Page:Sixteen years of an artist's life in Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands.djvu/27

16 however, that my ear was agreeably impressed with the sound of the language, its harsh and guttural pronunciation being anything but musical.

At this moment, my attention, ever on the alert, was attracted by a strange sound that came swelling on the air. As it seemed to proceed from above, the knowledge I had previously acquired by conversation and reading enabled me at once to apprehend what it was. Nor was I mistaken in my conjecture. It was the Mueddin, the well-known Mohammedan call to prayer. How solemnly it sounded from the minarets of the mosques all over the city, summoning the faithful to their devotions, and proclaiming in the ears of all men the unity of God, and that Mohammed is his prophet! In all Mohammedan countries, this sacred call, which no one can listen to without some degree of emotion, supersedes the use of the bells by which the Christian world is invited to the house of prayer, and which are an abomination to the true believer. The moment the Mueddin is heard, every Moor, far and near, wherever he may happen to be when the sound first strikes his ear, or however engaged at the time, throws himself prostrate on the ground, it may be in his chamber, in his shop, in the bazaar, in the street, or on the housetop; it may be when alone, or when engaged in conversation with his