Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. Tangiers
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124 DAYS IN THE SUN
weapon; the blood spurts from his lips. He even em-
braces their knees, imploring them to leave him his ax.
And the host passes out in the desert. To-morrow
morning they will be in Fez, where—according to
Hadji—Sedi Ali’s sacred grave is situated, which
works such great wonders that a single prayer pro-
nounced at that spot will cure all the fakir’s wounds.
The sun is setting, pouring its purple glow over the
lowlands and crowning the heights with gold.
Out of the Straits of Gibraltar float the blue smoky
trails of hundreds of steamers. But Tangiers is not
concerned with steamers; they steam eastward, west-
ward, to the Orient and to America, with their cargoes.
But inland, across the flat hills of the desert, a caravan
emerges, and slowly glides toward the market-place.
The caravan brings grain from the fruitful country
around Fez. Each animal carries on its back five or
six big bags. They stagger awkwardly under their
burdens, their small malignant heads perched on their
long necks, moving up and down with a sinuous snake-
like motion which reminds me of the groping progress
of the gondolas on the canals of Venice. This is the
commercial fleet of Tangiers. And as the darkness
falls from a verdigris sky I hear the drivers struggling
furiously with their camels, as they command them to
lie down for unloading. The cries of pain emitted by
the camels who bend down with their loads and whose
knees strike hard against the ground, are mingled with
the soft, all-embracing cry of the Muezzin: “God is
great! Come to prayer! God the Lord calls!”
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