第169章 4th September,1839(1)

To the Rev.A.Brandram (ENDORSED:recd.Oct.7,1839)TANGIERS,SEPTEMBER 4,1839.

REVD.AND DEAR SIR,-I have now been nearly one month in this place,and should certainly have written to you before had Ipossessed any secure means of despatching a letter;but there is no mail from Tangiers to any part of the world,so that when writing one is obliged to have recourse to the disagreeable necessity of confiding letters to individuals who chance to be going to Gibraltar to be put into the post there,who not unfrequently lose or forget them.One which I wrote for Spain has already miscarried,which circumstance makes me cautious.I will now relate the leading events which have occurred to me since my departure from Seville,observing however that I have kept a regular journal,which on the first opportunity I shall transmit for the satisfaction of my friends at home.You are already aware that I had determined to carry the Scripture in Spanish to the Christian families established on the sea-coast of Barbary,and more especially Tangiers,the Spanish language being in general use among them,whether Spaniards by birth or Genoese,French or English.To enable me to do this,having no copies of the sacred volume at Seville,I determined to avail myself of a certain number of Testaments in embargo at the custom-house of San Lucar a town at the mouth of the Guadalquivir,forming part of the stock seized by order of the Government and which I had been officially requested to remove from Spain.I started from Seville on the night of the 31st of July in one of the steamers which ply upon the Guadalquivir,arriving at San Lucar early in the morning.I shall now make an extract from my journal,relative to the Testaments.

'It will be as well here to curtail what relates to these books,otherwise the narrative might be considerably embarrassed.They consisted of a chest of Testaments in Spanish,and a small box of Saint Luke's Gospel in the Gitano or language of the Spanish Gypsies.I obtained them from the custom-house of San Lucar with a pass for that of Cadiz.At Cadiz I was occupied two days,and also a person whom I employed,in going through all the required formalities and in procuring the necessary papers.The expense was great,as money was demanded at every step I took,though I was simply complying with the orders of the Spanish Government in removing prohibited books from Spain.The farce did not end till after my arrival at Gibraltar,where I paid the Spanish consul a dollar for certifying on the back of the pass that the books had arrived,which pass I was obliged to send back to Cadiz.It is true that he never saw the books nor enquired about them;but he received the money,for which alone he seemed to be anxious.

'Whilst at the custom-house of San Lucar,I was asked one or two questions respecting the books contained in the chests;this afforded me some opportunity of speaking of the New Testament and the Bible Society.What I said excited attention,and presently all the officers and dependents of the house,great and small,were gathered around me,from the governor to the porter.As it was necessary to open the boxes to inspect their contents,we all proceeded to the courtyard where,holding a Testament in my hand,Irecommenced my discourse.I scarcely know what I said,for I was much agitated and hurried away by my feelings,when I bethought me of the manner in which the Word of God was persecuted in the unhappy kingdom of Spain.My words however evidently made impression,and to my astonishment every person present pressed me for a copy.I sold several within the walls of the custom-house.

The object,however,of most attention was the Gypsy Gospel,which was minutely examined amidst smiles and exclamations of surprise,some individual every now and then crying 'COSAS DE LOS INGLESES.'

A bystander asked me whether I could speak the Gitano language.Ireplied that I could not only speak it but write it,and instantly made a speech of about five minutes in the Gypsy tongue,which Ihad no sooner concluded than all clapped their hands,and simultaneously shouted,'COSAS DE LOS INGLESES!COSAS DE LOSINGLESES!'I disposed of several Gypsy Gospels likewise,and having now settled the business which brought me to the custom-house,I saluted my new friends and departed with my books.

'I strolled from the inn to view the town.It was past noon,and the heat was exceedingly fierce ...I became tired of gazing,and was retracing my steps,when I was accosted by two Gypsies,men who by some means had heard of my arrival.We exchanged some words in Gitano,but they appeared to be very ignorant of the language,and utterly unable to maintain a conversation in it.They were clamorous for a GABICOTE,or book,in Gypsy.I refused it them,saying that they could turn it to no profitable account;and learning that they could read,promised them each a Testament in Spanish.This offer,however,they refused with disdain,saying that they cared for nothing written in the language of the BUSNE or Gentiles.They then persisted in their demand,to which I at last yielded,being unable to resist their importunity;whereupon they accompanied me to the inn,and received what they so ardently desired.'