Tangier
Jan. 4th, 1880
Unchanging friend and dauntless correspondent it is very creditable of you to have written to me after such a long hiatus. But instead of cursing so malignantly why don't you guess that I have been doing so much jog trotting on atrocious horses and mules that I can't sit down to write, and that the temperature in these tropical regions is such that one's fingers refuse to hold the pen. This is an exaggeration.
The other day on a ride from
Ceuta to Teruan we essayed a most tremendous storm of hail and rain that
made us shiver and set our half naked Arabs shaking in the most alarming
way, but now the weather is beautiful and the 
temperature
just what it ought to be, We have rented a little Moorish house (which
we don't yet know from any other house in town, the little white tortuous
streets are so exactly alike) and we expect to enjoy a month or two in
it very much. The patio open to the sky affords a studio light, and has
a horseshoe arches arabesques, tiles and other traditional Moorish ornaments,
The roof is a white terrace, one of the thousands that form this odd town,
sloping down to the sea. All that has been written and painted about
these African towns does not exaggerate the interest of at any rate, a
first visit. Of course the poetic strain that writers launch forth in when
they touch upon a certain degree of latitude and longitude -- is to a great
extent conventional; but certainly the aspect of the place is striking,
the costume grand and the Arabs often magnificent.
I regret that many a months spent in Spain in the rain and bad weather that quite spoiled the trip as far as painting and enjoyment goes. When you carry out your plan of a visit of Spain, be sure to go in the spring; one loses too much by going there in December.
Best love to your people,
Your affectionate friend,
John S. Sargent