Note 20a — Chapter I

For the last two hundred years the Franciscans have had missions in the coast towns of Morocco. They, at present, confine their labours to the Spanish population. The vineyard is stony. Formerly they worked amongst the captives. Your captive generally is inclined to listen to a friar or to any one else who will talk to him. The late Prefect of the Franciscans in Tangier, Father Lerchundi, was a most erudite man, having composed many treatises on the Arabic language, which he knew perfectly. At his funeral, Jews, Christians, Moors, and other mutually described infidels, turned out in great numbers, and for a brief space the “Odium Theologicum” was laid aside, and the cross, the crescent, and the other symbols of the three jarring faiths went up the main street of Tangier in seeming amity.