Note (return) — GREAT PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIANITY

When I established the port of Santa Cruz, and opened it to European commerce, the gratitude and hospitality of the Arabs and Shelluhs of the province of Suse, was demonstrated in every way: so rejoiced were they to see their port, after an inactivity of thirty years, again re-established. If I rode out to visit any part of the country, the women, on my approach to a douar, would come out to a great distance with bowls of milk on their heads; others with bowls of honey, with thin scrapings of butter in them, and bread or cakes 169, similar to pancakes, baked in five minutes, on stones heated with the embers of charcoal. These greetings I received by tasting every bowl of milk, and dipping a bit of bread in the honey and eating it. The milk thus presented is emblematical of peace and amity; the honey of welcome: to refuse eating or tasting what is thus presented, is considered, among this patriarchal people, a great breach of good manners, an inexcusable want of courtesy, which they say none but a kaffer 170 would commit. They would then say, Birk eeaudee, birk attajar u straha, "Alight, I pray thee, alight, merchant! and rest yourself."