A Visit To Tetuan Forty Years Ago.

Avere merry , full of youth , all hope—UOAV AVO are all either old men , or even lying in the grave . The gentler forms who graced our party then haA'e long since , alas , left us Aveary and wayworn hero . At the outside not more than three or four survive ; some AVIIO once perhaps Avere the gayest of the gay , yes , and the smartest of the smart , are IIOAV but feeble and forlorn , descending infirmly tho hill of life . Alas that it should he so , but so it always is ; and nothing is so sad as to look back at the past and to remember IIOAV few survive who

shared our youth , our joys , our sunny scenes , aud our pleasant hours . But if I stop to moralize , I shall neA-er reach my journey ' s end , nor get my story told . At last the horses , ancl mules , ancl donkeys , and ponies arrived , which the anxious Pasha had fonvarded to convey us ; and after no little confusion , and no little loss of time , our goodly cavalcade started—the ladies of our party being seated on some tranquil donkeysthe rest , of us mounted as Ave could the first animal Avithin our reach . As we

, AV ere all mixed together—those in uniform ancl those in " mufti "—and some of us on bony horses , some on stubborn' mules , some on little ponies , and one or tAvo even on donkeys—the effect Avas ludicrous in the extreme , as Ave moved on sloAvly in IAVOS . And omvards thus Ave Avent , Avith hundreds of Moorish soldiers before and behind us , ancl the road'lined on each side Avith multitudes of a Avild sort of militia , specially summoned

to do honour to the English Pasha . For five long Aveary hours , under an African sun in August , AVC had to march in this Avay , ancl at a foot's pace , toAvards Tetuan . In the meanAA'hile , by way of marked compliment to us , the Moorish soldiery amused themselves by firing off their clumsy matchlocks almost in our faces , amid the braying of the donkeys , the neighing of the horses , the shrill cry of the mules , ancl an

occasional gentle scream of our fair companions . As the poor Moors' poAvder is none of the finest , every now and then you heard an exclamation more earnest than decorous from some indignant aide-de-camp , or heedless middie , as the skin—very tender and peeling from the burning sun—smarted under a sudden sting from the scattering grains of the matchlock ' s charge . At last ( voting all this parade a great bore ) Ave reached the old gateway of the city , and Avere soon threading its nnrroAV streets , and Avcnding our Avay to the Pasha ' s palace .

I may say that Tetuan—with the exception of what is ahvays curious to English eyes , in the Moorish architecture of its houses , and the novel customs of its strange people—presents little Avorth the attention or time of the traveller or antiquary . I regret to say , too , that Tetuan , Avhich I often siuv after this visit , is in a sad state of unenlightened barbarism ; that is to say , its manners aro " patriarchal , " and its ideas " unreformed . " It has no " market price for labour "—it knows nothing of " bullion IaAvs "—

its people generally get " a fair clay ' s AA'age for a fair day ' s work "—audi never yet heard of a Tetuan " strike . " It is evidently , therefore , in the rear-guard of civilization But , to revert . All Tetuan Avas out on the house-tops to receive us—dusky men and veiled Avomen in great numbers ; and as' Ave moved along , Avondering and amused , they heralded our arrival Avith one universal shriek of Avelcome , shrill and long , We reached at last , quite tired out , the outer gateAvay of the palace , and Avere in truth right glad to dismount and stretch our stiffened limbs .

As soon as might be , arranged _ . __ . diplomatic order , and ushered by many attendants , Ave wended our Avay through the trellised Avalks of a shady garden , and by many a sparkling fountain , AA'hich refreshed our suu-dimmeel eyes with a pleasant prospect of coolness and repose , into the presence of the Pasha . The Pasha received us seated in a large alcove of a Avell-proportioned hall , surrounded by his sons and attendants , the European dresses ancl the Moorish costume combining to make up a most striking "tableau vivant . " The Pasha himself Avas a

funny object to look at—a short roll of drapery , sitting cross-legged on a pile of velvet cushions and rich embroidered silks , playing Avith his ten toes . We called him " Hash , Hash" —not , I fancy , his real name , hnAVeA'er . Apropos of this then grand potentate , I happened , years afterwards , to see in the Times that on his death , a short time