The Life of George Borrow [131]
and partly with demons. There is famine, and such famine; there is assassination and such unnatural assassination [another of Borrow's phrases that must have struck the Committee as odd]. There you see soldiers and robbers, ghastly lepers and horrible and uncouth maimed and blind, exhibiting their terrible nakedness in the sun. I was prevented last year in carrying the Gospel amongst them. May I be more successful this."
Antonio had been dismissed, his master being "compelled to send [him] back to Madrid . . . on account of his many irregularities," and in consequence it was alone, on the night of 31st July, that Borrow set out upon his expedition. From Seville he took the steamer to Bonanza, from whence he drove to San Lucar, where he picked up a chest of New Testaments and a small box of St Luke's Gospel in Gitano, with a pass for them to Cadiz. It proved expensive, this claiming of his own property, for at every step there was some fee to be paid or gratuity to be given. The last payment was made to the Spanish Consul at Gibraltar, who claimed and received a dollar for certifying the arrival of books he had not seen.
Borrow was instinctively a missionary, even a great missionary. At the Customs House of San Lucar some questions were asked about the books contained in the cases, and he seized the occasion to hold an informal missionary meeting, with the officials clustered round him listening to his discourse. One of the cases had to be opened for inspection, and the upshot of it was that, to the very officials whose duty it was to see that the books were not distributed in Spain, Borrow sold a number of copies, not only of the Spanish Testament, but of the Gypsy St Luke. Such was the power of his personality and the force of his eloquence.
From San Lucar Borrow returned to Bonanza and again took the boat, which landed him at Cadiz, where he was hospitably entertained by Mr Brackenbury, the British Consul, who gave him a letter of introduction to Mr Drummond Hay, the Consul-General at Tangier. On 4th August he proceeded to Gibraltar. It was not until the 8th, however, that he was able to cross to Tangier, where he was kindly received by Mr Hay, who found for him a very comfortable lodging.
Taking the Consul's advice, Borrow proceeded with extreme caution. For the first fortnight of his stay he made no effort to distribute his Testaments, contenting himself with studying the town and its inhabitants, occasionally speaking to the Christians in the place (principally Spanish and Genoese sailors and their families) about religious matters, but always with the greatest caution lest the two or three friars, who resided at what was known as the Spanish Convent, should become alarmed. Again Borrow obtained the services of a curious assistant, a Jewish lad named Hayim Ben Attar, who carried the Testaments to the people's houses and offered them for sale, and this with considerable success. On 4th September Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram:-
"The blessed book is now in the hands of most of the Christians of Tangier, from the lowest to the highest, from the fisherman to the consul. One dozen and a half were carried to Tetuan on speculation, a town about six leagues from hence; they will be offered to the Christians who reside there. Other two dozen are on their way to distant Mogadore. One individual, a tavern keeper, has purchased Testaments to the number of thirty, which he says he has no doubt he can dispose of to the foreign sailors who stop occasionally at his house. You will be surprised to hear that several amongst the Jews have purchased copies of the New Testament with the intention, as they state, of improving themselves in Spanish, but I believe from curiosity."
During his stay in Tangier, Borrow had some trouble with the British Vice-Consul, who seems to have made himself extremely offensive with his persistent offers of service. His face was "purple and blue" and in whose blood-shot eyes there was an expression "much like that of a departed tunny fish or salmon," and he became so
Antonio had been dismissed, his master being "compelled to send [him] back to Madrid . . . on account of his many irregularities," and in consequence it was alone, on the night of 31st July, that Borrow set out upon his expedition. From Seville he took the steamer to Bonanza, from whence he drove to San Lucar, where he picked up a chest of New Testaments and a small box of St Luke's Gospel in Gitano, with a pass for them to Cadiz. It proved expensive, this claiming of his own property, for at every step there was some fee to be paid or gratuity to be given. The last payment was made to the Spanish Consul at Gibraltar, who claimed and received a dollar for certifying the arrival of books he had not seen.
Borrow was instinctively a missionary, even a great missionary. At the Customs House of San Lucar some questions were asked about the books contained in the cases, and he seized the occasion to hold an informal missionary meeting, with the officials clustered round him listening to his discourse. One of the cases had to be opened for inspection, and the upshot of it was that, to the very officials whose duty it was to see that the books were not distributed in Spain, Borrow sold a number of copies, not only of the Spanish Testament, but of the Gypsy St Luke. Such was the power of his personality and the force of his eloquence.
From San Lucar Borrow returned to Bonanza and again took the boat, which landed him at Cadiz, where he was hospitably entertained by Mr Brackenbury, the British Consul, who gave him a letter of introduction to Mr Drummond Hay, the Consul-General at Tangier. On 4th August he proceeded to Gibraltar. It was not until the 8th, however, that he was able to cross to Tangier, where he was kindly received by Mr Hay, who found for him a very comfortable lodging.
Taking the Consul's advice, Borrow proceeded with extreme caution. For the first fortnight of his stay he made no effort to distribute his Testaments, contenting himself with studying the town and its inhabitants, occasionally speaking to the Christians in the place (principally Spanish and Genoese sailors and their families) about religious matters, but always with the greatest caution lest the two or three friars, who resided at what was known as the Spanish Convent, should become alarmed. Again Borrow obtained the services of a curious assistant, a Jewish lad named Hayim Ben Attar, who carried the Testaments to the people's houses and offered them for sale, and this with considerable success. On 4th September Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram:-
"The blessed book is now in the hands of most of the Christians of Tangier, from the lowest to the highest, from the fisherman to the consul. One dozen and a half were carried to Tetuan on speculation, a town about six leagues from hence; they will be offered to the Christians who reside there. Other two dozen are on their way to distant Mogadore. One individual, a tavern keeper, has purchased Testaments to the number of thirty, which he says he has no doubt he can dispose of to the foreign sailors who stop occasionally at his house. You will be surprised to hear that several amongst the Jews have purchased copies of the New Testament with the intention, as they state, of improving themselves in Spanish, but I believe from curiosity."
During his stay in Tangier, Borrow had some trouble with the British Vice-Consul, who seems to have made himself extremely offensive with his persistent offers of service. His face was "purple and blue" and in whose blood-shot eyes there was an expression "much like that of a departed tunny fish or salmon," and he became so