Luna Benamor | Page 5

of the
African coast.
Upon the flat roof of a neighboring house he noticed a strange
construction,--a large arbor made of woven reeds and thatched with
green branches. Within this fragile abode, he was able to make out
through its bright curtains a long table, chairs, and an old-fashioned
lamp hanging from the top... What a queer whim of these people who,
having a house, chose to live upon the roof!
A hotel attendant, while he put Aguirre's room in order, answered all
his inquiries. The Jews of Gibraltar were celebrating a holiday, the
Feast of Tabernacles, one of the most important observances of the year.
It was in memory of the long wandering of the Israelites through the
desert. In commemoration of their sufferings the Jews were supposed to
eat in the open air, in a tabernacle that resembled the tents and huts of
their forefathers. The more fanatic of them, those most attached to
ancient customs, ate standing, with a staff in their hands, as if ready to
resume their journey after the last mouthful. The Hebrew merchants of
the central street erected their structures on the roof; those of the poor
quarters built theirs in a yard or corral, wherever they could catch a

glimpse of the open sky. Those who, because of their extreme poverty,
lived in a shanty, were invited to dine in company with the more
fortunate, with that fraternity of a race compelled by hatred and
persecution to preserve a firm solidarity.
The tabernacle Aguirre saw was that of old Aboab and his son, brokers
who kept their establishment on the selfsame Royal Street, just a few
doors below. And the servant pronounced the name Aboab (father and
son) with that mingling of superstitious awe and hatred which is
inspired in the poor by wealth that is considered unjustly held. All
Gibraltar knew them; it was the same in Tangier, and the same in Rabat
and Casablanca. Hadn't the gentleman heard of them? The son directed
the business of the house, but the father still took part, presiding over
all with his venerable presence and that authority of old age which is so
infallible and sacred among Hebrew families.
"If you could only see the old man!" added the attendant, with his
Andalusian accent. "A white beard that reaches down to his waist, and
if you'd put it into hot water it would yield more than a pitcherful of
grease. He's almost as greasy as the grand Rabbi, who's the bishop
among them.... But he has lots of money. Gold ounces by the fistful,
pounds sterling by the shovel; and if you'd see the hole he has in the
street for his business you'd be amazed. A mere poor man's kitchen. It
seems impossible that he can store so much there!"
After breakfast, when Aguirre went back to his room in search of his
pipe, he saw that the Aboab tabernacle was occupied by the whole
family. At the back, which was in semi-obscurity, he seemed to make
out a white head presiding over the table and on each side elbows
leaning upon the tablecloth, and the skirts and trousers of persons who
were for the most part invisible.
Two women came out on the roof; they were both young, and after
glancing for a moment at the inquisitive fellow in the hotel window,
turned their gaze in a different direction, as if they had not noticed him.
To Aguirre these Aboab daughters were not very impressive, and he
wondered whether the much vaunted beauty of Jewesses was but
another of the many lies admitted by custom, consecrated by time and

accepted without investigation. They had large eyes, of bovine beauty;
moist and dilated, but with the addition of thick, prominent eyebrows,
as black and continuous as daubs of ink. Their nostrils were wide and
the beginnings of obesity already threatened to submerge their youthful
slenderness in corpulence.
They were followed by another woman, doubtless the mother, who was
so fat that her flesh shook as she moved. Her eyes, too, were attractive,
but were spoiled by the ugly eyebrows. Her nose, her lower lip and the
flesh of her neck hung loosely; in her there was already completed the
fatal maturity which was beginning to appear in her daughters. All
three possessed the yellowish pallor characteristic of Oriental races.
Their thick lips, faintly blue, revealed something of the African element
grafted upon their Asiatic origin.
"Hola! What's this!" murmured Aguirre with a start.
A fourth woman had come out from the depths of the tabernacle. She
must be English; the Spaniard was certain of this. Yes, she was an
English brunette, with a bluish cast to her dark skin and a slim, athletic
figure whose every movement was graceful. A creole from the colonies,