbi, and the Khabyles stood round
eager to learn what business brought the rash
adventurers trespassing in the middle of a people in
revolt.
" No business, " the Sheikh replied to their
questions. " They are simple travellers that pass
our way. "
Hearing this, they withdrew without a word.
It was with a lively apprehension of waking in
another world that the Lieutenant of Spahis fell
asleep ; and his slumbers were full of dreams of
blood and battle. When dawn came, he was sur-
prised to find himself still alive and well. The
324 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Sheikh, bending over him, was shaking him by
the shoulder and telling- him to rise.
His horses ready saddled and the mule loaded
were finishing their barley noisily, while the Arabs
all ready for a start stood gossiping with the
Khabyle tribesmen, sharing like brothers some
olives and fragments of biscuit.
The Officer mounted, and was looking round
for the Sheikh Bou-Salem in order to thank him,
when to his surprise he saw him mount likewise
and move off, followed by six horsemen.
" So ho ! " he said to himself, " he means to
settle up accounts with me in some thicket of the
bush y as soon as he thinks his duties as my host
bind him no longer. *'
But the Sheikh seemed to read his ^thoughts,
for he turned round and said :
u I will go with you to beyond the crests of
Sidi-Khra led, that bound the territory of my Tribe,
for you might be insulted on the road, or worse.
And as the Lieutenant, the two Spahis and the
muleteer turned to descend the other slope of the
Djebelj after having said farewell to the Khabyle
horsemen, they looked back several times. They
could see them on the crest of the mountain, full in
ARAB HOSPITALITY
325
the morning sunshine, with muskets butted on
thigh, watching their late guests as they defiled
in peace and security along the highroad to
Milah.
XIV
MILITIA UNDER ARMS
XIV
MILITIA UNDER ARMS
Bou-Akhas was advancing with contingents
from no less than five different Tribes. The num-
ber of his force was estimated at four thousand
foot, and at least two thousand cavalry ; while
every day, the further he penetrated Northwards,
strong goums were continually joining him.
It was a direct and formidable menace to the
little French colony. The horde must be turned
back at any cost.
Taking with him every man he had available,
the Commandant-in-Chief of the District hurried
out to meet the enemy, and stop him before he
could get clear of the defiles of the Souk-el-Djerid,
leaving the town to the care of the civilian author-
ity.
The place being stripped bare of regular troops,
the militia at once entered into occupation; and
the very same individuals, shopkeepers, publicans
Musk hashish and blood. 42
330 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
and general dealers, who used to complain so
bitterly of the insolence of the " regulars ", now
grew from day to day bigger swashbucklers than
ever their predecessors had been.
At the same time their inordinate love of gold-
lace and scarlet was positively grotesque. The last
man of the rear-guard had barely filed out of the
Town-Gate when they began to flaunt their uni-
forms through the streets and to put on all the
airs and graces of the ;< Conquering Hero. "
The battalion had long been on a war-footing
on paper, and every staff appointment filled. The
battalion Major, Taupinard, a big, fat man, ruling
spirit of the corner in bread-stuffs of the District,
had ordered a complete uniform from a Constan-
tine military tailor's the very day he was gazetted;
and the other officers were not slow to follow so
good an example. They all had their uniforms
ready, but never an opportunity of putting them
on ! So it is not too much to say that, in spite of
the injury the departure of the garrison inflicted
on trade, they almost welcomed with acclamation
Bou-Akhas' insurrection, that gave them such
a chance of showing off their new uniforms.
As to Non-Gommissioned officers, these they
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 331
appointed on the instant, enough for four Compan-
ies. But as they could only get together a hun-
dred militiamen in all, including twenty Jews
who were pressed into the service in spite of their
unwillingness, there were left over after subtract-
ing Officers, Non-Goms., Corporals and Buglers
only seven men to do the work in each Company.
These latter protested loudly and shrilly, decla-
ring the battalion ought to be brought down to
one Company. But the Officers, who at that rate
would have almost all been reduced to the ranks,
were as deaf as posts in that ear. They said the
men wanted to disorganize the whole militia,
traitors that they were to their country !
It was war time, they were on a war footing
and must submit to martial law. Taupinard issued
a stern warning in General Orders, declaring he
expected " absolute and unconditional obedience. "
This he meant to have, by God ! Else he would
break his sword across his knee, and throw his
badges in their faces. He could live without his
pay, thank heaven ! not like those starveling
fellows, his brother-officers in the " Regulars " !
And for three days running, three times a day at
each muster, the Quarter-master Sergeant of each
332 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Company read over to his trembling men an extract
from the Code of Military Justice, copied out of
the hospital-orderly's red-book, which he had lent
for the purpose :
Disobedience in the field DEATH .
Striking a superior Officer DEATH .
Deserting a post threatened by armed
rebels DEATH.
Attacking without orders DEATH .
Making terms with the enemy DEATH .
Taking command without orders DEATH.
Surrender of a fortified position DEATH.
Etc. Etc. Etc DEATH.
The reading of this Draconian, but most neces-
sary, Code was followed by that of a list of
u external marks of respect " due to all Officers of
superior rank ; and in enforcing these Taupinard
declared he would be inexorable.
il Very well, if that's it and we're going to be
treated as soldiers, let's be soldiers right out ",
* * said the militiamen of the rank and file to one
another.
They demanded, to begin with, four francs a
day pay levied on the Native Tax, and proceeded
to treat the town as if it had been a conquered
country. However that the Natives might not con-
found them with the ordinary * ' licentious soldiery ",
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 333
every man decorated his plain militia cap with a
silver band. Then began a life that was more like
the harlequinade in a pantomine than anything
else.
Worthy business men, quiet peaceable citizens
at ordinary times, they now spent the whole day
long in the taverns, drinking to each other's
healths, and recklessly spending their little capital
to the last farthing. Then at night they would
troop off to visit the good-natured young ladies a
certain matron of an obliging disposition had gath-
ered round her to amuse the troopers when time
hung heavy on their hands.
But and this was strange and would have
greatly surprised their lawful wives, if there
existed such things as lawful wives at that date in
the Colony, the new made sons of Mars seemed
to find themselves quite at home in these regions.
" Hilloa, Adele, my dear ! "
" Oh, my ! why, it's little Blondinette. "
" Dolores my darling, how goes it?
u And you, my pretty; haven't I seen you
before somewhere? "
"Yes! most noble warrior, at Gonstantine.
Don't you remember? at the old Cat's Paw I "
334 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Then ensued much shaking of hands and nudg-
ing of elbows, ejaculations and shrill cries, wind-
ing up with the quaffing of endless glasses of beer
and liqueurs.
At first the girls laughed till their sides ached.
But after a bit, spite of ke"pi and uniform, or per-
haps because of them, the militiamen failed to
please the ladies. They had more money to give
away than the troopers, it is true, but the girls
found them more exacting and above all a great
deal more pompous.
Finally, towards mid-night they would leave the
liquor-stained tables of the temple of Venus, and
full to the neck with liquor, their carcases gorged
and puffy, drunk and battered and ridiculous,
hand on hilt of their cabbage-knife, cap tilted over
one ear, and all agog with the heady odours of the
house they had just quitted, make their way to-
wards the casbah by the longest road. They always
went by the ramparts, under pretence of making
sure their comrades, the sentinels, were at their
posts, hailing them from afar, waking with their
shouting the peaceable Bedouins asleep in the
native cafes, stumbling and rolling, mimicking the
mewing of cats and howling of jackals, giving out
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 335
on every note, each more excruciating than the
other, the old night cry of warning in our African
wars : u Ho! sentinels, be ware, be ware \
The Officers took possession of a cafe", that
kept by the fair Therese, who had the reputation,
if scandal was to be credited, of attracting the
secret favours of the big guns of the garrison-staff.
She was assisted by a younger sister, a damsel of
fifteen, always very ready to bear a hand when
there was a great press of business.
At such times as the Garrison Officers were on
parade or away on duty, the settlers used to fre-
quent the house, so that the fair Therese had
plenty of customers of all sorts and conditions .
Such of these latter as had not been promoted to
any superior rank in the battalion, naturally sup-
posed they would be able to go on patronizing the
establishment as before; but no! they found them-
selves face to face with their new-made superior
Officers, who looked at them with anything but
favour.
The pride of rank manifested itself instantly
among these nobodies. Only yesterday had they
become somebodies, but the less they deserved
their advancement, the more pompous they were
336 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
over it. So they just ordered their subordinates to
clear out, telling- them they had no business there,
the staff having- selected the cafe for its exclusive
patronage.
The poor militiamen protested indignantly, and
the fair Therese backed them up. General insubor-
dination followed; and there was loud talk of
military tyranny, and of jacks in office, and abuse
of authority.
u They weren't, so to speak, in the service, hang
it all ! It was all very well for the army to set up
these silly, anti-democratic distinctions between
man and man. Gome, come ! weren't they all fel-
low-townsmen, all equals, all Frenchmen toge-
ther? "
Eventually the men without badges and gold
lace carried the day against the men with.
The Officers had to give in ; so making the best
of a bad job, they fraternized with their men,
glass in hand, under the bright eyes of the fair
Therese.
The militia, officers and privates, stood on one
and the same footing of good comradeship inside
the doors of the good-natured Therese, who
past mistress as she was of the arts of coquetry,
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 337
understood how to keep all her admirers sighing
round her, promising her favours to each in turn
without ever actually according them to any.
Meanwhile the good ladies at home were furious-
ly angry, angry as outraged wives, angry as
house-mistresses who see their little savings car-
ried off to be spent abroad, angry as shop-mistress-
es who see custom going elsewhere.
So whilst the husbands were making sheep's
eyes, twirling their moustaches and posing as
devoted but despairing lovers, in fact doing their
utmost to copy their brother-Officers of the Army,
whom they scoffed at openly, envied secretly, and
hated under all circumstances, their wives, those
kill-joys of good fellowship, used to invade the
public room and under pretence of calling out their
husbands, look the fair Therese up and down, and
try all they knew to pick a quarrel without rhyme
or reason.
The little nest of Cupid, once so calm and peace-
ful, became the scene of continual wrangles, and
from morn to eve resounded with the angry words
of shrill-voiced harpies. Therese determined to
have done with it, and closed her establishment.
When the militia Officers arrived next day at
Musk hashish and blood. 43
338 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
absinthe time, lo ! and behold, they found the front-
door locked in their faces.
They knocked and knocked, in vain. At last
a head appeared at a window on the first floor,
and the fair mistress of the house announced that
since the militia gentlemen could not keep proper
order, she proposed not to resume operations
pending the return of " the regulars ". This reply,
which triply insulted them, as customers, as
admirers, and as Officers, exasperated the worthy
men to such a degree that they summoned her to
open with dire threats of pains and penalties if
she dared to refuse; u all civilians are bound to
obey armed force, or we shall smash your
whole place ! "
Therese capitulated from sheer fright ; and the
visitors, heated by success, kept it up merrily till
far into the night.
Then the angry wives agreed to take vengeance
on their hated rival ; and before long an opportunity
offered of itself, as good opportunities almost
always do.
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 339
II
The sun was blazing down on the ground,
scorching the walls, parching the trees, blinding
the passers-by, so that everybody made all con-
venient haste to get home and find a corner of
shade and comparative coolness.
Arabs wrapped in their burnouses lay stretched
under walls, at the corners of cross-streets, on
mats in the Caouadji's. The Old Gate, a relic of
Roman magnificence, was crowded with sleepers.
The militia sentinels, fighting against sleep,
tramped up and down savagely on the bastions,
rifle at the shoulder and eye alert, with the fixed
idea that the enemy were advancing on the walls,
and ready at a moment's notice to shoot the first
Bedouin his evil star should bring within range.
Here and there a group of Frenchwomen were
seated at their house door, talking together in low
tones, as if afraid of waking the town that lay
buried in a heavy slumberous calm of silent apathy.
But from the recesses of a shed attached to the
Casbah came every now and again, like the snores
of a heavy sleeper, the voices of the militia drill-
340 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
instructors pitched to resemble those of the army
sergeants : u Present arms; load; one, two,
three; ground arrrms ! " and the sound of
the butts striking on the ground with a heavy
thud.
u All one after the other, " thundered Captain
Fournier, retired orderly-room Sergeant and princip-
al baker in the place. u All one after the other,
and no life in it at all ! Now, all together ! "
And he set to work swearing and invoking the
Almighty, as if the safety of the town and all its
inhabitants rested on his solitary shoulders.
This was the moment when a company of twenty
women or so made for the fair Therese's establish-
ment, facing the Casbah.
Big Mother Nassan, ex-Canteenwoman of Spa-
his, and now dealer in wines and groceries, was
the leader of the band. She had, to use her own
expression, " clapped half a dozen brandy-balls
in her chops", to get up the steam; and now
puffing out her cheeks, slapping her thighs, roll-
ing her wicked little eyes, she was calling her
friends together :
11 Gome on, come on ! I'll show you the Moon
at mid-day. I wager I'll upset the apple-cart all by
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 341
myself. Join the honest women 's rights move-
ment ! " Then she tossed her huge, fat arms above
her head, sleeves tucked up high above her elbows.
Next came M mc Fournier, the Captain's good
lady, then all the rest of them, pale and eager-eyed,
chock-full of naughty thoughts and indecent curios-
ity.
As wife of the Commander and most prominent
citizen of the town, M me Taupinard had refused
to join the expedition openly, but she gave it her
august countenance, and was there at the open
window of her house encouraging the assailants.
These reached the door breathless and panting,
treading on each others' heels, slipping along under
shelter of the walls, not courting notice any more
than necessary. Then so as not to startle the two
sisters prematurely, they retired round the corner
of a bye-street, leaving Mother Nassan to go for-
ward alone and knock gently at the door, calling
with honeyed accents :
" Mam'zelle Therese ! Louisette ! Come down
and open, please. I want you. "
At the first-floor window appeared Louisette, en
deshabille, her pretty head touzled and her eyes
heavy with the leaden mid-day sleep.
342 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
u I want to speak to your sister about some-
thing important, Quick, my pretty dear ! open the
door. "
But u my pretty dear " was suspicious, and as
sly as anybody ; so she answered :
44 Tell me what it is from outside.
44 A message, an important message,
replied Mother Nassan, who had provided herself
with an old letter to be ready for any emergency.
44 They want an answer at once. '
But Louisette leaning well forward, caught
sight of two or three women's heads craning eag-
erly round the corner of the street ; so putting out
her tongue at Mother Nassan, she shut to the
window with a bang.
44 You young minx, " screeched the old woman,
44 you shall pay me for that, you shall ! "
Instantly the rest ran out all together, shouting
with one voice : 44 Break down the door ! break it
down ! "
Under their united and furious onslaught, the
door soon gave way and they poured into the
public room.
The two sisters were upstairs, slipping on their
petticoats in frantic haste.
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 343
" Run ", said Louisette, u it's you they're mad
with ! " and she dashed out onto the stairs to bolt
the door of communication.
But Mother Nassan already had her hand on the
door, and forcing it part way open with her knee,
then pushing her foot into the crack, inserted her
sturdy arm and seizing the child by one hand
dragged her into the room.
" I've got the little pig by the ear, "she scream-
ed in triumph. We'll begin with her to get our
hands in. "
" Yes ! spank her soundly. Hep ! hep ! now, up
with her duds ! "
" Hold her tight ! I'm going to fetch the big one
now. "
Then Briquetas the butcher's wife, a sturdy
dame, wife of Captain Briquetas of the Second
Company, grasped the girl under the arms, forced
her down, and seating herself on a bench, threw
her across her knees. This done, she tucked up
shift and petticoat above the child's waist, shout-
ing to the furies standing round, u Now then,
whose turn first ! "
All the same she was burning with eagerness to
have the first smack herself at the little slut, who
344 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
she declared had debauched her son, a great softy
of twenty-five. However it took both hands to hold
the victim, for Louisette struggled like a mad-
woman, burying her sharp teeth in the woman's
thighs.
" Ah ! the little devil, she bites and scratches.
Spank, spank away then. Harder ! thump the
steak, and serve it up red and bleeding ! "
In her fury she all but smothered the child be-
tween her enormous thighs, belabouring her head
the while with her two fists.
Then the other women set to and beat her sav-
agely. Each wished to do her share, and as they
hurt their fingers, many of them took their slip-
pers to it, and fell to furiously on the fresh young
skin, laying on the harder in proportion, the
older and plainer they were. Some cried :
" Higher, Madame Briquetas ! legs higher ; let's
see the naughty place. Yes ! that's where our
husbands go, and our boys. They see nothing to be
disgusted at. Now then, now! now!
And all the while Captain Founder's big voice,
hoarse with swearing, was audible at intervals
from the recesses of the C as bah :
u Shoulder arms ; present arrrms ! No life
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 345
in it at all! Good God! no life at all! Now, all
together!! "
III
While the townswomen were making it hot for
poor Louisette, before the wondering eyes of a
crowd of Arabs, who without trying to find a
reason for it all, took a simple delight in watch-
ing the unexpected effect, Therese, half crazy
with fright, had by help of a little window slipped
down on to the roof of a neighbouring Jew's
house, and from there into the inner courtyard.
Mother Nassan arrived only in time to see her
victim escape, and finding it impossible to go in
pursuit owing to her stoutness, contented herself
with screaming after her, with foaming lips and
heaving flanks, the long Litany of abuse and insult
she had picked up in the different soldiers' can-
teens where she had spent the first three quarters
of her life.
Like the wicked Princess in the Fairy Tales, the
words poured from her mouth like toads and vip-
ers, with a hissing loud enough to rouse the
whole neighbourhood from its quiet midday siesta,
Musk hashish and blood. 44
346 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
if the shouts of the furies from inside had not
effectually done so already.
An old daughter of Israel, awakened suddenly
and starting up from the arcade where she was
asleep, caught a glimpse of the flying Therese,
and thinking the Roumis were attacking the
house, began to scream as if she were being flayed
alive, screeching to her family to come to the
rescue.
She had received, had the old Jewess, a kick
one day from a militia-man on the spree, and her
eldest son a crack with a bludgeon from another
u jolly fellow " who wanted to kiss the man's
wife by main force. So, as you may suppose, the
household was not exactly predisposed in favour
of the Christian settlers, and greeted the stranger
in terms that hardly promised a patriarchal hosp-
itality.
Eventually they pushed her out into a back
lane, where she set off to run with the idea of tak-
ing refuge under Monsieur le Curb's protection.
Though she was no Church-goer, still the good
man would give her a smile and a pleasant 4 4 good-
day to you ", if ever he met her in some unfre-
quented place, and had even invited her several
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 347
times to come to the Presbytery. So she made for
that haven, knowing her enemies would not dare
to come and worry her there. Half naked, with
hair flying, and like Cinderella losing one slipper
by the way, she tore along the narrow streets of
the Arab quarter, the natives crouched half asleep
in the shadow of walls and under the awnings of
shops watching the pretty vision fly by like one of
the houris of Paradise.
But already the Furies were at her heels, shout-
ing :
" There she is! there, there!! stop her, stop
her ! "
She came out on the Roman wall, kept along
it without ever looking back, for she could hear
them howling behind her like a pack of wolves,
and fainting with exhaustion reached the little
Square before the Church The sentinels on the
remparts, startled by the tumult, raised a simul-
taneous cry of warning to each other, " Sentinels,
look out ! look out ! " which excited them so
that every man let fly his musket at hap-hazard.
A hundred yards away stood the Presbytery
much with its roof of blue slates, rising high over
the neighbouring roofs and contrasting with their
348 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
red tiles. But to reach this harbour of refuge, the
fugitive must follow a long white-washed wall,
pierced half way along by a heavy door defended
with iron bars and having a little barred judas in
it, in fact like the wicket-gate of a convent or a
prison.
Therese had only a corner of the Square to cross
now, when suddenly a half score of women seem-
ed to rise out of the earth in front and bar her
way. The pursuers had divided into two parties,
and behind her the second band was now coming
up in full cry.
Then, tracked down like a gazelle the hunters
want to take alive, brain reeling and eyes swim-
ming, faint and failing, she grasped the knocker of
the suspicious looking door and knocked fiercely
and hurriedly for admittance.
Her pursuers stopped dead in sudden astonish-
ment, but directly cried out in loud-voiced
triumph :
u Ha, ha ! bravo ! She's found her proper place,
the brothel, the public brothel ! "
This was the last thing she heard. A loud
humming filled her ears ; she fell swooning to the
ground, and saw as if in a dream a group of girls
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 349
naked but for a dressing-gown thrown round them
lift her up and carry her in. Then a door shut to
with a crash amid hooting and laughter from
outside.
Women are very cruel to women. The female of
every animal is fierce when enraged, but an angry
woman is the most terrible of them all.
Every pretty woman has a legion of mortal
enemies, all the plain ones, whose intensest
delight it would be to tear her limb from limb.
When at the timber-yards of Versailles the
hordes of Communards were driven in like sheep,
all torn and bleeding, the women of the victorious
faction used to come and poke with the tips of
their parasols the raw wounds of the vanquished
wretches. But above all it was against the women
among the vanquished, marching there with the
crowd, foul and dirty, with torn clothes and pow-
der-blackened faces, that their rage burned fierc-
est, and if the petroleuse happened to be young
and pretty, they spat in her face and overwhelm-
ed the shrinking creature with abuse, only prev-
350 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ented by the soldiers on guard from using their
nails.
Each epoch enjoys its own revenge. The rec-
ords of the Great Revolution will be for ever foul-
ed with the memory of the tricoteuses dancing
their carmagnole over the bodies of the guillotin-
ed and slashing the white bosoms of the fair
aristocrats with their scissors.
But against the barred door the fury of the
angry women broke in vain, falling off after a
while into a dropping fire of insulting laughs.
They left off shouting defiance, the sense of
triumph and satisfaction was too great. They
seemed well pleased and happy at the accomplish-
ment of a good work. Now more than ever did
they long ardently for the instant return of the
" regulars ", the goums first of all. They prayed
that the soldiers, horse and foot, foul with sweat
and hideous with dust and drought, athirst for
love, hungry for sensual gratification, might this
very day swarm into the house, and the fair The-
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 351
rese might bear the first brunt of their furiouson-
slaught.
Some of them could remember, after the last
campaign, how a girl of the Nememchas appeared
in a dying state at one of the entrances to the
town, with bruised body and bleeding thighs, and
ears torn from her head, who had suffered before
she died the outrages of more than fifty horsemen
of the Mag'zen, and gloated over the thought of
such a fate for Therese.
" Ah, ha! there she is in the house of ill fame,
the pretty piece of affectation. She'll never leave
it. No! she must never get out. We'll see to that. "
And failing horrid Bedouins to do the job, failing
the connivance of *' a licentious soldiery ", they
would have been happy to send fathers, brothers,
husbands, sons, en masse, to ravish the creature,
as did the women of the Beni-Ascars to the two
maidens of the Ouchtatas.
But others again who now came up out of breath,
consumed by a fierce desire to see the fair The-
rese exposed in the open Square under the hands
of the big butcher's wife, were keenly disappoint-
ed and cried to the girls looking out by the little
window :
352 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
" Give her up. We want to tuck up her pet-
ticoats and whip her like her sister. Well give her
back, when we've done with her. "
But the door remained close shut, the house
silent.
The gay women made no answer to the honour-
able matrons. The wild-beast fury of the latter
frightened them.
They carried in the swooning Therese and laid
her on the matron's bed, surrounding her with
every care.
*
* *
Meantime, at the sound of the dropping fire the
sentinels let lly at their own sweet will, the two
main-guards, consisting almost entirely of native
Jews, had sounded the call to arms, and the mil-
itia, thinking an insurrection was toward, rushed
headlong from the gate of the Casbah.
" No quarter! " shouted big Taupinard, who
wisely kept in the rear, declaring his position of
Commandant-in-Chief forbade him to run the risk
of undue exposure to danger; else how could he
direct and overlook operations with the needful
calm?
MILITIA UNDER ARMS 353
They sallied out at the double; then seeing a
large assemblage of Natives in the Square, who
were indulging in endless comments on the
entertaining event of the day, they dashed at
them with fixed bayonets.
The crowd, startled and terrified, took flight in
all directions, pursued by the militia-men, who
deployed as sharp-shooters, with shouts of mutual
encouragement and loud cries of victory.
The fugitives bolted for protection to the
houses ; but the troops followed them up bayonet
in hand. Various scenes of the Rue Transnonain
were now re-enacted, while up and down the
streets was a second edition, in miniature, of the
December fusilades :
" A boy or two received a brace
Of bullets in the head ".
And here and there, from the top of the walls,
the sentinels would pick off a fugitive.
At the end of half an hour, the intrepid Taup-
inard, having by this recovered his presence of
mind, stopped the firing and sounded the assemb-
ly. Not a man was missing at the roll-call.
Musk hashish and blood. 45
354 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
" We Ve come off well ! The dangerous black-
guards! " he said to his victorious soldiers.
There were loud complaints in the District, and
the families of the victims demanded justice at
every door of every Department ; but the matter
was judiciously hushed up.
All the blame was shifted onto the shoulders of
a band of Bedouin robbers, unknown in the town,
who taking advantage of a quarrel that had arisen
between some women, and of the absence of the
regular troops, had thrown themselves upon the
militia, in order afterwards to murder the settlers
and pillage the peaceful inhabitants.
As for Taupinard, his conduct was universally
admired. He received as his New Year's gift the
Cross of the Legion of Honour. Thus we see how
merit and intrepidity are always rewarded.
XV
A MOONLIGHT SCENE
XV
A MOONLIGHT SCENE
The country of the Khabyles wa,s afire, and the
insurrection was spreading swiftly, to Batna, to
Setif, and Aumale. The " Fort National ", Dellis,
Tigi-Ouzou, Dra-el-Mizan, Bougie, Bordj-bou-Arre-
ridj, Milah, were all invested. Every farm and
358 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
lonely homestead was blazing, the colonists having
fled, only too happy to save their skins. Things were
at this pass when Colonel L...., Officer in com-
mand of the district of Bou-Saada and a man of
energy, started out somewhat recklessly with a
ridiculously inadequate column of Algerian Sharp-
shooters and Spahis, to collect the dues among
the tribes of the Beled-el-Djerid.
The first Caid to whom he applied refused point-
blank to pay anything. Certain arrests had to be
carried out, and next day two or three thousand
Arabs, mostly from the district of Bou-Saada,
advanced to attack our camp.
They were sent to the right about in double
quick time. A Squadron of Spahis was despatched
to cut down the fugitives; and meantime the
Colonel sounded the recall to bring in the Sharp-
shooters. Then the gallant Turkos, with torn uni-
forms and blood-stained faces, dusty and horrible,
but heroes for all that, fell in again by the colours.
The sergeant-majors called the roster; some thirty
men and two officers were found missing in the
battalion.
u My lads! " said the Colonel, " I am pleased
with you. But we must make haste and finish up
A MOONLIGHT SCENE 359
the business. If we don't make an end to-day, we
shall have it all to do over again to-morrow, and
to-morrow they will be ten thousand strong.
The Turcos stood without moving a muscle,
listening grimly. The colonel went on :
u While the Cavalry is riding down the rabble,
you are to bring me in the heads of the slain.
Come, my lads ! a dollar a head, a douro for every
Bedouin head ! Fall out, and double ! "
Then turning to his officers who stood marvell-
ing at such an order :
" The Bureau Arabe advises me numbers of
Bou-Saada men are with the insurgents. We must
strike a terrifying blow ; else we shall have to fight
our way back into the town by the breach, with
all the Ksours of the Mok'ram at our heels. "
Accordingly the Turcos with loud shouts scat-
tered at a run over the battle-field. The chassepots
had done fine execution, strewing the plain plenti-
fully with brown bodies.
360 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Sinister looking groups could be discerned here
and there. The native soldiers, bending over with
one knee on the ground, with one turn of the wrist
would bare the dead man's head, when Chechia or
ha'ik still remained in place; then firmly grasping
the mesh of hair every Mussulman wears on the
back of the head, they set to work savagely with
a sawing movement of the arm and howling like
jackals, to ply the terrible sword-bayonet.
A bleeding globe in a moment or two rewarded
their efforts, dangling from their left fist. Then
they came running in to present their trophies,
pitching the poor remnants of humanity onto an
ever-growing heap before the Kebir's tent. The
Sergeant Major handed each man a douro in
return; and without stopping to recover breath,
they would hurry back to their hideous work.
The money was that of the achour, the same
which the Gaid of the Chabkas had insolently
refused to pay over to the Colonel's emissaries.
It had been seized by main force on the previous
evening.
The heads, to the number of about 300, filled an
artillery waggon, which was at once driven off at
full trot for the town.
A MOONLIGHT SCENE 361
There was no pother that day either with
prisoners or wounded, for any of the latter there
may have been were found headless, a clear
gain of time and trouble for the Lieutenant-Sur-
geon, the guard and the ambulance-men.
Under escort of a small detachement of Spahis
the waggon entered Bou-Saada about midnight by
the South Gate, and came to a standstill with its
dismal load in the great Square.
The town was fast asleep, under guard of a
section of Turcos. These were promptly and noise-
lessly called up and directed to hold themselves
ready, rifles loaded and knapsacks on back.
A fatigue party hurriedly pointed the ends of
three hundred long tent-pegs, and drove them in
in three concentric circles round the great Fount-
ain, and on these they stuck the heads.
The artillery waggon tipped them out in batches
as they were wanted, making little heaps of
Musk hashish and blood. 46
362 MUSE HASHISH AND BLOOD
ghastly, sticky, shapeless globes, covered with
clotted blood and patched with blobs of red mud.
In their hot haste and their greed to make all
they could, the men had cut the heads from the
bodies anyhow. The awkward squad had slashed
and hashed in vain efforts to find the joint of the
cervical vertebrae; while others, not taking the
trouble to look for it, had hacked through the bone
by main force. Necks horribly cut about showed
some of the wounded had struggled desperately ;
in these cases their executioners, exasperated at
resistance that put unexpected difficulties in their
way and doubled their trouble, frantic with haste
and rage, had struck ten foul blows for one good
one, so that the flesh hung in strips with fragments
of skull attached and straggling tendons, like the
trailing ends of a ragged cloth or a row of setons
all sticky with adhering matter.
The moon, hidden till now behind the tall palms
of the Oasis, now suddenly came out, and lit up
the hideous scene, shining down brilliantly on
livid, ghastly faces, mouths still open in a grin of
hate, teeth still clenched in a last effort to bite,
noses smashed in by the shocks and jolts of fifteen
leagues of rough road.
A MOONLIGHT SCENE 363
Here an eyeball had started from its socket, and
dangled over the lips, looking in its dulled glitter
like a tarnished agate, while the other eye, wide
open, seemed to be gazing horrified into space.
There a head, driven home over roughly on its
spike, was impaled right through, a splinter of
wood coming out through the skull above the
eyebrows and making a gory horn ; close by was
another cracked by a blow with the butt, from
which the brains were trickling, like marrow oozing
from a bone.
Little streams of blood crawled slowly drop by
drop down the stakes, congealing on them in long
gluey threads. White, longhaired dogs with lean,
thick-set bodies, and big drab-coloured grey-
hounds, prowled round the human shambles,
trying to lick the red blotches; but others kept
their distance, and stood a few yards off, howling
dismally.
Presently the dawn broke over the dreadful
place; and with the rising sun opened another
day, a day of horror and terror and despair *.
1. Shocking as it undoubtedly is, we must not forget that
this style of warfare is quite common amongst the warriors
of the Soudan. Pierre Loti, in his Roman d'un Spahi, has
364 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The women, who had risen the earliest to draw
their water at the fountain, were first to see the
horrible sight.
drawn a vivid picture of the defeat and dephallicisalion of a
native regiment of Senegalese sharpshooters officered by
Frenchmen, and in Untrodden Fields of Anthropology
(Paris, 2 vols. 2 nd edit. 1898), the student will find further
facts and details. These things are never divulged at home
and only men who have been " through the mill", Know
what takes place. When however, as in the case of Gener-
al Kitchener at Omdurman, orders are given to retaliate
in the native way, the better to quell revolt and stop
greater bloodshed, a loud outcry as to English cruelty and
return to barbarism is made by pressmen in Fleet street,
in utter ignorance of the nameless atrocities wrought by
the adverse &ide.
Loti paints the nameless horror of being only wounded
that haunts the soldier fighting in these parts : he much
prefers to be killed and die outright. The object of the
natives in thus demembering their fallen enemies is per-
fectly logical from their point of view, viz : that any-
thing less than depriving a man of the outward sign of
virility was not to gain a complete victory over him ; that
only after the cxciion of the genital apparatus could he be
regarded as really vanquished. Men have been known to
survive the cruel and dastardly operation.
A MOONLIGHT SCENE 365
For a moment they were lost in sheer amaze-
ment and stood speechless, unable to grasp the
reality, thinking themselves the sport of some
horrid nightmare; but soon having drawn closer,
they broke out suddenly into piercing screams.
The whole place was awake in an instant, and
at the same moment the Turco bugler, standing in
the Square, sounded the reveillee.
The cheerful notes rang out with an incongruous
suggestion of holiday-making amid these dismal
scenes, while the women, growling like a pack of
wolves, revolved in a sort of dance of death round
the grisly trophy.
One would recognize a brother, another a hus-
band, yet another a father or a son.
Some unable to make out the features, would
wipe the dead face with the skirts of their gand-
ourah, or with their finger-nails scrape away the
clotted accumulations of mud and blood.
The men arrived in their turn, keeping a savage,
silent mien. Many clenched their fists and shook
them threateningly at the invisible foe.
Then they raised a simultaneous chorus of loud
fierce shouts, and presently fell silent again. The
detachment of Turcos still stood motionless in the
366 MUSE HASHISH AND BLOOD
Square, their grim looks contrasting strangely
with the gay sky-blue uniforms they wore, and
waited with rifles at the ready ; the Spahis were
also at attention, with swords drawn.
Presently, far away, the ringing clash of the
bugles made itself heard, coming nearer and nearer,
sounding the quick-step.
At this the old Gaid mounted his charger, and
followed by his Sheikhs clad in the scarlet bur-
nouse sallied from the town to meet the approach-
ing column.
When he was within ten paces of the Colonel,
who rode so gallantly, hand on hip, with a magni-
ficent recklessness, there at the head of his hand-
ful of men, in the midst of a People in revolt, he
dismounted and throwing himself on his knees,
touched the Frenchman's stirrup with his long
white beard :
11 You are stronger than we, " he said simply.
u It was written so from the beginning. "
And in this way, in those last days of January
when all Northern Africa was a-blaze, the treason
of Bou-Saada was nipped in the bud, and
with it the insurrection of the Ksours of the
Mok'ran.
A MOONLIGHT SCENE
367
Verily the ways of a soldier are not as the
ways learned in lawyers' offices.
Enough ! and to wise men, greeting !
XVI
THE COMPLAISANT HUSBAND
Mask hashish and blood 47
XVI
THE COMPLAISANT HUSBAND
Veterans of the regiment remember to this day
old father feienne, of the cafe* ~L'6t6ile d'Honneur,
with his fat churchwarden's smile, his foxy face
and general look of a good, complaisant husband
and past master in the art of winking the other
eye. This he could do with the best of them, and
indeed he had enjoyed first-rate practice, for gold-
en-haired M me Etienne, in the days of her youth
and beauty, had many and many a time, oftener
than she could count, merrily kicked her little
heels over the traces. In this way the erstwhile
humble bar-keeper, retailing fiery spirits at two
sous a glass to thirsty loafers over the zinc of a
tavern counter, had blossomed into the substantial
landlord of a fine cafe, a sworn juror, a " promi-
nent citizen " and an alderman of the town.
The 6toile d'Honneur, regimental cafe of all the
Cavalry Officers of the Garrison, by itself consum-
372 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ed more absinthe, vermouth, liqueurs and ale than
all the taverns in the place put together. The
squadrons took up quarters one after the other,
and never failed to pass on the watchword :
" Good liquors, reasonable charges, mistress a
good sort, husband inoffensive. '
Yes ! quite inoffensive ! The 4 c green-eyed mons-
ter " had never tortured the worthy man's heart in
the least. He was not one of those husbands, made
to be laughed at, who lodge their honour in the
most fragile of all caskets, and then when this is
broken open, get a hole shot through their bodies
to soften their regret and soothe their indignation.
He was universally known as " the complaisant
husband. "
Yes ! he wore his crown of horns complaisantly
and comfortably, and a fine pair of antlers they
were, with many tines. He was content to live
and let live, to breathe the smoky air of the salle,
to superintend the waiters, to watch his noisy
customers crowding round the tables and en-
joying the brilliant lights, the flashing mirrors,
and the plump charms of the mistress of the
house.
But, alas! time flies. However gently the years
THE COMPLAISANT HUSBAND 373
glide over pretty faces, at last they wear furrows
on the smoothest brow. Forty summers and more
had coarsened the charms of the fair hostess, but
she had no thought just yet of giving up.
There were defaulters in the ranks to remind
her that nothing is eternal in this world. The
house still flourished more or less on its forjner
reputation; the wat6hword was still passed on,
but in a modified form : ** Good liquors, but old
lady passee! " Alas, alas! fair ladies, 'tis what
we must all come to !
And lo! and behold, two little minxes, pretty
girls, seductive looking and not a bit shy, proceed-
ed to open a rival establishment right opposite, to
attract the custom of the Officers.
" A couple of arrant dollymops, " was M me
Etienne's comment, u draggle-tails coming nobody
knows where from, and not a shift between the
pair of them! I wonder the police allow such
doings !
Bah ! for what we wanted of them, a formal
certificate of good character and exemplary life
together with a letter of recommendation from
the Cure of their parish would not have helped us
one single button, and a shift was quite super-
374 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
fluous. Up anchor and away! the old port of call
was left all but deserted. The &toile kept only
some very young admirers of mature charms, and
a few besides, old customers " faithful in advers-
ity ".
At this crisis M me 6tienne bethought her she
had a niece, abandoned since earliest infancy to
the pious care of the nuns at the Female Orphan-
age, quite forgotten and left unthought of till
this moment. She would now be sixteen, and
possibly the girl had grown up pretty. Inquiries
were made, and a reply duly received. Then
M me fitienne undertook a journey on purpose to
recover her dear little Melie, who not having one
sou to rub against another was given up to her
with the utmost alacrity by the worthy sisters.
She brought her home in triumph, furnished
with every mark of satisfaction the pious ladies
could bestow, and wearing all the ornaments our
good mother the Church lavishes on dear, devout
girls, chokefull of prayers, and vicious
thoughts, with downcast eyes and lips mod-
THE COMPLAISANT HUSBAND 375
estly closed, but the modesty began and ended
there ! Oh ! the sly little darling ! how plump and
rosy-cheeked and fresh-coloured she was, how
timid, and blushing, and virgin-pure !
" One for our worthy Cure", " the wags cried to
father Etienne.
u Not she ! M the latter replied, with a wink,
" she's meant for sinners, not saints ! "
The sweet child, with her rounded arms, her
dainty, satiny skin and her dreamy eyes !
True the figure was coarsish, but then the
curves were so full and the flesh so firm. She had
rather a big mouth, but then it had such red, red
lips; the hands may have been a trifle large, but
the hips were so ample too. A bit flat-footed may
be, but then such plump calves !
Her arrival created quite a stir. " Ah, ha! the
delicious morsel of holy bread, all fresh and pip-
ing hot, wouldn't you just love to set your
teeth to it, good sirs ! " seemed to be papa
Etienne's sentiments. u Walk up, walk up ! no
376 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
charge for inspection. Pass the word, pass the
word on ! "
So all the world came trooping in, and admir-
ing. They were giving their eyes a preliminary
treat, before treating their well! their heart,
let us say. They duly passed the word, and more
came, and more, and again and again, and seemed
never to get tired of looking. The seats were all
full up again, the tables groaning with glasses
and jugs and decanters and tumblers, and saucers
piled mountains-high, in honour of Melie's bonny
face.
Never was seen such a hit ; never in all the
annals of garrison life had such a deluge of cust-
omers been known in any cafe*. Customers stood
in line before the doors ; customers had to be refus-
ed admission for want of space, fitienne, his wife,
Melie, did their best, and could not cope with the
traffic. With one accord the Officers all made
sheep's eyes at the dear orphan, the pretty nun,
the irresistible novice. They declared she must
dress the character, at the very least she must
keep to her convent costume with the big medall-
ion of the Sacred Heart. Etienne made no object-
ions ; he even seemed to think it an excellent
THE COMPLAISANT HUSBAND 377
idea, his delighted eye the while following his
pretty nieceabout and noting her voluptuous move-
ments. "Oh! a sweet girl, if ever there was
one, a sweet girl ! " he kept repeating under his
breath.
But M me 6tienne would not hear of such
sacrilege. " No! no! it was not right; we
mustn't mock at religion " So she had a most
becoming frock made for Me" lie, and lent her her
own rings, bracelets and ear-drops. u They shall
be yours, your very own, "she said, " if you be-
have nicely. "
The enthusiasm lasted six weeks, during which
the establishment over the way was left utterly
behind. The two pretty girls, its mistresses cried
with vexation.
" Odious ! " they said, " send for their niece
from her convent, to sell her to the soldiers !
How can the police allow such doings ? "
But after a while lo ! the rush began to slacken
little by little. In proportion as the Etoile emptied,
the rival house was crowded. Not that Me" lie had
Musk hashish and blood. 48
378 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
grown a whit less attractive or plump or pretty. It
was all father Etienne's fault ; the fact is his virtue
was getting positively ferocious, fitienne u the com-
plaisant " seemed to have gone demented. He had
constituted himself guardian in chief of public mor-
ality, and Gato the Censor was a joke beside him.
" A young girl entrusted to my care! " he
was for ever saying. Good-bye to the highly spic-
ed innuendos, broad jokes, double entendres,
music-hall songs, so dear to the trooper's soul.
The fitoile was grown into a u school of polite
deportment ; " a boarding school miss might have
joined the circles of Spahis and Chasseurs
d'Afrique round the marble-topped tables, and
never known a blush !
Well ! customers yawned fit to crack their jaws,
while the landlord, once so inoffensive, used to
eye his guests with such furious looks of jealousy,
and keep so strict a watch over the virtuous Melie,
that at last, deeming it impossible to carry a for-
tress so straitly guarded, the besiegers one and all
beat a retreat.
The Cafe de 1'fitoile became a solitude once
more ; and henceforth poor Melie had to put up
with many a rough word from her disappointed
THE COMPLAISANT HUSBAND 379
aunt. Neither did the latter fail to rate her hus-
band in good set terms, who had put the child's
admirers to flight with his ridiculous straightlaced
nonsense.
* 4 What ! " he would retort with his fine air of
virtuous indignation, u a young girl entrusted
to my care. Never ! "
The good little girl was at her wits' end, and
cried her eyes out in every corner of the house.
What made her case all the harder was that, as a
good girl should, who is anxious to make up for
lost time, she had already made her choice among
the most pressing of her suitors. There was a
round dozen at least who were very much to her
taste, and in spite of her stand-off ways, she was
only too eager to try some more tasty sweetmeats
than ever the good sisters had provided.
Who can't have thrushes must needs make
blackbirds do ; a bird in the hand is worth two in
the bush ; a sparrow in the pot is better than a par-
tridge on the wing. Perhaps it was in virtue of
these various proverbs, in which is crystallized the
380
MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
wisdom of the nations, that one fine morning la
mere fitienne discovered uncle and niece in a
close conversation, so close there could be no sort
of doubt of the matter in hand between the pair.
** Abandoned wretch ! " she screamed, u a young
girl entrusted to your care ! "
Melie, after being soundly trounced, was sent
back to the Convent by the first train ; the Cafe de
I'fitoilewas put up for sale, and became the prop-
erty of the two pretty minxes over the way,
and the moral is, " Virtue is always rewarded. "
XVII
SECRETS OF THE DESERT
XVII
SECRETS OF THE DESERT
Whether the roof above be the blue firmament of
heaven or the starry vault of night, the gilded
dome of the Kouba or the green arch of festooned
384 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
vines with their oval clusters, dances the most
wanton possess in these Southern lands a certain
Biblical grandeur.
The Arab even in his monstrous vices is seldom
base or vulgar. The lust of the flesh may overcome
him, passion undo him, fierce longing choke him,
in all his degradation the part he plays is the
lion's, never the cur's. He has a way of his own
even of shaking out his rags to rid him of his
vermin that is totally unlike the gestures of the
lowsy European crowd ; in his very crimes and
hideous vice and abject poverty, he bears un-
abashed the the proud mark of Gain on his brow.
One evening I remember, the festivities were
verging to a close, as the setting sun plunged into
a great bank of crimson clouds in the West. The
horizon glowed like some scene in Fairyland, the
vast spaces of the blazing desert sands melting
imperceptibly into the vast spaces of the blazing
heavens.
Sodom and Gomorrha and all the rest of the
doomed Cities of the Plain might have been there,
SECRETS OF THE DESERT 385
quenching the slowly dying embers of their con-
flagration in the Lake of brimstone.
Intoxicated with food and hashish and love,
stretched full length on a mat of alpha-fibre, my
back resting against my saddle, I lay dreaming
with half-shut eyes.
At this moment Braham Chaouch, the old
swordsman, laid his hand on my arm.
u Look yonder ; " he said.
' c Let me be ! what can I look at fairer than the
setting sun there? The maids of the Ouled-Nayls {
have dazzled my eyes and stolen my heart away.
\ . We have already noted these folk, a tribe of partly
nomadic Arabs whose women of rare physical beauty
deliberately devote themselves to prostitution to earn
themselves a dowry. Their beauty is all the more conspi-
cuous owing to the ugliness of their neighbours, the
negresses and Bedawin women. Prince F. Lubomirski, in
his little book, La c6te Barbaresque et le Sahara (Paris,
1880) fitly remarks. " These prostitutes expert in vice,
living in debauchery until the age of twenty years and then
commencing an existence of duty and self-abnegation,
would strike us as an anomaly in nature, if we did not reflect
how greatly the principle of convention enters into the
delimitation of good and evil ". The fact is the love of the
Oriental is entirely sensual and those beautiful spiritual
imaginings which often sway and sanctify a European's
passion, play no part in his sexual philosophy. He tabu-
lates the physical attractions of his mistress with charm-
Musk hashish and blood. 49
386 MUSE HASHISH AND BLOOD
They are gone now, taking their tents with them ;
I would fain fall asleep and forget, to the thud,
thud of the singing-men's drums ".
"Nay! wake up, and look. Dancing women,
well ! you may give your eyes their fill of them in
every city of the country ; but the sight you may
see now is not so common. '
*
*
And through the clouds the fumes of tobacco
and kiffand powder had left behind floating in
the tent, I saw file past, one by one, silent and
ghostlike, the Frechiche dancers.
u Leave ye dancing to the women, M the Prop-
het has commanded ! * 4 the dancing man is a laugh-
ing-stock, and treadeth his own dignity beneath
his feet, as one that leapeth on a carpet. "
However, it is not solely by their dancing that
the Frechiches tread their dignity underfoot. They
ing frankness and sometimes real beauty of language,
(as in " The Scented Garden " of Sheikh Nafzawih), and
his lust refuses to bother over psychical ditinctions.
SECRETS OF THE DESERT 387
shave their faces, as did the priests of CybelS of
old, a thing of itself sufficient to make them
the scorn of every Arab ; and they don the long
robe of the Moorish women, drawn in over the
hips by the foutah of striped silk. Their wrists and
ankles are loaded with bracelets and bangles, and
some of the younger of those who passed before
me wore great silver earrings in their ears. Their
head-gear was the turban of the Koulouglis.
They ranged themselves in a semi-circle before
the Caid's tent ; then to the strains of the tarbouka
and a sort of Pan's pipe a young camel-driver
played with marvellous adroitness, one of their
number stepped forward and proceeded to go
through the licentious mimicry the courtesans of
the Souf exhibit. Soon another joined him, then a
second couple, and presently all mingled in a
wild, wanton chasse-croise, where each dancer
made lewd gestures to his vis-a-vis.
Otman the Ca'id and his Sheikhs sat on their heels
looking on, a smile of contemptuous scorn on
their lips. Horsemen of the goum and Spahis
wrapped in their red burnouses filled the back-
ground of the tent, and made a ring round the
dancers, their bronzed faces and manly soldier-like
388 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
features offering a strange contrast to the pallid
brows and sickly countenances of the wantons.
I seemed to be looking on at King David and
his troop of Jewish striplings performing their
lewd dance before the Ark under the astonished
eyes of the Gentile warriors.
Close by a white goat was suckling her young
one. The kid kept digging his pink muzzle vigor-
ously into the swollen udder, then drawing back
with the teat still in his mouth, he would knock
against the elbow of the tam-tam player, who
would gently push the little creature away. Tall
greyhounds, tawny-coloured savage looking beasts,
prowled round the tent and kept creeping up
stealthily to sniff at the strangers.
The night was closing in. The fiery furnace of
the West was dying down, and with it the red-
hot ruins of the wicked Cities were crumbling
into nothingness and momentarily disappearing.
Laden with the heady scent of vegetation
SECRETS OF THE DESERT 389
scorched all day long in the burning sun, the
night wind sprung up and blew into the tent.
The darkness grew apace. Candles the boys
had lit here and there were extinguished, and sud-
denly the player of the tarbouka left off beating his
fingers on the parchment. A reed flute struck up
an air soft and sad as a eunuch's womanish voice ;
the dancers stopped out of breath, and one of the
despicable crew sang a love song to a slow,
languishing rhythm. Then all sat down at a little
distance off round a fire of charcoal that glowed
red in the twilight, passing round tiny cups of
coffee and pipes of hashish.
The gleam from the brazier threw ruddy reflec-
tions, that looked like blood, on their pallid faces 4
marked with the stamp of ignoble indulgence,
1. Il is worth noting that Sir R. F. Burton has also
called attention to the pallid face of the paederast. Nature
seems to have set her stamp upon him. But it must not be
at once concluded that every pallid countenance is a sign
of unnatural practices. The student should consult Burton's
article at the end of the 10 th vol. of the ** nights " ; or
The Book of Exposition in the Science of Co***n " (Paris,
1896) where the article is given in extenso. It is only fair to
remark that Colonel***, the erudite and far-travelled author
of ** Untrodden Fields of Anthropology " denies the
correctness of Burton's theory and states that he has
390 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
and presently some of the horsemen of the gown
glided to their side.
But now a confused sound makes itself heard, a
sound of far off voices and footsteps. All hear it
and listen keenly, while the Frechiches^ with
outstretched necks and anxious eyes, peer into
the void, gazing towards the Oasis.
But their leader hailed the Ga'id, crying :
44 Gaid ! it was our bargain that no women
should be present. "
There was a deep hush as at the approach of
danger and disaster! then the Gaid answered :
known many men, habitual " actives and passives " of
this incomprehensible propensity, who were by no means
of a pallid complexion. If more exact information be
required the reader should consult " The Sexual Instinct
and its Manifestations from the Double Standpoint of
Jurisprudence and Psychiatry ", by D r -B. Tarnowsky, of
St. Petersburg. Translated by W. G. Costello, Ph. D., and
Alfred Allinson, M. A. Oxon, Paris, 1898 : Charles Can-in-
gton, 8vo. Pp. xxiv-232.
SECRETS OF THE DESERT 391
" By the head of the Prophet, I swear ! Not a
man is there amongst us all so brazen of brow, so
lost to shame, as to summon here wife or sister.
A man' s heart is ribbed with triple oak, his hide
is thick ; there is nought he cannot face without
great hurt. But a woman is tender as a rose leaf;
a woman is fouled by the very least contact of
foul things. They you hear approaching are not
women of our villages. They come uninvited ! "
At these words, Spahis, Ghaouchs, Mokalis,
Goums, all set up a laugh.
The Frechiches on the contrary thought it no
laughing matter. Hurriedly they tossed pots and
pans, carpets, tents, tent-pegs, provisions, pell-
mell into their great cameFs hair sahas, and in
frantic haste loaded these on the mules 1 .
But before they had time to hoist themselves on
top of the loads, for infamous, effeminate
beings, they were forbidden to bestride the noble
1. The hatred of whores (honest, healthy-minded
women are happily ignorant of these things) for " gentle-
men " of this category is only equalled, by the mortal
aversion shown by these hybrid males to women's society,
and their fear, at once ludicrous and contemptible, of the
terrible outspokenness of the dames du trottoir. The
writer recalls when thrown by Chance into the company
392 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
animal, to defile the horse, the warrior's mount,
fifteen or twenty women accompanied by
huge hounds, Slouguis of the famous man-eating
breed, rushed at them like frenzied bacchantes
uttering ear-piercing yells. They were the courtes-
ans of the fraction of the Ouled-Nayls, who had
the day before pitched their tents on the domain of
the Oasis, and had been encamped there since.
Armed, some with sticks, some with knotted
blackthorns, others with potsherds full of human
excrement, they fell on the fugitives, belabouring
them might and main, and setting the dogs at
them.
" Tear 'em, good dogs! " they yelled, " tear
'em ! tear 'em! The filthy, abominable wretches ! "
And then was seen a strange sight, a never to
be forgotten sight away there in the wilds of the
Beled-el-Djerid : a rout of smoothfaced men, dres-
in Paris of the Lucifer whose fall from the firmament of
London literature set all the world's tongue awagging, the
great dread our man of genius manifested at penetrating
into a chic salon where a number of demi-mondaines where
known to congregate and of his absolute refusal to accom-
pany us there. We were going purely on a visit of curiosity.
He had just directed most libertine smiles and glances
towards two filthy little match-vendors at the door !
SECRETS OF THE DESERT
393
sed out in women 's clothes, angry women and
savage dogs at their heels, tearing away in panic
fear through the night, across the Desert sands.
Musk hashish and blood.
50
XVIII
MY FIRST LION
XVIII
MY FIRST LION
I
In those far-off days, and woe is me ! how
far-off they are now, when the blue-striped
turban bound my brow, and my shoulders were
draped in the red burnouse so many heroes have
made illustrious, when the double chevron of
gold-lace decked my sleeve, for a year I combined
with the duties of my own rank those of quarter-
master-in-charge within the walls and the four-
teen flanking towers of the old Roman fortress of
Tebessa.
This detail would not have deserved mention,
only that it was as officer in charge I came to deal
with the Headman of the Chaouchs. This procured
me the acquaintance of his daughter, little Kreira,
a brunette with lips positively as red as blood,
and, mark how one thing always leads to anoth-
er, to kill my first lion.
398 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
For eight or ten months past, ever since our
return from duty at a smala (outpost fort), we had
been in garrison in the town, killing time as
best we could. The Nememchas never gave us a
thought, they might never in all their lives
have cut off a soldier's head or a Colonist's ; the
Sidi-Abid paid no attention to anything but their
crops, the Ouled-Recheia did not stir a finger.
The very brigands on the Tunisian frontier seemed
to have passed the word round to leave us alone
to stagnate in deadly idleness. The Kroumirs had
not been discovered yet ; the Native Department
Offices were fast asleep.
A period of utter peace and quietness, but at
the same time of unspeakable boredom.
A man could not in common decency spend all
day in drinking absinthe, and all the more as
credit ran short in direct ratio with the diminish-
ing chances of a foray. Something had to be done
to fill the time, and the sporting instincts of many
of our number became abnormally developed.
The total of jackals, hyaenas, wild boars, rabbits
killed was beyond count. Senseless slaughter of
the innocents, childish massacre of unoffending
beasts, and indeed we were heartily sick of this
MY FIRST LION 399
miserable small game ! Failing- Bedouins to hunt
down, we began to dream of lion-shooting.
How fine it sounded! The hope, fondled many a
time on long evenings round the bivouac-fire,
woke again beneath the shade of the inn-arbour
where we supped our grog after the evening
meal.
Jules Gerard of ours was dead, but he had left
behind him stirring memories among his com-
rades ; the name and fame of Bombonel reached us
now and again, and last but not least the renown
of the famous Ahmed-ben-Omar.
It must be admitted however that even in those
days lions, no less than forays, were becoming
scarce phaenomena ; soon there would be none
left, in all probability, either of the one or the
other. In spite of frequent expeditions into the
plains, and though we beat the ravines and
woods of the Djebel-Dir industriously, so far we
had only once encountered the King of Beasts.
It happened one sunny morning in a hollow
way that zigzagged up between rocks overgrown
400 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
with brushwood. We were on our way to the wedd-
ing of a Sheikh of the Tribe to which the Gaid
Ali-ben-ALL, lieutenant in our squadron, belong-
ed. Ali himself rode at the head of a dozen Spahis
and twenty or thirty horsemen of his goum.
The green and yellow flag of this Tribe flutter-
ed gaily on the morning air, while a band of Mus-
icians with melodious, strange looking instru-
ments played a triumphal march of war and love.
Suddenly the Gaid's horse stops dead, then
starts back snorting, and not even the spur will
make him advance another step. The animals that
follow snort and stop in their turn, and the panic
spreads from front to rear of the whole column.
" Ah, ha! " exclaims Ali, " I see what it is.
Look yonder! "
And with pointing finger he shows me a tawny
lion, big and strong, crouching on a rocky boulder,
two or three yards above our heads.
Two quartermaster-sergeants put their sights
on him ; but the Gaid with extended arm, and in
his soft, quiet voice says : u Nay! leave him in
peace, my sons. He leaves us in peace ; and indeed
his skin is not worth the value of the horses he
will rip up for us, after you've missed him. "
MY FIRST LION 401
So the column filed past under the lion's calmly
scrutinizing gaze.
Apart from the pleasant excitement a scuffle in
the narrow defile would have occasionned, I was
glad enough they had not fired on the magnificent
creature. Truly a noble beast, that it would have
been a crying shame to drill holes through with
our bullets. And then, as Ali observed, he was
watching us so calmly going on our way, like a
peaceable Bedouin seated at his tent-door watch-
ing the Christian soldiers go by.
But when I got back and related our little
adventure to Kreira, her eye gave a scornful
flash. She made a face of contempt, pouting out
her lip, that was redder than the pomegranates
of the oasis when they burst in the sun with
over-ripeness, and asked me coldly :
4 4 Why did you not kill him ? My heart shall
never belong but to a man who has killed a
lion".
Such was her fancy, cruel girl ! Still perhaps
Musk hashish and blood. 51
402 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
we must forgive the child ! she was only fifteen,
and that is,
An age that knows no pity.
In later years, in the Corridas of Seville and
Granada, I have seen little slips of girls in short
frocks, cheeks pale with excitement and eyes a-
blaze, demanding with loud cries the death of the
savage hero of the ring.
Amongst my many other miscellaneous duties
was that of seeing that every Native on his way
through, if unconnected either with the Army or
with the Native Department services, should
leave his arms with the guard at the Gates, a
very necessary precaution at a date when the
Arabs never travelled without a whole armoury
of deadly weapons, and when, especially on
market-days, the place swarmed with Bedouins
from the neighbouring Tribes.
The Sergeant of the Guard was responsible and
restored the objects deposited when their owners
quitted the fortress. But it somehow or other
MY FIRST LION 403
happened that a certain number of specially valu-
able muskets and yatagans changed ownership.
A. who deposited a moukala (long-gun) with
barrel of damascened steel- work and butt ornam-
ented with artistically carved ivory mountings,
when he came to reclaim his property could find
nothing but an old blunderbuss without cock or
lock, obviously from the stock of some dealer in
old iron; B. who had given in a silver-hilted
kandjar, could see nothing on his return but a
butcher's knife with a handle of common horn. I
should of course be sorry to accuse the Zouaves
told off to guard the Gates of these malpractices,
though two or three were caught in the very act
of trafficking with Jew brokers ! Still to put an
end to these little tricks, which they looked upon
merely as good practical jokes to play off on the
Arbicos, I ordered all arms for the future to be
conveyed to the General Armoury. There a receipt
was given, on presenting which the owner receiv-
ed his weapon back and went on his way rejoic-
ing.
A few days later, an Arab, quite poorly clad,
handed over to one of the clerks a magnificent
sporting- gun, struck by the beauty and value of
404 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
the weapon and the marked contrast between it
and the plainness, not to say squalor, of the
bearer's dress, I took it from the clerk's hands to
examine it more closely.
It was a u Lefaucheux " of damascened steel,
rifled and double barrelled, worth seven or eight
hundred francs.
" Who does it belong to?" I asked the man,
cocking and uncocking the piece as I spoke.
" It is my own!"
I had been surprised to see a gem of such value
in the possession of a Chaouia ; but the vigour of
the man's face and expression surprised me still
more. There could be no doubt I was face to face
with one of those intrepid robber chiefs who used
to blackmail the frontier villages, and who would
slip across the border backwards and forwards
when pursued. The weapon was of course part of
the plunder won in some murderous exploit !
u Yours ! where did you buy it ? "
" I did not buy it. It was a present from the
Sidi General. "
44 What ! General Desveaux? "
44 You have named him."
General Desveaux was Commandant-in-Chief
MY FIRST LION 405
of the Province of Gonstantine, the sa me General
of Division who some years later, when the dark
days came, was destined to command the Guards.
It was not precisely in his line to be distributing
guns by Lefaucheux to the Bedouins, least of all
to Bedouins in ragged burnouses ; but the fellow
resumed :
u My name is Ahmed-ben-Omar. *"
1 . Ahmed-ben-Omar was well known throughout a cir-
cuit of fifty leagues in the Province of Constantine. His
people, originally from the Kef, had come and settled,
some time previous to the French occupation, in the
neighbourhood of Souk-Arras.
Ahmed-ben-Omar, warned one day of the coming of the
Preset, was enabled to present himself before the great
man with an enormous lion which he had killed the day
before in company with his pupil Bel Kassey-ben-Salah. He
received a gold medal as a reward for his prowess.
His campaigns have been almost invariably crowned
with success : still he has been several times wounded.
One day he was carried back at death's door to Souk-
Arras, along with a lioness he had shot, but which before
succumbing, had given him twenty-two wounds. He was
seven months in hospital.
No sooner set on his legs again than he started off once
more to scour the woods. He killed nearly 80 lions and
40 panthers during his life.
In January 1887 he received the cross of the Legion of
Honour.
Ahmed-ben-Omar died, aged seventy, from the effects of
a congestion of the lungs.
406 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
A moment, and he added unassumingly, think-
ing the name unknown to me :
" I am a lion killer. "
I looked the man over admiringly without a
word. Spare and sinewy, with steady, steely eyes,
he was the beau ideal of his iron race, that
lives on nothing, scorns pain and laughs at death.
His bronzed countenance was framed by a short,
black beard, streaked with a few threads of grey.
He was a man of about forty, and his record
was fifty lions.
" Nay ! keep your gun, " I said ; it is a badge
of honour. You have earned the right to carry it
anywhere. "
He thanked me with a gesture.
" You have come to shoot in the District? "
II Yes! I have just arrived from Souk-Arras.
Men of the Nememchas came in to tell me, u There
is a lion has made his lair in the forest of Alloufa.
For a week now he has made us pay tax to his
hunger, one day an ox, another a sheep. We
count on you." And I answered them, "It is
MY FIRST LION 407
well ! " and here I am. The Native Department
Officials promised me a supply of cartridges.
A lion in the forest of Alloufa, a single day's ride
from where we stood ! Was it the one I had seen
the week before, gorged and good-tempered ? The
mighty cork-oaks of Alloufa had a reputation of
old as affording shelter to many a fierce lion and
lioness, and the Chaouias carefully avoided the
wood by night. But for years now the roars of the
maned Forest King had not disturbed the surroud-
ing douars. Either the beasts had all fallen victims
to the hunters' guns, or they had migrated else-
where.
At last, I had got my chance, a unique chance !
To go lion-hunting, not with some blundering and
utterly inexperienced companion but with a real
Shikari, a lion-killer whose fame eclipsed among
the Tribes that of Jules Gerard himself. Ah, ha !
my brown-eyed Kreira, your hard heart is going to
be touched after all !
Ahmed had left the room meantime. I went after
408 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
him, and soon came upon my man sitting on his
heels at the door of the Native Department Office,
patiently waiting to see the Kebir (Great man,
Chief Official). I carried him off to the Cafe", prim-
ed him with a present of fifty cartridges, and told
him my wishes.
44 Are you a good shot? "
44 I have killed half a dozen jackals, a hyaena,
three boars "
" Never shot lion?"
u No! never. "
" Well, well! "he said without more ado;
44 everything must have a beginning. "
It was agreed he should advise me when he
was ready to start, and I set off without further
delay to get leave of absence from my superior
officers.
The Moorish baths lay on my way ; and it was
the women's hour. My little Kreira was coming
out at the moment. I should have known her
among a thousand beneath her moulaia, and her
haik that left nothing but her great dark eyes
visible. Old Mabrouka, the duenna entrusted with
the guardianship of her virtue and who never
quitted her side by so much as one single step,
MY FIRST LION 409
showed me her row of teeth, which the, years had
dyed as deep a yellow as that of her slippers,
her way of smiling. Yes ! she always smiled when
she saw me, well aware I was going to grease
her skinny paw with that sovereign ointment that
in a moment stops the sharpest ears and blinds the
keenest eyes. She slipped the piece of money I
gave her into her wide mouth, and pushed her
young mistress towards me.
" I am going away, " I said to Kreira. " I am
going to kill you a lion. "
u Really and truly? Oh ! swear you mean it,
swear on your head you do ! "
" Upon my head ! ' I answered, with a
laugh.
" For me ? You are going to kill him for me ? "
" Yes! for you."
1 1 You know what I promised you ! I keep my
promises. "
She passed on, and I thought to myself, may be
it was the last time I should ever hear her voice
and the merry tinkle of the silver rings on her
little brown ankles.
Musk h&ihith And blood 52
410 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
II
Next day at earliest dawn Ahmed-ben-Omar
was knocking at my door.
" What! so soon? "
4 4 They have just brought me news from Allou-
fa. The lion has been levying fresh war contribut-
ions. He has taken a fancy to the sheep of the
Ouled Sidi-Abid. To-night, please God, we will
disturb his digestion. "
u The deuce ! Listen to me; 1 can't possibly
start before I have handed over my duties to my
substitute at parade-time. However I have a good
horse; I shall catch you up before sunset. "
As a matter of fact I did overtake him towards
seven o'clock near the Fort of Alloufa, no great
way from the Forest, Seated in the midst of a
group of Bedouins he was waiting for me, sharing
with them meantime a meal of bread and dates. It
was in vain I offered him a more substantial
repast at the hostelry attached to the Bordj. He
refused to take anything. I had to content myself
with a mere snack, which I and my Spahi enjoyed
MY FIRST LION 411
in company, washed down by a bottle of wine ; and
then off again at the trot.
An hour later, we made out behind a thicket of
brushwood the smoke of a douar y and presently
men and women coming to meet us, gesticulating
wildly and talking all at once.
They told their tale with such a superabundance
of detail it was difficult to gather what the disaster
really was that had happened yesterday, and again
only a short while before our arrival. It seems at
dusk to-day the lion had appeared a second time
and pounced on the flocks on their way home at
the edge of the woods, within a thousand yards
of the tents. A ram and a cow were found to be
missing.
" Two at once ! ' cried Ahmed-ben-Omar.
<c Ah, ha! then there are a pair, lion and
lioness ". Then turning towards me, he added,
" Well ! all the better, eh? we shall each have a
shot. "
" A cow did you say, my men? "
412 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
41 The best of the herd, " screamed an old
woman, all covered with dust. " A cow that
could have fed the whole douar. I am a ruined
woman ; my poor little ones have nothing to eat
How but tufts of wild diss. "
And she went on moaning, and scratching her
face, and wildly tearing her disordered mane,
that doubtless the comb had never touched since
the eve of her marriage ; then suddenly with out-
stretched arms and doubled fists she hurled
defiance at the unseen foe, spitting and scolding
furiously in the direction in which he had disap-
peared.
I drew back out of her reach, for unable to get
near Ahmed who was already surrounded by
others, she was turning to me to rehearse her
grievances. She called on me for sympathy ; she
took up once more the thread of her abuse, of
her threats and curses ; and called loudly on the
Prophet's name.
In this way we made our way up to the douar,
where more bawling, screeching women were
ready to welcome us.
The men kept repeating :
4 Peace! peace! daughters of Eblis! Go to,
MY FIRST LION 413
bite the backs of your bands \ but stop deafening
us, for the love of Allah! "
But the women retorted :
44 It needs but one ball to kill. Say, where are
our young braves got to ? What ! is there no
powder left in camp ? Nay ! but there is no pluck
left in our men's hearts ! "
At this all the men brandished their muskets,
shouting in dire wrath and pointing to Ahmet :
4 4 We are going with him ! We are all going
with him ! "
u No use, " returned Ahmet, u one is enough
to do the job. Besides, it isn't I at all, but the
Roumi, that's going to kill the lion ".
I stood listening, fist proudly posed on hip.
Stray beams of the Shikari's glory were reflected
on me. I took my share of the ovation and suppl-
ications of the crowd, and felt my heart swell
within me.
But it was a very different thing when he thus
drew their special attention to me.
414 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
Just at first they gazed at me distrustfully, but
when he repeated his remark, adding : 4l Yes !
lion or lioness, whichever he prefers, " they came
crowding round me, the women exclaiming :
u Welcome, welcome! noble Roumi ! "
" Allah fill full your house with plenty ! "
" May he drive in a thorn into the eye of your
enemies ! "
And little Bedouin maidens, all smiles, kept
crying :
i( Dismount, Sir! dismount! You are our
father. "
At this I laughed in my turn. They were about
the same age as Kreira, and it was hardly the rev-
ered name of father I should have wished for
with them. However they called me so according
to the custom the children of the Prophet have,
who always give the title to such as they expect
some good thing from.
Besides, though it was night, though the only
illumination was that of the dying fires of the
douar, all seemed bright, and sunlit ; for had not
the girls' great dark eyes rested admiringly on mine ?
Ah ! the beautiful gentle eyes, I shall see you
again when I come back at sunrise, bringing in
MY FIRST LION
the spolia opirna of the chase. In the intoxication
of my expected triumph, I forgot all about the
brown-skinned Kreira.
We dismount, but we refuse utterly all offers of
refreshment. We leave our horses, and my Spahi,
Mohammed, like a pratical youth, more concerned
about procuring a dish of couscous to regale him-
self withal than about sharing my growing
renown, goes off quietly to shackle them to the
common rope. We leave him seated under the
shelter of a hospitable tent, as we make for the
forest, followed by the mingled voices of men and
women crying after us : u Allah guard you !
Allah guard you! Come back safe, and soon ! "
III
We draw near to the Forest, at first following a
little path that wound along the edge and which
seemed to be quite familiar to my companion, for
he pushed forward unhesitatingly through the
gloom. Enormous masses of rock, some bare,
416 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
some overgrown with rough bush, bordered the
woods here and there.
Soon the darkness grows so intense I cannot
make out my guide's white burnouse in front of
me. He is obliged to stop now every moment to
scrutinize the ground.
It is well known that, unlike all other wild
animals, the lion does not travel across country in
a wood, but prefers to follow the beaten paths.
Many a time he has been actually seen slipping
along a high-road with lordly bearing, head in air,
and mane flying !
I remembered how one night at the smala of the
Tarf a lion had paid us a visit. He had come into
the unfenced garden of the Bordj, but instead ot
romping over the flower-borders and brutally
trampling down the kitchen-garden, he had foll-
owed the paths, as we could verify next day by
the marks he had left in the sand.
In silence, a load of vague anxiety weighing on
my chest, I stood listening to the rustling in the
thickets, the mysterious noises of the night, expect-
ing every instant to see the lion barring our way
or to hear the crackling of the boughs beneath his
ponderous weight.
MY FIRST LION 417
I only once broke silence to ask my guide :
II Much farther to go? Have they gone this
way, think you? "
u No doubt about it, one of them has;"
returned the Arab, " and the male, I'm positive.
But Satan empty my saddle, if I can be sure
whether the lioness has.
We had been stumbling along for a whole
hour without having covered more than a couple
of thousand yards, when a terrific roar, followed
by two or three low, hoarse notes, crashed out
like a thunder clap.
" Do you hear him?" said Omar, stopping
short and turning to me. u Our friend is not far
off now. Gould you make out what he said. He
says do you know what he says ? "
" Not I! probably, 4 Holloa! here's two
fine fellows I'm going to make a meal of present-
iy'. "
" No ! you haven't got it. Besides he don't want
a meal; he's ballasted already. He said : Ana
wa el-ben el-mera, i I and the woman's son ! ' He
Musk tiashish and blood. 53
418 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
puts himself first, the proud beast ! but we're
here to show him the woman's son goes first,
lion second. "
I did not find Ahmed's little joke very amusing
somehow. Still I felt bound to smile out of mere
politeness, just as if he had been able to see my
face. But if it had been daylight, he must have
noticed my smile was a half-hearted affair.
" How far off may he be? "
" Five or six hundred yards at farthest. But in
two minutes he might be under our noses. "
Hurrah! we were getting near now. A few
steps more and we came out into a fairly wide
open space dotted here and there with hawthorns
and crossed in the middle by a narrow ravine,
down which, over a pebbly bed. clattered a thin
thread of water.
" That's the place! "
The moon was rising, lifting her crescent
behind the tall trees. The clearing was still in
shade, but relieved against the heavy blackness of
the covert, objects within it were fairly well vis-
ible.
u I killed two lions here, " Ahmed remarked,
" five years ago at this very spring, as they were
MY FIRST LION 419
drinking. Look! " he went on, after scrutinizing the
ground again, u look, his yesterday's spoor still
showing on the wet soil. A fine well-grown lion !
you can tell that by the size of his paws. But not
a trace, no more than in the path, not a
trace of the lioness. She must have carried off
her sheep some other way. Anyhow, here's
where they come to water. We must wait for
them here, unless you would rather go to meet
them and give them a shot. "
" I rely on you, do you direct operations. "
u Well and good ! then we will wait. Trust to
me ; and may Allah empty my cartridge-pouch, if
to morrow they aren't saying of you, Hadak
Houa ! ' Yonder is the man ! ' You'll be like an
Agha, and sleep on a lion's skin. "
To aid my inexperience, he helped me choose
the best station. Concealed in the deep shadows
of a clump of tamarinds. I should be able to see
the quarry come out into the open without being
seen myself; then as he was drinking, I could
take a deliberate aim.
420 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
I had perfect confidence in my weapon, a pivot-
lock u Lefaucheux " small-bore, identical with my
companion's a fact which had enabled me to
offer him a share of my cartridges ; I was not so
certain of my own steadiness. Nevertheless it
was decided I should fire first; then, if I did not hit
fair and square, Ahmed would loose in his turn,
while I was reloading.
A lion seldom falls to the first ball, unless it
pierces brain or heart.
" Aim between the eyes, if you can't at the
shoulder, at his belly, anywhere you can, acc-
ording to the way he shows. Only break a leg, I
undertake to finish him; but for your life, don't
miss. " Who kills him, eats him, but the man
that misses, is eaten. "
And, as if to give point to the saying, a roar,
more terrific and nearer than before, cut short the
hunter's counsels.
u Ah, ha! the dance begins. Keep your eyes
open. I'm off to my station away [there. "
" Away there? where's that?"
44 Corner of the clearing. If your balls go
astray, I can take him in flank. "
It was not without a certain feeling of dissatis-
MY FIRST LION 421
faction I saw my comrade disappear in the dark-
ness.
' ' Days given to the chase count not as days in
a man's life ", another Arab saw has it, meaning
they pass so merrily and so fast that their pas-
sage is unnoticed.
I presume the wisdom of the Mussulman does
not include among such hours of blessedness
those spent on the look-out, at night, for a lion.
These appeared to me both long and dreary.
How long I remained thus, ambushed behind
my thicket, a poor barrier against a lion's
claws, holding my breath, straining my ears,
peering into every corner of the lonely clearing,
with cocked rifle and finger darting to the trigger
at the faintest rustle, I cannot say. At any rate
after a while my attention began to flag, and my
eyes to ache, while the stunted bushes assumed
fantastic shapes in the light of the crescent moon,
which had now risen clear of the topmost trees.
Then, lo! and behold, they turned into the strange
beasts of u Revelations ", and waltzed wildly
round and round the clearing.
422 MUSE HASHISH AND BLOOD
To escape the illusion, I indulged in other fancies
equally illusory. I saw myself transported to a
little Moorish house buried amid fig-trees, where
all for me would be lit a tiny lamp behind the
lattice of the moucharabi (projecting balcony-
window), one night the old Chaouch should have
tarried late at the Caouadjis smoking the dreamy
hashish.
I seemed to breathe the very perfume of roses
that the brown-locked Kreira exhaled.
Suddenly, a sound startles me from my dreams,
the rapid tread of a heavy beast pushing
through the underwood. Now it is making its way
through the covert on the far side of the clearing,
breaking the young shoots and trailing branches
under its enormous weight ; and now a black mass
springs into sight in the open right opposite me.
At last !
He shows himself proudly, then halts in the
long shadow projected by the group of trees ; for
the clearing is only partially flooded by the pale
moonbeams. I can only make out his shape in-
distinctly, but I can hear his panting breath,
which at this short distance appears to me more
terrifying even than the previous roars.
MY FIRST LION 423
There he is, a few yards away, perhaps
twenty, perhaps thirty ! What matter ? in two
springs he could be on me! One second, and I
should be mince-meat. Why does he stand like
that? Now he seems to be turning his head in my
direction. Perhaps he has scented an enemy? The
thicket that conceals me is in full moonlight.
I must take the initiative. No use to turn tail
now, or to stop and wait for his attack.
Things could not be better. He is perfectly
still, and offers his shoulder, the weak spot.
An ideal shot, the game is in my hands. Kreira,
you shall have your lion's skin !
Now for it ! I take a quiet, steady aim, and. . .
bang ! bang! I loose my two barrels.
A leap in the air, a twist and a twirl, and the
creature sinks heavily, thud ! to the ground. ... A
fine shot!
Intoxicated with triumph, I quit my ambush,
not even taking thought to reload my weapon.
* l Hurrah ! Ahmet-ben-Omar ! hurrah ! I say !
I've done it. Where are you? "
424 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
"Here I am, " the hunter replied, emerging
from a corner of the clearing.
44 He's killed! he's killed dead!
" Don't say he, say she; " was Ahmet's
reply.
44 Oh! it's the lioness, is it? it's a good shoot
anyway for a beginner, eh? Dont't you think so?"
The man was laughing, no doubt with joy ;
or perhaps it was the sneering laugh of jealousy.
44 They're all alike, thsse sportsmen, ! I
thought to myself. 4 4 You'd suppose the lions be-
longed to them, and that by killing one you were
trespassing on their rights. "
Then I thought I had better load again, as the
male might not be far off, and said so.
44 Oh! " said Ahmed, with the same disagree-
able laugh, u the male's all right. He's down
yonder at the village. "
I failed to understand. I stepped across the
brook; my companion had done so already, and
was accordingly nearer than I to the spot where
the beast lay.
44 Gome on, 44 he said; " come close. She
won't toss you. "
44 Eh? what d'you mean ? "
MY FIRST LION 425
u Judge for yourself. It's undoubtedly the
finest cow of all the herds of the Sidi-Abid. Ah !
yes ! look, it's the old witch- wife's cow ; do you
remember? Perhaps it will be wise not to go
back by the village ; she might very well leave
the mark of her nails on your face, unless
you soothe her feelings with a silver plaster. ' '
I bent over the carcase. I could not at first
believe my eyes ; it took some moments before I
realized the ghastly truth. Meantime Ahmet, strik-
ing his butt on the dead animal, added with a
profound seriousness :
44 Yes, indeed! the old woman would be quite
justified. It is a very handsome cow. Behold, do
what we will, our days are numbered. She was
fain to escape the lion's jaws : and lo ! she is fallen
to a Roumi's bullet. Enough for to-night ; the lion
will not come now. Look at her like that till
morning, you can't bring the poor beast to life
again. Let us be going. But listen, and remember
when next you go lion-hunting, there are no two
things so much alike, in the confounded dark, as
a cow and a lion.
Mnik hathish and blood. 54
426 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
I did not dare go back by the tents of the Sidi-
Abid ; and I never saw the pretty, gazelle-eyed
toflas again. They laughed heartily, I make no
doubt, at my misadventure, but not so consum-
edly as did the hard-hearted Kre'ira, who stead-
fastly refused for a whole long month and more to
kindle her lamp in the moucharabi, when the
venerable Chaouch, her husband, lay drunk with
anisette in the Moorish cafe amid the fumes of the
hashish.
XIX
A SHROVE -TIDE INTERLUDE
MM |
XIX
A SHROVE-TIDE INTERLUDE
I clean forget in whose honour the dinner was
given, whether in that of the Abbe" Bidoux, Curd
of Souk-Arras, or of Chipotot, Colonization Ins-
430 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
pector, or whether it wasn't rather to celebrate the
arrival of little Baron Lampinet, a new-comer from
the great mill of St.-Cyr, who only the very day
before had dropped from the sky into the Bordj.
Be this as it may, anyhow Shrove Tuesday was
the day selected, and the meal had been worthy
of the 4 th Squadron of the 3 rd Spahis. Further,
one of this distinguished band who had come to
us from the u Guards " having declared the ban-
quet really reminded him of the Imperial mess, but
that he missed the music, Gapt. Fleury, our cater-
er in chief, promised us an orchestral perform-
ance right there in the Desert.
He sent for the Chaouch Ali-ben-Ali, gave him
sundry orders in a whisper, and the eating and
drinking went on as before... more particularly the
drinking. It "was a thirsty evening; through the
open windows, as night fell, blew in a hot languor-
ous air that seemed to put Cayenne pepper in
handfuls down your throat !
Accordingly the company, pretty well heated
already by the time the punch-bowl was set fire
to, called loudly for the promised music to calm
down the excitement of their nerves, and the
Abbe* Bidoux hummed over :
A SHROVE-TIDE INTERLUDE 431
Strike the loud harp; ! Lord,
Thy praise foretell;
Proclaim Thee God, th' Adored
Of Israel !
The door opened; and a great silence fell on us.
The Cure of Souk- Arras threw himself back in his
chair with half-closed eyes, and put his hands on
his stomach, preparing to imitate King Saul and
digest his dinner to the sound of the " loud harp ".
Inspector Chipotot shut up his eye-glasses, the
new Sub-Lieutenant fidgeted, while big Badenco,
our Senior Lieutenant, kept digging him vigorously
in the ribs and repeating over and over again :
" Now we're going to see some fun, my griffin \ n
But for two whole minutes the door stood open,
- and nothing came in; nothing except a strange,
penetrating scent in which musk essence was
combined with a triply distilled essence of ' ' huma-
nity ", and along with it sounds of whispering,
giggling, elbowing, and the tinkle of a tarbouka
(tambourine). " Now ! now ! Come along in then ! "
Fleury called out.
432 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
The noises ceased. A sort of rhythmical march
made itself heard, and one behind the other, ap-
peared, a broad smile on their lips, showing their
white teeth and striking* the tarbouka in time all
together, ten young negresses, wrapped from head
to foot in those great pieces of blue checked calico
known as moulai'as.
Spite of the fixed smile on their lips, they
seemed to be as timid and shy as school-girls from
the Sacrd-C<Kur at a first tte-a-tte with their
cousin in the Life-Guards ; but the officers encour-
aging them by words and signs, they ranged
themselves along the wall, and sat down on their
heels on the floor, their eyes fixed on the blazing
punch-bowl.
Can I ever forget that row of savage faces, flat
noses, thick greedy-looking lips, dazzling teeth,
in front, and the enormous projections behind !
They had left their sandals of yellow leather at
the door, and you could see the white soles of
their feet. The feet looked nervous and strong,
the legs thin and muscular like a thorough-bred
A SHROVE-TIDE INTERLUDE 433
mare's, gallant at work and gallant at play. The blue
flamesof the flaring spirit and the yellow dots of the
candles were mere darkness to the flash of the
twenty eyes, lighted up by curiosity and desire,
when they saw ladlefuls of liquid fire being pour-
ed into the glasses.
At first they put on looks of horror, when the
brimming goblets were passed to them. But the
Abbe Bidoux swore the liquor was an innocent
kind of sherbet for which the fair Aicha, fourth
wife of the Prophet, professed a special preference ;
hearing this, they suffered themselves to be over-
persuaded, and after a series of wry faces intended
to hide any too manifest satisfaction on their part,
they drained off the contents at one gulp. This
done, they would pass their tongues over their
lips, exactly as cats do after lapping up a saucer
of cream, while the Christian Marabout laughed
till he cried at the trick he had played Mahomet.
Then, with eyes ablaze and faces wreathed in
smiles, all together they struck up a strange,
exotic tune, accompanying themselves on the tar-
boukas. The rhythm was a trifle monotonous, but
imbued with a certain soft, languorous melody of
its own.
Musk hsxhish and blood. 55
434 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
After a second round of the punch, accepted
this time without the smallest hesitation, two of
the girls rose, and advancing to the Commandant
of the Bordj, after first of all kissing his hands
and his right shoulder as a preliminary, offered to
perform an Arab dance. The offer was accepted
with acclamation, even the Abbe chiming in, who
declared he had long been wishful to observe an
exhibition of what he called " this barbaric infa-
tuation ".
In an instant both the girls had stripped off
their moulaias, and appeared clad in the simple
komidja (shift); a garment consisting of two pieces
of cotton fastened at the shoulders by means of a
couple of copper clasps, and confined at the waist
by a woollen cord. It is of necessity open at the
sides, nor does it descend below the knee, thus
not leaving the most inquisitive eyes much more
to desire.
Then face to face, rolling their passionate eyes
and smiling alluringly, they swung their bodies
on the plump, rounded hips to and fro and up and
A SHROVE-TIDE INTERLUDE 435
down, playing in a highly realistic pantomime the
old, old story of the love of the sexes.
The musicians' fingers rattling feverishly on the
tarboukas governed the dancers' movements, now
slow, now quick, while the copper rings on arms
and ankles clashed together with a shrill tinkling
sound.
The Officers laughed; our young friend the
Sub-Lieutenant kept bobbing up and down on his
chair, in unconscious mimicry of the dancers ; the
Colonization Inspector, with straining neck and
gaping mouth, was holding his glasses on with
both hands, for fear they should slip from his nose,
while the Cure* with crimson cheeks, his head in
his plate and his hands joined as if he were
mumbling a service of thanksgiving to heaven,
only ventured an occasional peep out of the corn-
ers of his eyes.
At last, with a final whirl they dropped pant-
ing and half-swooning beside their comrades, who
stopping the accompaniment, held out their glas-
ses, which we sprang forward to replenish.
Soon the intoxication became general, and the
amorous breath of the Simoom lashed them to
frenzy. An overpowering " goaty " smell filled the
436 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
spacious room, drowning the scent of musk. This
mingled with the wind from the Desert laden with
all the perfumes of the night, and filled the lungs,
like, the sea-breeze of Baiae that was so fatal to
the Roman fair ones, that taught young maidens
to love and made the rose-gardens of Paestum
blossom twice a year.
To moderate the hot wind from out of doors,
Fleury had frechias stretched across the wind-
ows. But the air inside the hall was like an extract
of cantharides ; and the negresses catching fire like
torches of resinous pine- wood, sprang up with
flaming eyes and red quivering lips , and kicking
up their heels behind with one accord, began,
the whole ten together, a dance mimicking she-
goats signalling the male !
Below, in the courtyard of the Bordj, a group
of negroes stood waiting, a prey to poignant
anxiety. They were the husbands and brothers,
watching with eyes raised to the windows of the
Kebir, gloomy and uneasy, the fantastic shadows
A SHROVE-TIDE INTERLUDE 437
of their wives and sisters passing over the heavy
curtains. Suddenly the lights went out; nothing
to be seen on the frechias stretched across the
windows but dancing gleams of red and blue, like
flames shooting from a furnace.
The fact was that up in the mess-room they
were lighting up a second bowl of punch, and
that the young scamp Sub-Lieutenant Lampinet,
had gone without a word and slyly blown out the
candles.
Their last garment had slipped from the danc-
ing-girls' shoulders on the bright-coloured carpet,
and lighted up by the fantastic flame, their black
skins threw out startling gleams of colour. They
might have been a group of Bacchantes carved in
bronze in every attitude of surrender giving them-
selves to the furious embraces of the Satyrs.
It was indeed a scene of wild orgy, and the
Cure made many unavailing efforts to escape. But
his legs refused their office, and he fell back heav-
438 MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ily on his chair screwing up his eyes and crying,
4 1 Oh ! Oh ! Oh ! But it was impossible to say whe-
ther these sounds were groans of horror or exclama-
tions of delight.
The Inspector too, a peaceable man ofregular
habits, being on the Civil side and so left out in the
cold like the Cure", got up in his turn, that he
might not witness the Saturnalia. Taking the Abbe"
under the arm -pits, he drew him staggering away,
and pushed him gently outside the room. Feeling
along the walls and groping for the steps, they
descended the stairs.
At the foot sat a dozen Spahis, philosophically
drinking coffee and guarding the outer door against
any indiscreet intruder, while a short way off the
negroes kept their eyes obstinately fixed on the
windows, from which not a thread of light now
came.
Their anxiety was yet further increased by the
fact that the drumming of the tarboukas had stop-
ped altogether.
On seeing the Cure and his companion, they
rushed forward, demanding their wives.
" We lent them for the feast, " they vociferat-
ed, " simply to play the tam-tam. "
A SHROVE-TIDE INTERLUDE 439
4 ' That in no way concerns us ; " returned the
Inspector coldly.
u It was simply for the tam-tam ! " the men kept
repeating, more and more alarmed.
" Do give us a little peace and quietness! '
retorted the Inspector.
But the man of God was more complaisant, and
added with a hiccough :
" I beg you to observe that we are leaving
We wish to have no complicity, no complicity
whatever, in the goings on upstairs ! "
" The tam-tam\ " the negroes went on repeat-
ing ; " you can't hear the tam-tam any more! "
As soon as they were outside the Bordj, the
Cure" covered his face, muttering :
** Regular Babylonish orgies ! ' y
u Say at once Saturnalia of the Lower
Empire ! " chimed in the Inspector.
u Abominations of the Lupercal, Mons. Ghip-
otot, I say ! "
u Disgusting behaviour, I call it! echoed the
other.
u Yes, Sir! that is the word; " ejaculated the
Cure", whose intoxication the open air was increas-
ing, " to treat invited guests so, it was disgust-
440
MUSK HASHISH AND BLOOD
ing behaviour ! As there were twelve of us, surely
they ought to have ordered twelve negresses. Two
more or less, why ! the expense would have
been a mere trifle ! ".
NOTES
NOTE TO PAGE 274
BOU-ZEB : The student of Arabic will not
require the English rendering of this delightful
dissyllable which Propriety will permit us only
partly to unveil in the twilight obscurity of
the Latin tongue : u Pene ingenti praeditus ".
The reader may consult Untro'dden Fields of
Anthropology (Vol. I, p. 299), for scientific
details concerning the organ of generation in the
Arab race, as well for a shocking case, authen-
ticated by two qualified medical men, of the
death of a young Bedawin bride owing to the
uncommon dimensions of the marital penis and
the excessive lustful brutality shown by her
husband.
The writer recollects his old friend, Dr. Paul
Broca, professor of Anthropology, lecturing at the
Ecole d 'Anthropologie de Paris, upon the Dimen-
sions of the Genital Male Organ amongst different
Races, stating that European prostitutes in the West
444 NOTES
Indies had been expressly recommended not to
have commerce with the Negroes, owing to the
internal injuries likely to result from the abnormal
size of the native organ. Much curious information
on this head may be found in the Ethnology of
the Sixth Sense, wherein the subject is treated
soberly and with considerable amplitude. Why do
English medical writers always studiously fight
shy of these questions? See also Sinibaldus'
Geneanthropeia ll Ofsuch Things as do Lengthen the
Verge " (from the Latin) translated into English and
quoted in extenso in the Old Man Young Again,
pages 160 sqq. (Paris, 1898).
NOTE TO PAGE 281
Few customs are more curious than those
pertaining to the demonstration of the bride's
innocence. Dr. Charles Letourneau writes : u The
woman's Virginity is neither thought about, nor
cared for, except in the Mussulman countries
where the Moorish race has more or less pene-
trated. At Kaarta the women of the country come
together the morning after the marriage and
carefully examine the nuptial bed, and, unless the
woman's innocence be shown, the marriage may
be considered as void. But with the Sakkalaves
of Madagascar it is quite otherwise. There the
young girls unflower themselves before marriage
unless their parents have already taken the same
necessary precaution ".
Reference has already been made in Curious
Bypaths of History (Paris, 1898, pages 284 to 300),
to the fabrication of fictitious virginities in
European countries and of the Tricks often played
446 NOTES
off upon the unsuspecting husband by ladies who
have either made a faux pas, been forcibly seduced
and hushed the matter up, or have lost their hymen
through an accident, a not infrequent occurrence if
we are to credit medical men.
In the great cities of Europe it sometimes
happens that a young girl's maidenhead is delibe-
rately sold by vicious parents or guardians, to
debauched ravishers, as witness the revelations of
Pall Mall Gazette fame, and which undoubtedly
represent only a hundreth part of what really goes
on. A Viennese prostitute, a young woman of
twenty-one and a girl of fine build and very well-
informed conversation to boot, frankly told the
writer that her virtue had been bargained away
to an old, semi-impotent richard for 40, but that
he was physically- incapable of perfect consum-
mation : u the work was finished ', she added, with
refreshing naivete, 'by a common fellow for
love ".
We have it from a sightseer that in certain
Italian villages the bed-sheet of the first-night is
hung out of the window for the information of the
entire village, thus " going it one better " even,
than the natives of Kaarta above-named. In
Genital Laws, their Observation and Violation this
subject is handled with great skill and a surprising
NOTES 447
abundance of little known details, and to this work
we would refer the Anthropological student,
desirous of further information on this head .
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
PQ
2256
F14M8
1900
France, Hector
Musk, hashish and blood
i^Hk &ds*
