Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/177

Rh On the opposite shore of the river, which then turned the wheels of a hundred mills, lay the smaller quarter of el-Andaluse, famous for its courageous, strong, industrious men, skilled in agriculture and trade, and for its women of such beauty that they were the dream of the rich masters from Meknes, Marrakesh and Tlemsen and were reputed to have been the reason for numerous expeditions against Fez. Whatever may be the accuracy of this imputation, it is certain that these houris of Spanish extraction were the reason for long-continued combats and strife between the two aduas, as they charmed the men from across the river and witnessed many a fight between the partisans of the two walled towns on one of the neighboring hills, chosen for these tilts.

With time wise rulers of the capital ordered the destruction of the walls facing each other across the river and the building of three bridges to connect these sections of the town, all of which naturally led to the intermingling of the two tribes, so that now nothing remains to distinguish them save the traditional laws and principles of the old Andalusian art.

As we wandered through this Andalusian quarter with Hafid, we came upon a striking picture, which called back to my mind all these tales of the eleventh-century chronicler and built anew for me the romance of those days. Rounding a corner, we came upon a stately old Moor, clad in a bournous dirty with his potter's clay, sitting by his wheel and shaping a graceful jar with the deft, skilled hand of an old craftsman. Near the potter stood a swarthy young girl with naked arms and breast, bearing a pitcher of water on her shoulder. A lamb pressed itself