'The natives of Barbary are subject to many loath some and distressing diseases, winch are greatly ag gravated by their.extrcme deficiency in medical know ledge. The most prevailing distempers are, the fal ling sickness, which is generally confined to women and children ; a temporary headache, which arises from sudden stoppage of perspiration, and is chiefly removed by using exercise ; inflammation of the eyes, frequently terminating in total blindness, and arising probably from the strong reflection of the sun's rays by the whitened houses; complaints of the stomach, proceeding from bile, indigestion, and the bad qua lity of their water ; Chronic rheumatisms, white swel lings, and dropsies, which last disorder may be owing in a great measure to their poor living; hydrocelc, which is extremely common among the Moors, in consequence of their warm climate, their loose dress, their licentious indulgences, and their immoderate use of the warm bath ; the itch, which seems to be oc casioned by their constant use of stimulants, and which frequently breaks out into very bad ulcers; leprous affections, which are generally hereditary, and which are very seldom completely cured; the vene real disease, brought by the Jews from Spain, ex ceedingly prevalent among the Africans, and for which they have no radical remedy, but from which they experience less suffering than Europeans, owing to the constant perspiration, which the heat of the climate supports, their great use of vegetable diet, and their abstinence from spirituous and fermented liquors; and, lastly the plague, which generally visits the country once in every twenty years, and which is always peculiarly destructive.
'When any one dies, a number of women are hired .didatenhe,nurpose of lamentation ; and they perform Salem aliok, by making the most frightful howlings, are intimately aeir heads and breasts, and tearing their very quick mot nails of their fingers. They are so mitres of their fspressions of grief, that they seldom his own to his lipurnful sounds and afflicted gestures, the forehead, sho, to impress the funeral assembly with the deepest thoughtfulness and sorrow. The dead are interred a few hours after their decease ; and the greatest im portance is attached to the rites of burial. It is an opinion among the Moors, as it was among the an. cient heathen, that the souls of those, who have not received proper interment, are excluded from the abodes of the blessed ; and hence, it is accounted the most dreadful of all punishments to be cut to pieces and thrown to the dogs. As soon as the dying per son has breathed his last, the body is carefully washed, and sewed up in a winding sheet of white cloth : For this purpose, cloth, that has been brought from Mecca, and blessed by the Imam of that city, is most highly valued. The corpse is next placed on a bier, and carried on horseback, or men's shoulders, to the burying ground ; which is always on the outside of the town, and of which every family has a portion walled in for their own use. All devout persons ac count it a highly meritorious duty to assist in these rites ; and to accompany, at least a part of the way, every dead body which they may happen to meet. The attendants walk two abreast, go very quick, and sing hymns adapted to the occasion. The grave is made wide at the bottom and narrow at the top ; and the body is deposited on its side, with the face towards the cast, and the right hand under the head pointing towards Mecca, while one of the priests generally puts into the hand a letter of recommendation to Ma hommed. An arch is, in most cases, formed over the body with branches of trees to keep off the earth ; different kinds of vessels and utensils are fre quently interred along with the corpse ; large stones are placed upon the grave to resist the attempts of wild beasts ; and a flag is finally erected over the spot. It is customary for the female relatives to weep at the tombs of their deceased friends for seve ral days after the funeral ; and all, who pass by a burying ground, offer up prayers for the dead. When a woman loses her husband by death, she mourns four months and eight days, during which period she wears no silver or gold ; and, if she happen to be pregnant, she must continue mourning till her deli very, while the relations of her late husband are bound, in the mean time, to provide for her subsist ence. The men usually express their grief by ab staining from shaving their head, from trimming their beard, and from paring their nails.
The manufactures of Barbary are chiefly such as 3 are requisite for the supply of the inhabitants; and u are seldom pi epared for exportation. The principal articles, produced in the country, arc, the burnose and hayk of white wool and cotton, or cotton and silk, made almost entirely by the women, and woven with their fingers without the aid of a shuttle; silk handkerchiefs, which are manufactured chiefly in the city of Fez ; various kinds of silk stuffs, frequently chequered with cotton ; red caps, most of which are made at Tetuan ; a coarse linen stuff, of which the best is produced in Susa ; carpeting, nearly equal to that of Turkey ; beautiful matting made of the leaves of the palmetto, or wild palm-tree ; paper of a very inferior quality ; muskets and sabres of Biscay iron, well tempered by means of certain waters in the coun try well adapted for that purpose ; gun-powder of .a very glutinous nature, exceedingly apt to imbibe hu midity, and so deficient in strength and inflammabili ty, that one oun of European manufacture is equal to three or four of the Barbary article ; but a certain Arab tribe, named \Volled Abbusebah, are said to possess the secret of making a species of gunpowder superior to any other in the world; leather, made of goat skin, the mode of tanning which they are very careful to conceal, and the softest and finest of which resembling silk, and impervious to water, is prepared at T a filet. The manufactures of Algiers and Tunis are brought to a state of greater perfection, than those of Morocco ; and the inhabitants of the northern districts are a more enterprising and commercial peo p1- than those of the south. The Moors are utterly unacquainted with the art of casting cannon, the manufacture of glass, the invention of pumps, and the use of wheel carriages. They take no care to make or repair public roads, and have very few bridges. Hence their inland traffic is extremely li mited; and is confined almost entirely to their mar. kcts or fairs, which are held in different districts for the accommodation of the neighbouring inhabitants. At these fairs they assemble, from a considerable distance, to buy and sell cattle, corn, vegetables, dried fruits, carpets, hayks, and the various produc tions of their country; and in one quarter of the mar ket-place are to be found always a number of itine rant barbers or surgeons, to whom the diseased are brought for cure; while there is generally a guard of soldiers sent by the governor of the province, or of the nearest town, to prevent those bloody quarrels, which not unfrequently take place at these resorts, between the different Arab tribes. All the states of Barbary indeed, by means of caravans, carry on a very lucrative and extensive commerce with Mecca, the most consecrated seat of their religious faith ; and with Tombuctoo, the great emporium of central Africa. For the expedition to Mecca, several thou sands of camels, horses, and mules are collected, carrying merchandise to the value of two millions of dollars. Besides woollen stuffs, leather, indigo, co chineal, ostrich feathers, the traders never fail to take with them, or to purchase by the way, such articles of commerce, as can be sold with profit, at Alexan dria, Cairo, and the other towns, through which they pass. These companies of merchants and pilgrims (for the two characters are generally united in this journey to Mecca), bring back with them Levant and Persian silks and muslins, amber, musk, essence of roses, &c. The caravans, which penetrate the in terior of Africa, are neither so numerous nor so va luable as those which go to Mecca. They travel through the desert of Sahara, occupying several months in this toilsome journey; but we must refer the reader to Jackson's Account of Morocco, for a more particular and very interesting narrative of their perilous progress. The articles, which they trans port to Tombuctoo, are linens, muslins, silks, light hayks, red caps, spiees, sugar and tea, but chiefly tobacco and salt ; and the produce, returned from Soudan, consists principally of bars of gold, gold dust, and gold trinkets, (in the manufacture of which the natives of that country display the greatest in genuity,) elephants teeth, gums, and slaves, besides ambergris and ostrich feathers, collected by the way on the confines of the desert.