T RAV

516 TRAVELS IN APRICA.for disturbing him-at an unseasonable hour/' Night is, as witb childrènll'the season of trepidation. lVlany Moors will not go out of their housesafter clark, from dread of spirits: and no inducement could encourage oneof the lower class ta try the bottom of a spring in the Dutch eonsul'sgarden at Mogador, from the same reason. 1t is however more materia.lta observe, that, offence to local divinities out of the question, it is verydangerous to remain near water hereat sun.set and shortly after. 'remptingand inviting as the situation is, the dew Falls, or rather is condensed,in and at such a place and hour, with intensely balefuleftect.Asto thecustom here, formerly mentioned,of hanging upon trees votive offeringsto local imagina;rydivinities, the idea is derived as remotely as fromScythia, whence indeed, if, as is the case~ Egyptwas the hot-bed ofsuperstition, she has invariably received ber seecls.In faet it is, likeanother custom here, so well known in Ireland, that of Iighting fires onSt. John's eve of our calendar, withina few generations aS ancient asdman himself. The oId leaven is still latent in the race.The Mohommedan law and religion, which are so closely interwoven,injure the moral sense of decorum in sorne delicate,points, and so far de-Iduct from whatlittle dignity poor human nature is' able to assume or laylegitimate daim to, which is but a modicum at the utmost. Decericy isthe first, andprobably the only innate idea of the abstract description inthe human mind. We see it in the infantat the breast. Ifso, it certainlywas instilled for wise purposes, anù why should· man step in withhispains to cancel that which Îs implanted trom above ?After al~,~the wholeprofligacy and i11 habits of future life, so deeply is it seated, are harelysufficient to do this completely. But here it is done by law. Most conspicuously,certainl'y, in the case of marriage. The Harem code, as it atpresents stands, is an abomination; but it might he softened down. Pallasascribes the vices of the Tartars, snch as they possess, to a lia:remedu~'