I shall conclude this letter with a short description of an entertainment which I gave to several of the inhabitants of this place a few days since.  Having invited as many as I could conveniently accommodate, I regaled them with all the most exquisite things the market afforded.  I passed the bottle pretty briskly, telling them the liquor was a favourite decoction of mine, which they might drink without any scruple.  They did not seem to wish to doubt this assertion; and having raised their spirits to a flow of mirth and jollity, I told them, that, as they had done me the honour of coming to dine with me, I would endeavour to amuse them with a small specimen of what the doctors in England commonly make use of in certain chronical complaints.  I then placed my electric machine in the centre of the court, and having loaded it with a sufficient quantity of electric fluid, produced such a powerful shock to about a dozen of the stoutest, that, either from surprise or terror, they fell apparently senseless on the floor.  The consternation and confusion which ensued were beyond description; the rest were all retiring precipitately with the most dreadful yells and cries imaginable, expecting to share the fate of their companions.  With much difficulty I prevailed on them to remain, and, raising the men from the ground, I convinced them they had received no injury; upon which they unanimously attributed it to my great skill in magic, and loaded me with a thousand compliments, I repeated the experiment three or four times, to their inexpressible wonder, and I was at length almost hailed as a supernatural being.  The report of this extraordinary phenomenon soon spread abroad, and a vast concourse of people assembled; but my guard would not allow any one to enter without my permission.  In the evening I sent for a band of music, and my company continued dancing and rioting till morning.  They brought in several Jewish women, and carried the farce to such a length, that I was completely rejoiced to get rid of them, determining, in my own mind, never again to venture such another entertainment.

LETTER XXI.

Prevalent Diseases—­Abuse of Stimulants—­Medicinal Well—­Sorcery—­Hydrophobia.

Mequinez.

Although the plague is not so common in these states as in Turkey and Egypt, yet it is often brought hither by means of the caravans, and several articles of luxury imported annually by the merchants from Mecca and Medina; and, for want of proper precaution, it is suffered to spread, to desolate, and to stop of its own accord; for the Moors continue obstinately blinded by the same superstitious and absurd notions that are entertained by the Mahometans of the Turkish empire, of its being a punishment occasionally inflicted upon the true believers by their angry Prophet, and that it is incurable; and here I receive on this subject the same tales and romantic accounts that I did during my residence in Egypt in the year 1801.