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+Project Gutenberg's Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond, by Budgett Meakin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond
+
+Author: Budgett Meakin
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2006 [EBook #18764]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN MOROCCO AND GLIMPSES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Lesley Halamek and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+LIFE IN MOROCCO
+
+
+
+BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+In uniform style. Demy 8vo, 15s. each.
+
+THE MOORS: an Account of People and Customs. With 132 Illustrations.
+
+    CONTENTS:--"The Madding Crowd"--Within the Gates--Where the Moors
+    Live--How the Moors Dress--Moorish Courtesy and Etiquette--What
+    the Moors Eat and Drink--Everyday Life--Slavery and
+    Servitude--Country Life--Trade--Arts and Manufactures--Matters
+    Medical.
+
+    Some Moorish Characteristics--The Mohammedan Year (Feasts
+    and Fasts)--Places of Worship--Alms, Hospitality, and
+    Pilgrimage--Education--Saints and Superstitions--Marriage--Funeral
+    Rites.
+
+    The Morocco Berbers--The Jews of Morocco--The Jewish Year.
+
+THE LAND OF THE MOORS: A Comprehensive Description. With a New Map and
+83 Illustrations.
+
+    CONTENTS:--Physical Features--Natural Resources--Vegetable
+    Products--Animal Life.
+
+    Descriptions and Histories of Tangier, Tetuan, Laraiche,
+    Salli-Rabat, Dar el Baida, Mazagan, Saffi and Mogador; Azîla,
+    Fedála, Mehedia, Mansűrîya, Azamműr and Waladîya; Fez, Mequinez
+    and Marrákesh; Zarhôn, Wazzán and Shesháwan; El Kasar, Sifrű,
+    Tadla, Damnát, Táza, Dibdű and Oojda; Ceuta, Velez, Alhucemas,
+    Melilla and the Zaffarines; Sűs, the Draa, Tafilált, Fîgîg, and
+    Tűát.
+
+    Reminiscences of Travel--In the Guise of a Moor--To Marrákesh on a
+    Bicycle--In Search of Miltsin.
+
+THE MOORISH EMPIRE: A Historical Epitome. With Maps, 118
+Illustrations, and a unique Chronological, Geographical, and
+Genealogical Chart.
+
+    CONTENTS:--Mauretania--The Mohammedan Invasion--Foundation of
+    Empire--Consolidation of Empire--Extension of Empire--Contraction
+    of Empire--Stagnation of Empire--Personification of Empire--The
+    Reigning Shareefs--The Moorish Government--Present Administration.
+
+    Europeans in the Moorish Service--The Salli Rovers--Record of
+    the Christian Slaves--Christian Influences in Morocco--Foreign
+    Relations--Moorish Diplomatic Usages--Foreign Rights and
+    Privileges--Commercial Intercourse--The Fate of the Empire.
+
+    Works on Morocco reviewed (213 vols. in 11 languages)--The
+    Place of Morocco in Fiction--Journalism in Morocco--Works
+    Recommended--Classical Authorities on Morocco.
+
+LONDON: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LTD.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARABIC OF MOROCCO: VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR NOTES,
+ETC., IN ROMAN CHARACTERS. Specially prepared for Visitors and
+Beginners on a new and eminently practical system.
+
+Crown 8vo, Cloth, Round Corners for Pocket, _6s._
+
+Also, Uniform with this, in English or Spanish, Price _4s._
+
+_IN ARABIC CHARACTERS_
+
+MOROCCO-ARABIC DIALOGUES,
+
+OR
+
+DIÁLOGOS EN ARABE MAROQUÍ.
+
+By C.W. BALDWIN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LONDON: BERNARD QUARITCH, PICCADILLY.
+
+TANGIER: BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY'S DEPÔT.
+
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Edward Lee, Esq., Saffi._
+
+A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  =LIFE IN MOROCCO=
+
+  AND GLIMPSES BEYOND
+
+
+  BY
+
+  BUDGETT MEAKIN
+
+  AUTHOR OF
+
+  "THE MOORS," "THE LAND OF THE MOORS," "THE MOORISH EMPIRE,"
+  "MODEL FACTORIES AND VILLAGES," ETC.
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  WITH TWENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+  LONDON
+  CHATTO & WINDUS
+  1905
+
+
+
+
+  PRINTED BY
+  WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
+  LONDON AND BECCLES.
+
+
+
+
+=FOREWORD=
+
+
+Which of us has yet forgotten that first day when we set foot in
+Barbary? Those first impressions, as the gorgeous East with all its
+countless sounds and colours, forms and odours, burst upon us; mingled
+pleasures and disgusts, all new, undreamed-of, or our wildest dreams
+enhanced! Those yelling, struggling crowds of boatmen, porters,
+donkey-boys; guides, thieves, and busy-bodies; clad in mingled finery
+and tatters; European, native, nondescript; a weird, incongruous
+medley--such as is always produced when East meets West--how they did
+astonish and amuse us! How we laughed (some trembling inwardly) and
+then, what letters we wrote home!
+
+One-and-twenty years have passed since that experience entranced the
+present writer, and although he has repeated it as far as possible in
+practically every other oriental country, each fresh visit to Morocco
+brings back somewhat of the glamour of that maiden plunge, and
+somewhat of that youthful ardour, as the old associations are renewed.
+Nothing he has seen elsewhere excels Morocco in point of life and
+colour save Bokhára; and only in certain parts of India or in China is
+it rivalled. Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli have lost much of that charm
+under Turkish or western rule; Egypt still more markedly so, while
+Palestine is of a population altogether mixed and heterogeneous. The
+bazaars of Damascus, even, and Constantinople, have given way to
+plate-glass, and nothing remains in the nearer East to rival Morocco.
+
+Notwithstanding the disturbed condition of much of the country,
+nothing has occurred to interfere with the pleasure certain to be
+afforded by a visit to Morocco at any time, and all who can do so
+are strongly recommended to include it in an early holiday. The best
+months are from September to May, though the heat on the coast
+is never too great for an enjoyable trip. The simplest way of
+accomplishing this is by one of Messrs. Forwood's regular steamers
+from London, calling at most of the Morocco ports and returning by the
+Canaries, the tour occupying about a month, though it may be broken
+and resumed at any point. Tangier may be reached direct from Liverpool
+by the Papayanni Line, or indirectly _viâ_ Gibraltar, subsequent
+movements being decided by weather and local sailings. British
+consular officials, missionaries, and merchants will be found at the
+various ports, who always welcome considerate strangers.
+
+Comparatively few, even of the ever-increasing number of visitors who
+year after year bring this only remaining independent Barbary State
+within the scope of their pilgrimage, are aware of the interest with
+which it teems for the scientist, the explorer, the historian, and
+students of human nature in general. One needs to dive beneath the
+surface, to live on the spot in touch with the people, to fathom the
+real Morocco, and in this it is doubtful whether any foreigners not
+connected by ties of creed or marriage ever completely succeed. What
+can be done short of this the writer attempted to do, mingling with
+the people as one of themselves whenever this was possible. Inspired
+by the example of Lane in his description of the "Modern Egyptians,"
+he essayed to do as much for the Moors, and during eighteen years he
+laboured to that end.
+
+The present volume gathers together from many quarters sketches drawn
+under those circumstances, supplemented by a _resumé_ of recent events
+and the political outlook, together with three chapters--viii., xi.,
+and xiv.--contributed by his wife, whose assistance throughout its
+preparation he has once more to acknowledge with pleasure. To many
+correspondents in Morocco he is also indebted for much valuable
+up-to-date information on current affairs, but as most for various
+reasons prefer to remain unmentioned, it would be invidious to name
+any. For most of the illustrations, too, he desires to express his
+hearty thanks to the gentlemen who have permitted him to reproduce
+their photographs.
+
+Much of the material used has already appeared in more fugitive form
+in the _Times of Morocco_, the _London Quarterly Review_, the _Forum_,
+the _Westminster Review_, _Harper's Magazine_, the _Humanitarian_,
+the _Gentleman's Magazine_, the _Independent_ (New York), the
+_Modern Church_, the _Jewish Chronicle_, _Good Health_, the _Medical
+Missionary_, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, the _Westminster Gazette_, the
+_Outlook_, etc., while Chapters ix., xix., and xxv. to xxix. have been
+extracted from a still unpublished picture of Moorish country life,
+"Sons of Ishmael."
+
+  B.M.
+
+  HAMPSTEAD,
+  _November 1905._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  PART I
+
+     CHAPTER                                 PAGE
+
+     I. RETROSPECTIVE                           1
+
+    II. THE PRESENT DAY                        14
+
+   III. BEHIND THE SCENES                      36
+
+    IV. THE BERBER RACE                        47
+
+     V. THE WANDERING ARAB                     57
+
+    VI. CITY LIFE                              63
+
+   VII. THE WOMEN-FOLK                         71
+
+  VIII. SOCIAL VISITS                          82
+
+    IX. A COUNTRY WEDDING                      88
+
+     X. THE BAIRNS                             94
+
+    XI. "DINING OUT"                          102
+
+   XII. DOMESTIC ECONOMY                      107
+
+  XIII. THE NATIVE "MERCHANT"                 113
+
+   XIV. SHOPPING                              118
+
+    XV. A SUNDAY MARKET                       125
+
+   XVI. PLAY-TIME                             133
+
+  XVII. THE STORY-TELLER                      138
+
+ XVIII. SNAKE-CHARMING                        151
+
+   XIX.  IN A MOORISH CAFÉ                    159
+
+    XX.  THE MEDICINE-MAN                     166
+
+   XXI.  THE HUMAN MART                       179
+
+  XXII.  A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY                 185
+
+ XXIII.  THE PILGRIM CAMP                     191
+
+  XXIV.  RETURNING HOME                       201
+
+
+  PART II
+
+   XXV.  DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO                 205
+
+  XXVI.  PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES               233
+
+ XXVII.  THE PROTECTION SYSTEM                242
+
+XXVIII.  JUSTICE FOR THE JEW                  252
+
+  XXIX.  CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO                 261
+
+   XXX.  THE POLITICAL SITUATION              267
+
+  XXXI.  FRANCE IN MOROCCO                    292
+
+
+  PART III
+
+ XXXII. ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO           307
+
+XXXIII. TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO           318
+
+ XXXIV. TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO           326
+
+  XXXV. FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN     332
+
+
+  APPENDIX
+
+        "MOROCCO NEWS"                        381
+
+        INDEX                                 395
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                        TO FACE PAGE
+
+A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE           _Frontispiece_
+
+GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI                1
+
+CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER                       26
+
+A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS                  47
+
+AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO                        57
+
+ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE    71
+
+A MOORISH CARAVAN                              91
+
+FRUIT-SELLERS                                 107
+
+A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER                         118
+
+THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER                    128
+
+GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARRÁKESH            141
+
+A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI)               159
+
+RABHAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY    185
+
+WAITING FOR THE STEAMER                       201
+
+A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO                     211
+
+CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD                     242
+
+JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS                         256
+
+A MOORISH KAĎD AND ATTENDANTS                 275
+
+TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH--AN EXECUTION        299
+
+TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEĎKH                    313
+
+A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS             325
+
+OUTSIDE TRIPOLI                               330
+
+A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE                    340
+
+THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN                      375
+
+
+
+
+    NOTE.--_The system of transliterating Arabic adopted by the Author
+    in his previous works has here been followed only so far as it is
+    likely to be adopted by others than specialists, all signs being
+    omitted which are not essential to approximate pronunciation._
+
+
+
+
+=LIFE IN MOROCCO=
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+I
+
+RETROSPECTIVE
+
+  "The firmament turns, and times are changing."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+By the western gate of the Mediterranean, where the narrowed sea has
+so often tempted invaders, the decrepit Moorish Empire has become
+itself a bait for those who once feared it. Yet so far Morocco remains
+untouched, save where a fringe of Europeans on the coast purvey the
+luxuries from other lands that Moorish tastes demand, and in exchange
+take produce that would otherwise be hardly worth the raising. Even
+here the foreign influence is purely superficial, failing to affect
+the lives of the people; while the towns in which Europeans reside are
+so few in number that whatever influence they do possess is limited
+in area. Moreover, Morocco has never known foreign dominion, not even
+that of the Turks, who have left their impress on the neighbouring
+Algeria and Tunisia. None but the Arabs have succeeded in obtaining a
+foothold among its Berbers, and they, restricted to the plains, have
+long become part of the nation. Thus Morocco, of all the North African
+kingdoms, has always maintained its independence, and in spite of
+changes all round, continues to live its own picturesque life.
+
+Picturesque it certainly is, with its flowing costumes and primitive
+homes, both of which vary in style from district to district, but all
+of which seem as though they must have been unchanged for thousands
+of years. Without security for life or property, the mountaineers go
+armed, they dwell in fortresses or walled-in villages, and are at
+constant war with one another. On the plains, except in the vicinity
+of towns, the country people group their huts around the fortress of
+their governor, within which they can shelter themselves and their
+possessions in time of war. No other permanent erection is to be seen
+on the plains, unless it be some wayside shrine which has outlived
+the ruin fallen on the settlement to which it once belonged, and is
+respected by the conquerors as holy ground. Here and there gaunt
+ruins rise, vast crumbling walls of concrete which have once been
+fortresses, lending an air of desolation to the scene, but offering no
+attraction to historian or antiquary. No one even knows their names,
+and they contain no monuments. If ever more solid remains are
+encountered, they are invariably set down as the work of the Romans.
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI.]
+
+Yet Morocco has a history, an interesting history indeed, one
+linked with ours in many curious ways, as is recorded in scores of
+little-known volumes. It has a literature amazingly voluminous, but
+there were days when the relations with other lands were much closer,
+if less cordial, the days of the crusades and the Barbary pirates,
+the days of European tribute to the Moors, and the days of Christian
+slavery in Morocco. Constantly appearing brochures in many tongues
+made Europe of those days acquainted with the horrors of that dreadful
+land. All these only served to augment the fear in which its people
+were held, and to deter the victimized nations from taking action
+which would speedily have put an end to it all, by demonstrating the
+inherent weakness of the Moorish Empire.
+
+But for those whose study is only the Moors as they exist to-day, the
+story of Morocco stretches back only a thousand years, as until then
+its scattered tribes of Berber mountaineers had acknowledged no head,
+and knew no common interests; they were not a nation. War was their
+pastime; it is so now to a great extent. Every man for himself, every
+tribe for itself. Idolatry, of which abundant traces still remain,
+had in places been tinged with the name and some of the forms of
+Christianity, but to what extent it is now impossible to discover. In
+the Roman Church there still exist titular bishops of North Africa,
+one, in particular, derives his title from the district of Morocco of
+which Fez is now the capital, Mauretania Tingitana.
+
+It was among these tribes that a pioneer mission of Islám penetrated
+in the eighth of our centuries. Arabs were then greater strangers in
+Barbary than we are now, but they were by no means the first strange
+faces seen there. Ph[oe]nicians, Romans and Vandals had preceded them,
+but none had stayed, none had succeeded in amalgamating with the
+Berbers, among whom those individuals who did remain were absorbed.
+These hardy clansmen, exhibiting the characteristics of hill-folk
+the world round, still inhabited the uplands and retained their
+independence. In this they have indeed succeeded to a great extent
+until the present day, but between that time and this they have given
+of their life-blood to build up by their side a less pure nation of
+the plains, whose language as well as its creed is that of Arabia.
+
+To imagine that Morocco was invaded by a Muslim host who carried
+all before them is a great mistake, although a common one. Mulai
+Idrees--"My Lord Enoch" in English--a direct descendant of Mohammed,
+was among the first of the Arabian missionaries to arrive, with one or
+two faithful adherents, exiles fleeing from the Khalîfa of Mekka. So
+soon as he had induced one tribe to accept his doctrines, he assisted
+them with his advice and prestige in their combats with hereditary
+enemies, to whom, however, the novel terms were offered of fraternal
+union with the victors, if they would accept the creed of which they
+had become the champions. Thus a new element was introduced into the
+Berber polity, the element of combination, for the lack of which
+they had always been weak before. Each additional ally meant an
+augmentation of the strength of the new party out of all proportion to
+the losses from occasional defeats.
+
+In course of time the Mohammedan coalition became so strong that it
+was in a position to dictate terms and to impose governors upon the
+most obstinate of its neighbours. The effect of this was to divide the
+allies into two important sections, the older of which founded Fez
+in the days of the son of Idrees, accounted the second ameer of that
+name, who there lies buried in the most important mosque of the
+Empire, the very approaches of which are closed to the Jew and the
+Nazarene. The only spot which excels it in sanctity is that at Zarhôn,
+a day's journey off, in which the first Idrees lies buried. There the
+whole town is forbidden to the foreigner, and an attempt made by the
+writer to gain admittance in disguise was frustrated by discovery
+at the very gate, though later on he visited the shrine in Fez. The
+dynasty thus formed, the Shurfŕ Idreeseeďn, is represented to-day by
+the Shareef of Wazzán.
+
+In southern Morocco, with its capital at Aghmát, on the Atlas slopes,
+was formed what later grew to be the kingdom of Marrákesh, the city of
+that name being founded in the middle of the eleventh century. Towards
+the close of the thirteenth, the kingdoms of Fez and Marrákesh became
+united under one ruler, whose successor, after numerous dynastic
+changes, is the Sultan of Morocco now.[1]
+
+  [1: For a complete outline of Moorish history, see the writer's
+      "Moorish Empire."]
+
+But from the time that the united Berbers had become a nation, to
+prevent them falling out among themselves again it was necessary to
+find some one else to fight, to occupy the martial instinct nursed in
+fighting one another. So long as there were ancient scores to be wiped
+out at home, so long as under cover of a missionary zeal they could
+continue intertribal feuds, things went well for the victors; but as
+soon as excuses for this grew scarce, it was needful to fare afield.
+The pretty story--told, by the way, of other warriors as well--of the
+Arab leader charging the Atlantic surf, and weeping that the world
+should end there, and his conquests too, may be but fiction, but it
+illustrates a fact. Had Europe lain further off, the very causes which
+had conspired to raise a central power in Morocco would have sufficed
+to split it up again. This, however, was not to be. In full view of
+the most northern strip of Morocco, from Ceuta to Cape Spartel, the
+north-west corner of Africa, stretches the coast of sunny Spain.
+Between El K'sar es-Sagheer, "The Little Castle," and Tarifa Point is
+only a distance of nine or ten miles, and in that southern atmosphere
+the glinting houses may be seen across the straits.
+
+History has it that internal dissensions at the Court of Spain led to
+the Moors being actually invited over; but that inducement was hardly
+needed. Here was a country of infidels yet to be conquered; here was
+indeed a land of promise. Soon the Berbers swarmed across, and in
+spite of reverses, carried all before them. Spain was then almost as
+much divided into petty states as their land had been till the Arabs
+taught them better, and little by little they made their way in
+a country destined to be theirs for five hundred years. Córdova,
+Sevílle, Granáda, each in turn became their capital, and rivalled Fez
+across the sea.
+
+The successes they achieved attracted from the East adventurers and
+merchants, while by wise administration literature and science were
+encouraged, till the Berber Empire of Spain and Morocco took a
+foremost rank among the nations of the day. Judged from the standpoint
+of their time, they seem to us a prodigy; judged from our standpoint,
+they were but little in advance of their descendants of the twentieth
+century, who, after all, have by no means retrograded, as they are
+supposed to have done, though they certainly came to a standstill,
+and have suffered all the evils of four centuries of torpor and
+stagnation. Civilization wrought on them the effects that it too often
+produces, and with refinement came weakness. The sole remaining state
+of those which the invaders, finding independent, conquered one by
+one, is the little Pyrenean Republic of Andorra, still enjoying
+privileges granted to it for its brave defence against the Moors,
+which made it the high-water mark of their dominion. As peace once
+more split up the Berbers, the subjected Spaniards became strong
+by union, till at length the death-knell of Moorish rule in Europe
+sounded at the nuptials of the famous Ferdinand and Isabella, linking
+Aragon with proud Castile.
+
+Expelled from Spain, the Moor long cherished plans for the recovery of
+what had been lost, preparing fleets and armies for the purpose, but
+in vain. Though nominally still united, his people lacked that zeal in
+a common cause which had carried them across the straits before, and
+by degrees the attempts to recover a kingdom dwindled into continued
+attacks upon shipping and coast towns. Thus arose that piracy which
+was for several centuries the scourge of Christendom. Further east a
+distinct race of pirates flourished, including Turks and Greeks and
+ruffians from every shore, but they were not Moors, of whom the Salli
+rover was the type. Many thousands of Europeans were carried off by
+Moorish corsairs into slavery, including not a few from England. Those
+who renounced their own religion and nationality, accepting those of
+their captors, became all but free, only being prevented from leaving
+the country, and often rose to important positions. Those who had the
+courage of their convictions suffered much, being treated like
+cattle, or worse, but they could be ransomed when their price was
+forthcoming--a privilege abandoned by the renegades--so that the
+principal object of every European embassy in those days was the
+redemption of captives. Now and then escapes would be accomplished,
+but such strict watch was kept when foreign merchantmen were in
+port, or when foreign ambassadors came and went, that few attempts
+succeeded, though many were made.
+
+Sympathies are stirred by pictures of the martyrdom of Englishmen and
+Irishmen, Franciscan missionaries to the Moors; and side by side with
+them the foreign mercenaries in the native service, Englishmen among
+them, who would fight in any cause for pay and plunder, even though
+their masters held their countrymen in thrall. And thrall it was, as
+that of Israel in Egypt, when our sailors were chained to galley seats
+beneath the lash of a Moor, or when they toiled beneath a broiling
+sun erecting the grim palace walls of concrete which still stand as
+witnesses of those fell days. Bought and sold in the market like
+cattle, Europeans were more despised than Negroes, who at least
+acknowledged Mohammed as their prophet, and accepted their lot without
+attempt to escape.
+
+Dark days were those for the honour of Europe, when the Moors inspired
+terror from the Balearics to the Scilly Isles, and when their rovers
+swept the seas with such effect that all the powers of Christendom
+were fain to pay them tribute. Large sums of money, too, collected
+at church doors and by the sale of indulgences, were conveyed by the
+hands of intrepid friars, noble men who risked all to relieve those
+slaves who had maintained their faith, having scorned to accept a
+measure of freedom as the reward of apostasy. Thousands of English
+and other European slaves were liberated through the assistance of
+friendly letters from Royal hands, as when the proud Queen Bess
+addressed Ahmad II., surnamed "the Golden," as "Our Brother after the
+Law of Crown and Sceptre," or when Queen Anne exchanged compliments
+with the bloodthirsty Ismáďl, who ventured to ask for the hand of a
+daughter of Louis XIV.
+
+In the midst of it all, when that wonderful man, with a household
+exceeding Solomon's, and several hundred children, had reigned
+forty-three of his fifty-five years, the English, in 1684, ceded to
+him their possession of Tangier. For twenty-two years the "Castle in
+the streights' mouth," as General Monk had described it, had been the
+scene of as disastrous an attempt at colonization as we have ever
+known: misunderstanding of the circumstances and mismanagement
+throughout; oppression, peculation and terror within as well as
+without; a constant warfare with incompetent or corrupt officials
+within as with besieging Moors without; till at last the place had to
+be abandoned in disgust, and the expensive mole and fortifications
+were destroyed lest others might seize what we could not hold.
+
+Such events could only lower the prestige of Europeans, if, indeed,
+they possessed any, in the eyes of the Moors, and the slaves up
+country received worse treatment than before. Even the ambassadors
+and consuls of friendly powers were treated with indignities beyond
+belief. Some were imprisoned on the flimsiest pretexts, all had to
+appear before the monarch in the most abject manner, and many were
+constrained to bribe the favourite wives of the ameers to secure their
+requests. It is still the custom for the state reception to take place
+in an open courtyard, the ambassador standing bareheaded before the
+mounted Sultan under his Imperial parasol. As late as 1790 the brutal
+Sultan El Yazeed, who emulated Ismáďl the Bloodthirsty, did not
+hesitate to declare war on all Christendom except England, agreeing to
+terms of peace on the basis of tribute. Cooperation between the Powers
+was not then thought of, and one by one they struck their bargains as
+they are doing again to-day.
+
+Yet even at the most violent period of Moorish misrule it is a
+remarkable fact that Europeans were allowed to settle and trade in the
+Empire, in all probability as little molested there as they would
+have been had they remained at home, by varying religious tests and
+changing governments. It is almost impossible to conceive, without
+a perusal of the literature of the period, the incongruity of the
+position. Foreign slaves would be employed in gangs outside the
+dwellings of free fellow-countrymen with whom they were forbidden to
+communicate, while every returning pirate captain added to the number
+of the captives, sometimes bringing friends and relatives of those
+who lived in freedom as the Sultan's "guests," though he considered
+himself "at war" with their Governments. So little did the Moors
+understand the position of things abroad, that at one time they made
+war upon Gibraltar, while expressing the warmest friendship for
+England, who then possessed it. This was done by Mulai Abd Allah V.,
+in 1756, because, he said, the Governor had helped his rebel uncle at
+Arzîla, so that the English, his so-called friends, did more harm than
+his enemies--the Portuguese and Spaniards. "My father and I believe,"
+wrote his son, Sidi Mohammed, to Admiral Pawkers, "that the king your
+master has no knowledge of the behaviour towards us of the Governor of
+Gibraltar, ... so Gibraltar shall be excluded from the peace to which
+I am willing to consent between England and us, and with the aid of
+the Almighty God, I will know how to avenge myself as I may on the
+English of Gibraltar."
+
+Previously Spain and Portugal had held the principal Moroccan
+seaports, the twin towns of Rabat and Salli alone remaining always
+Moorish, but these two in their turn set up a sort of independent
+republic, nourished from the Berber tribes in the mountains to the
+south of them. No Europeans live in Salli yet, for here the old
+fanaticism slumbers still. So long as a port remained in foreign hands
+it was completely cut off from the surrounding country, and played no
+part in Moorish history, save as a base for periodical incursions.
+One by one most of them fell again into the hands of their rightful
+owners, till they had recovered all their Atlantic sea-board. On the
+Mediterranean, Ceuta, which had belonged to Portugal, came under the
+rule of Spain when those countries were united, and the Spaniards hold
+it still, as they do less important positions further east.
+
+The piracy days of the Moors have long passed, but they only ceased at
+the last moment they could do so with grace, before the introduction
+of steamships. There was not, at the best of times, much of the noble
+or heroic in their raids, which generally took the nature of lying
+in wait with well-armed, many-oared vessels, for unarmed, unwieldy
+merchantmen which were becalmed, or were outpaced by sail and oar
+together.
+
+Early in the nineteenth century Algiers was forced to abandon piracy
+before Lord Exmouth's guns, and soon after the Moors were given to
+understand that it could no longer be permitted to them either, since
+the Moorish "fleets"--if worthy the name--had grown so weak, and those
+of the Nazarenes so strong, that the tables were turned. Yet for many
+years more the nations of Europe continued the tribute wherewith the
+rapacity of the Moors was appeased, and to the United States belongs
+the honour of first refusing this disgraceful payment.
+
+The manner in which the rovers of Salli and other ports were permitted
+to flourish so long can be explained in no other way than by the
+supposition that they were regarded as a sort of necessary nuisance,
+just a hornet's-nest by the wayside, which it would be hopeless to
+destroy, as they would merely swarm elsewhere. And then we must
+remember that the Moors were not the only pirates of those days, and
+that Europeans have to answer for the most terrible deeds of the
+Mediterranean corsairs. News did not travel then as it does now.
+Though students of Morocco history are amazed at the frequent captures
+and the thousands of Christian slaves so imported, abroad it was only
+here and there that one was heard of at a time.
+
+To-day the plunder of an Italian sailing vessel aground on their
+shore, or the fate of too-confident Spanish smugglers running close in
+with arms, is heard of the world round. And in the majority of cases
+there is at least a question: What were the victims doing there? Not
+that this in any way excuses the so-called "piracy," but it must not
+be forgotten in considering the question. Almost all these tribes
+in the troublous districts carry European arms, instead of the more
+picturesque native flint-lock: and as not a single gun is legally
+permitted to pass the customs, there must be a considerable inlet
+somewhere, for prices are not high.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE PRESENT DAY
+
+  "What has passed has gone, and what is to come is distant;
+  Thou hast only the hour in which thou art."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Far from being, as Hood described them, "poor rejected Moors who
+raised our childish fears," the people of Morocco consist of fine,
+open races, capable of anything, but literally rotting in one of the
+finest countries of the world. The Moorish remains in Spain, as well
+as the pages of history, testify to the manner in which they once
+flourished, but to-day their appearance is that of a nation asleep.
+Yet great strides towards reform have been made during the past
+century, and each decade sees steps taken more important than the
+last. For the present decade is promised complete transformation.
+
+But how little do we know of this people! The very name "Moor" is
+a European invention, unknown in Morocco, where no more precise
+definition of the inhabitants can be given than that of
+"Westerners"--Maghribîn, while the land itself is known as "The
+Further West"--El Moghreb el Aksa. The name we give to the country is
+but a corruption of that of the southern capital, Marrákesh ("Morocco
+City") through the Spanish version, Marueccos.
+
+The genuine Moroccans are the Berbers among whom the Arabs introduced
+Islám and its civilization, later bringing Negroes from their raids
+across the Atlas to the Sudán and Guinea. The remaining important
+section of the people are Jews of two classes--those settled in the
+country from prehistoric times, and those driven to it when expelled
+from Spain. With the exception of the Arabs and the Blacks, none of
+these pull together, and in that case it is only because the latter
+are either subservient to the former, or incorporated with them.
+
+First in importance come the earliest known possessors of the land,
+the Berbers. These are not confined to Morocco, but still hold the
+rocky fastnesses which stretch from the Atlantic, opposite the
+Canaries, to the borders of Egypt; from the sands of the Mediterranean
+to those of the Sáhara, that vast extent of territory to which we have
+given their name, Barbary. Of these but a small proportion really
+amalgamated with their Muslim victors, and it is only to this mixed
+race which occupies the cities of Morocco that the name "Moor" is
+strictly applicable.
+
+On the plains are to be found the Arabs, their tents scattered in
+every direction. From the Atlantic to the Atlas, from Tangier to
+Mogador, and then away through the fertile province of Sűs, one of
+the chief features of Morocco is the series of wide alluvial treeless
+plains, often apparently as flat as a table, but here and there cut up
+by winding rivers and crossed by low ridges. The fertility of these
+districts is remarkable; but owing to the misgovernment of the
+country, which renders native property so insecure, only a small
+portion is cultivated. The untilled slopes which border the plains
+are generally selected by the Arabs for their encampments, circles or
+ovals of low goat-hair tents, each covering a large area in proportion
+to the number of its inhabitants.
+
+The third section of the people of Morocco--by no means the least
+important--has still to be glanced at; these are the ubiquitous,
+persecuted and persecuting Jews. Everywhere that money changes hands
+and there is business to be done they are to be found. In the towns
+and among the thatched huts of the plains, even in the Berber villages
+on the slopes of the Atlas, they have their colonies. With the
+exception of a few ports wherein European rule in past centuries
+has destroyed the boundaries, they are obliged to live in their own
+restricted quarters, and in most instances are only permitted to cross
+the town barefooted and on foot, never to ride a horse. In the Atlas
+they live in separate villages adjoining or close to those belonging
+to the Berbers, and sometimes even larger than they. Always clad
+in black or dark-coloured cloaks, with hideous black skull-caps or
+white-spotted blue kerchiefs on their heads, they are conspicuous
+everywhere. They address the Moors with a villainous, cringing look
+which makes the sons of Ishmael savage, for they know it is only
+feigned. In return they are treated like dogs, and cordial hatred
+exists on both sides. So they live, together yet divided; the Jew
+despised but indispensable, bullied but thriving. He only wins at
+law when richer than his opponent; against a Muslim he can bear no
+testimony; there is scant pretence at justice. He dares not lift his
+hand to strike a Moor, however ill-treated, but he finds revenge in
+sucking his life's blood by usury. Receiving no mercy, he shows none,
+and once in his clutches, his prey is fortunate to escape with his
+life.
+
+The happy influence of more enlightened European Jews is, however,
+making itself felt in the chief towns, through excellent schools
+supported from London and Paris, which are turning out a class
+of highly respectable citizens. While the Moors fear the tide of
+advancing westernization, the town Jews court it, and in them centres
+one of the chief prospects of the country's welfare. Into their hands
+has already been gathered much of the trade of Morocco, and there can
+be little doubt that, by the end of the thirty years' grace afforded
+to other merchants than the French, they will have practically
+absorbed it all, even the Frenchmen trading through them. They have
+at least the intimate knowledge of the people and local conditions to
+which so few foreigners ever attain.
+
+When the Moorish Empire comes to be pacifically penetrated and
+systematically explored, it will probably be found that little more
+is known of it than of China, notwithstanding its proximity, and
+its comparatively insignificant size. A map honestly drawn, from
+observations only, would astonish most people by its vast
+blank spaces.[2] It would be noted that the limit of European
+exploration--with the exception of the work of two or three hardy
+travellers in disguise--is less than two hundred miles from the coast,
+and that this limit is reached at two points only--south of Fez and
+Marrákesh respectively,--which form the apices of two well-known
+triangular districts, the contiguous bases of which form part of the
+Atlantic coast line, under four hundred miles in length. Beyond these
+limits all is practically unknown, the language, customs and beliefs
+of the people providing abundant ground for speculation, and
+permitting theorists free play. So much is this the case, that a few
+years ago an enthusiastic "savant" was able to imagine that he had
+discovered a hidden race of dwarfs beyond the Atlas, and to obtain
+credence for his "find" among the best-informed students of Europe.
+
+  [2: An approximation to this is given in the writer's
+      "Land of the Moors."]
+
+But there is also another point of view from which Morocco is unknown,
+that of native thought and feeling, penetrated by extremely few
+Europeans, even when they mingle freely with the people, and converse
+with them in Arabic. The real Moor is little known by foreigners,
+a very small number of whom mix with the better classes. Some, as
+officials, meet officials, but get little below the official exterior.
+Those who know most seldom speak, their positions or their occupations
+preventing the expression of their opinions. Sweeping statements
+about Morocco may therefore be received with reserve, and dogmatic
+assertions with caution. This Empire is in no worse condition now than
+it has been for centuries; indeed, it is much better off than ever
+since its palmy days, and there is no occasion whatever to fear its
+collapse.
+
+Few facts are more striking in the study of Morocco than the absolute
+stagnation of its people, except in so far as they have been to a very
+limited extent affected by outside influences. Of what European--or
+even oriental--land could descriptions of life and manners written in
+the sixteenth century apply as fully in the twentieth as do those
+of Morocco by Leo Africanus? Or even to come later, compare the
+transitions England has undergone since Höst and Jackson wrote a
+hundred years ago, with the changes discoverable in Morocco since that
+time. The people of Morocco remain the same, and their more primitive
+customs are those of far earlier ages, of the time when their
+ancestors lived upon the plain of Palestine and North Arabia, and when
+"in the loins of Abraham" the now unfriendly Jew and Arab were yet
+one. It is the position of Europeans among them which has changed.
+
+In the time of Höst and Jackson piracy was dying hard, restrained by
+tribute from all the Powers of Europe. The foreign merchant was not
+only tolerated, but was at times supplied with capital by the Moorish
+sultans, to whom he was allowed to go deeply in debt for custom's
+dues, and half a century later the British Consul at Mogador was not
+permitted to embark to escape a bombardment of the town, because of
+his debt to the Sultan. Many of the restrictions complained of to-day
+are the outcome of the almost enslaved condition of the merchants of
+those times in consequence of such customs. Indeed, the position of
+the European in Morocco is still a series of anomalies, and so it is
+likely to continue until it passes under foreign rule.
+
+The same old spirit of independence reigns in the Berber breast to-day
+as when he conquered Spain, and though he has forgotten his past and
+cares naught for his future, he still considers himself a superior
+being, and feels that no country can rival his home. In his eyes the
+embassies from Europe and America come only to pay the tribute which
+is the price of peace with his lord, and when he sees a foreign
+minister in all his black and gold stand in the sun bareheaded to
+address the mounted Sultan beneath his parasol, he feels more proud
+than ever of his greatness, and is more decided to be pleasant to the
+stranger, but to keep him out.
+
+Instead of increased relations between Moors and foreigners tending to
+friendship, the average foreign settler or tourist is far too bigoted
+and narrow-minded to see any good in the native, much less to
+acknowledge his superiority on certain points. Wherever the Sultan's
+authority is recognized the European is free to travel and live,
+though past experience has led officials not to welcome him. At the
+same time, he remains entirely under the jurisdiction of his own
+authorities, except in cases of murder or grave crime, when he must be
+at once handed over to the nearest consul of his country. Not only are
+he and his household thus protected, but also his native employees,
+and, to a certain extent, his commercial and agricultural agents.
+
+Thus foreigners in Morocco enjoy within the limits of the central
+power the security of their own lands, and the justice of their own
+laws. They do not even find in Morocco that immunity from justice
+which some ignorant writers of fiction have supposed; for unless a
+foreigner abandons his own nationality and creed, and buries himself
+in the interior under a native name, he cannot escape the writs of
+foreign courts. In any case, the Moorish authorities will arrest him
+on demand, and hand him over to his consul to be dealt with according
+to law. The colony of refugees which has been pictured by imaginative
+raconteurs is therefore non-existent. Instead there are growing
+colonies of business men, officials, missionaries, and a few retired
+residents, quite above the average of such colonies in the Levant, for
+instance.
+
+For many years past, though the actual business done has shown a
+fairly steady increase, the commercial outlook in Morocco has gone
+from bad to worse. Yet more of its products are now exported, and
+there are more European articles in demand, than were thought of
+twenty years ago. This anomalous and almost paradoxical condition is
+due to the increase of competition and the increasing weakness of the
+Government. Men who had hope a few years ago, now struggle on because
+they have staked too much to be able to leave for more promising
+fields. This has been especially the case since the late Sultan's
+death. The disturbances which followed that event impoverished many
+tribes, and left behind a sense of uncertainty and dread. No European
+Bourse is more readily or lastingly affected by local political
+troubles than the general trade of a land like Morocco, in which men
+live so much from hand to mouth.
+
+It is a noteworthy feature of Moorish diplomatic history that to the
+Moors' love of foreign trade we owe almost every step that has led to
+our present relations with the Empire. Even while their rovers were
+the terror of our merchantmen, as has been pointed out, foreign
+traders were permitted to reside in their ports, the facilities
+granted to them forming the basis of all subsequent negotiations. Now
+that concession after concession has been wrung from their unwilling
+Government, and in spite of freedom of residence, travel, and trade in
+the most important parts of the Empire, it is disheartening to see the
+foreign merchant in a worse condition than ever.
+
+The previous generation, fewer in number, enjoying far less
+privileges, and subjected to restrictions and indignities that would
+not be suffered to-day, were able to make their fortunes and retire,
+while their successors find it hard to hold their own. The "hundred
+tonners" who, in the palmy days of Mogador, were wont to boast that
+they shipped no smaller quantities at once, are a dream of the past.
+The ostrich feathers and elephants' tusks no longer find their way out
+by that port, and little gold now passes in or out. Merchant princes
+will never be seen here again; commercial travellers from Germany are
+found in the interior, and quality, as well as price, has been reduced
+to its lowest ebb.
+
+A crowd of petty trading agents has arisen with no capital to speak
+of, yet claiming and abusing credit, of which a most ruinous system
+prevails, and that in a land in which the collection of debts is
+proverbially difficult, and oftentimes impossible. The native Jews,
+who were interpreters and brokers years ago, have now learned the
+business and entered the lists. These new competitors content
+themselves with infinitesimal profits, or none at all in cases where
+the desideratum is cash to lend out at so many hundreds per cent. per
+annum. Indeed, it is no uncommon practice for goods bought on long
+credit to be sold below cost price for this purpose. Against such
+methods who can compete?
+
+Yet this is a rich, undeveloped land--not exactly an El Dorado, though
+certainly as full of promise as any so styled has proved to be when
+reached--favoured physically and geographically, but politically
+stagnant, cursed with an effete administration, fettered by a decrepit
+creed. In view of this situation, it is no wonder that from time to
+time specious schemes appear and disappear with clockwork regularity.
+Now it is in England, now in France, that a gambling public is found
+to hazard the cost of proving the impossibility of opening the country
+with a rush, and the worthlessness of so-called concessions and
+monopolies granted by sheďkhs in the south, who, however they may
+chafe under existing rule which forbids them ports of their own,
+possess none of the powers required to treat with foreigners.
+
+As normal trade has waned in Morocco, busy minds have not been slow in
+devising illicit, or at least unusual, methods of making money,
+even, one regrets to say, of making false money. Among the drawbacks
+suffered by the commerce which pines under the shade of the shareefian
+umbrella, one--and that far from the least--is the unsatisfactory
+coinage, which till a few years ago was almost entirely foreign. To
+have to depend in so important a matter on any mint abroad is bad
+enough, but for that mint to be Spanish means much. Centuries ago
+the Moors coined more, but with the exception of a horrible token of
+infinitesimal value called "floos," the products of their extinct
+mints are only to be found in the hands of collectors, in buried
+hoards, or among the jewellery displayed at home by Mooresses and
+Jewesses, whose fortunes, so invested, may not be seized for debt.
+Some of the older issues are thin and square, with well-preserved
+inscriptions, and of these a fine collection--mostly gold--may be seen
+at the British Museum; but the majority, closely resembling those of
+India and Persia, are rudely stamped and unmilled, not even round,
+but thick, and of fairly good metal. The "floos" referred to (_sing._
+"fils") are of three sizes, coarsely struck in zinc rendered hard and
+yellow by the addition of a little copper. The smallest, now rarely
+met with, runs about 19,500 to Ł1 when this is worth 32-1/2 Spanish
+pesetas; the other two, still the only small change of the country,
+are respectively double and quadruple its value. The next coin in
+general circulation is worth 2_d._, so the inconvenience is great.
+A few years ago, however, Europeans resident in Tangier resolutely
+introduced among themselves the Spanish ten and five céntimo pieces,
+corresponding to our 1_d._ and 1/2_d._, which are now in free local
+use, but are not accepted up-country.
+
+What passes as Moorish money to-day has been coined in France for many
+years, more recently also in Germany; the former is especially neat,
+but the latter lacks style. The denominations coincide with those of
+Spain, whose fluctuations in value they closely follow at a respectful
+distance. This autumn the "Hasáni" coin--that of Mulai el Hasan, the
+late Sultan--has fallen to fifty per cent. discount on Spanish. With
+the usual perversity also, the common standard "peseta," in which
+small bargains are struck on the coast, was omitted, the nearest coin,
+the quarter-dollar, being nominally worth ptas. 1.25. It was only
+after a decade, too, that the Government put in circulation the
+dollars struck in France, which had hitherto been laid up in the
+treasury as a reserve. And side by side with the German issue came
+abundant counterfeit coins, against which Government warnings were
+published, to the serious disadvantage of the legal issue. Even the
+Spanish copper has its rival, and a Frenchman was once detected trying
+to bring in a nominal four hundred dollars' worth of an imitation,
+which he promptly threw overboard when the port guards raised
+objections to its quality.
+
+The increasing need of silver currency inland, owing to its free use
+in the manufacture of trinkets, necessitates a constant importation,
+and till recently all sorts of coins, discarded elsewhere, were in
+circulation. This was the case especially with French, Swiss, Belgian,
+Italian, Greek, Roumanian, and other pieces of the value of twenty
+céntimos, known here by the Turkish name "gursh," which were accepted
+freely in Central Morocco, but not in the north. Twenty years ago
+Spanish Carolus, Isabella and Philippine shillings and kindred coins
+were in use all over the country, and when they were withdrawn from
+circulation in Spain they were freely shipped here, till the country
+was flooded with them. When the merchants and customs at last refused
+them, their astute importers took them back at a discount, putting
+them into circulation later at what they could, only to repeat the
+transaction. In Morocco everything a man can be induced to take is
+legal tender, and for bribes and religious offerings all things pass,
+this practice being an easier matter than at first sight appears; so
+in the course of a few years one saw a whole series of coins in vogue,
+one after the other, the main transactions taking place on the coast
+with country Moors, than whom, though none more suspicious, none are
+more easily gulled.
+
+A much more serious obstacle to inland trade is the periodically
+disturbed state of the country, not so much the local struggles and
+uprisings which serve to free superfluous energy, as the regular
+administrative expeditions of the Moorish Court, or of considerable
+bodies of troops. These used to take place in some direction every
+year, "the time when kings go forth to war" being early summer, just
+when agricultural operations are in full swing, and every man is
+needed on his fields. In one district the ranks of the workers are
+depleted by a form of conscription or "harka," and in another these
+unfortunates are employed preventing others doing what they should
+be doing at home. Thus all suffer, and those who are not themselves
+engaged in the campaign are forced to contribute cash, if only to find
+substitutes to take their places in the ranks.
+
+The movement of the Moorish Court means the transportation of a
+numerous host at tremendous expense, which has eventually to be
+recouped in the shape of regular contributions, arrears of taxes and
+fines, collected _en route_, so the pace is abnormally slow. Not
+only is there an absolute absence of roads, and, with one or two
+exceptions, of bridges, but the Sultan himself, with all his army,
+cannot take the direct route between his most important inland cities
+without fighting his way. The configuration of the empire explains its
+previous sub-division into the kingdoms of Fez, Marrákesh, Tafilált
+and Sűs, and the Reef, for between the plains of each run mountain
+ranges which have never known absolute "foreign" rulers.
+
+[Illustration: CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER. _Molinari, Photo., Tangier._]
+
+To European engineers the passes through these closed districts would
+offer no great obstacles in the construction of roads such as thread
+the Himalayas, but the Moors do not wish for the roads; for, while
+what the Government fears to promote thereby is combination, the
+actual occupants of the mountains, the native Berbers, desire not to
+see the Arab tax-gatherers, only tolerating their presence as long as
+they cannot help it, and then rising against them.
+
+Often a tribe will be left for several years to enjoy independence,
+while the slip-shod army of the Sultan is engaged elsewhere. When
+its turn comes it holds out for terms, since it has no hope of
+successfully confronting such an overwhelming force as is sooner
+or later brought against it. The usual custom is to send small
+detachments of soldiers to the support of the over-grasping
+functionaries, and when they have been worsted, to send down an
+army to "eat up" the province, burning villages, deporting cattle,
+ill-treating the women, and often carrying home children as slaves.
+The men of the district probably flee and leave their homes to be
+ransacked. They content themselves with hiding behind crags which seem
+to the plainsmen inaccessible, whence they can in safety harass the
+troops on the march. After more or less protracted skirmishing, the
+country having been devastated by the troops, who care only for the
+booty, women will be sent into the camp to make terms, or one of the
+shareefs or religious nobles who accompany the army is sent out to
+treat with the rebels. The terms are usually hard--so much arrears
+of tribute in cash and kind, so much as a fine for expenses, so many
+hostages. Then hostages and prisoners are driven to the capital in
+chains, and pickled heads are exposed on the gateways, imperial
+letters being read in the chief mosques throughout the country,
+telling of a glorious victory, and calling for rejoicings. To any
+other people the short spell of freedom would have been too dearly
+bought for the experiment to be repeated, but as soon as they begin to
+chafe again beneath the lawless rule of Moorish officials, the Berbers
+rebel once more. It has been going on thus for hundreds of years, and
+will continue till put an end to by France.
+
+In Morocco each official preys upon the one below him, and on all
+others within his reach, till the poor oppressed and helpless villager
+lives in terror of them all, not daring to display signs of prosperity
+for fear of tempting plunder. Merit is no key to positions of trust
+and authority, and few have such sufficient salary attached to render
+them attractive to honest men. The holders are expected in most cases
+to make a living out of the pickings, and are allowed an unquestioned
+run of office till they are presumed to have amassed enough to make it
+worth while treating them as they have treated others, when they are
+called to account and relentlessly "squeezed." The only means of
+staving off the fatal day is by frequent presents to those above them,
+wrung from those below. A large proportion of Moorish officials end
+their days in disgrace, if not in dungeons, and some meet their end
+by being invited to corrosive sublimate tea, a favourite beverage in
+Morocco--for others. Yet there is always a demand for office, and
+large prices are paid for posts affording opportunities for plunder.
+
+The Moorish financial system is of a piece with this method. When the
+budget is made out, each tribe or district is assessed at the utmost
+it is believed capable of yielding, and the candidate for its
+governorship who undertakes to get most out of it probably has the
+task allotted to him. His first duty is to repeat on a small scale
+the operation of the Government, informing himself minutely as to the
+resources under his jurisdiction, and assessing the sub-divisions
+so as to bring in enough for himself, and to provide against
+contingencies, in addition to the sum for which he is responsible. The
+local sheďkhs or head-men similarly apportion their demands among the
+individuals entrusted to their tender mercy. A fool is said to have
+once presented the Sultan with a bowl of skimmed and watered milk, and
+on being remonstrated with, to have declared that His Majesty received
+no more from any one, as his wazeers and governors ate half the
+revenue cream each, and the sheďkhs drank half the revenue milk. The
+fool was right.
+
+The richer a man is, the less proportion he will have to pay, for he
+can make it so agreeable--or disagreeable--for those entrusted with a
+little brief authority. It is the struggling poor who have to pay
+or go to prison, even if to pay they have to sell their means of
+subsistence. Three courses lie before this final victim--to obtain
+the protection of some influential name, native or foreign, to buy a
+"friend at court," or to enter Nazarene service. But native friends
+are uncertain and hard to find, and, above all, they may be alienated
+by a higher bid from a rival or from a rapacious official. Such
+affairs are of common occurrence, and harrowing tales might be told of
+homes broken up in this way, of tortures inflicted, and of lives
+spent in dungeons because display has been indulged in, or because an
+independent position has been assumed under cover of a protection that
+has failed. But what can one expect with such a standard of honour?
+
+Foreigners, on the other hand, seldom betray their
+_protégés_--although, to their shame be it mentioned, some in high
+places have done so,--wherefore their protection is in greater demand;
+besides which it is more effectual, as coming from outside, while no
+Moor, however well placed, is absolutely secure in his own position.
+Thus it is that the down-trodden natives desire and are willing to pay
+for protection in proportion to their means; and it is this power
+of dispensing protection which, though often abused, does more than
+anything else to raise the prestige of the foreigner, and in turn to
+protect him.
+
+The claims most frequently made against Moors by foreign countries are
+for debt, claims which afford the greatest scope for controversy
+and the widest loophole for abuse. Although, unfortunately, for the
+greater part usurious, a fair proportion are for goods delivered, but
+to evade the laws even loan receipts are made out as for goods to be
+delivered, a form in which discrimination is extremely difficult. The
+condition of the country, in which every man is liable to be arrested,
+thrashed, imprisoned, if not tortured, to extort from him his wealth,
+is such as furnishes the usurer with crowding clients; and the
+condition of things among the Indian cultivators, bad as it is, since
+they can at least turn to a fair-handed Government, is not to be
+compared to that of the down-trodden Moorish farmer.
+
+The assumption by the Government of responsibility for the debts of
+its subjects, or at all events its undertaking to see that they pay,
+is part of the patriarchal system in force, by which the family is
+made responsible for individuals, the tribe for families, and so on.
+No other system would bring offenders to justice without police; but
+it transforms each man into his brother's keeper. This, however, does
+not apply only to debts the collection of which is urged upon the
+Government, for whom it is sufficient to produce the debtor and let
+him prove absolute poverty for him to be released, with the claim
+cancelled. This in theory: but in practice, to appease these claims,
+however just, innocent men are often thrown into prison, and untold
+horrors are suffered, in spite of all the efforts of foreign ministers
+to counteract the injustice.
+
+A mere recital of tales which have come under my own observation would
+but harrow my readers' feelings to no purpose, and many would appear
+incredible. With the harpies of the Government at their heels, men
+borrow wildly for a month or two at cent. per cent., and as the
+Moorish law prohibits interest, a document is sworn to before notaries
+by which the borrower declares that he has that day taken in hard cash
+the full amount to be repaid, the value of certain crops or produce of
+which he undertakes delivery upon a certain date. Very seldom,
+indeed, does it happen that by that date the money can be repaid, and
+generally the only terms offered for an extension of time for another
+three or six months are the addition of another fifty or one hundred
+per cent. to the debt, always fully secured on property, or by the
+bonds of property holders. Were not this thing of everyday occurrence
+in Morocco, and had I not examined scores of such papers, the way in
+which the ignorant Moors fall into such traps would seem incredible.
+It is usual to blame the Jews for it all, and though the business lies
+mostly in their hands, it must not be overlooked that many foreigners
+engage in it, and, though indirectly, some Moors also.
+
+But besides such claims, there is a large proportion of just business
+debts which need to be enforced. It does not matter how fair a claim
+may be, or how legitimate, it is very rarely that trouble is not
+experienced in pressing it. The Moorish Courts are so venal, so
+degraded, that it is more often the unscrupulous usurer who wins his
+case and applies the screw, than the honest trader. Here lies the
+rub. Another class of claims is for damage done, loss suffered, or
+compensation for imaginary wrongs. All these together mount up, and a
+newly appointed minister or consul-general is aghast at the list which
+awaits him. He probably contents himself at first with asking for the
+appointment of a commission to examine and report on the legality of
+all these claims, and for the immediate settlement of those approved.
+But he asks and is promised in vain, till at last he obtains the moral
+support of war-ships, in view of which the Moorish Government most
+likely pays much more than it would have got off with at first, and
+then proceeds to victimize the debtors.
+
+It is with expressed threats of bombardment that the ships come, but
+experience has taught the Moorish Government that it is well not to
+let things go that length, and they now invariably settle amicably. To
+our western notions it may seem strange that whatever questions have
+to be attended to should not be put out of hand without requiring
+such a demonstration; but while there is sleep there is hope for an
+Oriental, and the rulers of Morocco would hardly be Moors if they
+resisted the temptation to procrastinate, for who knows what may
+happen while they delay? And then there is always the chance of
+driving a bargain, so dear to the Moorish heart, for the wazeer knows
+full well that although the Nazarene may be prepared to bombard, as
+he has done from time to time, he is no more desirous than the Sultan
+that such an extreme measure should be necessary.
+
+So, even when things come to the pinch, and the exasperated
+representative of Christendom talks hotly of withdrawing, hauling down
+his flag and giving hostile orders, there is time at least to make an
+offer, or to promise everything in words. And when all is over, claims
+paid, ships gone, compliments and presents passed, nothing really
+serious has happened, just the everyday scene on the market applied to
+the nation, while the Moorish Government has once more given proof of
+worldly wisdom, and endorsed the proverb that discretion is the better
+part of valour.
+
+An illustration of the high-handed way in which things are done
+in Morocco has but recently been afforded by the action of France
+regarding an alleged Algerian subject arrested by the Moorish
+authorities for conspiracy. The man, Boo Zîan Miliáni by name, was the
+son of one of those Algerians who, when their country was conquered by
+the French, preferred exile to submission, and migrated to Morocco,
+where they became naturalized. He was charged with supporting the
+so-called "pretender" in the Reef province, where he was arrested with
+two others early in August last. His particular offence appears to
+have been the reading of the "Rogi's" proclamations to the public, and
+inciting them to rebel against the Sultan. But when brought a
+prisoner to Tangier, and thence despatched to Fez, he claimed French
+citizenship, and the Minister of France, then at Court, demanded his
+release.
+
+This being refused, a peremptory note followed, with a threat to break
+off diplomatic negotiations if the demand were not forthwith complied
+with. The usual _communiqués_ were made to the Press, whereby a chorus
+was produced setting forth the insult to France, the imminence of war,
+and the general gravity of the situation. Many alarming head-lines
+were provided for the evening papers, and extra copies were doubtless
+sold. In Morocco, however, not only the English and Spanish papers,
+but also the French one, admitted that the action of France was wrong,
+though the ultimate issue was never in doubt, and the man's release
+was a foregone conclusion. Elsewhere the rights of the matter would
+have been sifted, and submitted at least to the law-courts, if not to
+arbitration.
+
+While the infliction of this indignity was stirring up northern
+Morocco, the south was greatly exercised by the presence on the
+coast of a French vessel, _L'Aigle_, officers from which proceeded
+ostentatiously to survey the fortifications of Mogador and its island,
+and then effected a landing on the latter by night. Naturally the
+coastguards fired at them, fortunately without causing damage, but
+had any been killed, Europe would have rung with the "outrage." From
+Mogador the vessel proceeded after a stay of a month to Agadir, the
+first port of Sűs, closed to Europeans.
+
+Here its landing-party was met on the beach by some hundreds of armed
+men, whose commander resolutely forbade them to land, so they had to
+retire. Had they not done so, who would answer for the consequences?
+As it was, the natives, eager to attack the "invaders," were with
+difficulty kept in hand, and one false step would undoubtedly have
+led to serious bloodshed. Of course this was a dreadful rebuff for
+"pacific penetration," but the matter was kept quiet as a little
+premature, since in Europe the coast is not quite clear enough yet for
+retributory measures. The effect, however, on the Moors, among whom
+the affair grew more grave each time it was recited, was out of all
+proportion to the real importance of the incident, which otherwise
+might have passed unnoticed.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+BEHIND THE SCENES
+
+  "He knows of every vice an ounce."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Though most eastern lands may be described as slip-shod, with
+reference both to the feet of their inhabitants and to the way in
+which things are done, there can be no country in the world more aptly
+described by that epithet than Morocco. One of the first things which
+strikes the visitor to this country is the universality of the slipper
+as foot-gear, at least, so far as the Moors are concerned. In the
+majority of cases the men wear the heels of their slippers folded down
+under the feet, only putting them up when necessity compels them to
+run, which they take care shall not be too often, as they much prefer
+a sort of ambling gait, best compared to that of their mules, or to
+that of an English tramp.
+
+Nothing delights them better as a means of agreeably spending an
+hour or two, than squatting on their heels in the streets or on some
+door-stoop, gazing at the passers-by, exchanging compliments with
+their acquaintances. Native "swells" consequently promenade with a
+piece of felt under their arms on which to sit when they wish, in
+addition to its doing duty as a carpet for prayer. The most public
+places, and usually the cool of the afternoon, are preferred for this
+pastime.
+
+The ladies of their Jewish neighbours also like to sit at their doors
+in groups at the same hour, or in the doorways of main thoroughfares
+on moonlight evenings, while the gentlemen, who prefer to do their
+gossiping afoot, roam up and down. But this is somewhat apart from the
+point of the lazy tendencies of the Moors. With them--since they have
+no trains to catch, and disdain punctuality--all hurry is undignified,
+and one could as easily imagine an elegantly dressed Moorish scribe
+literally flying as running, even on the most urgent errand. "Why
+run," they ask, "when you might just as well walk? Why walk, when
+standing would do? Why stand, when sitting is so much less fatiguing?
+Why sit, when lying down gives so much more rest? And why, lying down,
+keep your eyes open?"
+
+In truth, this is a country in which things are left pretty much to
+look after themselves. Nothing is done that can be left undone, and
+everything is postponed until "to-morrow." Slipper-slapper go the
+people, and slipper-slapper goes their policy. If you can get through
+a duty by only half doing it, by all means do so, is the generally
+accepted rule of life. In anything you have done for you by a Moor,
+you are almost sure to discover that he has "scamped" some part;
+perhaps the most important. This, of course, means doing a good
+deal yourself, if you like things done well, a maxim holding good
+everywhere, indeed, but especially here.
+
+The Moorish Government's way of doing things--or rather, of not doing
+them if it can find an excuse--is eminently slip-shod. The only point
+in which they show themselves astute is in seeing that their Rubicon
+has a safe bridge by which they may retreat, if that suits their plans
+after crossing it. To deceive the enemy they hide this as best
+they can, for the most part successfully, causing the greatest
+consternation in the opposite camp, which, at the moment when it
+thinks it has driven them into a corner, sees their ranks gradually
+thinning from behind, dribbling away by an outlet hitherto invisible.
+Thus, in accepting a Moor's promise, one must always consider the
+conditions or rider annexed.
+
+This can be well illustrated by the reluctant permission to transport
+grain from one Moorish port to another, granted from time to time,
+but so hampered by restrictions as to be only available to a few, the
+Moorish Government itself deriving the greatest advantage from it.
+Then, too, there is the property clause in the Convention of Madrid,
+which has been described as the sop by means of which the Powers were
+induced to accept other less favourable stipulations. Instead of being
+the step in advance which it appeared to be, it was, in reality, a
+backward step, the conditions attached making matters worse than
+before.
+
+In this way only do the Moors shine as politicians, unless
+prevarication and procrastination be included, Machiavellian arts in
+which they easily excel. Otherwise they are content to jog along in
+the same slip-shod manner as their fathers did centuries ago, as soon
+as prosperity had removed the incentive to exert the energy they once
+possessed. The same carelessness marks their conduct in everything,
+and the same unsatisfactory results inevitably follow.
+
+But to get at the root of the matter it is necessary to go a step
+further. The absolute lack of morals among the people is the real
+cause of the trouble. Morocco is so deeply sunk in the degradation of
+vice, and so given up to lust, that it is impossible to lay bare its
+deplorable condition. In most countries, with a fair proportion of
+the pure and virtuous, some attempt is made to gloss over and conceal
+one's failings; but in this country the only vice which public opinion
+seriously condemns is drunkenness, and it is only before foreigners
+that any sense of shame or desire for secrecy about others is
+observable. The Moors have not yet attained to that state of
+hypocritical sanctimoniousness in which modern society in civilized
+lands delights to parade itself.
+
+The taste for strong drink, though still indulged comparatively in
+secret, is steadily increasing, the practice spreading from force
+of example among the Moors themselves, as a result of the strenuous
+efforts of foreigners to inculcate this vice. European consular
+reports not infrequently note with congratulation the growing imports
+of wines and liqueurs into Morocco, nominally for the sole use of
+foreigners, although manifestly far in excess of their requirements.
+As yet, it is chiefly among the higher and lower classes that the
+victims are found, the former indulging in the privacy of their own
+homes, and the latter at the low drinking-dens kept by the scum of
+foreign settlers in the open ports. Among the country people of
+the plains and lower hills there are hardly any who would touch
+intoxicating liquor, though among the mountaineers the use of alcohol
+has ever been more common.
+
+Tobacco smoking is very general on the coast, owing to contact with
+Europeans, but still comparatively rare in the interior, although the
+native preparations of hemp (keef), and also to some extent opium,
+have a large army of devotees, more or less victims. The latter,
+however, being an expensive import, is less known in the interior.
+Snuff-taking is fairly general among men and women, chiefly the
+elderly. What they take is very strong, being a composition of
+tobacco, walnut shells, and charcoal ash. The writer once saw a young
+Englishman, who thought he could stand a good pinch of snuff, fairly
+"knocked over" by a quarter as much as the owner of the nut from which
+it came took with the utmost complacency.
+
+The feeling of the Moorish Government about smoking has long been so
+strong that in every treaty with Europe is inserted a clause reserving
+the right of prohibiting the importation of all narcotics, or articles
+used in their manufacture or consumption. Till a few years ago the
+right to deal in these was granted yearly as a monopoly; but in 1887
+the late Sultan, Mulai el Hasan, and his aoláma, or councillors,
+decided to abolish the business altogether, so, purchasing the
+existing stocks at a valuation, they had the whole burned. But first
+the foreign officials and then private foreigners demanded the right
+to import whatever they needed "for their own consumption," and the
+abuse of this courtesy has enabled several tobacco factories to spring
+up in the country. The position with regard to the liquor traffic is
+almost the same. If the Moors were free to legislate as they wished,
+they would at once prohibit the importation of intoxicants.
+
+Of late years, however, a great change has come over the Moors of the
+ports, more especially so in Tangier, where the number of taverns and
+_cafés_ has increased most rapidly. During many years' residence there
+the cases of drunkenness met with could be counted on the fingers, and
+were then confined to guides or servants of foreigners; on the last
+visit paid to the country more were observed in a month than then in
+years. In those days to be seen with a cigarette was almost a crime,
+and those who indulged in a whiff at home took care to deodorize their
+mouths with powdered coffee; now Moors sit with Europeans, smoking and
+drinking, unabashed, at tables in the streets, but not those of the
+better sort. Thus Morocco is becoming civilized!
+
+However ashamed a Moor may be of drunkenness, no one thinks of making
+a pretence of being chaste or moral. On the contrary, no worse is
+thought of a man who is wholly given up to the pleasures of the flesh
+than of one who is addicted to the most innocent amusements. If a
+Moor is remonstrated with, he declares he is not half so bad as the
+"Nazarenes" he has come across, who, in addition to practising most of
+his vices, indulge in drunkenness. It is not surprising, therefore,
+that the diseases which come as a penalty for these vices are
+fearfully prevalent in Morocco. Everywhere one comes across the
+ravages of such plagues, and is sickened at the sight of their
+victims. Without going further into details, it will suffice to
+mention that one out of every five patients (mostly males) who attend
+at the dispensary of the North Africa Mission at Tangier are direct,
+or indirect, sufferers from these complaints.
+
+The Moors believe in "sowing wild oats" when young, till their energy
+is extinguished, leaving them incapable of accomplishing anything.
+Then they think the pardon of God worth invoking, if only in the vain
+hope of having their youth renewed as the eagle's. Yet if this could
+happen, they would be quite ready to commence a fresh series of
+follies more outrageous than before. This is a sad picture, but
+nevertheless true, and, far from being exaggerated, does not even hint
+at much that exists in Morocco to-day.
+
+The words of the Korán about such matters are never considered, though
+nominally the sole guide for life. The fact that God is "the Pitying,
+the Pitiful, King of the Day of Judgement," is considered sufficient
+warrant for the devotees of Islám to lightly indulge in breaches of
+laws which they hold to be His, confident that if they only perform
+enough "vain repetitions," fast at the appointed times, and give alms,
+visiting Mekka, if possible, or if not, making pilgrimages to shrines
+of lesser note nearer home, God, in His infinite mercy, will overlook
+all.
+
+An anonymous writer has aptly remarked--"Every good Mohammedan has
+a perpetual free pass over that line, which not only secures to him
+personally a safe transportation to Paradise, but provides for him
+upon his arrival there so luxuriously that he can leave all the
+cumbersome baggage of his earthly harem behind him, and begin his
+celestial house-keeping with an entirely new outfit."
+
+Here lies the whole secret of Morocco's backward state. Her people,
+having outstepped even the ample limits of licentiousness laid down in
+the Korán, and having long ceased to be even true Mohammedans, by
+the time they arrive at manhood have no energy left to promote her
+welfare, and sink into an indolent, procrastinating race, capable of
+little in the way of progress till a radical change takes place in
+their morals.
+
+Nothing betrays their moral condition more clearly than their
+unrestrained conversation, a reeking vapour arising from a mass of
+corruption. The foul ejaculations of an angry Moor are unreproducible,
+only serving to show extreme familiarity with vice of every sort. The
+tales to which they delight to listen, the monotonous chants rehearsed
+by hired musicians at public feasts or private entertainments, and the
+voluptuous dances they delight to have performed before them as they
+lie sipping forbidden liquors, are all of one class, recounting and
+suggesting evil deeds to hearers or observers.
+
+The constant use made of the name of God, mostly in stock phrases
+uttered without a thought as to their real meaning, is counterbalanced
+in some measure by cursing of a most elaborate kind, and the frequent
+mention of the "Father of Lies," called by them "The Liar" _par
+excellence_. The term "elaborate" is the only one wherewith to
+describe a curse so carefully worded that, if executed, it would
+leave no hope of Paradise either for the unfortunate addressee or his
+ancestors for several generations. On the slightest provocation,
+or without that excuse, the Moor can roll forth the most intricate
+genealogical objurgations, or rap out an oath. In ordinary cases of
+displeasure he is satisfied with showering expletives on the parents
+and grand-parents of the object of his wrath, with derogatory
+allusions to the morals of those worthies' "better halves." "May God
+have mercy on thy relatives, O my Lord," is a common way of addressing
+a stranger respectfully, and the contrary expression is used to
+produce a reverse effect.
+
+I am often asked, "What would a Moor think of this?" Probably some
+great invention will be referred to, or some manifest improvement in
+our eyes over Moorish methods or manufactures. If it was something
+he could see, unless above the average, he would look at it as a cow
+looks at a new gate, without intelligence, realizing only the change,
+not the cause or effect. By this time the Moors are becoming familiar,
+at least by exaggerated descriptions, with most of the foreigner's
+freaks, and are beginning to refuse to believe that the Devil assists
+us, as they used to, taking it for granted that we should be more
+ingenious, and they more wise! The few who think are apt to pity the
+rush of our lives, and write us down, from what they have themselves
+observed in Europe as in Morocco, as grossly immoral beside even their
+acknowledged failings. The faults of our civilization they quickly
+detect, the advantages are mostly beyond their comprehension.
+
+Some years ago a friend of mine showed two Moors some of the sights
+of London. When they saw St. Paul's they told of the glories of the
+Karűeeďn mosque at Fez; with the towers of Westminster before them
+they sang the praises of the Kűtűbîya at Marrákesh. Whatever they saw
+had its match in Morocco. But at last, as a huge dray-horse passed
+along the highway with its heavy load, one grasped the other's arm
+convulsively, exclaiming, "M'bark Allah! Aoűd hadhá!"--"Blessed be
+God! That's a horse!" Here at least was something that did appeal to
+the heart of the Arab. For once he saw a creature he could understand,
+the like of which was never bred in Barbary, and his wonder knew no
+bounds.
+
+An equally good story is told of an Englishman who endeavoured to
+convince a Moor at home of the size of these horses. With his stick he
+drew on the ground one of their full-sized shoes. "But we have horses
+beyond the mountains with shoes _this_ size," was the ready reply, as
+the native drew another twice as big. Annoyed at not being able to
+convince him, the Englishman sent home for a specimen shoe. When he
+showed it to the Moor, the only remark he elicited was that a native
+smith could make one twice the size. Exasperated now, and not to be
+outdone, the Englishman sent home for a cart-horse skull. "Now you've
+beaten me!" at last acknowledged the Moor. "You Christians can make
+anything, but _we can't make bones!_"
+
+Bigoted and fanatical as the Moors may show themselves at times,
+they are generally willing enough to be friends with those who show
+themselves friendly. And notwithstanding the way in which the strong
+oppress the weak, as a nation they are by no means treacherous or
+cruel; on the contrary, the average Moor is genial and hospitable,
+does not forget a kindness, and is a man whom one can respect. Yet it
+is strange how soon a little power, and the need for satisfying the
+demands of his superiors, will corrupt the mildest of them; and the
+worst are to be found among families which have inherited office. The
+best officials are those chosen from among retired merchants whose
+palms no longer itch, and who, by intercourse with Europeans, have had
+their ideas of life broadened.
+
+The greatest obstacle to progress in Morocco is the blind prejudice
+of ignorance. It is hard for the Moors to realize that their presumed
+hereditary foes can wish them well, and it is suspicion, rather than
+hostility, which induces them to crawl within their shell and ask to
+be left alone. Too often subsequent events have shown what good ground
+they have had for suspicion. It is a pleasure for me to be able to
+state that during all the years that I have lived among them, often in
+the closest intercourse, I have never received the least insult, but
+have been well repaid in my own coin. What more could be wished?
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS]
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE BERBER RACE
+
+  "Every lion in his own forest roars."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Few who glibly use the word "Barbarian" pause to consider whether the
+present meaning attached to the name is justified or not, or whether
+the people of Barbary are indeed the uncivilized, uncouth, incapable
+lot their name would seem to imply to-day. In fact, the popular
+ignorance regarding the nearest point of Africa is even greater than
+of the actually less known central portions, where the white man
+penetrates with every risk. To declare that the inhabitants of the
+four Barbary States--Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli--are not
+"Blackamoors" at all, but white like ourselves, is to astonish most
+folk at the outset.
+
+Of course in lands where the enslavement of neighbouring negro races
+has been an institution for a thousand years or more, there is a
+goodly proportion of mulattoes; and among those whose lives have been
+spent for generations in field work there are many whose skins are
+bronzed and darkened, but they are white by nature, nevertheless, and
+town life soon restores the original hue. The student class of Fez,
+drawn from all sections of the population of Morocco, actually makes
+a boast of the pale and pasty complexions attained by life amid the
+shaded cloisters and covered streets of the intellectual capital. Then
+again those who are sunburned and bronzed are more of the Arab stock
+than of the Berber.
+
+These Berbers, the original Barbarians, known to the Romans and Greeks
+as such before the Arab was heard of outside Arabia, are at once the
+greatest and the most interesting nation, or rather race, of the whole
+of Africa. Had such a coalition as "the United States of North Africa"
+been possible, Europe would long ago have learned to fear and respect
+the title "Barbarian" too much to put it to its present use. But the
+weak point of the Berber race has been its lack of homogeneity; it
+has ever been split up into independent states and tribes, constantly
+indulging in internecine warfare. This is a principle which has its
+origin in the relations of the units whereof they are composed, of
+whom it may be said as of the sons of Ishmael, that every man's hand
+is against his neighbour. The vendetta, a result of the _lex talionis_
+of "eye for eye and tooth for tooth," flourishes still. No youth is
+supposed to have attained full manhood until he has slain his man, and
+excuses are seldom lacking. The greatest insult that can be offered to
+an enemy is to tell him that his father died in bed--even greater than
+the imputation of evil character to his maternal relatives.
+
+Some years ago I had in my service a lad of about thirteen, one
+of several Reefians whom I had about me for the practice of their
+language. Two or three years later, on returning to Morocco, I met him
+one day on the market.
+
+"I am so glad to see you," he said; "I want you to help me buy some
+guns."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Well, my father's dead; may God have mercy on him!"
+
+"How did he die?"
+
+"God knows."
+
+"But what has that to do with the gun?"
+
+"You see, we must kill my three uncles, I and my two brothers, and we
+want three guns."
+
+"What! Did they kill your father?"
+
+"God knows."
+
+"May He deliver you from such a deed. Come round to the house for some
+food."
+
+"But I've got married since you saw me, and expect an heir, yet they
+chaff me and call me a boy because I have never yet killed a man."
+
+I asked an old servant who had been to England, and seemed "almost
+a Christian," to try and dissuade him, but only to meet with an
+appreciative, "Well done! I always thought there was something in that
+lad."
+
+So I tried a second, but with worse results, for he patted the boy
+on the back with an assurance that he could not dissuade him from so
+sacred a duty; and at last I had to do what I could myself. I extorted
+a promise that he would try and arrange to take blood-money, but as he
+left the door his eye fell on a broken walking-stick.
+
+"Oh, do give me that! It's no use to you, and it _would_ make such a
+nice prop for my gun, as I am a very bad shot, and we mean to wait
+outside for them in the dark."
+
+The sequel I have never heard.
+
+Up in those mountains every one lives in fortified dwellings--big men
+in citadels, others in wall-girt villages, all from time to time
+at war with one another, or with the dwellers in some neighbouring
+valley. Fighting is their element; as soon as "the powder speaks"
+there are plenty to answer, for every one carries his gun, and it is
+wonderful how soon upon these barren hills an armed crowd can muster.
+Their life is a hard fight with Nature; all they ask is to be left
+alone to fight it out among themselves. Even on the plains among the
+Arabs and the mixed tribes described as Moors, things are not much
+better, for there, too, vendettas and cattle lifting keep them at
+loggerheads, and there is nothing the clansmen like so well as a raid
+on the Governor's kasbah or castle. These kasbahs are great walled
+strongholds dotted about the country; in times of peace surrounded by
+groups of huts and tents, whose inhabitants take refuge inside when
+their neighbours appear. The high walls and towers are built of mud
+concrete, often red like the Alhambra, the surface of which stands the
+weather ill, but which, when kept in repair, lasts for centuries.
+
+The Reefian Berbers are among the finest men in Morocco--warlike and
+fierce, it is true, from long habit and training; but they have many
+excellent qualities, in addition to stalwart frames. "If you don't
+want to be robbed," say they, "don't come our way. We only care to see
+men who can fight, with whom we may try our luck." They will come and
+work for Europeans, forming friendships among them, and if it were
+not for the suspicion of those who have not done so, who always fear
+political agents and spies, they would often be willing to take
+Europeans through their land. I have more than once been invited to
+go as a Moor. But the ideas they get of Europeans in Tangier do not
+predispose to friendship, and they will not allow them to enter their
+territories if they can help it. Only those who are in subjection to
+the Sultan permit them to do so freely.
+
+The men are a hardy, sturdy race, wiry and lithe, inured to toil and
+cold, fonder far of the gun and sword than of the ploughshare, and
+steady riders of an equally wiry race of mountain ponies. Their
+dwellings are of stone and mud, often of two floors, flat-topped, with
+rugged, projecting eaves, the roofs being made of poles covered with
+the same material as the walls, stamped and smoothed. These houses are
+seldom whitewashed, and present a ruinous appearance. Their ovens are
+domes about three feet or less in height outside; they are heated by
+a fire inside, then emptied, and the bread put in. Similar ovens are
+employed in camp to bake for the Court.
+
+Instead of that forced seclusion and concealment of the features to
+which the followers of Islám elsewhere doom their women, in these
+mountain homes they enjoy almost as perfect liberty as their sisters
+in Europe. I have been greatly struck with their intelligence and
+generally superior appearance to such Arab women as I have by chance
+been able to see. Once, when supping with the son of a powerful
+governor from above Fez, his mother, wife, and wife's sister sat
+composedly to eat with us, which could never have occurred in the
+dwelling of a Moor. No attempt at covering their faces was made,
+though male attendants were present at times, but the little daughter
+shrieked at the sight of a Nazarene. The grandmother, a fine,
+buxom dame, could read and write--which would be an astonishing
+accomplishment for a Moorish woman--and she could converse better than
+many men who would in this country pass for educated.
+
+The Berber dress has either borrowed from or lent much to the Moor,
+but a few articles stamp it wherever worn. One of these is a large
+black cloak of goat's-hair, impervious to rain, made of one piece,
+with no arm-holes. At the point of the cowl hangs a black tassel,
+and right across the back, about the level of the knees, runs an
+assagai-shaped patch, often with a centre of red. It has been opined
+that this remarkable feature represents the All-seeing Eye, so often
+used as a charm, but from the scanty information I could gather from
+the people themselves, I believe that they have lost sight of the
+original idea, though some have told me that variations in the
+pattern mark clan distinctions. I have ridden--when in the guise of a
+native--for days together in one of these cloaks, during pelting rain
+which never penetrated it. In more remote districts, seldom visited by
+Europeans, the garments are ruder far, entirely of undyed wool, and
+unsewn, mere blankets with slits cut in the centre for the head. This
+is, however, in every respect, a great difference between the various
+districts. The turban is little used by these people, skull-caps
+being preferred, while their red cloth gun-cases are commonly twisted
+turban-wise as head-gear, though often a camel's-hair cord is deemed
+sufficient protection for the head.
+
+Every successive ruler of North Africa has had to do with the problem
+of subduing the Berbers and has failed. In the wars between Rome and
+Carthage it was among her sturdy Berber soldiers that the southern
+rival of the great queen city of the world found actual sinews enough
+to hold the Roman legions so long at bay, and often to overcome her
+vaunted cohorts and carry the war across into Europe. Where else did
+Rome find so near a match, and what wars cost her more than did those
+of Africa? Carthage indeed has fallen, and from her once famed Byrsa
+the writer has been able to count on his fingers the local remains of
+her greatness, yet the people who made her what she was remain--the
+Berbers of Tunisia. The Ph[oe]nician settlers, though bringing with
+them wealth and learning and arts, could never have done alone what
+they did without the hardy fighting men supplied by the hills around.
+
+When Rome herself had fallen, and the fames of Carthage and Utica were
+forgotten, there came across North Africa a very different race from
+those who had preceded them, the desert Arabs, introducing the creed
+of Islám. In the course of a century or two, North Africa became
+Mohammedan, pagan and Christian institutions being swept away before
+that onward wave. It is not probable that at any time Christianity
+had any real hold upon the Berbers themselves, and Islám itself sits
+lightly on their easy consciences.
+
+The Arabs had for the moment solved the Berber problem. They were the
+amalgam which, by coalescing with the scattered factions of their
+race, had bound them up together and had formed for once a nation of
+them. Thus it was that the Muslim armies obtained force to carry all
+before them, and thus was provided the new blood and the active
+temper to which alone are due the conquest of Spain, and subsequent
+achievements there. The popular description of the Mohammedan rulers
+of Spain as "Saracens"--Easterners--is as erroneous as the supposition
+that they were Arabs. The people who conquered Spain were Berbers,
+although their leaders often adopted Arabic names with an Arab
+religion and Arab culture. The Arabic language, although official, was
+by no means general, nor is it otherwise to-day. The men who fought
+and the men who ruled were Berbers out and out, though the latter were
+often the sons of Arab fathers or mothers, and the great religious
+chiefs were purely Arab on the father's side at least, the majority
+claiming descent from Mohammed himself, and as such forming a class
+apart of shareefs or nobles.
+
+Though nominal Mohammedans, and in Morocco acknowledging the religious
+supremacy of the reigning shareefian family, the Moorish Berbers still
+retain a semi-independence. The mountains of the Atlas chain have
+always been their home and refuge, where the plainsmen find it
+difficult and dangerous to follow them. The history of the conquest
+of Algeria and Tunisia by the French has shown that they are no mean
+opponents even to modern weapons and modern warfare. The Kabyles,[3]
+as they are erroneously styled in those countries, have still to be
+kept in check by the fear of arms, and their prowess no one disputes.
+These are the people the French propose to subdue by "pacific
+penetration." The awe with which these mountaineers have inspired the
+plainsmen and townsfolk is remarkable; as good an illustration of it
+as I know was the effect produced on a Moor by my explanation that a
+Highland friend to whom I had introduced him was not an Englishman,
+but what I might call a "British Berber." The man was absolutely
+awe-struck.
+
+  [3: _I.e._ "Provincials," so misnamed from Kabîlah (_pl._
+      Kabáďl), a province.]
+
+Separated from the Arab as well as from the European by a totally
+distinct, unwritten language, with numerous dialects, these people
+still exist as a mine of raw material, full of possibilities. In
+habits and style of life they may be considered uncivilized even in
+contrast to the mingled dwellers on the lowlands; but they are far
+from being savages. Their stalwart frames and sturdy independence fit
+them for anything, although the latter quality keeps them aloof, and
+has so far prevented intercourse with the outside world.
+
+Many have their own pet theories as to the origin of the Berbers and
+their language, not a few believing them to have once been altogether
+Christians, while others, following native authors, attribute to them
+Canaanitish ancestors, and ethnologists dispute as to the branch of
+Noah's family in which to class them. It is more than probable that
+they are one with the ancient Egyptians, who, at least, were no
+barbarians, if Berbers. But all are agreed that some of the finest
+stocks of southern and western Europe are of kindred origin, if not
+identical with them, and even if this be uncertain, enough has been
+said to show that they have played no unimportant part in European
+history, though it has ever been their lot to play behind the
+scenes--scene-shifters rather than actors.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO.]
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE WANDERING ARAB
+
+  "I am loving, not lustful."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Some strange fascination attaches itself to the simple nomad life of
+the Arab, in whatever country he be found, and here, in the far west
+of his peregrinations, he is encountered living almost in the same
+style as on the other side of Suez; his only roof a cloth, his country
+the wide world. Sometimes the tents are arranged as many as thirty
+or more in a circle, and at other times they are grouped hap-hazard,
+intermingled with round huts of thatch, and oblong ones of sun-dried
+bricks, thatched also; but in the latter cases the occupants are
+unlikely to be pure Arabs, for that race seldom so nearly approaches
+to settling anywhere. When the tents are arranged in a circle, the
+animals are generally picketed in the centre, but more often some are
+to be found sharing the homes of their owners.
+
+The tent itself is of an oval shape, with a wooden ridge on two poles
+across the middle third of the centre, from front to back, with a
+couple of strong bands of the same material as the tent fixed on
+either side, whence cords lead to pegs in the ground, passing over two
+low stakes leaning outwards. A rude camel's hair canvas is stretched
+over this frame, being kept up at the edges by more leaning stakes,
+and fastened by cords to pegs all round. The door space is left on
+the side which faces the centre of the encampment, and the walls or
+"curtains" are formed of high thistles lashed together in sheaves.
+Surrounding the tent is a yard, a simple bog in winter, the boundary
+of which is a ring formed by bundles of prickly branches, which
+compose a really formidable barrier, being too much for a jump, and
+too tenacious to one another and to visitors for penetration. The
+break left for an entrance is stopped at night by another bundle which
+makes the circle complete.
+
+The interior of the tent is often more or less divided by the pole
+supporting the roof, and by a pile of household goods, such as they
+are. Sometimes a rude loom is fastened to the poles, and at it a woman
+sits working on the floor. The framework--made of canes--is kept in
+place by rigging to pegs in the ground. The woman's hand is her only
+shuttle, and she threads the wool through with her fingers, a span at
+a time, afterwards knocking it down tightly into place with a heavy
+wrought-iron comb about two inches wide, with a dozen prongs. She
+seems but half-dressed, and makes no effort to conceal either face or
+breast, as a filthy child lies feeding in her lap. Her seat is a piece
+of matting, but the principal covering for the floor of trodden mud is
+a layer of palmetto leaves. Round the "walls" are several hens with
+chicks nestling under their wings, and on one side a donkey is
+tethered, while a calf sports at large.
+
+The furniture of this humble dwelling consists of two or three large,
+upright, mud-plastered, split-cane baskets, containing corn, partially
+sunk in the ground, and a few dirty bags. On one side is the mill, a
+couple of stones about eighteen inches across, the upper one convex,
+with a handle at one side. Three stones above a small hole in the
+ground serve as a cooking-range, while the fuel is abundant in the
+form of sun-dried thistles and other weeds, or palmetto leaves and
+sticks. Fire is obtained by borrowing from one another, but should it
+happen that no one in the encampment had any, the laborious operation
+of lighting dry straw from the flash in the pan of a flint-lock would
+have to be performed. To light the rude lamp--merely a bit of cotton
+protruding from anything with olive-oil in it--it is necessary to blow
+some smoking straw or weed till it bursts into a flame.
+
+Little else except the omnipresent dirt is to be found in the average
+Arab tent. A tin or two for cooking operations, a large earthen
+water-jar, and a pan or two to match, in which the butter-milk is
+kept, a sieve for the flour, and a few rough baskets, usually complete
+the list, and all are remarkable only for the prevailing grime. Making
+a virtue of necessity, the Arab prefers sour milk to fresh, for with
+this almost total lack of cleanliness, no milk would long keep sweet.
+Their food is of the simplest, chiefly the flour of wheat, barley, or
+Indian millet prepared in various ways, for the most part made up into
+flat, heavy cakes of bread, or as kesk'soo. Milk, from which butter is
+made direct by tossing it in a goat-skin turned inside out, eggs and
+fowls form the chief animal food, butcher's meat being but seldom
+indulged in. Vegetables do not enter into their diet, as they have no
+gardens, and beyond possessing flocks and herds, those Arabs met with
+in Barbary are wretchedly poor and miserably squalid. The patriarchal
+display of Arabia is here unknown.
+
+Of children and dogs there is no lack. Both abound, and wallow in the
+mud together. Often the latter seem to have the better time of it. Two
+families by one father will sometimes share one tent between them, but
+generally each "household" is distinct, though all sleep together
+in the one apartment of their abode. As one approaches a dűár, or
+encampment, an early warning is given by the hungry dogs, and soon the
+half-clad children rush out to see who comes, followed leisurely by
+their elders. Hospitality has ever been an Arab trait, and these poor
+creatures, in their humble way, sustain the best traditions of their
+race. A native visitor of their own class is entertained and fed by
+the first he comes across, while the foreign traveller or native of
+means with his own tent is accommodated on the rubbish in the midst
+of the encampment, and can purchase all he wishes--all that they
+have--for a trifle, though sometimes they turn disagreeable and "pile
+it on." A present of milk and eggs, perhaps fowls, may be brought, for
+which, however, a _quid pro quo_ is expected.
+
+Luxuries they have not. Whatever they need to do in the way of
+shopping, is done at the nearest market once a week, and nothing but
+the produce already mentioned is to be obtained from them. In the
+evenings they stuff themselves to repletion, if they can afford it,
+with a wholesome dish of prepared barley or wheat meal, sometimes
+crowned with beans; then, after a gossip round the crackling fire, or,
+on state occasions, three cups of syrupy green tea apiece, they roll
+themselves in their long blankets and sleep on the ground.
+
+The first blush of dawn sees them stirring, and soon all is life and
+excitement. The men go off to their various labours, as do many of the
+stronger women, while the remainder attend to their scanty household
+duties, later on basking in the sun. But the moment the stranger
+arrives the scene changes, and the incessant din of dogs, hags and
+babies commences, to which the visitor is doomed till late at
+night, with the addition then of neighs and brays and occasional
+cock-crowing.
+
+It never seemed to me that these poor folk enjoyed life, but rather
+that they took things sadly. How could it be otherwise? No security
+of life and property tempts them to make a show of wealth; on the
+contrary, they bury what little they may save, if any, and lead lives
+of misery for fear of tempting the authorities. Their work is hard;
+their comforts are few. The wild wind howls through their humble
+dwellings, and the rain splashes in at the door. In sickness, for lack
+of medical skill, they lie and perish. In health their only pleasures
+are animal. Their women, once they are past the prime of life, which
+means soon after thirty with this desert race, go unveiled, and work
+often harder than the men, carrying burdens, binding sheaves, or even
+perhaps helping a donkey to haul a plough. Female features are never
+so jealously guarded here as in the towns.
+
+Yet they are a jolly, good-tempered, simple folk. Often have I spent a
+merry evening round the fire with them, squatted on a bit of matting,
+telling of the wonders of "That Country," the name which alternates in
+their vocabulary with "Nazarene Land," as descriptive of all the world
+but Morocco and such portions of North Africa or Arabia as they may
+have heard of. Many an honest laugh have we enjoyed over their wordy
+tales, or perchance some witty sally; but in my heart I have pitied
+these down-trodden people in their ignorance and want. Home they do
+not know. When the pasture in Shechem is short, they remove to Dothan;
+next month they may be somewhere else. But they are always ready to
+share their scanty portion with the wayfarer, wherever they are.
+
+When the time comes for changing quarters these wanderers find the
+move but little trouble. Their few belongings are soon collected and
+packed, and the tent itself made ready for transportation. Their
+animals are got together, and ere long the cavalcade is on the road.
+Often one poor beast will carry a fair proportion of the family--the
+mother and a child or two, for instance--in addition to a load of
+household goods, and bundles of fowls slung by their feet. At the side
+men and boys drive the flocks and herds, while as often as not the
+elder women-folk take a full share in the porterage of their property.
+To meet such a caravan is to feel one's self transported to Bible
+times, and to fancy Jacob going home from Padan Aram.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+CITY LIFE
+
+  "Seek the neighbour before the house,
+  And the companion before the road."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Few countries afford a better insight into typical Mohammedan life, or
+boast a more primitive civilization, than Morocco, preserved as it
+has been so long from western contamination. The patriarchal system,
+rendered more or less familiar to us by our Bibles, still exists in
+the homes of its people, especially those of the country-side; but
+Moorish city life is no less interesting or instructive. If an
+Englishman's house is his castle, the Mohammedan's house is a
+prison--not for himself, but for his women. Here is the radical
+difference between their life and ours. No one who has not mixed
+intimately with the people as one of themselves, lodging in their
+houses and holding constant intercourse with them, can form an
+adequate idea of the lack of home feeling, even in the happiest
+families.
+
+The moment you enter a town, however, the main facts are brought
+vividly before you on every hand. You pass along a narrow
+thoroughfare--maybe six, maybe sixteen feet in width--bounded by
+almost blank walls, in some towns whitewashed, in others bare mud, in
+which are no windows, lest their inmates might see or be seen. Even
+above the roofs of the majority of two-storied houses (for very many
+in the East consist but of ground floor), the wall is continued to
+form a parapet round the terrace. If you meet a woman in the street,
+she is enveloped from head to ankle in close disguise, with only a
+peep-hole for one or both eyes, unless too ugly and withered for such
+precautions to be needful.
+
+You arrive at the door of your friend's abode, a huge massive barrier
+painted brown or green--if not left entirely uncoloured--and studded
+all over with nails. A very prison entrance it appears, for the only
+other breaks in the wall above are slits for ventilation, all placed
+so high in the room as to be out of reach. In the warmer parts of
+the country you would see latticed boxes protruding from the
+walls--meshrabîyahs or drinking-places--shelves on which porous
+earthen jars may be placed to catch the slightest breeze, that the
+God-sent beverage to which Mohammedans are wisely restricted may be at
+all times cool. You are terrified, if a stranger, by the resonance of
+this great door, as you let the huge iron ring which serves as knocker
+fall on the miniature anvil beneath it. Presently your scattered
+thoughts are recalled by a chirping voice from within--
+
+"Who's that?"
+
+You recognize the tones as those of a tiny negress slave, mayhap a
+dozen years of age, and as you give your name you hear a patter of
+bare feet on the tiles within, but if you are a male, you are left
+standing out in the street. In a few moments the latch of the inner
+door is sedately lifted, and with measured tread you hear the slippers
+of your friend advancing.
+
+"Is that So-and-so?" he asks, pausing on the other side of the door.
+
+"It is, my Lord."
+
+"Welcome, then."
+
+The heavy bolt is drawn, and the door swings on its hinges during a
+volley and counter-volley of inquiries, congratulations, and thanks to
+God, accompanied by the most graceful bows, the mutual touching and
+kissing of finger-tips, and the placing of hands on hearts. As these
+exercises slacken, your host advances to the inner door, and possibly
+disappears through it, closing it carefully behind him. You hear his
+stentorian voice commanding, "_Amel trek!_"--"Make way!"--and this is
+followed by a scuffle of feet which tells you he is being obeyed. Not
+a female form will be in sight by the time your host returns to lead
+you in by the hand with a thousand welcomes, entreating you to make
+yourself at home.
+
+The passage is constructed with a double turn, so that you could not
+look, if you would, from the roadway into the courtyard which you now
+enter. If one of the better-class houses, the floor will be paved with
+marble or glazed mosaics, and in the centre will stand a bubbling
+fountain. Round the sides is a colonnade supporting the first-floor
+landing, reached by a narrow stairway in the corner. Above is the
+deep-blue sky, obscured, perhaps, by the grateful shade of fig or
+orange boughs, or a vine on a trellis, under which the people live.
+The walls, if not tiled, are whitewashed, and often beautifully
+decorated in plaster mauresques. In the centre of three of the four
+sides are huge horseshoe-arched doorways, two of which will probably
+be closed by cotton curtains. These suffice to ensure the strictest
+privacy within, as no one would dream of approaching within a couple
+of yards of a room with the curtain down, till leave had been asked
+and obtained.
+
+You are led into the remaining room, the guest-chamber, and the
+curtain over the entrance is lowered. You may not now venture to rise
+from your seat on the mattress facing the door till the women whom you
+hear emerging from their retreats have been admonished to withdraw
+again. The long, narrow apartment, some eight feet by twenty, in
+which you find yourself has a double bed at each end, for it is
+sleeping-room and sitting-room combined, as in Barbary no distinction
+is known between the two. However long you may remain, you see no
+female face but that of the cheery slave-girl, who kisses your hand so
+demurely as she enters with refreshments.
+
+Thus the husband receives his friends--perforce all males unless he be
+"on the spree,"--in apartments from which all women-folk are banished.
+Likewise the ladies of the establishment hold their festive gatherings
+apart. Most Moors, however, are too strict to allow much visiting
+among their women, especially if they be wealthy and have a good
+complexion, when they are very closely confined, except when allowed
+to visit the bath at certain hours set apart for the fair sex, or on
+Fridays to lay myrtle branches on the tombs of saints and departed
+relatives. Most of the ladies' calls are roof-to-roof visitations, and
+very nimble they are in getting over the low partition walls, even
+dragging a ladder up and down with them if there are high ones to
+be crossed. The reason is that the roofs, or rather terraces, are
+especially reserved for women-folk, and men are not even allowed to go
+up except to do repairs, when the neighbouring houses are duly warned;
+it is illegal to have a window overlooking another's roof. David's
+temptation doubtless arose from his exercise of a Royal exemption from
+this all-prevailing custom.
+
+But for their exceedingly substantial build, the Moorish women in the
+streets might pass for ghosts, for with the exception of their red
+Morocco slippers, their costume is white--wool-white. A long and heavy
+blanket of coarse homespun effectually conceals all features but
+the eyes, which are touched up with antimony on the lids, and are
+sufficiently expressive. Sometimes a wide-brimmed straw hat is
+jauntily clapped on; but here ends the plate of Moorish out-door
+fashions. In-doors all is colour, light and glitter.
+
+In matters of colour and flowing robes the men are not far behind, and
+they make up abroad for what they lack at home. No garment is more
+artistic, and no drapery more graceful, than that in which the wealthy
+Moor takes his daily airing, either on foot or on mule back. Beneath
+a gauze-like woollen toga--relic of ancient art--glimpses of luscious
+hue are caught--crimson and purple; deep greens and "afternoon sun
+colour" (the native name for a rich orange); salmons, and pale, clear
+blues. A dark-blue cloak, when it is cold, negligently but gracefully
+thrown across the shoulders, or a blue-green prayer-carpet folded
+beneath the arm, helps to set off the whole.
+
+_Chez lui_ our friend of the flowing garments is a king, with slaves
+to wait upon him, wives to obey him, and servants to fear his wrath.
+But his everyday reception-room is the lobby of his stables, where he
+sits behind the door in rather shabby garments attending to business
+matters, unless he is a merchant or shopkeeper, when his store serves
+as office instead.
+
+If all that the Teuton considers essential to home-life is really a
+_sine quâ non_, then Orientals have no home-life. That is our way
+of looking upon it, judging in the most natural way, by our own
+standards. The Eastern, from his point of view, forms an equally poor
+idea of the customs which familiarity has rendered most dear to us.
+It is as difficult for us to set aside prejudice and to consider his
+systems impartially, as for him to do so with regard to our peculiar
+style. There are but two criteria by which the various forms of
+civilization so far developed by man may be fairly judged. The first
+is the suitability of any given form to the surroundings and exterior
+conditions of life of the nation adopting it, and the second is the
+moral or social effect on the community at large.
+
+Under the first head the unbiassed student of mankind will approve in
+the main of most systems adopted by peoples who have attained that
+artificiality which we call civilization. An exchange among Westerners
+of their time-honoured habits for those of the East would not be less
+beneficial or more incongruous than a corresponding exchange on the
+part of orientals. Those who are ignorant of life towards the sunrise
+commonly suppose that they can confer no greater benefit upon the
+natives of these climes than chairs, top-hats, and so on. Hardly could
+they be more mistaken. The Easterner despises the man who cannot eat
+his dinner without a fork or other implement, and who cannot tuck his
+legs beneath him, infinitely more than ill-informed Westerners despise
+petticoated men and shrouded women. Under the second head, however,
+a very different issue is reached, and one which involves not only
+social, but religious life, and consequently the creed on which this
+last is based. It is in this that Moorish civilization fails.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But list! what is that weird, low sound which strikes upon our ear and
+interrupts our musings? It is the call to prayer. For the fifth time
+to-day that cry is sounding--a warning to the faithful that the hour
+for evening devotions has come. See! yonder Moor has heard it too, and
+is already spreading his felt on the ground for the performance of his
+nightly orisons. Standing Mekka-wards, and bowing to the ground, he
+goes through the set forms used throughout the Mohammedan world. The
+majority satisfy their consciences by working off the whole five sets
+at once. But that cry! I hear it still; as one voice fails another
+carries on the strain in ever varying cadence, each repeating it to
+the four quarters of the heavens.
+
+It was yet early in the morning when the first call of the day burst
+on the stilly air; the sun had not then risen o'er the hill tops, nor
+had his first, soft rays dispelled the shadows of the night. Only the
+rustling of the wind was heard as it died among the tree tops--that
+wind which was a gale last night. The hurried tread of the night guard
+going on his last--perhaps his only--round before returning home, had
+awakened me from dreaming slumbers, and I was about to doze away into
+that sweetest of sleeps, the morning nap, when the distant cry broke
+forth. Pitched in a high, clear key, the Muslim confession of faith
+was heard; "Lá iláha il' Al-lah; wa Mohammed er-rasool Al-l-a-h!"
+Could ever bell send thrill like that? I wot not.
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE, SHOWING FLAGSTAFFS OF
+FOREIGN LEGATIONS.]
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE WOMEN-FOLK
+
+  "Teach not thy daughter letters; let her not live on the roof."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Of no country in the world can it more truly be said than of the
+Moorish Empire that the social condition of the people may be measured
+by that of its women. Holding its women in absolute subjection, the
+Moorish nation is itself held in subjection, morally, politically,
+socially. The proverb heading this chapter, implying that women should
+not enjoy the least education or liberty, expresses the universal
+treatment of the weaker sex among Mohammedans. It is the subservient
+position of women which strikes the visitor from Europe more than all
+the oriental strangeness of the local customs or the local art and
+colour. Advocates of the restriction of the rights of women in our own
+land, and of the retention of disabilities unknown to men, who fail to
+recognize the justice and invariability of the principle of absolute
+equality in rights and liberty between the sexes, should investigate
+the state of things existing in Morocco, where the natural results of
+a fallacious principle have had free course.
+
+No welcome awaits the infant daughter, and few care to bear the evil
+news to the father, who will sometimes be left uninformed as to the
+sex of his child till the time comes to name her. It is rarely that
+girls are taught to read, or even to understand the rudiments of their
+religious system. Here and there a father who ranks in Morocco as
+scholarly, takes the trouble to teach his children at home, including
+his daughters in the class, but this is very seldom the case. Only
+those women succeed in obtaining even an average education in whom
+a thirst for knowledge is combined with opportunities in every way
+exceptional. In the country considerably more liberty is permitted
+than in the towns, and the condition of the Berber women has already
+been noted.
+
+Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, women attain a power quite
+abnormal under such conditions, usually the result of natural
+astuteness, combined--at the outset, at least--with a reasonable share
+of good looks, for when a woman is fairly astute she is a match for a
+man anywhere. A Mohammedan woman's place in life depends entirely on
+her personal attractions. If she lacks good looks, or is thin--which
+in Barbary, as in other Muslim countries, amounts to much the
+same thing--her future is practically hopeless. The chances being
+less--almost _nil_--of getting her easily off their hands by marriage,
+the parents feel they must make the best they can of her by setting
+her to work about the house, and she becomes a general drudge. If the
+home is a wealthy one, she may be relieved from this lot, and steadily
+ply her needle at minutely fine silk embroidery, or deck and paint
+herself in style, but, despised by her more fortunate sisters, she is
+even then hardly better off.
+
+If, on the other hand, a daughter is the beauty of the family, every
+one pays court to her in some degree, for there is no telling to what
+she may arrive. Perhaps, in Morocco, she is even thought good enough
+for the Sultan--plump, clear-skinned, bright-eyed. Could she but get a
+place in the Royal hareem, it would be in the hands of God to make her
+the mother of the coming sultan. But good looks alone will not suffice
+to take her there. Influence--a word translatable in the Orient by a
+shorter one, cash--must be brought to bear. The interest of a wazeer
+or two must be secured, and finally an interview must take place with
+one of the "wise women" who are in charge of the Imperial ladies. She,
+too, must be convinced by the eloquence of dollars, that His Majesty
+could not find another so graceful a creature in all his dominions.
+
+When permission is given to send her to Court, what joy there is,
+what bedecking, what congratulation! At last she is taken away with
+a palpitating heart, as she thinks of the possibilities before her,
+bundled up in her blanket and mounted on an ambling mule under
+strictest guard. On arrival at her new home her very beauty will make
+enemies, especially among those who have been there longest, and who
+feel their chances grow less as each new-comer appears. Perhaps one
+Friday the Sultan notices her as he walks in his grounds in the
+afternoon, and taking a fancy to her, decides to make her his wife. At
+once all jealousies are hidden, and each vies with the other to render
+her service, and assist the preparations for the coming event. For a
+while she will remain supreme--a very queen indeed--but only till her
+place is taken by another. If she has sons her chances are better; but
+unless she maintains her influence over her husband till her offspring
+are old enough to find a lasting place in his affections, she will
+probably one day be despatched to Tafilált, beyond the Atlas by the
+Sáharah, whence come those luscious dates. There every other man is a
+direct descendant of some Moorish king, as for centuries it has served
+as a sort of overflow for the prolific Royal house.
+
+As Islám knows no right of primogeniture, each sultan appoints his
+heir; so each wife strives to obtain this favour for her son, and
+often enough the story of Ishmael and Isaac repeats itself among these
+reputed descendants of Hagar. The usual way is for the pet son to
+be placed in some command, even before really able to discharge the
+duties of the post, which shall secure him supreme control on his
+father's death. The treasury and the army are the two great means
+to this end. Those possible rivals who have not been sent away to
+Tafilált are as often as not imprisoned or put to death on some slight
+charge, as used to be the custom in England a few hundred years ago.
+
+This method of bequeathing rights which do not come under the strict
+scale for the division of property contained in the Korán is not
+confined to Royalty. It applies also to religious sanctity. An
+instance is that of the late Shareef, or Noble, of Wazzán, a feudal
+"saint" of great influence. His father, on his deathbed, appointed
+as successor to his title, his holiness, and the estates connected
+therewith, the son who should be found playing with a certain stick,
+a common toy of his favourite. But a black woman by whom he had a son
+was present, and ran out to place the stick in the hands of her own
+child, who thus inherited his father's honours. Some of the queens of
+Morocco have arrived at such power through their influence over their
+husbands that they have virtually ruled the Empire.
+
+Supposing, however, that the damsel who has at last found admittance
+to the hareem does not, after all, prove attractive to her lord, she
+will in all probability be sent away to make room for some one else.
+She will be bestowed upon some country governor when he comes
+to Court. Sometimes it is an especially astute one who is thus
+transferred, that she may thereafter serve as a spy on his actions.
+
+Though those before whom lies such a career as has been described will
+be comparatively few, none who can be considered beautiful are without
+their chances, however poor. Many well-to-do men prefer a poor wife
+to a rich one, because they can divorce her when tired of her without
+incurring the enmity of powerful relatives. Marriage is enjoined
+upon every Muslim as a religious duty, and, if able to afford it, he
+usually takes to himself his first wife before he is out of his teens.
+He is relieved of the choice of a partner which troubles some of us so
+much, for the ladies of his family undertake this for him: if they do
+not happen to know of a likely individual they employ a professional
+go-between, a woman who follows also the callings of pedlar and
+scandal-monger. It is the duty of this personage, on receipt of a
+present from his friends, to sing his praises and those of his family
+in the house of some beautiful girl, whose friends are thereby induced
+to give her a present to go and do likewise on their behalf in the
+house of so promising a youth. Personal negotiations will then
+probably take place between the lady friends, and all things proving
+satisfactory, the fathers or brothers of the might-be pair discuss the
+dowry and marriage-settlement from a strictly business point of view.
+
+At this stage the bride-elect will perhaps be thought not fat enough,
+and will have to submit to a course of stuffing. This consists in
+swallowing after each full meal a few small sausage-shaped boluses
+of flour, honey and butter, flavoured with anise-seed or something
+similar. A few months of this treatment give a marvellous rotundity to
+the figure, thus greatly increasing her charms in the native eye. But
+of these the bridegroom will see nothing, if not surreptitiously, till
+after the wedding, when she is brought to his house.
+
+By that time formal documents of marriage will have been drawn up,
+and signed by notaries before the kádi or judge, setting forth the
+contract--with nothing in it about love or honour,--detailing every
+article which the wife brings with her, including in many instances a
+considerable portion of the household utensils. Notwithstanding all
+this, she may be divorced by her husband simply saying, "I divorce
+thee!" and though she may claim the return of all she brought, she
+has no option but to go home again. He may repent and take her back a
+first and a second time, but after he has put her away three times he
+may not marry her again till after she has been wedded to some one
+else and divorced. Theoretically she may get a divorce from him, but
+practically this is a matter of great difficulty.
+
+The legal expression employed for the nuptial tie is one which conveys
+the idea of purchasing a field, to be put to what use the owner will,
+according him complete control. This idea is borne out to the full,
+and henceforward the woman lives for her lord, with no thought of
+independence or self-assertion. If he is poor, all work too hard for
+him that is not considered unwomanly falls to her share, hewing of
+wood and drawing of water, grinding of corn and making of bread,
+weaving and washing; but, strange to us, little sewing. When decidedly
+_passée_, she saves him a donkey in carrying wood and charcoal and
+grass to market, often bent nearly double under a load which she
+cannot lift, which has to be bound on her back. Her feet are bare,
+but her sturdy legs are at times encased in leather to ward off the
+wayside thorns. No longer jealously covered, she and her unmarried
+daughters trudge for many weary miles at dawn, her decidedly
+better-off half and a son or two riding the family mule. From this it
+is but a short step to helping the cow or donkey draw the plough, and
+this step is sometimes taken.
+
+Until a woman's good looks have quite disappeared, which
+generally occurs about the time they become grandmothers--say
+thirty,--intercourse of any sort with men other than her relatives
+of the first degree is strictly prohibited, and no one dare salute a
+woman in the street, even if her attendant or mount shows her to be
+a privileged relative. The slightest recognition of a man
+out-of-doors--or indeed anywhere--would be to proclaim herself one of
+that degraded outcaste class as common in Moorish towns as in Europe.
+
+Of companionship in wedlock the Moor has no conception, and his ideas
+of love are those of lust. Though matrimony is considered by the
+Muslim doctors as "half of Islám," its value in their eyes is purely
+as a legalization of license by the substitution of polygamy for
+polyandry. Slavishly bound to the observance of wearisome customs,
+immured in a windowless house with only the roof for a promenade,
+seldom permitted outside the door, and then most carefully wrapped in
+a blanket till quite unrecognizable, the life of a Moorish woman, from
+the time she has first been caught admiring herself in a mirror, is
+that of a bird encaged. Lest she might grow content with such a lot,
+she has before her eyes from infancy the jealousies and rivalries of
+her father's wives and concubines, and is early initiated into the
+disgusting and unutterable practices employed to gain the favour of
+their lord. Her one thought from childhood is man, and distance lends
+enchantment. A word, the interchange of a look, with a man is sought
+for by the Moorish maiden more than are the sighs and glances of a
+coy brunette by a Spaniard. Nothing short of the unexpurgated Arabian
+Nights' Entertainments can convey an adequate idea of what goes on
+within those whited sepulchres, the broad, blank walls of Moorish
+towns. A word with the mason who comes to repair the roof, or even a
+peep at the men at work on the building over the way, on whose account
+the roof promenade is forbidden, is eagerly related and expatiated
+on. In short, all the training a Moorish woman receives is sensual,
+a training which of itself necessitates most rigorous, though often
+unavailing, seclusion.
+
+Both in town and country intrigues are common, but intrigues which
+have not even the excuse of the blindness of love, whose only motive
+is animal passion. The husband who, on returning home, finds a pair
+of red slippers before the door of his wife's apartment, is bound to
+understand thereby that somebody else's wife or daughter is within,
+and he dare not approach. If he has suspicions, all he can do is
+to bide his time and follow the visitor home, should the route lie
+through the streets, or despatch a faithful slave-girl or jealous
+concubine on a like errand, should the way selected be over
+the roof-tops. In the country, under a very different set of
+conventionalities, much the same takes place.
+
+In a land where woman holds the degraded position which she does under
+Islám, such family circles as the Briton loves can never exist. The
+foundation of the home system is love, which seldom links the members
+of these families, most seldom of all man and wife. Anything else is
+not to be expected when they meet for the first time on their wedding
+night. To begin with, no one's pleasure is studied save that of
+the despotic master of the house. All the inmates, from the poor
+imprisoned wives down to the lively slave-girl who opens the door, all
+are there to serve his pleasure, and woe betide those who fail.
+
+The first wife may have a fairly happy time of it for a season, if her
+looks are good, and her ways pleasing, but when a second usurps her
+place, she is generally cast aside as a useless piece of furniture,
+unless set to do servile work. Although four legal wives are allowed
+by the Korán, it is only among the rich that so many are found, on
+account of the expense of their maintenance in appropriate style. The
+facility of divorce renders it much cheaper to change from time to
+time, and slaves are more economical. To the number of such women that
+a man may keep no limit is set; he may have "as many as his right hand
+can possess." Then, too, these do the work of the house, and if
+they bear their master no children, they may be sold like any other
+chattels.
+
+The consequence of such a system is that she reigns who for the time
+stands highest in her lord's favour, so that the strife and jealousies
+which disturb the peace of the household are continual. This rivalry
+is naturally inherited by the children, who side with their several
+mothers, which is especially the case with the boys. Very often the
+legal wife has no children, or only daughters, while quite a little
+troop of step-children play about her house. In these cases it is
+not uncommon for at least the best-looking of these youngsters to be
+taught to call her "mother," and their real parent "Dadda M'barkah,"
+or whatever her name may be. The offspring of wives and bondwomen
+stand on an equal footing before the law, in which Islám is still
+ahead of us.
+
+Such is the sad lot of women in Morocco. Religion itself being all but
+denied them in practice, whatever precept provides, it is with blank
+astonishment that the majority of them hear the message of those noble
+foreign sisters of theirs who have devoted their lives to showing them
+a better way. The greatest difficulty is experienced in arousing
+in them any sense of individuality, any feeling of personal
+responsibility, or any aspiration after good. They are so accustomed
+to be treated as cattle, that their higher powers are altogether
+dormant, all possibilities of character repressed. The welfare of
+their souls is supposed to be assured by union with a Muslim, and few
+know even how to pray. Instead of religion, their minds are saturated
+with the grossest superstition. If this be the condition of the free
+woman, how much worse that of the slave!
+
+The present socially degraded state in which the people live,
+and their apparent, though not real, incapacity for progress and
+development, is to a great extent the curse entailed by this
+brutalization of women. No race can ever rise above the level of its
+weaker sex, and till Morocco learns this lesson it will never rise.
+The boy may be the father of the man, but the woman is the mother of
+the boy, and so controls the destiny of the nation. Nothing can indeed
+be hoped for in this country in the way of social progress till the
+minds of the men have been raised, and their estimation of women
+entirely changed. Though Turkey was so long much in the position in
+which Morocco remains to-day, it is a noteworthy fact that as she
+steadily progresses in the way of civilization, one of the most
+apparent features of this progress is the growing respect for women,
+and the increasing liberty which is allowed them, both in public and
+private.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+SOCIAL VISITS[4]
+[4: Contributed by my wife.--B. M.]
+
+  "Every country its customs."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+"Calling" is not the common, every-day event in Barbary which it has
+grown to be in European society. The narrowed-in life of the Moorish
+woman of the higher classes, and the strict watch which is kept lest
+some other man than her husband should see her, makes a regular
+interchange of visits practically impossible. No doubt the Moorish
+woman would find them quite as great a burden as her western sister,
+and in this particular her ignorance may be greater bliss than her
+knowledge. In spite of the paucity of the "calls" she receives or
+pays, she is by no means ignorant of the life and character of her
+neighbours, thanks to certain old women (amongst them the professional
+match-makers) who go about as veritable gossip-mongers, and preserve
+their more cloistered sisters at least from dying of inanition. Thus
+the veriest trifles of house arrangement or management are thoroughly
+canvassed.
+
+Nor is it a privilege commonly extended to European women to be
+received into the hareems of the high-class and wealthy Moors,
+although lady missionaries have abundant opportunities for making
+the acquaintance of the women of the poorer classes, especially when
+medical knowledge and skill afford a key. But the wives of the rich
+are shut away to themselves, and if you are fortunate enough to be
+invited to call upon them, do not neglect your opportunity.
+
+You will find that the time named for calling is not limited to the
+afternoon. Thus it may be when the morning air is blowing fresh from
+the sea, and the sun is mounting in the heavens, that you are ushered,
+perhaps by the master of the house, through winding passages to the
+quarters of the women. If there is a garden, this is frequently
+reserved for their use, and jealously protected from view, and as in
+all cases they are supposed to have the monopoly of the flat roof, the
+courteous male foreigner will keep his gaze from wandering thither too
+frequently, or resting there too long.
+
+Do not be surprised if you are ushered into an apparently empty room,
+furnished after the Moorish manner with a strip of richly coloured
+carpet down the centre, and mattresses round the edge. If there is a
+musical box in the room, it will doubtless be set going as a pleasant
+accompaniment to conversation, and the same applies to striking or
+chiming clocks, for which the Moors have a strong predilection as
+_objets d'art_, rather than to mark the march of time.
+
+Of course you will not have forgotten to remove your shoes at the
+door, and will be sitting cross-legged and quite at ease on one of
+the immaculate mattresses, when the ladies begin to arrive from their
+retreats. As they step forward to greet you, you may notice their
+henna-stained feet, a means of decoration which is repeated on their
+hands, where it is sometimes used in conjunction with harkos, a black
+pigment with which is applied a delicate tracery giving the effect of
+black silk mittens. The dark eyes are made to appear more lustrous
+and almond-shaped by the application of antimony, and the brows are
+extended till they meet in a black line above the nose. The hair
+is arranged under a head-dress frequently composed of two
+bright-coloured, short-fringed silk handkerchiefs, knotted together
+above the ears, sometimes with the addition of an artificial flower:
+heavy ear-rings are worn, and from some of them there are suspended
+large silver hands, charms against the "evil eye." But undoubtedly the
+main feature of the whole costume is the kaftán or tunic of lustrous
+satin or silk, embroidered richly in gold and silver, of a colour
+showing to advantage beneath a white lace garment of similar shape.
+
+The women themselves realize that such fine feathers must be guarded
+from spot or stain, for they are in many cases family heir-looms, so
+after they have greeted you with a slight pressure of their finger
+tips laid upon yours, and taken their seats, tailor fashion, you will
+notice that each sedulously protects her knees with a rough Turkish
+towel, quite possibly the worse for wear. In spite of her love for
+personal decoration, evidenced by the strings of pearls with which her
+neck is entwined, and the heavy silver armlets, the well-bred Moorish
+woman evinces no more curiosity than her European sister about the
+small adornments of her visitor, and this is the more remarkable when
+you remember how destitute of higher interests is her life. She will
+make kindly and very interested inquiries about your relatives, and
+even about your life, though naturally, in spite of your explanations,
+it remains a sealed book to her. The average Moorish woman, however,
+shows herself as inquisitive as the Chinese.
+
+It is quite possible that you may see some of the children,
+fascinating, dark-eyed, soft-skinned morsels of humanity, with
+henna-dyed hair, which may be plaited in a pig-tail, the length of
+which is augmented by a strange device of coloured wool with which the
+ends of the hair are interwoven. But children of the better class in
+Morocco are accustomed to keep in the background, and unless invited,
+do not venture farther than the door of the reception room, and then
+with a becoming modesty. If any of the slave-wives enter, you will
+have an opportunity of noticing their somewhat quaint greeting of
+those whom they desire to honour, a kiss bestowed on each hand, which
+they raise to meet their lips, and upon each shoulder, before they,
+too, take their seats upon the mattresses.
+
+Probably you will not have long to wait before a slave-girl enters
+with the preparations for tea, orange-flower water, incense, a
+well-filled tray, a samovar, and two or three dishes piled high with
+cakes. If you are wise, you will most assuredly try the "gazelle's
+hoofs," so-called from their shape, for they are a most delicious
+compound of almond paste, with a spiciness so skilfully blended as to
+be almost elusive. If you have a sweet tooth, the honey cakes will be
+eminently satisfactory, but if your taste is plainer, you will enjoy
+the f'kákis, or dry biscuit. Three cups of their most fragrant tea is
+the orthodox allowance, but a Moorish host or hostess is not slow to
+perceive any disinclination, however slight, and will sometimes of his
+or her own accord pave your way to a courteous refusal, by appearing
+not over anxious either for the last cup.
+
+If you have already had an experience of dining in Morocco, the whole
+process of the tea-making will be familiar; if not, you will be
+interested to notice how the tea ("gunpowder") is measured in the
+hand, then emptied into the pot, washed, thoroughly sweetened, made
+with boiling water from the samovar, and flavoured with mint or
+verbena. If the master of the house is present, he is apt to keep the
+tea-making in his own hands, although he may delegate it to one of his
+wives, who thus becomes the hostess of the occasion.
+
+After general inquiries as to the purpose of your visit to Morocco,
+you may be asked if you are a tabeebah or lady doctor, the one
+profession which they know, by hearsay at least, is open to women. If
+you can claim ever so little knowledge, you will probably be asked for
+a prescription to promote an increase of adipose tissue, which they
+consider their greatest charm; perhaps a still harder riddle may be
+propounded, with the hope that its satisfactory solution may secure to
+them the wavering affection of their lord, and prevent alienation
+and, perhaps, divorce. Yet all you can say is, "In shá Allah" (If God
+will!)
+
+When you bid them farewell it will be with a keen realization of their
+narrow, cramped lives, and an appreciation of your own opportunities.
+Did you but know it, they too are full of sympathy for that poor,
+over-strained Nazarene woman, who is obliged to leave the shelter of
+her four walls, and face the world unveiled, unprotected, unabashed.
+
+And thus our proverb is proved true.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+A COUNTRY WEDDING
+
+  "Silence is at the door of consent."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Thursday was chosen as auspicious for the wedding, but the ceremonies
+commenced on the Sunday before. The first item on an extensive
+programme was the visit of the bride with her immediate female
+relatives and friends to the steam bath at the kasbah, a rarity in
+country villages, in this case used only by special favour. At the
+close of an afternoon of fun and frolic in the bath-house, Zóharah,
+the bride, was escorted to her home closely muffled, to keep her bed
+till the following day.
+
+Next morning it was the duty of Mokhtar, the bridegroom, to send his
+betrothed a bullock, with oil, butter and onions; pepper, salt and
+spices; charcoal and wood; figs, raisins, dates and almonds; candles
+and henna, wherewith to prepare the marriage feast. He had already,
+according to the custom of the country, presented the members of her
+family with slippers and ornaments. As soon as the bullock arrived it
+was killed amid great rejoicings and plenty of "tom-tom," especially
+as in the villages a sheep is usually considered sufficient provision.
+On this day Mokhtar's male friends enjoyed a feast in the afternoon,
+while in the evening the bride had to undergo the process of
+re-staining with henna to the accompaniment of music. The usual effect
+of this was somewhat counteracted, however, by the wails of those who
+had lost relatives during the year. On each successive night, when the
+drumming began, the same sad scene was repeated--a strange alloy in
+all the merriment of the wedding.
+
+On the Tuesday Zóharah received her maiden friends, children attending
+the reception in the afternoon, till the none too roomy hut was
+crowded to suffocation, and the bride exhausted, although custom
+prescribed that she should lie all day on the bed, closely wrapped
+up, and seen by none of her guests, from whom she was separated by a
+curtain. Every visitor had brought with her some little gift, such
+as handkerchiefs, candles, sugar, tea, spices and dried fruits, the
+inspection of which, when all were gone, was her only diversion that
+day. Throughout that afternoon and the next the neighbouring villages
+rivalled one another in peaceful sport and ear-splitting ululation, as
+though, within the memory of man, no other state of things had ever
+existed between them.
+
+Meanwhile Mokhtar had a more enlivening time with his bachelor
+friends, who, after feasting with him in the evening, escorted him,
+wrapped in a háďk or shawl, to the house of his betrothed, outside
+which they danced and played for three or four hours by the light of
+lanterns. On returning home, much fun ensued round the supper-basin
+on the floor, while the palms of the whole company were stained with
+henna. Then their exuberant spirits found relief in dancing round
+with basins on their heads, till one of them dropped his basin, and
+snatching off Mokhtar's cloak as if for protection, was immediately
+chased by the others till supper was ready. After supper all lay back
+to sleep. For four days the bridegroom's family had thus to feast and
+amuse his male friends, while the ladies were entertained by that of
+the bride.
+
+On Wednesday came the turn of the married women visitors, whose
+bulky forms crowded the hut, if possible more closely than had their
+children. Gossip and scandal were now retailed with a zest and
+minuteness of detail not permissible in England, while rival belles
+waged wordy war in shouts which sounded like whispers amid the din.
+The walls of the hut were hung with the brightest coloured garments
+that could be borrowed, and the gorgeous finery of the guests made
+up a scene of dazzling colour. Green tea and cakes were first passed
+round, and then a tray for offerings for the musicians, which, when
+collected, were placed on the floor beneath a rich silk handkerchief.
+Presents were also made by all to the bride's mother, on behalf of her
+daughter, who sat in weary state on the bed at one end of the room. As
+each coin was put down for the players, or for the hostess, a portly
+female who acted as crier announced the sum contributed, with a prayer
+for blessing in return, which was in due course echoed by the chief
+musician. At the bridegroom's house a similar entertainment was held,
+the party promenading the lanes at dusk with torches and lanterns,
+after which they received from the bridegroom the powder for next
+day's play.
+
+[Illustration: A MOORISH CARAVAN.]
+
+Thursday opened with much-needed rest for Zóharah and her mother till
+the time came for the final decking; but Mokhtar had to go to the bath
+with his bachelor friends, and on returning to his newly prepared
+dwelling, to present many of them with small coins, receiving in
+return cotton handkerchiefs and towels, big candles and matches. Then
+all sat down to a modest repast, for which he had provided raisins and
+other dried fruits, some additional fun being provided by a number of
+the married neighbours, who tried in vain to gain admission, and in
+revenge made off with other people's shoes, ultimately returning them
+full of dried fruits and nuts. Then Mokhtar's head was shaved to the
+accompaniment of music, and the barber was feasted, while the box in
+which the bride was to be fetched was brought in, and decked with
+muslin curtains, surmounted by a woman's head-gear, handkerchiefs, and
+a sash. The box was about two and a half feet square, and somewhat
+more in height, including its pointed top.
+
+After three drummings to assemble the friends, a procession was formed
+about a couple of hours after sunset, lit by torches, lanterns
+and candles, led by the powder-players, followed by the mounted
+bridegroom, and behind him the bridal box lashed on the back of a
+horse; surrounded by more excited powder-players, and closed by the
+musicians. As they proceeded by a circuitous route the women shrieked,
+the powder spoke, till all were roused to a fitting pitch of fervour,
+and so reached the house of the bride. "Behold, the bridegroom
+cometh!"
+
+Presently the "litter" was deposited at the door, Mokhtar remaining a
+short distance off, while the huge old negress, who had officiated so
+far as mistress of the ceremonies, lifted Zóharah bodily off the
+bed, and placed her, crying, in the cage. In this a loaf of bread, a
+candle, some sugar and salt had been laid by way of securing good luck
+in her new establishment. Her valuables, packed in another box, were
+entrusted to the negress, who was to walk by her side, while strong
+arms mounted her, and lashed the "amariah" in its place. As soon as
+the procession had reformed, the music ceased, and a Fátihah[5] was
+solemnly recited. Then they started slowly, as they had come, Mokhtar
+leaving his bride as she was ushered, closely veiled, from her box
+into her new home, contenting himself with standing by the side and
+letting her pass beneath his arm in token of submission. The door was
+then closed, and the bridegroom took a turn with his friends while
+the bride should compose herself, and all things be made ready by the
+negress. Later on he returned, and being admitted, the newly married
+couple met at last.
+
+  [5: The beautiful opening prayer of the Korán.]
+
+Next day they were afforded a respite, but on Saturday the bride had
+once more to hold a reception, and on the succeeding Thursday came the
+ceremony of donning the belt, a long, stiff band of embroidered silk,
+folded to some six inches in width, wound many times round. Standing
+over a dish containing almonds, raisins, figs, dates, and a couple of
+eggs, in the presence of a gathering of married women, one of whom
+assisted in the winding, two small boys adjusted the sash with all due
+state, after which a procession was formed round the house, and the
+actual wedding was over. Thus commenced a year's imprisonment for
+the bride, as it was not till she was herself a mother that she was
+permitted to revisit her old home.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE BAIRNS
+
+  "Every monkey is a gazelle to its mother."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+If there is one point in the character of the Moor which commends
+itself above others to the mind of the European it is his love for his
+children. But when it is observed that in too many cases this love
+is unequally divided, and that the father prefers his sons to his
+daughters, our admiration is apt to wane. Though by no means an
+invariable rule, this is the most common outcome of the pride felt in
+being the father of a son who may be a credit to the house, and
+the feeling that a daughter who has to be provided for is an added
+responsibility.
+
+All is well when the two tiny children play together on the floor, and
+quarrel on equal terms, but it is another thing when little Hamed goes
+daily to school, and as soon as he has learned to read is brought home
+in triumph on a gaily dressed horse, heading a procession of shouting
+schoolfellows, while his pretty sister Fátimah is fast developing into
+a maid-of-all-work whom nobody thinks of noticing. And the distinction
+widens when Hamed rides in the "powder-play," or is trusted to keep
+shop by himself, while Fátimah is closely veiled and kept a prisoner
+indoors, body and mind unexercised, distinguishable by colour and
+dress alone from Habîbah, the ebony slave-girl, who was sold like a
+calf from her mother's side. Yes, indeed, far different paths lie
+before the two play-mates, but while they are treated alike, let us
+take a peep at them in their innocent sweetness.
+
+Their mother, Ayeshah, went out as usual one morning to glean in the
+fields, and in the evening returned with two bundles upon her back;
+the upper one was to replace crowing Hamed in his primitive cradle: it
+was Fátimah. Next day, as Ayeshah set off to work again, she left her
+son kicking up his heels on a pile of blankets, howling till he should
+become acquainted with his new surroundings, and a little skinny mite
+lay peacefully sleeping where he had hitherto lived. No mechanical
+bassinette ever swung more evenly, and no soft draperies made a better
+cot than the sheet tied up by the corners to a couple of ropes, and
+swung across the room like a hammock. The beauty of it was that,
+roll as he would, even active Hamed had been safe in it, and all his
+energies only served to rock him off to sleep again, for the sides
+almost met at the top. Yet he was by no means dull, for through a hole
+opposite his eye he could watch the cows and goats and sheep as they
+wandered about the yard, not to speak of the cocks and hens that
+roamed all over the place.
+
+At last the time came when both the wee ones could toddle, and Ayeshah
+carried them no more to the fields astride her hips or slung over her
+shoulders in a towel. They were then left to disport themselves
+as they pleased--which, of course, meant rolling about on the
+ground,--their garments tied up under their arms, leaving them bare
+from the waist. No wonder that sitting on cold and wet stones had
+threatened to shrivel up their thin legs, which looked wonderfully
+shaky at best.
+
+It seems to be a maxim among the Moors that neither head, arms nor
+legs suffer in any way from exposure to cold or heat, and the mothers
+of the poorer classes think nothing of carrying their children slung
+across their backs with their little bare pates exposed to the sun and
+rain, or of allowing their lower limbs to become numbed with cold as
+just described. The sole recommendation of such a system is that only
+the fittest--in a certain sense--survive. Of the attention supposed to
+be bestowed in a greater or less degree upon all babes in our own land
+they get little. One result, however, is satisfactory, for they early
+give up yelling, as an amusement which does not pay, and no one is
+troubled to march them up and down for hours when teething. Yet it is
+hardly surprising that under such conditions infant mortality is
+very great, and, indeed, all through life in this doctorless land
+astonishing numbers are carried off by diseases we should hardly
+consider dangerous.
+
+Beyond the much-enjoyed dandle on Father's knee, or the cuddle with
+Mother, delights are few in Moorish child-life, and of toys such as we
+have they know nothing, whatever they may find to take their place.
+But when a boy is old enough to amuse himself, there is no end to the
+mischief and fun he will contrive, and the lads of Barbary are as fond
+of their games as we of ours. You may see them racing about after
+school hours at a species of "catch-as-catch-can," or playing football
+with their heels, or spinning tops, sometimes of European make. Or,
+dearest sport of all, racing a donkey while seated on its far hind
+quarters, with all the noise and enjoyment we threw into such pastimes
+a few years ago. To look at the merry faces of these lively youths,
+and to hear their cheery voices, is sufficient to convince anyone of
+their inherent capabilities, which might make them easily a match for
+English lads if they had their chances.
+
+But what chances have they? At the age of four or five they are
+drafted off to school, not to be educated, but to be taught to read
+by rote, and to repeat long chapters of the Korán, if not the whole
+volume, by heart, hardly understanding what they read. Beyond this
+little is taught but the four great rules of arithmetic in the figures
+which we have borrowed from them, but worked out in the most primitive
+style. In "long" multiplication, for instance, they write every figure
+down, and "carry" nothing, so that a much more formidable addition
+than need be has to conclude the calculation. But they have a quaint
+system of learning their multiplication tables by mnemonics, in which
+every number is represented by a letter, and these being made up into
+words, are committed to memory in place of the figures.
+
+A Moorish school is a simple affair. No forms, no desks, few books.
+A number of boards about the size of foolscap, painted white on both
+sides, on which the various lessons--from the alphabet to portions of
+the Korán--are plainly written in large black letters; a switch or
+two, a pen and ink and a book, complete the furnishings. The dominie,
+squatted tailor-fashion on the ground, like his pupils, who may number
+from ten to thirty, repeats the lesson in a sonorous sing-song voice,
+and is imitated by the little urchins, who accompany their voices by
+a rocking to and fro, which occasionally enables them to keep time. A
+sharp application of the switch is wonderfully effectual in re-calling
+wandering attention. Lazy boys are speedily expelled.
+
+On the admission of a pupil the parents pay some small sum,
+varying according to their means, and every Wednesday, which is a
+half-holiday, a payment is made from a farthing to twopence. New
+moons and feasts are made occasions for larger payments, and count
+as holidays, which last ten days on the occasion of the greater
+festivals. Thursday is a whole holiday, and no work is done on Friday
+morning, that being the Mohammedan Sabbath, or at least "meeting day,"
+as it is called.
+
+At each successive stage of the scholastic career the schoolmaster
+parades the pupils one by one, if at all well-to-do, in the style
+already alluded to, collecting gifts from the grateful parents to
+supplement the few coppers the boys bring to school week by week. If
+they intend to become notaries or judges, they go on to study at Fez,
+where they purchase the key of a room at one of the colleges, and read
+to little purpose for several years. In everything the Korán is the
+standard work. The chapters therein being arranged without any idea
+of sequence, only according to length,--with the exception of the
+Fátihah,--the longest at the beginning and the shortest at the end,
+after the first the last is learned, and so backwards to the second.
+
+Most of the lads are expected to do something to earn their bread at
+quite an early age, in one way or another, even if not called on to
+assist their parents in something which requires an old head on young
+shoulders. Such youths being so early independent, at least in a
+measure, mix with older lads, who soon teach them all the vices they
+have not already learned, in which they speedily become as adept as
+their parents.
+
+Those intended for a mercantile career are put into the shop at twelve
+or fourteen, and after some experience in weighing-out and bargaining
+by the side of a father or elder brother, they are left entirely to
+themselves, being supplied with goods from the main shop as they need
+them.
+
+It is by this means that the multitudinous little box-shops which
+are a feature of the towns are enabled to pay their way, this being
+rendered possible by an expensive minutely retail trade. The average
+English tradesman is a wholesale dealer compared to these petty
+retailers, and very many middle-class English households take in
+sufficient supplies at a time to stock one of their shops. One reason
+for this is the hand-to-mouth manner in which the bulk of the people
+live, with no notion of thrift. They earn their day's wage, and if
+anything remains above the expense of living, it is invested in gay
+clothing or jimcracks. Another reason is that those who could afford
+it have seldom any member of their household whom they can trust as
+housekeeper, of which more anon.
+
+It seems ridiculous to send for sugar, tea, etc., by the ounce or
+less; candles, boxes of matches, etc., one by one; needles, thread,
+silk, in like proportion, even when cash is available, but such is the
+practice here, and there is as much haggling over the price of one
+candle as over that of an expensive article of clothing. Often quite
+little children, who elsewhere would be considered babes, are sent out
+to do the shopping, and these cheapen and bargain like the sharpest
+old folk, with what seems an inherent talent.
+
+Very little care is taken of even the children of the rich, and they
+get no careful training. The little sons and daughters of quite
+important personages are allowed to run about as neglected and dirty
+as those of the very poor. Hence the practice of shaving the head
+cannot be too highly praised in a country where so much filth abounds,
+and where cutaneous diseases of the worst type are so frequent. It is,
+however, noteworthy that while the Moors do not seem to consider it
+any disgrace to be scarred and covered with disgusting sores, the
+result of their own sins and those of their fathers, they are greatly
+ashamed of any ordinary skin disease on the head. But though the
+shaven skulls are the distinguishing feature of the boys in the house,
+where their dress closely resembles that of their sisters, the girls
+may be recognized by their ample locks, often dyed to a fashionable
+red with henna; yet they, too, are often partially shaved, sometimes
+in a fantastic style. It may be the hair in front is cut to a fringe
+an inch long over the forehead, and a strip a quarter of an inch wide
+is shaved just where the visible part of a child's comb would come,
+while behind this the natural frizzy or straight hair is left, cut
+short, while the head is shaved again round the ears and at the back
+of the neck. To perform these operations a barber is called in, who
+attends the family regularly. Little boys of certain tribes have long
+tufts left hanging behind their ears, and occasionally they also have
+their heads shaved in strange devices.
+
+Since no attempt is made to bring the children up as useful members
+of the community at the age when they are most susceptible, they are
+allowed to run wild. Thus, bright and tractable as they are naturally,
+no sooner do the lads approach the end of their 'teens, than a marked
+change comes over them, a change which even the most casual observer
+cannot fail to notice. The hitherto agreeable youths appear washed-out
+and worthless. All their energy has disappeared, and from this time
+till a second change takes place for the worse, large numbers drag out
+a weary existence, victims of vices which hold them in their grip,
+till as if burned up by a fierce but short-lived fire, they ultimately
+become seared and shattered wrecks. From this time every effort is
+made to fan the flickering or extinguished flame, till death relieves
+the weary mortal of the burden of his life.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+"DINING OUT"[6]
+  [6: Contributed by my wife.--B. M.]
+
+  "A good supper is known by its odour."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+There are no more important qualifications for the diner-out in
+Morocco than an open mind and a teachable spirit. Then start with a
+determination to forget European table manners, except in so far as
+they are based upon consideration for the feelings of others, setting
+yourself to do in Morocco as the Moors do, and you cannot fail to gain
+profit and pleasure from your experience.
+
+One slight difficulty arises from the fact that it is somewhat hard to
+be sure at any time that you have been definitely invited to partake
+of a Moorish meal. A request that you would call at three o'clock in
+the afternoon, mid-way between luncheon and dinner, would seem an
+unusual hour for a heavy repast, yet that is no guarantee that you may
+not be expected to partake freely of an elaborate feast.
+
+If you are a member of the frail, fair sex, the absence of all other
+women will speedily arouse you to the fact that you are in an oriental
+country, for in Morocco the sons and chief servants, though they
+eat after the master of the house, take precedence of the wives and
+women-folk, who eat what remains of the various dishes, or have
+specially prepared meals in their own apartments. For the same reason
+you need not be surprised if you are waited upon after the men of
+the party, though this order is sometimes reversed where the host
+is familiar with European etiquette with regard to women. If a man,
+perhaps a son will wait upon you.
+
+The well-bred Moor is quite as great a stickler for the proprieties as
+the most conservative Anglo-Saxon, and you will do well if you show
+consideration at the outset by removing your shoes at the door of the
+room, turning a deaf ear to his assurance that such a proceeding is
+quite unnecessary on your part. A glance round the room will make it
+clear that your courtesy will be appreciated, for the carpet on the
+floor is bright and unmarked by muddy or dusty shoes (in spite of the
+condition of the streets outside), and the mattresses upon which you
+are invited to sit are immaculate in their whiteness.
+
+Having made yourself comfortable, you will admire the arrangements
+for the first item upon the programme. The slave-girl appears with a
+handsome tray, brass or silver, upon which there are a goodly number
+of cups or tiny glass tumblers, frequently both, of delicate pattern
+and artistic colouring, a silver tea-pot, a caddy of green tea, a
+silver or glass bowl filled with large, uneven lumps of sugar, which
+have been previously broken off from the loaf, and a glass containing
+sprigs of mint and verbena. The brass samovar comes next, and having
+measured the tea in the palm of his right hand, and put it into the
+pot, the host proceeds to pour a small amount of boiling water upon
+it, which he straightway pours off, a precaution lest the Nazarenes
+should have mingled some colouring matter therewith. He then adds
+enough sugar to ensure a semi-syrupy result, with some sprigs of
+peppermint, and fills the pot from the samovar. A few minutes later he
+pours out a little, which he tastes himself, frequently returning the
+remainder to the pot, although the more Europeanized consume the whole
+draught. If the test has been satisfactory, he proceeds to fill the
+cups or glasses, passing them in turn to the guests in order of
+distinction. To make a perceptible noise in drawing it from the glass
+to the mouth is esteemed a delicate token of appreciation.
+
+The tray is then removed; the slave in attendance brings a chased
+brass basin and ewer of water, and before the serious portion of the
+meal begins you are expected to hold out your right hand just to
+cleanse it from any impurities which may have been contracted in
+coming. Orange-flower water in a silver sprinkler is then brought in,
+followed by a brass incense burner filled with live charcoal, on which
+a small quantity of sandal-wood or other incense is placed, and the
+result is a delicious fragrance which you are invited to waft by a
+circular motion of your hands into your hair, your ribbons and your
+laces, while your Moorish host finds the folds of his loose garments
+invaluable for the retention of the spicy perfume.
+
+A circular table about eight inches high is then placed in the centre
+of the guests; on this is placed a tray with the first course of the
+dinner, frequently puffs of delicate pastry fried in butter over a
+charcoal fire, and containing sometimes meat, sometimes a delicious
+compound of almond paste and cinnamon. This, being removed, is
+followed by a succession of savoury stews with rich, well-flavoured
+gravies, each with its own distinctive spiciness, but all excellently
+cooked. The host first dips a fragment of bread into the gravy, saying
+as he does so, "B'ísm Illah!" ("In the name of God!"), which the
+guests repeat, as each follows suit with a sop from the dish.
+
+There is abundant scope for elegance of gesture in the eating of the
+stews, but still greater opportunity when the _pičce de résistance_ of
+a Moorish dinner, the dish of kesk'soo, is brought on. This kesk'soo
+is a small round granule prepared from semolina, which, having been
+steamed, is served like rice beneath and round an excellent stew,
+which is heaped up in the centre of the dish. With the thumb and
+two first fingers of the right hand you are expected to secure some
+succulent morsel from the stew,--meat, raisins, onions, or vegetable
+marrow,--and with it a small quantity of the kesk'soo. By a skilful
+motion of the palm the whole is formed into a round ball, which is
+thrown with a graceful curve of hand and wrist into the mouth. Woe
+betide you if your host is possessed by the hospitable desire to make
+one of these boluses for you, for he is apt to measure the cubic
+content of your mouth by that of his own, and for a moment your
+feelings will be too deep for words; but this is only a brief
+discomfort, and you will find the dish an excellent one, for Moorish
+cooks never serve tough meat.
+
+If your fingers have suffered from contact with the kesk'soo, it is
+permitted to you to apply your tongue to each digit in turn in the
+following order; fourth (or little finger), second, thumb, third,
+first; but a few moments later the slave appears, and after bearing
+away the table with the remains of the feast gives the opportunity for
+a most satisfactory ablution. In this case you are expected to use
+soap, and to wash both hands, over which water is poured three times.
+If you are at all acquainted with Moorish ways, you will not fail at
+the same time to apply soap and water to your mouth both outwardly and
+inwardly, being careful to rinse it three times with plenty of noise,
+ejecting the water behind your hand into the basin which is held
+before you.
+
+Orange-flower water and incense now again appear, and you may be
+required to drink three more glasses of refreshing tea, though this is
+sometimes omitted at the close of a repast. Of course "the feast of
+reason and the flow of soul" have not been lacking, and you have been
+repeatedly assured of your welcome, and invited to partake beyond
+the limit of human possibility, for the Moor believes you can pay
+no higher compliment to the dainties he has provided than by their
+consumption.
+
+For a while you linger, reclining upon the mattress as gracefully as
+may be possible for a tyro, with your arm upon a pile of many-coloured
+cushions of embroidered leather or cloth. Then, after a thousand
+mutual thanks and blessings, accompanied by graceful bowings and
+bendings, you say farewell and step to the door, where your slippers
+await you, and usher yourself out, not ill-satisfied with your
+initiation into the art of dining-out in Barbary.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+FRUIT-SELLERS.]
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+DOMESTIC ECONOMY
+
+  "Manage with bread and butter till God sends the jam."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+If the ordinary regulations of social life among the Moors differ
+materially from those in force among ourselves, how much more so must
+the minor details of the housekeeping when, to begin with, the husband
+does the marketing and keeps the keys! And the consequential Moor
+does, indeed, keep the keys, not only of the stores, but also often of
+the house. What would an English lady think of being coolly locked
+in a windowless house while her husband went for a journey, the
+provisions for the family being meanwhile handed in each morning
+through a loophole by a trusty slave left as gaoler? That no surprise
+whatever would be elicited in Barbary by such an arrangement speaks
+volumes. Woman has no voice under Mohammed's creed.
+
+Early in the morning let us take a stroll into the market, and see how
+things are managed there. Round the inside of a high-walled enclosure
+is a row of the rudest of booths. Over portions of the pathway,
+stretching across to other booths in the centre--if the market is a
+wide one--are pieces of cloth, vines on trellis, or canes interwoven
+with brushwood. As the sun gains strength these afford a most grateful
+shade, and during the heat of the day there is no more pleasant place
+for a stroll, and none more full of characteristic life. In the wider
+parts, on the ground, lie heaps two or three feet high of mint,
+verbena and lemon thyme, the much-esteemed flavourings for the
+national drink--green-tea syrup--exhaling a most delicious fragrance.
+It is early summer: the luscious oranges are not yet over, and in
+tempting piles they lie upon the stalls made of old packing-cases,
+many with still legible familiar English and French inscriptions.
+Apricots are selling at a halfpenny or less the pound, and plums and
+damsons, not to speak of greengages, keep good pace with them in price
+and sales. The bright tints of the lettuces and other fresh green
+vegetables serve to set off the rich colours of the God-made
+delicacies, but the prevailing hue of the scene is a restful
+earth-brown, an autumnal leaf-tint; the trodden ground, the sun-dried
+brush-wood of the booths and awnings, and the wet-stained wood-work.
+No glamour of paint or gleam of glass destroys the harmony of the
+surroundings.
+
+But with all the feeling of cool and repose, rest there is not, or
+idleness, for there is not a brisker scene in an oriental town than
+its market-place. Thronging those narrow pathways come the rich and
+poor--the portly merchant in his morning cloak, a spotless white wool
+jelláb, with a turban and girth which bespeak easy circumstances; the
+labourer in just such a cloak with the hood up, but one which was
+always brown, and is now much mended; the slave in shirt and drawers,
+with a string round his shaven pate; the keen little Jew boy pushing
+and bargaining as no other could; the bearded son of Israel, with
+piercing eyes, and his daughter with streaming hair; lastly, the widow
+or time-worn wife of the poor Mohammedan, who must needs market for
+herself. Her wrinkled face and care-worn look tell a different tale
+from the pompous self-content of the merchant by her side, who drives
+as hard a bargain as she does. In his hand he carries a palmetto-leaf
+basket, already half full, as with slippered feet he carefully picks
+his way among puddles and garbage.
+
+"Good morning, O my master; God bless thee!" exclaims the stall-keeper
+as his customer comes in sight.
+
+Sáďd el Faráji has to buy cloth of the merchant time and time again,
+so makes a point of pleasing one who can return a kindness.
+
+"No ill, praise God; and thyself, O Sáďd?" comes the cheery reply;
+then, after five minutes' mutual inquiry after one another's
+household, horses and other interests, health and general welfare,
+friend Sáďd points out the daintiest articles on his stall, and in the
+most persuasive of tones names his "lowest price."
+
+All the while he is sitting cross-legged on an old box, with his
+scales before him.
+
+"What? Now, come, I'll give you _so_ much," says the merchant, naming
+a price slightly less than that asked.
+
+"Make it _so_ much," exclaims Sáďd, even more persuasively than
+before, as he "splits the difference."
+
+"Well, I'll give you _so_ much," offering just a little less than this
+sum. "I can't go above that, you know."
+
+"All right, but you always get the better of me, you know. That is
+just what I paid. Anyhow, don't forget that when I want a new cloak,"
+and he proceeds to measure out the purchases, using as weights two or
+three bits of old iron, a small cannon-ball, some bullets, screws,
+coins, etc. "Go with prosperity, my friend; and may God bless thee!"
+
+"And may God increase thy prosperity, and grant to thee a blessing!"
+rejoins the successful man, as he proceeds to another stall.
+
+By the time he reaches home his basket will contain meat, fish,
+vegetables, fruit and herbs, besides, perhaps, a loaf of sugar, and a
+quarter of a pound of tea, with supplies of spices and some candles.
+Bread they make at home.
+
+The absurdly minute quantities of what we should call "stores," which
+a man will purchase who could well afford to lay in a supply, seem
+very strange to the foreigner; but it is part of his domestic
+economy--or lack of that quality. He will not trust his wife with more
+than one day's supply at a time, and to weigh things out himself each
+morning would be trouble not to be dreamed of; besides which it would
+deprive him of the pleasure of all that bargaining, not to speak of
+the appetite-promoting stroll, and the opportunities for gossip with
+acquaintances which it affords. In consequence, wives and slaves are
+generally kept on short allowances, if these are granted at all.
+
+An amusing incident which came under my notice in Tangier shows how
+little the English idea of the community of interest of husband and
+wife is appreciated here. A Moorish woman who used to furnish milk to
+an English family being met by the lady of the house one morning, when
+she had brought short measure, said, pointing to the husband in the
+distance, "_You_ be my friend; take this" (slipping a few coppers
+worth half a farthing into her hand), "don't tell _him_ anything about
+it. I'll share the profit with you!" She probably knew from experience
+that the veriest trifle would suffice to buy over the wife of a Moor.
+
+Instructions having been given to his wife or wives as to what is to
+be prepared, and how--he probably pretends to know more of the art
+culinary than he does--the husband will start off to attend to his
+shop till lunch, which will be about noon. Then a few more hours in
+the shop, and before the sun sets a ride out to his garden by the
+river, returning in time for dinner at seven, after which come talk,
+prayers, and bed, completing what is more or less his daily round. His
+wives will probably be assisted in the house-work--or perhaps entirely
+relieved of it--by a slave-girl or two, and the water required will be
+brought in on the shoulders of a stalwart negro in skins or
+barrels filled from some fountain of good repute, but of certain
+contamination.
+
+In cooking the Moorish women excel, as their first-rate productions
+afford testimony. It is the custom of some Europeans to systematically
+disparage native preparations, but such judges have been the victims
+either of their own indiscretion in eating too many rich things
+without the large proportion of bread or other digestible nutriment
+which should have accompanied them, or of the essays of their own
+servants, usually men without any more knowledge of how their mothers
+prepare the dishes they attempt to imitate than an ordinary English
+working man would have of similar matters. Of course there are certain
+flavourings which to many are really objectionable, but none can be
+worse to us than any preparation of pig would be to a Moor. Prominent
+among such is the ancient butter which forms the basis of much
+of their spicings, butter made from milk, which has been
+preserved--usually buried a year or two--till it has acquired the
+taste, and somewhat the appearance, of ripe Gorgonzola. Those who
+commence by trying a very slight flavour of this will find the fancy
+grow upon them, and there is no smell so absolutely appetizing as the
+faintest whiff of anything being cooked in this butter, called "smin."
+
+Another point, much misunderstood, which enables them to cook the
+toughest old rooster or plough-ox joint till it can be eaten readily
+with the fingers, is the stewing in oil or butter. When the oil itself
+is pure and fresh, it imparts no more taste to anything cooked in it
+than does the fresh butter used by the rich. Articles plunged into
+either at their high boiling point are immediately browned and
+enclosed in a kind of case, with a result which can be achieved in
+no other manner than by rolling in paste or clay, and cooking amid
+embers. Moorish pastry thus cooked in oil is excellent, flaky and
+light.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE NATIVE "MERCHANT"
+
+  "A turban without a beard shows lack of modesty."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Háj Mohammed Et-Tájir, a grey-bearded worthy, who looks like a prince
+when he walks abroad, and dwells in a magnificent house, sits during
+business hours on a diminutive tick and wool mattress, on the floor
+of a cob-webbed room on one side of an ill-paved, uncovered, dirty
+court-yard. Light and air are admitted by the door in front of which
+he sits, while the long side behind him, the two ends, and much of the
+floor, are packed with valuable cloths, Manchester goods, silk, etc.
+Two other sides of the court-yard consist of similar stores, one
+occupied by a couple of Jews, and the other by another fine-looking
+Háj, his partner.
+
+Enters a Moor, in common clothing, market basket in hand. He
+advances to the entrance of the store, and salutes the owner
+respectfully--"Peace be with thee, Uncle Pilgrim!"
+
+"With thee be peace, O my master," is the reply, and the new-comer is
+handed a cushion, and motioned to sit on it at the door. "How doest
+thou?" "How fares thy house?" "How dost thou find thyself this
+morning?" "Is nothing wrong with thee?" These and similar inquiries
+are showered by each on the other, and an equal abundance is returned
+of such replies as, "Nothing wrong;" "Praise be to God;" "All is
+well."
+
+When both cease for lack of breath, after a brief pause the new
+arrival asks, "Have you any of that 'Merican?" (unbleached calico).
+The dealer puts on an indignant air, as if astonished at being asked
+such a question. "_Have_ I? There is no counting what I have of it,"
+and he commences to tell his beads, trying to appear indifferent as to
+whether his visitor buys or not. Presently the latter, also anxious
+not to appear too eager, exclaims, "Let's look at it." A piece is
+leisurely handed down, and the customer inquires in a disparaging
+tone, "How much?"
+
+"Six and a half," and the speaker again appears absorbed in
+meditation.
+
+"Give thee six," says the customer, rising as if to go.
+
+"Wait, thou art very dear to us; to thee alone will I give a special
+price, six and a quarter."
+
+"No, no," replies the customer, shaking his finger before his face, as
+though to emphasize his refusal of even such special terms.
+
+"Al-l-láh!" piously breathes the dealer, as he gazes abstractedly out
+of the door, presently adding in the same devout tone, "There is no
+god but God! God curse the infidels!"
+
+"Come, I'll give thee six and an okea"--of which latter six and a half
+go to the 'quarter' peseta or franc of which six were offered.
+
+"No, six and five is the lowest I can take."
+
+The might-be purchaser made his last offer in a half-rising posture,
+and is now nearly erect as he says, "Then I can't buy; give it me for
+six and three," sitting down as though the bargain were struck.
+
+"No, I never sell that quality for less than six and four, and it's a
+thing I make no profit on; you know that."
+
+The customer doesn't look as though he did, and rising, turns to go.
+
+"Send a man to carry it away," says the dealer.
+
+"At six and three!"
+
+"No, at six and four!" and the customer goes away.
+
+"Send the man, it is thine," is hastily called after him, and in a few
+moments he returns with a Jewish porter, and pays his "six and three."
+
+So our worthy trader does business all day, and seems to thrive on it.
+Occasionally a friend drops in to chat and not to buy, and now and
+then there is a beggar; here is one.
+
+An aged crone she is, of most forbidding countenance, swathed in rags,
+it is a wonder she can keep together. She leans on a formidable staff,
+and in a piteous voice, "For the face of the Lord," and "In the name
+of my Lord Slave-of-the-Able" (Mulai Abd el Káder, a favourite saint),
+she begs something "For God." One copper suffices to induce her to
+call down untold blessings on the head of the donor, and she trudges
+away in the mud, barefooted, repeating her entreaties till they sound
+almost a wail, as she turns the next corner. But beggars who can be
+so easily disposed of at the rate of a hundred and ninety-five for a
+shilling can hardly be considered troublesome.
+
+A respectable-looking man next walks in with measured tread, and
+leaning towards us, says almost in a whisper--
+
+"O Friend of the Prophet, is there anything to-day?"
+
+"Nothing, O my master," is the courteously toned reply, for the
+beggar appears to be a shareef or noble, and with a "God bless thee,"
+disappears.
+
+A miserable wretch now turns up, and halfway across the yard begins to
+utter a whine which is speedily cut short by a curt "God help thee!"
+whereat the visitor turns on his heel and is gone.
+
+With a confident bearing an untidy looking figure enters a moment
+later, and after due salaams inquires for a special kind of cloth.
+
+"Call to-morrow morning," he is told, for he has not the air of a
+purchaser, and he takes his departure meekly.
+
+A creaky voice here breaks in from round the corner--
+
+"Hast thou not a copper for the sake of the Lord?"
+
+"No, O my brother."
+
+After a few minutes another female comes on the scene, exhibiting
+enough of her face to show that it is a mass of sores.
+
+"Only a trifle, in the name of my lord Idrees," she cries, and turns
+away on being told, "God bring it!"
+
+Then comes a policeman, a makházni, who seats himself amid a shower of
+salutations--
+
+"Hast thou any more of those selháms" (hooded cloaks)?
+
+"Come on the morrow, and thou shalt see."
+
+The explanation of this answer given by the "merchant" is that he sees
+such folk only mean to bother him for nothing.
+
+And this appears to be the daily routine of "business," though a good
+bargain must surely be made some time to have enabled our friend to
+acquire all the property he has, but so far as an outsider can judge,
+it must be a slow process. Anyhow, it has heartily tired the writer,
+who has whiled away the morning penning this account on a cushion on
+one side of the shop described. Yet it is a fair specimen of what has
+been observed by him on many a morning in this sleepy land.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+SHOPPING[7]
+  [7: Contributed by my wife.--B. M.]
+
+  "Debt destroys religion."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+If any should imagine that time is money in Morocco, let them
+undertake a shopping expedition in Tangier, the town on which, if
+anywhere in Morocco, occidental energy has set its seal. Not that one
+such excursion will suffice, unless, indeed, the purchaser be of the
+class who have more money than wit, or who are absolutely at the mercy
+of the guide and interpreter who pockets a commission upon every
+bargain he brings about. For the ordinary mortal, who wants to spread
+his dollars as far as it is possible for dollars to go, a tour of
+inspection, if not two or three, will be necessary before such a feat
+can be accomplished. To be sure, there is always the risk that between
+one visit and another some coveted article may find its way into the
+hands of a more reckless, or at least less thrifty, purchaser, but
+that risk may be safely taken.
+
+[Illustration: _Albert, Photo., Tunis._
+
+A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER.]
+
+There is something very attractive in the small cupboard-like shops
+of the main street. Their owners sit cross-legged ready for a chat,
+looking wonderfully picturesque in cream-coloured jelláb, or in
+semi-transparent white farrajîyah, or tunic, allowing at the throat
+a glimpse of saffron, cerise, or green from the garment beneath. The
+white turban, beneath which shows a line of red Fez cap, serves as a
+foil to the clear olive complexion and the dark eyes and brows, while
+the faces are in general goodly to look upon, except where the lines
+have grown coarse and sensuous.
+
+So strong is the impression of elegant leisure, that it is difficult
+to imagine that these men expect to make a living from their trade,
+but they are more than willing to display their goods, and will
+doubtless invite you to a seat upon the shop ledge--where your feet
+dangle gracefully above a rough cobble-stone pavement--and sometimes
+even to a cup of tea. One after another, in quick succession, carpets
+of different dimensions (but all oblong, for Moorish rooms are narrow
+in comparison with their length) are spread out in the street, and the
+shop-owners' satellite, by reiterated cries of "Bálak! Bálak!" (Mind
+out! Mind out!) accompanied by persuasive pushes, keeps off the
+passing donkeys. A miniature crowd of interested spectators will
+doubtless gather round you, making remarks upon you and your
+purchases. Charmed by the artistic colourings, rich but never garish,
+you ask the price, and if you are wise you will immediately offer just
+half of that named. It is quite probable that the carpets will be
+folded up and returned to their places upon the shelf at the back of
+the shop, but it is equally probable that by slow and tactful yielding
+upon either side, interspersed with curses upon your ancestors and
+upon yourself, the bargain will be struck about halfway between the
+two extremes.
+
+The same method must be adopted with every article bought, and if you
+purpose making many purchases in the same shop, you will be wise to
+obtain and write down the price quoted in each case as "the _very_
+lowest," and make your bid for the whole at once, lest, made cunning
+by one experience of your tactics, the shopman should put on a wider
+marginal profit in every other instance to circumvent you. It is also
+well for the purchaser to express ardent admiration in tones of calm
+indifference, for the Moor has quick perceptions, and though he may
+not understand English, when enthusiasm is apparent, he has the key to
+the situation, and refuses to lower his prices.
+
+Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to avoid a warm expression of
+admiration at the handsome brass trays, the Morocco leather bags into
+which such charming designs of contrasting colours are skilfully
+introduced, or the graceful utensils of copper and brass with which
+a closer acquaintance was made when you were the guest at a Moorish
+dinner. Many and interesting are the curious trifles which may be
+purchased, but they will be found in the greatest profusion in the
+bazaars established for the convenience of Nazarene tourists, where
+prices will frequently be named in English money, for an English
+"yellow-boy" is nowhere better appreciated than in Tangier.
+
+In the shops in the sôk, or market-place, prices are sometimes more
+moderate, and there you may discover some of the more distinctively
+Moorish articles, which are brought in from the country; nor can there
+be purchased a more interesting memento than a flint-lock, a pistol,
+or a carved dagger, all more or less elaborately decorated, such as
+are carried by town or country Moor, the former satisfied with a
+dagger in its chased sheath, except at the time of "powder-play," when
+flint-locks are in evidence everywhere.
+
+But in the market-place there are exposed for sale the more perishable
+things of Moorish living. Some of the small cupboards are grocers'
+shops, where semolina for the preparation of kesk'soo, the national
+dish, may be purchased, as well as candles for burning at the saints'
+shrines, and a multitude of small necessaries for the Moorish
+housewives. In the centre of the market sit the bread-sellers, for the
+most part women whose faces are supposed to be religiously kept veiled
+from the gaze of man, but who are apt to let their háďks fall back
+quite carelessly when only Europeans are near. An occasional glimpse
+may sometimes be thus obtained of a really pretty face of some lass on
+the verge of womanhood.
+
+Look at that girl in front of us, stooping over the stall of a vendor
+of what some one has dubbed "sticky nastinesses," her háďk lightly
+thrown back; her bent form and the tiny hand protruding at her side
+show that she is not alone, her little baby brother proving almost
+as much as she can carry. Her teeth are pearly white; her hair and
+eyebrows are jet black; her nut-brown cheeks bear a pleasant smile,
+and as she stretches out one hand to give the "confectioner" a few
+coppers, with the other clutching at her escaping garment, and moves
+on amongst the crowd, we come to the conclusion that if not fair, she
+is at least comely.
+
+The country women seated on the ground with their wares form a nucleus
+for a dense crowd. They have carried in upon their backs heavy loads
+of grass for provender, or firewood and charcoal which they sell in
+wholesale quantities to the smaller shopkeepers, who purchase from
+other countryfolk donkey loads of ripe melons and luscious black figs.
+
+There is a glorious inconsequence in the arrangement of the wares.
+Here you may see a pile of women's garments exposed for sale, and not
+far away are sweet-sellers with honey-cakes and other unattractive
+but toothsome delicacies. If you can catch a glimpse of the native
+brass-workers busily beating out artistic designs upon trays of
+different sizes and shapes, do not fail to seize the opportunity
+of watching them. You may form one in the ring gathered round the
+snake-charmer, or join the circle which listens open-mouthed and with
+breathless attention to that story-teller, who breaks off at a most
+critical juncture in his narrative to shake his tambourine, declaring
+that so close-fisted an audience does not deserve to hear another
+word, much less the conclusion of his fascinating tale.
+
+But before you join either party, indeed before you mingle at all
+freely in the crowd upon a Moorish market-place, it is well to
+remember that the flea is a common domestic insect, impartial in the
+distribution of his favours to Moor, Jew and Nazarene, and is in fact
+not averse to "fresh fields and pastures new."
+
+If you are clad in perishable garments, beware of the water-carrier
+with his goat-skin, his tinkling bell, his brass cup, and his strange
+cry. Beware, too, of the strings of donkeys with heavily laden packs,
+and do not scruple to give them a forcible push out of your way.
+If you are mounted upon a donkey yourself, so much the better; by
+watching the methods of your donkey-boy to ensure a clear passage for
+his beast, you will realize that dwellers in Barbary are not strangers
+to the spirit of the saying, "Each man for himself, and the de'il take
+the hindmost."
+
+Yet they are a pleasant crowd to be amongst, in spite of insect-life,
+water-carriers, and bulky pack-saddles, and there is an exhaustless
+store of interest, not alone in the wares they have for sale, and in
+the trades they ply, but more than all in the faces, so often keen and
+alert, and still more often bright and smiling.
+
+One typical example of Moorish methods of shopping, and I have done.
+Among those who make their money by trade, you may find a man who
+spends his time in bringing the would-be purchaser into intimate
+relations with the article he desires to obtain. He has no shop of his
+own, but may often be recognized as an interested spectator of some
+uncompleted bargain. Having discovered your dwelling-place, he
+proceeds to "bring the mountain to Mohammed," and you will doubtless
+be confronted in the court-yard of your hotel by the very article for
+which you have been seeking in vain. Of course he expects a good price
+which shall ensure him a profit of at least fifty per cent. upon his
+expenditure, but he too is open to a bargain, and a little skilful
+pointing out of flaws in the article which he has brought for
+purchase, in a tone of calm and supreme indifference, is apt to ensure
+a very satisfactory reduction of price in favour of the shopper in
+Barbary.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+A SUNDAY MARKET
+
+  "A climb with a friend is a descent."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+One of the sights of Tangier is its market. Sundays and Thursdays,
+when the weather is fine, see the disused portion of the Mohammedan
+graveyard outside _Báb el Fahs_ (called by the English Port St.
+Catherine, and now known commonly as the Sôk Gate) crowded with buyers
+and sellers of most quaint appearance to the foreign eye, not to
+mention camels, horses, mules, and donkeys, or the goods they have
+brought. Hither come the sellers from long distances, trudging all the
+way on foot, laden or not, according to means, all eager to exchange
+their goods for European manufacturers, or to carry home a few more
+dollars to be buried with their store.
+
+Sunday is no Sabbath for the sons of Israel, so the money-changers are
+doing a brisk trade from baskets of filthy native bronze coin, the
+smallest of which go five hundred to the shilling, and the largest
+three hundred and thirty-three! Hard by a venerable rabbi is leisurely
+cutting the throats of fowls brought to him for the purpose by the
+servants or children of Jews, after the careful inspection enjoined
+by the Mosaic law. The old gentleman has the coolest way of doing it
+imaginable; he might be only peeling an orange for the little girl who
+stands waiting. After apparently all but turning the victim inside
+out, he twists back its head under its wings, folding these across its
+breast as a handle, and with his free hand removing his razor-like
+knife from his mouth, nearly severs its neck and hands it to the
+child, who can scarcely restrain its struggles except by putting her
+foot on it, while he mechanically wipes his blade and prepares to
+despatch another.
+
+Eggs and milk are being sold a few yards off by country women squatted
+on the ground, the former in baskets or heaps on the stones, the
+latter in uninviting red jars, with a round of prickly-pear leaf for a
+stopper, and a bit of palmetto rope for a handle.
+
+By this time we are in the midst of a perfect Babel--a human
+maëlstrom. In a European crowd one is but crushed by human beings;
+here all sorts of heavily laden quadrupeds, with packs often four feet
+across, come jostling past, sometimes with the most unsavoury loads.
+We have just time to observe that more country women are selling
+walnuts, vegetables, and fruits, on our left, at the door of what used
+to be the tobacco and hemp fandak, and that native sweets, German
+knick-knacks and Spanish fruit are being sold on our right, as amid
+the din of forges on either side we find ourselves in the midst of the
+crush to get through the narrow gate.
+
+Here an exciting scene ensues. Continuous streams of people and beasts
+of burden are pushing both ways; a drove of donkeys laden with rough
+bundles of cork-wood for the ovens approaches, the projecting ends
+prodding the passers-by; another drove laden with stones tries to pass
+them, while half a dozen mules and horses vainly endeavour to pass
+out. A European horseman trots up and makes the people fly, but not so
+the beasts, till he gets wedged in the midst, and must bide his time
+after all. Meanwhile one is almost deafened by the noise of
+shouting, most of it good-humoured. "Zeed! Arrah!" vociferates
+the donkey-driver. "Bálak!" shouts the horseman. "Bálak! Guarda!"
+(pronounced warda) in a louder key comes from a man who is trying to
+pilot a Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary through the
+gate, with Her Excellency on his arm.
+
+At last we seize a favourable opportunity and are through. Now we can
+breathe. In front of us, underneath an arch said to have been built
+to shelter the English guard two hundred years ago (which is very
+unlikely, since the English destroyed the fortifications of this
+gate), we see the native shoeing-smiths hacking at the hoofs of
+horses, mules, and donkeys, in a manner most extraordinary to us, and
+nailing on triangular plates with holes in the centre--though most
+keep a stock of English imported shoes and nails for the fastidious
+Nazarenes. Spanish and Jewish butchers are driving a roaring trade at
+movable stalls made of old boxes, and the din is here worse than ever.
+
+Now we turn aside into the vegetable market, as it is called, though
+as we enter we are almost sickened by the sight of more butchers'
+stalls, and further on by putrid fish. This market is typical. Low
+thatched booths of branches and canes are the only shops but those of
+the butchers, the arcade which surrounds the interior of the building
+being chiefly used for stores. Here and there a filthy rag is
+stretched across the crowded way to keep the sun off, and anon we have
+to stop to avoid some drooping branch. Fruit and vegetables of all
+descriptions in season are sold amid the most good-humoured haggling.
+
+Emerging from this interesting scene by a gate leading to the outer
+sôk, we come to one quite different in character. A large open space
+is packed with country people, their beasts and their goods, and
+towns-people come out to purchase. Women seem to far outnumber
+the men, doubtless on account of their size and their conspicuous
+head-dress. They are almost entirely enveloped in white háďks,
+over the majority of which are thrown huge native sun-hats made of
+palmetto, with four coloured cords by way of rigging to keep the brim
+extended. When the sun goes down these are to be seen slung across the
+shoulders instead. Very many of the women have children slung on their
+backs, or squatting on their hips if big enough. This causes them to
+stoop, especially if some other burden is carried on their shoulders
+as well.
+
+[Illustration: THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER.
+
+_Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._]
+
+On our right are typical Moorish shops,--grocers', if you please,--in
+which are exposed to view an assortment of dried fruits, such as nuts,
+raisins, figs, etc., with olive and argan oil, candles, tea, sugar,
+and native soap and butter. Certainly of all the goods that butter is
+the least inviting; the soap, though the purest of "soft," looks a
+horribly repulsive mass, but the butter which, like it, is streaked
+all over with finger marks, is in addition full of hairs. Similar
+shops are perched on our left, where old English biscuit-boxes are
+conspicuous.
+
+Beyond these come slipper- and clothes-menders. The former are at work
+on native slippers of such age that they would long ago have been
+thrown away in any less poverty-stricken land, transforming them into
+wearable if unsightly articles, after well soaking them in earthen
+pans. Just here a native "medicine man" dispenses nostrums of doubtful
+efficacy, and in front a quantity of red Moorish pottery is exposed
+for sale. This consists chiefly of braziers for charcoal and kesk'soo
+steamers for stewing meat and vegetables as well.
+
+A native _café_ here attracts our attention. Under the shade of a
+covered way the káhwajî has a brazier on which he keeps a large kettle
+of water boiling. A few steps further on we light upon the sellers of
+native salt. This is in very large crystals, heaped in mule panniers,
+from which the dealers mete it out in wooden measures. It comes from
+along the beach near Old Tangier, where the heaps can be seen from the
+town, glistening in the sunlight. Ponds are dug along the shore, in
+which sea water is enclosed by miniature dykes, and on evaporating
+leaves the salt.
+
+Pressing on with difficulty through a crowd of horses, mules and
+donkeys, mostly tethered by their forefeet, we reach some huts in
+front of which are the most gorgeous native waistcoats exposed for
+sale, together with Manchester goods, by fat, ugly old women of
+a forbidding aspect. Further on we come upon "confectioners." A
+remarkable peculiarity of the tables on which the sweets are being
+sold in front of us is the total absence of flies, though bees
+abound, in spite of the lazy whisking of the sweet-seller. The sweets
+themselves consist of red, yellow and white sticks of what Cousin
+Jonathan calls "candy;" almond and gingelly rock, all frizzling in the
+sun. A small basin, whose contents resemble a dark plum-pudding full
+of seeds, contains a paste of the much-lauded hasheesh, the opiate of
+Morocco, which, though contraband, and strictly prohibited by Imperial
+decrees, is being freely purchased in small doses.
+
+On the opposite side of the way some old Spaniards are selling a kind
+of coiled-up fritter by the yard, swimming in oil. Then we come to a
+native restaurant. Trade does not appear very brisk, so we shall not
+interrupt it by pausing for a few moments to watch the cooking. In a
+tiny lean-to of sticks and thatch two men are at work. One is cutting
+up liver and what would be flead if the Moors ate pigs, into pieces
+about the size of a filbert. These the other threads on skewers in
+alternate layers, three or four of each. Having rolled them in a basin
+of pepper and salt, they are laid across an earthen pot resembling a
+log scooped out, like some primćval boat. In the bottom of the hollow
+is a charcoal fire, which causes the khotbán, as they are called, to
+give forth a most appetizing odour--the only thing tempting about them
+after seeing them made. Half loaves of native bread lie ready to hand,
+and the hungry passer-by is invited to take an _al fresco_ meal for
+the veriest trifle. Another sort of kabáb--for such is the name of
+the preparation--is being made from a large wash-basin full of ready
+seasoned minced meat, small handfuls of which the jovial _chef_
+adroitly plasters on more skewers, cooking them like the others.
+
+Squatted on the ground by the side of this "bar" is a retailer of
+ripened native butter, "warranted five years old." This one can
+readily smell without stooping; it is in an earthenware pan, and looks
+very dirty, but is weighed out by the ounce as very precious after
+being kept so long underground.
+
+Opposite is the spot where the camels from and for the interior load
+and unload. Some forty of these ungainly but useful animals are here
+congregated in groups. At feeding-time a cloth is spread on the
+ground, on which a quantity of barley is poured in a heap. Each animal
+lies with its legs doubled up beneath it in a manner only possible to
+camels, with its head over the food, munching contentedly. In one of
+the groups we notice the driver beating his beast to make it kneel
+down preparatory to the removal of its pack, some two hundred-weight
+and a half. After sundry unpleasant sounds, and tramping backwards and
+forwards to find a comfortable spot, the gawky creature settles down
+in a stately fashion, packing up his stilt-like legs in regular
+order, limb after limb, till he attains the desired position. A short
+distance off one of them is making hideous noises by way of protest
+against the weight of the load being piled upon him, threatening to
+lose his temper, and throw a little red bladder out of his mouth,
+which, hanging there as he breathes excitedly, makes a most unpleasing
+sound.
+
+Here one of the many water-carriers who have crossed our path does so
+again, tinkling his little bell of European manufacture, and we turn
+to watch him as he gives a poor lad to drink. Slung across his back is
+the "bottle" of the East--a goat-skin with the legs sewn up. A long
+metal spout is tied into the neck, and on this he holds his left
+thumb, which he uses as a tap by removing it to aim a long stream of
+water into the tin mug in his right hand. Two bright brass cups cast
+and engraved in Fez hang from a chain round his neck, but these are
+reserved for purchasers, the urchin who is now enjoying a drink
+receiving it as charity. Tinkle, tinkle, goes the bell again, as
+the weary man moves on with his ever-lightening burden, till he is
+confronted by another wayfarer who turns to him to quench his thirst.
+As these skins are filled indiscriminately from wells and tanks, and
+cleaned inside with pitch, the taste must not be expected to satisfy
+all palates; but if hunger is the best sauce for food, thirst is an
+equal recommendation for drink.
+
+A few minutes' walk across a cattle-market brings us at last to the
+English church, a tasteful modern construction in pure Moorish style,
+and banishing the thoughts of our stroll, we join the approaching
+group of fellow-worshippers, for after all it is Sunday.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+PLAY-TIME
+
+  "According to thy shawl stretch thy leg."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Few of us realize to what an extent our amusements, pastimes,
+and recreations enter into the formation of our individual, and
+consequently of our national, character. It is therefore well worth
+our while to take a glance at the Moor at play, or as near play as he
+ever gets. The stately father of a family must content himself, as his
+years and flesh increase, with such amusements as shall not entail
+exertion. By way of house game, since cards and all amusements
+involving chance are strictly forbidden, chess reigns supreme, and
+even draughts--with which the denizens of the coffee-house, where he
+would not be seen, disport themselves--are despised by him. In Shiráz,
+however, the Sheďkh ul Islám, or chief religious authority, declared
+himself shocked when I told him how often I had played this game with
+Moorish theologians, whereupon ensued a warm discussion as to whether
+it was a game of chance. At last I brought this to a satisfactory
+close by remarking that as his reverence was ignorant even of the
+rules of the game,--and therefore no judge, since he had imagined it
+to be based on hazard,--he at least was manifestly innocent of it.
+
+The connection between chess and Arabdom should not be forgotten,
+especially as the very word with which it culminates, "checkmate," is
+but a corruption of the Arabic "sheďkh mát"--"chief dead." The king of
+games is, however, rare on the whole, requiring too much concentration
+for a weary or lazy official, or a merchant after a busy day. Their
+method of playing does not materially differ from ours, but they
+play draughts with very much more excitement and fun. The jocular
+vituperation which follows a successful sally, and the almost
+unintelligible rapidity with which the moves are made, are as novel to
+the European as appreciated by the natives.
+
+Gossip, the effervescence of an idle brain, is the prevailing pastime,
+and at no afternoon tea-table in Great Britain is more aimless talk
+indulged in than while the cup goes round among the Moors. The ladies,
+with a more limited scope, are not far behind their lords in this
+respect. Otherwise their spare time is devoted to minutely fine
+embroidery. This is done in silk on a piece of calico or linen tightly
+stretched on a frame, and is the same on both sides; in this way
+are ornamented curtains, pillow-cases, mattress-covers, etc. It is,
+nevertheless, considered so far a superfluity that few who have not
+abundant time to spare trouble about it, and the material decorated is
+seldom worth the labour bestowed thereon.
+
+The fact is that in these southern latitudes as little time as
+possible is passed within doors, and for this reason we must seek the
+real amusements of the people outside. When at home they seem to
+think it sufficient to loll about all the day long if not at work,
+especially if they have an enclosed flower-garden, beautifully wild
+and full of green and flowers, with trickling, splashing water. I
+exclude, of course, all feasts and times when the musicians come,
+but I must not omit mention of dancing. Easterns think their western
+friends mad to dance themselves, when they can so easily get others
+to do it for them, so they hire a number of women to go through all
+manner of quaint--too often indecent--posings and wrigglings before
+them, to the tune of a nasal chant, which, aided by fiddles, banjos,
+and tambourines, is being drawled out by the musicians. Some of these
+seemingly inharmonious productions are really enjoyable when one gets
+into the spirit of the thing.
+
+At times the Moors are themselves full of life and vigour, especially
+in the enjoyment of what may be called the national sport of
+"powder-play," not to speak of boar-hunting, hawking, rabbit-chasing,
+and kindred pastimes. Just as in the days of yore their forefathers
+excelled in the use of the spear, brandishing and twirling it as
+easily as an Indian club or singlestick, so they excel to-day in the
+exercise of their five-foot flint-locks, performing the most dexterous
+feats on horseback at full gallop.
+
+Here is such a display about to commence. It is the feast of
+Mohammed's birthday, and the market-place outside the gate, so changed
+since yesterday, is crowded with spectators; men and boys in gay, but
+still harmonious, colours, decked out for the day, and women shrouded
+in their blankets, plain wool-white. An open space is left right
+through the centre, up a gentle slope, and a dozen horsemen are
+spurring and holding in their prancing steeds at yonder lower end.
+At some unnoticed signal they have started towards us. They gallop
+wildly, the beat of their horses' hoofs sounding as iron hail on the
+stony way. A cloud of dust flies upward, and before we are aware of it
+they are abreast of us--a waving, indistinguishable mass of flowing
+robes, of brandished muskets, and of straining, foaming steeds. We can
+just see them tossing their guns in the air, and then a rider, bolder
+than the rest, stands on his saddle, whirling round his firearm aloft
+without stopping, while another swings his long weapon underneath his
+horse, and seizes it upon the other side. But now they are in line
+again, and every gun is pointed over the right, behind the back, the
+butt grasped by the twisted left arm, and the lock by the right
+under the left armpit. In this constrained position they fire at an
+imaginary foe who is supposed to have appeared from ambush as they
+pass. Immediately the reins--which have hitherto been held in the
+mouth, the steed guided by the feet against his gory flanks--are
+pulled up tight, throwing the animal upon his haunches, and wheeling
+him round for a sober walk back.
+
+This is, in truth, a practice or drill for war, for such is the method
+of fighting in these parts. A sortie is made to seek the hidden foe,
+who may start up anywhere from the ravines or boulders, and who must
+be aimed at instanter, before he regains his cover, while those who
+have observed him must as quickly as possible get beyond his range to
+reload and procure reinforcements.
+
+The only other active sports of moment, apart from occasional horse
+races, are football and fencing, indulged in by boys. The former is
+played with a stuffed leather ball some six or eight inches across,
+which is kicked into the air with the back of the heel, and caught
+in the hands, the object being to drive it as high as possible. The
+fencing is only remarkable for its free and easy style, and the
+absence of hilts and guards.
+
+Yet there are milder pastimes in equal favour, and far more in
+accordance with the fancy of southerners in warm weather, such as
+watching a group of jugglers or snake-charmers, or listening to a
+story-teller. These are to be met with in the market-place towards
+the close of hot and busy days, when the wearied bargainers gather in
+groups to rest before commencing the homeward trudge. The jugglers are
+usually poor, the production of fire from the mouth, of water from an
+empty jar, and so on, forming stock items. But often fearful realities
+are to be seen--men who in a frenzied state catch cannon balls upon
+their heads, blood spurting out on every side; or, who stick skewers
+through their legs. These are religious devotees who live by such
+performances. From the public _raconteur_ the Moor derives the
+excitement the European finds in his novel, or the tale "to be
+continued in our next," and it probably does him less harm.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+THE STORY-TELLER
+
+  "Gentleman without reading, dog without scent."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+The story-teller is, _par excellence_, the prince of Moorish
+performers. Even to the stranger unacquainted with the language the
+sight of the Arab bard and his attentive audience on some erstwhile
+bustling market at the ebbing day is full of interest--to the student
+of human nature a continual attraction. After a long trudge from home,
+commenced before dawn, and a weary haggling over the most worthless of
+"coppers" during the heat of the day, the poor folk are quite ready
+for a quiet resting-time, with something to distract their minds and
+fill them with thoughts for the homeward way. Here have been fanned
+and fed the great religious and political movements which from time
+to time have convulsed the Empire, and here the pulse of the nation
+throbs. In the cities men lead a different life, and though
+the townsfolk appreciate tales as well as any, it is on these
+market-places that the wandering troubadour gathers the largest
+crowds.
+
+Like public performers everywhere, a story-teller of note always
+goes about with regular assistants, who act as summoners to his
+entertainment, and as chorus to his songs. They consist usually of a
+player on the native fiddle, another who keeps time on a tambourine,
+and a third who beats a kind of earthenware drum with his fingers.
+Less pretentious "professors" are content with themselves manipulating
+a round or square tambourine or a two-stringed fiddle, and to many
+this style has a peculiar charm of its own. Each pause, however
+slight, is marked by two or three sharp beats on the tightly stretched
+skin, or twangs with a palmetto leaf plectrum, loud or soft, according
+to the subject of the discourse at that point. The dress of this
+class--the one most frequently met with--is usually of the plainest,
+if not of the scantiest; a tattered brown jelláb (a hooded woollen
+cloak) and a camel's-hair cord round the tanned and shaven skull are
+the garments which strike the eye. Waving bare arms and sinewy legs,
+with a wild, keen-featured face, lit up by flashing eyes, complete the
+picture.
+
+This is the man from whom to learn of love and fighting, of beautiful
+women and hairbreadth escapes, the whole on the model of the "Thousand
+Nights and a Night," of which versions more or less recognizable
+may now and again be heard from his lips. Commencing with plenty
+of tambourine, and a few suggestive hints of what is to follow, he
+gathers around him a motley audience, the first comers squatting in a
+circle, and later arrivals standing behind. Gradually their excitement
+is aroused, and as their interest grows, the realistic semi-acting and
+the earnest mien of the performer rivet every eye upon him. Suddenly
+his wild gesticulations cease at the entrancing point. One step
+more for liberty, one blow, and the charming prize would be in the
+possession of her adorer. Now is the time to "cash up." With a pious
+reference to "our lord Mohammed--the prayer of God be on him, and
+peace,"--and an invocation of a local patron saint or other equally
+revered defunct, an appeal is made to the pockets of the Faithful "for
+the sake of Mulai Abd el Káder"--"Lord Slave-of-the-Able." Arousing as
+from a trance, the eager listeners instinctively commence to feel in
+their pockets for the balance from the day's bargaining; and as every
+blessing from the legion of saints who would fill the Mohammedan
+calendar if there were one is invoked on the cheerful giver, one
+by one throws down his hard-earned coppers--one or two--and as if
+realizing what he has parted with, turns away with a long-drawn breath
+to untether his beasts, and set off home.
+
+But exciting as are these acknowledged fictions, specimens are so
+familiar to most readers from the pages of the collection referred to
+that much more interest will be felt in an attempt to reproduce one
+of a higher type, pseudo-historical, and alleged to be true. Such
+narratives exhibit much of native character, and shades of thought
+unencountered save in daily intercourse with the people. Let us,
+therefore, seize the opportunity of a visit from a noted _raconteur_
+and reputed poet to hear his story. Tame, indeed, would be the result
+of an endeavour to transfer to black and white the animated tones and
+gestures of the narrator, which the imagination of the reader must
+supply.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by A. Lennox, Esq._
+
+GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARRÁKESH.]
+
+The initial "voluntary" by the "orchestra" has ended; every eye is
+directed towards the central figure, this time arrayed in ample
+turban, white jelláb and yellow slippers, with a face betokening
+a lucrative profession. After a moment's silence he commences the
+history of--
+
+  "MULAI ABD EL KÁDER AND THE MONK OF MONKS."
+
+"The thrones of the Nazarenes were once in number sixty, but the star
+of the Prophet of God--the prayer of God be on him, and peace--was in
+the ascendant, and the religion of Resignation [Islám] was everywhere
+victorious. Many of the occupiers of those thrones had either
+submitted to the Lieutenant ['Caliph'] of our Lord, and become
+Muslimeen, or had been vanquished by force of arms. The others were
+terrified, and a general assembly was convoked to see what was to be
+done. As the rulers saw they were helpless against the decree of
+God, they called for their monks to advise them. The result of the
+conference was that it was decided to invite the Resigned Ones
+(Muslimeen) to a discussion on their religious differences, on the
+understanding that whichever was victorious should be thenceforth
+supreme.
+
+"The Leader of the Faithful having summoned his wise men, their
+opinion was asked. 'O victorious of God,' they with one voice replied,
+'since God, the High and Blessed, is our King, what have we to fear?
+Having on our side the truth revealed in the "Book to be Read" [the
+Korán] by the hand of the Messenger of God--the prayer of God be on
+him, and peace--we _must_ prevail. Let us willingly accept their
+proposal.' An early day was accordingly fixed for the decisive
+contest, and each party marshalled its forces. At the appointed time
+they met, a great crowd on either side, and it was asked which should
+begin. Knowing that victory was on his side, the Lieutenant of the
+Prophet--the prayer of God be on him, and peace--replied, 'Since ye
+have desired this meeting, open ye the discussion.'
+
+"Then the chief of the Nazarene kings made answer, 'But we are here so
+many gathered together, that if we commence to dispute all round we
+shall not finish by the Judgement Day. Let each party therefore choose
+its wisest man, and let the two debate before us, the remainder
+judging the result.'
+
+"'Well hast thou spoken,' said the Leader of the Faithful; 'be it even
+so.' Then the learned among the Resigned selected our lord Abd el
+Káder of Baghdad,[8] a man renowned the world over for piety and for
+the depth of his learning. Now a prayer [Fátihah] for Mulai Abd el
+Káder!"
+
+  [8: So called because buried near that city. For an account of his
+      life, and view of his mausoleum, see "The Moors," pp. 337-339.]
+
+Here the speaker, extending his open palms side by side before him, as
+if to receive a blessing thereon, is copied by the by-standers.[9] "In
+the name of God, the Pitying, the Pitiful!" All draw their hands down
+their faces, and, if they boast beards, end by stroking them out.
+
+  [9: "The hands are raised in order to catch a blessing in
+       them, and are afterwards drawn over the face to transfer it to
+       every part of the body."--HUGHES, "Dictionary of Islám."]
+
+  [10: A term applied by Mohammedans to Christians on account of
+       a mistaken conception of the doctrine of the Trinity.]
+
+"Then the polytheists[10] likewise chose their man, one held among them
+in the highest esteem, well read and wise, a monk of monks. Between
+these two, then, the controversy commenced. As already agreed, the
+Nazarene was the first to question:
+
+"'How far is it from the Earth to the first heaven?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'And thence to the second heaven?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the third?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the fourth?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the fifth?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the sixth?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the seventh?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'And from Mekka to Jerusalem?'
+
+"'Forty days.'
+
+"'Add up the whole.'
+
+"'Three thousand, five hundred years, and forty days.'
+
+"'In his famous ride on El Borak [Lightning] where did Mohammed go?'
+
+"'From the Sacred Temple [of Mekka] to the Further Temple [of
+Jerusalem], and from the Holy House [Jerusalem] to the seventh heaven,
+and the presence of God.'[11]
+
+  [11: This was the occasion on which Mohammed visited the seven
+       heavens under the care of Gabriel, riding on an ass so restive
+       that he had to be bribed with a promise of Paradise.]
+
+"'How long did this take?'
+
+"'The tenth of one night.'
+
+"'Did he find his bed still warm on his return?'
+
+"'Yes.'
+
+"'Dost thou think such a thing possible; to travel three thousand five
+hundred years and back, and find one's bed still warm on returning?'
+
+"'Canst thou play chess?' then asked Mulai Abd el Káder.
+
+"'Of course I can,' said the monk, surprised.
+
+"'Then, wilt thou play with me?'
+
+"'Certainly not,' replied the monk, indignantly. 'Dost thou think me a
+fool, to come here to discuss the science of religion, and to be put
+off with a game of chess?'
+
+"'Then thou acknowledgest thyself beaten; thou hast said thou couldst
+play chess, yet thou darest not measure thy skill at it with me. Thy
+refusal proves thy lie.'
+
+"'Nay, then, since thou takest it that way, I will consent to a match,
+but under protest.'
+
+"So the board was brought, and the players seated themselves. Move,
+move, move, went the pieces; kings and queens, elephants, rooks, and
+knights, with the soldiers everywhere. One by one they disappeared, as
+the fight grew fast and furious. But Mulai Abd el Káder had another
+object in view than the routing of his antagonist at a game of chess.
+By the exercise of his superhuman power he transported the monk to
+'the empty third' [of the world], while his image remained before him
+at the board, to all appearances still absorbed in the contest.
+
+"Meanwhile the monk could not tell where he was, but being oppressed
+with a sense of severe thirst, rose from where he sat, and made for a
+rising ground near by, whence he hoped to be able to descry some signs
+of vegetation, which should denote the presence of water. Giddy and
+tired out, he approached the top, when what was his joy to see a city
+surrounded by palms but a short way off! With a cry of delight he
+quickened his steps and approached the gate. As he did so, a party of
+seven men in gorgeous apparel of wool and silk came out of the gate,
+each with a staff in his hand.
+
+"On meeting him they offered him the salutation of the Faithful, but
+he did not return it. 'Who mayest _thou_ be,' they asked, 'who dost
+not wish peace to the Resigned?' [Muslimeen]. 'My Lords,' he made
+answer, 'I am a monk of the Nazarenes, I merely seek water to quench
+my thirst.'
+
+"'But he who comes here must resign himself [to Mohammedanism] or
+suffer the consequences. Testify that 'There is no god but God, and
+Mohammed is His Messenger!' 'Never,' he replied; and immediately they
+threw him on the ground and flogged him with their staves till he
+cried for mercy. 'Stop!' he implored. 'I will testify.' No sooner had
+he done so than they ceased their blows, and raising him up gave
+him water to drink. Then, tearing his monkish robe to shreds, each
+deprived himself of a garment to dress him becomingly. Having
+re-entered the city they repaired to the judge.
+
+"'My Lord,' they said, 'we bring before thee a brother Resigned, once
+a monk of the monks, now a follower of the Prophet, our lord--the
+prayer of God be on him, and peace. We pray thee to accept his
+testimony and record it in due form.'
+
+"'Welcome to thee; testify!' exclaimed the kádi, turning to the
+convert. Then, holding up his forefinger, the quondam monk witnessed
+to the truth of the Unity [of God]. 'Call for a barber!' cried the
+kádi; and a barber was brought. Seven Believers of repute stood
+round while the deed was done, and the convert rose a circumcised
+Muslim--blessed be God.
+
+"Then came forward a notable man of that town, pious, worthy, and
+rich, respected of all, who said, addressing the kádi: 'My Lord--may
+God bless thy days,--thou knowest, all these worthy ones know, who and
+what I am. In the interests of religion and to the honour of God, I
+ask leave to adopt this brother newly resigned. What is mine shall be
+his to share with my own sons, and the care I bestow on them and their
+education shall be bestowed equally on him. God is witness.' 'Well
+said; so be it,' replied the learned judge; 'henceforth he is a member
+of thy family.'
+
+"So to the hospitable roof of this pious one went the convert. A tutor
+was obtained for him, and he commenced to taste the riches of the
+wisdom of the Arab. Day after day he sat and studied, toiling
+faithfully, till teacher after teacher had to be procured, as he
+exhausted the stores of each in succession. So he read: first the Book
+'To be Read' [the Korán], till he could repeat it faultlessly, then
+the works of the poets, Kálűn, el Mikki, el Bisri, and Sîdi Hamzah;
+then the 'Lesser' and 'Greater Ten.'[12] Then he commenced at Sîdi íbnu
+Ashîr, following on through the Ajrűmiyah,[13] and the Alfîyah,[14] to
+the commentaries of Sîdi Khalîl, of the Sheďkh el Bokhári, and of Ibnu
+Asîm, till there was nothing left to learn.
+
+  [12: Grammarians and commentators of the Korán.]
+
+  [13: A preliminary work on rhetoric.]
+
+  [14: The "Thousand Verses" of grammar.]
+
+"Thus he continued growing in wisdom and honour, the first year, the
+second year, the third year, even to the twentieth year, till no one
+could compete with him. Then the Judge of Judges of that country died,
+and a successor was sought for, but all allowed that no one's claims
+equalled those of the erstwhile monk. So he was summoned to fill the
+post, but was disqualified as unmarried. When they inquired if he was
+willing to do his duty in this respect, and he replied that he was,
+the father of the most beautiful girl in the city bestowed her on him,
+and that she might not be portionless, the chief men of the place vied
+one with another in heaping riches upon him. So he became Judge of
+Judges, rich, happy, revered.
+
+"And there was born unto him one son, then a second son, and even
+a third son. And there was born unto him a daughter, then a second
+daughter, and even a third daughter. So he prospered and increased.
+And to his sons were born sons, one, two, three, and four, and
+daughters withal. And his daughters were given in marriage to the
+elders of that country, and with them it was likewise.
+
+"Now there came a day, a great feast day, when all his descendants
+came before him with their compliments and offerings, some small, some
+great, each receiving tenfold in return, garments of fine spun wool
+and silk, and other articles of value.
+
+"When the ceremony was over he went outside the town to walk alone,
+and approached the spot whence he had first descried what had so long
+since been his home. As he sat again upon that well-remembered spot,
+and glanced back at the many years which had elapsed since last he was
+there, a party of the Faithful drew near. He offered the customary
+salute of 'Peace be on you,' but they simply stared in return.
+Presently one of them brusquely asked what he was doing there, and
+he explained who he was. But they laughed incredulously, and then he
+noticed that once again he was clad in robe and cowl, with a cord
+round his waist. They taunted him as a liar, but he re-affirmed his
+statements, and related his history. He counted up the years since he
+had resigned himself, telling of his children and children's children.
+
+"'Wouldst thou know them if you sawst them?' asked the strangers.
+'Indeed I would,' was the reply, 'but they would know me first.'
+
+"'And you are really circumcised? We'll see!' was their next
+exclamation. Just then a caravan appeared, wending its way across the
+plain, and the travellers hailed it. As he looked up at the shout, he
+saw Mulai Abd el Káder still sitting opposite him at the chess-board,
+reminding him that it was his move. He had been recounting his
+experiences for the last half century to Mulai Abd el Káder himself,
+and to the wise ones of both creeds who surrounded them!
+
+"Indeed it was too true, and he had to acknowledge that the events of
+a life-time had been crowded into a period undefinably minute, by the
+God-sent power of my lord Slave-of-the-Able [Mulai Abd el Káder].
+
+"Now, where is the good man and true who reveres the name of this holy
+one? Who will say a prayer to Mulai Abd el Káder?" Here the narrator
+extends his palms as before, and all follow him in the motion of
+drawing them down his face. "In the name of the Pitying and Pitiful!
+Now another!" The performance is repeated.
+
+"Who is willing to yield himself wholly and entirely to Mulai Abd el
+Káder? Who will dedicate himself from the soles of his feet to
+the crown of his head? Another prayer!" Another repetition of the
+performance.
+
+"Now let those devoted men earn the effectual prayers of that holy one
+by offering their silver in his name. Nothing less than a peseta[15]
+will do. That's right," as one of the bystanders throws down the coin
+specified.
+
+  [15: About eightpence, a labourer's daily wage in Tangier.]
+
+"Now let us implore the blessing of God and Mulai Abd el Káder on the
+head of this liberal Believer." The palm performance is once more gone
+through. The earnestness with which he does it this time induces more
+to follow suit, and blessings on them also are besought in the same
+fashion.
+
+"Now, my friends, which among you will do business with the palms of
+all these faithful ones? Pay a peseta and buy the prayers of them all.
+Now then, deal them out, and purchase happiness."
+
+So the appeal goes wearisomely on. As no more pesetas are seen to
+be forthcoming, a shift is made with reals--nominally 2-1/2_d._
+pieces--the story-teller asking those who cannot afford more to make
+up first one dollar and then another, turning naďvely to his assistant
+to ask if they haven't obtained enough yet, as though it were all for
+them. As they reply that more is needed, he redoubles his appeals and
+prayers, threading his way in and out among the crowd, making direct
+for each well-dressed individual with a confidence which renders
+flight or refusal a shame. Meanwhile the "orchestra" has struck up,
+and only pauses when the "professor" returns to the centre of the
+circle to call on all present to unite in prayers for the givers.
+A few coppers which have been tossed to his feet are distributed
+scornfully amongst half a dozen beggars, in various stages of filthy
+wretchedness and deformity, who have collected on the ground at one
+side.
+
+Here a water-carrier makes his appearance, with his goat-skin "bottle"
+and tinkling bell--a swarthy Soudanese in most tattered garb. The
+players and many listeners having been duly refreshed for the veriest
+trifle, the performance continues. A prayer is even said for the
+solitary European among the crowd, on his being successfully solicited
+for his quota, and another for his father at the request of some of
+the crowd, who style him the "Friend of the Moors."
+
+At last a resort is made to coppers, and when the story-teller
+condescendingly consents to receive even such trifles in return for
+prayers, from those who cannot afford more, quite a pattering shower
+falls at his feet, which is supplemented by a further hand-to-hand
+collection. In all, between four and five dollars must have been
+received--not a bad remuneration for an hour's work! Already the ring
+has been thinning; now there is a general uprising, and in a few
+moments the scene is completely changed, the entertainer lost among
+the entertained, for the sun has disappeared below yon hill, and in a
+few moments night will fall.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+SNAKE-CHARMING
+
+  "Whom a snake has bitten starts from a rope."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Descriptions of this art remembered in a book for boys read years
+before had prepared me for the most wonderful scenes, and when I first
+watched the performance with snakes which delights the Moors I was
+disappointed. Yet often as I might look on, there was nothing else to
+see, save in the faces and gestures of the crowd, who with child-like
+simplicity followed every step as though for the first time. These
+have for me a never-ending fascination. Thus it is that the familiar
+sounds of rapid and spasmodic beating on a tambourine, which tell that
+the charmer is collecting an audience, still prove an irresistible
+attraction for me as well. The ring in which I find myself is just a
+reproduction of that surrounding the story-teller of yester-e'en, but
+where his musicians sat there is a wilder group, more striking still
+in their appearance.
+
+This time, also, the instruments are of another class, two or three of
+the plainest sheep-skin tambourines with two gut strings across the
+centre under the parchment, which gives them a peculiar twanging
+sound; and a couple of reeds, mere canes pierced with holes, each
+provided with a mouthpiece made of half an inch of flattened reed.
+Nothing is needed to add to the discord as all three are vigorously
+plied with cheek and palm.
+
+The principal actor has an appearance of studied weirdness as he
+gesticulates wildly and calls on God to protect him against the venom
+of his pets. Contrary to the general custom of the country, he has
+let his black hair grow till it streams over his shoulders in matted
+locks. His garb is of the simplest, a dirty white shirt over drawers
+of similar hue completing his outfit.
+
+Selecting a convenient stone as a seat, notebook in hand, I make up my
+mind to see the thing through. The "music" having continued five
+or ten minutes with the desired result of attracting a circle of
+passers-by, the actual performance is now to commence. On the ground
+in the centre lies a spare tambourine, and on one side are the two
+cloth-covered bottle-shaped baskets containing the snakes.
+
+The chief charmer now advances, commencing to step round the ring
+with occasional beats on his tambourine, rolling his eyes and looking
+demented. Presently, having reached a climax of rapid beating and
+pacing, he suddenly stops in the centre with an extra "bang!"
+
+"Now, every man who believes in our lord Mohammed ben Aďsa,[16] say
+with me a Fátihah."
+
+  [16: For the history of this man and his snake-charming
+       followers see "The Moors," p. 331.]
+
+Each of the onlookers extending his palms side by side before his
+face, they repeat the prayer in a sing-song voice, and as it concludes
+with a loud "Ameen," the charmer gives an agonized cry, as though
+deeply wrought upon. "Ah Rijál el Blád" ("Oh Saints of the Town!"),
+he shouts, as he recommences his tambourining, this time even with
+increased vigour, beating the ground with his feet, and working his
+body up and down in a most extraordinary manner. The two others are
+also playing, and the noise is deafening. The chief figure appears to
+be raving mad; his starting eyes, his lithe and supple figure, and
+his streaming hair, give him the air of one possessed. His face is a
+study, a combination of fierceness and madness, yet of good-nature.
+
+At last he sinks down exhausted, but after a moment rises and advances
+to the centre of the circle, picking up a tambourine.
+
+"Now, Sîdi Aďsa"--turning to one of the musicians, whom he motions to
+cease their din--"what do you think happens to the man who puts a coin
+in there? Why, the holy saint, our lord Mohammed ben Aďsa, puts a ring
+round him like that," drawing a ring round a stone on the ground. "Is
+it not so?"
+
+"It is, Ameen," from Sidi Aďsa.
+
+"And what happens to him in the day time?"
+
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people too."
+
+"And in the night time?"
+
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people too."
+
+"And when at home?"
+
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people too."
+
+"And when abroad?"
+
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people too."
+
+At this a copper coin is thrown into the ring, and the charmer
+replies, "Now he who is master of sea and land, my lord Abd el Káder
+el Jîláni,[17] bless the giver of that coin! Now, for the love of God
+and of His blessed prophet, I offer a prayer for that generous
+one." Here the operation of passing their hands down their faces is
+performed by all.
+
+  [17: The surname of the Baghdád saint.]
+
+"Now, there's another,"--as a coin falls--"and from a child, too! God
+bless thee now, my son. May my lord Ben Aďsa, my lord Abd es-Slám, and
+my lord Abd el Káder, protect and keep thee!"
+
+Then, as more coppers fall, similar blessings are invoked upon the
+donors, interspersed with catechising of the musicians with a view to
+making known the advantages to be reaped by giving something. At last,
+as nothing more seems to be forthcoming, the performance proper is
+proceeded with, and the charmer commences to dance on one leg, to
+a terrible din from the tambourines. Then he pauses, and summons a
+little boy from the audience, seating him in the midst, adjuring him
+to behave himself, to do as he is bid, and to have faith in "our lord
+Ben Aďsa." Then, seating himself behind the boy, he places his lips
+against his skull, and blows repeatedly, coming round to the front to
+look at the lad, to see if he is sufficiently affected, and returning
+to puff again. Finally he bites off a piece of the boy's cloak, and
+chews it. Now he wets his finger in his mouth, and after putting it
+into the dust makes lines across his legs and arms, all the time
+calling on his patron saint; next holding the piece of cloth in his
+hands and walking round the ring for all to see it.
+
+"Come hither," he says to a bystander; "search my mouth and see if
+there be anything there."
+
+The search is conducted as a farmer would examine a horse's mouth,
+with the result that it is declared empty.
+
+"Now I call on the prophet to witness that there is no deception," as
+he once more restores the piece of cloth to his mouth, and pokes his
+fingers into his neck, drawing them now up his face.
+
+"Enough!"
+
+The voices of the musicians, who have for the latter part of the
+time been giving forth a drawling chorus, cease, but the din of the
+tambourines continues, while the performer dances wildly, till he
+stops before the lad on the ground, and takes from his mouth first one
+date and then another, which the lad is told to eat, and does so, the
+on-lookers fully convinced that they were transformed from the rag.
+
+Now it is the turn of one of the musicians to come forward, his place
+being taken by the retiring performer, after he has made another
+collection in the manner already described.
+
+"He who believes in God and in the power of our lord Mohammed ben
+Aďsa, say with me a Fátihah," cries the new man, extending his palms
+turned upwards before him to receive the blessings he asks, and then
+brings one of the snake-baskets forward, plunging his hand into its
+sack-like mouth, and sharply drawing it out a time or two, as if
+afraid of being bitten.
+
+Finally he pulls the head of one of the reptiles through, and leaves
+it there, darting out its fangs, while he snatches up and wildly beats
+the tambourine by his side. He now seizes the snake by the neck, and
+pulls it right out, the people starting back as it coils round in the
+ring, or uncoils and makes a plunge towards someone. Now he pulls out
+another, and hangs it round his neck, saying, "I take refuge with the
+saint who was dead and is alive, with our lord Mohammed son of Aďsa,
+and with the most holy Abd el Káder el Jîláni, king of land and
+sea. Now, let every one who believes bear witness with me and say a
+Fátihah!"
+
+"Say a Fátihah!" echoes one of the still noisy musicians, by way of
+chorus.
+
+"Now may our lord Abd el Káder see the man who makes a contribution
+with his eyes."
+
+_Chorus:_ "With his eyes!"
+
+"And may his heart find rest, and our lord Abd er-Rahmán protect him!"
+
+_Chorus:_ "Protect him!"
+
+"Now, I call you to witness, I bargain with our lord Abd el Káder for
+a forfeit!"
+
+_Chorus:_ "For a forfeit!"
+
+A copper is thrown into the ring, and as he picks it up and hands it
+to the musician, the performer exclaims--
+
+"Take this, see, and at the last day may the giver of it see our lord
+Abd el Káder before him!"
+
+_Chorus:_ "Before him!"
+
+"May he ever be blessed, whether present or absent!"
+
+_Chorus:_ "Present or absent!"
+
+"Who wishes to have a good conscience and a clean heart? Oh, ye
+beloved of the Lord! See, take from that dear one" (who has thrown
+down a copper).
+
+The contributions now apparently sufficing for the present, the
+performance proceeds, but the crowd having edged a little too close,
+it is first necessary to increase the space in the centre by swinging
+one of the reptiles round by the tail, whereat all start back.
+
+"Ah! you may well be afraid!" exclaims the charmer. "Their fangs mean
+death, if you only knew it, but for the mercies of my lord, the son of
+Aďsa."
+
+"Ameen!" responds the chorus.
+
+Hereupon he proceeds to direct the head of the snake to his mouth, and
+caressingly invites it to enter. Darting from side to side, it finally
+makes a plunge down his throat, whereon the strangers shudder, and the
+_habitués_ look with triumphant awe. Wildly he spins on one foot that
+all may see, still holding the creature by the neck with one hand, and
+by the tail with the other. At length, having allowed the greater part
+of its length to disappear in this uncanny manner, he proceeds to
+withdraw it, the head emerging with the sound of a cork from a bottle.
+The sight has not been pleasant, but the audience, transfixed, gives a
+sigh of relief as the tambourines strike up again, and the reed chimes
+in deafeningly.
+
+"Who says they are harmless? Who says their fangs are extracted?"
+challenges the performer. "Look here!"
+
+The seemingly angry snake has now fastened on his arm, and is
+permitted to draw blood, as though in reward for its recent treatment.
+
+"Is any incredulous here? Shall I try it on thee?"
+
+The individual addressed, a poverty-stricken youth whose place was
+doubtless required for some more promising customer behind, flees in
+terror, as the gaping jaws approach him. One and another having been
+similarly dismissed from points of vantage, and a redistribution
+of front seats effected, the incredulous are once more tauntingly
+addressed and challenged. This time the challenge is accepted by a
+foreigner, who hands in a chicken held by its wings.
+
+"So? Blessed be God! Its doom is sealed if it comes within reach of
+the snake. See here!"
+
+All eagerly press forward, many rising to their feet, and it is
+difficult to see over their shoulders the next gruesome act. The
+reptile, held by the neck in the performer's right hand, is shown the
+chicken in the other, and annoyed by having it poked in its face, too
+frightened to perceive what is happening. In a moment the fangs are
+shot out, and a wound inflicted in the exposed part under the wing.
+Blood appears, and the bird is thrown down, being held in place by
+the performer's foot till in a few minutes its struggles cease. Then,
+picking the victim up, he holds it aloft by one wing to show its
+condition, and exultingly calls for a Fátihah.
+
+It is enough: my patience is exhausted, and I rise to make off with
+stiff knees, content at last with what I have seen and heard of the
+"charming" of snakes in Morocco.
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI).]
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+IN A MOORISH CAFÉ
+
+  "A little from a friend is much."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+To the passer-by, least of all to the European, there is nothing in
+its external appearance to recommend old Hashmi's _café_. From the
+street, indeed, it is hardly visible, for it lies within the threshold
+of a caravansarai or fandak, in which beasts are tethered, goods
+accumulated and travellers housed, and of which the general appearance
+is that of a neglected farm-yard. Round an open court a colonnade
+supports the balcony by which rooms on the upper story are approached,
+a narrow staircase in the corner leading right up to the terraced
+roof. In the daytime the sole occupants of the rooms are women whose
+partners for the time being have securely locked them in before going
+to work.
+
+Beside the lofty archway forming the gate of this strange hostelry, is
+Hashmi's stall, at which green tea or a sweet, pea-soupy preparation
+of coffee may be had at all hours of the day, but the _café_ proper,
+gloomy by daylight, lies through the door behind. Here, of an evening,
+the candles lit, his regular customers gather with tiny pipes,
+indulging in flowing talk. Each has before him his harmless glass, as
+he squats or reclines on the rush-matted floor. Nothing of importance
+occurs in the city but is within a little made known here with as much
+certainty as if the proprietor subscribed to an evening paper. Any
+man who has something fresh to tell, who can interest or amuse the
+company, and by his frequent visits give the house a name, is always
+welcome, and will find a glass awaiting him whenever he chooses to
+come.
+
+Old Hashmi knows his business, and if the evening that I was there may
+be taken as a sample, he deserves success. That night he was in the
+best of humours. His house was full and trade brisk. Fattah, a negro,
+was keeping the house merry, so in view of coming demands, he brewed a
+fresh pot of real "Mekkan." The surroundings were grimy, and outside
+the rain came down in torrents: but that was a decided advantage,
+since it not only drove men indoors, but helped to keep them there.
+Mesaôd, the one-eyed, had finished an elaborate tuning of his
+two-stringed banjo, his ginbri--a home-made instrument--and was
+proceeding to arrive at a convenient pitch of voice for his song. With
+a strong nasal accent he commenced reciting the loves of Si Marzak and
+his fair Azîzah: how he addressed her in the fondest of language,
+and how she replied by caresses. When he came to the chorus they all
+chimed in, for the most part to their own tune and time, as they
+rocked to and fro, some clapping, some beating their thighs, and all
+applauding at the end.
+
+The whole ballad would not bear translation--for English ears,--and
+the scanty portion which may be given has lost its rhythm and cadence
+by the change, for Arabic is very soft and beautiful to those who
+understand it. The time has come when Azîzah, having quarrelled with
+Si Marzak in a fit of perhaps too well-founded jealousy, desires to
+"make it up again," and thus addresses her beloved--
+
+  "Oh, how I have followed thy attractiveness,
+  And halted between give and take!
+  Oh, how I'd from evil have protected thee
+  By my advice, hadst thou but heeded it!
+      Yet to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!
+
+  "Oh, how I have longed for the pleasure of thy visits,
+  And poured out bitter tears for thee;
+  Until at last the sad truth dawned on me
+  That of thy choice thou didst put me aside!
+      Yet to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!
+
+  "Thou wast sweeter than honey to me,
+  But thou hast become more bitter than gall.
+  Is it thus thou beginnest the world?
+  Beware lest thou make me thy foe!
+      Yet to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!
+
+  "I have hitherto been but a name to thee,
+  And thou took'st to thy bosom a snake,
+  But to-day I perceive thou'st a fancy for me:
+  O God, I will not be deceived!
+      Yes, to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!
+
+  "Thou know'st my complaint and my only cure:
+  Why, then, wilt thou heal me not?
+  Thou canst do so to-day, O my master,
+  And save me from all further woe.
+      Yes, to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!"
+
+To which the hard-pressed swain replies--
+
+  "Of a truth thine eyes have bewitched me,
+  For Death itself is in fear of them:
+  And thine eyebrows, like two logs of wood,
+  Have battered me each in its turn.
+      So if thou sayest die, I'll die;
+      And for God shall my sacrifice be!
+
+  "I have neither yet died nor abandoned hope,
+  Though slumber at night I ne'er know.
+  With the staff of deliverance still afar off,
+  So that all the world knows of my woe.
+      And if thou sayest die, I'll die,
+      But for God shall my sacrifice be!"
+
+While the singing was proceeding Sáďd and Drees had been indulging in
+a game of draughts, and as it ceased their voices could be heard in
+eager play. "Call thyself a Mallem (master). There, thy father was
+bewitched by a hyena; there, and there again!" shouted Sáďd, as he
+swept a first, a second and a third of his opponent's pieces from the
+board.
+
+But Drees was equal with him in another move.
+
+"So, verily, thou art my master! Let us, then, praise God for thy
+wisdom: thou art like indeed unto him who verily shot the fox, but who
+killed his own cow with the second shot! See, thus I teach thee to
+boast before thy betters: ha, I laugh at thee, I ride the donkey on
+thy head. I shave that beard of thine!" he ejaculated, taking one
+piece after another from his adversary, as the result of an incautious
+move. The board had the appearance of a well-kicked footstool, and the
+"men"--called "dogs" in Barbary--were more like baseless chess pawns.
+The play was as unlike that of Europeans as possible; the moves from
+"room" to "room" were of lightning swiftness, and accompanied by a
+running fire of slang ejaculations, chiefly sarcastic, but, on the
+whole, enlivened with a vein of playful humour not to be Englished
+politely. Just as the onlookers would become interested in the
+progress of one or the other, a too rapid advance by either would
+result in an incomprehensible wholesale clearing of the board by his
+opponent's sleeve. Yet without a stop the pieces would be replaced
+in order, and a new game commenced, the vanquished too proud to
+acknowledge that he did not quite see how the victor had won.
+
+Then Fattah, whose _forte_ was mimicry, attracted the attention of the
+company by a representation of a fat wazeer at prayers. Amid roars of
+laughter he succeeded in rising to his feet with the help of those
+beside him, who had still to lend occasional support, as his knees
+threatened to give way under his apparently ponderous carcase. Before
+and behind, his shirt was well stuffed with cushions, and the sides
+were not forgotten. His cheeks were puffed out to the utmost, and his
+eyes rolled superbly. At last the moment came for him to go on his
+knees, when he had to be let gently down by those near him, but his
+efforts to bow his head, now top-heavy with a couple of shirts for a
+turban, were most ludicrous, as he fell on one side in apparently vain
+endeavours. The spectators roared with laughter till the tears coursed
+down their cheeks; but that black and solemn face remained unmoved,
+and at the end of the prescribed motions the pseudo-great man
+apparently fell into slumber as heavy as himself, and snored in a
+style that a prize pig might have envied.
+
+"Áfuk! Áfuk!" the deafening bravos resounded, for Fattah had excelled
+himself, and was amply rewarded by the collection which followed.
+
+A tale was next demanded from a jovial man of Fez, who, nothing loth,
+began at once--
+
+"Evening was falling as across the plain of Háhá trudged a weary
+traveller. The cold wind whistled through his tattered garments. The
+path grew dim before his eyes. The stars came out one by one, but no
+star of hope shone for him. He was faint and hungry. His feet were
+sore. His head ached. He shivered.
+
+"'May God have pity on me!' he muttered.
+
+"God heard him. A few minutes later he descried an earthly star--a
+solitary light was twinkling on the distant hillside. Thitherward he
+turned his steps.
+
+"Hope rose within him. His step grew brisk. The way seemed clear.
+Onward he pushed.
+
+"Presently he could make out the huts of a village.
+
+"'Thank God!' he cried; but still he had no supper.
+
+"His empty stomach clamoured. His purse was empty also. The fiendish
+dogs of the village yelped at him. He paused discomfited. He called.
+
+"Widow Záďdah stood before her light.
+
+"'Who's there?'
+
+"'A God-guest'
+
+"'In God's name, then, welcome! Silence there, curs!'
+
+"Abd el Hakk approached.
+
+"'God bless thee, my mother, and repay thee a thousand-fold!'
+
+"But Záďdah herself was poor. Her property consisted only of a hut and
+some fowls. She set before him eggs--two, hard-boiled,--bread also. He
+thanked God. He ate.
+
+"'Yes, God will repay,' she said.
+
+"Next day Abd el Hakk passed on to Marrákesh. There God blessed him.
+Years passed on; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Abd el Hakk
+was rich. Melűdi the lawyer disliked him. Said he to Widow Záďdah--
+
+"'Abd el Hakk, whom once thou succouredst, is rich. The two eggs were
+never yet paid for. Hadst thou not given them to him they would have
+become two chickens. These would each have laid hundreds. Those
+hundreds, when hatched, would have laid their thousands. In seven
+years, think to what amount Abd el Hakk is indebted to thee. Sue him.'
+
+"Widow Záďdah listened. What is more, she acted. Abd el Hakk failed to
+appear to rebut the claim. He was worth no more.
+
+"'Why is the defendant not here?' asked the judge.
+
+"'My lord,' said his attorney, 'he is gone to sow boiled beans.'
+
+"'Boiled beans!'
+
+"'Boiled beans, my lord.'
+
+"'Is he mad?'
+
+"'He is very wise, my lord.'
+
+"'Thou mockest.'
+
+"'My lord, if boiled eggs can be hatched, sure boiled beans will
+grow!'
+
+"'Dismissed with costs!'
+
+"The tree that bends with every wind that blows will seldom stand
+upright."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A round of applause greeted the clever tale, of which the speaker's
+gestures had told even more than his words. But the merriment of
+the company only began there, for forthwith a babel of tongues was
+occupied in the discussion of all the points of the case, in imagining
+every impossible or humorous alternative, and laughter resounded on
+every side, as the glasses were quickly refilled with an innocent
+drink.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+THE MEDICINE-MAN
+
+  "Wine is a key to all evil."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Under the glare of an African sun, its rays, however, tempered by a
+fresh Atlantic breeze; no roof to his consulting-room save the sky, no
+walls surrounding him to keep off idle starers like ourselves; by the
+roadside sits a native doctor of repute. His costume is that of half
+the crowd around, outwardly consisting of a well-worn brown woollen
+cloak with a hood pulled over his head, from beneath the skirts of
+which protrude his muddy feet. By his side lies the basket containing
+his supplies and less delicate instruments; the finer ones we see him
+draw from a capacious wallet of leather beneath his cloak.
+
+Though personally somewhat gaunt, he is nevertheless a jolly-looking
+character, totally free from that would-be professional air assumed
+by some of our medical students to hide lack of experience; for he,
+empiric though he be, has no idea of any of his own shortcomings, and
+greets us with an easy smile. He is seated on the ground, hugging his
+knees till his attention is drawn to us, when, observing our gaze at
+his lancets on the ground, he picks one up to show it. Both are of
+rude construction, merely pieces of flat steel filed to double-edged
+points, and protected by two flaps slightly bigger, in the one case of
+bone, in the other of brass. A loose rivet holding all together at one
+end completes the instrument. The brass one he says was made by a Jew
+in Fez out of an old clock; the other by a Jew in Marrákesh. For the
+purpose of making scratches for cupping he has a piece of flat steel
+about half an inch wide, sharpened across the end chisel-fashion. Then
+he has a piece of an old razor-blade tied to a stick with a string.
+That this is sharp he soon demonstrates by skilfully shaving an old
+man's head, after only damping the eighth of an inch stub with which
+it is covered. A stone and a bit of leather, supplemented by the
+calves of his legs, or his biceps, serve to keep the edges in
+condition.
+
+From a finger-shaped leather bag in his satchel he produces an
+antiquated pair of tooth extractors, a small pair of forceps for
+pulling out thorns, and a stiletto. The first-named article, he
+informs us, came from France to Tafilált, his home, _viâ_ Tlemçen; it
+is of the design known as "Fox's claw," and he explains to us that the
+difference between the French and the English article is that the one
+has no spring to keep the jaws open, while the other has. A far more
+formidable instrument is the genuine native contrivance, a sort of
+exaggerated corkscrew without a point.
+
+But here comes a patient to be treated. He troubles the doctor with
+no diagnosis, asking only to be bled. He is a youth of medium height,
+bronzed by the sun. Telling him to sit down and bare his right arm,
+the operator feels it well up and down, and then places the tips of
+the patient's fingers on the ground, bidding him not to move. Pouring
+out a little water into a metal dish, he washes the arm on the inside
+of the elbow, drying it with his cloak. Next he ties a piece of list
+round the upper arm as tightly as he can, and selecting one of the
+lancets, makes an incision into the vein which the washing has
+rendered visible. A bright stream issues, squirting into the air some
+fifteen inches; it is soon, however, directed into a tin soup-plate
+holding fourteen ounces, as we ascertained by measurement. The
+operator washes and dries his lancet, wraps the two in a white rag,
+and puts them into a piece of cane which forms an excellent case.
+Meanwhile the plate has filled, and he turns his attention once more
+to the patient. One or two passers-by have stopped, like ourselves, to
+look on.
+
+"I knew a man," says one, "who was being bled like that, and kept on
+saying, 'take a little more,' till he fell back dead in our arms."
+
+"Yes," chimes in another, "I have heard of such cases; it is very
+dangerous."
+
+Although the patient is evidently growing very nervous, our surgical
+friend affects supreme indifference to all this tittle-tattle, and
+after a while removes the bandage, bending the forearm inward, with
+the effect of somewhat checking the flow of blood. When he has bound
+up with list the cane that holds the lancets, he closes the forearm
+back entirely, so that the flow is stopped. Opening it again a little,
+he wipes a sponge over the aperture a few times, and closes it with
+his thumb. Then he binds a bit of filthy rag round the arm, twisting
+it above and below the elbow alternately, and crossing over the
+incision each time. When this is done, he sends the patient to throw
+away the blood and wash the plate, receiving for the whole operation
+the sum of three half-pence.
+
+Another patient is waiting his turn, an old man desiring to be bled
+behind the ears for headache. After shaving two patches for the
+purpose, the "bleeder," as he is justly called, makes eighteen
+scratches close together, about half an inch long. Over these he
+places a brass cup of the shape of a high Italian hat without the
+brim. From near the edge of this protrudes a long brass tube with a
+piece of leather round and over the end. This the operator sucks to
+create a vacuum, the moistened leather closing like a valve, which
+leaves the cup hanging _in situ_. Repeating this on the other side, he
+empties the first cup of the blood which has by this time accumulated
+in it, and so on alternately, till he has drawn off what appears to
+him to be sufficient. All that remains to be done is to wipe the
+wounds and receive the fee.
+
+Some years ago such a worthy as this earned quite a reputation for
+exorcising devils in Southern Morocco. His mode of procedure was
+brief, but as a rule effective. The patient was laid on the ground
+before the wise man's tent, face downward, and after reading certain
+mystic and unintelligible passages, selected from one of the ponderous
+tomes which form a prominent part of the "doctor's" stock-in-trade, he
+solemnly ordered two or three men to hold the sufferer down while two
+more thrashed him till they were tired. If, when released, the patient
+showed the least sign of returning violence, or complained that the
+whole affair was a fraud, it was taken as a sure sign that he had not
+had enough, and he was forthwith seized again and the dose repeated
+till he had learned that discretion was the better part of valour, and
+slunk off, perhaps a wiser, certainly a sadder man. It is said, and I
+do not doubt it--though it is more than most medical men can say of
+their patients--that no one was ever known to return in quest of
+further treatment.
+
+All this, however, is nothing compared with the Moor's love of fire as
+a universal panacea. Not only for his mules and his horses, but
+also for himself and his family, cauterization is in high repute,
+especially as he estimates the value of a remedy as much by its
+immediate and visible action as by its ultimate effects. The
+"fire-doctor" is therefore even a greater character in his way than
+the "bleeder," whom we have just visited. His outfit includes a
+collection of queer-shaped irons designed to cauterize different parts
+of the body, a portable brazier, and bellows made from a goat-skin
+with a piece of board at one side wherewith to press and expel the air
+through a tube on the other side. He, too, sits by the roadside, and
+disposes of his groaning though wonderfully enduring "patients" much
+as did his rival of the lancet. Rohlfs, a German doctor who explored
+parts of Morocco in the garb of a native, exercising what he could of
+his profession for a livelihood, tells how he earned a considerable
+reputation by the introduction of "cold fire" (lunar caustic) as a
+rival to the original style; and Pellow, an English slave who made
+his escape in 1735, found cayenne pepper of great assistance in
+ingratiating himself with the Moors in this way, and even in delaying
+a pursuer suffering from ophthalmia by blowing a little into his eyes
+before his identity was discovered. In extenuation of this trick,
+however, it must be borne in mind that cayenne pepper is an accredited
+Moorish remedy for ophthalmia, being placed on the eyelids, though it
+is only a mixture of canary seed and sugar that is blown in.
+
+Every European traveller in Morocco is supposed to know something
+about medicine, and many have been my own amusing experiences in this
+direction. Nothing that I used gave me greater fame than a bottle of
+oil of cantharides, the contents of which I applied freely behind the
+ears or upon the temples of such victims of ophthalmia as submitted
+themselves to my tender mercies. Only I found that when my first
+patient began to dance with the joy and pain of the noble blister
+which shortly arose, so many people fancied they needed like treatment
+that I was obliged to restrict the use of so popular a cure to special
+cases.
+
+One branch of Moroccan medicine consists in exorcising devils, of
+which a most amusing instance once came under my notice. An English
+gentleman gave one of his servants who complained of being troubled
+with these unwelcome guests two good-sized doses of tartaric acid and
+carbonate of soda a second apart. The immediate exit of the devil was
+so apparent that the fame of the prescriber as a medical man was made
+at once. But many of the cases which the amateur is called upon to
+treat are much more difficult to satisfy than this. Superstition is
+so strongly mingled with the native ideas of disease,--of being
+possessed,--that the two can hardly be separated. During an epidemic
+of cholera, for instance, the people keep as close as possible to
+walls, and avoid sand-hills, for fear of "catching devils." All
+disease is indeed more or less ascribed to satanic agency, and in
+Morocco that practitioner is most in repute who claims to attack this
+cause of the malady rather than its effect.
+
+Although the Moors have a certain rudimentary acquaintance with simple
+medicinal agents--and how rudimentary that acquaintance is, will
+better appear from what is to follow,--in all their pharmacop[oe]ia
+no remedy is so often recommended or so implicitly relied on as the
+"writing" of a man of reputed sanctity. Such a writing may consist
+merely of a piece of paper scribbled over with the name of God, or
+with some sentence from the Korán, such as, "And only God is the
+Healer," repeated many times, or in special cases it may contain a
+whole series of pious expressions and meaningless incantations. For an
+ordinary external complaint, such as general debility arising from
+the evil eye of a neighbour or a jealous wife, or as a preventative
+against bewitchment, or as a love philtre, it is usually considered
+sufficient to wear this in a leather bag around the neck or forehead;
+but in case of unfathomable internal disease, such as indigestion, the
+"writing" is prescribed to be divided into so many equal portions, and
+taken in a little water night and morning.
+
+The author of these potent documents is sometimes a hereditary saint
+descended from Mohammed, sometimes a saint whose sanctity arises from
+real or assumed insanity--for to be mad in Barbary is to have one's
+thoughts so occupied with things of heaven as to have no time left
+for things of earth,--and often they are written by ordinary public
+scribes, or schoolmasters, for among the Moors reading and religion
+are almost synonymous terms. There are, however, a few professional
+gentlemen who dispense these writings among their drugs. Such alone of
+all their quacks aspire to the title of "doctor." Most of these spend
+their time wandering about the country from fair to fair, setting up
+their tents wherever there are patients to be found in sufficient
+numbers.
+
+Attired as natives, let us visit one. Arrived at the tent door, we
+salute the learned occupant with the prescribed "Salám oo alaďkum"
+("To you be peace"), to which, on noting our superior costumes, he
+replies with a volley of complimentary inquiries and welcomes. These
+we acknowledge with dignity, and with as sedate an air as possible.
+We leisurely seat ourselves on the ground in orthodox style, like
+tailors. As it would not be good form to mention our business at once,
+we defer professional consultation till we have inquired successfully
+after his health, his travels, and the latest news at home and from
+abroad. In the course of conversation he gives us to understand that
+he is one of the Sultan's uncles, which is by no means impossible in a
+country where it has not been an unknown thing for an imperial father
+to lose count of his numerous progeny.
+
+Feeling at last that we have broken the ice, we turn the conversation
+to the subject of our supposed ailments. My own complaint is a general
+internal disorder resulting in occasional feverishness, griping pains,
+and loss of sleep. After asking a number of really sensible questions,
+such as would seem to place him above the ordinary rank of native
+practitioners, he gravely announces that he has "the very thing" in
+the form of a powder, which, from its high virtues, and the exceeding
+number of its ingredients, some of them costly, is rather expensive.
+We remember the deference with which our costumes were noted, and
+understand. But, after all, the price of a supply is announced to be
+only seven-pence halfpenny. The contents of some of the canisters he
+shows us include respectively, according to his account, from twenty
+to fifty drugs. For our own part, we strongly suspect that all are
+spices to be procured from any Moorish grocer.
+
+Together with the prescription I receive instructions to drink the
+soup from a fat chicken in the morning, and to eat its flesh in the
+evening; to eat hot bread and drink sweet tea, and to do as little
+work as possible, the powder to be taken daily for a fortnight in a
+little honey. Whatever else he may not know, it is evident that our
+doctor knows full well how to humour his patients.
+
+The next case is even more easy of treatment than mine, a "writing"
+only being required. On a piece of very common paper two or three
+inches square, the doctor writes something of which the only legible
+part is the first line: "In the name of God, the Pitying, the
+Pitiful," followed, we subsequently learn, by repetitions of "Only God
+is the Healer." For this the patient is to get his wife to make a felt
+bag sewed with coloured silk, into which the charm is to be put, along
+with a little salt and a few parings of garlic, after which it is to
+be worn round his neck for ever.
+
+Sometimes, in wandering through Morocco, one comes across much more
+curious remedies than these, for the worthy we have just visited is
+but a commonplace type in this country. A medical friend once met a
+professional brother in the interior who had a truly original method
+of proving his skill. By pressing his finger on the side of his
+nose close to his eye, he could send a jet of liquid right into his
+interlocutor's face, a proceeding sufficient to satisfy all doubts as
+to his alleged marvellous powers. On examination it was found that
+he had a small orifice near the corner of the eye, through which the
+pressure forced the lachrymal fluid, pure tears, in fact. This is just
+an instance of the way in which any natural defect or peculiarity
+is made the most of by these wandering empirics, to impose on their
+ignorant and credulous victims.
+
+Even such of them as do give any variety of remedies are hardly more
+to be trusted. Whatever they give, their patients like big doses, and
+are not content without corresponding visible effects. Epsom salts,
+which are in great repute, are never given to a man in less quantities
+than two tablespoonfuls. On one occasion a poor woman came to me
+suffering from ague, and looking very dejected. I mixed this quantity
+of salts in a tumblerful of water, with a good dose of quinine,
+bidding her drink two-thirds of it, and give the remainder to her
+daughter, who evidently needed it as much as she did. Her share was
+soon disposed of with hardly more than a grimace, to the infinite
+enjoyment of a fat, black slave-girl who was standing by, and who knew
+from personal experience what a tumblerful meant. But to induce the
+child to take hers was quite another matter. "What! not drink it?"
+the mother cried, as she held the potion to her lips. "The devil take
+thee, thou cursed offspring of an abandoned woman! May God burn thy
+ancestors!" But though the child, accustomed to such mild and motherly
+invectives, budged not, it had proved altogether too much for the
+jovial slave, who was by this time convulsed with laughter, and so, I
+may as well confess, was I. At last the woman's powers of persuasion
+were exhausted, and she drained the glass herself.
+
+When in Fez some years ago, a dog I had with me needed dosing, so I
+got three drops of croton oil on sugar made ready for him. Mine host,
+a man of fifty or more, came in meanwhile, and having ascertained the
+action of the drug from my servant, thought it might possibly do him
+good, and forthwith swallowed it. Of this the first intimation I had
+was from the agonizing screams of the old man, who loudly proclaimed
+that his last hour was come, and from the terrified wails of the
+females of his household, who thought so too. When I saw him he was
+rolling on the tiles of the courtyard, his heels in the air, bellowing
+frantically. I need hardly dilate upon the relief I felt when at last
+we succeeded in alleviating his pain, and knew that he was out of
+danger.
+
+Among the favourite remedies of Morocco, hyena's head powder ranks
+high as a purge, and the dried bones and flesh may often be seen in
+the native spice-shops, coated with dust as they hang. Some of the
+prescriptions given are too filthy to repeat, almost to be believed.
+As a specimen, by no means the worst, I may mention a recipe at one
+time in favour among the Jewesses of Mogador, according to one writer.
+This was to drink seven draughts from the town drain where it entered
+the sea, beaten up with seven eggs. For diseases of the "heart," by
+which they mean the stomach and liver, and of eyes, joints, etc., a
+stone, which is found in an animal called the horreh, the size of a
+small walnut, and valued as high as twelve dollars, is ground up and
+swallowed, the patient thereafter remaining indoors a week. Ants,
+prepared in various ways, are recommended for lethargy, and lion's
+flesh for cowardice. Privet or mallow leaves, fresh honey, and
+chameleons split open alive, are considered good for wounds and sores,
+while the fumes from the burning of the dried body of this animal are
+often inhaled. Among more ordinary remedies are saraparilla, senna,
+and a number of other well-known herbs and roots, whose action is more
+or less understood. Roasted pomegranate rind in powder is found really
+effectual in dysentery and diarrh[oe]a.
+
+Men and women continually apply for philtres, and women for means to
+prevent their husbands from liking rival wives, or for poison to
+put them out of the way. As arsenic, corrosive sublimate, and other
+poisons are sold freely to children in every spice-shop, the number of
+unaccounted-for deaths is extremely large, but inquiry is seldom or
+never made. When it is openly averred that So-and-so died from "a cup
+of tea," the only mental comment seems to be that she was very foolish
+not to be more careful what she drank, and to see that whoever
+prepared it took the first sip according to custom. The highest
+recommendation of any particular dish or spice is that it is
+"heating." Great faith is also placed in certain sacred rocks,
+tree-stumps, etc., which are visited in the hope of obtaining relief
+from all sorts of ailments. Visitors often leave rags torn from their
+garments by which to be remembered by the guardian of the place.
+Others repair to the famous sulphur springs of Zarhôn, supposed to
+derive their benefit from the interment close by of a certain St.
+Jacob--and dance in the waters, yelling without intermission, "Cold
+and hot, O my lord Yakoob! Cold and hot!" fearful lest any cessation
+of the cry might permit the temperature to be increased or diminished
+beyond the bearable point.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+THE HUMAN MART
+
+  "Who digs a pit for his brother will fall into it."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+The slave-market differs in no respect from any other in Morocco, save
+in the nature of the "goods" exposed. In most cases the same place is
+used for other things at other times, and the same auctioneers are
+employed to sell cattle. The buyers seat themselves round an open
+courtyard, in the closed pens of which are the slaves for sale. These
+are brought out singly or in lots, inspected precisely as cattle would
+be, and expatiated upon in much the same manner.
+
+For instance, here comes a middle-aged man, led slowly round by the
+salesman, who is describing his "points" and noting bids. He has
+first-class muscles, although he is somewhat thin. He is made to lift
+a weight to prove his strength. His thighs are patted, and his lips
+are turned to show the gums, which at merrier moments would have been
+visible without such a performance. With a shame-faced, hang-dog air
+he trudges round, wondering what will be his lot, though a sad one it
+is already. At last he is knocked down for so many score of dollars,
+and after a good deal of further bargaining he changes hands.
+
+The next brought forward are three little girls--a "job lot," maybe
+ten, thirteen, and sixteen years of age--two of them evidently
+sisters. They are declared to be already proficient in Arabic, and
+ready for anything. Their muscles are felt, their mouths examined, and
+their bodies scrutinized in general, while the little one begins
+to cry, and the others look as though they would like to keep her
+company. Round and round again they are marched, but the bids do not
+rise high enough to effect a sale, and they are locked up again for a
+future occasion. It is indeed a sad, sad sight.
+
+The sources of supply for the slave-market are various, but the chief
+is direct from Guinea and the Sáhara, where the raids of the traders
+are too well understood to need description. Usually some inter-tribal
+jealousy is fostered and fanned into a flame, and the one which loses
+is plundered of men and goods. Able-bodied lads and young girls are
+in most demand, and fetch high prices when brought to the north. The
+unfortunate prisoners are marched with great hardship and privation
+to depôts over the Atlas, where they pick up Arabic and are initiated
+into Mohammedanism. To a missionary who once asked one of the dealers
+how they found their way across the desert, the terribly significant
+reply was, "There are many bones along the way!" After a while the
+survivors are either exposed for sale in the markets of Marrákesh
+or Fez, or hawked round from door to door in the coast towns, where
+public auctions are prohibited. Some have even found their way to
+Egypt and Constantinople, having been transported in British vessels,
+and landed at Gibraltar as members of the dealer's family!
+
+Another source of supply is the constant series of quarrels between
+the tribes of Morocco itself, during which many children are carried
+off who are white or nearly so. In this case the victims are almost
+all girls, for whom good prices are to be obtained. This opens a door
+for illegal supplies, children born of slaves and others kidnapped
+being thus disposed of for hareems. For this purpose the demand
+for white girls is much in excess of that for black, so that great
+temptation is offered. I knew a man who had seventeen such in his
+house, and of nearly a dozen whom I saw there, none were too dark to
+have passed for English brunettes.
+
+Though nothing whatever can be said in defence of this practice of
+tearing our fellow-men from their homes, and selling them as slaves,
+our natural feelings of horror abate considerably when we become
+acquainted with its results under the rule of Islám. Instead of the
+fearful state of things which occurred under English or American rule,
+it is a pleasure to find that, whatever may be the shortcomings of the
+Moors, in this case, at any rate, they have set us a good example.
+Even their barbarous treatment of Christian slaves till within a
+century was certainly no worse than our treatment of black slaves.
+
+To begin with, Mohammedans make no distinction in civil or religious
+rights between a black skin and a white. So long as a man avows belief
+in no god but God, and in Mohammed as the prophet of God, complying
+with certain outward forms of his religion, he is held to be as good a
+Muslim as anyone else; and as the whole social and civil fabrics
+are built upon religion and the teachings of the Korán, the social
+position of every well-behaved Mohammedan is practically equal. The
+possession of authority of any kind will naturally command a certain
+amount of respectful attention, and he who has any reason for seeking
+a favour from another is sure to adopt a more subservient mien; but
+beyond this, few such class distinctions are known as those common in
+Europe. The slave who, away from home, can behave as a gentleman, will
+be received as such, irrespective of his colour, and when freed he
+may aspire to any position under the Sultan. There are, indeed, many
+instances of black men having been ministers, governors, and even
+ambassadors to Europe, and such appointments are too common to excite
+astonishment. They have even, in the past, assisted in giving rise to
+the misconception that the people of Morocco were "Black-a-Moors."
+
+In many households the slave becomes the trusted steward of his owner,
+and receives a sufficient allowance to live in comfort. He will
+possess a paper giving him his freedom on his master's death, and
+altogether he will have a very good time of it. The liberation
+of slaves is enjoined upon those who follow Mohammed as a most
+praiseworthy act, and as one which cannot fail to bring its own
+reward. But, like too many in our own land, they more often prefer to
+make use of what they possess till they start on that journey on
+which they can take nothing with them, and then affect generosity by
+bestowing upon others that over which they lose control.
+
+One poor fellow whom I knew very well, who had been liberated on the
+death of his master, having lost his papers, was re-kidnapped and sold
+again to a man who was subsequently imprisoned for fraud, when he
+got free and worked for some years as porter; but he was eventually
+denounced and put in irons in a dungeon as part of the property of his
+_soi-disant_ master.
+
+The ordinary place of the slave is much that of the average servant,
+but receiving only board, lodging, and scanty clothing, without pay,
+and being unable to change masters. Sometimes, however, they are
+permitted to beg or work for money to buy their own freedom, when
+they become, as it were, their own masters. On the whole, a jollier,
+harder-working, or better-tempered lot than these Negroes it would
+be hard to desire, and they are as light-hearted, fortunately, as
+true-hearted, even in the midst of cruel adversities.
+
+The condition of a woman slave--to which, also, most of what has been
+said refers--is as much behind that of a man-slave as is that of a
+free-woman behind that of her lord. If she becomes her master's wife,
+the mother of a child, she is thereby freed, though she must remain in
+his service until his death, and she is only treated as an animal, not
+as a human being.
+
+After all, there is a dark side--one sufficiently dark to need no
+intensifying. The fact of one man being the possessor of another,
+just as much as he could be of a horse or cow, places him in the same
+position with regard to his "chattel" as to such a four-footed animal.
+"The merciful man is merciful to his beast," but "the tender mercies
+of the wicked are cruel," and just as one man will ill-treat his
+beast, while another treats his well, so will one man persecute his
+slave. Instances of this are quite common enough, and here and there
+cases could be brought forward of revolting brutality, as in the story
+which follows, but the great thing is that agricultural slavery is
+practically unknown, and that what exists is chiefly domestic. "Know
+the slave," says an Arab proverb, "and you know the master."
+
+[Illustration: _Freyonne, Photo., Gibraltar._
+
+RABBAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY.]
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY
+
+  "After many adversities, joy."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Outside the walls of Mazagan an English traveller had pitched his
+camp. Night had fallen when one of his men, returning from the town,
+besought admission to the tent.
+
+"Well, how now?"
+
+"Sir, I have a woman here, by thy leave, yes, a woman, a slave, whom
+I found at the door of thy consulate, where she had taken refuge, but
+the police guard drove her away, so I brought her to thee for justice.
+Have pity on her, and God will reward thee! See, here! Rabhah!"
+
+At this bidding there approached a truly pitiable object, a
+dark-skinned woman, not quite black, though of decidedly negroid
+appearance--whose tattered garments scarcely served to hide a
+half-starved form. Throwing herself on the ground before the
+foreigner, she begged his pity, his assistance, for the sake of the
+Pitiful God.
+
+"Oh, Bashador," she pleaded, addressing him as though a foreign envoy,
+"I take refuge with God and with thee! I have no one else. I have fled
+from my master, who has cruelly used me. See my back!"
+
+Suiting action to word, she slipped aside the coverings from her
+shoulder and revealed the weals of many a stripe, tears streaming down
+her face the while. Her tones were such as none but a heart of stone
+could ignore.
+
+"I bore it ten days, sir, till I could do so no longer, and then I
+escaped. It was all to make me give false witness--from which God
+deliver me--for that I will never do. My present master is the Sheďkh
+bin Záharah, Lieutenant Kaďd of the Boo Azeezi, but I was once the
+slave-wife of the English agent, who sold me again, though they said
+that he dare not, because of his English protection. That was why I
+fled for justice to the English consul, and now come to thee. For
+God's sake, succour me!"
+
+With a sob her head fell forward on her breast, as again she crouched
+at the foreigner's feet, till made to rise and told to relate her
+whole story quietly. When she was calmer, aided by questions, she
+unfolded a tale which could, alas! be often paralleled in Morocco.
+
+"My home? How can I tell thee where that was, when I was brought away
+so early? All I know is that it was in the Sűdán" (_i.e._ Land of
+the Blacks), "and that I came to Mogador on my mother's back. In my
+country the slave-dealers lie in wait outside the villages to catch
+the children when they play. They put them in bags like those used for
+grain, with their heads left outside the necks for air. So they are
+carried off, and travel all the way to this country slung on mules,
+being set down from time to time to be fed. But I, though born free,
+was brought by my mother, who had been carried off as a slave. The
+lines cut on my cheek show that, for every free-born child in our
+country is marked so by its mother. That is our sultan's order. In
+Mogador my mother's master sold me to a man who took me from her,
+and brought me to Dár el Baďda. They took away my mother first; they
+dragged her off crying, and I never saw or heard of her again. When
+she was gone I cried for her, and could not eat till they gave me
+sugar and sweet dates. At Dár el Baďda I was sold in the market
+auction to a shareefa named Lálla Moďna, wife of the mountain scribe
+who taught the kádi's children. With her I was very happy, for she
+treated me well, and when she went to Mekka on the pilgrimage she let
+me go out to work on my own account, promising to make me free if God
+brought her back safely. She was good to me, Bashador, but though she
+returned safely she always put off making me free; but I had laid by
+fifteen dollars, and had bought a boxful of clothes as well. And that
+was where my trouble began. For God's sake succour me!
+
+"One day the agent saw me in the street, and eyed me so that I was
+frightened of him. He followed me home, and then sent a letter
+offering to buy me, but my mistress refused. Then the agent often came
+to the house, and I had to wait upon him. He told me that he wanted to
+buy me, and that if he did I should be better off than if I were free,
+but I refused to listen. When the agent was away his man Sarghîni used
+to come and try to buy me, but in vain; and when the agent returned he
+threatened to bring my mistress into trouble if she refused. At last
+she had to yield, and I cried when I had to go. 'Thou art sold to that
+man,' she said; 'but as thou art a daughter to me, he has promised to
+take care of thee and bring thee back whenever I wish.'
+
+"Sarghîni took me out by one gate with the servants of the agent, who
+took care to go out with a big fat Jew by another, that the English
+consul should not see him go out with a woman. We rode on mules, and I
+wore a white cloak; I had not then begun to fast" (_i.e._ was not yet
+twelve years of age). "After two days on the road the agent asked for
+the key of my box, in which he found my fifteen dollars, tied up in
+a rag, and took them, but gave me back my clothes. We were five days
+travelling to Marrákesh, staying each night with a kaďd who treated us
+very well. So I came to the agent's house.
+
+"There I found many other slave girls, besides men slaves in the
+garden. These were Ruby, bought in Saffi, by whom the agent had a
+daughter; and Star, a white girl stolen from her home in Sűs, who
+had no children; Jessamine the Less, another white girl bought in
+Marrákesh, mother of one daughter; Jessamine the Greater, whose
+daughter was her father's favourite, loaded with jewels; and others
+who cooked or served, not having children, though one had a son who
+died. There were thirteen of us under an older slave who clothed and
+fed us.
+
+"When the bashador came to the house the agent shut all but five or
+six of us in a room, the others waiting on him. I used to have to cook
+for the bashador, for whom they had great receptions with music and
+dancing-women. Next door there was a larger house, a fandak, where the
+agent kept public women and boys, and men at the door took money from
+the Muslims and Nazarenes who went there. The missionaries who lived
+close by know the truth of what I say.
+
+"A few days after I arrived I was bathed and dressed in fresh clothes,
+and taken to my master's room, as he used to call for one or another
+according to fancy. But I had no child, because he struck me, and I
+was sick. When one girl, named Amber, refused to go to him because she
+was ill, he dragged her off to another part of the house. Presently we
+heard the report of a pistol, and he came back to say she was dead. He
+had a pistol in his hand as long as my forearm. We found the girl in a
+pool of blood in agonies, and tried to flee, but had nowhere to go. So
+when she was quite dead he made us wash her. Then he brought in four
+men to dig a pit, in which he said he would bury butter. When they had
+gone we buried her there, and I can show you the spot.
+
+"One day he took two men slaves and me on a journey. One of them ran
+away, the other was sold by the way. I was sold at the Tuesday market
+of Sîdi bin Nűr to a dealer in slaves, whom I heard promise my master
+to keep me close for three months, and not to sell me in that place
+lest the Nazarenes should get word of it. Some time after I was bought
+by a tax-collector, with whom I remained till he died, and then lived
+in the house of his son. This man sold me to my present master, who
+has ill-treated me as I told thee. Oh, Bashador, when I fled from him,
+I came to the English consul because I was told that the agent had had
+no right to hold or sell me, since he had English protection. Thou
+knowest what has happened since. Here I am, at thy feet, imploring
+assistance. I beseech thee, turn me not away. I speak truth before
+God."
+
+No one could hear such a tale unmoved, and after due inquiry the
+Englishman thus appealed to secured her liberty on depositing at the
+British Consulate the $140 paid for her by her owner, who claimed her
+or the money. Rabhah's story, taken down by independent persons at
+different times, was afterwards told by her without variation in a
+British Court of Law. Subsequently a pronouncement as to her freedom
+having been made by the British Legation at Tangier, the $140 was
+refunded, and she lives free to-day. The last time the writer saw her,
+in the service of a European in Morocco, he was somewhat taken aback
+to find her arms about his neck, and to have kisses showered on his
+shoulders for the unimportant part that he had played in securing her
+freedom.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+THE PILGRIM CAMP
+
+  "Work for the children is better than pilgrimage or holy war."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Year by year the month succeeding the fast of Ramadán sees a motley
+assemblage of pilgrims bound for Mekka, gathered at most of the North
+African ports from all parts of Barbary and even beyond, awaiting
+vessels bound for Alexandria or Jedda. This comparatively easy means
+of covering the distance, which includes the whole length of the
+Mediterranean when the pilgrims from Morocco are concerned--not
+to mention some two-thirds of the Red Sea,--has almost entirely
+superseded the original method of travelling all the way by land, in
+the once imposing caravans.
+
+These historic institutions owed their importance no less to the
+facilities they offered for trade, than to the opportunity they
+afforded for accomplishing the pilgrimage which is enjoined on every
+follower of Mohammed. Although caravans still cross the deserts of
+North Africa in considerable force from west to east, as well as from
+south to north, to carry on the trade of the countries to the south
+of the Barbary States, the former are steadily dwindling down to mere
+local affairs, and the number of travellers who select the modern
+route by steamer is yearly increasing, as its advantages become better
+known. For the accommodation of the large number of passengers special
+vessels are chartered by speculators, and are fitted up for the
+occasion. Only some Ł3 are charged for the whole journey from Tangier,
+a thousand pilgrims being crowded on a medium-sized merchant vessel,
+making the horrors of the voyage indescribable.
+
+But the troubles of the pilgrims do not begin here. Before they could
+even reach the sea some of them will have travelled on foot for a
+month from remote parts of the interior, and at the coast they may
+have to endure a wearisome time of waiting for a steamer. It is while
+they are thus learning a lesson of patience at one of the Moorish
+ports that I will invite you for a stroll round their encampment on
+the market-place.
+
+This consists of scores of low, makeshift tents, with here and there
+a better-class round one dotted amongst them. The prevailing shape of
+the majority is a modified edition of the dwelling of the nomad Arab,
+to which class doubtless belongs a fair proportion of their occupants.
+Across the top of two poles about five feet high, before and behind,
+a ridge-piece is placed, and over this is stretched to the ground on
+either side a long piece of palmetto or goat-hair cloth, or perhaps
+one of the long woollen blankets worn by men and women alike, called
+haďks, which will again be used for its original purpose on board the
+vessel. The back is formed of another piece of some sort of cloth
+stretched out at the bottom to form a semi-circle, and so give more
+room inside. Those who have a bit of rug or a light mattress, spread
+it on the floor, and pile their various other belongings around its
+edge.
+
+The straits to which many of these poor people are put to get a
+covering of any kind to shelter them from sun, rain, and wind, are
+often very severe, to judge from some of the specimens of tents--if
+they deserve the name--constructed of all sorts of odds and ends,
+almost anything, it would seem, that will cover a few square inches.
+There is one such to be seen on this busy market which deserves
+special attention as a remarkable example of this style of
+architecture. Let us examine it. The materials of which it is composed
+include hair-cloth, woollen-cloth, a cotton shirt, a woollen cloak,
+and some sacking; goat skin, sheep's fleece, straw, and palmetto cord;
+rush mats, a palmetto mat, split-cane baskets and wicker baskets; bits
+of wood, a piece of cork, bark and sticks; petroleum tins flattened
+out, sheet iron, zinc, and jam and other tins; an earthenware dish and
+a stone bottle, with bits of crockery, stones, and a cow's horn to
+weight some of the other items down. Now, if any one can make anything
+of this, which is an exact inventory of such of the materials as are
+visible on the outside, he must be a born architect. Yet here this
+extraordinary construction stands, as it has stood for several months,
+and its occupant looks the jolliest fellow out. Let us pay him a
+visit.
+
+Stooping down to look under the flap which serves as a door, and
+raising it with my stick, I greet him with the customary salutation
+of "Peace be with you." "With you be peace," is the cheery reply, to
+which is added, "Welcome to thee; make thyself at home." Although
+invited to enter, I feel quite enough at home on the outside of his
+dwelling, so reply that I have no time to stay, as I only "looked in"
+to have the pleasure of making his acquaintance and examining his
+"palace." At the last word one or two bystanders who have gathered
+round indulge in a little chuckle to themselves, overhearing which I
+turn round and make the most flattering remarks I can think of as to
+its beauty, elegance, comfort, and admirable system of ventilation,
+which sets the whole company, tenant included, into a roar of
+laughter. Mine host is busy cleaning fish, and now presses us to stay
+and share his evening meal with him, but our appetites are not quite
+equal to _that_ yet, though it is beyond doubt that the morsel he
+would offer us would be as savoury and well cooked as could be
+supplied by any restaurant in Piccadilly.
+
+Inquiries elicit the fact that our friend is hoping to leave for Mekka
+by the first steamer, and that meanwhile he supports himself as a
+water-carrier, proudly showing us his goat-skin "bottle" lying on
+the floor, with the leather flap he wears between it and his side to
+protect him from the damp. Here, too, are his chain and bell, with the
+bright brass and tin cups. In fact, he is quite a "swell" in his way,
+and, in spite of his uncouth-looking surroundings, manages to enjoy
+life by looking on the bright side of things.
+
+"What will you do with your palace when you leave it?" we ask, seeing
+that it could not be moved unless the whole were jumbled up in a sack,
+when it would be impossible to reconstruct it.
+
+"Oh, I'd let it to some one else."
+
+"For how much?"
+
+"Well, that I'd leave to God."
+
+A glance round the interior of this strange abode shows that there are
+still many materials employed in its construction which might have
+been enumerated. One or two bundles, a box and a basket round the
+sides, serve to support the roof, and from the ridge-pole hangs a
+bundle which we are informed contains semolina. I once saw such a
+bundle suspended from a beam in a village mosque in which I had passed
+the night in the guise of a pious Muslim, and, observing its dusty
+condition, inquired how it came there.
+
+"A traveller left it there about a year and a half ago, and has not
+yet come for it," was the reply; to judge from which it might remain
+till Doomsday--a fact which spoke well for the honesty of the country
+folk in that respect at least, although I learned that they were
+notorious highwaymen.
+
+Though the roof admits daylight every few inches, the occupier remarks
+that it keeps the sun and rain off fairly well, and seems to think
+none the worse of it for its transparent faults. A sick woman lying in
+a native hut with a thatched roof hardly in better condition than this
+one, remarked when a visitor observed a big hole just above her pallet
+bed--
+
+"Oh, it's so nice in the summer time; it lets the breeze in so
+delightfully!"
+
+It was then the depth of winter, and she had had to shift her position
+once or twice to avoid the rain which came through that hole. What
+a lesson in making the best of things did not that ignorant invalid
+teach!
+
+Having bid the amiable water-carrier "ŕ Dieu,"--literally as well as
+figuratively--we turn towards a group of tents further up, whence a
+white-robed form has been beckoning us. After the usual salutations
+have been exchanged, the eager inquiry is made, "Is there a steamer
+yet?"
+
+"No; I've nothing to do with steamers--but there's sure to be one
+soon."
+
+A man who evidently disbelieves me calls out, "I've got my money for
+the passage, and I'll hire a place with you, only bring the ship
+quickly."
+
+Since their arrival in Tangier they have learnt to call a steamer,
+which they have never seen before,--or even the sea,--a "bábor," a
+corruption of the Spanish "vapor," for Arabic knows neither "v" nor
+"p."
+
+Another now comes forward to know if there is an eye-doctor in the
+place, for there is a mist before his eyes, as he is well-advanced in
+the decline of life. The sound of the word "doctor" brings up a few
+more of the bystanders, who ask if I am one, and as I reply in the
+negative, they ask who can cure their ears, legs, stomachs, and what
+not. I explain where they may find an excellent doctor, who will be
+glad to do all he can for them gratis--whereat they open their eyes
+incredulously,--and that for God's sake, in the name of Seyďdná Aďsa
+("Our Lord Jesus"), which they appreciate at once with murmurs of
+satisfaction, though they are not quite satisfied until they have
+ascertained by further questioning that he receives no support from
+his own or any other government. Hearing the name of Seyďdná Aďsa,
+one of the group breaks out into "El hamdu l'Illah, el hamdu l'Illah"
+("Praise be to God"), a snatch of a missionary hymn to a "Moody and
+Sankey" tune, barely recognizable as he renders it. He has only been
+here a fortnight, and disclaims all further knowledge of the hymn or
+where he heard it.
+
+Before another tent hard by sits a native barber, bleeding a youth
+from a vein in the arm, for which the fee is about five farthings.
+As one or two come round to look on, he remarks, in an off-hand
+way--probably with a view to increasing his practice--that "all the
+pilgrims are having this done; it's good for the internals."
+
+As we turn round to pass between two of the tents to the row beyond,
+our progress is stayed by a cord from the ridge of one to that of
+another, on which are strung strips of what appear at first sight to
+be leather, but on a closer inspection are found to be pieces of
+meat, tripe, and apparently chitterlings, hung out to dry in a sun
+temperature of from 90° to 100° Fahrenheit. Thus is prepared a staple
+article of diet for winter consumption when fresh meat is dear, or for
+use on journeys, and this is all the meat these pilgrims will taste
+till they reach Mekka, or perhaps till they return. Big jars of it,
+with the interstices filled up with butter, are stowed away in the
+tents "among the stuff." It is called "khalia," and is much esteemed
+for its tasty and reputed aphrodisiac qualities--two ideals in Morocco
+cookery,--so that it commands a relatively good price in the market.
+
+The inmates of the next tent we look into are a woman and two men,
+lying down curled up asleep in their blankets, while a couple more of
+the latter squat at the door. Having noticed our curious glances at
+their khalia, they, with the expressive motion of the closed fist
+which in native gesture-parlance signifies first-rate, endeavour
+to impress us with a sense of its excellence, which we do not feel
+inclined to dispute after all we have eaten on former occasions. This
+brings us to inquire what else these wanderers provide for the journey
+of thirteen or fourteen days one way. As bread is not to be obtained
+on board, at the door of the tent a tray-full of pieces are being
+converted into sun-dried rusks. Others are provided with a kind of
+very hard doughnut called "fikáks." These are flavoured with anise and
+carraway seeds, and are very acceptable to a hungry traveller when
+bread is scarce, though fearfully searching to hollow teeth.
+
+Then there is a goodly supply of the national food, kesk'soo or
+siksoo, better known by its Spanish name of couscoussoo. This forms
+an appetizing and lordly dish, provocative of abundant eructations--a
+sign of good breeding in these parts, wound up with a long-drawn
+"Praise be to God"--at the close of a regular "tuck in" with Nature's
+spoon, the fist. A similar preparation is hand-rolled vermicelli,
+cooked in broth or milk, if obtainable. A bag of semolina and another
+of zummeetah--parched flour--which only needs enough moisture to
+form it into a paste to prepare it for consumption, are two other
+well-patronized items.
+
+A quaint story comes to mind _ŕ propos_ of the latter, which formed
+part of our stock of provisions during a journey through the province
+of Dukkála when the incident in question occurred. A tin of insect
+powder was also among our goods, and by an odd coincidence both were
+relegated to the pail hanging from one of our packs. Under a spreading
+fig-tree near the village of Smeerah, at lunch, some travelling
+companions offered us a cup of tea, and among other dainties placed
+at their disposal in return was the bag of zummeetah, of which one of
+them made a good meal. Later on in the day, as we rested again, he
+complained of fearful internal gripings, which were easily explained
+by the discovery of the fact that the lid of the "flea's zummeetah,"
+as one of our men styled it, had been left open, and a hole in the
+sack of "man's zummeetah" had allowed the two to mix in the bottom of
+the pail in nearly equal proportions. When this had been explained, no
+one entered more heartily into the joke than its victim, which spoke
+very well for his good temper, considering how seriously he had been
+affected.
+
+But this is rather a digression from our catalogue of the pilgrim's
+stock of provisions. Rancid butter melted down in pots, honey, dates,
+figs, raisins, and one or two similar items form the remainder. Water
+is carried in goat-skins or in pots made of the dried rind of a gourd,
+by far the most convenient for a journey, owing to their light weight
+and the absence of the prevailing taste of pitch imparted by the
+leather contrivances. Several of these latter are to be seen before
+the tents hanging on tripods. One of the Moors informs us that for the
+first day on board they have to provide their own water, after which
+it is found for them, but everything else they take with them. An
+ebony-hued son of Ham, seated by a neighbouring tent, replies to
+our query as to what he is providing, "I take nothing," pointing
+heavenward to indicate his reliance on Divine providence.
+
+And so they travel. The group before us has come from the Sáhara, a
+month's long journey overland, on foot! Yet their travels have only
+commenced. Can they have realized what it all means?
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+WAITING FOR THE STEAMER.]
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+RETURNING HOME
+
+  "He lengthened absence, and returned unwelcomed."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Evening is about to fall--for fall it does in these south latitudes,
+with hardly any twilight--and the setting sun has lit the sky with
+a refulgent glow that must be gazed at to be understood--the arc of
+heaven overspread with glorious colour, in its turn reflected by the
+heaving sea. One sound alone is heard as I wend my way along the sandy
+shore; it is the heavy thud and aftersplash of each gigantic wave,
+as it breaks on the beach, and hurls itself on its retreating
+predecessor, each climbing one step higher than the last.
+
+There, in the distance, stands a motley group--men, women,
+children--straining wearied eyes to recognize the forms which crowd
+a cargo lighter slowly nearing land. Away in the direction of their
+looks I dimly see the outline of the pilgrim ship, a Cardiff coaler,
+which has brought close on a thousand Hájes from Port Saďd or
+Alexandria--men chiefly, but among them wives and children--who have
+paid that toilsome pilgrimage to Mekka.
+
+The last rays of the sun alone remain as the boat strikes the shore,
+and as the darkness falls apace a score of dusky forms make a wild
+rush into the surging waters, while an equal number rise up eager in
+the boat to greet their friends. So soon as they are near enough to be
+distinguished one from another, each watcher on the beach shouts the
+name of the friend he is awaiting, proud to affix, for the first time,
+the title Háj--Pilgrim--to his name. As only some twenty or
+thirty have yet landed from among so many hundreds, the number of
+disappointed ones who have to turn back and bide their time is
+proportionately large.
+
+"Háj Mohammed! Háj Abd es-Slám! Háj el Arbi! Háj boo Sháďb! Ah, Háj
+Drees!" and many such ejaculations burst from their lips, together
+with inquiries as to whether So-and-so may be on board. One by one the
+weary travellers once more step upon the land which is their home, and
+with assistance from their friends unload their luggage.
+
+Now a touching scene ensues. Strong men fall on one another's necks
+like girls, kissing and embracing with true joy, each uttering
+a perfect volley of inquiries, compliments, congratulations, or
+condolence. Then, with child-like simplicity, the stayer-at-home leads
+his welcome relative or friend by the hand to the spot where his
+luggage has been deposited, and seating themselves thereon they soon
+get deep into a conversation which renders them oblivious to all
+around, as the one relates the wonders of his journeyings, the other
+the news of home.
+
+Poor creatures! Some months ago they started, full of hope, on an
+especially trying voyage of several weeks, cramped more closely than
+emigrants, exposed both to sun and rain, with hardly a change of
+clothing, and only the food they had brought with them. Arrived
+at their destination, a weary march across country began, and was
+repeated after they had visited the various points, and performed the
+various rites prescribed by the Korán or custom, finally returning as
+they went, but not all, as the sorrow-stricken faces of some among the
+waiters on the beach had told, and the muttered exclamation, "It is
+written--_Mektoob_."
+
+Meanwhile the night has come. The Creator's loving Hand has caused
+a myriad stars to shine forth from the darkness, in some measure to
+replace the light of day, while as each new boat-load is set down the
+same scenes are enacted, and the crowd grows greater and greater, the
+din of voices keeping pace therewith.
+
+Donkey-men having appeared on the scene with their patient beasts,
+they clamour for employment, and those who can afford it avail
+themselves of their services to get their goods transported to the
+city. What goods they are, too! All sorts of products of the East done
+up in boxes of the most varied forms and colours, bundles, rolls, and
+bales. The owners are apparently mere bundles of rags themselves, but
+they seem no less happy for that.
+
+Seated on an eminence at one side are several customs officers who
+have been delegated to inspect these goods; their flowing garments and
+generally superior attire afford a striking contrast to the state of
+the returning pilgrims, or even to that of the friends come to meet
+them. These officials have their guards marching up and down between
+and round about the groups, to see that nothing is carried off without
+inspection.
+
+Little by little the crowd disperses; those whose friends have landed
+escort them to their homes, leaving those who will have to continue
+their journey overland alone, making hasty preparations for their
+evening meal. The better class speedily have tents erected, but the
+majority will have to spend the night in the open air, probably in the
+rain, for it is beginning to spatter already. Fires are lit in all
+directions, throwing a lurid light upon the interesting picture, and
+I turn my horse's head towards home with a feeling of sadness, but
+at the same time one of thankfulness that my lot was not cast where
+theirs is.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+
+XXV
+
+DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO
+
+  "The Beheaded was abusing the Flayed:
+  One with her throat cut passed by, and exclaimed,
+  'God deliver us from such folk!'"
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Instead of residing at the Court of the Sultan, as might be expected,
+the ministers accredited to the ruler of Morocco take up their abode
+in Tangier, where they are more in touch with Europe, and where there
+is greater freedom for pig-sticking. The reason for this is that the
+Court is not permanently settled anywhere, wintering successively at
+one of the three capitals, Fez, Marrákesh, or Mequinez. Every few
+years, when anything of note arises; when there is an accumulation of
+matters to be discussed with the Emperor, or when a new representative
+has been appointed, an embassy to Court is undertaken, usually in
+spring or autumn, the best times to travel in this roadless land.
+
+What happens on these embassies has often enough been related from the
+point of view of the performers, but seldom from that of residents in
+the country who know what happens, and the following peep behind the
+scenes, though fortunately not typical of all, is not exaggerated.
+Even more might have been told under some heads. As strictly
+applicable to no Power at present represented in Morocco, the record
+is that of an imaginary embassy from Greece some sixty or more years
+ago. To prevent misconception, it may be as well to add that it was
+written previous to the failure of the mission of Sir Charles Euan
+Smith.
+
+
+  I. THE RECEPTION
+
+In a sloop-of-war sent all the way from the Ćgean, the Ambassador
+and his suite sailed from Tangier to Saffi, where His Excellency was
+received on landing by a Royal salute from the crumbling batteries.
+The local governor and the Greek vice-consul awaited him on leaving
+the surf boat, with an escort which sadly upset the operations of
+women washing wool by the water-port. Outside the land-gate, beside
+the ancient palace, was pitched a Moorish camp awaiting his arrival,
+and European additions were soon erected beside it. At daybreak next
+morning a luncheon-party rode forward, whose duty it was to prepare
+the midday meal for the embassy, and to pitch the awning under which
+they should partake of it.
+
+Arrived at the spot selected, Drees, the "native agent," found the
+village sheďkh awaiting him with ample supplies, enough for every one
+for a couple of days. This he carefully packed on his mules, and by
+the time the embassy came up, having started some time later than he,
+after a good breakfast, he was ready to go on again with the remainder
+of the muleteers and the camel-drivers to prepare the evening meal and
+pitch for the night a camp over which waved the flag of Greece.
+
+Here the offerings of provisions or money were made with equal
+profusion. There were bushels of kesk'soo; there were several live
+sheep, which were speedily despatched and put into pots to cook; there
+were jars of honey, of oil, and of butter; there were camel-loads of
+barley for the beasts of burden, and trusses of hay for their dessert;
+there were packets of candles by the dozen, and loaves of sugar and
+pounds of tea; not to speak of fowls, of charcoal, of sweet herbs, of
+fruits, and of minor odds and ends.
+
+By the time the Europeans arrived, their French _chef_ had prepared an
+excellent dinner, the native escort and servants squatting in groups
+round steaming dishes provided ready cooked by half-starved villagers.
+When the feasting was over, and all seemed quiet, a busy scene was in
+reality being enacted in the background. At a little distance from
+the camp, Háj Marti, the right-hand man of the agent, was holding a
+veritable market with the surplus mona of the day, re-selling to
+the miserable country folk what had been wrung from them by the
+authorities. The Moorish Government declared that what they paid thus
+in kind would be deducted from their taxes, and this was what the
+Minister assured his questioning wife, for though he knew better, he
+found it best to wink at the proceedings of his unpaid henchman.
+
+As they proceeded inland, on the border of each local jurisdiction the
+escort was changed with an exhibition of "powder-play," the old one
+retiring as the new one advanced with the governor at its head. Thus
+they journeyed for about a week, till they reached the crumbling walls
+of palm-begirt Marrákesh.
+
+The official _personnel_ of the embassy consisted of the Minister
+and his secretary Nikolaki Glymenopoulos, with Ayush ben Lezrá, the
+interpreter. The secretary was a self-confident dandy with a head like
+a pumpkin and a scrawl like the footprints of a wandering hen; reputed
+a judge of ladies and horse-flesh; supercilious, condescending to
+inferiors, and the plague of his tailor. The consul, Paolo Komnenos, a
+man of middle age with a kindly heart, yet without force of character
+to withstand the evils around him, had been left in Tangier as _Chargé
+d'Affaires_, to the great satisfaction of his wife and family, who
+considered themselves of the _cręme de la cręme_ of Tangier society,
+such as it was, because, however much the wife of the Minister
+despised the bumptiousness of Madame Komnenos, she could not omit her
+from her invitations, unless of the most private nature, on account
+of her husband's official position. Now, as Madame Mavrogordato
+accompanied her husband with her little son and a lady friend, the
+consul's wife reigned supreme.
+
+Then there were the official _attachés_ for the occasion, the
+representative of the army, a colonel of Roman nose, and eyes which
+required but one glass between them, a man to whom death would have
+been preferable to going one morning unshaved, or to failing one jot
+in military etiquette; and the representative of the navy, in cocked
+hat and gold-striped pantaloons, who found it more difficult to avoid
+tripping over his sword than most landsmen do to keep from stumbling
+over coils of rope on ship-board; beyond his costume there was little
+of note about him; his genial character made it easy to say "Ay, ay,"
+to any one, but the yarns he could spin round the camp-fire made him
+a general favourite. The least consequential of the party was the
+doctor, an army man of honest parts, who wished well to all the world.
+Undoubtedly he was the hardest worked of the lot, for no one else did
+anything but enjoy himself.
+
+Finally there were the "officious" _attachés_. Every dabbler in
+politics abroad knows the fine distinctions between "official" and
+"officious" action, and how subtle are the changes which can be rung
+upon the two, but there was nothing of that description here. The
+officious _attachés_ were simply a party of the Minister's personal
+friends, and two or three strangers whose influence might in after
+times be useful to him. One was of course a journalist, to supply the
+special correspondence of the _Acropolis_ and the _Hellenike Salpinx_.
+These would afterwards be worked up into a handy illustrated volume of
+experiences and impressions calculated to further deceive the public
+with regard to Morocco and the Moors, and to secure for the Minister
+his patron, the longed-for promotion to a European Court. Another was
+necessarily the artist of the party, while the remainder engaged in
+sport of one kind or another.
+
+Si Drees, the "native agent," was employed as master of horse, and
+superintended the native arrangements generally. With him rested every
+detail of camping out, and the supply of food and labour. Right and
+left he was the indispensable factotum, shouting himself hoarse from
+before dawn till after sunset, when he joined the gay blades of the
+Embassy in private pulls at forbidden liquors. No one worked as hard
+as he, and he seemed omnipresent. The foreigners were justly thankful
+to have such a man, for without him all felt at sea. He appeared to
+know everything and to be available for every one's assistance. The
+only draw-back was his ignorance of Greek, or of any language but his
+own, yet being sharp-witted he made himself wonderfully understood by
+signs and a few words of the strange coast jargon, a mixture of half a
+dozen tongues.
+
+The early morning was fixed for the solemn entry of the Embassy into
+the city, yet the road had to be lined on both sides with soldiers
+to keep back the thronging crowds. Amid the din of multitudes, the
+clashing of barbarous music, and shrill ululations of delight from
+native women; surrounded by an eastern blaze of sun and blended
+colours, rode incongruous the Envoy from Greece. His stiff, grim
+figure, the embodiment of officialism, in full Court dress, was
+supported on either hand by his secretary and interpreter, almost as
+resplendent as himself. Behind His Excellency rode the _attachés_ and
+other officials, then the ladies; newspaper correspondents, artists,
+and other non-official guests, bringing up the rear. In this order
+the party crossed the red-flowing Tansift by its low bridge of many
+arches, and drew near to the gate of Marrákesh called that of the
+Thursday [market], Báb el Khamees.
+
+[Illustration: _Molinari, Photo., Tangier._
+
+A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO.]
+
+At last they commenced to thread the narrow winding streets, their
+bordering roofs close packed with shrouded figures only showing an
+eye, who greeted them after their fashion with a piercing, long-drawn,
+"Yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo; yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo; yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo--oo," so novel
+to the strangers, and so typical. Then they crossed the wide-open
+space before the Kűtűbîyah on their way to the garden which had been
+prepared for them, the Maműnîyah, with its handsome residence and
+shady walks.
+
+Three days had to elapse from the time of their arrival before they
+could see the Sultan, for they were now under native etiquette, but
+they had much to occupy them, much to see and think about, though
+supposed to remain at home and rest till the audience. On the morning
+of the fourth day all was bustle. Each had to array himself in such
+official garb as he could muster, with every decoration he could
+borrow, for the imposing ceremony of the presentation to the Emperor.
+What a business it was! what a coming and going; what noise and what
+excitement! It was like living in the thick of a whirling pantomime.
+
+At length they were under way, and making towards the kasbah gate in a
+style surpassing that of their entry, the populace still more excited
+at the sight of the gold lace and cocked hats which showed what great
+men had come to pay their homage to their lord the Sultan. On arrival
+at the inmost courtyard with whitewashed, battlemented walls, and
+green-tiled roofs beyond, they found it thickly lined with soldiers,
+a clear space being left for them in the centre. Here they were all
+ranged on foot, the presents from King Otho placed on one side, and
+covered with rich silk cloths. Presently a blast of trumpets silenced
+the hum of voices, and the soldiers made a show of "attention" in
+their undrilled way, for the Sultan approached.
+
+In a moment the great doors on the other side flew open, and a
+number of gaily dressed natives in peaked red caps--the Royal
+body-guard--emerged, followed by five prancing steeds, magnificent
+barbs of different colours, richly caparisoned, led by gold-worked
+bridles. Then came the Master of the Ceremonies in his flowing robes
+and monster turban, a giant in becoming dress, and--as they soon
+discovered--of stentorian voice. Behind him rode the Emperor himself
+in stately majesty, clothed in pure white, wool-white, distinct amid
+the mass of colours worn by those surrounding him, his ministers. The
+gorgeous trappings of his white steed glittered as the proud beast
+arched his neck and champed his gilded bit, or tried in vain to
+prance. Over his head was held by a slave at his side the only sign of
+Royalty, a huge red-silk umbrella with a fringe to match, and a golden
+knob on the point, while others of the household servants flicked the
+flies away, or held the spurs, the cushion, the carpet, and other
+things which might be called for by their lord.
+
+On his appearance deafening shouts broke forth, "God bless our Lord,
+and give him victory!" The rows of soldiers bowed their heads and
+repeated the cry with still an increase of vigour, "God bless our
+Lord, and give him victory!" At a motion from the Master of the
+Ceremonies the members of the Embassy took off their hats or helmets,
+and the representative of modern Greece stood there bareheaded in a
+broiling sun before the figure-head of ancient Barbary. As the Sultan
+approached the place where he stood, he drew near and offered a few
+stereotyped words in explanation of his errand, learned by heart, to
+which the Emperor replied by bidding him welcome. The Minister then
+handed to him an engrossed address in a silk embroided case, which
+an attendant was motioned to take, the Sultan acknowledging it
+graciously. One by one the Minister next introduced the members of his
+suite, their names and qualities being shouted in awful tones by the
+Master of the Ceremonies, and after once more bidding them welcome,
+but with a scowl at the sight of Drees, His Majesty turned his horse's
+head, leaving them to re-mount as their steeds were brought to
+them. Again the music struck up with a deafening din, and the state
+reception was over.
+
+But this was not to be the only interview between the Ambassador and
+the Sultan, for several so-called private conferences followed, at
+which an attendant or two and the interpreter Ayush were present.
+Kyrios Mavrogordato's stock of polite workable Arabic had been
+exhausted at the public function, and for business matters he had to
+rely implicitly on the services of his handy Jew. Such other notions
+of the language as he boasted could only be addressed to inferiors,
+and that but to convey the most simple of crude instructions or
+curses.
+
+At the first private audience there were many matters of importance to
+be brought before the Sultan's notice, afterwards to be relegated to
+the consideration of his wazeers. This time no fuss was made, and the
+affair again came off in the early morning, for His Majesty rose at
+three, and after devotions and study transacted official business from
+five to nine, then breakfasting and reserving the rest of the day for
+recreation and further religious study.
+
+
+  II. THE INTERVIEW
+
+At the appointed time an escort waited on the Ambassador[18] to convey
+him to the palace, arrived at which he was led into one of the many
+gardens in the interior, full of luxuriant semi-wild vegetation. In
+a room opening on to one side of the garden sat the Emperor,
+tailor-fashion, on a European sofa, elevated by a sort of daďs
+opposite the door. With the exception of an armchair on the lower
+level, to which the Ambassador was motioned after the usual formal
+obeisances and expressions of respect, the chamber was absolutely bare
+of furniture, though not lacking in beauty of decoration. The floor
+was of plain cut but elegant tiles, and the dado was a more intricate
+pattern of the same in shades of blue, green, and yellow, interspersed
+with black, but relieved by an abundance of greeny white. Above this,
+to the stalactite cornice, the walls were decorated with intricate
+Mauresque designs in carved white plaster, while the rich stalactite
+roofing of deep-red tone, just tipped with purple and gilt, made a
+perfect whole, and gave a feeling of repose to the design. Through the
+huge open horse-shoe arch of the door the light streamed between the
+branches of graceful creepers waving in the breeze, adding to the
+impression of coolness caused by the bubbling fountain outside.
+
+  [18: Strictly speaking, only "Minister Plenipotentiary and
+       Envoy Extraordinary."]
+
+"May God bless our Lord, and prolong his days!" said Ayush, bowing
+profoundly towards the Sultan, as the Minister concluded the
+repetition of his stock phrases, and seated himself.
+
+"May it please Your Majesty," began the Minister, in Greek, "I cannot
+express the honour I feel in again being commissioned to approach Your
+Majesty in the capacity of Ambassador from my Sovereign, King Otho of
+Greece."
+
+This little speech was rendered into Arabic by Ayush to this effect--
+
+"May God pour blessings on our Lord. The Ambassador rejoices greatly,
+and is honoured above measure in being sent once more by his king to
+approach the presence of our Lord, the high and mighty Sovereign: yes,
+my Lord."
+
+"He is welcome," answered the Sultan, graciously; "we love no nation
+better than the Greeks. They have always been our friends."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty is delighted to see Your Excellency, whom
+he loves from his heart, as also your mighty nation, than which none
+is more dear to him, and whose friendship he is ready to maintain at
+any cost."
+
+_Minister._ "It pleases me greatly to hear Your Majesty's noble
+sentiments, which I, and I am sure my Government, reciprocate."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister is highly complimented by the gracious
+words of our Lord, and declares that the Greeks love no other nation
+on earth beside the Moors: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "Is there anything I can do for such good friends?"
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty says he is ready to do anything for so
+good a friend as Your Excellency."
+
+_Minister._ "I am deeply grateful to His Majesty. Yes, there are one
+or two matters which my Government would like to have settled."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister is simply overwhelmed at the thought of
+the consideration of our Lord, and he has some trifling matters for
+which perhaps he may beg our Lord's attention: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "He has only to make them known."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will do all Your Excellency desires."
+
+_Minister._ "First then, Your Majesty, there is the little affair of
+the Greek who was murdered last year at Azîla. I am sure that I can
+rely on an indemnity for his widow."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister speaks of the Greek who was murdered--by
+your leave, yes, my Lord--at Azîla last year: yes, my Lord. The
+Ambassador wishes him to be paid for."
+
+_Sultan._ "How much does he ask?"
+
+This being duly interpreted, the Minister replied--
+
+"Thirty thousand dollars."
+
+_Sultan._ "Half that sum would do, but we will see. What next?"
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty thinks that too much, but as Your
+Excellency says, so be it."
+
+_Minister._ "I thank His Majesty, and beg to bring to his notice the
+imprisonment of a Greek _protégé_, Mesaűd bin Aűdah, at Mazagan some
+months ago, and to ask for his liberation and for damages. This is a
+most important case."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister wants that thief Mesaűd bin Aűdah, whom
+the Báshá of Mazagan has in gaol, to be let out, and he asks also for
+damages: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "The man was no lawful _protégé_. I can do nothing in the
+case. Bin Aűdah is a criminal, and cannot be protected."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty fears that this is a matter in which he
+cannot oblige Your Excellency, much as he would like to, since the man
+in question is a thief. It is no use saying anything further about
+this."
+
+_Minister._ "Then ask about that Jew Botbol, who was thrashed. Though
+not a _protégé_, His Majesty might be able to do something."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Excellency brings before our Lord a most serious
+matter indeed; yes, my Lord. It is absolutely necessary that redress
+should be granted to Maimon Botbol, the eminent merchant of Mogador
+whom the kaďd of that place most brutally treated last year: yes, my
+Lord. And this is most important, for Botbol is a great friend of His
+Excellency, who has taken the treatment that the poor man received
+very much to heart. He is sure that our Lord will not hesitate to
+order the payment of the damages demanded, only fifty thousand
+dollars."
+
+_Sultan._ "In consideration of the stress the Minister lays upon this
+case, he shall have ten thousand dollars."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will pay Your Excellency ten thousand
+dollars damages."
+
+_Minister._ "As that is more than I had even hoped to ask, you will
+duly thank His Majesty most heartily for this spontaneous generosity."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister says that is not sufficient from our
+Lord, but he will not oppose his will: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "I cannot do more."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty says it gives him great pleasure to pay
+it."
+
+_Minister._ "Now there is the question of slavery. I have here a
+petition from a great society at Athens requesting His Majesty to
+consider whether he cannot abolish the system throughout his realm,"
+handing the Sultan an elaborate Arabic scroll in Syrian characters
+hard to be deciphered even by the secretary to whom it is consigned
+for perusal; the Sultan, though an Arabic scholar, not taking
+sufficient interest in the matter to think of it again.
+
+_Interpreter._ "There are some fanatics in the land of Greece, yes, my
+Lord, who want to see slavery abolished here, by thy leave, yes, my
+Lord, but I will explain to the Bashador that this is impossible."
+
+_Sultan._ "Certainly. It is an unalterable institution. Those who
+think otherwise are fools. Besides, your agent Drees deals in slaves!"
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will give the petition his best attention,
+and if possible grant it with pleasure."
+
+_Minister._ "You will thank His Majesty very much. It will rejoice
+my fellow-countrymen to hear it. Next, a Greek firm has offered to
+construct the much-needed port at Tangier, if His Majesty will grant
+us the concession till the work be paid for by the tolls. Such a
+measure would tend to greatly increase the Moorish revenues."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister wishes to build a port at Tangier, yes,
+my Lord, and to hold it till the tolls have paid for it."
+
+_Sultan._ "Which may not be till Doomsday. Nevertheless, I
+will consent to any one making the port whom all the European
+representatives shall agree to appoint"--a very safe promise to make,
+since the Emperor knew that this agreement was not likely to be
+brought about till the said Domesday.
+
+_Interpreter._ "Your Excellency's request is granted. You have only to
+obtain the approval of your colleagues."
+
+_Minister._ "His Majesty is exceedingly gracious, and I am
+correspondingly obliged to him. Inform His Majesty that the same firm
+is willing to build him bridges over his rivers, and to make roads
+between the provinces, which would increase friendly communications,
+and consequently tend to reduce inter-tribal feuds."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister thanks our Lord, and wants also to build
+bridges and roads in the interior to make the tribes friendly by
+intercourse."
+
+_Sultan._ "That would never do. The more I keep the tribes apart the
+better for me. If I did not shake up my rats in the sack pretty often,
+they would gnaw their way out. Besides, where my people could travel
+more easily, so could foreign invaders. No, I cannot think of such a
+thing. God created the world without bridges."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty is full of regret that in this matter he
+is unable to please Your Excellency, but he thinks his country better
+as it is."
+
+_Minister._ "Although I beg to differ from His Majesty, so be it. Next
+there is the question of our commerce with Morocco. This is greatly
+hampered by the present lack of a fixed customs tariff. There are
+several articles of which the exportation is now prohibited, which it
+would be really very much in the interest of his people to allow us to
+purchase."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister requests of our Lord a new customs
+tariff, and the right to export wheat and barley."
+
+_Sultan._ "The tariff he may discuss with the Wazeer of the Interior;
+I will give instructions. As for the cereals, the bread of the
+Faithful cannot be given to infidels."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty accedes to your Excellency's request.
+You have only to make known the details to the Minister for Internal
+Affairs."
+
+_Minister._ "Again I humbly render thanks to his Majesty. Since he is
+so particularly good to me, perhaps he would add one kindness more, in
+abandoning to me the old house and garden on the Marshan at Tangier,
+in which the Foreign Minister used to live. It is good for nothing,
+and would be useful to me."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister asks our Lord for a couple of houses
+in Tangier. Yes, my Lord, the one formerly occupied by the Foreign
+Minister on the Marshan at Tangier for himself; and the other
+adjoining the New Mosque in town, just an old tumble-down place for
+stores, to be bestowed upon me; yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "What sort of place is that on the Marshan?"
+
+_Interpreter._ "I will not lie unto my lord. It is a fine big house
+in a large garden, with wells and fruit trees: yes, my Lord. But the
+other is a mere nothing: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "I will do as he wishes--if it please God." (The latter
+expression showing the reverse of an intention to carry out the
+former.)
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty gives you the house."
+
+_Minister._ "His Majesty is indeed too kind to me. I therefore regret
+exceedingly having to bring forward a number of claims which have been
+pending for a long time, but with the details of which I will not
+of course trouble His Majesty personally. I merely desire his
+instructions to the Treasury to discharge them on their being admitted
+by the competent authorities."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister brings before our Lord a number of
+claims, on the settlement of which he insists: yes, my Lord. He feels
+it a disgrace that they should have remained unpaid so long: yes, my
+Lord. And he asks for orders to be given to discharge them at once."
+
+_Sultan._ "There is neither force nor power save in God, the High, the
+Mighty. Glory to Him! There is no telling what these Nazarenes won't
+demand next. I will pay all just claims, of course, but many of these
+are usurers' frauds, with which I will have nothing to do."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will give the necessary instructions; but
+the claims will have to be examined, as Your Excellency has already
+suggested. His Majesty makes the sign of the conclusion of our
+interview."
+
+_Minister._ "Assure His Majesty how deeply indebted I am to him
+for these favours he has shown me, but allow me to in some measure
+acknowledge them by giving information of importance. I am entirely
+_au courant_, through private channels, with the unworthy tactics of
+the British Minister, as also those of his two-faced colleagues, the
+representatives of France and Spain, and can disclose them to His
+Majesty whenever he desires."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Excellency does not know how to express
+his gratitude to our Lord for his undeserved and unprecedented
+condescension, and feels himself bound the slave of our Lord, willing
+to do all our Lord requires of his hands; yes, my lord. But he trusts
+that our Lord will not forget the houses--and the one in town is only
+a little one,--or the payment of the indemnity to Maimon Botbol, yes,
+my Lord, or the discharging of the claims. God bless our Lord, and
+give him victory! And also, pardon me, my Lord, the Minister says that
+all the other ministers are rogues, and he knows all about them that
+our Lord may wish to learn: yes, my Lord."
+
+"God is omniscient. He can talk of those matters to the Foreign
+Minister to-morrow. In peace!"
+
+Once more a few of his stock phrases were man[oe]uvred by Kyrios
+Mavrogordato, as with the most profound of rear-steering bows the
+representatives of civilization retreated, and the potentate of
+Barbary turned with an air of relief to give instructions to his
+secretary.
+
+
+  III. THE RESULT
+
+A few weeks after this interview the _Hellenike Salpinx_, a leading
+journal of Athens, contained an article of which the following is a
+translation:--
+
+    "OUR INTERESTS IN MOROCCO
+
+    "(_From our Special Correspondent_)
+
+    "Marrákesh, October 20.
+
+    "The success of our Embassy to Morocco is already assured, and
+    that in a remarkable degree. The Sultan has once more shown most
+    unequivocally his strong partiality for the Greek nation, and
+    especially for their distinguished representative, Kyrios Dimitri
+    Mavrogordato, whose personal tact and influence have so largely
+    contributed to this most thankworthy result. It is very many years
+    since such a number of requests have been granted by the Emperor
+    of Morocco to one ambassador, and it is probable that under the
+    most favourable circumstances no other Power could have hoped for
+    such an exhibition of favour.
+
+    "The importance of the concessions is sufficient to mark this
+    embassy in the history of European relations with Morocco,
+    independently of the amount of ordinary business transacted,
+    and the way in which the Sultan has promised to satisfy our
+    outstanding claims. Among other favours, permission has been
+    granted to a Greek firm to construct a port at Tangier, the chief
+    seat of foreign trade in the Empire, which is a matter of national
+    importance, and there is every likelihood of equally valuable
+    concessions for the building of roads and bridges being made to
+    the same company.
+
+    "Our merchants will be rejoiced to learn that at last the
+    vexatious customs regulations, or rather the absence of them,
+    will be replaced by a regular tariff, which our minister has
+    practically only to draw up for it to be sanctioned by the
+    Moorish Government. The question of slavery, too, is under the
+    consideration of the Sultan with a view to its restriction, if
+    not to its abolition, a distinct and unexpected triumph for the
+    friends of universal freedom. There can be no question that, under
+    its present enlightened ruler, Morocco is at last on the high-road
+    to civilization.
+
+    "Only those who have had experience in dealing with
+    procrastinating politicians of the eastern school can appreciate
+    in any degree the consummate skill and patience which is requisite
+    to overcome the sinuosities of oriental minds, and it is only such
+    a signal victory as has just been won for Greece and for progress
+    in Morocco, as can enable us to realize the value to the State of
+    such diplomatists as His Excellency, Kyrios Mavrogordato."
+
+This article had not appeared in print before affairs on the spot wore
+a very different complexion. At the interview with the Minister for
+the Interior a most elaborate customs tariff had been presented and
+discussed, some trifling alterations being made, and the whole being
+left to be submitted to the Sultan for his final approval, with the
+assurance that this was only a matter of form. The Minister of Finance
+had promised most blandly the payment of the damages demanded for the
+murder of the Greek and for the thrashing of the Jew. It was true that
+as yet no written document had been handed to the Greek Ambassador,
+but then he had the word of the Ministers themselves, and promises
+from the Sultan's lips as well. The only _fait accompli_ was the
+despatch of a courier to Tangier with orders to deliver up the keys
+of two specified properties to the Ambassador and his interpreter
+respectively, a matter which, strange to say, found no place in the
+messages to the Press, and in which the spontaneous present to the
+interpreter struck His Excellency as a most generous act on the part
+of the Sultan.
+
+Quite a number of state banquets had been given, in which the members
+of the Embassy had obtained an insight into stylish native cooking,
+writing home that half the dishes were prepared with pomatum and the
+other half with rancid oil and butter. The _littérateur_ of the party
+had nearly completed his work on Morocco, and was seriously thinking
+of a second volume. The young _attachés_ could swear right roundly in
+Arabic, and were becoming perfect connoisseurs of native beauty. In
+the palatial residence of Drees, as well as in a private residence
+which that worthy had placed at their disposal, they had enjoyed a
+selection of native female society, and had such good times under the
+wing of that "rare old cock," as they dubbed him, that one or two
+began to feel as though they had lighted among the lotus eaters, and
+had little desire to return.
+
+But to Kyrios Mavrogordato and Glymenopoulos his secretary, the delay
+at Court began to grow irksome, and they heartily wished themselves
+back in Tangier. Notwithstanding the useful "tips" which he had given
+to the Foreign Minister regarding the base designs of his various
+colleagues accredited to that Court, his own affairs seemed to hang
+fire. He had shown how France was determined to make war upon Morocco
+sooner or later, with a view to adding its fair plains to those it
+was acquiring in Algeria, and had warned him that if the Sultan lent
+assistance to the Ameer Abd el Káder he would certainly bring this
+trouble upon himself. He had also shown how England pretended
+friendship because at any cost she must maintain at least the
+neutrality of that part of his country bordering on the Straits of
+Gibraltar, and that with all her professions of esteem, she really
+cared not a straw for the Moors. He had shown too that puny Spain held
+it as an article of faith that Morocco should one day become hers in
+return for the rule of the Moors upon her own soil. He had, in fact,
+shown that Greece alone cared for the real interests of the Sultan.
+
+
+  IV. DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND
+
+Yet things did not move. The treaty of commerce remained unsigned, and
+slaves were still bought and sold. The numerous claims which he had
+to enforce had only been passed in part, and the Moorish authorities
+seemed inclined to dispute the others stoutly. At last, at a private
+conference with the Wazeer el Kiddáb, the Ambassador broached a
+proposal to cut the Gordian knot. He would abandon all disputed claims
+for a lump sum paid privately to himself, and asked what the Moorish
+Government might feel inclined to offer.
+
+The Wazeer el Kiddáb received this proposal with great complacency. He
+was accustomed to such overtures. Every day of his life that style of
+bargain was part of his business. But this was the first time that a
+European ambassador had made such a suggestion in its nakedness, and
+he was somewhat taken aback, though his studied indifference of manner
+did not allow the foreigner to suspect such a thing for a moment. The
+usual style had been for him to offer present after present to the
+ambassadors till he had reached their price, and then, when his master
+had overloaded them with personal favours--many of which existed but
+in promise--they had been unable to press too hard the claims they had
+come to enforce, for fear of possible disclosures. So this was a novel
+proceeding, though quite comprehensible on the part of a man who had
+been bribed on a less extensive scale on each previous visit to Court.
+Once, however, such a proposition had been made, it was evident that
+his Government could not be much in earnest regarding demands which he
+could so easily afford to set aside.
+
+As soon, therefore, as Kyrios Mavrogordato had left, the Wazeer
+ordered his mule, that he might wait upon His Majesty before the hours
+of business were over. His errand being stated as urgent and private,
+he was admitted without delay to his sovereign's presence.
+
+"May God prolong the days of our Lord! I come to say that the way to
+rid ourselves of the importunity of this ambassador from Greece is
+plain. He has made it so himself by offering to abandon all disputed
+claims for a round sum down for his own use. What is the pleasure of
+my Lord?"
+
+"God is great!" exclaimed the Sultan, "that is well. You may inform
+the Minister from me that a positive refusal is given to every demand
+not already allowed in writing. What _he_ can afford to abandon, _I_
+can't afford to pay."
+
+"The will of our Lord shall be done."
+
+"But stay! I have had my eye upon that Greek ambassador this long
+while, and am getting tired of him. The abuses he commits are
+atrocious, and his man Drees is a devil. Háj Taďb el Ghassál writes
+that the number of his _protégés_ is legion, and that by far the
+greater number of them are illegal. Inform him when you see him that
+henceforth the provisions of our treaties shall be strictly adhered
+to, and moreover that no protection certificates shall be valid unless
+countersigned by our Foreign Commissioner El Ghassál. If I rule here,
+I will put an end to this man's doings."
+
+"On my head and eyes be the words of my Lord."
+
+"And remind him further that the permits for the free passage of
+goods at the customs are granted only for his personal use, for the
+necessities of his household, and that the way Háj Taďb writes he has
+been selling them is a disgrace. The man is a regular swindler, and
+the less we have to do with him the better. As for his pretended
+information about his colleagues, there may be a good deal of truth
+in it, but I have the word of the English minister, who is about as
+honest as any of them, that this Mavrogordato is a born villain,
+and that if his Government is not greedy for my country on its own
+account, it wants to sell me to some more powerful neighbour in
+exchange for its protection. Greece is only a miserable fag-end of
+Europe."
+
+"Our Lord knows: may God give him victory," and the Wazeer bowed
+himself out to consider how best he might obey his instructions, not
+exactly liking the task. On returning home he despatched a messenger
+to the quarters of the Embassy, appointing an hour on the morrow for a
+conference, and when this came the Ambassador found himself in for a
+stormy interview. The Wazeer, with his snuff-box in constant use,
+sat cool and collected on his mattress on the floor, the Ambassador
+sitting uneasily on a chair before him. Though the language used
+was considerably modified in filtering through the brain of the
+interpreter, the increasing violence of tone and gesture could not be
+concealed, and were all but sufficiently comprehensible in themselves.
+The Ambassador protested that if the remainder of the demands were
+to be refused, he was entitled to at least as much as the French
+representative had had to shut his mouth last time he came to Court,
+and affected overwhelming indignation at the treatment he had
+received.
+
+"Besides," he added, "I have the promise of His Majesty the Sultan
+himself that certain of them should be paid in full, and I cannot
+abandon those. I have informed my Government of the Sultan's words."
+
+"Dost suppose that my master is a dog of a Nazarene, that he should
+keep his word to thee? Nothing thou may'st say can alter his decision.
+The claims that have been allowed in writing shall be paid by the
+Customs Administrators on thy return to Tangier. Here are orders for
+the money."
+
+"I absolutely refuse to accept a portion of what my Government
+demands. I will either receive the whole, or I will return
+empty-handed, and report on the treacherous way in which I have been
+treated. I am thoroughly sick of the procrastinating and prevaricating
+ways of this country--a disgrace to the age."
+
+"And we are infinitely more sick of thy behaviour and thine abuse of
+the favours we have granted thee. Our lord has expressly instructed
+me to tell thee that in future no excess of the rights guaranteed to
+foreigners by treaty will be permitted on any account. Thy protection
+certificates to be valid must be endorsed by our Foreign Commissioner,
+and the nature of the goods thou importest free of duty as for thyself
+shall be strictly examined, as we have the right to do, that no more
+defrauding of our revenue be permitted."
+
+"Your words are an insult to my nation," exclaimed the Ambassador,
+rising, "and shall be duly reported to my Government. I cannot sit
+here and listen to vile impeachments like these; you know them to be
+false!"
+
+"That is no affair of mine; I have delivered the decision of our lord,
+and have no more to say. The claims we refuse are all of them unjust,
+the demands of usurers, on whom be the curse of God; and demands for
+money which has never been stolen, or has already been paid; every one
+of them is a shameful fraud, God knows. Leeches are only fit to be
+trodden on when they have done their work; we want none of them."
+
+"Your language is disgraceful, such as was never addressed to me in my
+life before; if I do not receive an apology by noon to-morrow, I will
+at once set out for Tangier, if not for Greece, and warn you of the
+possible consequences."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The excitement in certain circles in Athens on the receipt of the
+intelligence that the Embassy to Morocco had failed, after all the
+flourish of trumpets with which its presumed successes had been
+hailed, was great indeed. One might have thought that once more the
+brave Hellenes were thirsting for the conquest of another Sicily, to
+read the columns of the _Palingenesia_, some of the milder paragraphs
+of which, translated, ran thus:--
+
+    "A solemn duty has been imposed upon our nation by the studied
+    indignities heaped upon our representative at the Court of
+    Morocco. Greece has been challenged, Europe defied, and the whole
+    civilized world insulted. The duty now before us is none other
+    than to wipe from the earth that nest of erstwhile pirates
+    flattered by the name of the Moorish Government....
+
+    "As though it were insufficient to have refused the just demands
+    presented by Kyrios Mavrogordato for the payment of business debts
+    due to Greek merchants, and for damages acknowledged to be due to
+    others for property stolen by lawless bandits, His Excellency has
+    been practically dismissed from the Court in a manner which has
+    disgraced our flag in the eyes of all Morocco.
+
+    "Here are two counts which need no exaggeration. Unless the
+    payment of just business debts is duly enforced by the Moorish
+    Government, as it would be in any other country, and unless the
+    native agents of our merchants are protected fully by the local
+    authorities, it is hopeless to think of maintaining commercial
+    relations with such a nation, so that insistence on these demands
+    is of vital necessity to our trade, and a duty to our growing
+    manufactories.
+
+    "The second count is of the simplest: such treatment as has been
+    meted out to our Minister Plenipotentiary in Morocco, especially
+    after the bland way in which he was met at first with empty
+    promises and smiles, is worthy only of savages or of a people
+    intent on war."
+
+The _Hellenike Salpinx_ was hardly less vehement in the language in
+which it chronicled the course of events in Morocco:--
+
+    "Notwithstanding the unprecedented manner in which the requests
+    of His Excellency, Kyrios Dimitri Mavrogordato, our Minister
+    Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Morocco,
+    were acceded to on the recent Embassy to Mulai Abd er-Rahmán, the
+    Moors have shown their true colours at last by equally marked, but
+    less astonishing, insults.
+
+    "The unrivalled diplomatic talents of our ambassador proved,
+    in fact, too much for the Moorish Government, and though the
+    discovery of the way in which a Nazarene was obtaining his desires
+    from the Sultan may have aroused the inherent obstinacy of the
+    wazeers, and thus produced the recoil which we have described, it
+    is far more likely that this was brought about by the officious
+    interference of one or two other foreign representatives at
+    Tangier. It has been for some time notorious that the Sardinian
+    consul-general--who at the same time represents Portugal--loses no
+    opportunity of undermining Grecian influence in Morocco, and in
+    this certain of his colleagues have undoubtedly not been far
+    behind him.
+
+    "Nevertheless, whatever causes may have been at work in bringing
+    about this crisis, it is one which cannot be tided over, but which
+    must be fairly faced. Greece has but one course before her."
+
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES
+
+  "Misfortune is misfortune's heir."
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Externally the gaol of Tangier does not differ greatly in appearance
+from an ordinary Moorish house, and even internally it is of the
+plan which prevails throughout the native buildings from fandaks to
+palaces. A door-way in a blank wall, once whitewashed, gives access to
+a kind of lobby, such as might precede the entrance to some grandee's
+house, but instead of being neat and clean, it is filthy and dank, and
+an unwholesome odour pervades the air. On a low bench at the far end
+lie a guard or two in dirty garments, fitting ornaments for such a
+place. By them is the low-barred entrance to the prison, with a hole
+in the centre the size of such a face as often fills it, wan and
+hopeless. A clanking of chains, a confused din of voices, and an
+occasional moan are borne through the opening on the stench-laden
+atmosphere. "All hope abandon, ye who enter here!" could never have
+been written on portal more appropriate than this, unless he who
+entered had friends and money. Here are forgotten good and bad, the
+tried and the untried, just and unjust together, sunk in a night of
+blank despair, a living grave.
+
+Around an open courtyard, protected by an iron grating at the top, is
+a row of dirty columns, and behind them a kind of arcade, on to which
+open a number of doorless chambers. Filth is apparent everywhere, and
+to the stifling odour of that unwashed horde is added that caused by
+insanitary drainage. To some of the pillars are chained poor wretches
+little more than skeletons, while a cable of considerable length
+secures others. It is locked at one end to a staple outside the door
+under which it passes, and is threaded through rings on the iron
+collars of half a dozen prisoners who have been brought in as rebels
+from a distant province. For thirteen days they have tramped thus,
+carrying that chain, holding it up by their hands to save their
+shoulders, and two empty rings still threaded on show that when they
+started they numbered eight. Since the end rings are riveted to the
+chain, it has been impossible to remove them, so when two fell sick by
+the way the drivers cut off their heads to effect the release of their
+bodies, and to prove, by presenting those ghastly trophies at their
+journey's end, that none had escaped.
+
+Many of the prisoners are busy about the floor, where they squat in
+groups, plaiting baskets and satchels of palmetto leaves, while many
+appear too weak and disheartened even to earn a subsistence in this
+way. One poor fellow, who has been a courier, was employed one day
+twenty-five years since to carry a despatch to Court, complaining of
+the misdeeds of a governor. That official himself intercepted the
+letter, and promptly despatched the bearer to Tangier as a Sultan's
+prisoner. He then arrested the writer of the letter, who, on paying
+a heavy fine, regained his liberty, but the courier remained unasked
+for. In course of time the kaďd was called to his account, and his
+son, who succeeded him in office, having died too, a stranger ruled in
+their stead. The forgotten courier had by this time lost his reason,
+fancying himself once more in his goat-hair tent on the southern
+plains, and with unconscious irony he still gives every new arrival
+the Arab greeting, "Welcome to thee, a thousand welcomes! Make thyself
+at home and comfortable. All before thee is thine, and what thou seest
+not, be sure we don't possess."
+
+Some few, in better garments, hold themselves aloof from the others,
+and converse together with all the nonchalance of gossip in the
+streets, for they are well-to-do, arrested on some trivial charge
+which a few dollars apiece will soon dispose of, but they are
+exceptions. A quieter group occupies one corner, members of a party
+of no less than sixty-two brought in together from Fez, on claims
+made against them by a European Power. A sympathetic inquiry soon
+elicits their histories.[19] The first man to speak is hoary and
+bent with years; he was arrested several years ago, on the death of
+a brother who had owed some $50 to a European. The second had
+borrowed $900 in exchange for a bond for twice that amount; he had
+paid off half of this, and having been unable to do more, had been
+arrested eighteen months before. The third had similarly received
+$80 for a promise to pay $160; he had been in prison five years and
+three months. Another had borrowed $100, and knew not the sum which
+stood yet against him. Another had been in prison five years for a
+debt alleged to have been contracted by an uncle long dead. Another
+had borrowed $50 on a bond for $100. Another had languished eighteen
+months in gaol on a claim for $120; the amount originally advanced
+to him was about $30, but the acknowledgment was for $60, which had
+been renewed for $120 on its falling due and being dishonoured.
+Another had borrowed $15 on agreeing to refund $30, which was
+afterwards increased to $60 and then to $105. He has been imprisoned
+three years. The debt of another, originally $16 for a loan of half
+that amount, has since been doubled twice, and now stands at $64,
+less $17 paid on account, while for forty-two measures of wheat
+delivered on account he can get no allowance, though that was three
+years ago, and four months afterwards he was sent to prison. Another
+had paid off the $50 he owed for an advance of $25, but on some
+claim for expenses the creditor had withheld the bond, and is now
+suing for the whole amount again. He has been in prison two years
+and six months. Another has paid twenty measures of barley on
+account of a bond for $100, for which he has received $50, and he
+was imprisoned at the same time as the last speaker, his debt being
+due to the same man. Another had borrowed $90 on the usual terms,
+and has paid the whole in cash or wheat, but cannot get back the
+bond. He has previously been imprisoned for a year, but two years
+after his release he was re-arrested, fourteen months ago. Another
+has been two months in gaol on a claim for $25 for a loan of $12.
+The last one has a bitter tale to tell, if any could be worse than
+the wearisome similarity of those who have preceded him.
+
+  [19: All these statements were taken down from the lips of the
+       victims at the prison door, and most, if not all of them, were
+       supported by documentary evidence.]
+
+"Some years ago," he says, "I and my two brothers, Drees and Ali,
+borrowed $200 from a Jew of Mequinez, for which we gave him a notarial
+bond for $400. We paid him a small sum on account every month, as we
+could get it--a few dollars at a time--besides presents of butter,
+fowls, and eggs. At the end of the first year he threatened to
+imprison us, and made us change the bond for one for $800, and year
+by year he raised the debt this way till it reached $3000, even after
+allowing for what we had paid off. I saw no hope of ever meeting his
+claim, so I ran away, and my brother Drees was imprisoned for six
+years. He died last winter, leaving a wife and three children, the
+youngest, a daughter, being born a few months after her father was
+taken away. He never saw her. By strenuous efforts our family paid off
+the $3000, selling all their land, and borrowing small sums. But the
+Jew would not give up the bond. He died about two years ago, and we do
+not know who is claiming now, but we are told that the sum demanded
+is $560. We have nothing now left to sell, and, being in prison, we
+cannot work. When my brother Drees died, I and my brother Ali were
+seized to take his place. My kaďd was very sorry for me, and became
+surety that I would not escape, so that my irons were removed; but my
+brother remains still in fetters, as poor Drees did all through the
+six years. We have no hope of our friends raising any money, so we
+must wait for death to release us."
+
+Here he covers his face with his hands, and several of his companions,
+in spite of their own dire troubles, have to draw their shrivelled
+arms across their eyes, as silence falls upon the group.
+
+As we turn away heartsick a more horrible sight than any confronts us
+before the lieutenant-governor's court. A man is suspended by the arms
+and legs, face downwards, by a party of police, who grasp his writhing
+limbs. With leather thongs a stalwart policeman on either side is
+striking his bare back in turn. Already blood is flowing freely, but
+the victim does not shriek. He only winces and groans, or gives an
+almost involuntary cry as the cruel blows fall on some previously
+harrowed spot. He is already unable to move his limbs, but the blows
+fall thick and fast. Will they never cease?
+
+By the side stands a young European counting them one by one, and when
+the strikers slow down from exhaustion he orders them to stop, that
+others may relieve them. The victim is by this time swooning, so the
+European directs that he shall be put on the ground and deluged with
+water till he revives. When sufficiently restored the count begins
+again. Presently the European stays them a second time; the man is
+once again insensible, yet he has only received six hundred lashes of
+the thousand which have been ordered.
+
+"Well," he exclaims, "it's no use going on with him to-day. Put him in
+the gaol now, and I'll come and see him have the rest to-morrow."
+
+"God bless thee, but surely he has had enough!" exclaims the
+lieutenant-governor, in sympathetic tones.
+
+"Enough? He deserves double! The consul has only ordered a thousand,
+and I am here to see that he has every one. We'll teach these villains
+to rob our houses!"
+
+"There is neither force nor power save in God, the High, the Mighty!
+As thou sayest; it is written," and the powerless official turns away
+disgusted. "God burn these Nazarenes, their wives and families, and
+all their ancestors! They were never fit for aught but hell!" he may
+be heard muttering as he enters his house, and well may he feel as he
+does.
+
+The policemen carry the victim off to the gaol hard by, depositing him
+on the ground, after once more restoring him with cold water.
+
+"God burn their fathers and their grandfathers, and the whole cursed
+race of them!" they murmur, for their thoughts still run upon the
+consul and the clerk.
+
+Leaving him sorrowfully, they return to the yard, where we still wait
+to obtain some information as to the cause of such treatment.
+
+"Why, that dog of a Nazarene, the Greek consul, says that his house
+was robbed a month ago, though we don't believe him, for it wasn't
+worth it. The sinner says that a thousand dollars were stolen, and he
+has sent in a claim for it to the Sultan. The minister's now at court
+for the money, the Satan! God rid our country of them all!"
+
+"But how does this poor fellow come in for it?"
+
+"He! He never touched the money! Only he had some quarrel with the
+clerk, so they accused him of the theft, as he was the native living
+nearest to the house, just over the fence. He's nothing but a poor
+donkey-man, and an honest one at that. The consul sent his clerk up
+here to say he was the thief, and that he must receive a thousand
+lashes. The governor refused till the man should be tried and
+convicted, but the Greek wouldn't hear of it, and said that if he
+wasn't punished at once he would send a courier to his minister at
+Marrákesh, and have a complaint made to the Sultan. The governor knew
+that if he escaped it would most likely cost him his post to fight the
+consul, so he gave instructions for the order to be carried out, and
+went indoors so as not to be present."
+
+"God is supreme!" ejaculates a bystander.
+
+"But these infidels of Nazarenes know nothing of Him. His curse be on
+them!" answers the policeman. "They made us ride the poor man round
+the town on a bare-backed donkey, with his face to the tail, and all
+the way two of us had to thrash him, crying, 'Thus shall be done to
+the man who robs a consul!' He was ready to faint before we got him up
+here. God knows _we_ don't want to lash him again!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next day as we pass the gaol we stop to inquire after the prisoner,
+but the poor fellow is still too weak to receive the balance due, and
+so it is for several days. Then they tell us that he has been freed
+from them by God, who has summoned his spirit, though meanwhile the
+kindly attentions of a doctor have been secured, and everything
+possible under the circumstances has been done to relieve his
+sufferings. After all, he was "only a Moor!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Greek consul reported that the condition of the Moorish prisons
+was a disgrace to the age, and that he had himself known prisoners who
+had succumbed to their evil state after receiving a few strokes from
+the lash.
+
+A statement of claim for a thousand dollars, alleged to have been
+robbed from his house, was forwarded by courier to his chief, then at
+Court, and was promptly added to the demands that it was part of His
+Excellency's errand to enforce.
+
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+THE PROTECTION SYSTEM
+
+  "My heart burns, but my lips will not give utterance."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+  I. THE NEED
+
+Crouched at the foreigner's feet lay what appeared but a bundle of
+rags, in reality a suppliant Moor, once a man of wealth and position.
+Hugging a pot of butter brought as an offering, clutching convulsively
+at the leg of the chair, his furrowed face bespoke past suffering and
+present earnestness.
+
+"God bless thee, Bashador, and all the Christians, and give me grace
+in thy sight!"
+
+"Oh, indeed, so you like the Christians?"
+
+"Yes, Bashador, I must love the Christians; they have justice, we have
+none. I wish they had rule over the country."
+
+"Then you are not a good Muslim!"
+
+"Oh yes, I am, I am a háj (pilgrim to Mekka), and I love my own
+religion, certainly I do, but none of our officials follow our
+religion nowadays: they have no religion. They forget God and worship
+money; their delight is in plunder and oppression."
+
+"You appear to have known better days. What is your trouble?"
+
+"Trouble enough," replies the Moor, with a sigh. "I am Hamed Zirári.
+I was rich once, and powerful in my tribe, but now I have only this
+sheep and two goats. I and my wife live alone with our children in a
+nuállah (hut), but after all we are happier now when they leave us
+alone, than when we were rich. I have plenty of land left, it is true,
+but we dare not for our lives cultivate more than a small patch around
+our nuállah, lest we should be pounced upon again."
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+A CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD (NUÁLLAS).]
+
+"How did you lose your property?"
+
+"I will tell you, Bashador, and then you will see whether I am
+justified in speaking of our Government as I do. It is a sad story,
+but I will tell you all.[20] A few years ago I possessed more than six
+hundred cows and bullocks, more than twelve hundred sheep, a hundred
+good camels, fifty mules, twenty horses, and twenty-four mares. I had
+also four wives and many slaves. I had plenty of guns and abundance of
+grain in my stores; in fact, I was rich and powerful among my people,
+by whom I was held in great honour; but alas! alas! our new kaďd is
+worse than the old one; he is insatiable, a pit without a bottom!
+There is no possibility of satisfying his greed!
+
+  [20: This story is reproduced from notes taken of the man's
+       narrative by my father.--B. M.]
+
+"I felt that although by continually making him valuable presents
+I succeeded in keeping on friendly terms with him, he was always
+coveting my wealth. We have in our district two markets a week, and at
+last I had to present him with from $50 to $80 every market-day. I
+was nevertheless in constant dread of his eyes--they are such greedy
+eyes--and I saw that it would be necessary to look out for protection.
+I was too loyal a subject of the Sultan then, and too good a Muslim,
+to think of Nazarene protection, so I applied for help to Si Mohammed
+boo Aálam, commander-in-chief of our lord (whom may God send
+victorious), and to enter the Sultan's service.
+
+"We prepared a grand present with which to approach him, and when it
+was ready I started with it, accompanied by two of my cousins. We took
+four splendid horses, four mares with their foals, four she-camels
+with their young, four picked cows, two pairs of our best bullocks,
+four fine young male slaves, each with a silver-mounted gun, and four
+well-dressed female slaves, each carrying a new bucket in her hand,
+many jars containing fresh and salted butter and honey, beside other
+things, and a thousand dollars in cash. It was a fine present, was it
+not, Bashador?
+
+"Well, on arrival at Si Mohammed's place, we slaughtered two bullocks
+at his door, and humbly begged his gracious acceptance of our
+offering, which we told him we regretted was not greater, but that as
+we were his brethren, we trusted to find favour in his sight. We said
+we wished to honour him, and to become his fortunate slaves, whose
+chief delight it would be to do his bidding. We reminded him that
+although he was so rich and powerful he was still our brother, and
+that we desired nothing better than to live in continual friendship
+with him.
+
+"He received and feasted us very kindly, and gave us appointments
+as mounted guards to the marshal of the Sultan, as which we served
+happily for seven months. We were already thinking about sending for
+some of our family to come and relieve us, that we might return home
+ourselves, when one day Si Mohammed sent for us to say that he was
+going away for a time, having received commands from the Sultan to
+visit a distant tribe with the effects of Royal displeasure. After
+mutual compliments and blessings he set off with his soldiers.
+
+"Five days later a party of soldiers came to our house. To our utter
+astonishment and dismay, without a word of explanation, they put
+chains on our necks and wrists, and placing us on mules, bore us away.
+Remonstrance and resistance were equally vain. We were in Mequinez.
+It was already night, and though the gates were shut, and are never
+opened again except in obedience to high authority, they were silently
+opened for us to pass through. Once outside, our eyes were bandaged,
+and we were lashed to our uncomfortable seats. Thus we travelled on as
+rapidly as possible, in silence all night long. It was a long night,
+that, indeed, Bashador, a weary night, but we felt sure some worse
+fate awaited us; what, we could not imagine, for we had committed no
+crime. Finally, after three days we halted, and the bandages were
+removed from our eyes. We found ourselves in a market-place in
+Rahámna, within the jurisdiction of our cursëd kaďd. All around
+us were our flocks and herds, camels, and horses, all our movable
+property, which we soon learnt had been brought there for public sale.
+A great gathering was there to purchase.
+
+"The kaďd was there, and when he saw us he exclaimed, 'There you are,
+are you? You can't escape from me now, you children of dogs!' Then he
+turned to a brutal policeman, crying, 'Put the bastards on the ground,
+and give them a thousand lashes.' Those words ring in my ears still.
+I felt as in a dream. I was too utterly in his power to think of
+answering, and after a very few strokes the power of doing so was
+taken from me, for I lost consciousness. How many blows we received I
+know not, but we must have been very nearly killed. When I revived
+we were in a filthy matmorah, where we existed for seven months in
+misery, being kept alive on a scanty supply of barley loaves and
+water. At last I pretended to have lost my reason, as I should have
+done in truth had I stayed there much longer. When they told the kaďd
+this, he gave permission for me to be let out. I found my wife and
+children still living, thank God, though they had had very hard times.
+What has become of my cousins I do not know, and do not dare to ask,
+but thou couldst, O Bashador, if once I were under thy protection.
+
+"All I know is that, after receiving our present, Si Mohammed sold us
+to the kaďd for twelve hundred dollars. He was a fool, Bashador, a
+great fool; had he demanded of us we would have given him twelve
+hundred dollars to save ourselves what we have had to suffer.
+
+"Wonderest thou still, O Bashador, that I prefer the Nazarenes, and
+wish there were more of them in the country? I respect the dust off
+their shoes more than a whole nation of miscalled Muslims who could
+treat me as I have been treated; but God is just, and 'there is
+neither force nor power save in God,' yes, 'all is written.' He gives
+to men according to their hearts. We had bad hearts, and he gave us a
+Government like them."
+
+
+  II. THE SEARCH
+
+The day was already far spent when at last Abd Allah led his animal
+into one of the caravansarais outside the gate of Mazagan, so, after
+saying his evening prayers and eating his evening meal, he lay down
+to rest on a heap of straw in one of the little rooms of the fandak,
+undisturbed either by anxious dreams, or by the multitude of lively
+creatures about him.
+
+Ere the sun had risen the voice of the muédhdhin awoke him with the
+call to early prayer. Shrill and clear the notes rang out on the calm
+morning air in that perfect silence--
+
+"G-o-d is gr-ea--t! G-o-d is gr-ea--t! G-o-d is grea--t! I witness
+that there is no God but God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God.
+Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Prayer is better than
+sleep! Come to prayer!"
+
+Quickly rising, Abd Allah repaired to the water-tap, and seating
+himself on the stone seat before it, rapidly performed the prescribed
+religious ablutions, this member three times, then the other as
+often, and so on, all in order, right first, left to follow as less
+honourable, finishing up with the pious ejaculation, "God greatest!"
+Thence to the mosque was but a step, and in a few minutes he stood
+barefooted in those dimly-lighted, vaulted aisles, in which the
+glimmering oil lamps and the early streaks of daylight struggled for
+the mastery. His shoes were on the ground before him at the foot of
+the pillar behind which he had placed himself, and his hands were
+raised before his face in the attitude of prayer. Then, at the
+long-drawn cry of the leader, in company with his fellow-worshippers,
+he bowed himself, and again with them rose once more, in a moment to
+kneel down and bow his forehead to the earth in humble adoration.
+
+Having performed the usual series of prayers, he was ready for coffee
+and bread. This he took at the door of the fandak, seated on the
+ground by the coffee-stall, inquiring meanwhile the prospects of
+protection in Mazagan.
+
+There was Tájir[21] Pépé, always ready to appoint a new agent for a
+consideration, but then he bore almost as bad a name for tyrannizing
+over his _protégés_ as did the kaďds themselves. There was Tájir Yűsef
+the Jew, but then he asked such tremendous prices, because he was a
+vice-consul. There was Tájir Juan, but then he was not on good enough
+terms with his consul to protect efficiently those whom he appointed,
+so he could not be thought of either. But there was Tájir Vecchio, a
+new man from Gibraltar, fast friends with his minister, and who must
+therefore be strong, yet a man who did not name too high a figure. To
+him, therefore, Abd Allah determined to apply, and when his store was
+opened presented himself.
+
+  [21: "Merchant," used much as "Mr." is with us.]
+
+Under his cloak he carried three pots of butter in one hand, and as
+many of honey in the other, while a ragged urchin tramped behind with
+half a dozen fowls tied in a bunch by the legs, and a basket of eggs.
+The first thing was to get a word with the head-man at the store; so,
+slipping a few of the eggs into his hands, Abd Allah requested an
+interview with the Tájir, with whom he had come to make friends. This
+being promised, he squatted on his heels by the door, where he was
+left to wait an hour or two, remarking to himself at intervals that
+God was great, till summoned by one of the servants to enter.
+
+The merchant was seated behind his desk, and Abd Allah, having
+deposited his burden on the floor, was making round the table to throw
+himself at his feet, when he was stopped and allowed but to kiss his
+hand.
+
+"Well, what dost thou want?"
+
+"I have come to make friends, O Merchant."
+
+"Who art thou?"
+
+"I am Abd Allah bin Boo Shaďb es-Sálih, O Merchant, of Aďn Haloo in
+Rahámna. I have a family there, and cattle, and very much land. I
+wish to place all in thy hands, and to become thy friend," again
+endeavouring to throw himself at the feet of the European.
+
+"All right, all right, that will do. I will see about it; come to me
+again to-morrow."
+
+"May God bless thee, O Merchant, and fill thee with prosperity, and
+may He prolong thy days in peace!"
+
+As Tájir Vecchio went on with his writing, Abd Allah made off with
+a hopeful heart to spend the next twenty-four anxious hours in the
+fandak, while his offerings were carried away to the private house by
+a servant.
+
+Next morning saw him there again, when much the same scene was
+repeated. This time, however, they got to business.
+
+"How can I befriend you?" asked the European, after yesterday's
+conversation had been practically repeated.
+
+"Thou canst very greatly befriend me by making me thy agent in Aďn
+Haloo. I will work for thee, and bring thee of the produce of my land
+as others do, if I may only enjoy thy protection. May God have mercy
+on thee, O Merchant. I take refuge with thee."
+
+"I can't be always appointing agents and protecting people for
+nothing. What can you give me?"
+
+"Whatever is just, O Merchant, but the Lord knows that I am not rich,
+though He has bestowed sufficient on me to live, praise be to Him."
+
+"Well, I should want two hundred dollars down, and something when the
+certificate is renewed next year, besides which you would of course
+report yourself each quarter, and not come empty-handed. Animals and
+corn I can do best with, but I don't want any of your poultry."
+
+"God bless thee, Merchant, and make thee prosperous, but two hundred
+dollars is a heavy sum for me, and this last harvest has not been so
+plentiful as the one before, as thou knowest. Grant me this protection
+for one hundred and fifty dollars, and I can manage it, but do not
+make it an impossibility."
+
+"I can't go any lower: there are scores of Moors who would give me
+that price. Do as you like. Good morning."
+
+"Thou knowest, O Merchant, I could not give more than I have offered,"
+replied Abd Allah as he rose and left the place.
+
+But as no one else could be found in the town to protect him on better
+terms, he had at last to return, and in exchange for the sum demanded
+received a paper inscribed on one side in Arabic, and on the other in
+English, as follows:--
+
+  "VICE-CONSULATE FOR GREAT BRITAIN,
+  "MAZAGAN, _Oct. 5, 1838_.
+
+    "_This is to certify that Abd Allah bin Boo Shaďb es-Sálih,
+    resident at Aďn Haloo in the province of Rahámna, has been duly
+    appointed agent of Edward Vecchio, a British subject, residing in
+    Mazagan: all authorities will respect him according to existing
+    treaties, not molesting him without proper notice to this
+    Vice-Consulate._[22]
+
+  "_Gratis_  Seal. [Signed] "JOHN SMITH.
+  "_H.B.M.'s Vice-Consul, Mazagan._"
+
+
+  [22: A genuine "patent of protection," as prescribed by treaty,
+       supposed to be granted only to wholesale traders, whereas
+       every beggar can obtain "certificates of partnership." The
+       native in question has then only to appear before the notaries
+       and state that he has in his possession so much grain, or so
+       many oxen or cattle, belonging to a certain European, who takes
+       them as his remuneration for presenting the notarial document at
+       his Legation, and obtaining the desired certificate. Moreover,
+       he receives half the produce of the property thus made over to
+       him. This is popularly known as "farming in Morocco."]
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+JUSTICE FOR THE JEW
+
+  "Sleep on anger, and thou wilt not rise repentant."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+The kaďd sat in his seat of office, or one might rather say reclined,
+for Moorish officials have a habit of lying in two ways at once when
+they are supposed to be doing justice. Strictly speaking, his position
+was a sort of halfway one, his back being raised by a pile of
+cushions, with his right leg drawn up before him, as he leant on his
+left elbow. His judgement seat was a veritable wool-sack, or rather
+mattress, placed across the left end of a long narrow room, some eight
+feet by twenty, with a big door in the centre of one side. The only
+other apertures in the whitewashed but dirty walls were a number of
+ventilating loop-holes, splayed on the inside, ten feet out of the
+twelve above the floor. This was of worn octagonal tiles, in parts
+covered with a yellow rush mat in an advanced state of consumption.
+Notwithstanding the fact that the ceiling was of some dark colour,
+hard to be defined at its present age, the audience-chamber was
+amply lighted from the lofty horse-shoe archway of the entrance, for
+sunshine is reflection in Morocco to a degree unknown in northern
+climes.
+
+On the wall above the head of the kaďd hung a couple of huge and
+antiquated horse-pistols, while on a small round table at his feet,
+some six inches high, lay a collection of cartridges and gunsmith's
+tools. Behind him, on a rack, were half a dozen long flint-lock
+muskets, and on the wall by his feet a number of Moorish daggers and
+swords. In his hand the governor fondled a European revolver, poking
+out and replacing the charges occasionally, just to show that it was
+loaded.
+
+His personal attire, though rich in quality, ill became his gawky
+figure, and there was that about his badly folded turban which bespoke
+the parvenu. Like the muzzle of some wolf, his pock-marked visage
+glowered on a couple of prostrated litigants before him, as they
+fiercely strove to prove each other wrong. Near his feet was squatted
+his private secretary, and at the door stood policemen awaiting
+instructions to imprison one or both of the contending parties. The
+dispute was over the straying of some cattle, a paltry claim for
+damages. The plaintiff having presented the kaďd with a loaf of sugar
+and a pound of candles, was in a fair way to win his case, when a
+suggestive sign on the part of the defendant, comprehended by
+the judge as a promise of a greater bribe, somewhat upset his
+calculations, for he was summarily fined a couple of dollars, and
+ordered to pay another half dollar costs for having allowed the gate
+of his garden to stand open, thereby inviting his neighbour's cattle
+to enter. Without a word he was carried off to gaol pending payment,
+while the defendant settled with the judge and left the court.
+
+Into the midst of this scene came another policeman, gripping by the
+arm a poor Jewish seamstress named Mesaôdah, who had had the temerity
+to use insulting language to her captor when that functionary was
+upbraiding her for not having completed some garment when ordered,
+though he insisted on paying only half-price, declaring that it was
+for the governor. The Jewess had hardly spoken when she lay sprawling
+on the ground from a blow which she dare not, under any provocation,
+return, but her temper had so far gained the mastery over her, that as
+she rose she cursed her tormentor roundly. That was enough; without
+more ado the man had laid his powerful arm upon her, and was dragging
+her to his master's presence, knowing how welcome any such case would
+be, even though it was not one out of which he might hope to make
+money.
+
+Reckless of the governor's well-known character, Mesaôdah at once
+opened her mouth to complain against Mahmood, pitching her voice in
+the terrible key of her kind.
+
+"My Lord, may God bless thee and lengthen...."
+
+A fierce shake from her captor interrupted the sentence, but did not
+keep her quiet, for immediately she continued, in pleading tones, as
+best she could, struggling the while to keep her mouth free from the
+wretch's hand.
+
+"Protect me, I pray thee, from this cruel man; he has struck me: yes,
+my Lord."
+
+"Strike her again if she doesn't stop that noise," cried the kaďd, and
+as the man raised his hand to threaten her she saw there was no hope,
+and her legs giving way beneath her, she sank to the ground in tears.
+
+"For God's sake, yes, my Lord, have mercy on thine handmaid." It was
+pitiful to hear the altered tones, and it needed the heart of a brute
+to reply as did the governor, unmoved, by harshly asking what she had
+been up to.
+
+"She's a thief, my Lord, a liar, like all her people; God burn their
+religion; I gave her a waistcoat to make a week ago, and I purposed it
+for a present to thee, my Lord, but she has made away with the stuff,
+and when I went for it she abused me, and, by thy leave, thee also, my
+Lord; here she is to be punished."
+
+"It's a lie, my Lord; the stuff is in my hut, and the waistcoat's half
+done, but I knew I should never get paid for it, so had to get some
+other work done to keep my children from starving, for I am a widow.
+Have mercy on me!"
+
+"God curse the liar! I have spoken the truth," broke in the policeman.
+
+"Fetch a basket for her!" ordered the kaďd, and in another moment a
+second attendant was assisting Mahmood to force the struggling woman
+to sit in a large and pliable basket of palmetto, the handles of which
+were quickly lashed across her stomach. She was then thrown shrieking
+on her back, her bare legs lifted high, and tied to a short piece of
+pole just in front of the ankles; one man seized each end of this, a
+third awaiting the governor's orders to strike the soles. In his hand
+he had a short-handled lash made of twisted thongs from Tafilált, well
+soaked in water. The efforts of the victim to attack the men on either
+side becoming violent, a delay was caused by having to tie her hands
+together, her loud shrieks rending the air the while.
+
+"Give her a hundred," said the kaďd, beginning to count as the blows
+descended, giving fresh edge to the piercing yells, interspersed with
+piteous cries for mercy, and ribbing the skin in long red lines, which
+were soon lost in one raw mass of bleeding flesh. As the arm of one
+wearied, another took his place, and a bucket of cold water was thrown
+over the victim's legs. At first her face had been ashy pale, it was
+now livid from the blood descending to it, as her legs grew white all
+but the soles, which were already turning purple under the cruel lash.
+Then merciful unconsciousness stepped in, and silence supervened.
+
+"That will do," said the governor, having counted eighty-nine. "Take
+her away; she'll know better next time!" and he proceeded with the
+cases before him, fining this one, imprisoning that, and bastinadoing
+a third, with as little concern as an English registrar would sign an
+order to pay a guinea fine. Indeed, why should he do otherwise. This
+was his regular morning's work. It was a month before Mesaôdah could
+touch the ground with her feet, and more than three before she could
+totter along with two sticks. Her children were kept alive by her
+neighbours till she could sit up and "stitch, stitch, stitch," but
+there was no one to hear her bitter complaint, and no one to dry her
+tears.
+
+One day his faithful henchman dragged before the kaďd a Jewish broker,
+whose crime of having bid against that functionary on the market, when
+purchasing supplies for his master, had to be expiated by a fine of
+twenty dollars, or a hundred lashes. The misguided wretch chose the
+latter, loving his coins too well; but after the first half-dozen had
+descended on his naked soles, he cried for mercy and agreed to pay.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS.]
+
+Another day it was a more wealthy member of the community who was
+summoned on a serious charge. The kaďd produced a letter addressed
+to the prisoner, which he said had been intercepted, couched in the
+woefully corrupted Arabic of the Moorish Jews, but in the cursive
+Hebrew character.
+
+"Canst read, O Moses?" asked the kaďd, in a surly tone.
+
+"Certainly, yes, my Lord, may God protect thee, when the writing is in
+the sacred script."
+
+"Read that aloud, then," handing him the missive.
+
+Moses commenced by rapidly glancing his eye down the page, and as he
+did so his face grew pale, his hand shook, and he muttered something
+in the Hebrew tongue as the kaďd sharply ordered him to proceed.
+
+"My Lord, yes, my Lord; it is false, it is a fraud," he stammered.
+
+"The Devil take thee, thou son of a dog; read what is set before thee,
+and let us have none of thy impudence. The gaol is handy."
+
+With a trembling voice Moses the usurer read the letter, purporting to
+have been written by an intimate friend in Mogador, and implying
+by its contents that Moses had, when in that town some years ago,
+embraced the faith of Islám, from which he was therefore now a
+pervert, and consequently under pain of death. He was already crouched
+upon the ground, as is the custom before a great man, but as he
+spelled out slowly the damnatory words, he had to stretch forth his
+hands to keep from falling over. He knew that there was nothing to be
+gained by denial, by assurances that the letter was a forgery; the
+kaďd's manner indicated plainly enough that _he_ meant to be satisfied
+with it, and there was no appeal.
+
+"Moses," said the kaďd, in a mock confidential tone, as he took back
+the letter, "thou'rt in my power. All that thou hast is mine. With
+such evidence against thee as this thy very head is in my hands. If
+thou art wise, and wilt share thy fortune with me, all shall go well;
+if not, thou knowest what to expect. I am to-day in need of a hundred
+dollars. Now go!"
+
+An hour had not elapsed before, with a heart still heavier than the
+bag he carried, Moses crossed the courtyard again, and deposited the
+sum required in the hands of the kaďd, with fresh assurances of his
+innocence, imploring the destruction of that fatal document, which
+was readily promised, though with no intention of complying with the
+request, notwithstanding that to procure another as that had been
+procured would cost but a trifle.
+
+These are only instances which could be multiplied of how the Jews
+of Morocco suffer at the hands of brutal officials. As metal which
+attracts the electricity from a thunder-cloud, so they invariably
+suffer first when a newly appointed, conscienceless governor comes to
+rule.
+
+With all his faults the previous kaďd had recognized how closely bound
+up with that of the Moors under his jurisdiction was the welfare of
+Jews similarly situated, so that, favoured by his wise administration,
+their numbers and their wealth had increased till, though in outward
+appearance beggarly, they formed an important section of the
+community. The new kaďd, however, saw in them but a possible mine, a
+goose that laid golden eggs, so, like the fool of the story, he set
+about destroying it when the supply of eggs fell off, for there was of
+necessity a limit to the repeated offerings which, on one pretext or
+another, he extorted from these luckless "tributaries," as they are
+described in Moorish legal documents.
+
+When he found that ordinary means of persuasion failed, he had resort
+to more drastic measures. He could not imagine fresh feasts and public
+occasions, auspicious or otherwise, on which to collect "presents"
+from them, so he satisfied himself by bringing specious charges
+against the more wealthy Jews and fining them, as well as by
+encouraging Moors to accuse them in various ways. Many of the payments
+to the governor being in small and mutilated coin, every Friday he
+sent to the Jews what he had received during the week, demanding a
+round sum in Spanish dollars, far more than their fair value.
+Then when he had forced upon them a considerable quantity of this
+depreciated stuff, he would send a crier round notifying the public
+that it was out of circulation and no longer legal tender, moreover
+giving warning that the "Jew's money" was not to be trusted, as it was
+known that they had counterfeit coins in their possession. It was then
+time to offer them half price for it, which they had no option but
+to accept, though some while later he would re-issue it at its full
+value, and having permitted its circulation, would force it upon them
+again.
+
+The repairs which it was found necessary to effect in the kasbah, the
+equipment of troops, the contributions to the expenses of the Sultan's
+expeditions, or the payment of indemnities to foreign nations, were
+constantly recurring pretexts for levying fresh sums from the Jews as
+well as from the Moors, and these were the legal ones. The illegal
+were too harrowing for description. Young children and old men were
+brutally thrashed and then imprisoned till they or their friends paid
+heavy ransoms, and even the women occasionally suffered in this
+way. On Sabbaths and fast days orders would be issued to the Jews,
+irrespective of age or rank, to perform heavy work for the governor,
+perhaps to drag some heavy load or block of stone. Those who could
+buy themselves off were fortunate: those who could not do so were
+harnessed and driven like cattle under the lashes of yard-long whips,
+being compelled when their work was done to pay their taskmasters.
+Indeed, it was Egypt over again, but there was no Moses. Men or women
+found with shoes on were bastinadoed and heavily fined, and on more
+than one occasion the sons of the best-off Israelites were arrested in
+school on the charge of having used disrespectful language regarding
+the Sultan, and thrown into prison chained head and feet, in such a
+manner that it was impossible to stretch their bodies. Thus they were
+left for days without food, all but dead, in spite of the desire of
+their relatives to support them, till ransoms of two hundred dollars
+apiece could be raised to obtain their release, in some cases three
+months after their incarceration.
+
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO
+
+  "Wound of speech is worse than wound of sword."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Spies were already afield when the sun rose this morning, and while
+their return with the required information was eagerly expected, those
+of Asni who would be warriors took a hasty breakfast and looked to
+their horses and guns.
+
+Directly intelligence as to the whereabouts of the Aďt Mîzán arrived,
+the cavalcade set forth, perforce in Indian file, on account of the
+narrow single track, but wherever it was possible those behind pressed
+forward and passed their comrades in their eagerness to reach the
+scene of action. No idea of order or military display crossed their
+minds, and but for the skirmishers who scoured the country round as
+they advanced, it would have been easy for a concealed foe to have
+picked them off one by one. Nevertheless they made a gallant show in
+the morning sun, which glinted on their ornamented stirrups and their
+flint-locks, held like lances, with the butts upon the pummels before
+them. The varied colours of their trappings, though old and worn,
+looked gay by the side of the red cloth-covered saddles and the
+gun-cases of similar material used by many as turbans. But for the
+serious expression on the faces of the majority, and the eager
+scanning of each knoll and shrub, the party might have been intent on
+powder-play instead of powder-business.
+
+For a mile or two no sign of human being was seen, and the ride was
+already growing wearisome when a sudden report on their right was
+followed by the heavy fall of one of their number, his well-trained
+horse standing still for him to re-mount, though he would never more
+do so. Nothing but a puff of smoke showed whence the shot had come,
+some way up the face of a hill. The first impulse was to make a charge
+in that direction, and to fire a volley; but the experience of the
+leader reminded him that if there were only one man there it would not
+be worth while, and if there were more they might fall into an ambush.
+So their file passed on while the scouts rode towards the hill slope.
+A few moments later one of these had his horse shot under him, and
+then a volley was fired which took little effect on the advancing
+horsemen, still too far away for successful aim.
+
+They had been carefully skirting a wooded patch which might give
+shelter to their foes, whom they soon discovered to be lying in
+trenches behind the first hill-crests. Unless they were dislodged,
+it would be almost impossible to proceed, so, making a rapid flank
+movement, the Asni party spurred their horses and galloped round to
+gain the hills above the hidden enemy. As they did so random shots
+were discharged, and when they approached the level of the trenches,
+they commenced a series of rushes forward, till they came within
+range. In doing so they followed zig-zag routes to baffle aim, firing
+directly they made out the whereabouts of their assailants, and
+beating a hasty retreat. What success they were achieving they could
+not tell, but their own losses were not heavy.
+
+Soon, as their firing increased, that from the trenches which they
+were gradually approaching grew less, and fresh shots from behind
+awoke them to the fact that the enemy was making a rear attack. By
+this time they were in great disorder, scattered over a wide area; the
+majority had gained the slight cover of the brushwood to their rear,
+and a wide space separated them from the new arrivals, who were
+performing towards them the same wild rushes that they themselves had
+made towards the trenches. They were therefore divided roughly into
+two divisions, the footmen in the shelter of the shrubs, the horsemen
+engaging the mounted enemy.
+
+Among the brushwood hardly was the figure of friend or foe
+discernible, for all lay down behind any available shelter, crawling
+from point to point like so many caterpillars, but firing quickly
+enough when an enemy was sighted. This style of warfare has its
+advantages, for it greatly diminishes losses on either side. For the
+horsemen, deprived of such shelter, safety lay in rapid movements and
+unexpected evolutions, each man acting for himself, and keeping as far
+away from his comrades as possible. So easily were captures made that
+it almost seemed as if many preferred surrender and safety to the
+chances of war, for they knew that they were sure of honourable
+treatment on both sides. The prisoners were not even bound, but
+merely disarmed and marched to the rear, to be conveyed at night in a
+peaceful manner to their captors' tents and huts, there to be treated
+as guests till peace should result in exchange.
+
+By this time the combatants were scattered over a square mile or so,
+and though the horsemen of Asni had driven the Aďt Mîzán from the
+foremost trenches by the bold rushes described, and their footmen had
+engaged them, no further advantage seemed likely to accrue, while they
+were terribly harassed by those who still remained under cover. The
+signal was therefore given for a preconcerted retreat, which at once
+began. Loud shouts of an expected victory now arose from the Aďt
+Mîzán, who were gradually drawn from their hiding-places by their
+desire to secure nearer shots at the men of Asni as they slowly
+descended the hill.
+
+At length the Aďt Mîzán began to draw somewhat to one side, as they
+discovered that they were being led too far into the open, but this
+movement was outwitted by the Asni horsemen, who were now pouring down
+on the scene. The wildest confusion supervened; many fell on every
+hand. Victory was now assured to Asni, which the enemy were quick to
+recognize, and as the sun was by this time at blazing noon, and energy
+grew slack on both sides, none was loth to call a conference. This
+resulted in an agreement by the vanquished to return the stolen cattle
+which had formed the _casus belli_, for indeed they were no longer
+able to protect them from their real owners. As many more were
+forfeited by way of damages, and messages were despatched to the women
+left in charge to hand them over to a party of the victors. Prisoners
+were meantime exchanged, while through the medium of the local "holy
+man" a peace was formally ratified, after which each party returned to
+its dead, who were quickly consigned to their shallow graves.
+
+Such of the Asni men as were not mourners, now assembled in the open
+space of their village to be feasted by their women as victors.
+Basins, some two feet across, were placed on the ground filled with
+steaming kesk'soo. Round each of these portions sat cross-legged some
+eight or ten of the men, and a metal bowl of water was handed from one
+to the other to rinse the fingers of the right hand. They sat upon
+rude blankets spread on mats, the scene lit by Roman-like olive-oil
+lamps, and a few French candles round the board of the sheďkh and
+allied leaders.
+
+A striking picture, indeed, they presented, there in the still night
+air, thousands of heaven-lights gleaming from the dark blue vault
+above, outrivalling the flicker of those simple earth-flames on their
+lined and sun-burnt faces. The women who waited on them, all of middle
+age, alone remained erect, as they glided about on their bare feet,
+carrying bowl and towel from man to man. From the huts and the tents
+around came many strange sounds of bird, beast, and baby, for the
+cocks were already crowing, as it was growing late,[23] while the
+dogs bayed at the shadow of the cactus and the weird shriek of the
+night-bird.
+
+  [23: A way they have in Barbary.]
+
+"B'ism Illah!" exclaimed the host at each basin ("In the Name of
+God!")--as he would ask a blessing--when he finished breaking bread
+for his circle, and plunged his first sop in the gravy. "B'ism Illah!"
+they all replied, and followed suit in a startlingly sudden silence
+wherein naught but the stowing away of food could be heard, till one
+of them burnt his fingers by an injudiciously deep dive into the
+centre after a toothsome morsel.
+
+In the midst of a sea of broth rose mountains of steamed and buttered
+kesk'soo, in the craters of which had been placed the contents of the
+stew-pot, the disjointed bones of chickens with onions and abundant
+broad beans. The gravy was eaten daintily with sops of bread, conveyed
+to the mouth in a masterly manner without spilling a drop, while the
+kesk'soo was moulded in the palm of the right hand into convenient
+sized balls and shot into the mouth by the thumb. The meat was divided
+with the thumb and fingers of the right hand alone, since the left may
+touch no food.
+
+At last one by one sat back, his greasy hand outstretched, and after
+taking a sip of cold water from the common jug with his left, and
+licking his right to prevent the waste of one precious grain, each
+washed his hands, rinsed his mouth thrice, polished his teeth with his
+right forefinger, and felt ready to begin again, all agreeing that "he
+who is not first at the powder, should not be last at the dish."
+
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+THE POLITICAL SITUATION
+
+  "A guess of the informed is better than the assurance of the ignorant."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Ever since the accession of the present Sultan, Mulai Abd el Azîz IV.,
+on his attaining the age of twenty in 1900, Morocco has been more than
+ever the focus of foreign designs, both public and private, which have
+brought about a much more disturbed condition than under his
+father, or even under the subsequent Wazeer Regent. The manifest
+friendlessness of the youth, his lack of training for so important a
+part, and the venality of his entourage, at once attracted birds of
+prey, and they have worked their will.
+
+Since the death of El Hasan III., in 1894, the administration had been
+controlled by the former Lord High Chamberlain, or "Curtain" of the
+shareefian throne, whose rule was severe, though good, and it seemed
+doubtful whether he would relinquish the reins of authority. The other
+wazeers whom his former master had left in office had been imprisoned
+on various charges, and he stood supreme. He was, however, old and
+enfeebled by illness, so when in 1900 his end came instead of his
+resignation, few were surprised. What they were not quite prepared
+for, however, was the clearing of the board within a week or two by
+the death of his two brothers and a cousin, whom he had promoted to
+be respectively Commander-in-chief, Chamberlain, and Master of the
+Ceremonies--all of them, it was declared, by influenza. Another
+brother had died but a short while before, and the commissioner sent
+to Tangier to arrange matters with the French was found dead in his
+room--from asphyxia caused by burning charcoal. Thus was the Cabinet
+dissolved, and the only remaining member resigned. There then rose
+suddenly to power a hitherto unheard of Arab of the South, El Menébhi,
+who essayed too much in acting as Ambassador to London while still
+Minister of War, and returned to find his position undermined; he has
+since emigrated to Egypt. It was freely asserted that the depletion
+of the Moorish exchequer was due to his peculation, resulting in his
+shipping a large fortune to England in specie, with the assistance
+of British officials who were supposed to have received a handsome
+"consideration" in addition to an enormous price paid for British
+protection. Thus, amid a typically Moorish cloud, he left the scene.
+From that time the Court has been the centre of kaleidoscopic
+intrigues, which have seriously hampered administration, but which
+were not in themselves sufficient to disturb the country.
+
+What was of infinitely greater moment was the eagerness with which the
+young ruler, urged by his Circassian mother, sought advice and counsel
+from Europe, and endeavoured to act up to it. One disinterested and
+trusted friend at that juncture would have meant the regeneration of
+the Empire, provided that interference from outside were stayed. But
+this was not to be. The few impartial individuals who had access to
+the Sultan were outnumbered by the horde of politicians, diplomats,
+adventurers, and schemers who surrounded him, the latter at least
+freely bribing wazeers to obtain their ends. In spite of an
+unquestionable desire to do what was best for his country, and to act
+upon the good among the proffered advice, wild extravagance resulted
+both in action and expenditure.
+
+Thus Mulai Abd el Azîz became the laughing-stock of Europe, and the
+butt of his people's scorn. His heart was with the foreigners--with
+dancing women and photographers,--he had been seen in trousers, even
+on a bicycle! What might he not do next? A man so implicated with
+unbelievers could hardly be a faithful Muslim, said the discontented.
+No more efficacious text could have been found to rouse fanaticism
+and create dissatisfaction throughout his dominions. Black looks
+accompanied the mention of his name, and it was whispered that the
+Leader of the Faithful was selling himself and his Empire, if not to
+the Devil, at least to the Nazarenes, which was just as bad. Any other
+country would have been ripe for rebellion, as Europe supposed that
+Morocco was, but scattered and conflicting interests defeated all
+attempts to induce a general rising.
+
+One of the wisest measures of the new reign was the attempt to
+reorganize finances in accordance with English advice, by the
+systematic levy of taxes hitherto imposed in the arbitrary fashion
+described in Chapter II. This was hailed with delight, and had it
+been maintained by a strong Government, would have worked wonders
+in restoring prosperity. But foreign _protégés_ refused to pay, and
+objections of all sorts were raised, till at last the "terteeb," as it
+was called, became impossible of collection without recourse to arms.
+Fearing this, the money in hand to pay the tax was expended on guns
+and cartridges, which the increasing demand led foreigners to smuggle
+in by the thousand.
+
+It is estimated that some millions of fire-arms--a large proportion of
+them repeating rifles with a large supply of ammunition--are now in
+the hands of the people, while the Government has never been worse
+supplied than at present. Ship-load after ship-load has been landed on
+the coast in defiance of all authority, and large consignments have
+been introduced over the Algerian frontier, the state of which has
+in consequence become more than ever unsettled. In short, the benign
+intentions of Mulai Abd el Azîz have been interpreted as weakness, and
+once again the Nazarenes are accused--to quote a recent remark of an
+Atlas scribe--of having "spoiled the Sultan," and of being about to
+"spoil the country."
+
+Active among the promoters of dissatisfaction have been throughout the
+Idreesi Shareefs, representatives of the original Muslim dynasty in
+Morocco; venerated for their ancestry and adherence to all that is
+retrogressive or bigoted, and on principle opposed to the reigning
+dynasty. These leaders of discontent find able allies in the Algerians
+in Morocco, some of whom settled there years ago because sharing their
+feelings and determined not to submit to the French; but of whom
+others, while expressing equal devotion to the old order, can from
+personal experience recommend the advantages of French administration,
+to which even their exiled brethren or their descendants no longer
+feel equal objection.
+
+The summary punishment inflicted a few years ago on the murderer of
+an Englishman in the streets of Fez was, like everything else,
+persistently misinterpreted through the country. In the distant
+provinces the story--as reported by natives therefrom--ran that the
+Nazarene had been shot by a saint while attempting to enter and
+desecrate the sacred shrine of Mulai Idrees, and that by executing him
+the Sultan showed himself an Unbeliever. When British engineers were
+employed to survey the route for a railway between Fez and Mequinez
+this was reported as indicating an absolute sale of the country, and
+the people were again stirred up, though not to actual strife.
+
+Only in the semi-independent district of the Ghaďáta Berbers between
+Fez and Táza, which had never been entirely subjugated, did a flame
+break out. A successful writer of amulets, hitherto unknown, one
+Jelálli Zarhôni, who had acquired a great local reputation, began to
+denounce the Sultan's behaviour with religious fervour. Calling on the
+neighbouring tribesmen to refuse allegiance to so unworthy a monarch,
+he ultimately raised the standard of revolt in the name of the
+Sultan's imprisoned elder brother, M'hammed. Finally, the rumour
+ran that this prince had escaped and joined Jelálli, who, from his
+habitual prophet's mount, is better known throughout the country
+as Boo Hamára--"Father of the She-ass." According to the official
+statement, Jelálli Zarhôni was originally a policeman (makházni),
+whose bitterness and subsequent sedition arose from ill-treatment then
+received. Although exalted in newspaper reports to the dignity of a
+"pretender," in Morocco he is best known as the "Rogi" or "Common
+One."
+
+Fez clamoured to see M'hammed, that the story might be disproved, and
+after much delay, during which he was supposed to be conveyed from
+Mequinez, a veiled and guarded rider arrived, preceded by criers who
+proclaimed him to be the Sultan's brother. But as no one could be sure
+if this were the case or not, each party believed what it wished, and
+Jelálli's hands were strengthened. Boldly announcing the presence
+with him of Mulai M'hammed, in his name he sought and obtained the
+allegiance of tribe after tribe. Although the Sultan effected a
+reconciliation with his presumed brother--whose movements, however,
+still remain restricted--serious men believe him to be in the rebel
+camp, and few know the truth.
+
+At first success attended the rebellion, but it never spread
+beyond the unsettled eastern provinces, and after three years it
+ineffectually smoulders on, the leader cooped up by the Sultan's
+forces near the coast, though the Sultan is not strong enough to stamp
+it out.
+
+By those whose knowledge of the country is limited to newspaper news a
+much more serious state of affairs is supposed to exist, a "pretender"
+collecting his forces for a final coup, etc. Something of truth there
+may be in this, but the situation is grossly exaggerated. The local
+rising of a few tribes in eastern Morocco never affected the rest of
+the Empire, save by that feeling of unrest which, in the absence of
+complete information, jumps at all tales. Even the so-called "rout"
+of an "imperial army" three years ago was only a stampede without
+fighting, brought about by a clever ruse, and there has never been
+a serious conflict throughout the affair, though the "Rogi" is well
+supplied with arms from Algeria, and his "forces" are led by a
+Frenchman, M. Delbrel. Meanwhile comparative order reigns in the
+disaffected district, though in the north, usually the most peaceful
+portion of the Empire, all is disturbed.
+
+There a leader has arisen, Raďsűli by name, who obtained redress for
+the wrongs of tribes south of Tangier, and his own appointment as
+their kaďd, by the astute device of carrying off as hostages an
+American and an Englishman, so that the pressure certain to be brought
+to bear by their Governments would compel the Sultan to grant his
+demands. All turned out as he had hoped, and the condign punishment
+which he deserves is yet far off, though a local struggle continues
+between him and a small imperial force, complicated by feuds between
+his sometime supporters, who, however, fight half-heartedly, for fear
+of killing relatives pressed into service on the other side. Those
+who once looked to Raďsűli as a champion have found his little finger
+thicker than the Sultan's loins, and the country round Tangier is
+ruined by taxation, so that every one is discontented, and the
+district is unsafe, a species of civil war raging.
+
+The full name of this redoubtable leader is Mulai Ahmad bin Mohammed
+bin Abd Allah er-Raďsűli, and he is a shareef of Beni Arôs, connected
+therefore with the Wazzán shareefs; but his prestige as such is low,
+both on account of his past career, and because of his acceptance of a
+civil post. His mother belonged to Anjera, near Tangier, where he was
+born about thirty-six years ago at the village of Zeenát, being well
+educated, as education goes in Morocco, with the Beni M'sawah. But
+falling into bad company, he first took to cattle-lifting, afterwards
+turning highwayman, as which he was eventually caught by the Abd
+es-Sadok family--various members of which were kaďds from Ceuta to
+Azîla--and consigned to prison in Mogador. After three or four years
+his release was obtained by Háj Torres, the Foreign Commissioner in
+Tangier, but when he found that the Abd es-Sadoks had sequestrated
+his property, he vowed not to cut his hair till he had secured their
+disgrace. Hence, with locks that many a woman might envy, he has
+plotted and harassed till his present position has been achieved. But
+as this is only a means to an end, who can tell what that may be?
+
+Raďsűli is allowed on all hands to be a peculiarly able and well-bred
+man, full of resource and determination. Though his foes have
+succeeded in kidnapping even his mother, it will certainly be a
+miracle if he is taken alive. Should all fail him, he is prepared to
+blow his brains out, or make use of a small phial of poison always to
+hand. It is interesting to remember that just such a character, Abd
+Allah Ghaďlán, held a similar position in this district when Tangier
+was occupied by the English, who knew him as "Guyland," and paid him
+tribute. The more recent imitation of Raďsűli's tactics by a native
+free-booter of the Ceuta frontier, in arresting two English officers
+as hostages wherewith to secure the release of his brother and others
+from prison, has proved equally successful, but as matters stand at
+present, it is more than doubtful whether the Moorish Government is in
+a position to bring either of these offenders to book, and the outlook
+in the north is decidedly stormy. It is, indeed, quite in accordance
+with the traditions of Moorish history, throughout which these periods
+of local disorganization have been of constant recurrence without
+danger to the State.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._ THE KAĎD.
+
+A MOORISH KAĎD AND ATTENDANTS.]
+
+In the south things are quiet, though a spirit of unrest pervades the
+people, especially since it has been seen that the Sultan no longer
+either collects the regular taxes or maintains the regular army. There
+the immediate result of the failure to collect the taxes for a year or
+two was that the people had more to spend on cattle and other stock,
+which rapidly rose in price, no one needing to sell unless he wished.
+Within the last two years, however, the kaďds have recommenced their
+oppressive treatment, under the pretext of a levy to put down the
+rising in the eastern provinces. Men and money were several times
+furnished, but though now more difficult to raise, the demands
+continue. The wonder is that the people remain so quiet, but they are
+of a more peaceable nature than the Berbers of the north.
+
+Three of the Sultan's brothers have been for some time camped in as
+many centres, engaged in collecting funds, but tribe after tribe has
+refused to pay, declaring that they have been exempted by their lord,
+and until he returns they will submit to no kaďd and pay no dues. It
+is only in certain districts that some of the funds demanded have
+been forthcoming, and the kaďds have full authority, but these are
+officials of long standing and great repute, whose jurisdiction has
+been much extended in consequence. Changes among the less important
+kaďds have been continual of late. One man would buy the office and
+struggle to establish himself, only to find a new man installed over
+his head before he was settled, which has frequently led to local
+disorders, fighting and plundering. In this way the Government has
+quite lost prestige, and a strong hand is awaited.
+
+The Moors would have preferred another Ismáďl the Bloodthirsty, who
+could compel his will, and awe all other rascals in his dominions, to
+the mild and well-intentioned youth now at the helm. Some would even
+welcome any change that would put an end to present insecurity, but
+only the French _protégés_ desire to see that change effected by
+France, and only those under the German flag already would hail that
+with joy. The Jews alone would welcome any, as they have good cause to
+do.
+
+Such was already the condition of things when the long-threatening
+clouds burst, and the Anglo-French Agreement was published in April,
+1904. Rumours of negotiations for the sale of British interests in
+Morocco to France had for some time filled the air, but in face of
+official denials, and the great esteem in which England was held by
+the Moors, few gave credence to them. Mulai Abd el Azîz had relied
+especially on Great Britain, and had confidently looked to it for
+protection against the French; the announcement of the bargain between
+them broke him down.
+
+It may have been inevitable; and since an agreement among all the
+Powers concerned was so remote a possibility, an understanding between
+the three most interested may have been the wisest course, in view of
+pending internal troubles which would certainly afford excuses for
+interference. It was undoubtedly good policy on their part to decide
+who should inherit the vineyard, and on what terms, that conflict
+between them might be avoided. But on the unconsulted victim it came a
+cruel blow, unexpected and indefensible. It is important not to forget
+this.
+
+But the one absorbing thought of all for nearly a year past has
+been the drought and consequent famine. Between November, 1904, and
+October, 1905, there was practically no rainfall over a large portion
+of the country, and agriculture being interfered with, grain rose to
+five times its normal price. Although relief has now come, it will be
+months before the cattle are in proper condition again, and not till
+after next year's harvest in May and June, should it prove a good one,
+will contentment be restored. Under such conditions, though more ready
+than ever to grumble, the people have had no heart to fight, which
+has, to some degree, assisted in keeping them quiet. The famine has,
+however, tried them sore, and only increased their exasperation.
+
+Added to this, the general feeling of dissatisfaction regarding the
+Sultan's foreign predilections, and the slumbering fanaticism of the
+"learned" class, there is now a chronic lack of funds. The money which
+should have been raised by taxation has been borrowed abroad and
+ruthlessly scattered. Fortunes have been made by foreigners and
+natives alike, but the Sultan is all but bankrupt. Yet never was his
+entourage so rich, though many who to-day hold houses and lands were a
+few years ago penniless.
+
+As for the future, for many years the only answer possible to
+tediously frequent inquiries as to what was going to happen in Morocco
+has been that the future of the Shareefian Empire depended entirely
+on what might happen in Europe, not to any degree on its own internal
+condition. The only way in which this could affect the issue was by
+affording an excuse for outside interference, as in the present case.
+
+Corrupt as the native administration may be, it is but the expression
+of a corrupt population, and no native government, even in Europe, is
+ever far in advance of those over whom it rules. In spite, too, of the
+pressure of injustice on the individual here and there, the victim of
+to-day becomes the oppressor of to-morrow, and such opportunities
+are not to be surrendered without a protest. The vast majority is,
+therefore, always in favour of present conditions, and would rather
+the chances of internecine strife than an exotic peace. No foreign
+ruler, however benign, would be welcome, and no "penetration," however
+"pacific," but will be endured and resented as a hostile wound. Even
+the announcement of the Anglo-French Agreement was sufficient to
+gravely accentuate the disorders of the country, and threaten
+immediate complications with Europe, by provoking attacks on Europeans
+who had hitherto been safe from interference save under exceptional
+circumstances. A good deal of the present unrest is attributable to
+this cause alone.
+
+It is, therefore, a matter of deep regret that the one possible
+remedy--joint action of the Powers in policing the Moors, as it were,
+by demanding essential reforms in return for a united guarantee of
+territorial integrity--was rendered impossible by the rivalries
+between those Powers, especially on the part of France. Great
+Britain's step aside has made possible the only alternative, the
+surrender of the coveted task to one of their number, in return for
+such _quid pro quo_ as each could obtain. Had the second-class
+Powers been bargained with first, not only would they have secured
+substantial terms, which now it is no use their asking, but the
+leading Powers could have held out for terms yet undreamed of.
+
+France did well to begin with Great Britain, but it was an egregious
+diplomatic error to overlook Germany, which was thereby promoted to
+the hitherto unhoped-for position of "next friend" and trusted adviser
+of Morocco. Up to that point Germany had played a waiting game so
+patiently that France fell into the trap, and gave her all she wanted.
+It is inconceivable how the astute politicians of the Quai d'Orsay
+committed such a blunder, save on the assumption that they were so
+carried away by the ease with which they had settled with Great
+Britain, that they forgot all other precautions--unless it was that
+they feared to jeopardize the conclusion of the main bargain by delay
+in discussing any subsidiary point.
+
+When the Agreement was made known, the writer pointed out in the
+_Westminster Review_, that, "Portugal, Italy and Austria have but to
+acquiesce and rest assured of the 'most favoured nation' treatment, as
+will all the other Powers save one. That one, of course, is Germany,
+_whose sole interest in Morocco is the possibility of placing a
+drag on France_. She will have to be dealt with. Having disposed of
+England, which had real interests at stake, in the command of the
+straits and the maintenance of Gibraltar, France should be able to
+accomplish this as well. Five and twenty years ago Germany had not
+even a commercial interest in Morocco. Great Britain did three-fourths
+of the trade, or more, France about a tenth, Spain and others dividing
+the crumbs between them. But an active commercial policy--by the
+encouragement and support of young firms in a way that made Britishers
+envious, and abusive of their own Foreign Office--has secured for
+Germany a growing share of the trade, till now she stands next to
+Great Britain, whose share is reduced to one-half."[24]
+
+  [24: It is curious, indeed, how little the German Empire or its
+       component States figure in the history of diplomatic relations
+       with Morocco. One has to go back to the time of Rudolf II., in
+       1604, to find an active policy in force with regard to Moroccan
+       affairs, when that remarkable adventurer or international
+       diplomatist, Sir Anthony Sherley, was accredited to Abd el Azîz
+       III., the last of the Moorish rulers to bear the same name as
+       the present one. This intrepid soldier, a man after the Kaiser's
+       own heart, had been accredited to Germany by the great Shah of
+       Persia, Abbás, whose confidence he had won to a marvellous
+       degree, and he appears to have made as great an impression on
+       Rudolf, who sent him as his envoy to Morocco. Arrived there,
+       he astonished the natives by coolly riding into the court of
+       audience--a privilege still reserved to the Sultan alone. But
+       the Ameer, as he was called in those days, was too politic or
+       too polite to raise the question, only taking care that the
+       next time the "dog of a Christian" should find a chain stretched
+       across the gateway. This Sir Anthony could not brook, so rode
+       back threatening to break off negotiations, and it affords a
+       striking lesson as to the right way of dealing with orientals,
+       that even in those days the Moors should have yielded and
+       imprisoned the porter, permitting Sir Anthony's entrance on
+       horseback thereafter. The treaty he came to negotiate was
+       concluded, and relations with the Germans were established on
+       a right footing, but they have been little in evidence till
+       recent years.]
+
+After all, the interests of Germany in Morocco were but a trifling
+consideration, meaning much less to her than ours do to us, and it was
+evident that whatever position she might assume, however she might
+bluster, she, too, had her price. This not being perceived by the
+ill-informed Press of this country, the prey of political journalists
+in Paris, Cologne and Madrid--more recently even of Washington,
+whence the delusive reports are now re-echoed with alarming
+reverberations--there was heated talk of war, and everything that
+newspapers could do to bring it about was done. Even a private visit
+of the Kaiser to Tangier, the only important feature of which was the
+stir made about it, was utilized to fan the flame. However theatrical
+some of the political actions of Wilhelm II. may have been, here was
+a case in which, directly he perceived the capital being made of
+his visit, he curtailed it to express his disapprobation. It was in
+Tangier Bay that he received the newspaper cuttings on the subject,
+and although the visit was to have extended in any case but to a few
+hours, he at once decided not to land. It was only when it was urged
+upon him what disappointment this would cause to its thirty thousand
+inhabitants and visitors for the occasion, that he consented to pay
+one short visit to his Legation, abandoning the more important part
+of the programme, which included a climb to the citadel and an
+interchange of visits with a kinsman of the Sultan. Nothing more
+could have been done to emphasize the private nature of the visit,
+in reality of no greater moment than that of King Edward to Algeria
+almost at the same time.
+
+Neither such a personal visit, nor any other action should have been
+required to remind Great Britain and France that they and Spain
+alone were affected by their agreements, and that not even official
+notification to Morocco or the other Powers could restrict their
+perfect liberty of action. When, therefore, the distracted Sultan
+turned to Germany as the most influential Power still faithful to its
+undertakings, the response of Germany was perfectly correct, as was
+his own action. But Germany, although prepared to meet him with a
+smile, and not averse to receiving crumbs in the form of concessions,
+had no more intention of embroiling herself on his behalf than Great
+Britain. Extraordinary rumours, however, pervaded the country, and
+the idea of German intervention was hailed with delight; now general
+disappointment is felt, and Germany is classed with England among the
+traitors.
+
+Mulai Abd el Azîz had but one resource, to propose another conference
+of the Powers, assured that France and Germany would never come to an
+understanding, and that this would at least ward off the fatal day
+indefinitely. Yet now that France and Germany have agreed, it is
+probable that this step is regretted, and that, since the two have
+acted in concert, the Moorish Court has been at its wits' ends; it
+would now regard as a God-send anything which might prevent the
+conference from being held, lest it should strengthen the accord among
+its enemies, and weaken its own position.
+
+The diplomatic negotiations between Fez, Berlin, and Paris have been
+of a character normal under the circumstances; and as the bickerings
+and insinuations which accompanied them were foreign to Morocco, the
+Sultan's invitation only serving as an opportunity for arriving at an
+understanding, they need not be dwelt on here. It is the French Press
+which has stirred up the commotion, and has misled the British Public
+into the belief that there has been some "Morocco Tangle." The facts
+are simply these: since 1880, the date of the Madrid Convention
+regarding the vexed question of foreign rights of protecting natives
+and holding property in Morocco, all nations concerned have been
+placed on an equal footing in their dealings with that country. The
+"most favoured nation" clause has secured for all the advantages
+gained by any in its special treaties. Nothing has since occurred
+to destroy this situation. In asking his "friends" to meet again in
+conference now, the Sultan acted wisely and within his rights. The
+fact that any two or three of them may have agreed to give one of
+their number a "free hand," should it suit her purposes to upset the
+_status quo_, does not theoretically affect the position, though it
+has suggested the advisability of further discussion. It is only in
+virtue of their combined might that the Powers in question are enabled
+to assume the position they do.
+
+Spain, the only power with interests in Morocco other than commercial,
+had been settled with by a subsequent agreement in October, 1904,
+for she had been consulted in time. Special clauses dealing with her
+claims to consideration had even been inserted in the Anglo-French
+Agreement--
+
+    Art. VII. "This arrangement does not apply to the points now
+    occupied by Spain on the Moorish shore of the Mediterranean.
+
+    Art. VIII. "The two Governments, animated by their sincerely
+    friendly sentiments for Spain, take into particular consideration
+    the interests she possesses, owing to her geographical position
+    and to her territorial possessions on the Moorish shore of the
+    Mediterranean, in regard to which the French Government will make
+    some arrangement with the Spanish Government ... (which) will be
+    communicated to the Government of His Britannic Majesty."
+
+These Articles apply to Ceuta, which Spain withheld from the
+Portuguese after the brief union of the crowns in the sixteenth
+century; to Veléz, an absolutely worthless rock, captured in 1564 by
+Garcia de Toledo with fifteen thousand men, the abandonment of which
+has more than once been seriously urged in Spain; to Alhucemas, a
+small island occupied in 1673; to Melilla, a huge rock peninsula
+captured, on his own account, by Medina Sidonia in 1497; and to the
+Zaffarine (or Saffron) Islands, only one of which is used, in the
+seizure of which the French were cleverly forestalled in 1848. All are
+convict stations; unless heavily fortified in a manner that at present
+they are not, they would not be of sufficient value to tempt even a
+foe of Spain. Ceuta and Melilla alone are worthy of consideration, and
+the former is the only one it might ever pay to fortify.
+
+So far have matters gone. The conference asked for by Morocco--the
+flesh thrown to the wolves--is to form the next Act. To this
+conference the unfortunate Sultan would like to appeal for protection
+against the now "free hand" of France, but in consenting to discuss
+matters at all, she and her ally have, of course, stipulated that what
+has been done without reference to treaty shall not be treated of, if
+they are to take part, and as an act of courtesy to us, the United
+States has followed suit. Other matters of importance which Mulai Abd
+el Azîz desired to discuss have also been ruled out beforehand, so
+that only minor questions are to be dealt with, hardly worth the
+trouble of meeting.
+
+Foremost among these is the replenishing of the Moorish exchequer by
+further loans, which might more easily have been arranged without a
+conference. Indeed, there are so many money-lenders anxious to finance
+Morocco on satisfactory terms, that the competition among them has
+almost degenerated into a scramble. But all want some direct guarantee
+through their Governments, which introduces the political element,
+as in return for such guarantee each Power desires to increase its
+interests or privileges. Thus, while each financier holds out his
+gold-bags temptingly before the Sultan, elbowing aside his rival, each
+demands as surety the endorsement of his Government, the price of
+which the Sultan is hardly prepared to pay. He probably hopes that by
+appealing to them all in conference, he will obtain a joint guarantee
+on less onerous terms, without affording any one of them a foothold in
+his country, should he be unable to discharge his obligations. He is
+wise, and but for the difficulties caused by the defection of England
+and France from the political circle, this request for money might
+alone have sufficed to introduce a reformed _régime_ under the joint
+auspices of all. As it is, attempts to raise funds elsewhere, even to
+discharge the current interest, having failed, his French creditors,
+who do possess the support of their Government, have obligingly added
+interest to capital, and with official sanction continue to roll the
+snowball destined one day to overwhelm the State. In the eyes of the
+Moors this is nothing less than a bill-of-sale on the Empire.
+
+A second point named by the Sultan for submission to the conference
+is the urgency of submitting all inhabitants of the country without
+distinction to the reformed taxation; a reasonable demand if the taxes
+were reasonable and justly assessed, but who can say at present that
+they are either? The exchequer is undoubtedly defrauded of large sums
+by the exemptions enjoyed by foreigners and their _protégés_, on
+account of the way in which these privileges are abused, while, to
+begin with, the system itself is unfair to the native. Here again
+is an excellent lever for securing reforms by co-operation. Let the
+Sultan understand that the sole condition on which such a privilege
+can be abandoned is the reform of his whole fiscal and judicial
+systems, and that this effected to the satisfaction of the Powers,
+these privileges will be abandoned. Nothing could do more to promote
+the internal peace and welfare of Morocco than this point rightly
+handled.
+
+A third demand, the abolition of foreign postal services in his
+country, may appear to many curious and insignificant, but the
+circumstances are peculiar. Twenty years ago, when I first knew
+Morocco, there were no means of transmitting correspondence up country
+save by intermittent couriers despatched by merchants, whom one had to
+hunt up at the _cafés_ in which they reposed. On arrival the bundle
+of letters was carried round to likely recipients for them to select
+their own in the most hap-hazard way. Things were hardly more formal
+at the ports at which eagerly awaited letters and papers arrived
+by sea. These were carried free from Gibraltar, and delivered on
+application at the various consular offices.
+
+At one time the Moorish Government maintained unsatisfactory courier
+services between two or three of the towns, but issued no stamps, the
+receipt for the courier's payment being of the nature of a postmark,
+stamped at the office, which, though little known to collectors, is
+the only genuine and really valuable Moorish postage stamp obtainable.
+All other so-called Morocco stamps were issued by private individuals,
+who later on ran couriers between some two Moorish towns, their income
+being chiefly derived from the sale of stamps to collectors. Some were
+either entirely bogus services, or only a few couriers were run
+to save appearances. Stamps of all kinds were sold at face value,
+postmarked or not to order, and as the issues were from time to time
+changed, the profits were steady and good. The case was in some ways
+analogous to that of the Yangtse and other treaty ports of China,
+where I found every consul's wife engaged in designing local issues,
+sometimes of not inconsiderable merit. In Morocco quite a circle of
+stamp-dealers sprang up, mostly sharp Jewish lads--though not a few
+foreign officials contracted the fever, and some time ago a stamp
+journal began to be issued in Tangier to promote the sale of issues
+which otherwise would not have been heard of.
+
+Now all is changed; Great Britain, France, Spain and Germany maintain
+head postal offices in Tangier, the British being subject to that of
+Gibraltar, whose stamps are used. All have courier services down the
+coast, as well as despatching by steamer, and some maintain inland
+mails conveyed by runners. The distance from Tangier to Fez, some
+hundred and fifty miles, is covered by one man on foot in about three
+days and a half, and the forty miles' run from Tangier to Tetuan is
+done in a night for a dollar, now less than three shillings.
+
+But a more enlightened Sultan sees the advantage it would be to him,
+if not to all parties, to control the distribution of the growing
+correspondence of both Europeans and natives, the latter of whom
+prefer to register their letters, having very little faith in their
+despatch without a receipt. And as Mulai Abd el Azîz is willing
+to join the Postal Union, provided that the service is placed in
+efficient European hands there is no reason why it should not be
+united in one office, and facilities thereby increased.
+
+France, however, in joining the conference, has quite another end in
+view than helping others to bolster up the present administration, and
+that is to obtain a formal recognition by all concerned, including
+Morocco, of the new position created by her agreement with Great
+Britain. That is to say, without permitting her action to be
+questioned in any way, she hopes to secure some show of right to what
+at present she possesses only by the might of herself and her friends.
+She has already agreed with Germany to recognize her special claim for
+permission to "police" the Morocco-Algerian frontier, and those who
+recall the appropriation of Tunisia will remember that it originated
+in "policing" the Khomaďr--known to the French as "Kroumirs"--on the
+Tunisian frontier of Algeria.
+
+It is, indeed, a curious spectacle, a group of butchers around the
+unfortunate victim, talking philanthropy, practising guile: two of the
+strongest have at last agreed between themselves which is to have the
+carcase, but preparations for the "pacific" death-thrust are delayed
+by frantic appeals for further consultation, and by the refusal of
+one of their number who had been ignored to recognize the bargain.
+Consultation is only agreed to on conditions which must defeat its
+object, and terms are arranged with the intervener. Everything,
+therefore, is clear for the operation; the tender-hearted are soothed
+by promises that though the "penetration" cannot but be painful, it
+shall at least not be hostile; while in order that the contumacious
+may hereafter hold their peace, the consultation is to result in a
+formal but carefully worded death-warrant.
+
+Meanwhile it is worth while recalling the essential features of the
+Madrid Convention of 1880, mainly due to French claims for special
+privileges in protecting natives, or in giving them the rights of
+French citizens. This was summoned by Spain at the suggestion of Great
+Britain, with the concurrence of Morocco. Holland, Sweden and Norway,
+Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, France, Germany, the United States, Italy,
+Brazil, and Austria-Hungary accepted the invitation in the order
+named, but Brazil was ultimately unrepresented. Russia was also
+invited as an after-thought, but did not consider it worth while
+accepting. The scope of the conference was limited to the subject of
+foreign protection, though the question of property was by mutual
+consent included.
+
+The representatives of the conferring Powers accredited to the Spanish
+Court were nominated as members--the English Plenipotentiary acting
+for Denmark--as it was felt that those accredited to Morocco already
+held too decided views of the matter. The Moorish Foreign Minister
+attended on behalf of Morocco, and Seńor Canovas, President of the
+Council, represented Spain. Seventeen meetings were held, under the
+presidency of Seńor Canovas, between May 19 and July 3, the last being
+purely formal. The Convention then signed contained little that was
+new, but it re-stated clearly and harmonized with satisfactory results
+rights previously granted to one and another. In several particulars,
+however, its provisions are faulty, and experience of their working
+has long led to demands for revision, but conflicting interests, and
+fears of opening up larger issues, have caused this to be postponed.
+
+Now that the time has arrived for a re-definition of the whole
+position and rights of foreigners and their Governments in Morocco,
+it is earnestly to be hoped that the opportunity may not be lost. The
+great fault of the Madrid Convention is that while it recognizes the
+right of foreigners to acquire land in Morocco, it stipulates for
+the previous consent of the native authorities, which is only to be
+obtained, if at all, by liberal "presents." But the most pressing need
+is the establishment of an international tribunal for the trial of
+cases involving more than one nationality, to replace the present
+anarchy, resulting from the conflict in one case of any of the
+thirteen independent jurisdictions at present in force in Morocco.
+Such a measure would be an outcome of more value than all possible
+agreements to respect the independence and integrity of Morocco till
+it suited the purpose of one party or another to encroach thereon.
+
+In lands knowing but one jurisdiction it is hard to conceive the
+abuses and defeats of justice which result from the confusion
+reigning in Morocco, or those which existed in Egypt previous to
+the establishment of international tribunals there. For instance,
+plaintiff, of nationality A., sues defendants, of nationalities B.,
+C., and D., for the return of goods which they have forcibly carried
+off, on the ground that they were pledged to them by a party of
+nationality E., who disputes their claim, and declares the goods sold
+to original plaintiff. Here are five jurisdictions involved, each with
+a different set of laws, so that during the three separate actions
+necessitated, although the three defendants have all acted alike and
+together, the judgment in the case of each may be different, _e.g._
+case under law B. dismissed, that under law C. won by plaintiff, while
+law D. might recognize the defendants' claim, but condemn his action.
+Needless to follow such intricacies further, though this is by no
+means an extreme case, for disputes are constantly occurring--to say
+nothing of criminal actions--involving the several consular courts,
+for the most part presided over by men unequipped by legal training,
+in which it is a practical impossibility for justice to be done to
+all, and time and money are needlessly wasted.
+
+
+
+
+XXXI
+
+FRANCE IN MOROCCO
+
+  "Who stands long enough at the door is sure to enter at last."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+In a previous work on this country, "The Land of the Moors," published
+in 1901, the present writer concluded with this passage: "France alone
+is to be feared in the Land of the Moors, which, as things trend
+to-day, must in time form part of her colony. There is no use
+disguising the fact, and, as England certainly would not be prepared
+to go to war with her neighbour to prevent her repeating in Morocco
+what she has done in Tunis, it were better not to grumble at her
+action. All England cares about is the mouth of the Mediterranean, and
+if this were secured to her, or even guaranteed neutral--were that
+possible--she could have no cause to object to the French extension.
+Our Moorish friends will not listen to our advice; they keep their
+country closed, as far as they can, refusing administrative reforms
+which would prevent excuses for annexation. Why should we trouble
+them? It were better far to come to an agreement with France, and
+acknowledge what will prove itself one day--that France is the normal
+heir to Morocco whenever the present Empire breaks up."
+
+Unpopular as this opinion was among the British and other foreign
+subjects in the country, and especially among the Moors, so that it
+had at first no other advocate, it has since been adopted in Downing
+Street, and what is of more moment, acted upon. Nay more, Great
+Britain has, in return for the mere recognition of a _fait accompli_
+in Egypt, agreed to stand aside in Morocco, and to grant France a free
+hand in any attempt to create there a similar state of things. Though
+the principle was good, the bargain was bad, for the positions of the
+two contracting Powers, in Egypt and Morocco respectively, were by no
+means analogous. France could never have driven us out of Egypt save
+with her sword at our throat; England had but to unite with other
+Powers in blocking the way of France in Morocco to stultify all her
+plans. Had England stood out for terms, whether as regarding her
+commercial interests in Morocco, which have been disgracefully
+sacrificed, or in the form of concessions elsewhere, a very much more
+equal-handed bargain might have been secured.
+
+The main provisions of the agreement between the two countries,
+concluded April 8, 1904, are--
+
+    Art. II. "The British Government recognizes that it appertains
+    to France, more especially as being the Power in contiguity with
+    Morocco, to control the peace of the country, and to lend its
+    assistance in all administrative, economical, financial, and
+    military reforms. The British Government declares that it will not
+    interfere with the action of France in this regard, provided that
+    this action will leave intact the rights which, in virtue of
+    treaties, conventions, and usages, Great Britain enjoys in
+    Morocco, including the right of coasting between the Morocco
+    ports, of which English vessels have had the benefit since 1901."
+
+    Art. VII. "In order to secure the free passage of the Straits of
+    Gibraltar, both Governments agree not to allow fortifications or
+    any strategic works to be erected on that part of the Moorish
+    coast between Melilla and the heights which dominate the right
+    bank of the Sebu exclusively."
+
+France has secured all that she wanted, or rather that her aggressive
+colonial party wanted, for opinions on that point are by no means
+identical, even in France, and the Agreement at once called forth the
+condemnation of the more moderate party. What appears to be permissive
+means much more. Now that Great Britain has drawn back--the Power to
+which the late Sir John Drummond Hay taught the Moors to look with an
+implicit confidence to champion them against all foes, as it did in
+the case of the wars with France and Spain, vetoing the retention of
+a foot of Moorish soil--Morocco lies at the feet of France. France,
+indeed, has become responsible for carrying out a task its eager
+spirits have been boiling over for a chance of undertaking. Morocco
+has been made the ward of the hand that gripped it, which but recently
+filched two outlying provinces, Figig and Tűát.
+
+Englishmen who know and care little about Morocco are quite incapable
+of understanding the hold that France already had upon this land.
+Separated from it only by an unprotected boundary, much better defined
+on paper than in fact, over which there is always a "rectification"
+dispute in pickle, her province of Algeria affords a prospective
+base already furnished with lines of rail from her ports of Oran and
+Algiers. From Oojda, an insignificant town across the border from
+Lalla Maghnîa (Marnia), there runs a valley route which lays Fez in
+her power, with Táza by the way to fortify and keep the mountaineers
+in check. At any time the frontier forays in which the tribes on both
+sides indulge may be fomented or exaggerated, as in the case of Tunis,
+to afford a like excuse for a similar occupation, which beyond a doubt
+would be a good thing for Morocco. Fez captured, and the seaports kept
+in awe or bombarded by the navy, Mequinez would fall, and an army
+landed in Mazagan would seize Marrákesh.
+
+All this could be accomplished with a minimum of loss, for only the
+lowlands would have to be crossed, and the mountaineers have no army.
+But their "pacification" would be the lingering task in which lives,
+time, and money would be lost beyond all recompense. Against a
+European army that of the Sultan need not be feared; only a few
+battalions drilled by European officers might give trouble, but they
+would see former instructors among the foe, and without them they
+would soon become demoralized. It would be the tribal skirmishers, of
+whom half would fall before the others yielded to the Nazarenes, who
+would give the trouble.
+
+The military mission which France has for many years imposed on the
+Sultan at his expense, though under her control, which follows him in
+his expeditions and spies out the land, has afforded a training-ground
+for a series of future invading leaders. Her Algerian Mohammedan
+agents are able to pass and repass where foreigners never go, and
+besides collecting topographical and other information, they have lost
+no opportunity of making known the privileges and advantages of French
+rule. In case it may be found advisable to set up a dummy sultan under
+a protectorate, the French have an able and powerful man to hand in
+the young Idreesi Shareef of Wazzán, whom the English refused to
+protect, and who, with his brother, received a French education.
+
+But while we, as a nation, have been unable to comprehend the French
+determination to possess Morocco, they have been unable to comprehend
+our calm indifference, and by the way in which they betray their
+suspicions of us, they betray their own methods. Protestant
+missionaries in Algeria and Tunisia, of whatever nationality, are
+supposed to be the emissaries of the British Government, and in
+consequence are harassed and maligned, while tourists outside the
+regular beat are watched. When visiting Oojda some years ago, I myself
+was twice arrested in Algeria, at Tlemçen and Lalla Maghnîa, because
+mingling with natives, and it was with difficulty that I could
+persuade the _juges d'instruction_ of my peaceful motives.
+
+Determined and successful efforts to become acquainted with the
+remotest provinces of Morocco, the distribution of its population, and
+whatever could be of use to an invading or "pacifying" force have long
+been made by France, but the most valuable portion of this knowledge
+remains pigeon-holed, or circulates only in strictly official
+_mémoires_. Many of the officials engaged here, however, have amused
+themselves and the public by publishing pretty books of the average
+class, telling little new, while one even took the trouble to write
+his in English, in order to put us off the scent!
+
+If ever means could justify an end, France deserves to enjoy the fruit
+of her labours. No longer need she foment strife on the Algerian
+frontier, or wink at arms being smuggled across it; no longer need the
+mis-named "pretender" be supplied with French gold, or intrigues be
+carried on at Court. Abd el Azîz must take the advice and "assistance"
+of France, whether he will or no, and curse the British to whom he
+formerly looked. This need not necessarily involve such drastic
+changes as would rouse the people to rebellion, and precipitate a
+costly conquest. There are many reforms urgently required in the
+interests of the people themselves, and these can now be gradually
+enforced. Such reforms had been set on foot already by the young
+Sultan, mainly under British advice; but to his chagrin, his advisers
+did not render the financial and moral support he needed to carry them
+out. France is now free to do this, and to strengthen his position, so
+that all wise reforms may be possible. These will naturally commence
+with civil and judicial functions, but must soon embrace the more
+pressing public works, such as roads, bridges, and port improvements.
+Railways are likely to be the first roads in most parts, and Mulai Abd
+el Azîz will welcome their introduction. The western ideas which he
+has imbibed during the last few years are scoffed at only by those who
+know little of him. What France will have to be prepared for is Court
+intrigue, and she will have to give the Moors plainly to understand
+that "Whatsoever king shall reign, she'll still be 'boss of the show,'
+sir."
+
+As one of the first steps needed, but one requiring the co-operation
+of all other Powers on treaty terms with the Moors, the establishment
+of tribunals to which all should be amenable, has already been touched
+upon. These must necessarily be presided over by specially qualified
+Europeans in receipt of sufficient salary to remove them from
+temptation. A clear distinction should then be made between a civil
+code administered by such tribunals and the jurisdiction of the Muslim
+law in matters of religion and all dependent upon it. But of even more
+pressing importance is the reform of the currency, and the admission
+of Morocco to the Latin Union. This could well be insisted on when the
+financial question is discussed at the Algeciras Conference, as well
+as the equally important establishment in competent hands of a State
+Bank. This and the reform of the whole fiscal system must precede
+every other measure, as they form the ground-work of the whole.
+
+Whatever public works may be eventually undertaken, the first should
+be, as far as possible, such as the Moors themselves can execute under
+European direction, and as they can appreciate. Irrigation would
+command enthusiasm where railways would only provoke opposition, and
+the French could find no surer way of winning the hearts of the people
+than by coping at once with the agricultural water supply, in order to
+provide against such years of famine as the present, and worse that
+are well remembered. That would be a form of "pacific penetration," to
+which none could object.
+
+Education, too, when attempted, should be gradually introduced as a
+means of personal advancement, the requirements of the public
+service being raised year by year, as the younger generation has had
+opportunities of better qualifying themselves. Above all, every post
+should be in theory at least thrown open to the native, and in
+practice as soon as the right man turned up. Better retain or instal
+more of the able Moors of to-day as figureheads with European
+advisers, than attempt a new set to start with. But a clean sweep
+should be made of the foreigners at present in the Moorish service,
+all of whom should be adequately pensioned off, that with the new
+order might come new men, adequately paid and independent of
+"commissions." It is essential that the people learn to feel that
+they are not being exploited, but that their true welfare is sought.
+Every reform should be carried out along native lines, and in
+conformity with native thought.
+
+[Illustration: _Albert, Photo., Tunis._
+
+TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH--AN EXECUTION.]
+
+The costly lesson of Algeria, where native rights and interests were
+overthrown, and a complete detested foreign rule set up, has taught
+the French the folly of such a system, however glorious it may appear
+on paper. They have been wiser in Tunisia, where a nominally native
+government is directed by Frenchmen, whom it pays, and sooner or later
+Morocco is almost certain to become a second Tunisia. This will not
+only prove the best working system, but it will enable opposition to
+be dealt with by Moorish forces, instead of by an invading army, which
+would unite the Berber tribes under the Moorish flag. This was what
+prolonged the conquest of Algeria for so many years, and the Berbers
+of Morocco are more independent and better armed than were those of
+Algeria seventy years ago. What France will gain by the change beyond
+openings for Frenchmen and the glory of an extended colonial empire,
+it is hard to imagine, but empty glory seems to satisfy most countries
+greedy of conquest. So far the only outward evidences of the new
+position are the over-running of the ports, especially of Tangier, by
+Frenchmen of an undesirable class, and by an attempt to establish a
+French colony at the closed port of Mehedîya by doubtful means, to say
+nothing of the increased smuggling of arms.
+
+How the welfare of the Moors will be affected by the change is a much
+more important question, though one often held quite unworthy of
+consideration, the accepted axiom being that, whether they like it or
+not, what is good for us is good for them. Needless to say that
+most of the reforms required will be objected to, and that serious
+obstacles will be opposed to some; the mere fact that the foreigner,
+contemptuously called a "Nazarene," is their author, is sufficient to
+prejudice them in native eyes, and the more prominent the part played
+by him, the more difficult to follow his advice. But if the Sultan and
+his new advisers will consent to a wise course of quiet co-operation,
+much may be effected without causing trouble. It is astonishing
+how readily the Moors submit to the most radical changes when
+unostentatiously but forcibly carried out. Never was there a greater
+call for the _suaviter in modo, fortiter in re_. Power which makes
+itself felt by unwavering action has always had their respect, and
+if the Sultan is prepared not to act till with gold in his coffers,
+disciplined troops at his command, and loyal officials to do his
+behest, he can do so with unquestioned finality, all will go well.
+
+Then will the prosperity of the people revive--indeed, achieve a
+condition hitherto unknown save in two or three reigns of the distant
+past, perhaps not then. The poor will not fear to sow their barren
+fields, or the rich to display their wealth; hidden treasure will come
+to light, and the groan of the oppressed will cease. Individual cases
+of gross injustice will doubtless arise; but they will be as nothing
+compared with what occurs in Morocco to-day, even with that wrought by
+Europeans who avail themselves of existing evils. So that if France is
+wise, and restrains her hot-heads, she may perform a magnificent work
+for the Moors, as the British have done in Egypt; at least, it is to
+be hoped she may do as well in Morocco as in Tunisia.
+
+But it would be idle to ignore the deep dissatisfaction with which the
+Anglo-French Agreement has been received by others than the Moors.[25]
+Most British residents in Morocco, probably every tourist who has been
+conducted along the coast, or sniffed at the capital cities; those
+firms of ours who share the bulk of the Moorish trade, and others who
+yearned to open up possible mines, and undertake the public works
+so urgently needed; ay, and the concession-prospectors and
+company-mongers who see the prey eluding their grasp; even the
+would-be heroes across the straits who have dreamed in vain of great
+deeds to be done on those hills before them; all unite in deploring
+what appears to them a gross blunder. After all, this is but natural.
+So few of us can see beyond our own domains, so many hunger after
+anything--in their particular line--that belongs to a weaker
+neighbour, that it is well we have disinterested statesmen who take a
+wider view. Else had we long since attempted to possess ourselves
+of the whole earth, like the conquering hordes of Asia, and in
+consequence we should have been dispossessed ourselves.
+
+  [25: See Appendix.]
+
+Even to have been driven to undertake in Morocco a task such as we
+were in Egypt, would have been a calamity, for our hands are too full
+already of similar tasks. It is all very well in these times of peace,
+but in the case of war, when we might be attacked by more than one
+antagonist, we should have all our work cut out to hold what we
+have. The policy of "grab," and dabbing the world with red, may be
+satisfactory up to a certain point, but it will be well for us as a
+nation when we realize that we have had enough. In Morocco, what is
+easy for France with her contiguous province, with her plans
+for trans-Sáharan traffic, and her thirst to copy our colonial
+expansion--though without men to spare--would have been for us costly
+and unremunerative. We are well quit of the temptation.
+
+Moreover, we have freed ourselves of a possible, almost certain, cause
+of friction with France, of itself a most important gain. Just as
+France would never have acquiesced in our establishing a protectorate
+in Morocco without something more than words, so the rag-fed British
+public, always capable of being goaded to madness by the newspapers,
+would have bitterly objected to French action, if overt, while
+powerless to prevent the insidious grasp from closing on Morocco by
+degrees. The first war engaging at once British attention and forces
+was like to see France installed in Morocco without our leave. The
+early reverses of the Transvaal War induced her to appropriate Tűát
+and Figig, and had the fortune of war been against us, Morocco would
+have been French already. These facts must not be overlooked in
+discussing what was our wisest course. We were unprepared to do
+what France was straining to do: we occupied the manger to no one's
+good--practically the position later assumed by Germany. Surely we
+were wiser to come to terms while we could, not as in the case of
+Tunisia, when too late.
+
+But among the objecting critics one class has a right to be heard,
+those who have invested life and fortune in the Morocco trade; the men
+who have toiled for years against the discouraging odds involved, who
+have wondered whether Moorish corruption or British apathy were their
+worst foe, in whom such feeling is not only natural but excusable.
+Only those who have experienced it know what it means to be defrauded
+by complacent Orientals, and to be refused the redress they see
+officials of other nations obtaining for rivals. Yet now they find all
+capped by the instructions given to our consuls not to act without
+conferring with the local representatives of France, which leads
+to the taunt that Great Britain has not only sold her interests in
+Morocco to the French, but also her subjects!
+
+The British policy has all along been to maintain the _status quo_ in
+spite of individual interests, deprecating interference which might
+seem high-handed, or create a precedent from which retraction would be
+difficult. In the collection of debts, in enforcing the performance of
+contracts, or in securing justice of any kind where the policy is to
+promise all and evade all till pressure is brought to bear, British
+subjects in Morocco have therefore always found themselves at a
+disadvantage in competition with others whose Governments openly
+supported them. The hope that buoyed them up was that one day the tide
+might turn, and that Great Britain might feel it incumbent on her to
+"protect" Morocco against all comers. Now hope has fled. What avails
+it that grace of a generation's span is allowed them, that they may
+not individually suffer from the change? It is the dream of years that
+lies shattered.
+
+Here are the provisions for their protection:
+
+    Art. IV. "The two Governments, equally attached to the principle
+    of commercial liberty, both in Egypt and Morocco, declare that
+    they will not lend themselves to any inequality either in the
+    establishment of customs rights or other taxes, or in the
+    establishment of tariffs for transport on the railways.... This
+    mutual agreement is valid for a period of thirty years" (subject
+    to extensions of five years).
+
+    Art. V. secures the maintenance in their posts of British
+    officials in the Moorish service, but while it is specially
+    stipulated that French missionaries and schools in Egypt shall not
+    be molested, British missionaries in Morocco are committed to the
+    tender mercies of the French.
+
+Thus there can be no immediate exhibition of favouritism beyond the
+inevitable placing of all concessions in French hands, and there is
+really not much ground of complaint, while there is a hope of cause
+for thankfulness. Released from its former bugbears, no longer open to
+suspicion of secret designs, our Foreign Office can afford to impart a
+little more backbone into its dealings with Moorish officials; a much
+more acceptable policy should, therefore, be forthwith inaugurated,
+that the Morocco traders may see that what they have lost in
+possibilities they have gained in actualities. Still more! the French,
+now that their hands are free, are in a position to "advise" reforms
+which will benefit all. Thus out of the ashes of one hope another
+rises.
+
+
+
+
+PART III
+
+
+XXXII
+
+ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO
+
+  "One does not become a horseman till one has fallen."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+A journey through Algeria shows what a stable and enlightened
+Government has been able to do in a land by no means so highly
+favoured by Nature as Morocco, and peopled by races on the whole
+inferior. The far greater proportion of land there under cultivation
+emphasizes the backward state of Morocco, although much of it still
+remains untouched; while the superior quality of the produce,
+especially of the fruits, shows what might be accomplished in the
+adjoining country were its condition improved. The hillsides of
+Algeria are in many districts clothed with vines which prosper
+exceedingly, often almost superseding cereals as objects of
+cultivation by Europeans.
+
+The European colonists are of all nationalities, and the proportion
+which is not French is astonishingly large, but every inducement is
+held out for naturalization as Algerians, and all legitimate obstacles
+are thrown in the way of those who maintain fidelity to their
+fatherlands. Every effort is made to render Algeria virtually part of
+France, as politically it is already considered to be. It is the case
+of the old days of slavery revived under a new form, when the renegade
+was received with open arms, and the man who remained steadfast was
+seldom released from slavery. Of course, in these days there is
+nothing approaching such treatment, and it is only the natives who
+suffer to any extent.
+
+These are despised, if not hated, and despise and hate in return. The
+conquerors have repeated in Algeria the old mistake which has brought
+about such dire results in other lands, of always retaining the
+position of conquerors, and never unbending to the conquered, or
+encouraging friendship with them. This attitude nullifies whatever
+good may result from the mixed schools in which Muslim, Jew, and
+European are brought in contact, in the hope of turning out a sort of
+social amalgam. Most of the French settlers are too conceited and too
+ignorant to learn Arabic, though this is by no means the fault of the
+Government, which provides free public classes for instruction in that
+language in the chief towns of Algeria and Tunisia. The result is
+that the natives who meet most with foreigners have, without the most
+ordinary facilities enjoyed by the Europeans, to pick up a jargon
+which often does much more credit to them than the usual light
+acquaintance of the foreigner with Arabic does to him. Those who make
+any pretence at it, usually speak it with an accent, a pronunciation
+and a nonchalance which show that they have taken no pains whatever to
+acquire it. Evidently it pays better to spend money educating natives
+in French than Frenchmen in Arabic. It is an amusing fact that most of
+the teachers have produced their own text-books, few of which possess
+special merit.
+
+As a colony Algeria has proved a failure. Foreign settlers hold most
+of the desirable land, and till it with native labour. The native may
+have safety and justice now, but he has suffered terribly in the past,
+as the reports of the Bureau Arabe, established for his protection,
+abundantly prove, and bitterly he resents his fate. No love is lost
+between French and natives in Tunisia, but there is actual hatred in
+Algeria, fostered by the foreigner far more than by the smouldering
+bigotry of Islám. They do not seem to intermingle even as oil and
+water, but to follow each a separate, independent course.
+
+Among the foreign colonists it is a noteworthy fact that the most
+successful are not the French, who want too much comfort, but almost
+any of the nationalities settled there, chiefly Spaniards and
+Italians. The former are to be found principally in the neighbourhood
+of Óran, and the latter further east; they abound in Tunisia.
+Englishmen and others of more independent nature have not been made
+welcome in either country, and year by year their interests have
+dwindled. Even in Tunisia, under a different system, the same result
+has been achieved, and every restriction reconcilable with paper
+rights has been placed on other than French imports. There may be an
+"open door," but it is too closely guarded for us. The English houses
+that once existed have disappeared, and what business is done with
+this country has had to take refuge with agents, for the most part
+Jews.
+
+In studying the life of Algerian towns, the almost entire absence of
+well-to-do Arabs or Berbers is striking. I never came across one who
+might be judged from his appearance to be a man of means or position,
+unless in military or official garb, though there are doubtless many
+independent natives among the Berber and Arab tribes. The few whom I
+encountered making any pretence of dressing well were evidently of no
+social rank, and the complaint on every hand is that the natives are
+being gradually ousted from what little is left to them.
+
+As for European law, they consider this to have no connection
+with justice, and think themselves very heavily taxed to support
+innovations with which they have no concern, and which they would
+rather dispense with. One can, indeed, feel for them, though there
+is no doubt much to be said on both sides, especially when it is the
+other side which boasts the power, if not the superior intelligence.
+The Jews, however, thrive, and in many ways have the upper hand,
+especially so since the wise move which accorded them the rights
+of French citizenship. It is remarkable, however, how much less
+conspicuous they are in the groups about the streets than in Morocco,
+notwithstanding that their dress is quite as distinctive as there,
+though different.
+
+The new-comer who arrives at the fine port of Algiers finds it
+as greatly transformed as its name has been from the town which
+originally bore it, El Jazîrah. The fine appearance of the rising
+tiers of houses gives an impression of a still larger city than it
+really is, for very little is hidden from view except the suburbs.
+From a short way out to sea the panorama is grand, but it cannot be
+as chaste as when the native city clustered in the hollow with its
+whitewashed houses and its many minarets, completely surrounded by
+green which has long since disappeared under the advancing tide of
+bricks and mortar. One can hardly realize that this fine French city
+has replaced the den of pirates of such fearful histories. Yet there
+is the original light-house, the depôt for European slaves, and away
+on the top of yonder hill are remains of the ancient citadel. It was
+there, indeed, that those dreadful cruelties were perpetrated, where
+so many Christians suffered martyrdom. Yes, this is where once stood
+the "famous and war-like city, El Jazîrah," which was in its time "the
+scourge of Christendom."
+
+Whether the visitor be pleased or disappointed with the modern city
+depends entirely on what he seeks. If he seeks Europe in Africa, with
+perhaps just a dash of something oriental, he will be amply satisfied
+with Algiers, which is no longer a native city at all. It is as French
+as if it had risen from the soil entirely under French hands, and only
+the slums of the Arab town remain. The seeker after native life will
+therefore meet with complete disappointment, unless he comes straight
+from Europe, with no idea what he ought to expect. All the best parts
+of the town, the commercial and the residential quarters, have long
+since been replaced by European substitutes, leaving hardly a trace of
+the picturesque originals, while every day sees a further encroachment
+on the erstwhile African portion, the interest of which is almost
+entirely removed by the presence of crowds of poor Europeans and
+European-dressed Jews. The visitor to Algiers would therefore do well
+to avoid everything native, unless he has some opportunity of also
+seeing something genuine elsewhere. The only specimens he meets in
+the towns are miserable half-caste fellows--by habit, if not by
+birth,--for their dress, their speech, their manners, their homes,
+their customs, their religion--or rather their lack of religion,--have
+all suffered from contact with Europeans. But even before the
+Frenchmen came, it is notorious how the Algerines had sunk under the
+bane of Turkish rule, as is well illustrated by their own saying, that
+where the foot of the Turk had trod, grass refused to grow. Of all the
+Barbary States, perhaps none has suffered more from successive outside
+influences than the people of Algeria.
+
+The porter who seizes one's luggage does not know when he is using
+French words or Arabic, or when he introduces Italian, Turkish, or
+Spanish, and cannot be induced to make an attempt at Arabic to a
+European unless the latter absolutely refuses to reply to his jargon.
+Then comes a hideous corruption of his mother tongue, in which the
+foreign expressions are adorned with native inflexions in the most
+comical way. His dress is barbarous, an ancient and badly fitting pair
+of trousers, and stockingless feet in untidy boots, on the heels of
+which he stamps along the streets with a most unpleasant noise. The
+collection of garments which complete his attire are mostly European,
+though the "Fez" cap remains the distinctive feature of the Muslim's
+dress, and a selhám--that cloak of cloaks, there called a "bűrnűs"--is
+slung across his shoulder. Some few countrymen are to be seen who
+still retain the more graceful native costume, with the typical
+camel-hair or cotton cord bound round the head-dress, but the old
+inhabitants are being steadily driven out of town.
+
+[Illustration: TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEĎKH.]
+
+The characteristic feature of Algerian costumes is the head-cord
+referred to, which pervades a great part of Arabdom, in Syria and
+Arabia being composed of two twists of black camel hair perhaps an
+inch thick. In Algeria it is about an eighth of an inch thick, and
+brown. The slippers are also characteristic, but ugly, being of black
+leather, excellently made, and cut very far open, till it becomes an
+art to keep them on, and the heels have to be worn up. The use of the
+white selhám is almost universal, unhemmed at the edges, as in Tunis
+also; and over it is loosely tied a short haďk fastened on the head by
+the cord.
+
+There is, however, even in Algiers itself, one class of men who remain
+unaffected by their European surroundings, passive amid much change,
+a model for their neighbours. These are the Beni M'záb, a tribe of
+Mohammedan Protestants from southern Algeria, where they settled long
+ago, as the Puritans did in New England, that they might there worship
+God in freedom. They were the Abadîya, gathered from many districts,
+who have taken their modern name from the tribe whose country they now
+inhabit. They speak a dialect of Berber, and dress in a manner which
+is as distinctive as their short stature, small, dark, oily features,
+jet-black twinkling eyes, and scanty beard. They come to the towns to
+make money, and return home to spend it, after a few years of busy
+shop-keeping. A butcher whom I met said that he and a friend had the
+business year and year about, so as not to be too long away from home
+at a time. They are very hard-working, and have a great reputation for
+honesty; they keep their shops open from about five in the morning
+till nine at night. As the Beni M'záb do not bring their wives with
+them, they usually live together in a large house, and have their
+own mosque, where they worship alone, resenting the visits of all
+outsiders, even of other Muslims. Admission to their mosque is
+therefore practically refused to Europeans, but in Moorish dress I was
+made welcome as some distinguished visitor from saintly Fez, and found
+it very plain, more like the kűbbah of a saint-house than an ordinary
+mosque.
+
+There are also many Moors in Algeria, especially towards the west.
+These, being better workmen than the Algerines, find ready employment
+as labourers on the railways. Great numbers also annually visit Óran
+and the neighbourhood to assist at harvest time. Those Moors who live
+there usually disport themselves in trousers, strange to stay, and,
+when they can afford it, carry umbrellas. They still adhere to the
+turban, however, instead of adopting the head cord. At Blidah I found
+that all the sellers of sfinges--yeast fritters--were Moors, and those
+whom I came across were enthusiastic to find one who knew and liked
+their country. The Algerines affect to despise them and their home,
+which they declare is too poor to support them, thus accounting for
+their coming over to work.
+
+The specimens of native architecture to be met with in Algeria are
+seldom, if ever, pure in style, and are generally extremely corrupt.
+The country never knew prosperity as an independent kingdom, such as
+Morocco did, and it is only in Tlemçen, on the borders of that Empire,
+that real architectural wealth is found, but then this was once the
+capital of an independent kingdom. The palace at Constantine is not
+Moorish at all, except in plan, being adorned with a hap-hazard
+collection of odds and ends from all parts. It is worse than even the
+Bardo at Tunis, where there is some good plaster carving--naksh el
+hadeed--done by Moorish or Andalucian workmen. In the palaces of the
+Governor and the Archbishop of Algiers, which are also very composite,
+though not without taste, there is more of this work, some of it very
+fine, though much of it is merely modern moulded imitation.
+
+Of more than a hundred mosques and shrines found in Algiers when it
+was taken by the French, only four of the former and a small number
+of the latter remain, the rest having been ruthlessly turned into
+churches. The Mosque of Hasan, built just over a century ago, is now
+the cathedral, though for this transformation it has been considerably
+distorted, and a mock-Moorish façade erected in the very worst taste.
+Inside things are better, having been less interfered with, but what
+is now a church was never a good specimen of a mosque, having been
+originally partly European in design, the work of renegades. The same
+may be said of the Mosque of the Fisheries, a couple of centuries old,
+built in the form of a Greek cross! One can well understand how
+the Dey, according to the story, had the architect put to death on
+discovering this anomaly. These incongruities mar all that is supposed
+in Algeria to be Arabesque. The Great Mosque, nevertheless, is more
+ancient and in better style, more simple, more chaste, and more
+awe-inspiring. The Zawîah of Sîdi Abd er-Rahmán, outside the walls,
+is as well worth a visit as anything in Algiers, being purely and
+typically native. It is for the opportunities given for such peeps
+as this that one is glad to wander in Algeria after tasting the real
+thing in Morocco, where places of worship and baths are closed to
+Europeans. These latter I found all along North Africa to be much what
+they are in Morocco, excepting only the presence of the foreigners.
+
+The tile work of Algeria is ugly, but many of the older Italian and
+other foreign specimens are exceptionally good, both in design and
+colour. Some of the Tunisian tiles are also noteworthy, but it is
+probable that none of any real artistic value were ever produced in
+what is now conveniently called Algeria. There is nothing whatever in
+either country to compare with the exquisite Fez work found in the
+Alhambra, hardly to rival the inferior productions of Tetuan. A
+curious custom in Algeria is to use all descriptions of patterns
+together "higgledy-piggledy," upside down or side-ways, as though
+the idea were to cover so much surface with tiling, irrespective of
+design. Of course this is comparatively modern, and marks a period
+since what art Algeria ever knew had died out. It is noticeable, too,
+how poor the native manufacturers are compared with those of Morocco,
+themselves of small account beside those of the East. The wave of
+civilization which swept over North Africa in the Middle Ages failed
+to produce much effect till it recoiled upon itself in the far, far
+west, and then turned northward into Spain.
+
+Notwithstanding all this, Algeria affords an ample field for study for
+the scientist, especially the mountain regions to the south, where
+Berber clans and desert tribes may be reached in a manner impossible
+yet in Morocco, but the student of oriental life should not visit them
+till he has learnt to distinguish true from false among the still
+behind-hand Moors.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIII
+
+TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO
+
+  "The slave toils, but the Lord completes."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Fortunately for the French, the lesson learned in Algeria was not
+neglected when the time came for their "pacific penetration" of
+Tunisia. Their first experience had been as conquerors of anything but
+pacific intent, and for a generation they waged war with the Berber
+tribes. Everywhere, even on the plains, where conquest was easy, the
+native was dispossessed. The land was allotted to Frenchmen or to
+natives who took the oath of allegiance to France, and became French
+subjects. Those who fought for their fatherland were driven off, the
+villages depopulated, and the country laid waste. In the cities the
+mosques were desecrated or appropriated to what the native considered
+idolatrous worship. They have never been restored to their owners.
+Those Algerines only have flourished who entered the French army or
+Government service, and affected manners which all but cut them off
+from their fellow-countrymen.
+
+In Tunisia the French succeeded, under cover of specious assurances to
+the contrary, in overthrowing the Turkish beys, rehabilitating them in
+name as their puppets, with hardly more opposition than the British
+met with in Burma. The result is a nominally native administration
+which takes the blame for failures, and French direction which takes
+the credit for successes. All that was best in Algeria has been
+repeated, but native rights have been respected, and the cities, with
+their mosques and shrines, left undisturbed as far as possible. The
+desecration of the sacred mosque of Kaďrwán as a stable was a notable
+exception.
+
+The difference between the administration of Algeria and that of
+Tunisia makes itself felt at every step. In the one country it is the
+ruling of a conquered people for the good of the conquerors alone, and
+in the other it is the ruling of an unconquered people by bolstering
+up and improving their own institutions under the pretence of seeking
+their welfare. The immense advantage of the Tunisian system is
+apparent on all sides. The expense is less, the excuses for
+irregularities are greater, and the natives still remain a nominal
+power in the land, instead of being considered as near serfs as is
+permissible in this twentieth century.
+
+The results of the French occupation were summed up to me by a
+Tunisian as the making of roads, the introduction of more money and
+much drunkenness, and the institution of laws which no native could
+ever hope to understand. But France has done more than that in Tunis,
+even for the native. He has the benefit of protection for life and
+property, with means of education and facilities for travel, and an
+outlet for his produce. He might do well--and there are many instances
+of commercial success--but while he is jibbing against the foreign
+yoke, the expatriated Jews, whom he treated so badly when he had the
+upper hand, are outstripping him every day. The net result of the
+foreigners' presence is good for him, but it would be much better had
+he the sense to take advantage of his chances as the Jew does. Many of
+the younger generation, indeed, learn French, and enter the great army
+of functionaries, but they are rigidly restricted to the lowest posts,
+and here again the Jew stands first.
+
+In business or agriculture there is sure to come a time when cash is
+needed, so that French and Jewish money-lenders flourish, and when the
+Tunisian cannot pay, the merciless hand of foreign law irresistibly
+sells him up. In the courts the complicated procedure, the intricate
+code, and the swarm of lawyers, bewilder him, and he sighs for the
+time when a bribe would have settled the question, and one did at
+least know beforehand which would win--the one with the longer purse.
+Now, who knows? But the Tunisian's principal occasions for discontent
+are the compulsory military service, and the multiplication and weight
+of the taxes. From the former only those are exempt who can pass
+certain examinations in French, and stiff ones at that, so that Arabic
+studies are elbowed out; the unremitted military duties during the
+Ramadán fast are regarded as a peculiar hardship. To the taxes there
+seems no end, and from them no way of escape. Even the milkman
+complains, for example, that though his goats themselves are taxed,
+he cannot bring their food into town from his garden without an
+additional charge being paid!
+
+With the superficial differences to be accounted for by this new state
+of things, there still remains much more in Tunisia to remind one of
+Morocco than in Algeria. What deeper distinctions there are result in
+both countries from Turkish influence, and Turkish blood introduced in
+the past, but even these do not go very deep. Beneath it all there are
+the foundations of race and creed common to all, and the untouched
+countryman of Tunisia is closely akin to his fellow of Morocco. Even
+in the towns the underlying likeness is strong.
+
+The old city of Tunis is wonderfully like that of Fez; the streets,
+the shops, the paving, being identical; but in the former a
+picturesque feature is sometimes introduced, stone columns forming
+arcades in front of the shops, painted in spiral bands of green and
+red, separated by a band of white. The various trades are grouped
+there as further west, and the streets are named after them. The
+Mellah, or Jewish Quarter, has lost its boundary, as at Tangier, and
+the gates dividing the various wards have disappeared too. Hardly
+anything remains of the city walls, new ones having arisen to enclose
+the one European and two native suburbs. But under a modern arcade in
+the main street, the Avenue de France, there is between the shops the
+barred gate leading to a mosque behind, which does not look as if it
+were often opened.
+
+Tramways run round the line of the old walls, and it is strange to see
+the natives jumping on and off without stopping the car, in the most
+approved western style. There, as in the trains, European and African
+sit side by side, though it is to be observed that as a rule, should
+another seat be free, neither gets in where the other is. As for hopes
+of encouraging any degree of amalgamation, these are vain indeed.
+A mechanical mixture is all that can be hoped for: nothing more is
+possible. A few French people have embraced Islám for worldly aims,
+and it is popularly believed by the natives that in England thousands
+are accepting Mohammed.
+
+The mosques of Tunis are less numerous than those of Fez, but do
+not differ greatly from them except in the inferior quality of the
+tile-work, and in the greater use of stone for the arches and towers.
+The latter are of the Moorish square shape, but some, if not all, are
+ascended by steps, instead of by inclined planes. The mosques, with
+the exception of that at Kaďrwán--the most holy, strange to say--are
+as strictly forbidden to Europeans and Jews as in Morocco, and screens
+are put up before the doors as in Tangier.
+
+The Moors are very well known in Tunis, so many of them, passing
+through from Mekka on the Hajj, have been prevented from getting
+home by quarantine or lack of funds. Clad as a Moor myself, I was
+everywhere recognized as from that country, and was treated with every
+respect, being addressed as "Amm el Háj" ("Uncle Pilgrim"), having
+my shoulders and hands kissed in orthodox fashion. There are several
+_cafés_ where Morocco men are to be met with by the score. One feature
+of this cosmopolitan city is that there are distinct _cafés_ for
+almost every nation represented here except the English.
+
+The Arabs of Morocco are looked upon as great thieves, but the
+Sűsis have the highest reputation for honesty. Not only are all the
+gate-keepers of the city from that distant province, but also those
+of the most important stores and houses, as well as of the
+railway-stations, and many are residents in the town. The chief
+snake-charmers and story-tellers also hail from Sűs.
+
+The veneration for Mulai Táďb of Wazzán, from whom the shareefs of
+that place are descended, is great, and the Aďsáwa, hailing from
+Mequinez, are to be met with all along this coast; they are especially
+strong at Kaďrwán. In Tunis, as also in Algeria and Tripoli, the
+comparative absence of any objection to having pictures taken of human
+beings, which is an almost insurmountable hindrance in Morocco, again
+allowed me to use my kodak frequently, but I found that the Jews had a
+strong prejudice against portraits.
+
+The points in which the domestic usages of Tunisia differ from those
+of Morocco are the more striking on account of the remarkably minute
+resemblance, if not absolute identity, of so very many others, and as
+the novelty of the innovations wears off, it is hard to realize that
+one is not still in the "Far West."
+
+In a native household of which I found myself temporarily a member,
+it was the wholesale assimilation of comparatively trivial foreign
+matters which struck me. Thus, for instance, as one of the sons of
+my host remarked--though he was dressed in a manner which to most
+travellers would have appeared exclusively oriental--there was not a
+thing upon him which was not French. Doubtless a closer examination of
+his costume would have shown that some of the articles only reached
+him through French hands, but the broad fact remained that they were
+all foreign. It is in this way that the more civilized countries
+show a strong and increasing tendency to develop into nations of
+manufacturers, with their gigantic workshops forcing the more
+backward, _nolens volens_, to relapse to the more primitive condition
+of producers of raw material only.
+
+There was, of course, a time when every garment such a man would have
+worn would have been of native manufacture, without having been in
+any feature less complete, less convenient, or less artistic than his
+present dress. In many points, indeed, there is a distinct loss in the
+more modern style, especially in the blending of colours, while it is
+certain that in no point has improvement been made. My friend, for
+instance, had the addition, common there, of a pair of striped merino
+socks, thrust into a pair of rubber-soled tennis shoes. Underneath he
+wore a second pair of socks, and said that in winter he added a third.
+Above them was not much bare leg, for the pantaloons are cut there so
+as often to reach right down to the ankles. This is necessitated by
+the custom of raising the mattresses used for seats on divans, and
+by sitting at table on European chairs with the legs dangling in
+the cold. The turban has nothing of the gracefulness of its Moorish
+counterpart, being often of a dirty-green silk twisted into a rope,
+and then bound round the head in the most inelegant fashion, sometimes
+showing the head between the coils; they are not folds. Heads are by
+no means kept so carefully shaved as in Morocco, and I have seen hair
+which looked as though only treated with scissors, and that rarely.
+
+The fashion for all connected with the Government to wear European
+dress, supplemented by the "Fez" (fortunately not the Turkish style),
+brings about most absurd anomalies. This is especially observable in
+the case of the many very stout individuals who waddle about like
+ducks in their ungainly breeches. I was glad to find on visiting the
+brother of the late Bey that he retained the correct costume, though
+the younger members of his family and all his attendants were in
+foreign guise. The Bey himself received me in the frock-coat with
+pleated skirt, favoured by his countrymen the Turks.
+
+[Illustration: _Albert, Photo., Tunis._
+
+A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS.]
+
+The Mohammedan women seen in the streets generally wear an elegant
+fine silk and wool haďk over a costume culminating in a peaked cap,
+the face being covered--all but the eyes--by two black handkerchiefs,
+awful to behold, like the mask of a stage villain. More stylish women
+wear a larger veil, which they stretch out on either side in front
+of them with their hands. They seem to think nothing of sitting in a
+railway carriage opposite a man and chatting gaily with him. I learn
+from an English lady resident in Tunis that the indoor costume of the
+women is much that of the Jewesses out of doors--extraordinary indeed.
+It is not every day that one meets ladies in the street in long white
+drawers, often tight, and short jackets, black or white, but this is
+the actual walking dress of the Jewish ladies of Tunis.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIV
+
+TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO
+
+  "Every sheep hangs by her own legs."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+When, after an absence of twenty months, I found myself in Tripoli,
+although far enough from Morocco, I was still amid familiar sights and
+sounds which made it hard to realize that I was not in some hitherto
+unvisited town of that Empire. The petty differences sank to naught
+amid the wonderful resemblances. It was the Turkish element alone
+which was novel, and that seemed altogether out of place, foreign as
+it is to Africa. There was something quite incongruous in the sight of
+those ungainly figures in their badly fitting, quasi-European black
+coats and breeches, crowned with tall and still more ungainly red
+caps. The Turks are such an inferior race to the Berbers and Arabs
+that it is no wonder that they are despised by the natives. They
+appear much more out of place than do the Europeans, who remain, as
+in Morocco, a class by themselves. To see a Turk side by side with a
+white-robed native at prayer in a mosque is too ridiculous, and to see
+him eating like a wild man of the woods! Even the governor, a benign
+old gentleman, looked very undignified in his shabby European
+surroundings, after the important appearance of the Moorish
+functionaries in their flowing robes. The sentinels at the door seemed
+to have been taught to imitate the wooden salute of the Germans, which
+removes any particle of grace which might have remained in spite of
+their clumsy dress. It is a strange sight to see them selling their
+rations of uninviting bread in the market to buy something more
+stimulating. They squat behind a sack on the ground as the old women
+do in Tangier. These are the little things reminding one that Tripoli
+is but a Turkish dependency.
+
+We may complain of the Moorish customs arrangements, but from my own
+experience, and from what others tell me, I should say that here is
+worse still. Not only were our things carefully overhauled, but the
+books had to be examined, as a result of which process Arabic works
+are often confiscated, either going in or out. The confusing lack of
+a monetary system equals anything even in southern Morocco, between
+which and this place the poor despised "gursh" turns up as a familiar
+link, not to be met with between Casablanca and Tripoli.
+
+Perhaps the best idea of the town for those readers acquainted with
+Morocco will be to call it a large edition of Casablanca. The country
+round is flat, the streets are on the whole fairly regular, and wider
+than the average in this part of the world. Indeed, carriages are
+possible, though not throughout the town. A great many more flying
+arches are thrown across the streets than we are accustomed to further
+west, but upper storeys are rare. The paving is of the orthodox
+Barbary style.
+
+The Tripolitan mosques are of a very different style from those of
+Morocco, the people belonging to a different sect--the Hánafis--Moors,
+Algerines and Tunisians being of the more rigorous Málikis. Instead
+of the open courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, here they have a
+perfectly closed interior roofed with little domes, and lighted by
+barred windows. The walls are adorned with inferior tiles, mostly
+European, and the floors are carpeted. Round the walls hang cheap
+glazed texts from the Korán, and there is a general appearance of
+tawdry display which is disappointing after the chaste adornment of
+the finer Moorish mosques, or even the rude simplicity of the poorer
+ones. Orders may be obtained to view these buildings, of which it is
+hardly necessary to say I availed myself, in one case ascending also
+the minaret. These minarets are much less substantial than those
+of Morocco, being octangular, with protruding stone balconies in
+something of the Florentine style, reached by winding stairs. The
+exteriors are whitewashed, the balconies being tiled, and the cupolas
+painted green. Lamps are hung out at certain feasts. As for the voice
+of the muédhdhin, it must be fairly faint, since during the week I
+was there I never heard it. In Morocco this would have been an
+impossibility.
+
+The language, though differing in many minor details from that
+employed in Morocco, presents no difficulty to conversation, but it
+was sometimes necessary to try a second word to explain myself. The
+differences are chiefly in the names of common things in daily use,
+and in common adjectives. The music was identical with what we know in
+the "Far West." Religious strictness is much less than in Morocco,
+the use of intoxicants being fairly general in the town, the hours
+of prayer less strictly kept, and the objection to portraits having
+vanished. There seemed fewer women in the streets than in Morocco, but
+those who did appear were for the most part less covered up; there
+was nothing new in the way the native women were veiled, only one eye
+being shown--I do not now take the foreign Turks into account.
+
+In the streets the absence of the better-class natives is most
+noticeable; one sees at once that Tripoli is not an aristocratic town
+like Fez, Tetuan, or Rabat. The differences which exist between the
+costumes observed and those of Morocco are almost entirely confined
+to the upper classes. The poor and the country people would be
+undistinguishable in a Moorish crowd. Among the townsfolk stockings
+and European shoes are common, but there are no native slippers to
+equal those of Morocco, and yellow ones are rare. I saw no natives
+riding in the town; though in the country it must be more common.
+The scarcity of four-footed beasts of burden is noticeable after the
+crowded Moorish thoroughfares.
+
+On the whole there is a great lack of the picturesque in the Tripoli
+streets, and also of noise. The street cries are poor, being chiefly
+those of vegetable hawkers, and one misses the striking figure of the
+water-seller, with his tinkling bell and his cry.
+
+The houses and shops are much like those of Morocco, so far as
+exteriors go, and so are the interiors of houses occupied by
+Europeans. The only native house to which I was able to gain access
+was furnished in the worst possible mixture of European and native
+styles to be found in many Jewish houses in Morocco, but from what I
+gleaned from others this was no exception to the rule.
+
+Unfortunately the number of grog-shops is unduly large, with all
+their attendant evils. The wheeled vehicles being foreign, claim
+no description, though the quaintness of the public ones is great.
+Palmetto being unknown, the all-pervading halfah fibre takes its place
+for baskets, ropes, etc. The public ovens are very numerous, and do
+not differ greatly from the Moorish, except in being more open to the
+street. The bread is much less tempting; baked in small round cakes,
+varnished, made yellow with saffron, and sprinkled with gingelly seed.
+Most of the beef going alive to Malta, mutton is the staple animal
+food; vegetables are much the same as in Morocco.
+
+The great drawback to Tripoli is its proximity to the desert, which,
+after walking through a belt of palms on the land side of the
+town--itself built on a peninsula--one may see rolling away to the
+horizon. The gardens and palm groves are watered by a peculiar system,
+the precious liquid being drawn up from the wells by ropes over
+pulleys, in huge leather funnels of which the lower orifice is slung
+on a level with the upper, thus forming a bag. The discharge is
+ingeniously accomplished automatically by a second rope over a lower
+pulley, the two being pulled by a bullock walking down an incline. The
+lower lip being drawn over the lower pulley, releases the water when
+the funnel reaches the top.
+
+The weekly market, Sôk et-Thláthah, held on the sands, is much as it
+would be in the Gharb el Jawáni, as Morocco is called in Tripoli. The
+greater number of Blacks is only natural, especially when it is noted
+that hard by they have a large settlement.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by G. Michell, Esq._
+
+OUTSIDE TRIPOLI.]
+
+It would, of course, be possible to enter into a much more minute
+comparison, but sufficient has been said to give a general idea of
+Tripoli to those who know something of Morocco, without having entered
+upon a general description of the place. From what I saw of the
+country people, I have no doubt that further afield the similarity
+between them and the people of central and southern Morocco, to whom
+they are most akin, would even be increased.
+
+
+
+
+XXXV
+
+FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN
+
+  "Every one buries his mother as he likes."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+  I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
+
+Much as I had been prepared by the accounts of others to observe the
+prevalence of Moorish remains in the Peninsula, I was still forcibly
+struck at every turn by traces of their influence upon the country,
+especially in what was their chief home there, Andalucia. Though
+unconnected with these traces, an important item in strengthening this
+impression is the remarkable similarity between the natural features
+of the two countries. The general contour of the surface is the same
+on either side of the straits for a couple of hundred miles; the
+same broad plains, separated by low ranges of hills, and crossed by
+sluggish, winding streams, fed from distant snow-capped mountains, and
+subject to sudden floods. The very colours of the earth are the same
+in several regions, the soil being of that peculiar red which gives
+its name to the Blád Hamrá ("Red Country") near Marrákesh. This is
+especially observable in the vicinity of Jeréz, and again at Granáda,
+where one feels almost in Morocco again. Even the colour of the rugged
+hills and rocks is the same, but more of the soil is cultivated than
+in any save the grain districts of Morocco.
+
+The vegetation is strikingly similar, the aloe and the prickly pear,
+the olive and the myrtle abounding, while from the slight glimpses
+I was able to obtain of the flora, the identity seems also to be
+continued there. Yet all this, though interesting to the observer, is
+not to be wondered at. It is our habit of considering the two lands as
+if far apart, because belonging to separate continents, which leads us
+to expect a difference between countries divided only by a narrow gap
+of fourteen miles or less, but one from whose formation have resulted
+most important factors in the world's history.
+
+The first striking reminders of the Moorish dominion are the names of
+Arabic origin. Some of the most noteworthy are Granáda (Gharnátah),
+Alcazar (El Kasar), Arjona (R'honah), Gibraltar (Gibel Tárik),
+Trafalgár (Tarf el Gharb, "West Point"), Medinah (Madînah, "Town"),
+Algeciras (El Jazîrah, "The Island"), Guadalquivir (Wád el Kebeer--so
+pronounced in Spain--"The Great River"), Mulahacen (Mulai el Hasan),
+Alhama (El Hama, "The Hot Springs"), and numberless others which might
+be mentioned, including almost every name beginning with "Al."
+
+The rendering of these old Arabic words into Spanish presents a
+curious proof of the changes which the pronunciation of the Spanish
+alphabet has undergone during the last four centuries. To obtain
+anything like the Arabic sound it is necessary to give the letters
+precisely the same value as in English, with the exception of
+pronouncing "x" as "sh." Thus the word "alhaja," in everyday
+use--though unrecognizable as heard from the lips of the modern
+Castilian, "aláha,"--is nothing but the Arabic "el hájah," with
+practically the same meaning in the plural, "things" or "goods." To
+cite more is unnecessary. The genuine pronunciation is still often
+met with among Jews of Morocco who have come little in contact with
+Spaniards, and retain the language of their ancestors when expelled
+from the Peninsula, as also in Spanish America.
+
+The Spanish language is saturated with corrupted Arabic, at all
+events so far as nouns are concerned. The names of families also
+are frequently of Arabic origin, as, for instance, Alarcos
+(Er-Rakkás--"the courier"), Alhama, etc., most of which are to be met
+with more in the country than in the towns, while very many others,
+little suspected as such, are Jewish. Although when the most
+remarkable of nations was persecuted and finally expelled from Spain,
+a far larger proportion nobly sacrificed their all rather than accept
+the bauble religion offered them by "The Catholic Kings" (King and
+Queen), they also have left their mark, and many a noble family could,
+if it would, trace its descent from the Jews. Some of their synagogues
+are yet standing, notably at Toledo--whence the many Toledános,--built
+by Samuel Levy, who was secretary to Don Pedro the Cruel. This was in
+1336, a century and a half before the Moors were even conquered, much
+less expelled, and if the sons of Ishmael have left their mark
+upon that sunny land, so have the sons of Israel, though in a
+far different manner. Morocco has ever since been the home of the
+descendants of a large proportion of the exiles.
+
+The Spanish physiognomy, not so much of the lower as of the upper
+classes, is strikingly similar to that of the mountaineers of Morocco,
+and these include some of the finest specimens. The Moors of to-day
+are of too mingled a descent to present any one distinct type of
+countenance, and it is the same with the Spaniards. So much of the
+blood of each flows in the veins of the other, that comparison is
+rendered more difficult. It is a well-known fact that several of the
+most ancient families in the kingdom can trace their descent from
+Mohammedans. A leading instance of this is the house of Mondéjar,
+lords of Granáda from the time of its conquest, as the then head of
+the house, Sidi Yahia, otherwise Don Pedro de Granáda, had become a
+Christian. In the Generalife at that town, still in the custody of the
+same family, is a genealogical tree tracing its origin right back to
+the Goths![26]
+
+  [26: Andalucia is but a corruption of Vandalucia.]
+
+Next to physiognomy come habits and customs, and of these there are
+many which have been borrowed, or rather retained, from the Moors,
+especially in the country. The ploughs, the water-mills, the
+water-wheels, the irrigation, the treading out of the corn, the
+weaving of coarse cloth, and many other daily sights, from their
+almost complete similarity, remind one of Morocco. The bread-shops
+they call "tahônas," unaware that this is the Arabic for a flour-mill;
+their water-wheels they still call by their Arabic name, "naôrahs,"
+and it is the same with their pack-saddles, "albardas" (bardah). The
+list might be extended indefinitely, even from such common names as
+these.
+
+The salutations of the people seem literal translations of those
+imported from the Orient, such as I am not aware of among other
+Europeans. What, for instance, is "Dios guarda Vd." ("God keep you"),
+said at parting, but the "Allah îhannak" of Morocco, or "se lo passe
+bien," but "B'is-salámah" ("in peace!"). More might be cited, but to
+those unacquainted with Arabic they would be of little interest.
+
+Then, again, the singing of the country-folk in southern Spain has
+little to distinguish it from that indulged in by most Orientals.
+The same sing-song drawl with numerous variations is noticeable
+throughout. Once a more civilized tune gets among these people for
+a few months, its very composer would be unlikely to recognize its
+prolongations and lazy twists.
+
+The narrow, tortuous streets of the old towns once occupied by the
+invaders take one back across the straits, and the whole country
+is covered with spots which, apart from any remains of note, are
+associated by record or legend with anecdotes from that page of
+Spanish history. Here it is the "Sigh of the Moor," the spot from
+which the last Ameer of Andalucia gazed in sorrow on the capital that
+he had lost; there it is a cave (at Criptana) where the Moors found
+refuge when their power in Castile was broken; elsewhere are the
+chains (in Toledo) with which the devotees of Islám chained their
+Christian captives.
+
+In addition to this, the hills of a great part of Spain are dotted
+with fortresses of "tabia" (rammed earth concrete) precisely such as
+are occupied still by the country kaďds of Morocco; and by the wayside
+are traces of the skill exercised in bringing water underground from
+the hills beyond Marrákesh. How many church towers in Spain were
+built for the call of the muédhdhin, and how many houses had their
+foundations laid for hareems! In the south especially such are
+conspicuous from their design. To crown all stand the palaces and
+mosques of Córdova, Sevílle, and Granáda, not to mention minor
+specimens.
+
+When we talk of the Moors in Spain, we often forget how nearly we were
+enabled to speak also of the Moors in France. Their brave attempts to
+pass that natural barrier, the Pyrenees, find a suitable monument
+in the perpetual independence of the wee republic of Andorra, whose
+inhabitants so successfully stemmed the tide of invasion. The story of
+Charles Martel, too, the "Hammer" who broke the Muslim power in that
+direction, is one of the most important in the history of Europe.
+What if the people who were already levying taxes in the districts of
+Narbonne and Nîmes had found as easy a victory over the vineyards of
+southern France, as they had over those of Spain? Where would they
+have stopped? Would they ever have been driven out, or would St.
+Paul's have been a second Kűtűbîya, and Westminster a Karűeeďn? God
+knows!
+
+
+  II. CÓRDOVA
+
+The earliest notable monument of Moorish dominion in Andalucia
+still existing is the famous mosque of Córdova, now deformed into a
+cathedral. Its erection occupied the period from 786 to 796 of the
+Christian era, and it is said that it stands on the site of a Gothic
+church erected on the ruins of a still earlier temple dedicated
+to Janus. Portions, however, have been added since that date, as
+inscriptions on the walls record, and the European additions date from
+1521, when, notwithstanding the protests of the people of Córdova,
+the bishops obtained permission from Charles V. to rear the present
+quasi-Gothic structure in its central court. The disgust and anger
+which the lover of Moorish architecture--or art of any sort--feels
+for the name of "_Carlos quinto_," as at point after point hideous
+additions to the Moorish remains are ascribed to that conceited
+monarch, are somewhat tempered for once by the record that even he
+repented when he saw the result of his permission in this instance.
+"You have built here," he said, "what you might have built anywhere,
+and in doing so you have spoiled what was unique in the world!" In
+each of the three great centres of Moorish rule, Sevílle, Granáda and
+Córdova, the same hand is responsible for outrageous modern erections
+in the midst of hoary monuments of eastern art, carefully inscribed
+with their author's name, as "Cćsar the Emperor, Charles the Fifth."
+
+The Córdova Mosque, antedated only by those of Old Cairo and Kaďrwán,
+is a forest of marble pillars, with a fine court to the west,
+surrounded by an arcade, and planted with orange trees and palms,
+interspersed with fountains. Nothing in Morocco can compare with it
+save the Karűeeďn mosque at Fez, built a century later, but that
+building is too low, and the pillars are for the most part mere brick
+erections, too short to afford the elegance which here delights. This
+is grand in its simplicity; nineteen aisles of slightly tapering
+columns of beautiful marbles, jasper or porphyry, about nine feet in
+height, supporting long vistas of flying horse-shoe arches, of which
+the stones are now coloured alternately yellow and red, though
+probably intended to be all pure white. Other still more elegant
+scolloped arches, exquisitely decorated by carving the plaster, spring
+between alternate pillars, and from arch to arch, presumably more
+modern work.
+
+The aisles are rather over twenty feet in width, and the thirty-three
+cross vaultings about half as much, while the height of the roof is
+from thirty to forty feet. In all, the pillars number about 500,
+though frequently stated to total 850 out of an original 1419, but it
+is difficult to say where all these can be, since the sum of 33 by 19
+is only 627, and a deduction has to be made for the central court,
+in which stands the church or choir. Since these notes were
+first published, in 1890, I have seen it disputed between modern
+impressionist writers which of them first described the wonderful
+scene as a palm grove, a comparison of which I had never heard when
+I wrote, but the wonder to me would be if any one could attempt to
+picture the scene without making use of it.
+
+Who but a nation of nomads, accustomed to obey the call to prayer
+beneath the waving branches of African and Arabian palm-groves, would
+have dreamed of raising such a House of God? Unless for the purpose of
+supporting a wide and solid roof, or of dividing the centre into the
+form of a cross, what other ecclesiastical architects would have
+conceived the idea of filling a place of worship with pillars or
+columns? No one who has walked in a palm-grove can fail to be struck
+by the resemblance to it of this remarkable mosque. The very tufted
+heads with their out-curving leaves are here reproduced in the
+interlacing arches, and with the light originally admitted by the
+central court and the great doors, the present somewhat gloomy area
+would have been bright and pleasant as a real grove, with its bubbling
+fountains, and the soothing sound of trickling streams. I take the
+present skylights to be of modern construction, as I never saw such a
+device in a Moorish building.
+
+Most of the marble columns are the remains of earlier erections,
+chiefly Roman, like the bridge over the Guadalquivir close by,
+restored by the builder of the mosque. Some, indeed, came from
+Constantinople, and others were brought from the south of France. They
+are neither uniform in height nor girth--some having been pieced at
+the bottom, and others partly buried;--so also with the capitals,
+certain of which are evidently from the same source as the pillars,
+while the remainder are but rude imitations, mostly Corinthian in
+style. The original expenses of the building were furnished by a fifth
+of the booty taken from the Spaniards, with the subsidies raised in
+Catalonia and Narbonne. The Moors supplied voluntary, and European
+captives forced labour.
+
+[Illustration: A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE.]
+
+On Fridays, when the Faithful met in thousands for the noon-day
+prayer, what a sight and what a melody! The deep, rich tones of the
+organ may add impressiveness to a service of worship, but there is
+nothing in the world so grand, so awe-inspiring as the human voice.
+When a vast body of males repeats the formulć of praise, together, but
+just slightly out of time, the effect once heard is never forgotten. I
+have heard it often, and as I walk these aisles I hear it ringing in
+my ears, and can picture to myself a close-packed row of white-robed
+figures between each pillar, and rows from end to end between, all
+standing, stooping, or forehead on earth, as they follow the motions
+of the leader before them. A grand sight it is, whatever may be one's
+opinion of their religion. In the manner they sit on the matted floors
+of their mosques there would be room here for thirteen thousand
+without using the Orange Court, and there is little doubt that on days
+when the Court attended it used to be filled to its utmost.
+
+To the south end of the cathedral the floor of two wide aisles is
+raised on arches, exactly opposite the niche which marks the direction
+of Mekka, and the space above is more richly decorated than any other
+portion of the edifice except the niche itself. This doubtless formed
+the spot reserved for the Ameer and his Court, screened off on three
+sides to prevent the curiosity of the worshippers overcoming their
+devotion, as is still arranged in the mosques which the Sultan of
+Morocco attends in his capitals. Until a few years ago this rich work
+in arabesque and tiles was hidden by plaster.
+
+The kiblah niche is a gem of its kind. It consists of a horse-shoe
+arch, the face of which is ornamented with gilded glass mosaic,
+forming the entrance to a semi-circular recess beautifully adorned
+with arabesques and inscriptions, the top of the dome being a large
+white marble slab hollowed out in the form of a pecten shell. The wall
+over the entrance is covered with texts from the Korán, forming an
+elegant design, and on either side are niches of lesser merit, but
+serving to set off the central one which formed the kiblah. Eleven
+centuries have elapsed since the hands of the workmen left it, and
+still it stands a witness of the pitch of art attained by the Berbers
+in Spain.
+
+It is said that here was deposited a copy of the Korán written by
+Othmán himself, and stained with his blood, of such a size that two
+men could hardly lift it. When, for a brief period, the town fell into
+the hands of Alfonso VII., his soldiers used the mosque as a stable,
+and tore up this valuable manuscript. When a Moorish Embassy was sent
+to Madrid some years ago, the members paid a visit to this relic of
+the greatness of their forefathers, and to the astonishment of the
+custodians, having returned to the court-yard to perform the required
+ablutions, re-entered, slippers in hand, to go through the acts
+of worship as naturally as if at home. What a strange sight for a
+Christian cathedral! Right in front of the niche is a plain marble
+tomb with no sign but a plain bar dexter. Evidently supposing this to
+be the resting-place of some saint of their own persuasion, they made
+the customary number of revolutions around it. It would be interesting
+to learn from their lips what their impressions were.
+
+Of the tower which once added to the imposing appearance of the
+building, it is recorded that it had no rival in height known to the
+builders. It was of stone, and, like one still standing in Baghdád
+from the days of Harűn el Rasheed, had two ways to the top, winding
+one above the other, so that those who ascended by the one never met
+those descending by the other. According to custom it was crowned
+by three gilded balls, and it had fourteen windows. This was of
+considerably later date than the mosque itself, but has long been a
+thing of the past.
+
+The European additions to the Córdova mosque are the choir, high
+altar, etc., which by themselves would make a fine church, occupying
+what must have been originally a charming court, paved with white
+marble and enlivened by fountains; the tower, built over the main
+entrance, opening into the Court of Oranges; and a score or two of
+shrines with iron railings in front round the sides, containing
+altars, images, and other fantastic baubles to awe the ignorant. An
+inscription in the tower records that it was nearly destroyed by
+the earth-quake of 1755, and though it is the least objectionable
+addition, it is a pity that it did not fall on that or some subsequent
+occasion. It was raised on the ruins of its Moorish predecessor in
+1593. The chief entrance, like that of Sevílle, is a curious attempt
+to blend Roman architecture with Mauresque, having been restored in
+1377, but the result is not bad. Recent "restorations" are observable
+in some parts of the mosque, hideous with colour, but a few of the
+original beams are still visible. I am inclined to consider the
+greater part of the roof modern, but could not inspect it closely
+enough to be certain. Though vaulted inside, it is tiled in ridges in
+the usual Moorish style, but very few green tiles are to be seen.
+
+From the tower the view reminds one strongly of Morocco. The hills to
+the north and south, with the river winding close to the town across
+the fertile plain, give the scene a striking resemblance to that from
+the tower of the Spanish consulate at Tetuan. All around are the still
+tortuous streets of a Moorish town, though the roofs of the houses
+are tiled in ridges of Moorish pattern, as those of Tangier were when
+occupied by the English two hundred years ago, and as those of El
+K'sar are now.
+
+The otherwise Moorish-looking building at one's feet is marred by the
+unsightly erection in the centre, and its court-yard seems to have
+degenerated into a play-ground, where the neighbours saunter or fill
+pitchers from the fountains.
+
+After enduring the apparently unceasing din of the bells in those
+erstwhile stations of the muédhdhin, one ceases to wonder that the
+lazy Moors have such a detestation for them, and make use instead of
+the stirring tones of the human voice. Rest and quiet seem impossible
+in their vicinity, for their jarring is simply head-splitting. And as
+if they were not excruciating enough, during "Holy Week" they conspire
+against the ear-drums of their victims by revolving a sort of infernal
+machine made of wood in the form of a hollow cross, with four swinging
+hammers on each arm which strike against iron plates as the thing goes
+round. The keeper's remark that the noise was awful was superfluous.
+
+The history of the town of Córdova has been as chequered as that of
+most Andalucian cities. Its foundation is shrouded in obscurity. The
+Romans and Vandals had in turn been its masters before the Moors
+wrested it from the Spaniards in the year 710 A.D. Though the
+Spaniards regained possession of it in 1075, it was not for long, as
+it soon fell into the hands of the invaders once more. The Spanish
+victors only left a Moorish viceroy in charge, who proved too true a
+Berber to serve against his countrymen, so he betrayed his trust. In
+1236 it was finally recovered by the Spaniards, after five hundred and
+twenty-four years of Moorish rule. Since that time the traces of that
+epoch of its history have been gradually disappearing, till there only
+remain the mutilated mosque, and portions of the ancient palace, or of
+saint-houses (as the side-chapel of the Church of St. Miguel), and of
+a few dwellings. Since the first train steamed to this ancient city,
+in 1859, the railway has probably brought as many pilgrims to the
+mosque as ever visited it from other motives in its greatest days.
+
+The industry founded here by the Moors--that of tanning--which has
+given its name to a trade in several countries,[27] seems to have gone
+with them to Morocco, for though many of the old tan-pits still exist
+by the river side, no leather of any repute is now produced here. The
+Moorish water-mills are yet at work though, having been repaired and
+renewed on the original model. These, as at Granáda and other places,
+are horizontal wheels worked from a small spout above, directly under
+the mill-stone, such as is met with in Fez and Tetuan.
+
+  [27: Sp. _cordován_, Fr. _cordonnier_, Eng. _cordwainer_, etc.]
+
+
+  III. SEVÍLLE
+
+In the Girálda tower of Sevílle I expected to find a veritable
+Moorish trophy in the best state of preservation, open to that minute
+inspection which was impossible in the only complete specimen of such
+a tower, the Kutűbîya, part of a mosque still in use. Imagine, then,
+my regret on arriving at the foot of that venerable monument, to find
+it "spick and span," as if just completed, looking new and tawdry
+by the side of the cathedral which has replaced the mosque it once
+adorned. Instead of the hoary antiquity to which the rich deep colour
+of the stone of the sister towers in Morocco bears witness in their
+weather-beaten glory, this one, built, above the first few stone
+courses, of inch pan-tiles, separated by a like thickness of mortar,
+has the appearance of having been newly pointed and rubbed down, while
+faded frescoes on the walls testify to the barbarity of the conquerors
+of the "barbarians."
+
+The delicate tracery in hewn stone which adds so greatly to the beauty
+of the Morocco and Tlemçen examples, is almost entirely lacking, while
+the once tasteful horse-shoe windows are now pricked out in red and
+yellow, with a hideous modern balcony of white stone before each. The
+quasi-Moorish belfry is the most pardonable addition, but to crown
+all is an exhibition of incongruity which has no excuse. The original
+tile-faced turret of the Moors, with its gilded balls, has actually
+been replaced by a structure of several storeys, the first of which
+is Doric, the second Ionic, and the third Corinthian. Imagine this
+crowning the comely severity of the solid Moorish structure without a
+projecting ornament! But this is not all. Swinging in gaunt uneasiness
+over the whole, stands a huge revolving statue, supposed to represent
+Faith, holding out in one hand a shield which catches the wind, and
+causes it to act as a weather-vane.
+
+Such is the Girálda of the twentieth century, and the guide-books are
+full of praises for the restorer, who doubtless deserves great credit
+for his skill in repairing the tower after it had suffered severely
+from lightning, but who might have done more towards restoring the
+original design, at all events in the original portion. We read in
+"Raôd el Kártás" that the mosque was finished and the tower commenced
+in 1197, during the reign of Mulai Yakűb el Mansűr, who commenced its
+sisters at Marrákesh and Rabat in the same year. One architect is
+recorded to have designed all three--indeed, they have little uncommon
+in their design, and have been once almost alike. Some assert that
+this man was a Christian, but there is nothing in the style of
+building to favour such a supposition.
+
+The plan is that of all the mosque towers of Morocco, and the only
+tower of a mosque in actual use which I have ascended in that
+country--one at Mogador--was just a miniature of this. It is,
+therefore, in little else than point of size that these three are
+remarkable. The similarity between these and the recently fallen tower
+of St. Mark's at Venice is most striking, both in design and in the
+method of ascent by an inclined plane; while around the Italian lakes
+are to be seen others of less size, but strongly resembling these.
+
+All three are square, and consist of six to eight storeys in the
+centre, with thick walls and vaulted roof, surrounded by an inclined
+plane from base to summit, at an angle which makes it easy walking,
+and horses have been ridden up. The unfinished Hassan Tower at Rabat
+having at one time become a place of evil resort, the reigning ameer
+ordered the way up to be destroyed, but it was found so hard that only
+the first round was cut away, and the door bricked up. Each ramp of
+the Girálda, if I remember rightly, has its window, but in the Hassan
+many are without light, though at least every alternate one has a
+window, some of these being placed at the corner to serve for two,
+while here they are always in the centre. The Girálda proper contains
+seven of these storeys, with thirty-five ramps. To the top of the
+eighth storey, which is the first addition, dating from the sixteenth
+century, now used as a belfry, the height is about 220 feet. The
+present total height is a little over 300 feet.
+
+The original turret of the Girálda, similar to that at Marrákesh, was
+destroyed in 1396 by a hurricane. The additions were finished in
+1598. An old view, still in existence, and dating from the
+thirteenth century, shows it in its pristine glory, and there is
+another--Moorish--as old as the tower itself.
+
+After all that I had read and heard of the palace at Sevílle, I was
+more disappointed than even in the case of the Girálda. Not only does
+it present nothing imposing in the way of Moorish architecture, but it
+has evidently been so much altered by subsequent occupants as to have
+lost much of its original charm. To begin with the outside, instead
+of wearing the fine crumbling appearance of the palaces of Morocco or
+Granáda, this also had been all newly plastered till it looks like a
+work of yesterday, and coloured a not unbecoming red. Even the main
+entrance has a Gothic inscription half way up, and though its general
+aspect is that of Moorish work, on a closer inspection, the lower part
+at least is seen to be an imitation, as in many ways the unwritten
+laws of that style have been widely departed from. The Gothic
+inscription states that Don Pedro I. built it in 1364.
+
+Inside, the general ground plan remains much as built, but connecting
+doorways have been opened where Moors never put them, and with the
+exception of the big raised tank in the corner, there is nothing
+African about the garden. Even the plan has been in places destroyed
+to obtain rooms of a more suitable width for the conveniences of
+European life. The property is a portion of the Royal patrimony, and
+is from time to time occupied by the reigning sovereign when visiting
+Sevílle. A marble tablet in one of these rooms tells of a queen having
+been born there during the last century.
+
+Much of the ornamentation on the walls is of course original, as well
+as some of the ceilings and doors, but the "restorations" effected at
+various epochs have greatly altered the face of things. Gaudy colours
+show up both walls and ceilings, but at the same time greatly detract
+from their value, besides which there are coarse imitations of the
+genuine tile-work, made in squares, with lines in relief to represent
+the joints, as well as patterns painted on the plaster to fill up
+gaps in the designs. Then, too, the most prominent parts of the
+ornamentation have been disfigured by the interposition of Spanish
+shields and coats-of-arms on tiles. The border round the top of the
+dado is alternated with these all the way round some of the rooms.
+To crown all, certain of the fine old doors, resembling a wooden
+patchwork, have been "restored" with plaster-of-Paris. Some of the
+arabesques which now figure on these walls were actually pillaged from
+the Alhambra.
+
+Many of the Arabic inscriptions have been pieced so as to render them
+illegible, and some have been replaced upside down, while others
+tell their own tale, for they ascribe glory and might to a Spanish
+sovereign, Don Pedro the Cruel, instead of to a "Leader of the
+Faithful." A reference to the history of the country tells us that
+this ruler "reconstructed" the palace of the Moors, while later it was
+repaired by Don Juan II., before Ferdinand and Isabella built their
+oratories within its precincts, or Charles V., with his mania for
+"improving" these monuments of a foreign dominion, doubled it in
+size. For six centuries this work, literally of spoliation, has been
+proceeding in the hands of successive owners; what other result than
+that arrived at, could be hoped for?
+
+When this is realized, the greater portion of the historic value of
+this palace vanishes, and its original character as a Moorish palace
+is seen to have almost disappeared. There still, however, remains the
+indisputable fact, apparent from what does remain of the work of its
+builders, that it was always a work of art and a trophy of the skill
+of its designers, those who have interfered with it subsequently
+having far from improved it.
+
+According to Arab historians, the foundations of this palace were laid
+in 1171 A.D. and it was reconstructed between 1353 and 1364. In 1762
+a fire did considerable damage, which was not repaired till 1805. The
+inscriptions are of no great historical interest. "Wa lá ghálib ílá
+Allah"--"there is none victorious but God"--abounds here, as at
+the Alhambra, and there are some very neat specimens of the Kufic
+character.
+
+Of Moorish Sevílle, apart from the Girálda and the Palace--El Kasar,
+corrupted into Alcazar--the only remains of importance are the Torre
+del Oro--Borj ed-Daheb--built in 1220 at the riverside, close to where
+the Moors had their bridge of boats, and the towers of the churches
+of SS. Marcos and Marina. Others there are, built in imitation of the
+older erections, often by Moorish architects, as those of the churches
+of Omnium Sanctorum, San Nicolas, Ermita de la Virgen, and Santa
+Catalina. Many private houses contain arches, pillars, and other
+portions of Moorish buildings which have preceded them, such as are
+also to be found in almost every town of southern Spain. As late as
+1565 the town had thirteen gates more or less of Moorish origin, but
+these have all long since disappeared.
+
+Sevílle was one of the first cities to surrender to the Moors after
+the battle of Guadalete, A.D. 711, and remained in their hands till
+taken by St. Ferdinand after fifteen months' siege in 1248, six years
+after its inhabitants had thrown off their allegiance to the Emperor
+of Morocco, and formed themselves into a sort of republic, and ten
+years after the Moorish Kingdom of Granáda was founded. It then became
+the capital of Spain till Charles V. removed the Court to Valladolid.
+
+
+  IV. GRANÁDA
+
+"O Palace Red! From distant lands I have come to see thee, believing
+thee to be a garden in spring, but I have found thee as a tree in
+autumn. I thought to see thee with my heart full of joy, but instead
+my eyes have filled with tears."
+
+So wrote in the visitors' album of the Alhambra, in 1876, an Arab poet
+in his native tongue, and another inscription in the same volume,
+written by a Moor some years before, remarks, "Peace be on thee, O
+Granáda! We have seen thee and admired thee, and have said, 'Praised
+be he who constructed thee, and may they who destroyed thee receive
+mercy.'"
+
+As the sentiments of members of the race of its builders, these
+expressions are especially interesting; but they can hardly fail to
+be shared to some extent by visitors from eastern lands, of whatever
+nationality. Although the loveliest monument of Moorish art in Spain,
+and a specimen of their highest architectural skill, destructions,
+mutilations, and restorations have wrought so much damage to it that
+it now stands, indeed, "as a tree in autumn." It was not those
+who conquered the Moors on whom mercy was implored by the writer
+quoted--for they, Ferdinand and Isabella, did their best to preserve
+their trophy--but on such of their successors as Charles V., who
+actually planted a still unfinished palace right among the buildings
+of this venerable spot, adjoining the remains of the Alhambra, part of
+which it has doubtless replaced.
+
+This unartistic Austrian styled these remains "the ugly abominations
+of the Moors," and forthwith proceeded to erect really ugly
+structures. But the most unpardonable destroyers of all that the Moors
+left beautiful were, perhaps, the French, who in 1810 entered Granáda
+with hardly a blow, and under Sebastian practically desolated the
+palace. They turned it into barracks and storehouses, as inscriptions
+on its walls still testify--notably on the sills of the "Miranda de
+la Reina." Ere they left in 1812, they even went so far as to blow
+up eight of the towers, the remainder only escaping through the
+negligence of an employee, and the fuses were put out by an old
+Spanish soldier.
+
+The Spaniards having thus regained possession, the commissioners
+appointed to look after it "sold everything for themselves, and then,
+like good patriots, reported that the invaders had left nothing."
+After a brief respite in the care of an old woman, who exhibited more
+sense in the matter than all the generals who had perpetrated such
+outrages upon it, the Alhambra was again desecrated by a new Governor,
+who used it as a store of salt fish for the galley slaves.
+
+While the old woman--Washington Irving's "Tia Antonia"--was in
+possession, that famous writer did more than any one to restore the
+ancient fame of the palace by coming to stay there, and writing
+his well-known account of his visit. Mr. Forde, and his friend Mr.
+Addington, the British Ambassador, helped to remind people of its
+existence, and saved what was left. Subsequent civil wars have,
+however, afforded fresh opportunities of injury to its hoary walls,
+and to-day it stands a mere wreck of what it once was.
+
+The name by which these buildings are now known is but the adjective
+by which the Arabs described it, "El Hamra," meaning "The Red,"
+because of its colour outside. When occupied it was known only as
+either "The Palace of Granáda," or "The Red Palace." The colour of the
+earth here is precisely that of the plains of Dukála and Marrákesh,
+and the buildings, being all constructed of tabia, are naturally of
+that colour. In no part of Spain could one so readily imagine one's
+self in Morocco; indeed, it is hard to realize that one is not there
+till the new European streets are reached. In the palace grounds,
+apart from the fine carriage-drive, with its seats and lamp-posts,
+when out of sight of the big hotels and other modern erections, the
+delusion is complete. Even in the town the running water and the
+wayside fountains take one back to Fez; and the channels underneath
+the pavements with their plugs at intervals are only Moorish ones
+repaired. On walking the crooked streets of the part which formed the
+town of four centuries ago, on every hand the names are Moorish. Here
+is the Kaisarîya, restored after a fire in 1843; there is the street
+of the grain fandaks, and beyond is a hammám, now a dwelling-house.
+
+The site of the chief mosque is now the cathedral, in the chief chapel
+of which are buried the conquerors of Granáda. There lie Ferdinand
+and Isabella in plain iron-bound leaden coffins--far from the least
+interesting sights of the place--in a spot full of memories of that
+contest which they considered the event of their lives, and which was
+indeed of such vital importance to the country. The inscription on
+their marble tomb in the church above tells how that the Moors having
+been conquered and heresy stamped out (?), that worthy couple took
+their rest. The very atmosphere of the place seems charged with
+reminiscences of the Moors and their successful foes, and here the
+spirits of Prescott and Gayangos, the historians, seem to linger
+still.
+
+On either side of the high altar are extremely interesting painted
+carvings. On one is figured the delivering up of the Alhambra.
+Ferdinand, Isabella and Mendoza ride in a line, and the latter
+receives the key in his gloved hand as the conquered king offers him
+the ring end, followed by a long row of captives. Behind the victors
+ride their knights and dames. On the other the Moors and Mooresses are
+seen being christened wholesale by the monks, their dresses being in
+some respects remarkably correct in detail, but with glaring defects
+in others, just what might be expected from one whose acquaintance
+with them was recent but brief.
+
+Before these carvings kneel real likenesses of the royal couple
+in wood, and on the massive square tomb in front they repose in
+alabaster. A fellow-tomb by their side has been raised to the memory
+of their immediate successors. In the sacristry are to be seen the
+very robes of Cardinal Mendoza, and his missal, with the sceptre and
+jewel-case of Isabella, and the sword of Ferdinand, while that of
+the conquered Bű Abd Allah is on view elsewhere. Here, too, are the
+standards unfurled on the day of the recapture, January 2, 1492, and
+a picture full of interest, recording the adieux of "Boabdil" and
+Ferdinand, who, after their bitter contest, have shaken hands and are
+here falling on each other's necks.
+
+As a model of Moorish art, the palace of Granáda, commenced in 1248,
+is a monument of its latest and most refined period. The heavy and
+comparatively simple styles of Córdova and Sevílle are here amplified
+and refined, the result being the acme of elegance and oriental taste.
+This I say from personal acquaintance with the temples of the far
+East, although those present a much more gorgeous appearance, and are
+much more costly erections, evincing a degree of architectural ability
+and the possession of hoards of wealth beside which what the builders
+of the Alhambra could boast of was insignificant; nor do I attempt to
+compare these interesting relics with the equally familiar immensity
+of ancient masonry, or with the magnificent work of the Middle Ages
+still existing in Europe. These monuments hold a place of their own,
+unique and unassailable. They are the mementoes of an era in the
+history of Europe, not only of the Peninsula, and the interest which
+attaches itself to them even on this score alone is very great. As
+relics on a foreign soil, they have stood the storms of five centuries
+under the most trying circumstances, and the simplicity of their
+components lends an additional charm to the fabric. They are to
+a great extent composed of what are apparently the weakest
+materials--mud, gypsum, and wood; the marble and tiles are but
+adornments.
+
+From without the appearance of the palace has been well described as
+that of "reddish cork models rising out of a girdle of trees." On
+a closer inspection the "cork" appears like red sandstone, and one
+wonders how it has stood even one good storm. There is none of that
+facing of stone which gives most other styles of architecture an
+appearance of durability, and whatever facing of plaster it may
+once have possessed has long since disappeared. But inside all is
+different. Instead of crumbling red walls, the courts and apartments
+are highly ornamented with what we now call plaster-of-Paris, but
+which the Moors have long prepared by roasting the gypsum in rude
+kilns, calling it "gibs."
+
+A full description of each room or court-yard would better become a
+guide-book, and to those who have the opportunity of visiting the
+spot, I would recommend Ford's incomparable "Handbook to Spain,"
+published by Murray, the older the edition the better. To those who
+can read Spanish, the "Estudio descriptivo de los Monumentos arabes,"
+by the late Sr. Contreras (Government restorer of the Moorish remains
+in Spain), to be obtained in Granáda, is well worth reading.
+Such information as a visitor would need to correct the mistaken
+impressions of these and other writers ignorant of Moorish usages as
+to the original purpose of the various apartments, I have embodied in
+Macmillan's "Guide to the Western Mediterranean."
+
+Certain points, however, either for their architectural merit or
+historic interest, cannot be passed over. Such is the Court of the
+Lions, of part of which a model disfigured by garish painting may be
+seen at the Crystal Palace. In some points it is resembled by the
+chief court of the mosque of the Karűeeďn at Fez. In the centre is
+that strange departure from the injunctions of the Korán which has
+given its name to the spot, the alabaster fountain resting on the
+loins of twelve beasts, called, by courtesy, "lions." They remind one
+rather of cats. "Their faces barbecued, and their manes cut like the
+scales of a griffin, and the legs like bed-posts; a water-pipe stuck
+in their mouths does not add to their dignity." In the inscription
+round the basin above, among flowery phrases belauding the fountain,
+and suggesting that the work is so fine that it is difficult to
+distinguish the water from the alabaster, the spectator is comforted
+with the assurance that they cannot bite!
+
+The court is surrounded by the usual tiled verandah, supported by one
+hundred and twenty-two light and elegant white marble pillars, the
+arches between which show some eleven different forms. At each end is
+a portico jutting out from the verandahs, and four cupolas add to the
+appearance of the roofs. The length of the court is twice its width,
+which is sixty feet, and on each side lies a beautiful decorated
+apartment with the unusual additions of jets of water from the floor
+in the centre of each, as also before each of the three doors apiece
+of the long narrow Moorish rooms, and under the two porticoes. The
+overflows, instead of being hidden pipes, are channels in the marble
+pavement, for the Moors were too great lovers of rippling water to
+lose the opportunity as we cold-blooded northerners would.
+
+To fully realize the delights of such a place one must imagine it
+carpeted with the products of Rabat, surrounded by soft mattresses
+piled with cushions, and with its walls hung with a dado of
+dark-coloured felt cloths of various colours, interworked to represent
+pillars and arches such as surround the gallery, and showing up the
+beautiful white of the marble by contrast. Thus furnished--in true
+Moorish style--the place should be visited on a hot summer's day,
+after a wearisome toil up the hill from the town. Then, lolling among
+the cushions, and listening to the splashing water, if strong sympathy
+is not felt with the builders of the palace, who thought it a
+paradise, the visitor ought never to have left his armchair by the
+fire-side at home.
+
+If, instead of wasting money on re-plastering the walls until they
+look ready for papering, and then scratching geometrical designs upon
+them in a style no Moor ever dreamed of, the Spanish Government would
+entrust a Moor of taste to decorate it in his own native style,
+without the modern European additions, they would do far better and
+spend less. One step further, and the introduction of Moorish guides
+and caretakers who spoke Spanish--easy to obtain--would add fifty
+per cent. to the interest of the place. Then fancy the Christian and
+Muslim knights meeting in single combat on the plains beneath those
+walls. People once more the knolls and pastures with the turban and
+the helm, fill in the colours of robe and plume; oh, what a picture it
+would make!
+
+Doubtless similar apartments for the hareem exist in the recesses of
+the palaces of Fez, Mequinez, Marrákesh and Rabat. Some very fine work
+is to be seen in the comparatively public parts, in many respects
+equalling this, and certainly better than that of the palace of
+Sevílle. Various alterations and "restorations" have been effected
+from time to time in this as in other parts of the palace, notably in
+the fountain, the top part of which is modern. It is probable that
+originally there was only one basin, resting immediately on the
+"lions" below. Its date is given as 1477 A.D.
+
+The room known for disputed reasons as the Hall of the Two Sisters was
+originally a bedroom. The entrance is one of the most elaborate in the
+palace, and its wooden ceiling, pieced to resemble stalactites, is a
+charming piece of work, as also are those of the other important rooms
+of the palace.
+
+Another apartment opening out of the Court of Lions, known as the Hall
+of Justice--most likely in error--contains one of the most curious
+remains in the palace, another departure from the precepts of the
+religion professed by its builders. This is no less than a series of
+pictures painted on skins sewn together, glued and fastened to the
+wooden dome with tinned tacks, and covered with a fine coating of
+gypsum, the gilt parts being in relief. Though the date of their
+execution must have been in the fourteenth century, the colours are
+still clear and fresh. The picture in the centre of the three domes is
+supposed by some to represent ten Moorish kings of Granáda, though it
+is more likely meant for ten wise men in council. On the other two
+ceilings are pictures, one of a lady holding a chained lion, on the
+point of being delivered from a man in skins by a European, who is
+afterwards slain by a mounted Moor. The other is of a boar-hunt and
+people drinking at a fountain, with a man up a tree in a dress which
+looks remarkably like that of the eighteenth century in England, wig
+and all. This work must have been that of some Christian renegade,
+though considerable discussion has taken place over the authorship.
+It is most likely that the lions are of similar origin, sculptured by
+some one who had but a remote idea of the king of the forest.
+
+After the group of apartments surrounding the Court of the Lions, the
+most valuable specimen of Moorish architecture is that known as the
+Hall of the Ambassadors, probably once devoted to official interviews,
+as its name denotes. This is the largest room in the palace, occupying
+the upper floor in one of the massive towers which defended the
+citadel, overlooking the Vega and the remains of the camp-town
+of Santa Fé, built during the siege by the "Catholic Kings." The
+thickness of its walls is therefore immense, and the windows look like
+little tunnels; under it are dungeons. The hall is thirty-seven feet
+square, and no less than seventy-five feet high in the centre of the
+roof, which is not the original one. Some of the finest stucco wall
+decoration in the place is to be seen here, with elegant Arabic
+inscriptions, in the ancient style of ornamental writing known as
+Kufic, most of the instances of the latter meaning, "O God, to Thee be
+endless praise, and thanks ascending." Over the windows are lines in
+cursive Arabic, ascribing victory and glory to the "leader of the
+resigned, our lord the father of the pilgrims" (Yűsef I.), with a
+prayer for his welfare, while everywhere is to be seen here, as in
+other parts, the motto, "and there is none victorious but God."
+
+Between the two blocks already described lie the baths, the
+undressing-room of which has been very creditably restored by the late
+Sr. Contreras, and looks splendid. It is, in fact, a covered patio
+with the gallery of the next floor running round, and as no cloth
+hangings or carpets could be used here, the walls and floor are fully
+decorated with stucco and tiles. The inner rooms are now in fair
+condition, and are fitted with marble, though the boiler and pipes
+were sold long ago by a former "keeper" of the palace. The general
+arrangement is just the same as that of the baths in Morocco.
+
+One room of the palace was fitted up by Ferdinand and Isabella as a
+chapel, the gilt ornaments of which look very gaudy by the side of
+the original Moorish work. Opening out of this is a little gem of a
+mosque, doubtless intended for the royal devotions alone, as it is too
+small for a company.
+
+Surrounding the palace proper are several other buildings forming part
+of the Alhambra, which must not be overlooked. Among them are the two
+towers of the Princesses and the Captives, both of which have been
+ably repaired. In the latter are to be seen tiles of a peculiar
+rosy tint, not met with elsewhere. In the Dar Aďshah ("Gabinete de
+Lindaraxa"--"x" pronounced as "sh") are excellent specimens of
+those with a metallic hue, resembling the colours on the surface of
+tar-water. Ford points out that it was only in these tiles that the
+Moors employed any but the primary colours, with gold for yellow. This
+is evident, and holds good to the present day. Both these towers give
+a perfect idea of a Moorish house of the better class in miniature.
+Outside the walls are of the rough red of the mud concrete, while
+inside they are nearly all white, and beautifully decorated. The
+thickness of the walls keeps them delightfully cool, and the crooked
+passages render the courts in the centre quite private.
+
+Of the other towers and gates, the only notable one is that of
+Justice, a genuine Moorish erection with a turning under it to stay
+the onrush of an enemy, and render it easier of defence. The hand
+carved on the outer arch and the key on the inner one have given rise
+to many explanations, but their only significance was probably that
+this gate was the key of the castle, while the hand was to protect
+the key from the effects of the evil eye. This superstition is still
+popular, and its practice is to be seen to-day on thousands of doors
+in Morocco, in rudely painted hands on the doorposts.
+
+The Watch Tower (de la Vela) is chiefly noteworthy as one of the
+points from which the Spanish flag was unfurled on the memorable day
+of the entry into Granáda. The anniversary of that date, January 2nd,
+is a high time for the young ladies, who flock here to toll the bell
+in the hopes of being provided with a husband during the new-begun
+year.
+
+At a short distance from the Alhambra itself is a group known as the
+Torres Bermejas (Vermilion Towers), probably the most ancient of the
+Moorish reign, if part did not exist before their settlement here, but
+they present no remarkable architectural features.
+
+Across a little valley is the Generalife, a charming summer residence
+built about 1320, styled by its builder the "Paradise of the
+Wise,"--Jinah el Arîf--which the Spaniards have corrupted to its
+present designation, pronouncing it Kheneraliffy. Truly this is a spot
+after the Moor's own heart: a luxuriant garden with plenty of dark
+greens against white walls and pale-blue trellis-work, harmonious
+at every turn with the rippling and splashing of nature's choicest
+liquid. Of architectural beauty the buildings in this garden have but
+little, yet as specimens of Moorish style--though they have suffered
+with the rest--they form a complement to the Alhambra. That is the
+typical fortress-palace, the abode of a martial Court; this is the
+pleasant resting-place, the cool retreat for love and luxury. Nature
+is here predominant, and Art has but a secondary place, for once
+retaining her true position as great Nature's handmaid. Light arched
+porticoes and rooms behind serve but as shelter from the noonday
+glare, while roomy turrets treat the occupier to delightful views.
+Superfluous ornament within is not allowed to interfere with the
+contemplation of beauty without.
+
+Between the lower and upper terrace is a remarkable arrangement of
+steps, a Moorish ideal, for at equal distances from top to bottom,
+between each flight, are fountains playing in the centre, round which
+one must walk, while a stream runs down the top of each side wall in
+a channel made of tiles. What a pleasant sight and sound to those
+to whom stair climbing in a broiling sun is too much exercise! The
+cypresses in the garden are very fine, but they give none too much
+shade. The present owner's agent has Bű Abd Allah's sword on view at
+his house in the town, and this is a gem worth asking to see when a
+ticket is obtained for the Generalife. It is of a totally different
+pattern and style of ornament from the modern Moorish weapons, being
+inlaid in a very clever and tasteful manner.
+
+To the antiquary the most interesting part of Granáda is the Albaycin,
+the quarter lying highest up the valley of the Darro, originally
+peopled by refugees from the town of Baeza--away to the north, beyond
+Jaen--the Baďseeďn. As the last stronghold of Moorish rule in the
+Peninsula, when one by one the other cities, once its rivals, fell
+into the hands of the Christians again, Granáda became a centre
+of refuge from all parts, and to this owed much of its ultimate
+importance.
+
+Unfortunately no attempt has been made to preserve the many relics of
+that time which still exist in this quarter, probably the worst in the
+town. Many owners of property in the neighbourhood can still display
+the original Arabic title deeds, their estates having been purchased
+by Spanish grandees from the expelled Moors, or later from the
+expelled Jews. A morning's tour will reveal much of interest in back
+alleys and ruined courts. One visitor alone is hardly safe among the
+wild half-gipsy lot who dwell there now, but a few copper coins are
+all the keys needed to gain admission to some fine old patios with
+marble columns, crumbling fandaks, and ruined baths. By the roadside
+may be seen the identical style of water-mill still used in Morocco,
+and the presence of the Spaniard seems a dream.
+
+
+  V. HITHER AND THITHER
+
+Having now made pilgrimages to the more famous homes of the Moor in
+Europe, let us in fancy take an aërial flight over sunny Spain, and
+glance here and there at the scattered traces of Muslim rule in less
+noted quarters. Everything we cannot hope to spy, but we may still
+surprise ourselves and others by the number of our finds. Even this
+task accomplished, a volume on the subject might well be written by a
+second Borrow or a Ford, whose residence among the modern Moors had
+sharpened his scent for relics of that ilk.[28] Let not the reader
+think that with these wayside jottings all has been disclosed, for the
+Moor yet lives in Spain, and there is far more truth in the saying
+that "Barbary begins at the Pyrenees" than is generally imagined.
+
+  [28: To the latter I am indebted for particulars regarding the many
+       places mentioned in this final survey which it was impossible
+       for me to visit.]
+
+We will start from Tarifa, perhaps the most ancient town of Andalucia.
+The Moors named this ancient Punic city after T'arîf ibn Málek ("The
+Wise, son of King"), a Berber chief. They beleaguered it about 1292,
+and it is still enclosed by Moorish walls. The citadel, a genuine
+Moorish castle, lies just within these walls, and was not so long
+ago the abode of galley-slaves. Close to Sevílle, where the river
+Guadalquivir branches off, it forms two islands--Islas Mayor y Menor.
+The former was the Kaptal of the Moors. At Coria the river winds under
+the Moorish "Castle of the Cleft" (El Faraj), now called St. Juan
+de Alfarache, and passes near the Torre del Oro, a monument of
+the invader already referred to. Old Xeres, of sherry fame, is a
+straggling, ill-built, ill-drained Moorish city. It was taken from the
+Moors in 1264. Part of the original walls and gates remain in the
+old town. The Moorish citadel is well preserved, and offers a good
+specimen of those turreted and walled palatial fortresses.
+
+But it is not till we reach Sevílle that we come to a museum of
+Moorish antiquities. Here we see Arabesque ceilings, marqueterie
+woodwork, stucco panelling, and the elegant horse-shoe arches. There
+are beautiful specimens in the citadel, in Calle Pajaritos No. 15, in
+the Casa Prieto and elsewhere. The Moors possessed the city for five
+hundred years, during which time they entirely rebuilt it, using the
+Roman buildings as materials. Many Moorish houses still exist, the
+windows of which are barricaded with iron gratings. On each side of
+the patios, or courts, are corridors supported by marble pillars,
+whilst a fountain plays in the centre. These houses are rich
+in Moorish porcelain tilings, called azulejos--from the Arabic
+ez-zulaďj--but the best of these are in the patio of the citadel.
+Carmona is not far off, with its oriental walls and castle, famous as
+ever for its grateful springs. The tower of San Pedro transports us
+again to Tangier, as do the massy walls and arched gate.
+
+Some eight leagues on the way to Badajos from Sevílle rises a Moorish
+tower, giving to the adjoining village the name of Castillo de las
+Guardias. Five leagues beyond are the mines of the "Inky River"--Rio
+Tinto--a name sufficiently expressive and appropriate, for it issues
+from the mountain-side impregnated with copper, and is consequently
+corrosive. The Moors seem to have followed the Romans in their
+workings on the north side of the hill. Further on are more mines,
+still proclaiming the use the Moors made of them by their present name
+Almádin--"the Mine"--a name which has almost become Spanish; it is
+still so generally used. Five leagues from Rio Tinto, at Aracena, is
+another Moorish castle, commanding a fine panorama, and the belfry of
+the church hard by is Arabesque.
+
+Many more of these ruined kasbahs are to be seen upon the heights
+of Andalucia, and even much further north; but the majority must go
+unmentioned. One, in an equally fine position, is to be seen eleven
+leagues along the road from Sevílle to Badajos, above Santa Olalla--a
+name essentially Moorish, denoting the resting-place of some female
+Mohammedan saint, whose name has been lost sight of. (Lallah, or
+"Lady," is the term always prefixed to the names of canonized ladies
+in Morocco.) Three leagues from Sevílle on the Granáda road, at
+Gandul, lies another of these castles, picturesquely situated amid
+palms and orange groves; four leagues beyond, the name Arahal
+(er-rahálah--"the day's journey") reminds the Arabicist that it is
+time to encamp; a dozen leagues further on the name of Roda recalls
+its origin, raôdah, "the cemetery." Riding into Jaen on the top of the
+diligence from Granáda, I was struck with the familiar appearance of
+two brown tabia fortresses above the town, giving the hillside the
+appearance of one of the lower slopes of the Atlas. This was a place
+after the Moors' own heart, for abundant springs gush everywhere
+from the rocks. In their days it was for a time the capital of an
+independent kingdom.
+
+At Ronda, a town originally built by the Moors--for Old Ronda is two
+leagues away to the north,--their once extensive remains have been all
+but destroyed. Its tortuous streets and small houses, however, testify
+as to its origin, and its Moorish castle still appears to guard the
+narrow ascent by which alone it can be reached from the land, for it
+crowns a river-girt rock. Down below, this river, the Guadalvin, still
+turns the same rude class of corn-mills that we have seen at Fez and
+Granáda. Other remnants are another Moorish tower in the Calle del
+Puente Viejo, and the "House of the Moorish King" in Calle San Pedro,
+dating from about 1042. Descending to the river's edge by a flight
+of stairs cut in the solid rock, there is a grotto dug by Christian
+slaves three centuries later. Some five leagues on the road thence to
+Granáda are the remains of the ancient Teba, at the siege of which in
+1328, when it was taken from the Moors, Lord James Douglas fought in
+obedience to the dying wish of the Bruce his master, whose heart he
+wore in a silver case hung from his neck, throwing it among the enemy
+as he rushed in and fell.
+
+On the way from Ronda to Gibraltar are a number of villages whose Arab
+names are startling even in this land of Ishmaelitish memories. Among
+these are Atajate, Gaucin, Benahali, Benarraba, Benadalid, Benalaurin.
+At Gaucin an excellent view of Gibraltar and Jibel Műsa is obtainable
+from its Moorish citadel. This brings us to old "Gib," whose relics of
+Tárîk and his successors are much better known to travellers than most
+of those minor remains. An inscription over the gate of the castle,
+now a prison, tells of its erection over eleven centuries ago, for
+this was naturally one of the early captures of the invaders. Yet the
+mud-concrete walls stand firm and sound, though scarred by many a
+shot. Algeciras--El Jazîrah--"the Island" has passed through too many
+vicissitudes to have much more than the name left.
+
+Malaga, though seldom heard of in connection with the history of
+Mohammedan rule in the Peninsula, played a considerable part in that
+drama. It and Cadiz date far back to the time of the Carthaginians,
+so that, after all, their origin is African. If its name is not of an
+earlier origin, it may be from Málekah, "the Queen." Every year on
+August 18, at 3 p.m. the great bell of the cathedral is struck thrice,
+for that is the anniversary of its recovery from the Aliens in 1487.
+The flag of Ferdinand then hoisted is (or was recently) still to be
+seen, together with a Moorish one, probably that of the vanquished
+city, over the tomb of the Conde de Buena Vista in the convent of La
+Victoria. Though odd bits of Moorish architecture may still be met
+with in places, the only remains of note are the castle, built in
+1279, with its fine horse-shoe gate--sadly disfigured by modern
+barbarism--and what was the dockyard of the Moors, now left high and
+dry by the receding sea.
+
+The name Alhama, met with in several parts of Spain, merely denotes
+"the hot," alluding to springs of that character which are in most
+instances still active. This is the case at the Alhama between Malaga
+and Granáda, where the baths are worth a visit. The Moorish bath is
+called the strong one, being nearer the spring.
+
+At Antequera the castle is Moorish, though built on Roman foundations,
+and it is only of recent years that the mosque has disappeared under
+the "protection" of an impecunious governor.
+
+Leaving the much-sung Andalűs, the first name striking us in Murcia is
+that of Guadíx (pronounced Wadish), a corruption of Wád Aďsh, "River
+of Life." Its Moorish castle still stands. Some ten leagues further
+on, at Cullar de Baza is another Moorish ruin, and the next of note, a
+fine specimen, is fifteen leagues away at Lorca, whose streets are in
+the genuine intricate style. The city of Murcia, though founded by the
+Moors, contains little calling them to remembrance. In the post-office
+and prison, however, and in the public granary, mementoes are to be
+found.
+
+Orihuela, on the road from Carthagena to Alicante, still looks
+oriental with its palm-trees, square towers and domes, and Elche is
+just another such, with flat roofs and the orthodox kasbah, now a
+prison. The enormous number of palms which surround the town recall
+Marrákesh, but they are sadly neglected. Monte Alegre is a small place
+with a ruined Moorish castle, about fifteen leagues from Elche on the
+road to Madrid. Between Alicante and Xativa is the Moorish castle of
+Tibi, close to a large reservoir, and there is a square Moorish tower
+at Concentaina. Xativa has a hermitage, San Felin, adorned with
+horse-shoe arches, having a Moorish cistern hard by.
+
+Valencia the Moors considered a Paradise, and their skill in
+irrigation has been retained, so that of the Guadalaviar (Wad el
+Abîad--"River of the Whites") the fullest use is made in agriculture,
+and the familiar water-wheels and conduits go by the corruptions of
+their Arabic names, naôrahs and sakkáďahs. The city itself is very
+Moorish in appearance, with its narrow tortuous streets and gloomy
+buildings, but I know of no remarkable legacy of the Moors there.
+There are the remains of a Moorish aqueduct at Chestalgár--a very
+Arabic sounding name, of which the last two syllables are corrupted
+from El Ghárb ("the West") as in the case of Trafalgár (Terf el
+Ghárb--"West Point"). All this district was inhabited by the Moriscos
+or Christianized Moors as late as the beginning of the seventeenth
+century, and there must their descendants live still, although no
+longer distinguished from true sons of the soil.
+
+Whatever may remain of the ancient Saguntum, what is visible is mostly
+Moorish, as, for instance, cisterns on the site of a Roman temple. Not
+far from Valencia is Burjasot, where are yet to be seen specimens of
+matmôrahs or underground granaries. Morella is a scrambling town with
+Moorish walls and towers, coroneted by a castle.
+
+Entering Catalonia, Tortosa, at the mouth of the Ebro, is reached,
+once a stronghold of the Moors, and a nest of pirates till recovered
+by Templars, Pisans and Genoese together. It was only withheld from
+the Moors next year by the valour of the women besieged. The tower of
+the cathedral still bears the title of Almudena, a reminder of the
+muédhdhin who once summoned Muslims to prayer from its summit.
+Here, too, are sundry remnants of Moorish masonry, and some ancient
+matmôrahs.
+
+Tarragona and Barcelona, if containing no Moorish ruins of note, have
+all, in common with other neighbouring places, retained the Arabic
+name Rambla (rimlah, "sand") for the quondam sandy river beds which of
+late years have been transformed into fashionable promenades. In the
+cathedral of Tarragona an elegant Moorish arch is noticeable, with a
+Kufic inscription giving the date as 960 A.D. For four centuries after
+this city was destroyed by Tarîf it remained unoccupied, so that
+much cannot be expected to call to mind his dynasty. Of a bridge at
+Martorell over the Llobregat, Ford says it is "attributed to Hannibal
+by the learned, and to the devil, as usual, by the vulgar. The pointed
+centre arch, which is very steep and narrow to pass, is 133 feet wide
+in the span, and is unquestionably a work of the Moors." Not far away
+is a place whose name, Mequineza, is strongly suggestive of Moorish
+origin, but I know nothing further about it.
+
+Now let us retrace our flight, and wing our way once more to the north
+of Sevílle, to the inland province of Estremadura. Here we start from
+Mérida, where the Roman-Moorish "alcazar" towers proudly yet. The
+Moors repaired the old Roman bridge over the Guadiana, and the gateway
+near the river has a marble tablet with an Arabic inscription. The
+Muslims observed towards the people of this place good faith such as
+was never shown to them in return, inasmuch as they allowed them to
+retain their temples, creed, and bishops. They built the citadel in
+835, and the city dates its decline from the time that Alonzo el Sabio
+took it from them in 1229. Zámora is another ancient place. It was
+taken from the Moors in 939, when 40,000 of them are said to have been
+killed. The Moorish designs in the remarkable circular arches of La
+Magdalena are worthy of note.
+
+In Toledo the church of Santo Tomé has a brick tower of Moorish
+character; near it is the Moorish bridge of San Martin, and in the
+neighbourhood, by a stream leading to the Tagus, Moorish mills and the
+ruins of a villa with Moorish arches, now a farm hovel, may still
+be seen. The ceiling of the chapel of the church of San Juan de la
+Penetencia is in the Moorish style, much dilapidated (1511 A.D.). The
+Toledan Moors were first-rate hydraulists. One of their kings had a
+lake in his palace, and in the middle a kiosk, whence water descended
+on each side, thus enclosing him in the coolest of summer-houses.
+It was in Toledo that Ez-Zarkal made water-clocks for astronomical
+calculations, but now this city obtains its water only by the
+primitive machinery of donkeys, which are driven up and down by
+water-carriers as in Barbary itself. The citadel was once the kasbah
+of the Moors.
+
+The Cathedral of Toledo is one of the most remarkable in Spain. The
+arches of the transept are semi-Moorish, Xamete, who wrought it
+in Arcos stone in 1546-50, having been a Moor. The very ancient
+manufactory of arms for which Toledo has a world-wide fame dates from
+the time of the Goths; into this the Moors introduced their Damascene
+system of ornamenting and tempering, and as early as 852 this
+identical "fabrica" was at work under Abd er-Rahman ibn El Hákim. The
+Moors treasured and named their swords like children. These were the
+weapons which Othello, the Moor, "kept in his chamber."
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN.]
+
+At Alcazar de San Juan, in La Mancha, I found a few remnants of the
+Moorish town, as in the church tower, but the name is now almost the
+only Moorish thing about it. Hence we pass to Alarcon, a truly Moorish
+city, built like a miniature Toledo, on a craggy peninsula hemmed in
+by the river Jucar. The land approach is still guarded by Moorish
+towers and citadel.
+
+In Zocodovar--which takes its name from the word sôk,
+"market-place"--we find a very Moorish "plaza," with its irregular
+windows and balconies, and in San Eugenio are some remains of an
+old mosque with Kufic inscriptions, as well as an arch and tomb of
+elaborate design. In the Calle de las Tornarías there used to be a
+dilapidated Moorish house with one still handsome room, but it is
+doubtful whether this now survives the wreck of time. It was called El
+Taller del Moro, because Ambron, the Moorish governor of Huesca, is
+said to have invited four hundred of the refractory chiefs of Toledo
+to dine here, and to have cut off the head of each as he arrived.
+There is a curious mosque in the Calle del Cristo de la Luz, the roof
+is supported by four low square pillars, each having a different
+capital, from which spring double arches like those at Córdova. The
+ceiling is divided into nine compartments with domes.
+
+Madrid has passed through such various fortunes, and has been so much
+re-built, that it now contains few traces of the Moors. The only relic
+which I saw in 1890 was a large piece of tabia, forming a substantial
+wall near to the new cathedral, which might have belonged to the city
+wall or only to a fortress. The Museum of the Capital contains a good
+collection of Moorish coins. In the Armoury are Moorish guns, swords,
+saddles, and leather shields, the last named made of two hides
+cemented with a mortar composed of herbs and camel-hair.
+
+In Old Castile the footprints grow rare and faint, although the
+name of Valladolid--Blád Walîd, "Town of Walîd," a Moorish
+ameer--sufficiently proclaims its origin, but I am not aware of any
+Moorish remains there. In Burgos one old gate near the triumphal arch,
+erected by Philip II., still retains its Moorish opening, and on the
+opposite hill stands the castle in which was celebrated the bridal
+of our Edward I. with Eleanor of Castile. It was then a true Moorish
+kasar, but part has since been destroyed by fire. On the road from
+Burgos to Vittoria we pass between the mountains of Oca and the
+Pyrenean spurs, in which narrow defile the old Spaniards defied the
+advancing Moors. Moorish caverns or cisterns are still to be seen.
+
+Turning southward again, we come to Medinaceli, or "the city of
+Selim," once the strong frontier hold of a Moor of that name, the
+scene of many conflicts among the Moors themselves, and against
+the Christians. Here, on August 7, 1002, died the celebrated El
+Mansűr--"The Victorious"--the "Cid" (Seyyid) of the Moors, and the
+most terrible enemy of the Christians. He was born in 938 near
+Algeciras, and by a series of intrigues, treacheries and murders, rose
+in importance till he became in reality master of the puppet ameer. He
+proclaimed a holy crusade against the Christians each year, and was
+buried in the dust of fifty campaigns, for after every battle he used
+to shake off the soil from his garments into a chest which he carried
+about with him for that purpose.
+
+In Aragon the situation of Daroca, in the fertile basin of the Jiloca,
+is very picturesque. The little town lies in a hill-girt valley around
+which rise eminences defended by Moorish walls and towers, which,
+following the irregular declivities, command charming views from
+above. The palace of the Mendozas at Guadalajara, in the same
+district, boasts of an elegant row of Moorish windows, though these
+appear to have been constructed after Guadalajara was reconquered
+from the Moors by the Spaniards. Near this place is a Moorish brick
+building, turned into a battery by the invaders, and afterwards used
+as a prison. Before leaving this town it will be worth while to visit
+San Miguel, once a mosque, with its colonnaded entrance, horse-shoe
+arches, machiolations, and herring-bone patterns under the roof.
+
+Calatayud, the second town of Aragon, is of Moorish origin. Its
+Moorish name means the "Castle of Ayűb"--or Job--the nephew of Műsa,
+who used the ancient Bilbilis as a quarry whence to obtain stones for
+its construction. The Dominican convent of Calatayud has a glorious
+patio with three galleries rising one above another, and a portion of
+the exterior is enriched with pseudo-Moorish work like the prisons at
+Guadalajara.
+
+Saragossa gave me more the impression of Moorish origin than any
+town I saw in Spain, except Sevílle and Córdova. The streets of the
+original settlement are just those of Mequinez on a small scale. The
+only object of genuinely Moorish origin that I could find, however,
+was the Aljaferia, once a palace-citadel, now a barrack, so named
+after Jáfer, a Muslim king of this province. Since his times Ferdinand
+and Isabella used it, and then handed it over to the Inquisition. Some
+of the rooms still retain Moorish decorations, but most of the latter
+are of the period of their conquerors. On one ceiling is pointed out
+the first gold brought from the New World. The only genuine Moorish
+remnant is the private mosque, with beautiful inscriptions. The
+building has been incorporated in a huge fort-like modern brick
+structure, which would lead no one to seek inside for Arab traces.
+
+Passing from Saragossa northwards, we arrive at Jaca, the railway
+terminus, which to this day quarters on her shield the heads of four
+sheďkhs who were left behind when their fellow-countrymen fled from
+the city in 795, after a desperate battle in which the Spanish women
+fought like men. The site of the battle, called Las Tiendas, is still
+visited on the first Friday in May, when the daughters of these
+Amazons go gloriously "a-shopping." The municipal charter of Jaca
+dates from the Moorish expulsion, and is reckoned among the earliest
+in Spain.
+
+Gerona, almost within sight of France, played an important part, too,
+in those days, siding alternately with that country and with Spain
+when in the possession of the Moors. The Ameer Sulaďmán, in 759 A.D.,
+entered into an alliance with Pepin, and in 785 Charlemagne took the
+town, which the Moors re-captured ten years later. It became their
+headquarters for raids upon Narbonne and Nîsmes. Castellon de
+Ampurias, once on the coast, which has receded, was strong enough to
+resist the Moors for a time, but after they had dismantled it, the
+Normans appeared and finally destroyed it. Now it is but a hamlet.
+
+We are now in the extreme north-west of the Peninsula, where the
+relics we seek grow scanty, and, in consequence, of more importance.
+Instead of buildings in stone or concrete, we find here a monument of
+independence, perhaps more interesting in its way than any other. When
+the Pyrenees and their hardy mountaineers checked the onward rush of
+Islám, several independent states arose, recognized by both France and
+Spain on account of their bravery in opposing a common foe. The only
+one of these retaining a semi-independence is the republic of
+Andorra, a name corrupted from the Arabic el (al) darra, "a plenteous
+rainfall," showing how the Moors appreciated this feature of so well
+wooded and hilly a district after the arid plains of the south. The
+old Moorish castle of the chief town bears the name of Carol, derived
+from that of Charlemagne, who granted it the privileges it still
+enjoys, so that it is a memento of the meeting of Arab and Teuton.
+At Planes is a church said to be of Moorish origin, and earlier than
+Charlemagne; it certainly dates from no later than the tenth century.
+These "foot-prints" show that the Moor got a fairly good footing here,
+before he was driven back, and his progress stayed.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+"MOROCCO NEWS"
+
+  "A lie is not worth the lying, nor is truth worth repeating."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+So unanimous have been the uninformed reiteration of the Press in
+contravention of much that has been stated in the foregoing pages,
+that it will not be out of place to quote a few extracts from men on
+the spot who do know the facts. The first three are from leaders in
+_Al-moghreb Al-aksa_, the present English paper in Morocco, which
+accurately voices the opinion of the British Colony in that
+country, opinions shared by most disinterested residents of other
+nationalities.
+
+    "However we look upon the situation as it stands to-day, and
+    wherever our sympathies may lie, it is impossible to over-estimate
+    the danger attending the unfortunate Anglo-French Agreement. We
+    have always--as our readers will acknowledge--advocated the simple
+    doctrine of the _status quo_, and in this have received the
+    support of every disinterested person in and out of Morocco. Our
+    policy has at times thrown us into antagonism with the exponents
+    of the French colonial schemes; but we at least have the
+    satisfaction of knowing that, however we may have fallen short of
+    our duty, it has been one which we have persevered in, prompted by
+    earnest conviction, by love of the country and its people, and by
+    admiration for its Sultan. The simplicity of our aim has helped us
+    in our uphill fight, and will, no doubt, continue to do so in the
+    future.
+
+    "Needless to say we look forward with no little anxiety to the
+    result of the conference. This needs no explanation. In the
+    discussion of such a question it is absolutely imperative that the
+    individual members of the conference should be selected from those
+    who know their Morocco, and who are acquainted with the causes
+    which led up to the present dead-lock. Only the keenest, shrewdest
+    men should be selected, for it must be borne in mind that France
+    will spare no pains to uphold the recent Anglo-French Convention.
+    Her most astute diplomats will figure largely, for her dignity is
+    at stake. Indeed, her very position, diplomatic and political, is
+    in effect challenged. Taking this into consideration, it is more
+    than necessary to see that the representatives of Great Britain
+    are not chosen for their family influence or for the perfection
+    they may have attained in the French language.
+
+    "The task is hard and perilous. England is waking to the fact that
+    she has blundered, and, as usual, she is unwilling to admit the
+    fact. Circumstances, however, will sooner or later force her to
+    modify her terms. Germany, Spain, the United States, and other
+    nations, to say nothing of Morocco, must point out the absurdity
+    of the situation. If the agreement is inoperative with regard to
+    Morocco, it may as well be openly admitted to be useless. This is
+    not all. Should English statesmanship direct that this injudicious
+    arrangement be adhered to, France and Great Britain will stand as
+    self-confessed violators of the Convention of Madrid.
+
+    "Fortunately the Moorish cause has some excellent champions. For
+    many years she has been dumb. Now, however, that she is assailed,
+    we find a small but influential band of writers coming forward
+    with their pens to do battle for her.
+
+    "This is the great consolation we have. Moorish interests will no
+    longer be the sport of European political expediency. These men
+    will, no doubt, protest against the land-grabbing propensities of
+    the French colonial party, and they may find time to point out
+    that after a thousand years of not ignoble independence, the
+    Moorish race deserves a little more consideration than has
+    hitherto been granted.
+
+    "Even those people who are responsible for this deplorable state
+    of affairs must now stand more or less amazed at their handiwork.
+    No diplomatic subterfuge can efface the humiliation that underlies
+    the situation; and no one can possibly exaggerate the danger that
+    lies ahead of us."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Two centuries ago Great Britain abandoned Tangier, and it is
+    only the present generation that has realized the huge mistake. A
+    maudlin sentimentalism, to avoid displeasing the French King,
+    prevented us from handing the city back to Portugal; an act which
+    would have been wise, either strategically, commercially, or with
+    a view to the suppression of the famous Salee rovers, who were
+    for long a scourge to ships entering the Straits. A Commission of
+    experts was appointed to consider the question of the abandonment,
+    one of them being Mr. Pepys....
+
+    "Whatever the opinion may have been of the experts consulted
+    by the Government on the present agreement with France, we are
+    strongly disposed to believe that if they have been endowed with
+    greater sense than those of 1683, there is probably more, as we
+    must hope there is, in favour of British interests, than appears
+    to the public eye. Time alone will tell what reservation, mental
+    or otherwise, may be locked up in the British Foreign Office. It
+    is difficult to believe that any British statesman would wantonly
+    give away any national interest, but too lofty a policy has often
+    been wanting in practical sense which, had that policy descended
+    from principles to facts, would have saved the nation thousands of
+    lives, millions of money, and sacrifices of its best interests."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "The events that have been fully before the eyes of British
+    subjects in Morocco in the abnormal condition of the country
+    during the past two years, seem to have been ignored by our
+    Foreign Office. In short, it fully appears that our Foreign
+    Office policy has been designed to lead the Sultan to political
+    destruction, and to sacrifice every British interest.
+
+    "About two years ago our Foreign Office began well in starting the
+    Sultan on the path of progress: in carrying out its aims it
+    has done nothing but blunders. Had it but acted with a little
+    firmness, the opening up of this country would have already begun,
+    and there would have been no 'Declaration' which will assuredly
+    give future Foreign Secretaries matter for some anxiety. The
+    declaration is only a display of political fireworks that will
+    dazzle the eyes of the British public for a while, delighting our
+    Little Englanders, but only making the future hazy and possibly
+    more dangerous to deal with. It seems only a way of putting off
+    the real settlement, which may not wait for thirty years to be
+    dealt with, on the points still at issue, and for which a splendid
+    opportunity has been thrown away at Downing Street, and could
+    have been availed of to maintain British interests, prestige, and
+    influence in this country. Briefly, we fear that the attainment of
+    the end in view may yet cost millions to the British nation.
+
+    "That Morocco will progress under French guidance there can be
+    no question, and France may be congratulated on her superior
+    diplomacy and the working of her Foreign Office system."
+
+With regard to the Moorish position, a contributor observes in a later
+issue--
+
+    "The attitude of the Sultan and his Cabinet may be summed up in
+    a few words. 'You nations have made your agreements about our
+    country without consulting us. We owe you nothing that we are
+    unable to pay on the conditions arranged between us. We did not
+    ask your subjects to reside and trade on Moorish soil. In fact,
+    we have invariably discouraged their so doing. Troubles exist in
+    Morocco, it is true, but we are far greater sufferers than
+    you--our unbidden guests. And but for the wholesale smuggling of
+    repeating rifles by _your_ people, our tribes would not be able to
+    cause the disorders of which you complain. As to your intention to
+    intervene in our affairs, we agree to no interference. If you are
+    resolved to try force, we believe that the Faith of the Prophet
+    will conquer. We still believe there is a God stronger than man.
+    And should the fight go against us, we believe that it is better
+    to earn Paradise in a holy war for the defence of our soil, than
+    to submit tamely to Christian rule.'
+
+    "The position, however lamentable, is intelligible; but on the
+    other hand it is incredible that France--her mind made up long ago
+    that she is to inherit the Promised Land of Sunset--will sit down
+    meekly and allow herself to be flouted by the monarch and people
+    of a crumbling power like Morocco. And this is what she has to
+    face. Not indeed a nation, as we understand the term, but a
+    gathering of units differing widely in character and race--Arabs,
+    Berbers, mulattoes, and negroes--unable to agree together on any
+    subject under the sun but one, and that one the defence of Islám
+    from foreign intervention. Under the standard of the invincible
+    Prophet they will join shoulder to shoulder. And hopeless and
+    pathetic as it may seem, they will defy the disciplined ranks and
+    magazine guns of Europe. Thus, wherever our sympathies may lie,
+    the possibilities of a peaceful settlement of the Morocco question
+    appear to be dwindling day by day. The anarchy paramount in
+    three-quarters of the sultanate is not only an ever-increasing
+    peril to European lives and property, but a direct encouragement
+    to intervention. Of one thing we in Morocco have no kind of doubt.
+    The landing of foreign troops, even for protective service, in any
+    one part of the coast would infallibly be the signal for a general
+    rising in every part of the Empire. No sea-port would be safe for
+    foreigners or for friendly natives until protected by a strong
+    European force. And, once begun, the task of 'pacifying' the
+    interior must entail an expenditure of lives and treasure which
+    will amply satisfy French demands for colonial extension for many
+    a year to come."
+
+One more quotation from an editorial--
+
+    "And so it would appear, that, with the smiling approval of the
+    world's Press, the wolf is to take over the affairs of the lamb.
+    We use the phrase advisedly. We have never hesitated to criticize
+    the action, and to condemn the errors, of the Makhzen where such a
+    course has been needful in the public interest. We can, therefore,
+    with all the more justice, call attention to the real issues of
+    the compact embodied in the Morocco clauses of the Anglo-French
+    Agreement of April, 1904. How long the leading journals of England
+    may continue to ignore the facts of the case it is impossible
+    to say; but that there will come a startling awakening seems
+    inevitable. Every merely casual observer on this side of the
+    Mediterranean knows only too well that the most trifling pretext
+    may be at any hour seized for the next move in the development
+    of French intervention. Evidence is piling up to show that the
+    forward party in France, and still more in Algeria, is burning to
+    strike while yet the frantic enthusiasm of the Entente lasts, and
+    while they can rely upon the support--we had almost written, the
+    moral support--of Great Britain. Can we shut our eyes to the
+    deliberate provocations they are giving the Makhzen in almost
+    every part of the sultanate?
+
+    "These things are not reported to Europe, naturally. In spite of
+    all our comfortable cant about justice to less powerful races, who
+    in England cares about justice to Morocco and her Sultan? We owe
+    it to Germany that the thing was not rushed through a few months
+    ago. Who has heard, who wants to hear, the Moorish side of the
+    question? Morocco is mute. The Sultan pulls no journalistic wires.
+    He has no advocate in the Press, or in Parliament, or in Society.
+    Hardly a public man opens his mouth in England to refer to
+    Morocco, without talking absolute twaddle. The only member of
+    either House of Parliament who has shown a real grasp of the
+    tremendous issues of the question is Lord Rosebery, in the
+    memorable words--
+
+    "'No more one-sided agreement was ever concluded between two
+    Powers at peace with each other. I hope and trust, but I hope and
+    trust rather than believe, that the Power which holds Gibraltar
+    may never have cause to regret having handed Morocco over to a
+    great military Power.'
+
+    "Had that true statesman, and true Englishman, been in power
+    eighteen months ago, England would never have been pledged to
+    sacrifice her commercial interests in Morocco, to abandon her
+    wholesome, traditional policy in the Mediterranean, and to revoke
+    her solemn engagement to uphold the integrity of the Sultan's
+    dominions."
+
+An excellent idea of the discrepancies between the alarmist reports
+with which the Press is from time to time deluged, and the facts
+as known on the spot, is afforded by the following extracts from
+_Al-moghreb Al-aksa_ of January 7, 1905, when the London papers
+had been almost daily victimized by their correspondents regarding
+Morocco:--
+
+    "The dismissal of the military _attachés_ at the Moorish Court
+    threatened to raise a terrible conflagration in Europe, and great
+    indignation among foreign residents in this country--according to
+    certain Press reports. This fiery disposition of some offered a
+    remarkable contrast with the coolness of the others. For instance,
+    the British took almost no interest in the matter, for the simple
+    reason that there has never been any British official military
+    mission in the Moorish Court. It is true there are a few British
+    subjects in Moorish military service, but they are privately
+    employed by the Sultan's Government, and their service is simply
+    voluntary. Even personally, they actually show no great concern in
+    remaining here or not.
+
+    "The Italian military mission is composed of very few persons. The
+    chief, Col. Ferrara, is on leave in Italy, and the Mission is now
+    represented by Captain Campini, who lives at Fez with his family.
+    They report having received all kind attentions from the Sultan
+    quite recently, and that they know nothing about the dismissal
+    which has so noisily sounded in Europe. According to the same
+    Press reports, great fears were entertained of a general rising
+    against the foreign residents in Fez and other places in the
+    interior, and while it is reported that the military _attachés_,
+    consular officers and residents of all nations were notified to
+    leave Fez and come to Tangier or the coast ports as a matter of
+    precaution, we find that nobody moves from the Court, because,
+    they say, they have seen nothing to induce them to leave that
+    residence. And what has Mulai Abd El Azîz replied to French
+    complaints and demands respecting the now historical dismissal of
+    the military _attachés_? A very simple thing--that H.S.M. did
+    not think that the dismissal could resent any of the civilized
+    nations, because it was decided as an economic measure, there
+    being no money to pay even other more pressing liabilities.
+    However, the Sultan, wishing to be on friendly terms with France
+    and all other nations, immediately withdrew the dismissal and
+    promised to pay the _attachés_ as long as it is possible to do so.
+    The missions, consuls, etc., have now no need to leave Fez, and
+    everything remains stationary as before. The only thing steadily
+    progressing is the insecurity of life and property in the
+    outskirts and district of Tangier, where murders and robberies
+    proceed unabated, and this state of affairs has caused the British
+    and German residents in this town to send petitions to their
+    respective Governments, through their legations, soliciting that
+    some measure may be adopted to do away with the present state
+    of insecurity which has already paralysed all overland traffic
+    between this city and the neighbouring towns.
+
+    "The contrasts of the situation are as remarkable as they are
+    comic, and while the whole country is perfectly quiet, those
+    places more in contact with the civilized world, like Tangier and
+    the Algerian frontier, are the only spots which are seriously
+    troubled with disturbances."
+
+So much for northern Morocco. The same issue contains the following
+report from its Mogador correspondent regarding the "disturbed state"
+of southern Morocco.
+
+    "It would puzzle even the trained imagination of certain
+    journalists we wot of to evolve anything alarmist out of the
+    condition of the great tribes between Mogador and the Atlas.
+    During the recent tribal differences not one single highway
+    robbery, even of a native, was, I believe, committed. The roads
+    are open everywhere; the rival chieftains have, figuratively,
+    exchanged the kiss of peace, and the tribes have confessed that it
+    was a mistake to leave their farms and farm-work simply to please
+    an ambitious and utterly thankless governor.
+
+    "As for Europeans, they have been rambling all over the country
+    with their wonted freedom from interference. A Frenchman,
+    travelling almost alone, has just returned from Imintanoot.
+    Another has twice crossed the Atlas. Needless to say the route to
+    Marrákesh is almost as devoid of other than pleasurable novelty as
+    a stroll on the Embankment or down the shady side of Pall Mall.
+    When, indeed, will folks at home grasp the fact that the Berber
+    clans of southern Morocco belong to a race differing utterly in
+    character and largely in customs from the ruffians infesting the
+    northern half of the sultanate?
+
+    "'Nothing but the unpleasant prospect of being held up by
+    brigands,' writes a friend, 'prevents me from revisiting your
+    beautiful country.' How convince such people that brigandage is an
+    art unknown south of the Oom Rabya? That the prayer of the Shluh,
+    when a Nazarene visits their land, is that nothing may happen to
+    bring trouble on the clan? They may inwardly hate the _Rűmi_, or
+    they may regard him merely as an uncouth blot on the scenery; but
+    should actual unpleasantness arise, he will, in almost every case,
+    have himself to thank for it. (London papers please copy!)"
+
+This letter was dated two days after the Paris correspondent of the
+_Times_ had telegraphed--
+
+    "Events would seem likely to be coming to a head in consequence of
+    the anarchy prevailing in the Shereefian Empire. The Pretender is
+    just now concentrating his troops in the plain of Angad, and is
+    preparing to take an energetic offensive against Ujda. The camp of
+    the Pretender is imposing in its warlike display. All the caids
+    and the sons of Bu Amema surround Mulai Mahomed. The men are armed
+    with French _chassepots_, and are well dressed in new uniforms
+    supplied by an Oran firm. All the war material was embarked on
+    board the French yacht _Zut_, which landed it last month on
+    the shores of Rastenga between Cape Eau and Melilla under the
+    direction of the Pretender's troops."
+
+Towards Christmas, 1902, circumstantial reports began to appear in the
+newspapers of an overwhelming defeat of the imperial army by rebels
+who were marching on Fez, who had besieged it, and had cut off the
+aqueduct bringing its water, the Sultan retreating to the palace,
+Europeans being ordered to the coast, etc., etc. These statements
+I promptly and categorically denied in an interview for the London
+_Echo_; there was no real "pretender," only a religious fanatic
+supported by two disaffected tribes, the imperial army had not been
+defeated, as only a small body had been despatched to quell the
+disturbance; the "rebels" were not besieging Fez, as they had no army,
+and only the guns captured by the clever midnight surprise of sleeping
+troops, of which the "battle"--really a panic--consisted; they had not
+cut the "aqueduct," as Fez is built on the banks of a river from which
+it drinks; the Sultan's palace was his normal abode; the Europeans
+had not fled, seeing no danger, but that _on account of the alarming
+telegrams from Europe_, their Ministers in Tangier had advised them to
+withdraw, much against their will.
+
+So sweeping a contradiction of statements receiving daily confirmation
+from Tangier, heightened colour from Oran, and intensification from
+Madrid, must have been regarded as the ravings of a madman, for
+the interview was held over for a week for confirmation. Had not
+thirty-four correspondents descended on Tangier alone, each with
+expenses to meet? Something had to be said, though the correspondent
+nearest to the scene, in Fez, was two days' journey from it, and six
+from Tangier, the nearest telegraph station. It is true that some
+years ago an American boldly did the journey "From Fez to Fleet Street
+in Eight Days," by forgetting most of the journey to Tangier, but this
+was quite out-done now. Meanwhile every rumour was remodelled in Oran
+or Madrid, and served up afresh with confirmatory _sauce piquante_, _ŕ
+la française_ or _ŕ l'espagnol_, as the case might be. It was not till
+Reuter had obtained an independent, common-sense report, that the
+interview was published, my statements having been all confirmed,
+but by that time interest had flagged, and the British public still
+believes that a tremendous upheaval took place in Morocco just then.
+
+Yet, notwithstanding the detailed accounts of battles and reverses--a
+collation of which shows the "Father of the She-ass" fighting in
+several places at once, captured or slain to-day and fighting
+to-morrow, and so on--the Government of Morocco was never in real
+danger from the "Rogi's" rising, and the ultimate issue was never in
+doubt. The late Sultan, El Hasan, more than once suffered in person
+at the hands of the same tribes, defeats more serious than those
+experienced by the inadequate forces sent by his son.
+
+The moral of all this is that any news from Morocco, save that
+concerning Europeans or events on the coast, must be received with
+caution, and confirmation awaited. The most reliable accounts at
+present available are those of the _Times_ correspondent at Tangier,
+while the _Manchester Guardian_ is well informed from Mogador.
+Whatever emanates from Paris or Algeria, not referring directly to
+frontier events; or from Madrid, not referring to events near the
+Spanish "presidios," should be refused altogether, as at best it is
+second-hand, more often fabricated. How the London Press can seriously
+publish telegrams about Morocco from New York and Washington passes
+comprehension. The low ebb reached by American journals with one or
+two notable exceptions in their competitive sensationalism would of
+itself suffice to discredit much that appears, even were the countries
+in touch with each other.
+
+The fact is that very few men in Morocco itself are in a position
+to form adequate judgements on current affairs, or even to collect
+reliable news from all parts. So few have direct relations with the
+authorities, native and foreign; so many can only rely on and amplify
+rumour or information from interested sources. So many, too, of the
+latter _must_ make money somehow! The soundest judgements are to be
+formed by those who, being well-informed as to the conditions and
+persons concerned, and Moorish affairs in general, are best acquainted
+with the origin of the reports collected by others, and can therefore
+rightly appraise them.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Abbas, Shah of Persia, 280 _note_
+
+Abd Allah bin Boo Shaďb es-Sálih,
+  story of: protection system, 247-251
+
+Abd Allah Ghaďlán, former rebel leader, 274
+
+Abd el Hakk and the Widow Záďdah, story of the, 164, 165
+
+Addington, Mr., British Ambassador at Granáda, 354
+
+Aghmát, capital of Southern Morocco, 5
+
+Ahmad II., "the Golden," addressed by Queen Elizabeth, 9
+
+Algeria, 281;
+  the French in, 294-296, 299;
+  viewed from Morocco, 307-317;
+  under French rule, 308-315;
+  failure as a colony, 309;
+  Arabs in, 313;
+  Moors in, 314;
+  mosques, 315;
+  tilework, 316;
+  field for scientist, 317
+
+Algiers (El Jazîrah), the city and people, 310-316
+
+Alhambra, the, at Granáda (_q.v._)
+
+_Al-moghreb Al-aksa_ on the political situation, 381-394
+
+Andorra, the Pyrenean republic of, 7, 337, 379;
+  its privileges granted by Charlemagne, 379
+
+Anglo-French Agreement, 276, 279, 301, 304, 381;
+  clauses in, 283, 293
+
+Anne, Queen, 9
+
+Arabs, the wandering, 57-62;
+  tent-life, 57-62;
+  food, 59;
+  hospitality, 60;
+  in Algeria, 313;
+  in Tunisia, 322
+
+
+B
+
+Beggars, native, 115, 116
+
+Berber race, 3, 6, 47-56;
+  pirates, 3;
+  men brave and warlike, 48, 49;
+  Reefian, 48, 50;
+  women often very intelligent, 51;
+  they, not Saracens or Arabs, real conquerors of Spain, 6, 54;
+  origin still a problem, 55;
+  Ghaďátŕ Berbers in revolt, 271-273
+
+Boabdil, 356, 365
+
+Boo Ziaro Miliáni, arrest and release of, 34
+
+
+C
+
+Café, Moorish, 159-165
+
+Carthage, 53;
+  Christian and Mohammedan, 53
+
+Charlemagne, 379
+
+Charles Martel, the "Hammer," 337
+
+Charles V., "improver" of Spanish monuments of Moorish art, 338,
+      350, 353
+
+Chess, 133, 144;
+  an Arab game, 134
+
+Child-life, Moorish, 94-101;
+  infancy, 95;
+  school days, 97;
+  youth, 99;
+  early vices, 101
+
+"Cid," the, El Mansűr, 376
+
+City life in Morocco, 63-70
+
+Civil war in Morocco: Asni and the Aďt Mîzán, 261-266
+
+Coinage, Moorish, 23-25, 125
+
+Córdova, 337, 338-346, 375;
+  its famous mosque (cathedral), 338-345;
+  aisles, columns, arches, 339, 340;
+  the kiblah niche, 342;
+  Moorish worshippers in, 342;
+  European additions to, 343-345;
+  history of the town, 345
+
+Corrosive sublimate tea--for disgraced officials, 28
+
+
+D
+
+Debts in Morocco, how settled, 30-34
+
+Delbrel, M., leader of the "Rogi's" forces, 273
+
+Dining out in Morocco, 102-106
+
+Diplomacy in Morocco. _See_ Embassy
+
+Draughts, game of, 162
+
+
+E
+
+Edward I. and Eleanor of Castile, 376
+
+Edward VII. in Algeria, 281
+
+Elizabeth, Queen, 9
+
+El K'sar es-Sagheer, 6
+
+El Menébhi, ambassador to London and Minister of War, 268
+
+El Moghreb el Aksa, native name of Morocco, 14
+
+El Yazeed, Sultan in 1790, declares war on all Christendom, 10
+
+Embassy to court of Sultan, a typical, 206-232;
+  requisitioning provisions, 206, 207;
+  _personnel_ and _attachés_, 208, 209;
+  native agent, 209;
+  arrival at Marrákesh, 210;
+  reception, 212, 213;
+  the diplomatic interview:
+    ambassador, interpreter, and Sultan, 214-222;
+  the result:
+    as it appeared in the Press, 223;
+    as it was in reality, 224, 225;
+  diamond cut diamond, 226-230;
+  failure, and its causes, 227-230
+
+England and Morocco, 276, 293, 294, 381-394;
+  British trade, 280;
+  British policy in, 301-304;
+  Anglo-French Agreement (_q.v._);
+  "Morocco news," 381-394
+
+
+F
+
+Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 3, 334, 350, 353, 362, 378;
+  their nuptials the death-knell of Moorish rule in Europe, 7;
+  tomb of, 355
+
+Fez, founded by son of Mulai Idrees, 5;
+  Karűeeďn mosque at, 44, 337, 339, 358
+
+Football, Moorish, 97, 137
+
+Ford's "Handbook to Spain," 357, 366, 373
+
+France in Morocco, 288, 292-305;
+  "policing" the frontier, 288;
+  her rule inevitable and desirable, 294-300;
+  hope for the Moors, 301, 305, 385;
+  Anglo-French Agreement (_q.v._);
+  in Algeria, 308-315;
+  in Tunisia, 318-320;
+  _see_ Political situation, the, and Appendix, 381-394
+
+
+G
+
+German interests in Morocco, 279-282
+
+Gerona: Sulaďmán, Pepin, and Charlemagne, 378, 379
+
+Gibraltar, Moorish castle, 370
+
+Granáda, 337, 352-365;
+  the Alhambra Palace, loveliest monument of Moorish art in Spain,
+      352-354, 356-362;
+  despoiled by Charles V. and the French, 353;
+  "Tia Antonia," 353, 354;
+  Morocco-like surroundings, 354;
+  mosques, 355;
+  tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella, 355;
+  remains of Cardinal Mendoza, 356, 377;
+  Bu Abd Allah's sword, 356, 365;
+  courts and halls of the Alhambra, 358-362;
+  other Moorish remains, 362-365
+
+
+H
+
+Hamed Zirári, story of: protection system, 242-246
+
+Hareems, royal, 73-75;
+  and other, 82-87
+
+Hasheesh, opium of Morocco, 130
+
+Hay, Sir John Drummond, 294
+
+Herbs, fragrant, use of, 86, 108, 122
+
+
+I
+
+Infant mortality in Morocco high, 96
+
+Irving, Washington, at Granáda, 354;
+  his "Tia Antonia," 354
+
+Ismaďl the Bloodthirsty exchanges compliments with Queen Anne, 9
+
+
+J
+
+Jaca, site of desperate battle between Spaniards and Moors, 378
+
+Jelálli Zarhôni, the "Rogi," head of the revolt of the Ghaďátŕ Berbers,
+    271-273
+
+Jewish interpreter, astute, 214-222
+
+Jews in Morocco, 16-17;
+  justice for, 252-260;
+  in Spain, traces of, 334
+
+
+K
+
+Kabyles, 54
+
+Kaďd, the, and his court, 252-259
+
+Kesk'soo, the national dish, 59, 105, 121, 198, 266
+
+Khalia, staple article of winter diet, 197
+
+Korán, the, at schools, 97;
+  the standard work at colleges, 98
+
+Kufic inscriptions, 351, 361, 373, 375
+
+
+L
+
+_L'Aigle_ at Mogador and Agadir, 35
+
+"Land of the Moors, The," 292
+
+_Lex talionis_, 48
+
+
+M
+
+Machiavellian arts, Moors excel in, 38
+
+Madrid Convention of 1880 ... 282, 382;
+  essential features of, 289, 290
+
+Madrid, Moorish remains in, 376
+
+Malaga, Moorish dockyard, 370
+
+Market-place, Moorish, 107-110, 121-123, 125-132;
+  and marketing, 109, 113-115, 118-124
+
+Marrákesh, founded in the middle of the 11th century, 5;
+  kingdom of, 5, 14;
+  the Kűtűbîya at, 44, 337, 346
+
+Marriage in Morocco, 75, 77;
+  country wedding, 88-93;
+  feastings, presents, and rejoicings, 88-91
+
+Mauretania Tingitana, titular North African bishopric still, 3
+
+Mavrogordato, Kyrios Dimitri: typical embassy, 206-232
+
+Medicine-men, 166-178;
+  cupping, 167-169, 197;
+  exorcising, 169, 171;
+  cauterizing, 170;
+  charms, 172;
+  curious remedies, 174-177;
+  philtres and poisons, 177
+
+Mekka, pilgrimage to. _See_ Pilgrimage
+
+Mendoza, Cardinal, 355, 356;
+  remains of the Mendozas, 377
+
+Merchants, Moorish, 109, 113-115
+
+Mérida, Muslim toleration at, 373
+
+Mokhtar and Zóharah, wedding of, 88-93
+
+Monk, General, 9
+
+Moors in Spain, traces of. _See_ Spain
+
+Morals, Moorish, lax, 39-44, 101
+
+Morocco: retrospect, 1-13;
+  of present day, 14-65;
+  races: Berbers, Arabs, Moors, 15-17, 47-62;
+  life of the people--society, business, pastime, religion, 63-204;
+  diplomacy (_q.v._);
+  law and justice, 233-260;
+  the political situation (_q.v._);
+  her neighbours, 307-331;
+  Moors in Spain (_q.v._);
+  "Morocco news," _Al-moghreb Al-aksa_, 381-394
+
+Morocco-Algerian frontier, France "policing" the, 288
+
+Mosques, French treatment of, 315, 319
+
+Mulai Abd Allah V., 1756, makes war upon Gibraltar, 11
+
+Mulai Abd el Azîz IV., present Sultan, 267-291
+
+Mulai Abd el Káder, a favourite saint, 115
+
+Mulai el Hasan III., late Sultan, 24, 40, 267
+
+Mulai Idrees, direct descendant of Mohammed, and early Arabian
+      missionary to Morocco, 4;
+  founded the Shurfŕ Idreeseeďn dynasty, 5
+
+Mulai Yakűb el Mansűr, builder of mosque towers at Sevílle, Marrákesh,
+      and Rabat, 347
+
+Musical instruments, 135, 139, 151, 160
+
+
+O
+
+Official rapacity, 28, 242-251, 252-260
+
+Orihuela, palms at, 371
+
+
+P
+
+Pawkers, Admiral, 11
+
+Pepys, Samuel, once on a Moorish Commission, 383
+
+Pilgrims to Mekka, 191-204;
+  sea-route preferred to-day, 191;
+  camp at Tangier, 192-200;
+  comforts and discomforts, 192-200;
+  a novel tent, 193-195;
+  food, 197-199;
+  returning home, 201-204
+
+Piracy of Moors, 7-9;
+  tribute extorted from European Powers, 9, 10, 12;
+  abandoned by Algiers, 12;
+  not wholly unknown to-day, 13
+
+Political situation, the, 267-291;
+  the Sultan and reforms, 268-270;
+  unsettled state of the empire, 270-275;
+  a change welcome, 276;
+  agreement among the three great Powers remote, 276;
+  Anglo-French Agreement (_q.v._);
+  famine and unrest, 277;
+  German interests, 280;
+  Spanish interests, 283;
+  conference proposed, 282, 284;
+  points for discussion, 285-288;
+  "Morocco news" must be received with caution, 381-394
+
+Postal reform needed, 286
+
+Powder play, 91, 94, 121, 135
+
+Prayer, Moslem, 69, 142, 152;
+  call to, 69, 70
+
+Prisons and prisoners, miserable, 233-241;
+  long terms, 234-237;
+  the lash, 238, 246;
+  the bastinado, 255;
+  Jews in, 260
+
+Protection system, the, 29, 242-251;
+  the need: story of Hamed Zirári, 242-246;
+  the search: story of Abd Allah bin Boo Shaďb es-Sálih, 247-251;
+  patent of, 251;
+  "farming," 251 _note_
+
+
+R
+
+Rabat, Hassan tower at, 347, 348
+
+Railways would be welcomed by the Sultan, 297
+
+Raďsűli, rebel leader in the disaffected north, 273-275
+
+Rio Tinto copper-mines, 368
+
+Ronda, corn-mills at, 369
+
+Rosebery, Lord, on Morocco, 387
+
+Rudolf II., 1604: his active policy respecting Moroccan affairs, 280 _note_
+
+
+S
+
+Saragossa, the Aljaferia at, 378
+
+School, Moorish, 97, 98
+
+Sevílle, 337, 346-352, 367;
+  Girálda tower, 346-348;
+  palace, El Kasar, 349-351;
+  royal "improvers" of Moorish work, 350;
+  capital of Charles V., 352;
+  Moorish remains at, 367
+
+Sherley, Sir Anthony, 1604, adventurer and diplomatist, 280 _note_
+
+Shurfŕ Idreeseeďn dynasty founded by Mulai Idrees, 5
+
+Sidi Mohammed, son of Mulai Abd Allah V., 11
+
+Si Marzak and his fair Azîzah, the loves of, 160-162
+
+Slave-markets, Marrákesh and Fez, 179-181
+
+Slavery in Morocco, 8, 17, _et passim_, 179-190;
+  sources of supply, 180;
+  girls for hareems, 181;
+  treatment fairly kind, 181, 182;
+  men have risen to high positions, 182;
+  use chiefly domestic, 183;
+  a slave-girl's cruel story, 185-190
+
+Smeerah, quaint incident at, 198
+
+Smin, use of, 112, 131
+
+Smith, Sir Chas. Euan, 206
+
+Snake-charming, 137, 151-158
+
+Social life, Moorish, 82-87
+
+Spain, Moorish empire in, founded by Berbers, 6, 54;
+  footprints of Moors in, 332-379;
+  place-names and words of Arabic origin, 333, 369;
+  physiognomy of the people, 335;
+  habits and customs, 335;
+  salutations, 336;
+  narrow streets, 336;
+  forts and mosques (churches), 337;
+  the mosque at Córdova (_q.v._);
+  Girálda and El Kasar at Sevílle (_q.v._);
+  the Alhambra at Granáda (_q.v._);
+  other Moorish towns, villages, castles, and remains, 366-379;
+  women of, at the battle of Jaca, 378
+
+Sports and pastimes, Moorish:
+  active, 96, 133-137;
+  passive, 138-150, 151-158, 159-165
+
+Stamps and stamp-dealers, 287
+
+Story-teller, the, 122, 137, 138-150;
+  Mulai Abd el Káder and the Monk of Monks, 141-148
+
+
+T
+
+Tafilált, home for discarded Sultanas, 73
+
+Tangier, English cede possession of, 9, 383;
+  drunkenness and vice, 41;
+  North African Mission, 42;
+  shopping in, 118-124;
+  market-place, 121-123;
+  Sunday market, 125-132;
+  salt-pans, 129;
+  English Church at, 132;
+  starting-place for Mekka pilgrims, 192, 196;
+  residence of ambassadors, 205;
+  gaol at, 233;
+  many Frenchmen at, 300
+
+Tarifa, Moorish remains at, 366
+
+Tarragona, cathedral of, 373
+
+Tea, making, 86, 103
+
+Tilework of Algeria, 316
+
+Toledo, 336, 373;
+  Moorish hydraulists, 374;
+  Ez-Zarkal's water-clocks, 374;
+  cathedral, 374;
+  sword-manufacture, 375
+
+Tortosa, ancient pirate stronghold, 372
+
+Tripoli, city and people, 326-331;
+  the Turkish element in, 326;
+  viewed from Morocco, 326-331;
+  mosques, 328;
+  irrigation, 330
+
+Tunis, city, 321, 322
+
+Tunisia, 299, 308;
+  viewed from Morocco, 318-325;
+  under French rule, 318-320;
+  Jews in, 319;
+  Arabs in, 322;
+  Moors in, 322;
+  women in, 325
+
+
+V
+
+Valencia, ancient Moorish paradise, 372
+
+
+W
+
+Water-carriers, Moorish, 132, 149
+
+Water-clocks, Ez-Zarkal's, 374
+
+Wazzân, Shareef of, present representative of Shurfá Idreeseeďn dynasty,
+        5, 296
+
+Wilhelm II. in Tangier Bay, 281
+
+Women of Morocco, occupations, 58, 62, 77, 111, 134;
+  seclusion, 64, 77, 83, 103, 107;
+  subservient position, 71-81, 107;
+  possibilities of influence, 73;
+  marriages, 75, 77, 88-93;
+  divorce, 76;
+  social visits, 82-87;
+  wearing apparel, 84;
+  excellent cooks, 85, 105, 111, 112;
+  slaves, 181, 183, 185, 190;
+  women in Tunisia, 325;
+  in Tripoli, 329
+
+
+X
+
+Xeres, Old, Moorish citadel, 367
+
+
+Z
+
+Zarhôn, most sacred town, 5
+
+Zawîah of Sîdi Abd er-Rahmán, 316
+
+Zummeetah, "mixed," quaint story of, 198
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Page 6:   Missing accent added to Seville (Sevílle).
+Page 36:  corrected mis-matched quotes.
+Page 44:  restored missing ^ accent to Karűeeďn
+Page 104: 'whch' corrected to 'which'.
+Page 128: 'beats' changed to 'beasts', to fit context.
+Page 130: 'flead' [sic]
+Page 153: corrected mis-matched quotes. ("And when at home? ')
+Page 185: 'Rabhah' is spelled 'Rabbah' in previous illustration.
+Page 198: sic: carraway/caraway
+Page 263: changed comma for period at sentence end. (sighted, This)
+Page 273: 'through' changed to 'though', to fit context.
+Page 274: 'accetpance' changed to 'acceptance'.
+Page 284: 'territoral' changed to 'territorial'.
+Page 289: carcase/carcass, both are correct: Oxford Dictionary.
+Page 299: sic: instal/install.
+Page 346: added missing accent to III SEVILLE (SEVÍLLE), for conformity.
+           (II CÓRDOVA is accented).
+Page 349: added missing accent to Giralda (Girálda), for conformity.
+Page 353: corrected 'architectual' to 'architectural'.
+Page 372: comma corrected to period. (a Moorish cistern hard by.)
+Page 296: colon corrected to semicolon. (Moorish worshippers in, 342;).
+Page 296: added comma (Debts in Morocco, how settled, 30-34).
+Page 377: added closing quote to "Castle of Ayűb.
+Page 395: 'Bobadil' changed to 'Boabdil'.
+Page 395: removed extraneous '378' reference for Charlemagne.
+Page 396: removed extraneous '3' reference for Ferdinand and Isabella.
+Page 397: removed extraneous entry (368) for 'kufic inscriptions';
+          changed '575' to '375'.
+Page 398,399: Missing accent added to Seville (Sevílle).
+Page 399: missing accent added to Cordova (Córdova).
+Page 399: comma added after 'remains' (other Moorish towns, villages,
+          castles, and remains, 366-379;).
+Page 400: comma added after 'occupations' (Women of Morocco,
+          occupations, 58, 62, 77, 111, 134;).
+
+oe ligatures are indicated with [oe]
+
+I also removed the partial square brackets before or after the
+photographer's names accompanying Illustration titles.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond, by 
+Budgett Meakin
+
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond, by Budgett Meakin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond
+
+Author: Budgett Meakin
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2006 [EBook #18764]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN MOROCCO AND GLIMPSES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Lesley Halamek and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2>LIFE IN MOROCCO</h2>
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<h3 style="text-decoration: underline;">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</h3>
+<p>
+In uniform style.  Demy 8vo, 15s. each.</p>
+<p>
+<span class="emph">THE MOORS</span>: an Account of People and Customs.
+With 132 Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="sc">Contents</span>:&mdash;"The Madding Crowd"&mdash;Within the Gates&mdash;Where the Moors Live&mdash;How
+the Moors Dress&mdash;Moorish Courtesy and Etiquette&mdash;What the Moors Eat and
+Drink&mdash;Everyday Life&mdash;Slavery and Servitude&mdash;Country Life&mdash;Trade&mdash;Arts and Manufactures&mdash;Matters
+Medical.</p>
+<p>
+Some Moorish Characteristics&mdash;The Mohammedan Year (Feasts and Fasts)&mdash;Places
+of Worship&mdash;Alms, Hospitality, and Pilgrimage&mdash;Education&mdash;Saints and Superstitions&mdash;Marriage&mdash;Funeral
+Rites.</p>
+<p>
+The Morocco Berbers&mdash;The Jews of Morocco&mdash;The Jewish Year.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="emph">THE LAND OF THE MOORS</span>: A Comprehensive
+Description. With a New Map and 83 Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="sc">Contents</span>:&mdash;Physical Features&mdash;Natural Resources&mdash;Vegetable Products&mdash;Animal
+Life.</p>
+<p>
+Descriptions and Histories of Tangier, Tetuan, Laraiche, Salli-Rabat, Dar el Baida,
+Mazagan, Saffi and Mogador; Azîla, Fedála, Mehedia, Mansűrîya, Azamműr and
+Waladîya; Fez, Mequinez and Marrákesh; Zarhôn, Wazzán and Shesháwan; El Kasar,
+Sifrű, Tadla, Damnát, Táza, Dibdű and Oojda; Ceuta, Velez, Alhucemas, Melilla and
+the Zaffarines; Sűs, the Draa, Tafilált, Fîgîg, and Tűát.</p>
+<p>
+Reminiscences of Travel&mdash;In the Guise of a Moor&mdash;To Marrákesh on a Bicycle&mdash;In
+Search of Miltsin.</p>
+
+
+<p>
+<span class="emph">THE MOORISH EMPIRE</span>: A Historical Epitome.
+With Maps, 118 Illustrations, and a unique Chronological, Geographical,
+and Genealogical Chart.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="sc">Contents</span>:&mdash;Mauretania&mdash;The Mohammedan Invasion&mdash;Foundation of Empire&mdash;Consolidation
+of Empire&mdash;Extension of Empire&mdash;Contraction of Empire&mdash;Stagnation of
+Empire&mdash;Personification of Empire&mdash;The Reigning Shareefs&mdash;The Moorish Government&mdash;Present
+Administration.</p>
+<p>
+Europeans in the Moorish Service&mdash;The Salli Rovers&mdash;Record of the Christian Slaves&mdash;Christian
+Influences in Morocco&mdash;Foreign Relations&mdash;Moorish Diplomatic Usages&mdash;Foreign
+Rights and Privileges&mdash;Commercial Intercourse&mdash;The Fate of the Empire.</p>
+<p>
+Works on Morocco reviewed (213 vols. in 11 languages)&mdash;The Place of Morocco in
+Fiction&mdash;Journalism in Morocco&mdash;Works Recommended&mdash;Classical Authorities on Morocco.</p>
+
+
+<h5><span class="sc">London: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, Ltd.</span></h5>
+
+       <br /><br /><hr /><br /><br />
+<p>
+<span class="emph">AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARABIC OF</span>
+<span class="emph1">MOROCCO</span>: <span class="sc">Vocabulary, Grammar Notes, Etc., in Roman
+Characters.</span> Specially prepared for Visitors and Beginners on a new
+and eminently practical system.</p>
+<p>
+Crown 8vo, Cloth, Round Corners for Pocket, <i>6s.</i></p>
+<p>
+Also, Uniform with this, in English or Spanish, Price <i>4s.</i></p>
+
+<h5><i>IN ARABIC CHARACTERS</i></h5>
+
+<h4>MOROCCO-ARABIC DIALOGUES,</h4>
+
+<h4>OR</h4>
+
+<h4>DIÁLOGOS EN ARABE MAROQUÍ.</h4>
+
+<h5>By <span class="sc">C.W. Baldwin.</span></h5>
+
+      <br /><br /><hr /><br /><br />
+
+<h5><span class="sc">London</span>: BERNARD QUARITCH, PICCADILLY.</h5>
+
+<h5><span class="sc">Tangier</span>: BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY'S DEPÔT.</h5>
+<br /><br /><hr /><br /><a name="frontispiece"></a><br />
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/frontis.jpg"><img src="images/frontis-285.jpg" width="283" height="426" alt="A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Photograph by Edward Lee, Esq., Saffi.</i><br /><br />
+<b>A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE.</b>
+</p><br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+
+<h1>LIFE IN MOROCCO</h1><br /><br />
+<h3>AND GLIMPSES BEYOND</h3>
+
+<h5>BY</h5><br /><br />
+
+<h2>BUDGETT MEAKIN</h2><br /><br />
+
+<h4>AUTHOR OF</h4><br /><br />
+<h5>"THE MOORS," "THE LAND OF THE MOORS," "THE MOORISH EMPIRE,"</h5>
+<h5>"MODEL FACTORIES AND VILLAGES," ETC.</h5>
+<hr class="short" />
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/001-100.jpg" width="100" height="105" alt="glyph" border="0" /></div>
+
+<h4>WITH TWENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS</h4>
+
+<h4>LONDON</h4>
+<h4>CHATTO &amp; WINDUS</h4>
+<h5>1905</h5>
+
+
+<h5>PRINTED BY</h5>
+<h5>WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,</h5>
+<h5>LONDON AND BECCLES.</h5>
+
+<br /><hr /><br />
+
+<a name="pagev" id="pagev"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;v]</span>
+
+
+<h3>FOREWORD</h3>
+
+<p>
+Which of us has yet forgotten that first day when
+we set foot in Barbary? Those first impressions,
+as the gorgeous East with all its countless sounds
+and colours, forms and odours, burst upon us;
+mingled pleasures and disgusts, all new, undreamed-of,
+or our wildest dreams enhanced! Those yelling,
+struggling crowds of boatmen, porters, donkey-boys;
+guides, thieves, and busy-bodies; clad in
+mingled finery and tatters; European, native, nondescript;
+a weird, incongruous medley&mdash;such as is
+always produced when East meets West&mdash;how they
+did astonish and amuse us! How we laughed
+(some trembling inwardly) and then, what letters
+we wrote home!</p>
+<p>
+One-and-twenty years have passed since that experience
+entranced the present writer, and although
+he has repeated it as far as possible in practically
+every other oriental country, each fresh visit to
+Morocco brings back somewhat of the glamour of
+that maiden plunge, and somewhat of that youthful
+ardour, as the old associations are renewed.
+Nothing he has seen elsewhere excels Morocco
+in point of life and colour save Bokhára; and<a name="pagevi" id="pagevi"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;vi]</span>
+only in certain parts of India or in China is it
+rivalled. Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli have lost
+much of that charm under Turkish or western
+rule; Egypt still more markedly so, while Palestine
+is of a population altogether mixed and heterogeneous.
+The bazaars of Damascus, even, and
+Constantinople, have given way to plate-glass, and
+nothing remains in the nearer East to rival Morocco.</p>
+<p>
+Notwithstanding the disturbed condition of much
+of the country, nothing has occurred to interfere
+with the pleasure certain to be afforded by a visit
+to Morocco at any time, and all who can do so
+are strongly recommended to include it in an early
+holiday. The best months are from September to
+May, though the heat on the coast is never too
+great for an enjoyable trip. The simplest way of
+accomplishing this is by one of Messrs. Forwood's
+regular steamers from London, calling at most of
+the Morocco ports and returning by the Canaries,
+the tour occupying about a month, though it may
+be broken and resumed at any point. Tangier
+may be reached direct from Liverpool by the
+Papayanni Line, or indirectly <i>viâ</i> Gibraltar, subsequent
+movements being decided by weather and
+local sailings. British consular officials, missionaries,
+and merchants will be found at the various
+ports, who always welcome considerate strangers.</p>
+<p>
+Comparatively few, even of the ever-increasing
+number of visitors who year after year bring this
+only remaining independent Barbary State within<a name="pagevii" id="pagevii"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;vii]</span>
+the scope of their pilgrimage, are aware of the
+interest with which it teems for the scientist, the
+explorer, the historian, and students of human
+nature in general. One needs to dive beneath
+the surface, to live on the spot in touch with the
+people, to fathom the real Morocco, and in this it
+is doubtful whether any foreigners not connected by
+ties of creed or marriage ever completely succeed.
+What can be done short of this the writer attempted
+to do, mingling with the people as one of themselves
+whenever this was possible. Inspired by the
+example of Lane in his description of the "Modern
+Egyptians," he essayed to do as much for the
+Moors, and during eighteen years he laboured to
+that end.</p>
+<p>
+The present volume gathers together from many
+quarters sketches drawn under those circumstances,
+supplemented by a <i>resumé</i> of recent events and the
+political outlook, together with three chapters&mdash;viii.,
+xi., and xiv.&mdash;contributed by his wife, whose
+assistance throughout its preparation he has once
+more to acknowledge with pleasure. To many
+correspondents in Morocco he is also indebted for
+much valuable up-to-date information on current
+affairs, but as most for various reasons prefer to
+remain unmentioned, it would be invidious to name
+any. For most of the illustrations, too, he desires
+to express his hearty thanks to the gentlemen who
+have permitted him to reproduce their photographs.</p>
+<p>
+Much of the material used has already appeared<a name="pageviii" id="pageviii"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;viii]</span>
+in more fugitive form in the <i>Times of Morocco</i>, the
+<i>London Quarterly Review</i>, the <i>Forum</i>, the <i>Westminster
+Review</i>, <i>Harper's Magazine</i>, the <i>Humanitarian</i>,
+the <i>Gentleman's Magazine</i>, the <i>Independent</i>
+(New York), the <i>Modern Church</i>, the <i>Jewish
+Chronicle</i>, <i>Good Health</i>, the <i>Medical Missionary</i>,
+the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, the <i>Westminster Gazette</i>,
+the <i>Outlook</i>, etc., while Chapters ix., xix., and xxv.
+to xxix. have been extracted from a still unpublished
+picture of Moorish country life, "Sons of
+Ishmael."</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+ B.M.</p>
+
+<p class="note">
+<span class="sc">Hampstead,</span><br /><br style="line-height: 30%;" />
+<span class="note1"><i>November 1905.</i></span></p>
+
+
+
+     <hr class="short" /><br /><br /><br />
+
+
+
+<a name="pageix" id="pageix"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;ix]</span>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+
+<h4>PART I</h4>
+
+<table width="75%" align="center" border="0" summary="contents">
+<tr>
+ <td class="left" colspan="2" width="80%" valign="top">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;CHAPTER<br /><br /></td>
+ <td class="right" colspan="2" valign="top">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">I.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page1">RETROSPECTIVE</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">II.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page14">THE PRESENT DAY</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page14">14</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">III.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page36">BEHIND THE SCENES</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page36">36</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">IV.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page47">THE BERBER RACE</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page47">47</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top"> V.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page57">THE WANDERING ARAB</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page57">57</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">VI.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page63">CITY LIFE</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page63">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">VII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page71">THE WOMEN-FOLK </a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page71">71</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">VIII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page82">SOCIAL VISITS</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page82">82</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">IX.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page88">A COUNTRY WEDDING</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page88">88</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">X.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page94">THE BAIRNS</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page94">94</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XI.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page102">"DINING OUT"</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page102">102</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page107">DOMESTIC ECONOMY</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page107">107</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XIII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page113">THE NATIVE "MERCHANT"</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page113">113</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XIV.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page118">SHOPPING</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page118">118</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XV.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page125">A SUNDAY MARKET</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page125">125</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XVI.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page133">PLAY-TIME</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page133">133</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XVII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page138">THE STORY-TELLER</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page138">138</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XVIII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page151">SNAKE-CHARMING</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page151">151</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XIX.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page159">IN A MOORISH CAFÉ</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page159">159</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XX.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page166">THE MEDICINE-MAN</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page166">166</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXI.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page179">THE HUMAN MART</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page179">179</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page185">A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page185">185</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXIII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page191">THE PILGRIM CAMP</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page191">191</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXIV.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page201">RETURNING HOME</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page201">201</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<h4>PART II</h4>
+
+<table width="75%" align="center" border="0" summary="contents">
+ <tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXV.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page205">DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page205">205</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXVI.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page233">PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page233">233</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXVII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page242">THE PROTECTION SYSTEM</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page242">242</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXVIII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page252">JUSTICE FOR THE JEW</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page252">252</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXIX.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page261">CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page261">261</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXX.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page267">THE POLITICAL SITUATION</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page267">267</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXXI.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page292">FRANCE IN MOROCCO</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page292">292</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<h4>PART III</h4>
+
+<table width="75%" align="center" border="0" summary="contents">
+  <tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXXII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page307">ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page307">307</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXXIII.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page318">TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page318">318</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXXIV.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page326">TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page326">326</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">XXXV.</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page332">FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page332">332</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<h4>APPENDIX</h4>
+
+<table width="75%" align="center" border="0" summary="contents">
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">&nbsp;</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page381">"MOROCCO NEWS"</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page381">381</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left1" width="15%" valign="top">&nbsp;</td>
+	   <td class="left" width="65%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#page395">INDEX</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page395">395</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<a name="pagexi" id="pagexi"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;xi]</span>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3>
+
+<table width="75%" align="center" border="0" summary="contents">
+<tr>
+ <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top">&nbsp;</td>
+ <td class="right" valign="top">TO FACE PAGE<br /><br /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#frontispiece">A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#gate">GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#gate">2</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#river">CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#river">27</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#village">A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#village">46</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#tent">AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#tent">56</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#roofs">ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#roofs">71</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#caravan">A MOORISH CARAVAN</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#caravan">91</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#fruit-sellers">FRUIT-SELLERS</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#fruit-sellers">107</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#shopkeeper">A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#shopkeeper">118</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#market">THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#market">128</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#performers">GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARRÁKESH</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#performers">141</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#caravanserai">A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI)</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#caravanserai">159</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#narrator">RABHAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#narrator">185</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#steamer">WAITING FOR THE STEAMER</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#steamer">201</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#gateway">A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#gateway">211</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#homestead">CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#homestead">242</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#j-atlas">JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#j-atlas">256</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#kaid">A MOORISH KAĎD AND ATTENDANTS</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#kaid">275</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#execution">TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH&mdash;AN EXECUTION</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#execution">299</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#tent2">TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEĎKH</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#tent2">313</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#tunisian">A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#tunisian">325</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#tripoli">OUTSIDE TRIPOLI</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#tripoli">330</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#cordova">A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#cordova">340</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+       <td class="left" width="80%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#tetuan">THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN</a></td>
+       <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#tetuan">375</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+
+<br /><br /><hr /><br /><br />
+<p class="note1">
+<span class="sc">Note</span>.&mdash;<i>The system of transliterating Arabic adopted
+by the Author in his previous works has here been
+followed only so far as it is likely to be adopted by
+others than specialists, all signs being omitted which
+are not essential to approximate pronunciation.</i>
+</p>
+<br /><br /><hr /><br /><br />
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page1" id="page1"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;1]</span>
+
+<h1>LIFE IN MOROCCO</h1>
+<br /><br />
+
+<h2>PART I</h2>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<h2>RETROSPECTIVE</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"The firmament turns, and times are changing."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+By the western gate of the Mediterranean, where
+the narrowed sea has so often tempted invaders,
+the decrepit Moorish Empire has become itself a
+bait for those who once feared it. Yet so far
+Morocco remains untouched, save where a fringe
+of Europeans on the coast purvey the luxuries from
+other lands that Moorish tastes demand, and in
+exchange take produce that would otherwise be
+hardly worth the raising. Even here the foreign
+influence is purely superficial, failing to affect the
+lives of the people; while the towns in which
+Europeans reside are so few in number that
+whatever influence they do possess is limited in
+area. Moreover, Morocco has never known foreign
+dominion, not even that of the Turks, who have
+left their impress on the neighbouring Algeria and
+Tunisia. None but the Arabs have succeeded in
+obtaining a foothold among its Berbers, and they,
+restricted to the plains, have long become part of
+<a name="page2" id="page2"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;2]</span>
+the nation. Thus Morocco, of all the North African
+kingdoms, has always maintained its independence,
+and in spite of changes all round, continues to live
+its own picturesque life.</p>
+<p>
+Picturesque it certainly is, with its flowing
+costumes and primitive homes, both of which vary
+in style from district to district, but all of which
+seem as though they must have been unchanged
+for thousands of years. Without security for life
+or property, the mountaineers go armed, they dwell
+in fortresses or walled-in villages, and are at constant
+war with one another. On the plains, except in the
+vicinity of towns, the country people group their
+huts around the fortress of their governor, within
+which they can shelter themselves and their possessions
+in time of war. No other permanent
+erection is to be seen on the plains, unless it be
+some wayside shrine which has outlived the ruin
+fallen on the settlement to which it once belonged,
+and is respected by the conquerors as holy ground.
+Here and there gaunt ruins rise, vast crumbling
+walls of concrete which have once been fortresses,
+lending an air of desolation to the scene, but offering
+no attraction to historian or antiquary. No
+one even knows their names, and they contain no
+monuments. If ever more solid remains are encountered,
+they are invariably set down as the work
+of the Romans.</p>
+<br /><a name="gate" id="gate"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/002.jpg"><img src="images/002-276.jpg" width="276" height="430" alt="GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Cavilla, Photo., Tangier.</i><br /><br />
+<b>GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+
+
+
+<p>
+Yet Morocco has a history, an interesting history
+indeed, one linked with ours in many curious ways,
+as is recorded in scores of little-known volumes.
+It has a literature amazingly voluminous, but there
+were days when the relations with other lands were
+much closer, if less cordial, the days of the crusades
+and the Barbary pirates, the days of European<a name="page3" id="page3"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;3]</span>
+tribute to the Moors, and the days of Christian
+slavery in Morocco. Constantly appearing brochures
+in many tongues made Europe of those days
+acquainted with the horrors of that dreadful land.
+All these only served to augment the fear in which
+its people were held, and to deter the victimized
+nations from taking action which would speedily
+have put an end to it all, by demonstrating the inherent
+weakness of the Moorish Empire.</p>
+<p>
+But for those whose study is only the Moors as
+they exist to-day, the story of Morocco stretches
+back only a thousand years, as until then its scattered
+tribes of Berber mountaineers had acknowledged no
+head, and knew no common interests; they were not
+a nation. War was their pastime; it is so now to
+a great extent. Every man for himself, every tribe
+for itself. Idolatry, of which abundant traces still
+remain, had in places been tinged with the name
+and some of the forms of Christianity, but to what
+extent it is now impossible to discover. In the
+Roman Church there still exist titular bishops of
+North Africa, one, in particular, derives his title
+from the district of Morocco of which Fez is now
+the capital, Mauretania Tingitana.</p>
+<p>
+It was among these tribes that a pioneer mission
+of Islám penetrated in the eighth of our centuries.
+Arabs were then greater strangers in Barbary than
+we are now, but they were by no means the first
+strange faces seen there. Ph&oelig;nicians, Romans
+and Vandals had preceded them, but none had
+stayed, none had succeeded in amalgamating with
+the Berbers, among whom those individuals who did
+remain were absorbed.  These hardy clansmen,<a name="page4" id="page4"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;4]</span>
+exhibiting the characteristics of hill-folk the world
+round, still inhabited the uplands and retained
+their independence. In this they have indeed succeeded
+to a great extent until the present day, but
+between that time and this they have given of their
+life-blood to build up by their side a less pure nation
+of the plains, whose language as well as its creed is
+that of Arabia.</p>
+<p>
+To imagine that Morocco was invaded by a
+Muslim host who carried all before them is a great
+mistake, although a common one. Mulai Idrees&mdash;"My
+Lord Enoch" in English&mdash;a direct descendant
+of Mohammed, was among the first of the
+Arabian missionaries to arrive, with one or two
+faithful adherents, exiles fleeing from the Khalîfa
+of Mekka. So soon as he had induced one tribe
+to accept his doctrines, he assisted them with his
+advice and prestige in their combats with hereditary
+enemies, to whom, however, the novel terms were
+offered of fraternal union with the victors, if they
+would accept the creed of which they had become
+the champions. Thus a new element was introduced
+into the Berber polity, the element of combination,
+for the lack of which they had always
+been weak before. Each additional ally meant an
+augmentation of the strength of the new party
+out of all proportion to the losses from occasional
+defeats.</p>
+<p>
+In course of time the Mohammedan coalition
+became so strong that it was in a position to dictate
+terms and to impose governors upon the most
+obstinate of its neighbours. The effect of this was
+to divide the allies into two important sections, the
+older of which founded Fez in the days of the son<a name="page5" id="page5"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;5]</span>
+of Idrees, accounted the second ameer of that
+name, who there lies buried in the most important
+mosque of the Empire, the very approaches of
+which are closed to the Jew and the Nazarene.
+The only spot which excels it in sanctity is that
+at Zarhôn, a day's journey off, in which the first
+Idrees lies buried. There the whole town is forbidden
+to the foreigner, and an attempt made by
+the writer to gain admittance in disguise was frustrated
+by discovery at the very gate, though later
+on he visited the shrine in Fez. The dynasty thus
+formed, the Shurfŕ Idreeseeďn, is represented to-day
+by the Shareef of Wazzán.</p>
+<p>
+In southern Morocco, with its capital at Aghmát,
+on the Atlas slopes, was formed what later
+grew to be the kingdom of Marrákesh, the city
+of that name being founded in the middle of
+the eleventh century. Towards the close of the
+thirteenth, the kingdoms of Fez and Marrákesh
+became united under one ruler, whose successor,
+after numerous dynastic changes, is the Sultan of
+Morocco now.<a name="I1r" id="I1r"></a><a href="#I1"><sup>*</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+But from the time that the united Berbers
+had become a nation, to prevent them falling out
+among themselves again it was necessary to find
+some one else to fight, to occupy the martial instinct
+nursed in fighting one another. So long as there
+were ancient scores to be wiped out at home, so
+long as under cover of a missionary zeal they could
+continue intertribal feuds, things went well for the
+victors; but as soon as excuses for this grew scarce,
+it was needful to fare afield. The pretty story&mdash;told,<a name="page6" id="page6"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;6]</span>
+by the way, of other warriors as well&mdash;of the Arab
+leader charging the Atlantic surf, and weeping that
+the world should end there, and his conquests too,
+may be but fiction, but it illustrates a fact. Had
+Europe lain further off, the very causes which had
+conspired to raise a central power in Morocco would
+have sufficed to split it up again. This, however,
+was not to be. In full view of the most northern
+strip of Morocco, from Ceuta to Cape Spartel, the
+north-west corner of Africa, stretches the coast of
+sunny Spain. Between El K'sar es-Sagheer,
+"The Little Castle," and Tarifa Point is only a
+distance of nine or ten miles, and in that southern
+atmosphere the glinting houses may be seen across
+the straits.</p>
+<p>
+History has it that internal dissensions at the
+Court of Spain led to the Moors being actually
+invited over; but that inducement was hardly
+needed. Here was a country of infidels yet to be
+conquered; here was indeed a land of promise.
+Soon the Berbers swarmed across, and in spite of
+reverses, carried all before them. Spain was then
+almost as much divided into petty states as their
+land had been till the Arabs taught them better,
+and little by little they made their way in a country
+destined to be theirs for five hundred years. Córdova,
+Sevílle, Granáda, each in turn became their
+capital, and rivalled Fez across the sea.</p>
+<p>
+The successes they achieved attracted from the
+East adventurers and merchants, while by wise administration
+literature and science were encouraged,
+till the Berber Empire of Spain and Morocco took a
+foremost rank among the nations of the day. Judged
+from the standpoint of their time, they seem to us a<a name="page7" id="page7"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;7]</span>
+prodigy; judged from our standpoint, they were but
+little in advance of their descendants of the twentieth
+century, who, after all, have by no means retrograded,
+as they are supposed to have done, though
+they certainly came to a standstill, and have suffered
+all the evils of four centuries of torpor and stagnation.
+Civilization wrought on them the effects that
+it too often produces, and with refinement came
+weakness. The sole remaining state of those which
+the invaders, finding independent, conquered one by
+one, is the little Pyrenean Republic of Andorra, still
+enjoying privileges granted to it for its brave defence
+against the Moors, which made it the high-water
+mark of their dominion. As peace once more split
+up the Berbers, the subjected Spaniards became
+strong by union, till at length the death-knell of
+Moorish rule in Europe sounded at the nuptials of
+the famous Ferdinand and Isabella, linking Aragon
+with proud Castile.</p>
+<p>
+Expelled from Spain, the Moor long cherished
+plans for the recovery of what had been lost, preparing
+fleets and armies for the purpose, but in vain.
+Though nominally still united, his people lacked that
+zeal in a common cause which had carried them
+across the straits before, and by degrees the
+attempts to recover a kingdom dwindled into continued
+attacks upon shipping and coast towns.
+Thus arose that piracy which was for several
+centuries the scourge of Christendom. Further east
+a distinct race of pirates flourished, including Turks
+and Greeks and ruffians from every shore, but they
+were not Moors, of whom the Salli rover was the
+type. Many thousands of Europeans were carried
+off by Moorish corsairs into slavery, including not<a name="page8" id="page8"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;8]</span>
+a few from England. Those who renounced their
+own religion and nationality, accepting those of their
+captors, became all but free, only being prevented
+from leaving the country, and often rose to important
+positions. Those who had the courage of
+their convictions suffered much, being treated like
+cattle, or worse, but they could be ransomed when
+their price was forthcoming&mdash;a privilege abandoned
+by the renegades&mdash;so that the principal object of
+every European embassy in those days was the
+redemption of captives. Now and then escapes
+would be accomplished, but such strict watch was
+kept when foreign merchantmen were in port, or
+when foreign ambassadors came and went, that few
+attempts succeeded, though many were made.</p>
+<p>
+Sympathies are stirred by pictures of the martyrdom
+of Englishmen and Irishmen, Franciscan
+missionaries to the Moors; and side by side with
+them the foreign mercenaries in the native service,
+Englishmen among them, who would fight in any
+cause for pay and plunder, even though their
+masters held their countrymen in thrall. And thrall
+it was, as that of Israel in Egypt, when our sailors
+were chained to galley seats beneath the lash of a
+Moor, or when they toiled beneath a broiling sun
+erecting the grim palace walls of concrete which still
+stand as witnesses of those fell days. Bought and
+sold in the market like cattle, Europeans were more
+despised than Negroes, who at least acknowledged
+Mohammed as their prophet, and accepted their lot
+without attempt to escape.</p>
+<p>
+Dark days were those for the honour of Europe,
+when the Moors inspired terror from the Balearics
+to the Scilly Isles, and when their rovers swept the<a name="page9" id="page9"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;9]</span>
+seas with such effect that all the powers of Christendom
+were fain to pay them tribute. Large sums of
+money, too, collected at church doors and by the
+sale of indulgences, were conveyed by the hands of
+intrepid friars, noble men who risked all to relieve
+those slaves who had maintained their faith, having
+scorned to accept a measure of freedom as the
+reward of apostasy. Thousands of English and
+other European slaves were liberated through the
+assistance of friendly letters from Royal hands, as
+when the proud Queen Bess addressed Ahmad II.,
+surnamed "the Golden," as "Our Brother after the
+Law of Crown and Sceptre," or when Queen Anne
+exchanged compliments with the bloodthirsty Ismáďl,
+who ventured to ask for the hand of a daughter of
+Louis XIV.</p>
+<p>
+In the midst of it all, when that wonderful man,
+with a household exceeding Solomon's, and several
+hundred children, had reigned forty-three of his
+fifty-five years, the English, in 1684, ceded to him
+their possession of Tangier. For twenty-two years
+the "Castle in the streights' mouth," as General
+Monk had described it, had been the scene of as
+disastrous an attempt at colonization as we have
+ever known: misunderstanding of the circumstances
+and mismanagement throughout; oppression, peculation
+and terror within as well as without; a constant
+warfare with incompetent or corrupt officials
+within as with besieging Moors without; till at
+last the place had to be abandoned in disgust,
+and the expensive mole and fortifications were
+destroyed lest others might seize what we could
+not hold.</p>
+<p>
+Such events could only lower the prestige of
+<a name="page10" id="page10"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;10]</span>
+Europeans, if, indeed, they possessed any, in the
+eyes of the Moors, and the slaves up country received
+worse treatment than before. Even the
+ambassadors and consuls of friendly powers were
+treated with indignities beyond belief. Some were
+imprisoned on the flimsiest pretexts, all had to
+appear before the monarch in the most abject
+manner, and many were constrained to bribe the
+favourite wives of the ameers to secure their
+requests. It is still the custom for the state reception
+to take place in an open courtyard, the
+ambassador standing bareheaded before the mounted
+Sultan under his Imperial parasol. As late as
+1790 the brutal Sultan El Yazeed, who emulated
+Ismáďl the Bloodthirsty, did not hesitate to declare
+war on all Christendom except England, agreeing
+to terms of peace on the basis of tribute. Cooperation
+between the Powers was not then thought
+of, and one by one they struck their bargains as
+they are doing again to-day.</p>
+<p>
+Yet even at the most violent period of Moorish
+misrule it is a remarkable fact that Europeans were
+allowed to settle and trade in the Empire, in all
+probability as little molested there as they would
+have been had they remained at home, by varying
+religious tests and changing governments. It is
+almost impossible to conceive, without a perusal
+of the literature of the period, the incongruity of
+the position. Foreign slaves would be employed
+in gangs outside the dwellings of free fellow-countrymen
+with whom they were forbidden to
+communicate, while every returning pirate captain
+added to the number of the captives, sometimes
+bringing friends and relatives of those who lived in<a name="page11" id="page11"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;11]</span>
+freedom as the Sultan's "guests," though he considered
+himself "at war" with their Governments.
+So little did the Moors understand the position of
+things abroad, that at one time they made war upon
+Gibraltar, while expressing the warmest friendship
+for England, who then possessed it. This was done
+by Mulai Abd Allah V., in 1756, because, he said,
+the Governor had helped his rebel uncle at Arzîla,
+so that the English, his so-called friends, did more
+harm than his enemies&mdash;the Portuguese and
+Spaniards. "My father and I believe," wrote his
+son, Sidi Mohammed, to Admiral Pawkers, "that
+the king your master has no knowledge of the
+behaviour towards us of the Governor of Gibraltar,
+ ... so Gibraltar shall be excluded from the peace
+to which I am willing to consent between England
+and us, and with the aid of the Almighty God, I
+will know how to avenge myself as I may on the
+English of Gibraltar."</p>
+<p>
+Previously Spain and Portugal had held the
+principal Moroccan seaports, the twin towns of
+Rabat and Salli alone remaining always Moorish,
+but these two in their turn set up a sort of independent
+republic, nourished from the Berber tribes
+in the mountains to the south of them. No Europeans
+live in Salli yet, for here the old fanaticism
+slumbers still. So long as a port remained in
+foreign hands it was completely cut off from the
+surrounding country, and played no part in Moorish
+history, save as a base for periodical incursions.
+One by one most of them fell again into the hands
+of their rightful owners, till they had recovered all
+their Atlantic sea-board. On the Mediterranean,
+Ceuta, which had belonged to Portugal, came under<a name="page12" id="page12"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;12]</span>
+the rule of Spain when those countries were united,
+and the Spaniards hold it still, as they do less
+important positions further east.</p>
+<p>
+The piracy days of the Moors have long passed,
+but they only ceased at the last moment they could
+do so with grace, before the introduction of steamships.
+There was not, at the best of times, much
+of the noble or heroic in their raids, which generally
+took the nature of lying in wait with well-armed,
+many-oared vessels, for unarmed, unwieldy merchantmen
+which were becalmed, or were outpaced
+by sail and oar together.</p>
+<p>
+Early in the nineteenth century Algiers was
+forced to abandon piracy before Lord Exmouth's
+guns, and soon after the Moors were given to
+understand that it could no longer be permitted
+to them either, since the Moorish "fleets"&mdash;if
+worthy the name&mdash;had grown so weak, and those
+of the Nazarenes so strong, that the tables were
+turned. Yet for many years more the nations of
+Europe continued the tribute wherewith the rapacity
+of the Moors was appeased, and to the United
+States belongs the honour of first refusing this
+disgraceful payment.</p>
+<p>
+The manner in which the rovers of Salli and
+other ports were permitted to flourish so long can
+be explained in no other way than by the supposition
+that they were regarded as a sort of necessary
+nuisance, just a hornet's-nest by the wayside, which
+it would be hopeless to destroy, as they would
+merely swarm elsewhere. And then we must
+remember that the Moors were not the only
+pirates of those days, and that Europeans have
+to answer for the most terrible deeds of the<a name="page13" id="page13"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;13]</span>
+Mediterranean corsairs. News did not travel then
+as it does now. Though students of Morocco
+history are amazed at the frequent captures and the
+thousands of Christian slaves so imported, abroad it
+was only here and there that one was heard of
+at a time.</p>
+<p>
+To-day the plunder of an Italian sailing vessel
+aground on their shore, or the fate of too-confident
+Spanish smugglers running close in with arms, is
+heard of the world round. And in the majority
+of cases there is at least a question: What were
+the victims doing there? Not that this in any
+way excuses the so-called "piracy," but it must not
+be forgotten in considering the question. Almost
+all these tribes in the troublous districts carry
+European arms, instead of the more picturesque
+native flint-lock: and as not a single gun is legally
+permitted to pass the customs, there must be a
+considerable inlet somewhere, for prices are not
+high.</p>
+
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="I1" id="I1"></a>
+<a href="#I1r">*</a> For a complete outline of Moorish history, see the writer's
+"Moorish Empire."</p>
+
+
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page14" id="page14"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;14]</span>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<h2>THE PRESENT DAY</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"What has passed has gone, and what is to come is distant;
+Thou hast only the hour in which thou art."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+                           <i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>
+Far from being, as Hood described them, "poor
+rejected Moors who raised our childish fears," the
+people of Morocco consist of fine, open races, capable
+of anything, but literally rotting in one of the finest
+countries of the world. The Moorish remains in
+Spain, as well as the pages of history, testify to the
+manner in which they once flourished, but to-day
+their appearance is that of a nation asleep. Yet
+great strides towards reform have been made during
+the past century, and each decade sees steps taken
+more important than the last. For the present
+decade is promised complete transformation.</p>
+<p>
+But how little do we know of this people! The
+very name "Moor" is a European invention, unknown
+in Morocco, where no more precise definition
+of the inhabitants can be given than that of
+"Westerners"&mdash;Maghribîn, while the land itself is
+known as "The Further West"&mdash;El Moghreb el
+Aksa. The name we give to the country is but
+a corruption of that of the southern capital,
+Marrákesh ("Morocco City") through the Spanish
+version, Marueccos.</p>
+
+<a name="page15" id="page15"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;15]</span>
+<p>
+The genuine Moroccans are the Berbers among
+whom the Arabs introduced Islám and its civilization,
+later bringing Negroes from their raids
+across the Atlas to the Sudán and Guinea. The
+remaining important section of the people are Jews
+of two classes&mdash;those settled in the country from
+prehistoric times, and those driven to it when
+expelled from Spain. With the exception of the
+Arabs and the Blacks, none of these pull together,
+and in that case it is only because the latter are
+either subservient to the former, or incorporated
+with them.</p>
+<p>
+First in importance come the earliest known
+possessors of the land, the Berbers. These are not
+confined to Morocco, but still hold the rocky fastnesses
+which stretch from the Atlantic, opposite the
+Canaries, to the borders of Egypt; from the sands
+of the Mediterranean to those of the Sáhara, that
+vast extent of territory to which we have given
+their name, Barbary. Of these but a small proportion
+really amalgamated with their Muslim
+victors, and it is only to this mixed race which
+occupies the cities of Morocco that the name
+"Moor" is strictly applicable.</p>
+<p>
+On the plains are to be found the Arabs, their
+tents scattered in every direction. From the
+Atlantic to the Atlas, from Tangier to Mogador,
+and then away through the fertile province of Sűs,
+one of the chief features of Morocco is the series of
+wide alluvial treeless plains, often apparently as flat
+as a table, but here and there cut up by winding
+rivers and crossed by low ridges. The fertility of
+these districts is remarkable; but owing to the misgovernment
+of the country, which renders native<a name="page16" id="page16"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;16]</span>
+property so insecure, only a small portion is cultivated.
+The untilled slopes which border the plains
+are generally selected by the Arabs for their encampments,
+circles or ovals of low goat-hair tents,
+each covering a large area in proportion to the
+number of its inhabitants.</p>
+<p>
+The third section of the people of Morocco&mdash;by
+no means the least important&mdash;has still to be glanced
+at; these are the ubiquitous, persecuted and persecuting
+Jews. Everywhere that money changes
+hands and there is business to be done they are to
+be found. In the towns and among the thatched
+huts of the plains, even in the Berber villages on
+the slopes of the Atlas, they have their colonies.
+With the exception of a few ports wherein European
+rule in past centuries has destroyed the boundaries,
+they are obliged to live in their own restricted
+quarters, and in most instances are only permitted
+to cross the town barefooted and on foot, never to
+ride a horse. In the Atlas they live in separate
+villages adjoining or close to those belonging to
+the Berbers, and sometimes even larger than they.
+Always clad in black or dark-coloured cloaks, with
+hideous black skull-caps or white-spotted blue kerchiefs
+on their heads, they are conspicuous everywhere.
+They address the Moors with a villainous,
+cringing look which makes the sons of Ishmael
+savage, for they know it is only feigned. In return
+they are treated like dogs, and cordial hatred exists
+on both sides. So they live, together yet divided;
+the Jew despised but indispensable, bullied but
+thriving. He only wins at law when richer than
+his opponent; against a Muslim he can bear no
+testimony; there is scant pretence at justice. He<a name="page17" id="page17"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;17]</span>
+dares not lift his hand to strike a Moor, however ill-treated,
+but he finds revenge in sucking his life's
+blood by usury. Receiving no mercy, he shows
+none, and once in his clutches, his prey is fortunate
+to escape with his life.</p>
+<p>
+The happy influence of more enlightened
+European Jews is, however, making itself felt in
+the chief towns, through excellent schools supported
+from London and Paris, which are turning out a
+class of highly respectable citizens. While the
+Moors fear the tide of advancing westernization,
+the town Jews court it, and in them centres one of
+the chief prospects of the country's welfare. Into
+their hands has already been gathered much of the
+trade of Morocco, and there can be little doubt that,
+by the end of the thirty years' grace afforded to
+other merchants than the French, they will have
+practically absorbed it all, even the Frenchmen
+trading through them. They have at least the
+intimate knowledge of the people and local conditions
+to which so few foreigners ever attain.</p>
+<p>
+When the Moorish Empire comes to be pacifically
+penetrated and systematically explored, it
+will probably be found that little more is known
+of it than of China, notwithstanding its proximity,
+and its comparatively insignificant size. A map
+honestly drawn, from observations only, would
+astonish most people by its vast blank spaces.<a name="II1r" id="II1r"></a><a href="#II1"><sup>*</sup></a> It
+would be noted that the limit of European exploration&mdash;with
+the exception of the work of two or
+three hardy travellers in disguise&mdash;is less than two
+hundred miles from the coast, and that this limit<a name="page18" id="page18"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;18]</span>
+is reached at two points only&mdash;south of Fez and
+Marrákesh respectively,&mdash;which form the apices of
+two well-known triangular districts, the contiguous
+bases of which form part of the Atlantic coast line,
+under four hundred miles in length. Beyond these
+limits all is practically unknown, the language, customs
+and beliefs of the people providing abundant
+ground for speculation, and permitting theorists free
+play. So much is this the case, that a few years ago
+an enthusiastic "savant" was able to imagine that he
+had discovered a hidden race of dwarfs beyond the
+Atlas, and to obtain credence for his "find" among
+the best-informed students of Europe.</p>
+<p>
+But there is also another point of view from
+which Morocco is unknown, that of native thought
+and feeling, penetrated by extremely few Europeans,
+even when they mingle freely with the people, and
+converse with them in Arabic. The real Moor is
+little known by foreigners, a very small number
+of whom mix with the better classes. Some, as
+officials, meet officials, but get little below the official
+exterior. Those who know most seldom speak,
+their positions or their occupations preventing the
+expression of their opinions. Sweeping statements
+about Morocco may therefore be received with
+reserve, and dogmatic assertions with caution.
+This Empire is in no worse condition now than it
+has been for centuries; indeed, it is much better
+off than ever since its palmy days, and there is no
+occasion whatever to fear its collapse.</p>
+<p>
+Few facts are more striking in the study of
+Morocco than the absolute stagnation of its people,
+except in so far as they have been to a very limited
+extent affected by outside influences. Of what<a name="page19" id="page19"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;19]</span>
+European&mdash;or even oriental&mdash;land could descriptions
+of life and manners written in the sixteenth
+century apply as fully in the twentieth as do those
+of Morocco by Leo Africanus? Or even to come
+later, compare the transitions England has undergone
+since Höst and Jackson wrote a hundred years
+ago, with the changes discoverable in Morocco since
+that time. The people of Morocco remain the same,
+and their more primitive customs are those of far
+earlier ages, of the time when their ancestors lived
+upon the plain of Palestine and North Arabia, and
+when "in the loins of Abraham" the now unfriendly
+Jew and Arab were yet one. It is the position of
+Europeans among them which has changed.</p>
+<p>
+In the time of Höst and Jackson piracy was
+dying hard, restrained by tribute from all the
+Powers of Europe. The foreign merchant was
+not only tolerated, but was at times supplied with
+capital by the Moorish sultans, to whom he was
+allowed to go deeply in debt for custom's dues, and
+half a century later the British Consul at Mogador
+was not permitted to embark to escape a bombardment
+of the town, because of his debt to the Sultan.
+Many of the restrictions complained of to-day are
+the outcome of the almost enslaved condition of the
+merchants of those times in consequence of such
+customs. Indeed, the position of the European in
+Morocco is still a series of anomalies, and so it is
+likely to continue until it passes under foreign rule.</p>
+<p>
+The same old spirit of independence reigns in
+the Berber breast to-day as when he conquered
+Spain, and though he has forgotten his past and
+cares naught for his future, he still considers himself
+a superior being, and feels that no country can rival<a name="page20" id="page20"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;20]</span>
+his home. In his eyes the embassies from Europe
+and America come only to pay the tribute which
+is the price of peace with his lord, and when he
+sees a foreign minister in all his black and gold
+stand in the sun bareheaded to address the mounted
+Sultan beneath his parasol, he feels more proud
+than ever of his greatness, and is more decided
+to be pleasant to the stranger, but to keep him out.</p>
+<p>
+Instead of increased relations between Moors
+and foreigners tending to friendship, the average
+foreign settler or tourist is far too bigoted and
+narrow-minded to see any good in the native, much
+less to acknowledge his superiority on certain points.
+Wherever the Sultan's authority is recognized the
+European is free to travel and live, though past
+experience has led officials not to welcome him.
+At the same time, he remains entirely under the
+jurisdiction of his own authorities, except in cases
+of murder or grave crime, when he must be at once
+handed over to the nearest consul of his country.
+Not only are he and his household thus protected,
+but also his native employees, and, to a certain
+extent, his commercial and agricultural agents.</p>
+<p>
+Thus foreigners in Morocco enjoy within the
+limits of the central power the security of their own
+lands, and the justice of their own laws. They do
+not even find in Morocco that immunity from justice
+which some ignorant writers of fiction have supposed;
+for unless a foreigner abandons his own nationality
+and creed, and buries himself in the interior under
+a native name, he cannot escape the writs of foreign
+courts. In any case, the Moorish authorities will
+arrest him on demand, and hand him over to his
+consul to be dealt with according to law. The<a name="page21" id="page21"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;21]</span>
+colony of refugees which has been pictured by
+imaginative raconteurs is therefore non-existent.
+Instead there are growing colonies of business men,
+officials, missionaries, and a few retired residents,
+quite above the average of such colonies in the
+Levant, for instance.</p>
+<p>
+For many years past, though the actual business
+done has shown a fairly steady increase, the commercial
+outlook in Morocco has gone from bad to
+worse. Yet more of its products are now exported,
+and there are more European articles in demand,
+than were thought of twenty years ago. This
+anomalous and almost paradoxical condition is due
+to the increase of competition and the increasing
+weakness of the Government. Men who had hope
+a few years ago, now struggle on because they have
+staked too much to be able to leave for more
+promising fields. This has been especially the
+case since the late Sultan's death. The disturbances
+which followed that event impoverished many
+tribes, and left behind a sense of uncertainty and
+dread. No European Bourse is more readily or
+lastingly affected by local political troubles than the
+general trade of a land like Morocco, in which men
+live so much from hand to mouth.</p>
+<p>
+It is a noteworthy feature of Moorish diplomatic
+history that to the Moors' love of foreign trade we
+owe almost every step that has led to our present
+relations with the Empire. Even while their rovers
+were the terror of our merchantmen, as has been
+pointed out, foreign traders were permitted to reside
+in their ports, the facilities granted to them forming
+the basis of all subsequent negotiations. Now that
+concession after concession has been wrung from<a name="page22" id="page22"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;22]</span>
+their unwilling Government, and in spite of freedom
+of residence, travel, and trade in the most important
+parts of the Empire, it is disheartening to see the
+foreign merchant in a worse condition than ever.</p>
+<p>
+The previous generation, fewer in number, enjoying
+far less privileges, and subjected to restrictions
+and indignities that would not be suffered to-day,
+were able to make their fortunes and retire, while
+their successors find it hard to hold their own.
+The "hundred tonners" who, in the palmy days of
+Mogador, were wont to boast that they shipped no
+smaller quantities at once, are a dream of the past.
+The ostrich feathers and elephants' tusks no longer
+find their way out by that port, and little gold now
+passes in or out. Merchant princes will never
+be seen here again; commercial travellers from
+Germany are found in the interior, and quality, as
+well as price, has been reduced to its lowest ebb.</p>
+<p>
+A crowd of petty trading agents has arisen with
+no capital to speak of, yet claiming and abusing
+credit, of which a most ruinous system prevails, and
+that in a land in which the collection of debts is
+proverbially difficult, and oftentimes impossible.
+The native Jews, who were interpreters and
+brokers years ago, have now learned the business
+and entered the lists. These new competitors
+content themselves with infinitesimal profits, or
+none at all in cases where the desideratum is cash
+to lend out at so many hundreds per cent. per
+annum. Indeed, it is no uncommon practice for
+goods bought on long credit to be sold below cost
+price for this purpose. Against such methods who
+can compete?</p>
+<p>
+Yet this is a rich, undeveloped land&mdash;not exactly<a name="page23" id="page23"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;23]</span>
+an El Dorado, though certainly as full of promise
+as any so styled has proved to be when reached&mdash;favoured
+physically and geographically, but politically
+stagnant, cursed with an effete administration,
+fettered by a decrepit creed. In view of this
+situation, it is no wonder that from time to time
+specious schemes appear and disappear with clockwork
+regularity. Now it is in England, now in
+France, that a gambling public is found to hazard
+the cost of proving the impossibility of opening the
+country with a rush, and the worthlessness of so-called
+concessions and monopolies granted by sheďkhs
+in the south, who, however they may chafe under
+existing rule which forbids them ports of their own,
+possess none of the powers required to treat with
+foreigners.</p>
+<p>
+As normal trade has waned in Morocco, busy
+minds have not been slow in devising illicit, or at
+least unusual, methods of making money, even, one
+regrets to say, of making false money. Among
+the drawbacks suffered by the commerce which
+pines under the shade of the shareefian umbrella,
+one&mdash;and that far from the least&mdash;is the unsatisfactory
+coinage, which till a few years ago was almost
+entirely foreign. To have to depend in so important
+a matter on any mint abroad is bad enough,
+but for that mint to be Spanish means much.
+Centuries ago the Moors coined more, but with the
+exception of a horrible token of infinitesimal value
+called "floos," the products of their extinct mints
+are only to be found in the hands of collectors, in
+buried hoards, or among the jewellery displayed at
+home by Mooresses and Jewesses, whose fortunes,
+so invested, may not be seized for debt. Some<a name="page24" id="page24"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;24]</span>
+of the older issues are thin and square, with well-preserved
+inscriptions, and of these a fine collection&mdash;mostly
+gold&mdash;may be seen at the British Museum;
+but the majority, closely resembling those of India
+and Persia, are rudely stamped and unmilled, not
+even round, but thick, and of fairly good metal.
+The "floos" referred to (<i>sing.</i> "fils") are of three
+sizes, coarsely struck in zinc rendered hard and
+yellow by the addition of a little copper. The
+smallest, now rarely met with, runs about 19,500
+to Ł1 when this is worth 32&frac12; Spanish pesetas; the
+other two, still the only small change of the country,
+are respectively double and quadruple its value.
+The next coin in general circulation is worth 2<i>d.</i>,
+so the inconvenience is great. A few years ago,
+however, Europeans resident in Tangier resolutely
+introduced among themselves the Spanish ten and
+five céntimo pieces, corresponding to our 1<i>d.</i> and
+&frac12;<i>d.</i>, which are now in free local use, but are not
+accepted up-country.</p>
+<p>
+What passes as Moorish money to-day has been
+coined in France for many years, more recently
+also in Germany; the former is especially neat, but
+the latter lacks style. The denominations coincide
+with those of Spain, whose fluctuations in value they
+closely follow at a respectful distance. This autumn
+the "Hasáni" coin&mdash;that of Mulai el Hasan, the late
+Sultan&mdash;has fallen to fifty per cent. discount on
+Spanish. With the usual perversity also, the common
+standard "peseta," in which small bargains are struck
+on the coast, was omitted, the nearest coin, the
+quarter-dollar, being nominally worth ptas. 1.25. It
+was only after a decade, too, that the Government
+put in circulation the dollars struck in France,<a name="page25" id="page25"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;25]</span>
+which had hitherto been laid up in the treasury
+as a reserve. And side by side with the German
+issue came abundant counterfeit coins, against which
+Government warnings were published, to the serious
+disadvantage of the legal issue. Even the Spanish
+copper has its rival, and a Frenchman was once
+detected trying to bring in a nominal four hundred
+dollars' worth of an imitation, which he promptly
+threw overboard when the port guards raised
+objections to its quality.</p>
+<p>
+The increasing need of silver currency inland,
+owing to its free use in the manufacture of trinkets,
+necessitates a constant importation, and till
+recently all sorts of coins, discarded elsewhere,
+were in circulation. This was the case especially
+with French, Swiss, Belgian, Italian, Greek, Roumanian,
+and other pieces of the value of twenty
+céntimos, known here by the Turkish name "gursh,"
+which were accepted freely in Central Morocco, but
+not in the north. Twenty years ago Spanish
+Carolus, Isabella and Philippine shillings and
+kindred coins were in use all over the country,
+and when they were withdrawn from circulation in
+Spain they were freely shipped here, till the
+country was flooded with them. When the merchants
+and customs at last refused them, their
+astute importers took them back at a discount,
+putting them into circulation later at what they
+could, only to repeat the transaction. In Morocco
+everything a man can be induced to take is legal
+tender, and for bribes and religious offerings all
+things pass, this practice being an easier matter
+than at first sight appears; so in the course of a
+few years one saw a whole series of coins in vogue,<a name="page26" id="page26"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;26]</span>
+one after the other, the main transactions taking
+place on the coast with country Moors, than whom,
+though none more suspicious, none are more easily
+gulled.</p>
+<p>
+A much more serious obstacle to inland trade is
+the periodically disturbed state of the country, not
+so much the local struggles and uprisings which
+serve to free superfluous energy, as the regular
+administrative expeditions of the Moorish Court,
+or of considerable bodies of troops. These used to
+take place in some direction every year, "the time
+when kings go forth to war" being early summer,
+just when agricultural operations are in full swing,
+and every man is needed on his fields. In one
+district the ranks of the workers are depleted by a
+form of conscription or "harka," and in another
+these unfortunates are employed preventing others
+doing what they should be doing at home. Thus
+all suffer, and those who are not themselves engaged
+in the campaign are forced to contribute cash, if only
+to find substitutes to take their places in the
+ranks.</p>
+<p>
+The movement of the Moorish Court means the
+transportation of a numerous host at tremendous
+expense, which has eventually to be recouped in the
+shape of regular contributions, arrears of taxes and
+fines, collected <i>en route</i>, so the pace is abnormally
+slow. Not only is there an absolute absence of
+roads, and, with one or two exceptions, of bridges,
+but the Sultan himself, with all his army, cannot
+take the direct route between his most important
+inland cities without fighting his way. The configuration
+of the empire explains its previous sub-division
+into the kingdoms of Fez, Marrákesh,<a name="page27" id="page27"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;27]</span>
+Tafilált and Sűs, and the Reef, for between the
+plains of each run mountain ranges which have
+never known absolute "foreign" rulers.</p>
+<br /><a name="river" id="river"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/026.jpg"><img src="images/026-500.jpg" width="500" height="313" alt="CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Molinari, Photo., Tangier.</i><br /><br />
+<b>CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+To European engineers the passes through these
+closed districts would offer no great obstacles in the
+construction of roads such as thread the Himalayas,
+but the Moors do not wish for the roads; for, while
+what the Government fears to promote thereby is
+combination, the actual occupants of the mountains,
+the native Berbers, desire not to see the Arab tax-gatherers,
+only tolerating their presence as long as
+they cannot help it, and then rising against them.</p>
+<p>
+Often a tribe will be left for several years to enjoy
+independence, while the slip-shod army of the Sultan
+is engaged elsewhere. When its turn comes it holds
+out for terms, since it has no hope of successfully
+confronting such an overwhelming force as is sooner
+or later brought against it. The usual custom is to
+send small detachments of soldiers to the support of
+the over-grasping functionaries, and when they have
+been worsted, to send down an army to "eat up"
+the province, burning villages, deporting cattle, ill-treating
+the women, and often carrying home
+children as slaves. The men of the district probably
+flee and leave their homes to be ransacked.
+They content themselves with hiding behind crags
+which seem to the plainsmen inaccessible, whence
+they can in safety harass the troops on the march.
+After more or less protracted skirmishing, the
+country having been devastated by the troops, who
+care only for the booty, women will be sent into the
+camp to make terms, or one of the shareefs or
+religious nobles who accompany the army is sent
+out to treat with the rebels. The terms are usually<a name="page28" id="page28"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;28]</span>
+hard&mdash;so much arrears of tribute in cash and kind,
+so much as a fine for expenses, so many hostages.
+Then hostages and prisoners are driven to the
+capital in chains, and pickled heads are exposed on
+the gateways, imperial letters being read in the chief
+mosques throughout the country, telling of a glorious
+victory, and calling for rejoicings. To any other
+people the short spell of freedom would have been
+too dearly bought for the experiment to be repeated,
+but as soon as they begin to chafe again beneath
+the lawless rule of Moorish officials, the Berbers
+rebel once more. It has been going on thus for
+hundreds of years, and will continue till put an end
+to by France.</p>
+<p>
+In Morocco each official preys upon the one
+below him, and on all others within his reach, till
+the poor oppressed and helpless villager lives in
+terror of them all, not daring to display signs of
+prosperity for fear of tempting plunder. Merit is
+no key to positions of trust and authority, and few
+have such sufficient salary attached to render them
+attractive to honest men. The holders are expected
+in most cases to make a living out of the pickings,
+and are allowed an unquestioned run of office till
+they are presumed to have amassed enough to make
+it worth while treating them as they have treated
+others, when they are called to account and relentlessly
+"squeezed." The only means of staving off
+the fatal day is by frequent presents to those above
+them, wrung from those below. A large proportion
+of Moorish officials end their days in disgrace, if
+not in dungeons, and some meet their end by being
+invited to corrosive sublimate tea, a favourite
+beverage in Morocco&mdash;for others.  Yet there is<a name="page29" id="page29"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;29]</span>
+always a demand for office, and large prices are
+paid for posts affording opportunities for plunder.</p>
+<p>
+The Moorish financial system is of a piece with
+this method. When the budget is made out, each
+tribe or district is assessed at the utmost it is
+believed capable of yielding, and the candidate for
+its governorship who undertakes to get most out of
+it probably has the task allotted to him. His first
+duty is to repeat on a small scale the operation
+of the Government, informing himself minutely as
+to the resources under his jurisdiction, and assessing
+the sub-divisions so as to bring in enough for himself,
+and to provide against contingencies, in addition
+to the sum for which he is responsible. The local
+sheďkhs or head-men similarly apportion their
+demands among the individuals entrusted to their
+tender mercy. A fool is said to have once presented
+the Sultan with a bowl of skimmed and watered
+milk, and on being remonstrated with, to have
+declared that His Majesty received no more from
+any one, as his wazeers and governors ate half the
+revenue cream each, and the sheďkhs drank half the
+revenue milk. The fool was right.</p>
+<p>
+The richer a man is, the less proportion he will
+have to pay, for he can make it so agreeable&mdash;or
+disagreeable&mdash;for those entrusted with a little brief
+authority. It is the struggling poor who have to
+pay or go to prison, even if to pay they have to
+sell their means of subsistence. Three courses lie
+before this final victim&mdash;to obtain the protection of
+some influential name, native or foreign, to buy a
+"friend at court," or to enter Nazarene service.
+But native friends are uncertain and hard to find,
+and, above all, they may be alienated by a higher<a name="page30" id="page30"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;30]</span>
+bid from a rival or from a rapacious official. Such
+affairs are of common occurrence, and harrowing
+tales might be told of homes broken up in this way,
+of tortures inflicted, and of lives spent in dungeons
+because display has been indulged in, or because an
+independent position has been assumed under cover
+of a protection that has failed. But what can one
+expect with such a standard of honour?</p>
+<p>
+Foreigners, on the other hand, seldom betray
+their <i>protégés</i>&mdash;although, to their shame be it
+mentioned, some in high places have done so,&mdash;wherefore
+their protection is in greater demand;
+besides which it is more effectual, as coming from
+outside, while no Moor, however well placed, is
+absolutely secure in his own position. Thus it is
+that the down-trodden natives desire and are
+willing to pay for protection in proportion to their
+means; and it is this power of dispensing protection
+which, though often abused, does more than
+anything else to raise the prestige of the foreigner,
+and in turn to protect him.</p>
+<p>
+The claims most frequently made against Moors
+by foreign countries are for debt, claims which
+afford the greatest scope for controversy and the
+widest loophole for abuse. Although, unfortunately,
+for the greater part usurious, a fair proportion are
+for goods delivered, but to evade the laws even loan
+receipts are made out as for goods to be delivered,
+a form in which discrimination is extremely difficult.
+The condition of the country, in which every man
+is liable to be arrested, thrashed, imprisoned, if not
+tortured, to extort from him his wealth, is such as
+furnishes the usurer with crowding clients; and the
+condition of things among the Indian cultivators,<a name="page31" id="page31"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;31]</span>
+bad as it is, since they can at least turn to a fair-handed
+Government, is not to be compared to that
+of the down-trodden Moorish farmer.</p>
+<p>
+The assumption by the Government of responsibility
+for the debts of its subjects, or at all events
+its undertaking to see that they pay, is part of the
+patriarchal system in force, by which the family is
+made responsible for individuals, the tribe for
+families, and so on. No other system would bring
+offenders to justice without police; but it transforms
+each man into his brother's keeper. This,
+however, does not apply only to debts the collection
+of which is urged upon the Government, for whom
+it is sufficient to produce the debtor and let him
+prove absolute poverty for him to be released,
+with the claim cancelled. This in theory: but
+in practice, to appease these claims, however
+just, innocent men are often thrown into prison,
+and untold horrors are suffered, in spite of all
+the efforts of foreign ministers to counteract the
+injustice.</p>
+<p>
+A mere recital of tales which have come under
+my own observation would but harrow my readers'
+feelings to no purpose, and many would appear
+incredible. With the harpies of the Government
+at their heels, men borrow wildly for a month or
+two at cent. per cent., and as the Moorish law
+prohibits interest, a document is sworn to before
+notaries by which the borrower declares that he has
+that day taken in hard cash the full amount to be
+repaid, the value of certain crops or produce of
+which he undertakes delivery upon a certain date.
+Very seldom, indeed, does it happen that by that
+date the money can be repaid, and generally the<a name="page32" id="page32"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;32]</span>
+only terms offered for an extension of time for
+another three or six months are the addition of
+another fifty or one hundred per cent. to the debt,
+always fully secured on property, or by the bonds of
+property holders. Were not this thing of everyday
+occurrence in Morocco, and had I not examined
+scores of such papers, the way in which the ignorant
+Moors fall into such traps would seem incredible.
+It is usual to blame the Jews for it all, and though
+the business lies mostly in their hands, it must
+not be overlooked that many foreigners engage in
+it, and, though indirectly, some Moors also.</p>
+<p>
+But besides such claims, there is a large proportion
+of just business debts which need to be
+enforced. It does not matter how fair a claim
+may be, or how legitimate, it is very rarely that
+trouble is not experienced in pressing it. The
+Moorish Courts are so venal, so degraded, that it
+is more often the unscrupulous usurer who wins his
+case and applies the screw, than the honest trader.
+Here lies the rub. Another class of claims is for
+damage done, loss suffered, or compensation for
+imaginary wrongs. All these together mount up,
+and a newly appointed minister or consul-general
+is aghast at the list which awaits him. He probably
+contents himself at first with asking for the appointment
+of a commission to examine and report on the
+legality of all these claims, and for the immediate
+settlement of those approved. But he asks and is
+promised in vain, till at last he obtains the moral
+support of war-ships, in view of which the Moorish
+Government most likely pays much more than it
+would have got off with at first, and then proceeds
+to victimize the debtors.</p>
+
+<a name="page33" id="page33"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;33]</span>
+<p>
+It is with expressed threats of bombardment
+that the ships come, but experience has taught
+the Moorish Government that it is well not to let
+things go that length, and they now invariably
+settle amicably. To our western notions it may
+seem strange that whatever questions have to be
+attended to should not be put out of hand without
+requiring such a demonstration; but while there is
+sleep there is hope for an Oriental, and the rulers
+of Morocco would hardly be Moors if they resisted
+the temptation to procrastinate, for who knows what
+may happen while they delay? And then there is
+always the chance of driving a bargain, so dear to
+the Moorish heart, for the wazeer knows full well
+that although the Nazarene may be prepared to
+bombard, as he has done from time to time, he is
+no more desirous than the Sultan that such an
+extreme measure should be necessary.</p>
+<p>
+So, even when things come to the pinch, and the
+exasperated representative of Christendom talks
+hotly of withdrawing, hauling down his flag and
+giving hostile orders, there is time at least to make
+an offer, or to promise everything in words. And
+when all is over, claims paid, ships gone, compliments
+and presents passed, nothing really serious
+has happened, just the everyday scene on the
+market applied to the nation, while the Moorish
+Government has once more given proof of worldly
+wisdom, and endorsed the proverb that discretion
+is the better part of valour.</p>
+<p>
+An illustration of the high-handed way in which
+things are done in Morocco has but recently been
+afforded by the action of France regarding an
+alleged Algerian subject arrested by the Moorish<a name="page34" id="page34"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;34]</span>
+authorities for conspiracy. The man, Boo Zîan
+Miliáni by name, was the son of one of those
+Algerians who, when their country was conquered
+by the French, preferred exile to submission, and
+migrated to Morocco, where they became naturalized.
+He was charged with supporting the so-called "pretender"
+in the Reef province, where he was arrested
+with two others early in August last. His particular
+offence appears to have been the reading
+of the "Rogi's" proclamations to the public, and
+inciting them to rebel against the Sultan. But
+when brought a prisoner to Tangier, and thence
+despatched to Fez, he claimed French citizenship,
+and the Minister of France, then at Court, demanded
+his release.</p>
+<p>
+This being refused, a peremptory note followed,
+with a threat to break off diplomatic negotiations if
+the demand were not forthwith complied with. The
+usual <i>communiqués</i> were made to the Press, whereby
+a chorus was produced setting forth the insult to
+France, the imminence of war, and the general gravity
+of the situation. Many alarming head-lines were
+provided for the evening papers, and extra copies
+were doubtless sold. In Morocco, however, not
+only the English and Spanish papers, but also the
+French one, admitted that the action of France was
+wrong, though the ultimate issue was never in doubt,
+and the man's release was a foregone conclusion.
+Elsewhere the rights of the matter would have been
+sifted, and submitted at least to the law-courts, if
+not to arbitration.</p>
+<p>
+While the infliction of this indignity was stirring
+up northern Morocco, the south was greatly
+exercised by the presence on the coast of a French<a name="page35" id="page35"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;35]</span>
+vessel, <i>L'Aigle</i>, officers from which proceeded ostentatiously
+to survey the fortifications of Mogador
+and its island, and then effected a landing on the
+latter by night. Naturally the coastguards fired at
+them, fortunately without causing damage, but had
+any been killed, Europe would have rung with the
+"outrage." From Mogador the vessel proceeded
+after a stay of a month to Agadir, the first port of
+Sűs, closed to Europeans.</p>
+<p>
+Here its landing-party was met on the beach by
+some hundreds of armed men, whose commander
+resolutely forbade them to land, so they had to
+retire. Had they not done so, who would answer
+for the consequences? As it was, the natives,
+eager to attack the "invaders," were with difficulty
+kept in hand, and one false step would undoubtedly
+have led to serious bloodshed. Of course
+this was a dreadful rebuff for "pacific penetration,"
+but the matter was kept quiet as a little premature,
+since in Europe the coast is not quite clear enough
+yet for retributory measures. The effect, however,
+on the Moors, among whom the affair grew more
+grave each time it was recited, was out of all proportion
+to the real importance of the incident, which
+otherwise might have passed unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="II1" id="II1"></a>
+<a href="#II1r">*</a> An approximation to this is given in the writer's "Land of the
+Moors."</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a name="page36" id="page36"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;36]</span>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<h2>BEHIND THE SCENES</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"He knows of every vice an ounce."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>
+Though most eastern lands may be described as
+slip-shod, with reference both to the feet of their
+inhabitants and to the way in which things are done,
+there can be no country in the world more aptly
+described by that epithet than Morocco. One of
+the first things which strikes the visitor to this
+country is the universality of the slipper as foot-gear,
+at least, so far as the Moors are concerned.
+In the majority of cases the men wear the heels
+of their slippers folded down under the feet, only
+putting them up when necessity compels them to
+run, which they take care shall not be too often,
+as they much prefer a sort of ambling gait, best
+compared to that of their mules, or to that of an
+English tramp.</p>
+<p>
+Nothing delights them better as a means of
+agreeably spending an hour or two, than squatting
+on their heels in the streets or on some door-stoop,
+gazing at the passers-by, exchanging compliments
+with their acquaintances. Native "swells"
+consequently promenade with a piece of felt under
+their arms on which to sit when they wish, in<a name="page37" id="page37"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;37]</span>
+addition to its doing duty as a carpet for prayer.
+The most public places, and usually the cool of
+the afternoon, are preferred for this pastime.</p>
+<p>
+The ladies of their Jewish neighbours also like
+to sit at their doors in groups at the same hour, or
+in the doorways of main thoroughfares on moonlight
+evenings, while the gentlemen, who prefer
+to do their gossiping afoot, roam up and down.
+But this is somewhat apart from the point of the
+lazy tendencies of the Moors. With them&mdash;since
+they have no trains to catch, and disdain punctuality&mdash;all
+hurry is undignified, and one could as easily
+imagine an elegantly dressed Moorish scribe literally
+flying as running, even on the most urgent errand.
+"Why run," they ask, "when you might just as
+well walk? Why walk, when standing would do?
+Why stand, when sitting is so much less fatiguing?
+Why sit, when lying down gives so much more rest?
+And why, lying down, keep your eyes open?"</p>
+<p>
+In truth, this is a country in which things are
+left pretty much to look after themselves. Nothing
+is done that can be left undone, and everything is
+postponed until "to-morrow." Slipper-slapper go
+the people, and slipper-slapper goes their policy.
+If you can get through a duty by only half doing
+it, by all means do so, is the generally accepted rule
+of life. In anything you have done for you by a
+Moor, you are almost sure to discover that he has
+"scamped" some part; perhaps the most important.
+This, of course, means doing a good deal yourself,
+if you like things done well, a maxim holding good
+everywhere, indeed, but especially here.</p>
+<p>
+The Moorish Government's way of doing things&mdash;or
+rather, of not doing them if it can find an<a name="page38" id="page38"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;38]</span>
+excuse&mdash;is eminently slip-shod. The only point in
+which they show themselves astute is in seeing that
+their Rubicon has a safe bridge by which they may
+retreat, if that suits their plans after crossing it. To
+deceive the enemy they hide this as best they can,
+for the most part successfully, causing the greatest
+consternation in the opposite camp, which, at the
+moment when it thinks it has driven them into a
+corner, sees their ranks gradually thinning from
+behind, dribbling away by an outlet hitherto invisible.
+Thus, in accepting a Moor's promise,
+one must always consider the conditions or rider
+annexed.</p>
+<p>
+This can be well illustrated by the reluctant
+permission to transport grain from one Moorish
+port to another, granted from time to time, but so
+hampered by restrictions as to be only available to
+a few, the Moorish Government itself deriving the
+greatest advantage from it. Then, too, there is the
+property clause in the Convention of Madrid, which
+has been described as the sop by means of which
+the Powers were induced to accept other less
+favourable stipulations. Instead of being the step
+in advance which it appeared to be, it was, in
+reality, a backward step, the conditions attached
+making matters worse than before.</p>
+<p>
+In this way only do the Moors shine as politicians,
+unless prevarication and procrastination be
+included, Machiavellian arts in which they easily
+excel. Otherwise they are content to jog along
+in the same slip-shod manner as their fathers did
+centuries ago, as soon as prosperity had removed
+the incentive to exert the energy they once
+possessed. The same carelessness marks their<a name="page39" id="page39"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;39]</span>
+conduct in everything, and the same unsatisfactory
+results inevitably follow.</p>
+<p>
+But to get at the root of the matter it is necessary
+to go a step further. The absolute lack of
+morals among the people is the real cause of the
+trouble. Morocco is so deeply sunk in the degradation
+of vice, and so given up to lust, that it is
+impossible to lay bare its deplorable condition. In
+most countries, with a fair proportion of the pure
+and virtuous, some attempt is made to gloss over
+and conceal one's failings; but in this country the
+only vice which public opinion seriously condemns
+is drunkenness, and it is only before foreigners that
+any sense of shame or desire for secrecy about
+others is observable. The Moors have not yet
+attained to that state of hypocritical sanctimoniousness
+in which modern society in civilized lands
+delights to parade itself.</p>
+<p>
+The taste for strong drink, though still indulged
+comparatively in secret, is steadily increasing, the
+practice spreading from force of example among the
+Moors themselves, as a result of the strenuous
+efforts of foreigners to inculcate this vice. European
+consular reports not infrequently note with
+congratulation the growing imports of wines and
+liqueurs into Morocco, nominally for the sole use
+of foreigners, although manifestly far in excess of
+their requirements. As yet, it is chiefly among the
+higher and lower classes that the victims are found,
+the former indulging in the privacy of their own
+homes, and the latter at the low drinking-dens
+kept by the scum of foreign settlers in the open
+ports. Among the country people of the plains
+and lower hills there are hardly any who would touch<a name="page40" id="page40"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;40]</span>
+intoxicating liquor, though among the mountaineers
+the use of alcohol has ever been more common.</p>
+<p>
+Tobacco smoking is very general on the coast,
+owing to contact with Europeans, but still comparatively
+rare in the interior, although the native preparations
+of hemp (keef), and also to some extent
+opium, have a large army of devotees, more or less
+victims. The latter, however, being an expensive
+import, is less known in the interior. Snuff-taking
+is fairly general among men and women, chiefly the
+elderly. What they take is very strong, being a
+composition of tobacco, walnut shells, and charcoal
+ash. The writer once saw a young Englishman,
+who thought he could stand a good pinch of snuff,
+fairly "knocked over" by a quarter as much as the
+owner of the nut from which it came took with the
+utmost complacency.</p>
+<p>
+The feeling of the Moorish Government about
+smoking has long been so strong that in every
+treaty with Europe is inserted a clause reserving
+the right of prohibiting the importation of all narcotics,
+or articles used in their manufacture or consumption.
+Till a few years ago the right to deal in
+these was granted yearly as a monopoly; but in
+1887 the late Sultan, Mulai el Hasan, and his
+aoláma, or councillors, decided to abolish the business
+altogether, so, purchasing the existing stocks
+at a valuation, they had the whole burned. But
+first the foreign officials and then private foreigners
+demanded the right to import whatever they needed
+"for their own consumption," and the abuse of this
+courtesy has enabled several tobacco factories to
+spring up in the country. The position with regard
+to the liquor traffic is almost the same. If the<a name="page41" id="page41"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;41]</span>
+Moors were free to legislate as they wished, they
+would at once prohibit the importation of intoxicants.</p>
+<p>
+Of late years, however, a great change has
+come over the Moors of the ports, more especially
+so in Tangier, where the number of taverns and
+<i>cafés</i> has increased most rapidly. During many
+years' residence there the cases of drunkenness met
+with could be counted on the fingers, and were then
+confined to guides or servants of foreigners; on the
+last visit paid to the country more were observed
+in a month than then in years. In those days to
+be seen with a cigarette was almost a crime, and
+those who indulged in a whiff at home took care to
+deodorize their mouths with powdered coffee; now
+Moors sit with Europeans, smoking and drinking,
+unabashed, at tables in the streets, but not those
+of the better sort. Thus Morocco is becoming
+civilized!</p>
+<p>
+However ashamed a Moor may be of drunkenness,
+no one thinks of making a pretence of being
+chaste or moral. On the contrary, no worse is
+thought of a man who is wholly given up to the
+pleasures of the flesh than of one who is addicted
+to the most innocent amusements. If a Moor is
+remonstrated with, he declares he is not half so
+bad as the "Nazarenes" he has come across, who,
+in addition to practising most of his vices, indulge
+in drunkenness. It is not surprising, therefore,
+that the diseases which come as a penalty for these
+vices are fearfully prevalent in Morocco. Everywhere
+one comes across the ravages of such plagues,
+and is sickened at the sight of their victims. Without
+going further into details, it will suffice to<a name="page42" id="page42"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;42]</span>
+mention that one out of every five patients (mostly
+males) who attend at the dispensary of the North
+Africa Mission at Tangier are direct, or indirect,
+sufferers from these complaints.</p>
+<p>
+The Moors believe in "sowing wild oats" when
+young, till their energy is extinguished, leaving
+them incapable of accomplishing anything. Then
+they think the pardon of God worth invoking, if
+only in the vain hope of having their youth renewed
+as the eagle's. Yet if this could happen, they
+would be quite ready to commence a fresh series
+of follies more outrageous than before. This is a
+sad picture, but nevertheless true, and, far from
+being exaggerated, does not even hint at much that
+exists in Morocco to-day.</p>
+<p>
+The words of the Korán about such matters
+are never considered, though nominally the sole
+guide for life. The fact that God is "the Pitying,
+the Pitiful, King of the Day of Judgement," is considered
+sufficient warrant for the devotees of Islám
+to lightly indulge in breaches of laws which they
+hold to be His, confident that if they only perform
+enough "vain repetitions," fast at the appointed times,
+and give alms, visiting Mekka, if possible, or if not,
+making pilgrimages to shrines of lesser note nearer
+home, God, in His infinite mercy, will overlook all.</p>
+<p>
+An anonymous writer has aptly remarked&mdash;"Every
+good Mohammedan has a perpetual free
+pass over that line, which not only secures to him
+personally a safe transportation to Paradise, but
+provides for him upon his arrival there so luxuriously
+that he can leave all the cumbersome baggage of
+his earthly harem behind him, and begin his celestial
+house-keeping with an entirely new outfit."</p>
+
+<a name="page43" id="page43"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;43]</span>
+<p>
+Here lies the whole secret of Morocco's backward
+state. Her people, having outstepped even
+the ample limits of licentiousness laid down in the
+Korán, and having long ceased to be even true
+Mohammedans, by the time they arrive at manhood
+have no energy left to promote her welfare, and
+sink into an indolent, procrastinating race, capable of
+little in the way of progress till a radical change
+takes place in their morals.</p>
+<p>
+Nothing betrays their moral condition more
+clearly than their unrestrained conversation, a
+reeking vapour arising from a mass of corruption.
+The foul ejaculations of an angry Moor are unreproducible,
+only serving to show extreme familiarity
+with vice of every sort. The tales to which they
+delight to listen, the monotonous chants rehearsed
+by hired musicians at public feasts or private entertainments,
+and the voluptuous dances they delight
+to have performed before them as they lie sipping
+forbidden liquors, are all of one class, recounting
+and suggesting evil deeds to hearers or observers.</p>
+<p>
+The constant use made of the name of God,
+mostly in stock phrases uttered without a thought
+as to their real meaning, is counterbalanced in some
+measure by cursing of a most elaborate kind, and
+the frequent mention of the "Father of Lies," called
+by them "The Liar" <i>par excellence</i>. The term
+"elaborate" is the only one wherewith to describe
+a curse so carefully worded that, if executed, it would
+leave no hope of Paradise either for the unfortunate
+addressee or his ancestors for several generations.
+On the slightest provocation, or without that excuse,
+the Moor can roll forth the most intricate genealogical
+objurgations, or rap out an oath. In ordinary<a name="page44" id="page44"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;44]</span>
+cases of displeasure he is satisfied with showering
+expletives on the parents and grand-parents of the
+object of his wrath, with derogatory allusions to the
+morals of those worthies' "better halves." "May
+God have mercy on thy relatives, O my Lord," is
+a common way of addressing a stranger respectfully,
+and the contrary expression is used to produce a
+reverse effect.</p>
+<p>
+I am often asked, "What would a Moor think
+of this?" Probably some great invention will be
+referred to, or some manifest improvement in our
+eyes over Moorish methods or manufactures. If
+it was something he could see, unless above the
+average, he would look at it as a cow looks at a new
+gate, without intelligence, realizing only the change,
+not the cause or effect. By this time the Moors
+are becoming familiar, at least by exaggerated
+descriptions, with most of the foreigner's freaks,
+and are beginning to refuse to believe that the
+Devil assists us, as they used to, taking it for
+granted that we should be more ingenious, and
+they more wise! The few who think are apt to
+pity the rush of our lives, and write us down, from
+what they have themselves observed in Europe as
+in Morocco, as grossly immoral beside even their
+acknowledged failings. The faults of our civilization
+they quickly detect, the advantages are mostly
+beyond their comprehension.</p>
+<p>
+Some years ago a friend of mine showed two
+Moors some of the sights of London. When they
+saw St. Paul's they told of the glories of the
+Karűeeďn mosque at Fez; with the towers of
+Westminster before them they sang the praises
+of the Kűtűbîya at Marrákesh. Whatever they<a name="page45" id="page45"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;45]</span>
+saw had its match in Morocco. But at last, as a
+huge dray-horse passed along the highway with its
+heavy load, one grasped the other's arm convulsively,
+exclaiming, "M'bark Allah! Aoűd hadhá!"&mdash;"Blessed
+be God! That's a horse!" Here at
+least was something that did appeal to the heart
+of the Arab. For once he saw a creature he could
+understand, the like of which was never bred in
+Barbary, and his wonder knew no bounds.</p>
+<p>
+An equally good story is told of an Englishman
+who endeavoured to convince a Moor at home of
+the size of these horses. With his stick he drew on
+the ground one of their full-sized shoes. "But we
+have horses beyond the mountains with shoes <i>this</i>
+size," was the ready reply, as the native drew
+another twice as big. Annoyed at not being able
+to convince him, the Englishman sent home for a
+specimen shoe. When he showed it to the Moor,
+the only remark he elicited was that a native smith
+could make one twice the size. Exasperated now,
+and not to be outdone, the Englishman sent home
+for a cart-horse skull. "Now you've beaten
+me!" at last acknowledged the Moor. "You
+Christians can make anything, but <i>we can't make
+bones!</i>"</p>
+<p>
+Bigoted and fanatical as the Moors may show
+themselves at times, they are generally willing
+enough to be friends with those who show themselves
+friendly. And notwithstanding the way in
+which the strong oppress the weak, as a nation
+they are by no means treacherous or cruel; on the
+contrary, the average Moor is genial and hospitable,
+does not forget a kindness, and is a man whom one
+can respect. Yet it is strange how soon a little<a name="page46" id="page46"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;46]</span>
+power, and the need for satisfying the demands of
+his superiors, will corrupt the mildest of them;
+and the worst are to be found among families
+which have inherited office. The best officials
+are those chosen from among retired merchants
+whose palms no longer itch, and who, by intercourse
+with Europeans, have had their ideas of life
+broadened.</p>
+<p>
+The greatest obstacle to progress in Morocco is
+the blind prejudice of ignorance. It is hard for the
+Moors to realize that their presumed hereditary foes
+can wish them well, and it is suspicion, rather than
+hostility, which induces them to crawl within their
+shell and ask to be left alone. Too often subsequent
+events have shown what good ground they
+have had for suspicion. It is a pleasure for me to
+be able to state that during all the years that I have
+lived among them, often in the closest intercourse,
+I have never received the least insult, but have
+been well repaid in my own coin. What more
+could be wished?</p>
+
+
+<br /><a name="village" id="village"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/047.jpg"><img src="images/047-500.jpg" width="500" height="307" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Photograph by Dr. Rudduck.</i><br /><br />
+<b>A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a name="page47" id="page47"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;47]</span>
+
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<h2>THE BERBER RACE</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Every lion in his own forest roars."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Few who glibly use the word "Barbarian" pause
+to consider whether the present meaning attached
+to the name is justified or not, or whether the
+people of Barbary are indeed the uncivilized, uncouth,
+incapable lot their name would seem to imply
+to-day. In fact, the popular ignorance regarding
+the nearest point of Africa is even greater than of
+the actually less known central portions, where the
+white man penetrates with every risk. To declare
+that the inhabitants of the four Barbary States&mdash;Morocco,
+Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli&mdash;are not
+"Blackamoors" at all, but white like ourselves, is
+to astonish most folk at the outset.</p>
+<p>
+Of course in lands where the enslavement of
+neighbouring negro races has been an institution for
+a thousand years or more, there is a goodly proportion
+of mulattoes; and among those whose lives have
+been spent for generations in field work there are
+many whose skins are bronzed and darkened, but
+they are white by nature, nevertheless, and town
+life soon restores the original hue. The student
+class of Fez, drawn from all sections of the population
+of Morocco, actually makes a boast of the pale<a name="page48" id="page48"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;48]</span>
+and pasty complexions attained by life amid the
+shaded cloisters and covered streets of the intellectual
+capital. Then again those who are sunburned
+and bronzed are more of the Arab stock
+than of the Berber.</p>
+<p>
+These Berbers, the original Barbarians, known
+to the Romans and Greeks as such before the Arab
+was heard of outside Arabia, are at once the
+greatest and the most interesting nation, or rather
+race, of the whole of Africa. Had such a coalition
+as "the United States of North Africa" been
+possible, Europe would long ago have learned to
+fear and respect the title "Barbarian" too much to
+put it to its present use. But the weak point of the
+Berber race has been its lack of homogeneity; it
+has ever been split up into independent states and
+tribes, constantly indulging in internecine warfare.
+This is a principle which has its origin in the relations
+of the units whereof they are composed, of
+whom it may be said as of the sons of Ishmael, that
+every man's hand is against his neighbour. The
+vendetta, a result of the <i>lex talionis</i> of "eye for eye
+and tooth for tooth," flourishes still. No youth is
+supposed to have attained full manhood until he has
+slain his man, and excuses are seldom lacking. The
+greatest insult that can be offered to an enemy is to
+tell him that his father died in bed&mdash;even greater
+than the imputation of evil character to his maternal
+relatives.</p>
+<p>
+Some years ago I had in my service a lad of
+about thirteen, one of several Reefians whom I had
+about me for the practice of their language. Two
+or three years later, on returning to Morocco, I met
+him one day on the market.</p>
+
+<a name="page49" id="page49"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;49]</span>
+<p>
+"I am so glad to see you," he said; "I want you
+to help me buy some guns."</p>
+<p>
+"What for?"</p>
+<p>
+"Well, my father's dead; may God have mercy
+on him!"</p>
+<p>
+"How did he die?"</p>
+<p>
+"God knows."</p>
+<p>
+"But what has that to do with the gun?"</p>
+<p>
+"You see, we must kill my three uncles, I and
+my two brothers, and we want three guns."</p>
+<p>
+"What! Did they kill your father?"</p>
+<p>
+"God knows."</p>
+<p>
+"May He deliver you from such a deed. Come
+round to the house for some food."</p>
+<p>
+"But I've got married since you saw me, and
+expect an heir, yet they chaff me and call me a boy
+because I have never yet killed a man."</p>
+<p>
+I asked an old servant who had been to England,
+and seemed "almost a Christian," to try and dissuade
+him, but only to meet with an appreciative,
+"Well done! I always thought there was something
+in that lad."</p>
+<p>
+So I tried a second, but with worse results, for
+he patted the boy on the back with an assurance
+that he could not dissuade him from so sacred a
+duty; and at last I had to do what I could myself.
+I extorted a promise that he would try and arrange
+to take blood-money, but as he left the door his eye
+fell on a broken walking-stick.</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, do give me that! It's no use to you, and
+it <i>would</i> make such a nice prop for my gun, as I am
+a very bad shot, and we mean to wait outside for
+them in the dark."</p>
+<p>
+The sequel I have never heard.</p>
+
+<a name="page50" id="page50"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;50]</span>
+<p>
+Up in those mountains every one lives in
+fortified dwellings&mdash;big men in citadels, others in
+wall-girt villages, all from time to time at war
+with one another, or with the dwellers in some
+neighbouring valley. Fighting is their element; as
+soon as "the powder speaks" there are plenty to
+answer, for every one carries his gun, and it is
+wonderful how soon upon these barren hills an
+armed crowd can muster. Their life is a hard fight
+with Nature; all they ask is to be left alone to
+fight it out among themselves. Even on the plains
+among the Arabs and the mixed tribes described as
+Moors, things are not much better, for there, too,
+vendettas and cattle lifting keep them at loggerheads,
+and there is nothing the clansmen like so
+well as a raid on the Governor's kasbah or castle.
+These kasbahs are great walled strongholds dotted
+about the country; in times of peace surrounded
+by groups of huts and tents, whose inhabitants take
+refuge inside when their neighbours appear. The
+high walls and towers are built of mud concrete,
+often red like the Alhambra, the surface of which
+stands the weather ill, but which, when kept in
+repair, lasts for centuries.</p>
+<p>
+The Reefian Berbers are among the finest men
+in Morocco&mdash;warlike and fierce, it is true, from long
+habit and training; but they have many excellent
+qualities, in addition to stalwart frames. "If you
+don't want to be robbed," say they, "don't come
+our way. We only care to see men who can fight,
+with whom we may try our luck." They will come
+and work for Europeans, forming friendships among
+them, and if it were not for the suspicion of those
+who have not done so, who always fear political<a name="page51" id="page51"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;51]</span>
+agents and spies, they would often be willing to
+take Europeans through their land. I have more
+than once been invited to go as a Moor. But the
+ideas they get of Europeans in Tangier do not
+predispose to friendship, and they will not allow
+them to enter their territories if they can help it.
+Only those who are in subjection to the Sultan
+permit them to do so freely.</p>
+<p>
+The men are a hardy, sturdy race, wiry and lithe,
+inured to toil and cold, fonder far of the gun and
+sword than of the ploughshare, and steady riders of
+an equally wiry race of mountain ponies. Their
+dwellings are of stone and mud, often of two floors,
+flat-topped, with rugged, projecting eaves, the roofs
+being made of poles covered with the same material
+as the walls, stamped and smoothed. These houses
+are seldom whitewashed, and present a ruinous
+appearance. Their ovens are domes about three
+feet or less in height outside; they are heated by a
+fire inside, then emptied, and the bread put in.
+Similar ovens are employed in camp to bake for
+the Court.</p>
+<p>
+Instead of that forced seclusion and concealment
+of the features to which the followers of Islám elsewhere
+doom their women, in these mountain homes
+they enjoy almost as perfect liberty as their sisters
+in Europe. I have been greatly struck with their
+intelligence and generally superior appearance to
+such Arab women as I have by chance been able
+to see. Once, when supping with the son of a
+powerful governor from above Fez, his mother,
+wife, and wife's sister sat composedly to eat with
+us, which could never have occurred in the dwelling
+of a Moor. No attempt at covering their faces was<a name="page52" id="page52"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;52]</span>
+made, though male attendants were present at times,
+but the little daughter shrieked at the sight of a
+Nazarene. The grandmother, a fine, buxom dame,
+could read and write&mdash;which would be an astonishing
+accomplishment for a Moorish woman&mdash;and she
+could converse better than many men who would in
+this country pass for educated.</p>
+<p>
+The Berber dress has either borrowed from or
+lent much to the Moor, but a few articles stamp
+it wherever worn. One of these is a large black
+cloak of goat's-hair, impervious to rain, made of
+one piece, with no arm-holes. At the point of the
+cowl hangs a black tassel, and right across the back,
+about the level of the knees, runs an assagai-shaped
+patch, often with a centre of red. It has been
+opined that this remarkable feature represents the
+All-seeing Eye, so often used as a charm, but from
+the scanty information I could gather from the
+people themselves, I believe that they have lost
+sight of the original idea, though some have told
+me that variations in the pattern mark clan distinctions.
+I have ridden&mdash;when in the guise of a
+native&mdash;for days together in one of these cloaks,
+during pelting rain which never penetrated it. In
+more remote districts, seldom visited by Europeans,
+the garments are ruder far, entirely of undyed wool,
+and unsewn, mere blankets with slits cut in the
+centre for the head. This is, however, in every
+respect, a great difference between the various
+districts. The turban is little used by these people,
+skull-caps being preferred, while their red cloth
+gun-cases are commonly twisted turban-wise as
+head-gear, though often a camel's-hair cord is deemed
+sufficient protection for the head.</p>
+
+<a name="page53" id="page53"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;53]</span>
+<p>
+Every successive ruler of North Africa has had
+to do with the problem of subduing the Berbers
+and has failed. In the wars between Rome and
+Carthage it was among her sturdy Berber soldiers
+that the southern rival of the great queen city of
+the world found actual sinews enough to hold the
+Roman legions so long at bay, and often to overcome
+her vaunted cohorts and carry the war across
+into Europe. Where else did Rome find so near
+a match, and what wars cost her more than did
+those of Africa? Carthage indeed has fallen, and
+from her once famed Byrsa the writer has been
+able to count on his fingers the local remains of her
+greatness, yet the people who made her what she
+was remain&mdash;the Berbers of Tunisia. The Ph&oelig;nician
+settlers, though bringing with them wealth
+and learning and arts, could never have done alone
+what they did without the hardy fighting men
+supplied by the hills around.</p>
+<p>
+When Rome herself had fallen, and the fames
+of Carthage and Utica were forgotten, there came
+across North Africa a very different race from those
+who had preceded them, the desert Arabs, introducing
+the creed of Islám. In the course of a
+century or two, North Africa became Mohammedan,
+pagan and Christian institutions being swept away
+before that onward wave. It is not probable that
+at any time Christianity had any real hold upon
+the Berbers themselves, and Islám itself sits lightly
+on their easy consciences.</p>
+<p>
+The Arabs had for the moment solved the
+Berber problem. They were the amalgam which,
+by coalescing with the scattered factions of their
+race, had bound them up together and had formed<a name="page54" id="page54"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;54]</span>
+for once a nation of them. Thus it was that the
+Muslim armies obtained force to carry all before
+them, and thus was provided the new blood and the
+active temper to which alone are due the conquest
+of Spain, and subsequent achievements there. The
+popular description of the Mohammedan rulers of
+Spain as "Saracens"&mdash;Easterners&mdash;is as erroneous
+as the supposition that they were Arabs. The
+people who conquered Spain were Berbers, although
+their leaders often adopted Arabic names with an
+Arab religion and Arab culture. The Arabic
+language, although official, was by no means
+general, nor is it otherwise to-day. The men who
+fought and the men who ruled were Berbers out
+and out, though the latter were often the sons of
+Arab fathers or mothers, and the great religious
+chiefs were purely Arab on the father's side at
+least, the majority claiming descent from Mohammed
+himself, and as such forming a class apart of shareefs
+or nobles.</p>
+<p>
+Though nominal Mohammedans, and in Morocco
+acknowledging the religious supremacy of the reigning
+shareefian family, the Moorish Berbers still
+retain a semi-independence. The mountains of the
+Atlas chain have always been their home and refuge,
+where the plainsmen find it difficult and dangerous
+to follow them. The history of the conquest of
+Algeria and Tunisia by the French has shown
+that they are no mean opponents even to modern
+weapons and modern warfare. The Kabyles,<a name="IV1r" id="IV1r"></a><a href="#IV1"><sup>*</sup></a>
+as they are erroneously styled in those countries,<a name="page55" id="page55"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;55]</span>
+have still to be kept in check by the fear of
+arms, and their prowess no one disputes. These
+are the people the French propose to subdue by
+"pacific penetration." The awe with which these
+mountaineers have inspired the plainsmen and
+townsfolk is remarkable; as good an illustration of
+it as I know was the effect produced on a Moor by
+my explanation that a Highland friend to whom I
+had introduced him was not an Englishman, but
+what I might call a "British Berber." The man
+was absolutely awe-struck.</p>
+<p>
+Separated from the Arab as well as from the
+European by a totally distinct, unwritten language,
+with numerous dialects, these people still exist as a
+mine of raw material, full of possibilities. In habits
+and style of life they may be considered uncivilized
+even in contrast to the mingled dwellers on the
+lowlands; but they are far from being savages.
+Their stalwart frames and sturdy independence fit
+them for anything, although the latter quality keeps
+them aloof, and has so far prevented intercourse
+with the outside world.</p>
+<p>
+Many have their own pet theories as to the
+origin of the Berbers and their language, not a
+few believing them to have once been altogether
+Christians, while others, following native authors,
+attribute to them Canaanitish ancestors, and ethnologists
+dispute as to the branch of Noah's family
+in which to class them. It is more than probable
+that they are one with the ancient Egyptians, who,
+at least, were no barbarians, if Berbers. But all
+are agreed that some of the finest stocks of southern
+and western Europe are of kindred origin, if not<a name="page56" id="page56"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;56]</span>
+identical with them, and even if this be uncertain,
+enough has been said to show that they have
+played no unimportant part in European history,
+though it has ever been their lot to play behind the
+scenes&mdash;scene-shifters rather than actors.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="IV1" id="IV1"></a>
+<a href="#IV1r">*</a> <i>I.e.</i> "Provincials," so misnamed from Kabîlah (<i>pl.</i> Kabáďl), a
+province.</p>
+
+
+<br /><a name="tent" id="tent"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/057.jpg"><img src="images/057-500.jpg" width="500" height="309" alt="AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Photograph by Dr. Rudduck.</i><br /><br />
+<b>AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page57" id="page57"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;57]</span>
+
+
+<h3>V</h3>
+
+<h2>THE WANDERING ARAB</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"I am loving, not lustful."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>
+Some strange fascination attaches itself to the simple
+nomad life of the Arab, in whatever country he be
+found, and here, in the far west of his peregrinations,
+he is encountered living almost in the same
+style as on the other side of Suez; his only roof
+a cloth, his country the wide world. Sometimes the
+tents are arranged as many as thirty or more in a
+circle, and at other times they are grouped hap-hazard,
+intermingled with round huts of thatch, and
+oblong ones of sun-dried bricks, thatched also; but
+in the latter cases the occupants are unlikely to
+be pure Arabs, for that race seldom so nearly approaches
+to settling anywhere. When the tents
+are arranged in a circle, the animals are generally
+picketed in the centre, but more often some are to
+be found sharing the homes of their owners.</p>
+<p>
+The tent itself is of an oval shape, with a wooden
+ridge on two poles across the middle third of the
+centre, from front to back, with a couple of strong
+bands of the same material as the tent fixed on
+either side, whence cords lead to pegs in the
+ground, passing over two low stakes leaning outwards.
+A rude camel's hair canvas is stretched<a name="page58" id="page58"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;58]</span>
+over this frame, being kept up at the edges by more
+leaning stakes, and fastened by cords to pegs all
+round. The door space is left on the side which
+faces the centre of the encampment, and the walls
+or "curtains" are formed of high thistles lashed
+together in sheaves. Surrounding the tent is a
+yard, a simple bog in winter, the boundary of which
+is a ring formed by bundles of prickly branches,
+which compose a really formidable barrier, being
+too much for a jump, and too tenacious to one
+another and to visitors for penetration. The break
+left for an entrance is stopped at night by another
+bundle which makes the circle complete.</p>
+<p>
+The interior of the tent is often more or less
+divided by the pole supporting the roof, and by a
+pile of household goods, such as they are. Sometimes
+a rude loom is fastened to the poles, and at
+it a woman sits working on the floor. The framework&mdash;made
+of canes&mdash;is kept in place by rigging
+to pegs in the ground. The woman's hand is her
+only shuttle, and she threads the wool through with
+her fingers, a span at a time, afterwards knocking
+it down tightly into place with a heavy wrought-iron
+comb about two inches wide, with a dozen
+prongs. She seems but half-dressed, and makes no
+effort to conceal either face or breast, as a filthy
+child lies feeding in her lap. Her seat is a piece of
+matting, but the principal covering for the floor of
+trodden mud is a layer of palmetto leaves. Round
+the "walls" are several hens with chicks nestling
+under their wings, and on one side a donkey is
+tethered, while a calf sports at large.</p>
+<p>
+The furniture of this humble dwelling consists
+of two or three large, upright, mud-plastered,<a name="page59" id="page59"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;59]</span>
+split-cane baskets, containing corn, partially sunk in
+the ground, and a few dirty bags. On one side is the
+mill, a couple of stones about eighteen inches across,
+the upper one convex, with a handle at one side.
+Three stones above a small hole in the ground serve
+as a cooking-range, while the fuel is abundant in
+the form of sun-dried thistles and other weeds, or
+palmetto leaves and sticks. Fire is obtained by
+borrowing from one another, but should it happen
+that no one in the encampment had any, the
+laborious operation of lighting dry straw from the
+flash in the pan of a flint-lock would have to be
+performed. To light the rude lamp&mdash;merely a bit
+of cotton protruding from anything with olive-oil
+in it&mdash;it is necessary to blow some smoking straw
+or weed till it bursts into a flame.</p>
+<p>
+Little else except the omnipresent dirt is to be
+found in the average Arab tent. A tin or two for
+cooking operations, a large earthen water-jar, and a
+pan or two to match, in which the butter-milk is kept,
+a sieve for the flour, and a few rough baskets, usually
+complete the list, and all are remarkable only for
+the prevailing grime. Making a virtue of necessity,
+the Arab prefers sour milk to fresh, for with this
+almost total lack of cleanliness, no milk would long
+keep sweet. Their food is of the simplest, chiefly
+the flour of wheat, barley, or Indian millet prepared
+in various ways, for the most part made up into flat,
+heavy cakes of bread, or as kesk'soo. Milk, from
+which butter is made direct by tossing it in a goat-skin
+turned inside out, eggs and fowls form the chief
+animal food, butcher's meat being but seldom indulged
+in. Vegetables do not enter into their diet,
+as they have no gardens, and beyond possessing<a name="page60" id="page60"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;60]</span>
+flocks and herds, those Arabs met with in Barbary
+are wretchedly poor and miserably squalid. The
+patriarchal display of Arabia is here unknown.</p>
+<p>
+Of children and dogs there is no lack. Both
+abound, and wallow in the mud together. Often
+the latter seem to have the better time of it. Two
+families by one father will sometimes share one tent
+between them, but generally each "household" is
+distinct, though all sleep together in the one apartment
+of their abode. As one approaches a dűár,
+or encampment, an early warning is given by
+the hungry dogs, and soon the half-clad children
+rush out to see who comes, followed leisurely by
+their elders. Hospitality has ever been an Arab
+trait, and these poor creatures, in their humble way,
+sustain the best traditions of their race. A native
+visitor of their own class is entertained and fed
+by the first he comes across, while the foreign
+traveller or native of means with his own tent is
+accommodated on the rubbish in the midst of the
+encampment, and can purchase all he wishes&mdash;all
+that they have&mdash;for a trifle, though sometimes they
+turn disagreeable and "pile it on." A present of
+milk and eggs, perhaps fowls, may be brought, for
+which, however, a <i>quid pro quo</i> is expected.</p>
+<p>
+Luxuries they have not. Whatever they need
+to do in the way of shopping, is done at the nearest
+market once a week, and nothing but the produce
+already mentioned is to be obtained from them. In
+the evenings they stuff themselves to repletion, if
+they can afford it, with a wholesome dish of prepared
+barley or wheat meal, sometimes crowned
+with beans; then, after a gossip round the crackling
+fire, or, on state occasions, three cups of syrupy<a name="page61" id="page61"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;61]</span>
+green tea apiece, they roll themselves in their long
+blankets and sleep on the ground.</p>
+<p>
+The first blush of dawn sees them stirring, and
+soon all is life and excitement. The men go off to
+their various labours, as do many of the stronger
+women, while the remainder attend to their scanty
+household duties, later on basking in the sun. But
+the moment the stranger arrives the scene changes,
+and the incessant din of dogs, hags and babies commences,
+to which the visitor is doomed till late at
+night, with the addition then of neighs and brays
+and occasional cock-crowing.</p>
+<p>
+It never seemed to me that these poor folk
+enjoyed life, but rather that they took things sadly.
+How could it be otherwise? No security of life
+and property tempts them to make a show of
+wealth; on the contrary, they bury what little they
+may save, if any, and lead lives of misery for fear
+of tempting the authorities. Their work is hard;
+their comforts are few. The wild wind howls
+through their humble dwellings, and the rain
+splashes in at the door. In sickness, for lack of
+medical skill, they lie and perish. In health their
+only pleasures are animal. Their women, once
+they are past the prime of life, which means soon
+after thirty with this desert race, go unveiled, and
+work often harder than the men, carrying burdens,
+binding sheaves, or even perhaps helping a donkey
+to haul a plough. Female features are never so
+jealously guarded here as in the towns.</p>
+<p>
+Yet they are a jolly, good-tempered, simple folk.
+Often have I spent a merry evening round the fire
+with them, squatted on a bit of matting, telling of
+the wonders of "That Country," the name which<a name="page62" id="page62"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;62]</span>
+alternates in their vocabulary with "Nazarene
+Land," as descriptive of all the world but Morocco
+and such portions of North Africa or Arabia as
+they may have heard of. Many an honest laugh
+have we enjoyed over their wordy tales, or perchance
+some witty sally; but in my heart I have
+pitied these down-trodden people in their ignorance
+and want. Home they do not know. When the
+pasture in Shechem is short, they remove to
+Dothan; next month they may be somewhere
+else. But they are always ready to share their
+scanty portion with the wayfarer, wherever they
+are.</p>
+<p>
+When the time comes for changing quarters
+these wanderers find the move but little trouble.
+Their few belongings are soon collected and packed,
+and the tent itself made ready for transportation.
+Their animals are got together, and ere long the
+cavalcade is on the road. Often one poor beast
+will carry a fair proportion of the family&mdash;the
+mother and a child or two, for instance&mdash;in addition
+to a load of household goods, and bundles of fowls
+slung by their feet. At the side men and boys
+drive the flocks and herds, while as often as not
+the elder women-folk take a full share in the porterage
+of their property. To meet such a caravan is
+to feel one's self transported to Bible times, and to
+fancy Jacob going home from Padan Aram.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page63" id="page63"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;63]</span>
+
+<h3>VI</h3>
+
+<h2>CITY LIFE</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Seek the neighbour before the house,
+And the companion before the road."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Few countries afford a better insight into typical
+Mohammedan life, or boast a more primitive civilization,
+than Morocco, preserved as it has been so
+long from western contamination. The patriarchal
+system, rendered more or less familiar to us by our
+Bibles, still exists in the homes of its people, especially
+those of the country-side; but Moorish city
+life is no less interesting or instructive. If an
+Englishman's house is his castle, the Mohammedan's
+house is a prison&mdash;not for himself, but
+for his women. Here is the radical difference
+between their life and ours. No one who has
+not mixed intimately with the people as one of
+themselves, lodging in their houses and holding
+constant intercourse with them, can form an adequate
+idea of the lack of home feeling, even in the
+happiest families.</p>
+<p>
+The moment you enter a town, however, the
+main facts are brought vividly before you on every
+hand. You pass along a narrow thoroughfare&mdash;maybe
+six, maybe sixteen feet in width&mdash;bounded
+by almost blank walls, in some towns whitewashed,<a name="page64" id="page64"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;64]</span>
+in others bare mud, in which are no windows,
+lest their inmates might see or be seen. Even
+above the roofs of the majority of two-storied houses
+(for very many in the East consist but of ground
+floor), the wall is continued to form a parapet round
+the terrace. If you meet a woman in the street,
+she is enveloped from head to ankle in close disguise,
+with only a peep-hole for one or both eyes,
+unless too ugly and withered for such precautions
+to be needful.</p>
+<p>
+You arrive at the door of your friend's abode,
+a huge massive barrier painted brown or green&mdash;if
+not left entirely uncoloured&mdash;and studded all over
+with nails. A very prison entrance it appears,
+for the only other breaks in the wall above are
+slits for ventilation, all placed so high in the room
+as to be out of reach. In the warmer parts of the
+country you would see latticed boxes protruding
+from the walls&mdash;meshrabîyahs or drinking-places&mdash;shelves
+on which porous earthen jars may be
+placed to catch the slightest breeze, that the God-sent
+beverage to which Mohammedans are wisely
+restricted may be at all times cool. You are terrified,
+if a stranger, by the resonance of this great
+door, as you let the huge iron ring which serves
+as knocker fall on the miniature anvil beneath it.
+Presently your scattered thoughts are recalled by
+a chirping voice from within&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"Who's that?"</p>
+<p>
+You recognize the tones as those of a tiny
+negress slave, mayhap a dozen years of age, and
+as you give your name you hear a patter of bare
+feet on the tiles within, but if you are a male,
+you are left standing out in the street. In a few<a name="page65" id="page65"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;65]</span>
+moments the latch of the inner door is sedately
+lifted, and with measured tread you hear the
+slippers of your friend advancing.</p>
+<p>
+"Is that So-and-so?" he asks, pausing on the
+other side of the door.</p>
+<p>
+"It is, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+"Welcome, then."</p>
+<p>
+The heavy bolt is drawn, and the door swings
+on its hinges during a volley and counter-volley
+of inquiries, congratulations, and thanks to God,
+accompanied by the most graceful bows, the mutual
+touching and kissing of finger-tips, and the placing
+of hands on hearts. As these exercises slacken,
+your host advances to the inner door, and possibly
+disappears through it, closing it carefully behind
+him. You hear his stentorian voice commanding,
+"<i>Amel trek!</i>"&mdash;"Make way!"&mdash;and this is followed
+by a scuffle of feet which tells you he is
+being obeyed. Not a female form will be in sight
+by the time your host returns to lead you in by
+the hand with a thousand welcomes, entreating you
+to make yourself at home.</p>
+<p>
+The passage is constructed with a double turn,
+so that you could not look, if you would, from the
+roadway into the courtyard which you now enter.
+If one of the better-class houses, the floor will be
+paved with marble or glazed mosaics, and in the
+centre will stand a bubbling fountain. Round the
+sides is a colonnade supporting the first-floor landing,
+reached by a narrow stairway in the corner.
+Above is the deep-blue sky, obscured, perhaps, by
+the grateful shade of fig or orange boughs, or a
+vine on a trellis, under which the people live. The
+walls, if not tiled, are whitewashed, and often<a name="page66" id="page66"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;66]</span>
+beautifully decorated in plaster mauresques. In
+the centre of three of the four sides are huge horseshoe-arched
+doorways, two of which will probably
+be closed by cotton curtains. These suffice to
+ensure the strictest privacy within, as no one would
+dream of approaching within a couple of yards of a
+room with the curtain down, till leave had been
+asked and obtained.</p>
+<p>
+You are led into the remaining room, the guest-chamber,
+and the curtain over the entrance is lowered.
+You may not now venture to rise from your
+seat on the mattress facing the door till the women
+whom you hear emerging from their retreats have
+been admonished to withdraw again. The long,
+narrow apartment, some eight feet by twenty, in
+which you find yourself has a double bed at each
+end, for it is sleeping-room and sitting-room combined,
+as in Barbary no distinction is known between
+the two. However long you may remain, you see no
+female face but that of the cheery slave-girl, who
+kisses your hand so demurely as she enters with
+refreshments.</p>
+<p>
+Thus the husband receives his friends&mdash;perforce
+all males unless he be "on the spree,"&mdash;in
+apartments from which all women-folk are banished.
+Likewise the ladies of the establishment hold their
+festive gatherings apart. Most Moors, however,
+are too strict to allow much visiting among their
+women, especially if they be wealthy and have a
+good complexion, when they are very closely confined,
+except when allowed to visit the bath at
+certain hours set apart for the fair sex, or on
+Fridays to lay myrtle branches on the tombs of
+saints and departed relatives. Most of the ladies'<a name="page67" id="page67"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;67]</span>
+calls are roof-to-roof visitations, and very nimble
+they are in getting over the low partition walls,
+even dragging a ladder up and down with them if
+there are high ones to be crossed. The reason is
+that the roofs, or rather terraces, are especially
+reserved for women-folk, and men are not even
+allowed to go up except to do repairs, when the
+neighbouring houses are duly warned; it is illegal
+to have a window overlooking another's roof.
+David's temptation doubtless arose from his exercise
+of a Royal exemption from this all-prevailing
+custom.</p>
+<p>
+But for their exceedingly substantial build, the
+Moorish women in the streets might pass for ghosts,
+for with the exception of their red Morocco slippers,
+their costume is white&mdash;wool-white. A long and
+heavy blanket of coarse homespun effectually conceals
+all features but the eyes, which are touched
+up with antimony on the lids, and are sufficiently
+expressive. Sometimes a wide-brimmed straw hat
+is jauntily clapped on; but here ends the plate of
+Moorish out-door fashions. In-doors all is colour,
+light and glitter.</p>
+<p>
+In matters of colour and flowing robes the men
+are not far behind, and they make up abroad for
+what they lack at home. No garment is more
+artistic, and no drapery more graceful, than that in
+which the wealthy Moor takes his daily airing,
+either on foot or on mule back. Beneath a gauze-like
+woollen toga&mdash;relic of ancient art&mdash;glimpses of
+luscious hue are caught&mdash;crimson and purple; deep
+greens and "afternoon sun colour" (the native name
+for a rich orange); salmons, and pale, clear blues. A
+dark-blue cloak, when it is cold, negligently but<a name="page68" id="page68"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;68]</span>
+gracefully thrown across the shoulders, or a blue-green
+prayer-carpet folded beneath the arm, helps
+to set off the whole.</p>
+<p>
+<i>Chez lui</i> our friend of the flowing garments is
+a king, with slaves to wait upon him, wives to obey
+him, and servants to fear his wrath. But his everyday
+reception-room is the lobby of his stables,
+where he sits behind the door in rather shabby
+garments attending to business matters, unless he is
+a merchant or shopkeeper, when his store serves
+as office instead.</p>
+<p>
+If all that the Teuton considers essential to
+home-life is really a <i>sine quâ non</i>, then Orientals
+have no home-life. That is our way of looking
+upon it, judging in the most natural way, by our
+own standards. The Eastern, from his point of
+view, forms an equally poor idea of the customs
+which familiarity has rendered most dear to us. It
+is as difficult for us to set aside prejudice and to consider
+his systems impartially, as for him to do so
+with regard to our peculiar style. There are but
+two criteria by which the various forms of civilization
+so far developed by man may be fairly judged.
+The first is the suitability of any given form to the
+surroundings and exterior conditions of life of the
+nation adopting it, and the second is the moral or
+social effect on the community at large.</p>
+<p>
+Under the first head the unbiassed student of
+mankind will approve in the main of most systems
+adopted by peoples who have attained that artificiality
+which we call civilization. An exchange
+among Westerners of their time-honoured habits
+for those of the East would not be less beneficial or
+more incongruous than a corresponding exchange<a name="page69" id="page69"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;69]</span>
+on the part of orientals. Those who are ignorant
+of life towards the sunrise commonly suppose that
+they can confer no greater benefit upon the natives of
+these climes than chairs, top-hats, and so on. Hardly
+could they be more mistaken. The Easterner despises
+the man who cannot eat his dinner without
+a fork or other implement, and who cannot tuck his
+legs beneath him, infinitely more than ill-informed
+Westerners despise petticoated men and shrouded
+women. Under the second head, however, a very
+different issue is reached, and one which involves
+not only social, but religious life, and consequently
+the creed on which this last is based. It is in this
+that Moorish civilization fails.</p>
+
+   <hr class="short" />
+<p>
+But list! what is that weird, low sound which
+strikes upon our ear and interrupts our musings?
+It is the call to prayer. For the fifth time to-day
+that cry is sounding&mdash;a warning to the faithful that
+the hour for evening devotions has come. See!
+yonder Moor has heard it too, and is already
+spreading his felt on the ground for the performance
+of his nightly orisons. Standing Mekka-wards,
+and bowing to the ground, he goes through
+the set forms used throughout the Mohammedan
+world. The majority satisfy their consciences by
+working off the whole five sets at once. But that
+cry! I hear it still; as one voice fails another
+carries on the strain in ever varying cadence, each
+repeating it to the four quarters of the heavens.</p>
+<p>
+It was yet early in the morning when the first
+call of the day burst on the stilly air; the sun had
+not then risen o'er the hill tops, nor had his first,
+soft rays dispelled the shadows of the night. Only<a name="page70" id="page70"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;70]</span>
+the rustling of the wind was heard as it died among
+the tree tops&mdash;that wind which was a gale last
+night. The hurried tread of the night guard going
+on his last&mdash;perhaps his only&mdash;round before returning
+home, had awakened me from dreaming
+slumbers, and I was about to doze away into that
+sweetest of sleeps, the morning nap, when the
+distant cry broke forth. Pitched in a high, clear
+key, the Muslim confession of faith was heard;
+"Lá iláha il' Al-lah; wa Mohammed er-rasool
+Al-l-a-h!" Could ever bell send thrill like that?
+I wot not.</p>
+
+
+<br /><a name="roofs" id="roofs"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/071.jpg"><img src="images/071-500.jpg" width="499" height="307" alt="ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE, SHOWING FLAGSTAFFS OF FOREIGN LEGATIONS." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Cavilla, Photo., Tangier.</i><br /><br />
+<b>ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE, SHOWING <br />FLAGSTAFFS OF FOREIGN LEGATIONS.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page71" id="page71"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;71]</span>
+
+<h3>VII</h3>
+
+<h2>THE WOMEN-FOLK</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Teach not thy daughter letters; let her not live on the roof."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Of no country in the world can it more truly be
+said than of the Moorish Empire that the social
+condition of the people may be measured by that
+of its women. Holding its women in absolute
+subjection, the Moorish nation is itself held in subjection,
+morally, politically, socially. The proverb
+heading this chapter, implying that women should
+not enjoy the least education or liberty, expresses
+the universal treatment of the weaker sex among
+Mohammedans. It is the subservient position of
+women which strikes the visitor from Europe more
+than all the oriental strangeness of the local customs
+or the local art and colour. Advocates of the
+restriction of the rights of women in our own land,
+and of the retention of disabilities unknown to
+men, who fail to recognize the justice and invariability
+of the principle of absolute equality in rights
+and liberty between the sexes, should investigate
+the state of things existing in Morocco, where the
+natural results of a fallacious principle have had free
+course.</p>
+<p>
+No welcome awaits the infant daughter, and few
+care to bear the evil news to the father, who will<a name="page72" id="page72"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;72]</span>
+sometimes be left uninformed as to the sex of his
+child till the time comes to name her. It is rarely
+that girls are taught to read, or even to understand
+the rudiments of their religious system. Here and
+there a father who ranks in Morocco as scholarly,
+takes the trouble to teach his children at home,
+including his daughters in the class, but this is very
+seldom the case. Only those women succeed in
+obtaining even an average education in whom a
+thirst for knowledge is combined with opportunities
+in every way exceptional. In the country considerably
+more liberty is permitted than in the
+towns, and the condition of the Berber women has
+already been noted.</p>
+<p>
+Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, women
+attain a power quite abnormal under such conditions,
+usually the result of natural astuteness,
+combined&mdash;at the outset, at least&mdash;with a reasonable
+share of good looks, for when a woman is fairly
+astute she is a match for a man anywhere. A
+Mohammedan woman's place in life depends entirely
+on her personal attractions. If she lacks
+good looks, or is thin&mdash;which in Barbary, as in
+other Muslim countries, amounts to much the same
+thing&mdash;her future is practically hopeless. The
+chances being less&mdash;almost <i>nil</i>&mdash;of getting her
+easily off their hands by marriage, the parents feel
+they must make the best they can of her by setting
+her to work about the house, and she becomes a
+general drudge. If the home is a wealthy one, she
+may be relieved from this lot, and steadily ply her
+needle at minutely fine silk embroidery, or deck and
+paint herself in style, but, despised by her more
+fortunate sisters, she is even then hardly better off.</p>
+
+<a name="page73" id="page73"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;73]</span>
+<p>
+If, on the other hand, a daughter is the beauty
+of the family, every one pays court to her in some
+degree, for there is no telling to what she may
+arrive. Perhaps, in Morocco, she is even thought
+good enough for the Sultan&mdash;plump, clear-skinned,
+bright-eyed. Could she but get a place in the Royal
+hareem, it would be in the hands of God to make her
+the mother of the coming sultan. But good looks
+alone will not suffice to take her there. Influence&mdash;a
+word translatable in the Orient by a shorter
+one, cash&mdash;must be brought to bear. The interest
+of a wazeer or two must be secured, and finally an
+interview must take place with one of the "wise
+women" who are in charge of the Imperial ladies.
+She, too, must be convinced by the eloquence of
+dollars, that His Majesty could not find another so
+graceful a creature in all his dominions.</p>
+<p>
+When permission is given to send her to Court,
+what joy there is, what bedecking, what congratulation!
+At last she is taken away with a palpitating
+heart, as she thinks of the possibilities before her,
+bundled up in her blanket and mounted on an
+ambling mule under strictest guard. On arrival
+at her new home her very beauty will make
+enemies, especially among those who have been
+there longest, and who feel their chances grow
+less as each new-comer appears. Perhaps one
+Friday the Sultan notices her as he walks in his
+grounds in the afternoon, and taking a fancy to
+her, decides to make her his wife. At once all
+jealousies are hidden, and each vies with the other
+to render her service, and assist the preparations
+for the coming event. For a while she will remain
+supreme&mdash;a very queen indeed&mdash;but only till<a name="page74" id="page74"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;74]</span>
+her place is taken by another. If she has sons her
+chances are better; but unless she maintains her
+influence over her husband till her offspring are old
+enough to find a lasting place in his affections, she
+will probably one day be despatched to Tafilált,
+beyond the Atlas by the Sáharah, whence come
+those luscious dates. There every other man is a
+direct descendant of some Moorish king, as for
+centuries it has served as a sort of overflow for the
+prolific Royal house.</p>
+<p>
+As Islám knows no right of primogeniture, each
+sultan appoints his heir; so each wife strives to
+obtain this favour for her son, and often enough
+the story of Ishmael and Isaac repeats itself among
+these reputed descendants of Hagar. The usual
+way is for the pet son to be placed in some command,
+even before really able to discharge the
+duties of the post, which shall secure him supreme
+control on his father's death. The treasury and the
+army are the two great means to this end. Those
+possible rivals who have not been sent away to
+Tafilált are as often as not imprisoned or put
+to death on some slight charge, as used to be the
+custom in England a few hundred years ago.</p>
+<p>
+This method of bequeathing rights which do
+not come under the strict scale for the division of
+property contained in the Korán is not confined
+to Royalty. It applies also to religious sanctity.
+An instance is that of the late Shareef, or Noble,
+of Wazzán, a feudal "saint" of great influence.
+His father, on his deathbed, appointed as successor
+to his title, his holiness, and the estates connected
+therewith, the son who should be found playing with
+a certain stick, a common toy of his favourite. But<a name="page75" id="page75"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;75]</span>
+a black woman by whom he had a son was present,
+and ran out to place the stick in the hands of her
+own child, who thus inherited his father's honours.
+Some of the queens of Morocco have arrived at such
+power through their influence over their husbands
+that they have virtually ruled the Empire.</p>
+<p>
+Supposing, however, that the damsel who has at
+last found admittance to the hareem does not, after
+all, prove attractive to her lord, she will in all
+probability be sent away to make room for some
+one else. She will be bestowed upon some country
+governor when he comes to Court. Sometimes
+it is an especially astute one who is thus transferred,
+that she may thereafter serve as a spy on
+his actions.</p>
+<p>
+Though those before whom lies such a career as
+has been described will be comparatively few, none
+who can be considered beautiful are without their
+chances, however poor. Many well-to-do men prefer
+a poor wife to a rich one, because they can divorce
+her when tired of her without incurring the enmity
+of powerful relatives. Marriage is enjoined upon
+every Muslim as a religious duty, and, if able to
+afford it, he usually takes to himself his first wife
+before he is out of his teens. He is relieved of the
+choice of a partner which troubles some of us so
+much, for the ladies of his family undertake this for
+him: if they do not happen to know of a likely
+individual they employ a professional go-between, a
+woman who follows also the callings of pedlar and
+scandal-monger. It is the duty of this personage,
+on receipt of a present from his friends, to sing his
+praises and those of his family in the house of some
+beautiful girl, whose friends are thereby induced<a name="page76" id="page76"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;76]</span>
+to give her a present to go and do likewise on
+their behalf in the house of so promising a youth.
+Personal negotiations will then probably take place
+between the lady friends, and all things proving
+satisfactory, the fathers or brothers of the might-be
+pair discuss the dowry and marriage-settlement
+from a strictly business point of view.</p>
+<p>
+At this stage the bride-elect will perhaps be
+thought not fat enough, and will have to submit to
+a course of stuffing. This consists in swallowing after
+each full meal a few small sausage-shaped boluses
+of flour, honey and butter, flavoured with anise-seed
+or something similar. A few months of this
+treatment give a marvellous rotundity to the figure,
+thus greatly increasing her charms in the native eye.
+But of these the bridegroom will see nothing, if not
+surreptitiously, till after the wedding, when she is
+brought to his house.</p>
+<p>
+By that time formal documents of marriage will
+have been drawn up, and signed by notaries before
+the kádi or judge, setting forth the contract&mdash;with
+nothing in it about love or honour,&mdash;detailing every
+article which the wife brings with her, including in
+many instances a considerable portion of the household
+utensils. Notwithstanding all this, she may be
+divorced by her husband simply saying, "I divorce
+thee!" and though she may claim the return of all
+she brought, she has no option but to go home
+again. He may repent and take her back a first
+and a second time, but after he has put her away
+three times he may not marry her again till after
+she has been wedded to some one else and divorced.
+Theoretically she may get a divorce from him, but
+practically this is a matter of great difficulty.</p>
+
+<a name="page77" id="page77"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;77]</span>
+<p>
+The legal expression employed for the nuptial
+tie is one which conveys the idea of purchasing a
+field, to be put to what use the owner will, according
+him complete control. This idea is borne out to the
+full, and henceforward the woman lives for her lord,
+with no thought of independence or self-assertion.
+If he is poor, all work too hard for him that is not
+considered unwomanly falls to her share, hewing of
+wood and drawing of water, grinding of corn and
+making of bread, weaving and washing; but, strange
+to us, little sewing. When decidedly <i>passée</i>, she
+saves him a donkey in carrying wood and charcoal
+and grass to market, often bent nearly double under
+a load which she cannot lift, which has to be bound
+on her back. Her feet are bare, but her sturdy
+legs are at times encased in leather to ward off the
+wayside thorns. No longer jealously covered, she
+and her unmarried daughters trudge for many weary
+miles at dawn, her decidedly better-off half and a son
+or two riding the family mule. From this it is but
+a short step to helping the cow or donkey draw the
+plough, and this step is sometimes taken.</p>
+<p>
+Until a woman's good looks have quite disappeared,
+which generally occurs about the time
+they become grandmothers&mdash;say thirty,&mdash;intercourse
+of any sort with men other than her relatives of the
+first degree is strictly prohibited, and no one dare
+salute a woman in the street, even if her attendant
+or mount shows her to be a privileged relative.
+The slightest recognition of a man out-of-doors&mdash;or
+indeed anywhere&mdash;would be to proclaim herself
+one of that degraded outcaste class as common in
+Moorish towns as in Europe.</p>
+<p>
+Of companionship in wedlock the Moor has no<a name="page78" id="page78"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;78]</span>
+conception, and his ideas of love are those of lust.
+Though matrimony is considered by the Muslim
+doctors as "half of Islám," its value in their eyes is
+purely as a legalization of license by the substitution
+of polygamy for polyandry. Slavishly bound to the
+observance of wearisome customs, immured in a
+windowless house with only the roof for a promenade,
+seldom permitted outside the door, and then
+most carefully wrapped in a blanket till quite unrecognizable,
+the life of a Moorish woman, from the
+time she has first been caught admiring herself in a
+mirror, is that of a bird encaged. Lest she might
+grow content with such a lot, she has before her
+eyes from infancy the jealousies and rivalries of her
+father's wives and concubines, and is early initiated
+into the disgusting and unutterable practices employed
+to gain the favour of their lord. Her one
+thought from childhood is man, and distance lends
+enchantment. A word, the interchange of a look,
+with a man is sought for by the Moorish maiden
+more than are the sighs and glances of a coy brunette
+by a Spaniard. Nothing short of the unexpurgated
+Arabian Nights' Entertainments can convey an adequate
+idea of what goes on within those whited
+sepulchres, the broad, blank walls of Moorish towns.
+A word with the mason who comes to repair the
+roof, or even a peep at the men at work on the
+building over the way, on whose account the roof
+promenade is forbidden, is eagerly related and expatiated
+on. In short, all the training a Moorish
+woman receives is sensual, a training which of itself
+necessitates most rigorous, though often unavailing,
+seclusion.</p>
+<p>
+Both in town and country intrigues are common,<a name="page79" id="page79"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;79]</span>
+but intrigues which have not even the excuse of the
+blindness of love, whose only motive is animal
+passion. The husband who, on returning home,
+finds a pair of red slippers before the door of his
+wife's apartment, is bound to understand thereby
+that somebody else's wife or daughter is within, and
+he dare not approach. If he has suspicions, all he
+can do is to bide his time and follow the visitor
+home, should the route lie through the streets, or
+despatch a faithful slave-girl or jealous concubine
+on a like errand, should the way selected be over
+the roof-tops. In the country, under a very different
+set of conventionalities, much the same takes place.</p>
+<p>
+In a land where woman holds the degraded
+position which she does under Islám, such family
+circles as the Briton loves can never exist. The
+foundation of the home system is love, which
+seldom links the members of these families, most
+seldom of all man and wife. Anything else is not
+to be expected when they meet for the first time
+on their wedding night. To begin with, no one's
+pleasure is studied save that of the despotic master
+of the house. All the inmates, from the poor imprisoned
+wives down to the lively slave-girl who
+opens the door, all are there to serve his pleasure,
+and woe betide those who fail.</p>
+<p>
+The first wife may have a fairly happy time of it
+for a season, if her looks are good, and her ways
+pleasing, but when a second usurps her place, she
+is generally cast aside as a useless piece of furniture,
+unless set to do servile work. Although four
+legal wives are allowed by the Korán, it is only
+among the rich that so many are found, on account
+of the expense of their maintenance in appropriate<a name="page80" id="page80"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;80]</span>
+style. The facility of divorce renders it much
+cheaper to change from time to time, and slaves
+are more economical. To the number of such
+women that a man may keep no limit is set; he
+may have "as many as his right hand can possess."
+Then, too, these do the work of the house, and if
+they bear their master no children, they may be
+sold like any other chattels.</p>
+<p>
+The consequence of such a system is that she
+reigns who for the time stands highest in her lord's
+favour, so that the strife and jealousies which disturb
+the peace of the household are continual. This
+rivalry is naturally inherited by the children, who
+side with their several mothers, which is especially
+the case with the boys. Very often the legal wife
+has no children, or only daughters, while quite a
+little troop of step-children play about her house.
+In these cases it is not uncommon for at least the
+best-looking of these youngsters to be taught to
+call her "mother," and their real parent "Dadda
+M'barkah," or whatever her name may be. The
+offspring of wives and bondwomen stand on an
+equal footing before the law, in which Islám is still
+ahead of us.</p>
+<p>
+Such is the sad lot of women in Morocco.
+Religion itself being all but denied them in practice,
+whatever precept provides, it is with blank
+astonishment that the majority of them hear the
+message of those noble foreign sisters of theirs who
+have devoted their lives to showing them a better
+way. The greatest difficulty is experienced in
+arousing in them any sense of individuality, any
+feeling of personal responsibility, or any aspiration
+after good. They are so accustomed to be treated
+<a name="page81" id="page81"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;81]</span>
+as cattle, that their higher powers are altogether
+dormant, all possibilities of character repressed.
+The welfare of their souls is supposed to be assured
+by union with a Muslim, and few know even how
+to pray. Instead of religion, their minds are
+saturated with the grossest superstition. If this
+be the condition of the free woman, how much
+worse that of the slave!</p>
+<p>
+The present socially degraded state in which
+the people live, and their apparent, though not real,
+incapacity for progress and development, is to a
+great extent the curse entailed by this brutalization
+of women. No race can ever rise above the level
+of its weaker sex, and till Morocco learns this lesson
+it will never rise. The boy may be the father of
+the man, but the woman is the mother of the boy,
+and so controls the destiny of the nation. Nothing
+can indeed be hoped for in this country in the
+way of social progress till the minds of the men
+have been raised, and their estimation of women
+entirely changed. Though Turkey was so long
+much in the position in which Morocco remains
+to-day, it is a noteworthy fact that as she steadily
+progresses in the way of civilization, one of the
+most apparent features of this progress is the
+growing respect for women, and the increasing
+liberty which is allowed them, both in public and
+private.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a name="page82" id="page82"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;82]</span>
+
+
+
+<h3>VIII</h3>
+
+<h2>SOCIAL VISITS<a name="VIII1r" id="VIII1r"></a><a href="#VIII1"><sup>*</sup></a></h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Every country its customs."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+"Calling" is not the common, every-day event in
+Barbary which it has grown to be in European
+society. The narrowed-in life of the Moorish woman
+of the higher classes, and the strict watch which is kept
+lest some other man than her husband should see
+her, makes a regular interchange of visits practically
+impossible. No doubt the Moorish woman would
+find them quite as great a burden as her western
+sister, and in this particular her ignorance may be
+greater bliss than her knowledge. In spite of the
+paucity of the "calls" she receives or pays, she is
+by no means ignorant of the life and character
+of her neighbours, thanks to certain old women
+(amongst them the professional match-makers) who
+go about as veritable gossip-mongers, and preserve
+their more cloistered sisters at least from
+dying of inanition. Thus the veriest trifles of
+house arrangement or management are thoroughly
+canvassed.</p>
+<p>
+Nor is it a privilege commonly extended to
+European women to be received into the hareems
+of the high-class and wealthy Moors, although<a name="page83" id="page83"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;83]</span>
+lady missionaries have abundant opportunities for
+making the acquaintance of the women of the poorer
+classes, especially when medical knowledge and skill
+afford a key. But the wives of the rich are shut
+away to themselves, and if you are fortunate enough
+to be invited to call upon them, do not neglect your
+opportunity.</p>
+<p>
+You will find that the time named for calling is
+not limited to the afternoon. Thus it may be when
+the morning air is blowing fresh from the sea, and
+the sun is mounting in the heavens, that you are
+ushered, perhaps by the master of the house, through
+winding passages to the quarters of the women.
+If there is a garden, this is frequently reserved for
+their use, and jealously protected from view, and
+as in all cases they are supposed to have the
+monopoly of the flat roof, the courteous male
+foreigner will keep his gaze from wandering thither
+too frequently, or resting there too long.</p>
+<p>
+Do not be surprised if you are ushered into an
+apparently empty room, furnished after the Moorish
+manner with a strip of richly coloured carpet down
+the centre, and mattresses round the edge. If there
+is a musical box in the room, it will doubtless be
+set going as a pleasant accompaniment to conversation,
+and the same applies to striking or chiming
+clocks, for which the Moors have a strong predilection
+as <i>objets d'art</i>, rather than to mark the march
+of time.</p>
+<p>
+Of course you will not have forgotten to remove
+your shoes at the door, and will be sitting cross-legged
+and quite at ease on one of the immaculate
+mattresses, when the ladies begin to arrive from
+their retreats. As they step forward to greet you,<a name="page84" id="page84"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;84]</span>you may notice their henna-stained feet, a means
+of decoration which is repeated on their hands,
+where it is sometimes used in conjunction with
+harkos, a black pigment with which is applied a
+delicate tracery giving the effect of black silk
+mittens. The dark eyes are made to appear more
+lustrous and almond-shaped by the application of
+antimony, and the brows are extended till they
+meet in a black line above the nose. The hair is
+arranged under a head-dress frequently composed
+of two bright-coloured, short-fringed silk handkerchiefs,
+knotted together above the ears, sometimes
+with the addition of an artificial flower: heavy
+ear-rings are worn, and from some of them there
+are suspended large silver hands, charms against
+the "evil eye." But undoubtedly the main feature
+of the whole costume is the kaftán or tunic of
+lustrous satin or silk, embroidered richly in gold
+and silver, of a colour showing to advantage beneath
+a white lace garment of similar shape.</p>
+<p>
+The women themselves realize that such fine
+feathers must be guarded from spot or stain, for
+they are in many cases family heir-looms, so after
+they have greeted you with a slight pressure of
+their finger tips laid upon yours, and taken their
+seats, tailor fashion, you will notice that each sedulously
+protects her knees with a rough Turkish
+towel, quite possibly the worse for wear. In spite
+of her love for personal decoration, evidenced by
+the strings of pearls with which her neck is entwined,
+and the heavy silver armlets, the well-bred Moorish
+woman evinces no more curiosity than her European
+sister about the small adornments of her visitor,
+and this is the more remarkable when you remember<a name="page85" id="page85"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;85]</span>
+how destitute of higher interests is her life. She
+will make kindly and very interested inquiries
+about your relatives, and even about your life,
+though naturally, in spite of your explanations, it
+remains a sealed book to her. The average
+Moorish woman, however, shows herself as inquisitive
+as the Chinese.</p>
+<p>
+It is quite possible that you may see some of
+the children, fascinating, dark-eyed, soft-skinned
+morsels of humanity, with henna-dyed hair, which
+may be plaited in a pig-tail, the length of which
+is augmented by a strange device of coloured wool
+with which the ends of the hair are interwoven.
+But children of the better class in Morocco are
+accustomed to keep in the background, and unless
+invited, do not venture farther than the door of the
+reception room, and then with a becoming modesty.
+If any of the slave-wives enter, you will have an
+opportunity of noticing their somewhat quaint greeting
+of those whom they desire to honour, a kiss
+bestowed on each hand, which they raise to meet
+their lips, and upon each shoulder, before they,
+too, take their seats upon the mattresses.</p>
+<p>
+Probably you will not have long to wait before
+a slave-girl enters with the preparations for tea,
+orange-flower water, incense, a well-filled tray, a
+samovar, and two or three dishes piled high with
+cakes. If you are wise, you will most assuredly
+try the "gazelle's hoofs," so-called from their shape,
+for they are a most delicious compound of almond
+paste, with a spiciness so skilfully blended as to be
+almost elusive. If you have a sweet tooth, the
+honey cakes will be eminently satisfactory, but if
+your taste is plainer, you will enjoy the f'kákis,<a name="page86" id="page86"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;86]</span>
+or dry biscuit. Three cups of their most fragrant
+tea is the orthodox allowance, but a Moorish host
+or hostess is not slow to perceive any disinclination,
+however slight, and will sometimes of his or her
+own accord pave your way to a courteous refusal,
+by appearing not over anxious either for the last
+cup.</p>
+<p>
+If you have already had an experience of dining
+in Morocco, the whole process of the tea-making
+will be familiar; if not, you will be interested to
+notice how the tea ("gunpowder") is measured in
+the hand, then emptied into the pot, washed,
+thoroughly sweetened, made with boiling water from
+the samovar, and flavoured with mint or verbena.
+If the master of the house is present, he is apt to
+keep the tea-making in his own hands, although he
+may delegate it to one of his wives, who thus becomes
+the hostess of the occasion.</p>
+<p>
+After general inquiries as to the purpose of your
+visit to Morocco, you may be asked if you are a
+tabeebah or lady doctor, the one profession which
+they know, by hearsay at least, is open to women.
+If you can claim ever so little knowledge, you will
+probably be asked for a prescription to promote an
+increase of adipose tissue, which they consider their
+greatest charm; perhaps a still harder riddle may
+be propounded, with the hope that its satisfactory
+solution may secure to them the wavering affection
+of their lord, and prevent alienation and, perhaps,
+divorce. Yet all you can say is, "In shá Allah"
+(If God will!)</p>
+<p>
+When you bid them farewell it will be with a
+keen realization of their narrow, cramped lives, and
+an appreciation of your own opportunities.  Did<a name="page87" id="page87"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;87]</span>
+you but know it, they too are full of sympathy
+for that poor, over-strained Nazarene woman,
+who is obliged to leave the shelter of her four
+walls, and face the world unveiled, unprotected,
+unabashed.</p>
+<p>
+And thus our proverb is proved true.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="VIII1" id="VIII1"></a>
+<a href="#VIII1r">*</a> Contributed by my wife.&mdash;B. M.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a name="page88" id="page88"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;88]</span>
+
+
+<h3>IX</h3>
+
+<h2>A COUNTRY WEDDING</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Silence is at the door of consent."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Thursday was chosen as auspicious for the wedding,
+but the ceremonies commenced on the Sunday
+before. The first item on an extensive programme
+was the visit of the bride with her immediate
+female relatives and friends to the steam bath at
+the kasbah, a rarity in country villages, in this
+case used only by special favour. At the close
+of an afternoon of fun and frolic in the bath-house,
+Zóharah, the bride, was escorted to her home
+closely muffled, to keep her bed till the following
+day.</p>
+<p>
+Next morning it was the duty of Mokhtar, the
+bridegroom, to send his betrothed a bullock, with
+oil, butter and onions; pepper, salt and spices;
+charcoal and wood; figs, raisins, dates and almonds;
+candles and henna, wherewith to prepare the
+marriage feast. He had already, according to the
+custom of the country, presented the members of
+her family with slippers and ornaments. As soon
+as the bullock arrived it was killed amid great
+rejoicings and plenty of "tom-tom," especially as
+in the villages a sheep is usually considered sufficient
+provision.  On this day Mokhtar's male<a name="page89" id="page89"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;89]</span>
+friends enjoyed a feast in the afternoon, while in
+the evening the bride had to undergo the process
+of re-staining with henna to the accompaniment of
+music. The usual effect of this was somewhat
+counteracted, however, by the wails of those who
+had lost relatives during the year. On each successive
+night, when the drumming began, the same
+sad scene was repeated&mdash;a strange alloy in all the
+merriment of the wedding.</p>
+<p>
+On the Tuesday Zóharah received her maiden
+friends, children attending the reception in the afternoon,
+till the none too roomy hut was crowded to
+suffocation, and the bride exhausted, although
+custom prescribed that she should lie all day on
+the bed, closely wrapped up, and seen by none of
+her guests, from whom she was separated by a
+curtain. Every visitor had brought with her some
+little gift, such as handkerchiefs, candles, sugar, tea,
+spices and dried fruits, the inspection of which,
+when all were gone, was her only diversion that
+day. Throughout that afternoon and the next the
+neighbouring villages rivalled one another in peaceful
+sport and ear-splitting ululation, as though, within
+the memory of man, no other state of things had
+ever existed between them.</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile Mokhtar had a more enlivening
+time with his bachelor friends, who, after feasting
+with him in the evening, escorted him, wrapped in
+a háďk or shawl, to the house of his betrothed, outside
+which they danced and played for three or four
+hours by the light of lanterns. On returning home,
+much fun ensued round the supper-basin on the
+floor, while the palms of the whole company were
+stained with henna. Then their exuberant spirits<a name="page90" id="page90"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;90]</span>
+found relief in dancing round with basins on their
+heads, till one of them dropped his basin, and
+snatching off Mokhtar's cloak as if for protection,
+was immediately chased by the others till supper
+was ready. After supper all lay back to sleep. For
+four days the bridegroom's family had thus to feast
+and amuse his male friends, while the ladies were
+entertained by that of the bride.</p>
+<p>
+On Wednesday came the turn of the married
+women visitors, whose bulky forms crowded the
+hut, if possible more closely than had their children.
+Gossip and scandal were now retailed with a zest
+and minuteness of detail not permissible in England,
+while rival belles waged wordy war in shouts which
+sounded like whispers amid the din. The walls of
+the hut were hung with the brightest coloured
+garments that could be borrowed, and the gorgeous
+finery of the guests made up a scene of dazzling
+colour. Green tea and cakes were first passed
+round, and then a tray for offerings for the musicians,
+which, when collected, were placed on the floor
+beneath a rich silk handkerchief. Presents were
+also made by all to the bride's mother, on behalf
+of her daughter, who sat in weary state on the bed
+at one end of the room. As each coin was put
+down for the players, or for the hostess, a portly
+female who acted as crier announced the sum contributed,
+with a prayer for blessing in return, which
+was in due course echoed by the chief musician.
+At the bridegroom's house a similar entertainment
+was held, the party promenading the lanes at dusk
+with torches and lanterns, after which they received
+from the bridegroom the powder for next
+day's play.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="caravan" id="caravan"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/091.jpg"><img src="images/091-276.jpg" width="276" height="430" alt="A MOORISH CARAVAN." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+
+<b>A MOORISH CARAVAN.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page91" id="page91"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;91]</span>
+<p>
+Thursday opened with much-needed rest for
+Zóharah and her mother till the time came for the
+final decking; but Mokhtar had to go to the bath
+with his bachelor friends, and on returning to his
+newly prepared dwelling, to present many of them
+with small coins, receiving in return cotton handkerchiefs
+and towels, big candles and matches. Then
+all sat down to a modest repast, for which he had
+provided raisins and other dried fruits, some additional
+fun being provided by a number of the
+married neighbours, who tried in vain to gain
+admission, and in revenge made off with other
+people's shoes, ultimately returning them full of
+dried fruits and nuts. Then Mokhtar's head was
+shaved to the accompaniment of music, and the
+barber was feasted, while the box in which the
+bride was to be fetched was brought in, and decked
+with muslin curtains, surmounted by a woman's
+head-gear, handkerchiefs, and a sash. The box
+was about two and a half feet square, and
+somewhat more in height, including its pointed
+top.</p>
+<p>
+After three drummings to assemble the friends, a
+procession was formed about a couple of hours after
+sunset, lit by torches, lanterns and candles, led by
+the powder-players, followed by the mounted bridegroom,
+and behind him the bridal box lashed on
+the back of a horse; surrounded by more excited
+powder-players, and closed by the musicians. As
+they proceeded by a circuitous route the women
+shrieked, the powder spoke, till all were roused
+to a fitting pitch of fervour, and so reached the
+house of the bride. "Behold, the bridegroom
+cometh!"</p>
+
+<a name="page92" id="page92"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;92]</span>
+<p>
+Presently the "litter" was deposited at the door,
+Mokhtar remaining a short distance off, while the
+huge old negress, who had officiated so far as mistress
+of the ceremonies, lifted Zóharah bodily off the
+bed, and placed her, crying, in the cage. In this
+a loaf of bread, a candle, some sugar and salt had
+been laid by way of securing good luck in her new
+establishment. Her valuables, packed in another
+box, were entrusted to the negress, who was to
+walk by her side, while strong arms mounted her,
+and lashed the "amariah" in its place. As soon as
+the procession had reformed, the music ceased, and
+a Fátihah<a name="IX1r" id="IX1r"></a><a href="#IX1"><sup>*</sup></a> was solemnly recited. Then they started
+slowly, as they had come, Mokhtar leaving his bride
+as she was ushered, closely veiled, from her box
+into her new home, contenting himself with standing
+by the side and letting her pass beneath his
+arm in token of submission. The door was then
+closed, and the bridegroom took a turn with his
+friends while the bride should compose herself, and
+all things be made ready by the negress. Later on
+he returned, and being admitted, the newly married
+couple met at last.</p>
+<p>
+Next day they were afforded a respite, but on
+Saturday the bride had once more to hold a reception,
+and on the succeeding Thursday came the
+ceremony of donning the belt, a long, stiff band of
+embroidered silk, folded to some six inches in
+width, wound many times round. Standing over
+a dish containing almonds, raisins, figs, dates, and
+a couple of eggs, in the presence of a gathering
+of married women, one of whom assisted in the
+winding, two small boys adjusted the sash with<a name="page93" id="page93"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;93]</span>
+all due state, after which a procession was
+formed round the house, and the actual wedding
+was over. Thus commenced a year's imprisonment
+for the bride, as it was not till she was
+herself a mother that she was permitted to revisit
+her old home.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="IX1" id="IX1"></a>
+<a href="#IX1r">*</a> The beautiful opening prayer of the Korán.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a name="page94" id="page94"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;94]</span>
+
+
+<h3>X</h3>
+
+<h2>THE BAIRNS</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Every monkey is a gazelle to its mother."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+If there is one point in the character of the Moor
+which commends itself above others to the mind of
+the European it is his love for his children. But
+when it is observed that in too many cases this love
+is unequally divided, and that the father prefers
+his sons to his daughters, our admiration is apt to
+wane. Though by no means an invariable rule,
+this is the most common outcome of the pride felt
+in being the father of a son who may be a credit to
+the house, and the feeling that a daughter who has
+to be provided for is an added responsibility.</p>
+<p>
+All is well when the two tiny children play
+together on the floor, and quarrel on equal terms,
+but it is another thing when little Hamed goes daily
+to school, and as soon as he has learned to read is
+brought home in triumph on a gaily dressed horse,
+heading a procession of shouting schoolfellows,
+while his pretty sister Fátimah is fast developing
+into a maid-of-all-work whom nobody thinks of
+noticing. And the distinction widens when Hamed
+rides in the "powder-play," or is trusted to keep
+shop by himself, while Fátimah is closely veiled
+and kept a prisoner indoors, body and mind<a name="page95" id="page95"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;95]</span>
+unexercised, distinguishable by colour and dress
+alone from Habîbah, the ebony slave-girl, who
+was sold like a calf from her mother's side. Yes,
+indeed, far different paths lie before the two play-mates,
+but while they are treated alike, let us take
+a peep at them in their innocent sweetness.</p>
+<p>
+Their mother, Ayeshah, went out as usual one
+morning to glean in the fields, and in the evening
+returned with two bundles upon her back; the
+upper one was to replace crowing Hamed in his
+primitive cradle: it was Fátimah. Next day, as
+Ayeshah set off to work again, she left her son
+kicking up his heels on a pile of blankets, howling
+till he should become acquainted with his new
+surroundings, and a little skinny mite lay peacefully
+sleeping where he had hitherto lived. No mechanical
+bassinette ever swung more evenly, and no
+soft draperies made a better cot than the sheet tied
+up by the corners to a couple of ropes, and swung
+across the room like a hammock. The beauty of it
+was that, roll as he would, even active Hamed had
+been safe in it, and all his energies only served to
+rock him off to sleep again, for the sides almost
+met at the top. Yet he was by no means dull, for
+through a hole opposite his eye he could watch the
+cows and goats and sheep as they wandered about
+the yard, not to speak of the cocks and hens that
+roamed all over the place.</p>
+<p>
+At last the time came when both the wee ones
+could toddle, and Ayeshah carried them no more to
+the fields astride her hips or slung over her shoulders
+in a towel. They were then left to disport themselves
+as they pleased&mdash;which, of course, meant
+rolling about on the ground,&mdash;their garments tied up<a name="page96" id="page96"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;96]</span>
+under their arms, leaving them bare from the waist.
+No wonder that sitting on cold and wet stones had
+threatened to shrivel up their thin legs, which looked
+wonderfully shaky at best.</p>
+<p>
+It seems to be a maxim among the Moors that
+neither head, arms nor legs suffer in any way from
+exposure to cold or heat, and the mothers of the
+poorer classes think nothing of carrying their
+children slung across their backs with their little
+bare pates exposed to the sun and rain, or of
+allowing their lower limbs to become numbed with
+cold as just described. The sole recommendation
+of such a system is that only the fittest&mdash;in a certain
+sense&mdash;survive. Of the attention supposed to be
+bestowed in a greater or less degree upon all babes
+in our own land they get little. One result, however,
+is satisfactory, for they early give up yelling,
+as an amusement which does not pay, and no one
+is troubled to march them up and down for hours
+when teething. Yet it is hardly surprising that
+under such conditions infant mortality is very great,
+and, indeed, all through life in this doctorless land
+astonishing numbers are carried off by diseases we
+should hardly consider dangerous.</p>
+<p>
+Beyond the much-enjoyed dandle on Father's
+knee, or the cuddle with Mother, delights are few
+in Moorish child-life, and of toys such as we have
+they know nothing, whatever they may find to
+take their place. But when a boy is old enough
+to amuse himself, there is no end to the mischief
+and fun he will contrive, and the lads of Barbary
+are as fond of their games as we of ours. You
+may see them racing about after school hours
+at a species of "catch-as-catch-can," or playing<a name="page97" id="page97"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;97]</span>
+football with their heels, or spinning tops, sometimes
+of European make. Or, dearest sport of all, racing a
+donkey while seated on its far hind quarters, with
+all the noise and enjoyment we threw into such
+pastimes a few years ago. To look at the merry
+faces of these lively youths, and to hear their cheery
+voices, is sufficient to convince anyone of their
+inherent capabilities, which might make them
+easily a match for English lads if they had their
+chances.</p>
+<p>
+But what chances have they? At the age of
+four or five they are drafted off to school, not to
+be educated, but to be taught to read by rote, and
+to repeat long chapters of the Korán, if not the
+whole volume, by heart, hardly understanding what
+they read. Beyond this little is taught but the four
+great rules of arithmetic in the figures which we
+have borrowed from them, but worked out in the
+most primitive style. In "long" multiplication,
+for instance, they write every figure down, and
+"carry" nothing, so that a much more formidable
+addition than need be has to conclude the calculation.
+But they have a quaint system of learning their
+multiplication tables by mnemonics, in which every
+number is represented by a letter, and these being
+made up into words, are committed to memory in
+place of the figures.</p>
+<p>
+A Moorish school is a simple affair. No forms,
+no desks, few books. A number of boards about
+the size of foolscap, painted white on both sides, on
+which the various lessons&mdash;from the alphabet to
+portions of the Korán&mdash;are plainly written in large
+black letters; a switch or two, a pen and ink and
+a book, complete the furnishings. The dominie,<a name="page98" id="page98"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;98]</span>
+squatted tailor-fashion on the ground, like his pupils,
+who may number from ten to thirty, repeats the
+lesson in a sonorous sing-song voice, and is imitated
+by the little urchins, who accompany their voices
+by a rocking to and fro, which occasionally enables
+them to keep time. A sharp application of the
+switch is wonderfully effectual in re-calling wandering
+attention. Lazy boys are speedily expelled.</p>
+<p>
+On the admission of a pupil the parents pay
+some small sum, varying according to their means,
+and every Wednesday, which is a half-holiday, a
+payment is made from a farthing to twopence. New
+moons and feasts are made occasions for larger
+payments, and count as holidays, which last ten
+days on the occasion of the greater festivals.
+Thursday is a whole holiday, and no work is done
+on Friday morning, that being the Mohammedan
+Sabbath, or at least "meeting day," as it is called.</p>
+<p>
+At each successive stage of the scholastic career
+the schoolmaster parades the pupils one by one, if
+at all well-to-do, in the style already alluded to,
+collecting gifts from the grateful parents to supplement
+the few coppers the boys bring to school week
+by week. If they intend to become notaries or
+judges, they go on to study at Fez, where they
+purchase the key of a room at one of the colleges,
+and read to little purpose for several years. In
+everything the Korán is the standard work. The
+chapters therein being arranged without any idea
+of sequence, only according to length,&mdash;with the
+exception of the Fátihah,&mdash;the longest at the beginning
+and the shortest at the end, after the
+first the last is learned, and so backwards to the
+second.</p>
+
+<a name="page99" id="page99"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;99]</span>
+<p>
+Most of the lads are expected to do something
+to earn their bread at quite an early age, in one
+way or another, even if not called on to assist their
+parents in something which requires an old head
+on young shoulders. Such youths being so early
+independent, at least in a measure, mix with older
+lads, who soon teach them all the vices they have
+not already learned, in which they speedily become
+as adept as their parents.</p>
+<p>
+Those intended for a mercantile career are put
+into the shop at twelve or fourteen, and after some
+experience in weighing-out and bargaining by the
+side of a father or elder brother, they are left
+entirely to themselves, being supplied with goods
+from the main shop as they need them.</p>
+<p>
+It is by this means that the multitudinous little
+box-shops which are a feature of the towns are
+enabled to pay their way, this being rendered
+possible by an expensive minutely retail trade.
+The average English tradesman is a wholesale
+dealer compared to these petty retailers, and very
+many middle-class English households take in sufficient
+supplies at a time to stock one of their shops.
+One reason for this is the hand-to-mouth manner
+in which the bulk of the people live, with no notion
+of thrift. They earn their day's wage, and if
+anything remains above the expense of living, it
+is invested in gay clothing or jimcracks. Another
+reason is that those who could afford it have seldom
+any member of their household whom they can
+trust as housekeeper, of which more anon.</p>
+<p>
+It seems ridiculous to send for sugar, tea, etc.,
+by the ounce or less; candles, boxes of matches, etc.,
+one by one; needles, thread, silk, in like proportion,<a name="page100" id="page100"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;100]</span>
+even when cash is available, but such is the practice
+here, and there is as much haggling over the price
+of one candle as over that of an expensive article
+of clothing. Often quite little children, who elsewhere
+would be considered babes, are sent out to
+do the shopping, and these cheapen and bargain like
+the sharpest old folk, with what seems an inherent
+talent.</p>
+<p>
+Very little care is taken of even the children
+of the rich, and they get no careful training. The
+little sons and daughters of quite important personages
+are allowed to run about as neglected and
+dirty as those of the very poor. Hence the practice
+of shaving the head cannot be too highly
+praised in a country where so much filth abounds,
+and where cutaneous diseases of the worst type are
+so frequent. It is, however, noteworthy that while
+the Moors do not seem to consider it any disgrace
+to be scarred and covered with disgusting sores,
+the result of their own sins and those of their
+fathers, they are greatly ashamed of any ordinary
+skin disease on the head. But though the shaven
+skulls are the distinguishing feature of the boys in
+the house, where their dress closely resembles that
+of their sisters, the girls may be recognized by their
+ample locks, often dyed to a fashionable red with
+henna; yet they, too, are often partially shaved,
+sometimes in a fantastic style. It may be the hair
+in front is cut to a fringe an inch long over the
+forehead, and a strip a quarter of an inch wide is
+shaved just where the visible part of a child's comb
+would come, while behind this the natural frizzy
+or straight hair is left, cut short, while the head is
+shaved again round the ears and at the back of the
+<a name="page101" id="page101"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;101]</span>
+neck. To perform these operations a barber is
+called in, who attends the family regularly. Little
+boys of certain tribes have long tufts left hanging
+behind their ears, and occasionally they also have
+their heads shaved in strange devices.</p>
+<p>
+Since no attempt is made to bring the children
+up as useful members of the community at the age
+when they are most susceptible, they are allowed
+to run wild. Thus, bright and tractable as they
+are naturally, no sooner do the lads approach the
+end of their 'teens, than a marked change comes
+over them, a change which even the most casual
+observer cannot fail to notice. The hitherto agreeable
+youths appear washed-out and worthless. All
+their energy has disappeared, and from this time
+till a second change takes place for the worse, large
+numbers drag out a weary existence, victims of
+vices which hold them in their grip, till as if
+burned up by a fierce but short-lived fire, they
+ultimately become seared and shattered wrecks.
+From this time every effort is made to fan the
+flickering or extinguished flame, till death relieves
+the weary mortal of the burden of his life.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page102" id="page102"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;102]</span>
+
+<h3>XI</h3>
+
+<h2>"DINING OUT"<a name="XIr" id="XIr"></a><a href="#XI"><sup>*</sup></a></h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"A good supper is known by its odour."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+There are no more important qualifications for the
+diner-out in Morocco than an open mind and a
+teachable spirit. Then start with a determination
+to forget European table manners, except in so far
+as they are based upon consideration for the feelings
+of others, setting yourself to do in Morocco as the
+Moors do, and you cannot fail to gain profit and
+pleasure from your experience.</p>
+<p>
+One slight difficulty arises from the fact that it
+is somewhat hard to be sure at any time that you
+have been definitely invited to partake of a Moorish
+meal. A request that you would call at three o'clock
+in the afternoon, mid-way between luncheon and
+dinner, would seem an unusual hour for a heavy
+repast, yet that is no guarantee that you may not be
+expected to partake freely of an elaborate feast.</p>
+<p>
+If you are a member of the frail, fair sex, the
+absence of all other women will speedily arouse you
+to the fact that you are in an oriental country, for
+in Morocco the sons and chief servants, though they
+eat after the master of the house, take precedence of
+the wives and women-folk, who eat what remains of<a name="page103" id="page103"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;103]</span>
+the various dishes, or have specially prepared meals
+in their own apartments. For the same reason you
+need not be surprised if you are waited upon after
+the men of the party, though this order is sometimes
+reversed where the host is familiar with European
+etiquette with regard to women. If a man, perhaps
+a son will wait upon you.</p>
+<p>
+The well-bred Moor is quite as great a stickler
+for the proprieties as the most conservative Anglo-Saxon,
+and you will do well if you show consideration
+at the outset by removing your shoes at the
+door of the room, turning a deaf ear to his assurance
+that such a proceeding is quite unnecessary on your
+part. A glance round the room will make it clear
+that your courtesy will be appreciated, for the carpet
+on the floor is bright and unmarked by muddy or
+dusty shoes (in spite of the condition of the streets
+outside), and the mattresses upon which you are
+invited to sit are immaculate in their whiteness.</p>
+<p>
+Having made yourself comfortable, you will
+admire the arrangements for the first item upon
+the programme. The slave-girl appears with a
+handsome tray, brass or silver, upon which there
+are a goodly number of cups or tiny glass tumblers,
+frequently both, of delicate pattern and artistic
+colouring, a silver tea-pot, a caddy of green tea,
+a silver or glass bowl filled with large, uneven lumps
+of sugar, which have been previously broken off from
+the loaf, and a glass containing sprigs of mint and
+verbena. The brass samovar comes next, and having
+measured the tea in the palm of his right hand, and
+put it into the pot, the host proceeds to pour a small
+amount of boiling water upon it, which he straightway
+pours off, a precaution lest the Nazarenes should<a name="page104" id="page104"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;104]</span>
+have mingled some colouring matter therewith. He
+then adds enough sugar to ensure a semi-syrupy
+result, with some sprigs of peppermint, and fills the
+pot from the samovar. A few minutes later he pours
+out a little, which he tastes himself, frequently returning
+the remainder to the pot, although the more
+Europeanized consume the whole draught. If the
+test has been satisfactory, he proceeds to fill the
+cups or glasses, passing them in turn to the guests
+in order of distinction. To make a perceptible
+noise in drawing it from the glass to the mouth
+is esteemed a delicate token of appreciation.</p>
+<p>
+The tray is then removed; the slave in attendance
+brings a chased brass basin and ewer of water,
+and before the serious portion of the meal begins
+you are expected to hold out your right hand just to
+cleanse it from any impurities which may have been
+contracted in coming. Orange-flower water in a
+silver sprinkler is then brought in, followed by a brass
+incense burner filled with live charcoal, on which a
+small quantity of sandal-wood or other incense is
+placed, and the result is a delicious fragrance which
+you are invited to waft by a circular motion of your
+hands into your hair, your ribbons and your laces,
+while your Moorish host finds the folds of his loose
+garments invaluable for the retention of the spicy
+perfume.</p>
+<p>
+A circular table about eight inches high is then
+placed in the centre of the guests; on this is placed
+a tray with the first course of the dinner, frequently
+puffs of delicate pastry fried in butter over a charcoal
+fire, and containing sometimes meat, sometimes
+a delicious compound of almond paste and cinnamon.
+This, being removed, is followed by a succession of<a name="page105" id="page105"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;105]</span>
+savoury stews with rich, well-flavoured gravies, each
+with its own distinctive spiciness, but all excellently
+cooked. The host first dips a fragment of bread
+into the gravy, saying as he does so, "B'ísm Illah!"
+("In the name of God!"), which the guests repeat,
+as each follows suit with a sop from the dish.</p>
+<p>
+There is abundant scope for elegance of gesture
+in the eating of the stews, but still greater opportunity
+when the <i>pičce de résistance</i> of a Moorish
+dinner, the dish of kesk'soo, is brought on. This
+kesk'soo is a small round granule prepared from
+semolina, which, having been steamed, is served
+like rice beneath and round an excellent stew, which
+is heaped up in the centre of the dish. With
+the thumb and two first fingers of the right hand
+you are expected to secure some succulent morsel
+from the stew,&mdash;meat, raisins, onions, or vegetable
+marrow,&mdash;and with it a small quantity of the kesk'soo.
+By a skilful motion of the palm the whole is formed
+into a round ball, which is thrown with a graceful
+curve of hand and wrist into the mouth. Woe betide
+you if your host is possessed by the hospitable
+desire to make one of these boluses for you, for he
+is apt to measure the cubic content of your mouth
+by that of his own, and for a moment your feelings
+will be too deep for words; but this is only a brief
+discomfort, and you will find the dish an excellent
+one, for Moorish cooks never serve tough meat.</p>
+<p>
+If your fingers have suffered from contact with
+the kesk'soo, it is permitted to you to apply your
+tongue to each digit in turn in the following order;
+fourth (or little finger), second, thumb, third, first;
+but a few moments later the slave appears, and after
+bearing away the table with the remains of the feast<a name="page106" id="page106"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;106]</span>
+gives the opportunity for a most satisfactory ablution.
+In this case you are expected to use soap, and to
+wash both hands, over which water is poured three
+times. If you are at all acquainted with Moorish
+ways, you will not fail at the same time to apply
+soap and water to your mouth both outwardly and
+inwardly, being careful to rinse it three times with
+plenty of noise, ejecting the water behind your hand
+into the basin which is held before you.</p>
+<p>
+Orange-flower water and incense now again
+appear, and you may be required to drink three
+more glasses of refreshing tea, though this is sometimes
+omitted at the close of a repast. Of course
+"the feast of reason and the flow of soul" have not
+been lacking, and you have been repeatedly assured
+of your welcome, and invited to partake beyond the
+limit of human possibility, for the Moor believes
+you can pay no higher compliment to the dainties
+he has provided than by their consumption.</p>
+<p>
+For a while you linger, reclining upon the
+mattress as gracefully as may be possible for a
+tyro, with your arm upon a pile of many-coloured
+cushions of embroidered leather or cloth. Then,
+after a thousand mutual thanks and blessings,
+accompanied by graceful bowings and bendings,
+you say farewell and step to the door, where your
+slippers await you, and usher yourself out, not ill-satisfied
+with your initiation into the art of dining-out
+in Barbary.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>
+<a href="#XIr">*</a> Contributed by my wife.&mdash;B. M.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="fruit-sellers" id="fruit-sellers"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/107.jpg"><img src="images/107-500.jpg" width="500" height="306" alt="FRUIT-SELLERS." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Photograph by Dr. Rudduck.</i><br /><br />
+<b>FRUIT-SELLERS.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page107" id="page107"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;107]</span>
+
+<h3>XII</h3>
+
+<h2>DOMESTIC ECONOMY</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Manage with bread and butter till God sends the jam."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+If the ordinary regulations of social life among the
+Moors differ materially from those in force among
+ourselves, how much more so must the minor details
+of the housekeeping when, to begin with, the husband
+does the marketing and keeps the keys! And the
+consequential Moor does, indeed, keep the keys, not
+only of the stores, but also often of the house. What
+would an English lady think of being coolly locked
+in a windowless house while her husband went for
+a journey, the provisions for the family being meanwhile
+handed in each morning through a loophole
+by a trusty slave left as gaoler? That no surprise
+whatever would be elicited in Barbary by such an
+arrangement speaks volumes. Woman has no voice
+under Mohammed's creed.</p>
+<p>
+Early in the morning let us take a stroll into
+the market, and see how things are managed there.
+Round the inside of a high-walled enclosure is a
+row of the rudest of booths. Over portions of the
+pathway, stretching across to other booths in the
+centre&mdash;if the market is a wide one&mdash;are pieces of
+cloth, vines on trellis, or canes interwoven with
+brushwood. As the sun gains strength these afford<a name="page108" id="page108"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;108]</span>
+a most grateful shade, and during the heat of the
+day there is no more pleasant place for a stroll, and
+none more full of characteristic life. In the wider
+parts, on the ground, lie heaps two or three feet
+high of mint, verbena and lemon thyme, the much-esteemed
+flavourings for the national drink&mdash;green-tea
+syrup&mdash;exhaling a most delicious fragrance. It
+is early summer: the luscious oranges are not yet
+over, and in tempting piles they lie upon the
+stalls made of old packing-cases, many with still
+legible familiar English and French inscriptions.
+Apricots are selling at a halfpenny or less the
+pound, and plums and damsons, not to speak of
+greengages, keep good pace with them in price and
+sales. The bright tints of the lettuces and other
+fresh green vegetables serve to set off the rich
+colours of the God-made delicacies, but the prevailing
+hue of the scene is a restful earth-brown, an
+autumnal leaf-tint; the trodden ground, the sun-dried
+brush-wood of the booths and awnings, and
+the wet-stained wood-work. No glamour of paint
+or gleam of glass destroys the harmony of the
+surroundings.</p>
+<p>
+But with all the feeling of cool and repose, rest
+there is not, or idleness, for there is not a brisker
+scene in an oriental town than its market-place.
+Thronging those narrow pathways come the rich
+and poor&mdash;the portly merchant in his morning
+cloak, a spotless white wool jelláb, with a turban
+and girth which bespeak easy circumstances; the
+labourer in just such a cloak with the hood up, but
+one which was always brown, and is now much
+mended; the slave in shirt and drawers, with a
+string round his shaven pate; the keen little Jew<a name="page109" id="page109"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;109]</span>
+boy pushing and bargaining as no other could; the
+bearded son of Israel, with piercing eyes, and his
+daughter with streaming hair; lastly, the widow or
+time-worn wife of the poor Mohammedan, who must
+needs market for herself. Her wrinkled face and
+care-worn look tell a different tale from the pompous
+self-content of the merchant by her side, who drives
+as hard a bargain as she does. In his hand he
+carries a palmetto-leaf basket, already half full,
+as with slippered feet he carefully picks his way
+among puddles and garbage.</p>
+<p>
+"Good morning, O my master; God bless
+thee!" exclaims the stall-keeper as his customer
+comes in sight.</p>
+<p>
+Sáďd el Faráji has to buy cloth of the merchant
+time and time again, so makes a point of pleasing
+one who can return a kindness.</p>
+<p>
+"No ill, praise God; and thyself, O Sáďd?"
+comes the cheery reply; then, after five minutes'
+mutual inquiry after one another's household, horses
+and other interests, health and general welfare, friend
+Sáďd points out the daintiest articles on his stall, and
+in the most persuasive of tones names his "lowest
+price."</p>
+<p>
+All the while he is sitting cross-legged on an old
+box, with his scales before him.</p>
+<p>
+"What? Now, come, I'll give you <i>so</i> much,"
+says the merchant, naming a price slightly less than
+that asked.</p>
+<p>
+"Make it <i>so</i> much," exclaims Sáďd, even more
+persuasively than before, as he "splits the difference."</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I'll give you <i>so</i> much," offering just a
+little less than this sum. "I can't go above that,
+you know."</p>
+
+<a name="page110" id="page110"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;110]</span>
+
+<p>
+"All right, but you always get the better of me,
+you know. That is just what I paid. Anyhow,
+don't forget that when I want a new cloak," and
+he proceeds to measure out the purchases, using as
+weights two or three bits of old iron, a small cannon-ball,
+some bullets, screws, coins, etc. "Go with
+prosperity, my friend; and may God bless thee!"</p>
+<p>
+"And may God increase thy prosperity, and
+grant to thee a blessing!" rejoins the successful
+man, as he proceeds to another stall.</p>
+<p>
+By the time he reaches home his basket will
+contain meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and herbs,
+besides, perhaps, a loaf of sugar, and a quarter of
+a pound of tea, with supplies of spices and some
+candles. Bread they make at home.</p>
+<p>
+The absurdly minute quantities of what we
+should call "stores," which a man will purchase
+who could well afford to lay in a supply, seem very
+strange to the foreigner; but it is part of his
+domestic economy&mdash;or lack of that quality. He
+will not trust his wife with more than one day's
+supply at a time, and to weigh things out himself
+each morning would be trouble not to be
+dreamed of; besides which it would deprive him
+of the pleasure of all that bargaining, not to speak
+of the appetite-promoting stroll, and the opportunities
+for gossip with acquaintances which it
+affords. In consequence, wives and slaves are
+generally kept on short allowances, if these are
+granted at all.</p>
+<p>
+An amusing incident which came under my
+notice in Tangier shows how little the English idea
+of the community of interest of husband and wife
+is appreciated here.  A Moorish woman who<a name="page111" id="page111"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;111]</span>
+used to furnish milk to an English family being
+met by the lady of the house one morning, when
+she had brought short measure, said, pointing to
+the husband in the distance, "<i>You</i> be my friend;
+take this" (slipping a few coppers worth half a
+farthing into her hand), "don't tell <i>him</i> anything
+about it. I'll share the profit with you!" She
+probably knew from experience that the veriest
+trifle would suffice to buy over the wife of a Moor.</p>
+<p>
+Instructions having been given to his wife
+or wives as to what is to be prepared, and how&mdash;he
+probably pretends to know more of the art culinary
+than he does&mdash;the husband will start off to attend to
+his shop till lunch, which will be about noon. Then
+a few more hours in the shop, and before the sun
+sets a ride out to his garden by the river, returning
+in time for dinner at seven, after which come talk,
+prayers, and bed, completing what is more or less
+his daily round. His wives will probably be
+assisted in the house-work&mdash;or perhaps entirely
+relieved of it&mdash;by a slave-girl or two, and the water
+required will be brought in on the shoulders of a
+stalwart negro in skins or barrels filled from some
+fountain of good repute, but of certain contamination.</p>
+<p>
+In cooking the Moorish women excel, as their
+first-rate productions afford testimony. It is the custom
+of some Europeans to systematically disparage
+native preparations, but such judges have been the
+victims either of their own indiscretion in eating
+too many rich things without the large proportion
+of bread or other digestible nutriment which should
+have accompanied them, or of the essays of their
+own servants, usually men without any more knowledge
+of how their mothers prepare the dishes they<a name="page112" id="page112"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;112]</span>
+attempt to imitate than an ordinary English working
+man would have of similar matters. Of course
+there are certain flavourings which to many are
+really objectionable, but none can be worse to us
+than any preparation of pig would be to a Moor.
+Prominent among such is the ancient butter which
+forms the basis of much of their spicings, butter
+made from milk, which has been preserved&mdash;usually
+buried a year or two&mdash;till it has acquired the taste,
+and somewhat the appearance, of ripe Gorgonzola.
+Those who commence by trying a very slight flavour
+of this will find the fancy grow upon them, and there
+is no smell so absolutely appetizing as the faintest
+whiff of anything being cooked in this butter, called
+"smin."</p>
+<p>
+Another point, much misunderstood, which enables
+them to cook the toughest old rooster or
+plough-ox joint till it can be eaten readily with the
+fingers, is the stewing in oil or butter. When the
+oil itself is pure and fresh, it imparts no more taste
+to anything cooked in it than does the fresh butter
+used by the rich. Articles plunged into either at
+their high boiling point are immediately browned
+and enclosed in a kind of case, with a result which
+can be achieved in no other manner than by rolling
+in paste or clay, and cooking amid embers. Moorish
+pastry thus cooked in oil is excellent, flaky and
+light.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page113" id="page113"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;113]</span>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>XIII</h3>
+
+<h2>THE NATIVE "MERCHANT"</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"A turban without a beard shows lack of modesty."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Háj Mohammed Et-Tájir, a grey-bearded worthy,
+who looks like a prince when he walks abroad, and
+dwells in a magnificent house, sits during business
+hours on a diminutive tick and wool mattress, on
+the floor of a cob-webbed room on one side of an
+ill-paved, uncovered, dirty court-yard. Light and
+air are admitted by the door in front of which he
+sits, while the long side behind him, the two ends,
+and much of the floor, are packed with valuable
+cloths, Manchester goods, silk, etc. Two other
+sides of the court-yard consist of similar stores,
+one occupied by a couple of Jews, and the other
+by another fine-looking Háj, his partner.</p>
+<p>
+Enters a Moor, in common clothing, market
+basket in hand. He advances to the entrance of
+the store, and salutes the owner respectfully&mdash;"Peace
+be with thee, Uncle Pilgrim!"</p>
+<p>
+"With thee be peace, O my master," is the
+reply, and the new-comer is handed a cushion, and
+motioned to sit on it at the door. "How doest
+thou?" "How fares thy house?" "How dost
+thou find thyself this morning?" "Is nothing
+wrong with thee?" These and similar inquiries<a name="page114" id="page114"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;114]</span>
+are showered by each on the other, and an equal
+abundance is returned of such replies as, "Nothing
+wrong;" "Praise be to God;" "All is well."</p>
+<p>
+When both cease for lack of breath, after a brief
+pause the new arrival asks, "Have you any of
+that 'Merican?" (unbleached calico). The dealer
+puts on an indignant air, as if astonished at being
+asked such a question. "<i>Have</i> I? There is no
+counting what I have of it," and he commences to
+tell his beads, trying to appear indifferent as to
+whether his visitor buys or not. Presently the
+latter, also anxious not to appear too eager, exclaims,
+"Let's look at it." A piece is leisurely
+handed down, and the customer inquires in a
+disparaging tone, "How much?"</p>
+<p>
+"Six and a half," and the speaker again appears
+absorbed in meditation.</p>
+<p>
+"Give thee six," says the customer, rising as if
+to go.</p>
+<p>
+"Wait, thou art very dear to us; to thee alone
+will I give a special price, six and a quarter."</p>
+<p>
+"No, no," replies the customer, shaking his
+finger before his face, as though to emphasize his
+refusal of even such special terms.</p>
+<p>
+"Al-l-láh!" piously breathes the dealer, as he
+gazes abstractedly out of the door, presently adding
+in the same devout tone, "There is no god but
+God! God curse the infidels!"</p>
+<p>
+"Come, I'll give thee six and an okea"&mdash;of
+which latter six and a half go to the 'quarter'
+peseta or franc of which six were offered.</p>
+<p>
+"No, six and five is the lowest I can take."</p>
+<p>
+The might-be purchaser made his last offer in a
+half-rising posture, and is now nearly erect as he<a name="page115" id="page115"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;115]</span>
+says, "Then I can't buy; give it me for six and
+three," sitting down as though the bargain were
+struck.</p>
+<p>
+"No, I never sell that quality for less than six
+and four, and it's a thing I make no profit on; you
+know that."</p>
+<p>
+The customer doesn't look as though he did, and
+rising, turns to go.</p>
+<p>
+"Send a man to carry it away," says the dealer.</p>
+<p>
+"At six and three!"</p>
+<p>
+"No, at six and four!" and the customer goes
+away.</p>
+<p>
+"Send the man, it is thine," is hastily called
+after him, and in a few moments he returns with a
+Jewish porter, and pays his "six and three."</p>
+<p>
+So our worthy trader does business all day, and
+seems to thrive on it. Occasionally a friend drops
+in to chat and not to buy, and now and then there
+is a beggar; here is one.</p>
+<p>
+An aged crone she is, of most forbidding countenance,
+swathed in rags, it is a wonder she can keep
+together. She leans on a formidable staff, and in a
+piteous voice, "For the face of the Lord," and "In
+the name of my Lord Slave-of-the-Able" (Mulai
+Abd el Káder, a favourite saint), she begs something
+"For God." One copper suffices to induce
+her to call down untold blessings on the head of the
+donor, and she trudges away in the mud, barefooted,
+repeating her entreaties till they sound almost
+a wail, as she turns the next corner. But beggars
+who can be so easily disposed of at the rate of a
+hundred and ninety-five for a shilling can hardly be
+considered troublesome.</p>
+<p>
+A respectable-looking man next walks in with<a name="page116" id="page116"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;116]</span>
+measured tread, and leaning towards us, says almost
+in a whisper&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"O Friend of the Prophet, is there anything
+to-day?"</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing, O my master," is the courteously
+toned reply, for the beggar appears to be a shareef
+or noble, and with a "God bless thee," disappears.</p>
+<p>
+A miserable wretch now turns up, and halfway
+across the yard begins to utter a whine which is
+speedily cut short by a curt "God help thee!"
+whereat the visitor turns on his heel and is gone.</p>
+<p>
+With a confident bearing an untidy looking
+figure enters a moment later, and after due salaams
+inquires for a special kind of cloth.</p>
+<p>
+"Call to-morrow morning," he is told, for he has
+not the air of a purchaser, and he takes his departure
+meekly.</p>
+<p>
+A creaky voice here breaks in from round the
+corner&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"Hast thou not a copper for the sake of the
+Lord?"</p>
+<p>
+"No, O my brother."</p>
+<p>
+After a few minutes another female comes on
+the scene, exhibiting enough of her face to show
+that it is a mass of sores.</p>
+<p>
+"Only a trifle, in the name of my lord Idrees,"
+she cries, and turns away on being told, "God
+bring it!"</p>
+<p>
+Then comes a policeman, a makházni, who seats
+himself amid a shower of salutations&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"Hast thou any more of those selháms"
+(hooded cloaks)?</p>
+<p>
+"Come on the morrow, and thou shalt see."</p>
+<p>
+The explanation of this answer given by the<a name="page117" id="page117"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;117]</span>
+"merchant" is that he sees such folk only mean
+to bother him for nothing.</p>
+<p>
+And this appears to be the daily routine of
+"business," though a good bargain must surely be
+made some time to have enabled our friend to
+acquire all the property he has, but so far as an
+outsider can judge, it must be a slow process.
+Anyhow, it has heartily tired the writer, who has
+whiled away the morning penning this account on a
+cushion on one side of the shop described. Yet it
+is a fair specimen of what has been observed by him
+on many a morning in this sleepy land.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page118" id="page118"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;118]</span>
+
+
+<h3>XIV</h3>
+
+<h2>SHOPPING<a name="XIV1r" id="XIV1r"></a><a href="#XIV1"><sup>*</sup></a></h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Debt destroys religion."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+ <i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+If any should imagine that time is money in
+Morocco, let them undertake a shopping expedition
+in Tangier, the town on which, if anywhere in
+Morocco, occidental energy has set its seal. Not
+that one such excursion will suffice, unless, indeed,
+the purchaser be of the class who have more money
+than wit, or who are absolutely at the mercy of the
+guide and interpreter who pockets a commission
+upon every bargain he brings about. For the
+ordinary mortal, who wants to spread his dollars as
+far as it is possible for dollars to go, a tour of inspection,
+if not two or three, will be necessary
+before such a feat can be accomplished. To be
+sure, there is always the risk that between one
+visit and another some coveted article may find
+its way into the hands of a more reckless, or at
+least less thrifty, purchaser, but that risk may be
+safely taken.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="shopkeeper" id="shopkeeper"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/118.jpg"><img src="images/118-277.jpg" width="277" height="430" alt="A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Albert, Photo., Tunis.</i><br /><br />
+<b>A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+There is something very attractive in the small
+cupboard-like shops of the main street.  Their<a name="page119" id="page119"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;119]</span>
+owners sit cross-legged ready for a chat, looking
+wonderfully picturesque in cream-coloured jelláb, or in
+semi-transparent white farrajîyah, or tunic, allowing
+at the throat a glimpse of saffron, cerise, or green
+from the garment beneath. The white turban, beneath
+which shows a line of red Fez cap, serves as
+a foil to the clear olive complexion and the dark
+eyes and brows, while the faces are in general goodly
+to look upon, except where the lines have grown
+coarse and sensuous.</p>
+<p>
+So strong is the impression of elegant leisure,
+that it is difficult to imagine that these men expect
+to make a living from their trade, but they are
+more than willing to display their goods, and will
+doubtless invite you to a seat upon the shop ledge&mdash;where
+your feet dangle gracefully above a rough
+cobble-stone pavement&mdash;and sometimes even to a
+cup of tea. One after another, in quick succession,
+carpets of different dimensions (but all oblong, for
+Moorish rooms are narrow in comparison with their
+length) are spread out in the street, and the shop-owners'
+satellite, by reiterated cries of "Bálak!
+Bálak!" (Mind out! Mind out!) accompanied by
+persuasive pushes, keeps off the passing donkeys.
+A miniature crowd of interested spectators will
+doubtless gather round you, making remarks upon
+you and your purchases. Charmed by the artistic
+colourings, rich but never garish, you ask the
+price, and if you are wise you will immediately offer
+just half of that named. It is quite probable that
+the carpets will be folded up and returned to their
+places upon the shelf at the back of the shop, but it
+is equally probable that by slow and tactful yielding
+upon either side, interspersed with curses upon your<a name="page120" id="page120"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;120]</span>
+ancestors and upon yourself, the bargain will be
+struck about halfway between the two extremes.</p>
+<p>
+The same method must be adopted with every
+article bought, and if you purpose making many
+purchases in the same shop, you will be wise to obtain
+and write down the price quoted in each case as "the
+<i>very</i> lowest," and make your bid for the whole at
+once, lest, made cunning by one experience of your
+tactics, the shopman should put on a wider marginal
+profit in every other instance to circumvent you.
+It is also well for the purchaser to express ardent
+admiration in tones of calm indifference, for the
+Moor has quick perceptions, and though he may
+not understand English, when enthusiasm is apparent,
+he has the key to the situation, and refuses to
+lower his prices.</p>
+<p>
+Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to avoid a
+warm expression of admiration at the handsome
+brass trays, the Morocco leather bags into which
+such charming designs of contrasting colours are
+skilfully introduced, or the graceful utensils of
+copper and brass with which a closer acquaintance
+was made when you were the guest at a Moorish
+dinner. Many and interesting are the curious trifles
+which may be purchased, but they will be found in
+the greatest profusion in the bazaars established for
+the convenience of Nazarene tourists, where prices
+will frequently be named in English money, for an
+English "yellow-boy" is nowhere better appreciated
+than in Tangier.</p>
+<p>
+In the shops in the sôk, or market-place, prices
+are sometimes more moderate, and there you may
+discover some of the more distinctively Moorish
+articles, which are brought in from the country;
+<a name="page121" id="page121"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;121]</span>
+nor can there be purchased a more interesting
+memento than a flint-lock, a pistol, or a carved
+dagger, all more or less elaborately decorated, such
+as are carried by town or country Moor, the former
+satisfied with a dagger in its chased sheath, except
+at the time of "powder-play," when flint-locks are
+in evidence everywhere.</p>
+<p>
+But in the market-place there are exposed for
+sale the more perishable things of Moorish living.
+Some of the small cupboards are grocers' shops,
+where semolina for the preparation of kesk'soo,
+the national dish, may be purchased, as well as
+candles for burning at the saints' shrines, and a
+multitude of small necessaries for the Moorish
+housewives. In the centre of the market sit the
+bread-sellers, for the most part women whose faces
+are supposed to be religiously kept veiled from the
+gaze of man, but who are apt to let their háďks
+fall back quite carelessly when only Europeans
+are near. An occasional glimpse may sometimes
+be thus obtained of a really pretty face of some
+lass on the verge of womanhood.</p>
+<p>
+Look at that girl in front of us, stooping over
+the stall of a vendor of what some one has dubbed
+"sticky nastinesses," her háďk lightly thrown
+back; her bent form and the tiny hand protruding
+at her side show that she is not alone, her
+little baby brother proving almost as much as
+she can carry. Her teeth are pearly white; her
+hair and eyebrows are jet black; her nut-brown
+cheeks bear a pleasant smile, and as she stretches
+out one hand to give the "confectioner" a few
+coppers, with the other clutching at her escaping
+garment, and moves on amongst the crowd, we
+<a name="page122" id="page122"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;122]</span>
+come to the conclusion that if not fair, she is at
+least comely.</p>
+<p>
+The country women seated on the ground with
+their wares form a nucleus for a dense crowd. They
+have carried in upon their backs heavy loads of
+grass for provender, or firewood and charcoal which
+they sell in wholesale quantities to the smaller shopkeepers,
+who purchase from other countryfolk
+donkey loads of ripe melons and luscious black
+figs.</p>
+<p>
+There is a glorious inconsequence in the
+arrangement of the wares. Here you may see a
+pile of women's garments exposed for sale, and not
+far away are sweet-sellers with honey-cakes and
+other unattractive but toothsome delicacies. If
+you can catch a glimpse of the native brass-workers
+busily beating out artistic designs upon
+trays of different sizes and shapes, do not fail to
+seize the opportunity of watching them. You may
+form one in the ring gathered round the snake-charmer,
+or join the circle which listens open-mouthed
+and with breathless attention to that story-teller,
+who breaks off at a most critical juncture in
+his narrative to shake his tambourine, declaring
+that so close-fisted an audience does not deserve to
+hear another word, much less the conclusion of his
+fascinating tale.</p>
+<p>
+But before you join either party, indeed before
+you mingle at all freely in the crowd upon a
+Moorish market-place, it is well to remember that
+the flea is a common domestic insect, impartial in
+the distribution of his favours to Moor, Jew and
+Nazarene, and is in fact not averse to "fresh fields
+and pastures new."</p>
+
+<a name="page123" id="page123"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;123]</span>
+<p>
+If you are clad in perishable garments, beware
+of the water-carrier with his goat-skin, his tinkling
+bell, his brass cup, and his strange cry. Beware,
+too, of the strings of donkeys with heavily laden
+packs, and do not scruple to give them a forcible
+push out of your way. If you are mounted upon
+a donkey yourself, so much the better; by watching
+the methods of your donkey-boy to ensure a clear
+passage for his beast, you will realize that dwellers
+in Barbary are not strangers to the spirit of the
+saying, "Each man for himself, and the de'il take
+the hindmost."</p>
+<p>
+Yet they are a pleasant crowd to be amongst,
+in spite of insect-life, water-carriers, and bulky pack-saddles,
+and there is an exhaustless store of interest,
+not alone in the wares they have for sale, and in
+the trades they ply, but more than all in the faces,
+so often keen and alert, and still more often bright
+and smiling.</p>
+<p>
+One typical example of Moorish methods of
+shopping, and I have done. Among those who
+make their money by trade, you may find a man
+who spends his time in bringing the would-be
+purchaser into intimate relations with the article
+he desires to obtain. He has no shop of his own,
+but may often be recognized as an interested
+spectator of some uncompleted bargain. Having
+discovered your dwelling-place, he proceeds to
+"bring the mountain to Mohammed," and you will
+doubtless be confronted in the court-yard of your
+hotel by the very article for which you have been
+seeking in vain. Of course he expects a good price
+which shall ensure him a profit of at least fifty per
+cent. upon his expenditure, but he too is open to a<a name="page124" id="page124"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;124]</span>
+bargain, and a little skilful pointing out of flaws in
+the article which he has brought for purchase, in a
+tone of calm and supreme indifference, is apt to
+ensure a very satisfactory reduction of price in
+favour of the shopper in Barbary.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XIV1" id="XIV1"></a>
+<a href="#XIV1r">*</a> Contributed by my wife.&mdash;B. M.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a name="page125" id="page125"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;125]</span>
+
+<h3>XV</h3>
+
+<h2>A SUNDAY MARKET</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"A climb with a friend is a descent."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+One of the sights of Tangier is its market. Sundays
+and Thursdays, when the weather is fine, see the
+disused portion of the Mohammedan graveyard
+outside <i>Báb el Fahs</i> (called by the English Port St.
+Catherine, and now known commonly as the Sôk
+Gate) crowded with buyers and sellers of most
+quaint appearance to the foreign eye, not to mention
+camels, horses, mules, and donkeys, or the goods
+they have brought. Hither come the sellers from
+long distances, trudging all the way on foot, laden
+or not, according to means, all eager to exchange
+their goods for European manufacturers, or to carry
+home a few more dollars to be buried with their
+store.</p>
+<p>
+Sunday is no Sabbath for the sons of Israel, so
+the money-changers are doing a brisk trade from
+baskets of filthy native bronze coin, the smallest of
+which go five hundred to the shilling, and the
+largest three hundred and thirty-three! Hard by
+a venerable rabbi is leisurely cutting the throats
+of fowls brought to him for the purpose by the
+servants or children of Jews, after the careful inspection
+enjoined by the Mosaic law. The old<a name="page126" id="page126"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;126]</span>
+gentleman has the coolest way of doing it imaginable;
+he might be only peeling an orange for the
+little girl who stands waiting. After apparently all
+but turning the victim inside out, he twists back its
+head under its wings, folding these across its breast
+as a handle, and with his free hand removing his
+razor-like knife from his mouth, nearly severs its
+neck and hands it to the child, who can scarcely
+restrain its struggles except by putting her foot on
+it, while he mechanically wipes his blade and prepares
+to despatch another.</p>
+<p>
+Eggs and milk are being sold a few yards off by
+country women squatted on the ground, the former
+in baskets or heaps on the stones, the latter in uninviting
+red jars, with a round of prickly-pear leaf
+for a stopper, and a bit of palmetto rope for a
+handle.</p>
+<p>
+By this time we are in the midst of a perfect
+Babel&mdash;a human maëlstrom. In a European crowd
+one is but crushed by human beings; here all
+sorts of heavily laden quadrupeds, with packs often
+four feet across, come jostling past, sometimes with
+the most unsavoury loads. We have just time to
+observe that more country women are selling
+walnuts, vegetables, and fruits, on our left, at the
+door of what used to be the tobacco and hemp
+fandak, and that native sweets, German knick-knacks
+and Spanish fruit are being sold on our
+right, as amid the din of forges on either side
+we find ourselves in the midst of the crush to get
+through the narrow gate.</p>
+<p>
+Here an exciting scene ensues. Continuous
+streams of people and beasts of burden are pushing
+both ways; a drove of donkeys laden with rough<a name="page127" id="page127"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;127]</span>
+bundles of cork-wood for the ovens approaches,
+the projecting ends prodding the passers-by;
+another drove laden with stones tries to pass
+them, while half a dozen mules and horses vainly
+endeavour to pass out. A European horseman
+trots up and makes the people fly, but not so the
+beasts, till he gets wedged in the midst, and must
+bide his time after all. Meanwhile one is almost
+deafened by the noise of shouting, most of it good-humoured.
+"Zeed! Arrah!" vociferates the
+donkey-driver. "Bálak!" shouts the horseman.
+"Bálak! Guarda!" (pronounced warda) in a louder
+key comes from a man who is trying to pilot a
+Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary
+through the gate, with Her Excellency on his
+arm.</p>
+<p>
+At last we seize a favourable opportunity and
+are through. Now we can breathe. In front of
+us, underneath an arch said to have been built to
+shelter the English guard two hundred years ago
+(which is very unlikely, since the English destroyed
+the fortifications of this gate), we see the native
+shoeing-smiths hacking at the hoofs of horses,
+mules, and donkeys, in a manner most extraordinary
+to us, and nailing on triangular plates with holes in
+the centre&mdash;though most keep a stock of English
+imported shoes and nails for the fastidious Nazarenes.
+Spanish and Jewish butchers are driving a
+roaring trade at movable stalls made of old boxes,
+and the din is here worse than ever.</p>
+<p>
+Now we turn aside into the vegetable market,
+as it is called, though as we enter we are almost
+sickened by the sight of more butchers' stalls, and
+further on by putrid fish. This market is typical.<a name="page128" id="page128"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;128]</span>
+Low thatched booths of branches and canes are
+the only shops but those of the butchers, the arcade
+which surrounds the interior of the building being
+chiefly used for stores. Here and there a filthy
+rag is stretched across the crowded way to keep
+the sun off, and anon we have to stop to avoid
+some drooping branch. Fruit and vegetables of
+all descriptions in season are sold amid the most
+good-humoured haggling.</p>
+<p>
+Emerging from this interesting scene by a gate
+leading to the outer sôk, we come to one quite
+different in character. A large open space is
+packed with country people, their beasts and their
+goods, and towns-people come out to purchase.
+Women seem to far outnumber the men, doubtless
+on account of their size and their conspicuous head-dress.
+They are almost entirely enveloped in
+white háďks, over the majority of which are thrown
+huge native sun-hats made of palmetto, with four
+coloured cords by way of rigging to keep the brim
+extended. When the sun goes down these are to
+be seen slung across the shoulders instead. Very
+many of the women have children slung on their
+backs, or squatting on their hips if big enough.
+This causes them to stoop, especially if some other
+burden is carried on their shoulders as well.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="market" id="market"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/128.jpg"><img src="images/128-500.jpg" width="499" height="306" alt="THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Cavilla, Photo., Tangier.</i><br /><br />
+<b>THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+<p>
+On our right are typical Moorish shops,&mdash;grocers',
+if you please,&mdash;in which are exposed to
+view an assortment of dried fruits, such as nuts,
+raisins, figs, etc., with olive and argan oil, candles,
+tea, sugar, and native soap and butter. Certainly
+of all the goods that butter is the least inviting;
+the soap, though the purest of "soft," looks a
+horribly repulsive mass, but the butter which, like<a name="page129" id="page129"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;129]</span>
+it, is streaked all over with finger marks, is in
+addition full of hairs. Similar shops are perched
+on our left, where old English biscuit-boxes are
+conspicuous.</p>
+<p>
+Beyond these come slipper- and clothes-menders.
+The former are at work on native slippers of such
+age that they would long ago have been thrown
+away in any less poverty-stricken land, transforming
+them into wearable if unsightly articles,
+after well soaking them in earthen pans. Just here
+a native "medicine man" dispenses nostrums of
+doubtful efficacy, and in front a quantity of red
+Moorish pottery is exposed for sale. This consists
+chiefly of braziers for charcoal and kesk'soo steamers
+for stewing meat and vegetables as well.</p>
+<p>
+A native <i>café</i> here attracts our attention. Under
+the shade of a covered way the káhwajî has a
+brazier on which he keeps a large kettle of water
+boiling. A few steps further on we light upon the
+sellers of native salt. This is in very large crystals,
+heaped in mule panniers, from which the dealers
+mete it out in wooden measures. It comes from
+along the beach near Old Tangier, where the heaps
+can be seen from the town, glistening in the sunlight.
+Ponds are dug along the shore, in which
+sea water is enclosed by miniature dykes, and on
+evaporating leaves the salt.</p>
+<p>
+Pressing on with difficulty through a crowd of
+horses, mules and donkeys, mostly tethered by
+their forefeet, we reach some huts in front of which
+are the most gorgeous native waistcoats exposed
+for sale, together with Manchester goods, by fat,
+ugly old women of a forbidding aspect. Further
+on we come upon "confectioners." A remarkable<a name="page130" id="page130"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;130]</span>
+peculiarity of the tables on which the sweets are
+being sold in front of us is the total absence of flies,
+though bees abound, in spite of the lazy whisking
+of the sweet-seller. The sweets themselves consist
+of red, yellow and white sticks of what Cousin
+Jonathan calls "candy;" almond and gingelly rock,
+all frizzling in the sun. A small basin, whose
+contents resemble a dark plum-pudding full of
+seeds, contains a paste of the much-lauded hasheesh,
+the opiate of Morocco, which, though contraband,
+and strictly prohibited by Imperial decrees, is being
+freely purchased in small doses.</p>
+<p>
+On the opposite side of the way some old
+Spaniards are selling a kind of coiled-up fritter by
+the yard, swimming in oil. Then we come to a
+native restaurant. Trade does not appear very
+brisk, so we shall not interrupt it by pausing for a
+few moments to watch the cooking. In a tiny
+lean-to of sticks and thatch two men are at work.
+One is cutting up liver and what would be flead if
+the Moors ate pigs, into pieces about the size of a
+filbert. These the other threads on skewers in
+alternate layers, three or four of each. Having
+rolled them in a basin of pepper and salt, they are
+laid across an earthen pot resembling a log scooped
+out, like some primćval boat. In the bottom of
+the hollow is a charcoal fire, which causes the
+khotbán, as they are called, to give forth a most
+appetizing odour&mdash;the only thing tempting about
+them after seeing them made. Half loaves of
+native bread lie ready to hand, and the hungry
+passer-by is invited to take an <i>al fresco</i> meal for
+the veriest trifle. Another sort of kabáb&mdash;for such
+is the name of the preparation&mdash;is being made from<a name="page131" id="page131"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;131]</span>
+a large wash-basin full of ready seasoned minced
+meat, small handfuls of which the jovial <i>chef</i> adroitly
+plasters on more skewers, cooking them like the
+others.</p>
+<p>
+Squatted on the ground by the side of this
+"bar" is a retailer of ripened native butter, "warranted
+five years old." This one can readily smell
+without stooping; it is in an earthenware pan, and
+looks very dirty, but is weighed out by the ounce
+as very precious after being kept so long underground.</p>
+<p>
+Opposite is the spot where the camels from and
+for the interior load and unload. Some forty of
+these ungainly but useful animals are here congregated
+in groups. At feeding-time a cloth is
+spread on the ground, on which a quantity of barley
+is poured in a heap. Each animal lies with its legs
+doubled up beneath it in a manner only possible
+to camels, with its head over the food, munching
+contentedly. In one of the groups we notice the
+driver beating his beast to make it kneel down
+preparatory to the removal of its pack, some two
+hundred-weight and a half. After sundry unpleasant
+sounds, and tramping backwards and
+forwards to find a comfortable spot, the gawky
+creature settles down in a stately fashion, packing
+up his stilt-like legs in regular order, limb after
+limb, till he attains the desired position. A short
+distance off one of them is making hideous noises
+by way of protest against the weight of the load
+being piled upon him, threatening to lose his
+temper, and throw a little red bladder out of his
+mouth, which, hanging there as he breathes excitedly,
+makes a most unpleasing sound.</p>
+
+<a name="page132" id="page132"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;132]</span>
+<p>
+Here one of the many water-carriers who have
+crossed our path does so again, tinkling his little
+bell of European manufacture, and we turn to watch
+him as he gives a poor lad to drink. Slung across
+his back is the "bottle" of the East&mdash;a goat-skin
+with the legs sewn up. A long metal spout is tied
+into the neck, and on this he holds his left thumb,
+which he uses as a tap by removing it to aim a long
+stream of water into the tin mug in his right hand.
+Two bright brass cups cast and engraved in Fez
+hang from a chain round his neck, but these are
+reserved for purchasers, the urchin who is now
+enjoying a drink receiving it as charity. Tinkle,
+tinkle, goes the bell again, as the weary man moves
+on with his ever-lightening burden, till he is confronted
+by another wayfarer who turns to him to
+quench his thirst. As these skins are filled indiscriminately
+from wells and tanks, and cleaned inside
+with pitch, the taste must not be expected to satisfy
+all palates; but if hunger is the best sauce for food,
+thirst is an equal recommendation for drink.</p>
+<p>
+A few minutes' walk across a cattle-market
+brings us at last to the English church, a tasteful
+modern construction in pure Moorish style, and
+banishing the thoughts of our stroll, we join the
+approaching group of fellow-worshippers, for after
+all it is Sunday.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page133" id="page133"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;133]</span>
+
+<h3>XVI</h3>
+
+<h2>PLAY-TIME</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"According to thy shawl stretch thy leg."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Few of us realize to what an extent our amusements,
+pastimes, and recreations enter into the
+formation of our individual, and consequently of our
+national, character. It is therefore well worth our
+while to take a glance at the Moor at play, or as
+near play as he ever gets. The stately father of a
+family must content himself, as his years and flesh
+increase, with such amusements as shall not entail
+exertion. By way of house game, since cards and
+all amusements involving chance are strictly forbidden,
+chess reigns supreme, and even draughts&mdash;with
+which the denizens of the coffee-house, where
+he would not be seen, disport themselves&mdash;are
+despised by him. In Shiráz, however, the Sheďkh ul
+Islám, or chief religious authority, declared himself
+shocked when I told him how often I had played
+this game with Moorish theologians, whereupon
+ensued a warm discussion as to whether it was a
+game of chance. At last I brought this to a satisfactory
+close by remarking that as his reverence was
+ignorant even of the rules of the game,&mdash;and therefore
+no judge, since he had imagined it to be based
+on hazard,&mdash;he at least was manifestly innocent of it.</p>
+
+<a name="page134" id="page134"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;134]</span>
+<p>
+The connection between chess and Arabdom
+should not be forgotten, especially as the very word
+with which it culminates, "checkmate," is but a
+corruption of the Arabic "sheďkh mát"&mdash;"chief
+dead." The king of games is, however, rare on
+the whole, requiring too much concentration for a
+weary or lazy official, or a merchant after a busy
+day. Their method of playing does not materially
+differ from ours, but they play draughts with very
+much more excitement and fun. The jocular vituperation
+which follows a successful sally, and the
+almost unintelligible rapidity with which the moves
+are made, are as novel to the European as appreciated
+by the natives.</p>
+<p>
+Gossip, the effervescence of an idle brain, is the
+prevailing pastime, and at no afternoon tea-table in
+Great Britain is more aimless talk indulged in than
+while the cup goes round among the Moors. The
+ladies, with a more limited scope, are not far
+behind their lords in this respect. Otherwise their
+spare time is devoted to minutely fine embroidery.
+This is done in silk on a piece of calico or linen
+tightly stretched on a frame, and is the same on
+both sides; in this way are ornamented curtains,
+pillow-cases, mattress-covers, etc. It is, nevertheless,
+considered so far a superfluity that few who
+have not abundant time to spare trouble about
+it, and the material decorated is seldom worth the
+labour bestowed thereon.</p>
+<p>
+The fact is that in these southern latitudes as
+little time as possible is passed within doors, and
+for this reason we must seek the real amusements
+of the people outside. When at home they seem
+to think it sufficient to loll about all the day long if<a name="page135" id="page135"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;135]</span>
+not at work, especially if they have an enclosed
+flower-garden, beautifully wild and full of green and
+flowers, with trickling, splashing water. I exclude,
+of course, all feasts and times when the musicians
+come, but I must not omit mention of dancing.
+Easterns think their western friends mad to dance
+themselves, when they can so easily get others to
+do it for them, so they hire a number of women to
+go through all manner of quaint&mdash;too often indecent&mdash;posings
+and wrigglings before them, to the tune
+of a nasal chant, which, aided by fiddles, banjos,
+and tambourines, is being drawled out by the
+musicians. Some of these seemingly inharmonious
+productions are really enjoyable when one gets into
+the spirit of the thing.</p>
+<p>
+At times the Moors are themselves full of life
+and vigour, especially in the enjoyment of what
+may be called the national sport of "powder-play,"
+not to speak of boar-hunting, hawking, rabbit-chasing,
+and kindred pastimes. Just as in the days of
+yore their forefathers excelled in the use of the
+spear, brandishing and twirling it as easily as an
+Indian club or singlestick, so they excel to-day in
+the exercise of their five-foot flint-locks, performing
+the most dexterous feats on horseback at full gallop.</p>
+<p>
+Here is such a display about to commence. It
+is the feast of Mohammed's birthday, and the
+market-place outside the gate, so changed since
+yesterday, is crowded with spectators; men and
+boys in gay, but still harmonious, colours, decked
+out for the day, and women shrouded in their
+blankets, plain wool-white. An open space is left
+right through the centre, up a gentle slope, and a
+dozen horsemen are spurring and holding in their<a name="page136" id="page136"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;136]</span>
+prancing steeds at yonder lower end. At some unnoticed
+signal they have started towards us. They
+gallop wildly, the beat of their horses' hoofs sounding
+as iron hail on the stony way. A cloud of dust flies
+upward, and before we are aware of it they are
+abreast of us&mdash;a waving, indistinguishable mass of
+flowing robes, of brandished muskets, and of straining,
+foaming steeds. We can just see them tossing
+their guns in the air, and then a rider, bolder than
+the rest, stands on his saddle, whirling round his
+firearm aloft without stopping, while another swings
+his long weapon underneath his horse, and seizes
+it upon the other side. But now they are in line
+again, and every gun is pointed over the right,
+behind the back, the butt grasped by the twisted
+left arm, and the lock by the right under the left
+armpit. In this constrained position they fire at an
+imaginary foe who is supposed to have appeared
+from ambush as they pass. Immediately the reins&mdash;which
+have hitherto been held in the mouth, the
+steed guided by the feet against his gory flanks&mdash;are
+pulled up tight, throwing the animal upon his
+haunches, and wheeling him round for a sober walk
+back.</p>
+<p>
+This is, in truth, a practice or drill for war, for
+such is the method of fighting in these parts. A
+sortie is made to seek the hidden foe, who may start
+up anywhere from the ravines or boulders, and who
+must be aimed at instanter, before he regains his
+cover, while those who have observed him must as
+quickly as possible get beyond his range to reload
+and procure reinforcements.</p>
+<p>
+The only other active sports of moment, apart
+from occasional horse races, are football and fencing,<a name="page137" id="page137"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;137]</span>
+indulged in by boys. The former is played with a
+stuffed leather ball some six or eight inches across,
+which is kicked into the air with the back of the
+heel, and caught in the hands, the object being to
+drive it as high as possible. The fencing is only
+remarkable for its free and easy style, and the
+absence of hilts and guards.</p>
+<p>
+Yet there are milder pastimes in equal favour,
+and far more in accordance with the fancy of
+southerners in warm weather, such as watching a
+group of jugglers or snake-charmers, or listening
+to a story-teller. These are to be met with in the
+market-place towards the close of hot and busy days,
+when the wearied bargainers gather in groups to
+rest before commencing the homeward trudge.
+The jugglers are usually poor, the production of
+fire from the mouth, of water from an empty jar,
+and so on, forming stock items. But often fearful
+realities are to be seen&mdash;men who in a frenzied state
+catch cannon balls upon their heads, blood spurting
+out on every side; or, who stick skewers through
+their legs. These are religious devotees who live
+by such performances. From the public <i>raconteur</i>
+the Moor derives the excitement the European
+finds in his novel, or the tale "to be continued in
+our next," and it probably does him less harm.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page138" id="page138"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;138]</span>
+
+
+<h3>XVII</h3>
+
+<h2>THE STORY-TELLER</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Gentleman without reading, dog without scent."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+The story-teller is, <i>par excellence</i>, the prince of
+Moorish performers. Even to the stranger unacquainted
+with the language the sight of the Arab
+bard and his attentive audience on some erstwhile
+bustling market at the ebbing day is full of interest&mdash;to
+the student of human nature a continual attraction.
+After a long trudge from home, commenced
+before dawn, and a weary haggling over
+the most worthless of "coppers" during the heat of
+the day, the poor folk are quite ready for a quiet
+resting-time, with something to distract their minds
+and fill them with thoughts for the homeward way.
+Here have been fanned and fed the great religious
+and political movements which from time to time
+have convulsed the Empire, and here the pulse of
+the nation throbs. In the cities men lead a different
+life, and though the townsfolk appreciate tales as
+well as any, it is on these market-places that the
+wandering troubadour gathers the largest crowds.</p>
+<p>
+Like public performers everywhere, a story-teller
+of note always goes about with regular
+assistants, who act as summoners to his entertainment,
+and as chorus to his songs. They consist<a name="page139" id="page139"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;139]</span>
+usually of a player on the native fiddle, another
+who keeps time on a tambourine, and a third who
+beats a kind of earthenware drum with his fingers.
+Less pretentious "professors" are content with
+themselves manipulating a round or square tambourine
+or a two-stringed fiddle, and to many this
+style has a peculiar charm of its own. Each pause,
+however slight, is marked by two or three sharp
+beats on the tightly stretched skin, or twangs with
+a palmetto leaf plectrum, loud or soft, according
+to the subject of the discourse at that point. The
+dress of this class&mdash;the one most frequently met
+with&mdash;is usually of the plainest, if not of the
+scantiest; a tattered brown jelláb (a hooded woollen
+cloak) and a camel's-hair cord round the tanned
+and shaven skull are the garments which strike the
+eye. Waving bare arms and sinewy legs, with a
+wild, keen-featured face, lit up by flashing eyes,
+complete the picture.</p>
+<p>
+This is the man from whom to learn of love
+and fighting, of beautiful women and hairbreadth
+escapes, the whole on the model of the "Thousand
+Nights and a Night," of which versions more or
+less recognizable may now and again be heard from
+his lips. Commencing with plenty of tambourine,
+and a few suggestive hints of what is to follow, he
+gathers around him a motley audience, the first
+comers squatting in a circle, and later arrivals
+standing behind. Gradually their excitement is
+aroused, and as their interest grows, the realistic
+semi-acting and the earnest mien of the performer
+rivet every eye upon him. Suddenly his wild
+gesticulations cease at the entrancing point. One
+step more for liberty, one blow, and the charming<a name="page140" id="page140"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;140]</span>
+prize would be in the possession of her adorer.
+Now is the time to "cash up." With a pious
+reference to "our lord Mohammed&mdash;the prayer of
+God be on him, and peace,"&mdash;and an invocation of a
+local patron saint or other equally revered defunct,
+an appeal is made to the pockets of the Faithful
+"for the sake of Mulai Abd el Káder"&mdash;"Lord
+Slave-of-the-Able." Arousing as from a trance,
+the eager listeners instinctively commence to feel
+in their pockets for the balance from the day's
+bargaining; and as every blessing from the legion
+of saints who would fill the Mohammedan calendar
+if there were one is invoked on the cheerful giver,
+one by one throws down his hard-earned coppers&mdash;one
+or two&mdash;and as if realizing what he has parted
+with, turns away with a long-drawn breath to untether
+his beasts, and set off home.</p>
+<p>
+But exciting as are these acknowledged fictions,
+specimens are so familiar to most readers from the
+pages of the collection referred to that much more
+interest will be felt in an attempt to reproduce one
+of a higher type, pseudo-historical, and alleged to
+be true. Such narratives exhibit much of native
+character, and shades of thought unencountered
+save in daily intercourse with the people. Let us,
+therefore, seize the opportunity of a visit from a
+noted <i>raconteur</i> and reputed poet to hear his story.
+Tame, indeed, would be the result of an endeavour
+to transfer to black and white the animated tones
+and gestures of the narrator, which the imagination
+of the reader must supply.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="performers" id="performers"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/141.jpg"><img src="images/141-500.jpg" width="500" height="328" alt="GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARRÁKESH." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Photograph by A. Lennox, Esq.</i><br /><br />
+<b>GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARRÁKESH.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+The initial "voluntary" by the "orchestra" has
+ended; every eye is directed towards the central
+figure, this time arrayed in ample turban, white<a name="page141" id="page141"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;141]</span>
+jelláb and yellow slippers, with a face betokening
+a lucrative profession. After a moment's silence he
+commences the history of&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<h4>"<span class="sc">Mulai Abd el Káder and the Monk Of Monks</span>."</h4>
+<p>
+"The thrones of the Nazarenes were once in
+number sixty, but the star of the Prophet of God&mdash;the
+prayer of God be on him, and peace&mdash;was in the
+ascendant, and the religion of Resignation [Islám]
+was everywhere victorious. Many of the occupiers
+of those thrones had either submitted to the
+Lieutenant ['Caliph'] of our Lord, and become
+Muslimeen, or had been vanquished by force of
+arms. The others were terrified, and a general
+assembly was convoked to see what was to be done.
+As the rulers saw they were helpless against the
+decree of God, they called for their monks to advise
+them. The result of the conference was that it was
+decided to invite the Resigned Ones (Muslimeen) to
+a discussion on their religious differences, on the
+understanding that whichever was victorious should
+be thenceforth supreme.</p>
+<p>
+"The Leader of the Faithful having summoned
+his wise men, their opinion was asked. 'O victorious
+of God,' they with one voice replied, 'since God,
+the High and Blessed, is our King, what have we
+to fear? Having on our side the truth revealed in
+the "Book to be Read" [the Korán] by the hand
+of the Messenger of God&mdash;the prayer of God be on
+him, and peace&mdash;we <i>must</i> prevail. Let us willingly
+accept their proposal.' An early day was accordingly
+fixed for the decisive contest, and each party
+marshalled its forces. At the appointed time they
+met, a great crowd on either side, and it was asked
+which should begin. Knowing that victory was on
+his side, the Lieutenant of the Prophet&mdash;the prayer
+<a name="page142" id="page142"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;142]</span>
+of God be on him, and peace&mdash;replied, 'Since ye
+have desired this meeting, open ye the discussion.'</p>
+<p>
+"Then the chief of the Nazarene kings made
+answer, 'But we are here so many gathered together,
+that if we commence to dispute all round we shall
+not finish by the Judgement Day. Let each party
+therefore choose its wisest man, and let the two
+debate before us, the remainder judging the result.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Well hast thou spoken,' said the Leader of
+the Faithful; 'be it even so.' Then the learned
+among the Resigned selected our lord Abd el
+Káder of Baghdad,<a name="XVII1r" id="XVII1r"></a><a href="#XVII1"><sup>*</sup></a> a man renowned the world over
+for piety and for the depth of his learning. Now a
+prayer [Fátihah] for Mulai Abd el Káder!"</p>
+<p>
+Here the speaker, extending his open palms side
+by side before him, as if to receive a blessing
+thereon, is copied by the by-standers.<a name="XVII2r" id="XVII2r"></a><a href="#XVII2"><sup>&dagger;</sup></a> "In the
+name of God, the Pitying, the Pitiful!" All draw
+their hands down their faces, and, if they boast
+beards, end by stroking them out.</p>
+<p>
+"Then the polytheists<a name="XVII3r" id="XVII3r"></a><a href="#XVII3"><sup>&Dagger;</sup></a> likewise chose their
+man, one held among them in the highest esteem,
+well read and wise, a monk of monks. Between
+these two, then, the controversy commenced. As
+already agreed, the Nazarene was the first to
+question:</p>
+<p>
+"'How far is it from the Earth to the first
+heaven?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Five hundred years.'</p>
+<p>
+"'And thence to the second heaven?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Five hundred years.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Thence to the third?'</p>
+
+<a name="page143" id="page143"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;143]</span>
+<p>
+"'Five hundred years.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Thence to the fourth?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Five hundred years.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Thence to the fifth?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Five hundred years.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Thence to the sixth?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Five hundred years.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Thence to the seventh?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Five hundred years.'</p>
+<p>
+"'And from Mekka to Jerusalem?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Forty days.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Add up the whole.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Three thousand, five hundred years, and forty
+days.'</p>
+<p>
+"'In his famous ride on El Borak [Lightning]
+where did Mohammed go?'</p>
+<p>
+"'From the Sacred Temple [of Mekka] to the
+Further Temple [of Jerusalem], and from the Holy
+House [Jerusalem] to the seventh heaven, and the
+presence of God.'<a name="XVII4r" id="XVII4r"></a><a href="#XVII4"><sup>&sect;</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+"'How long did this take?'</p>
+<p>
+"'The tenth of one night.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Did he find his bed still warm on his return?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Yes.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Dost thou think such a thing possible; to
+travel three thousand five hundred years and back,
+and find one's bed still warm on returning?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Canst thou play chess?' then asked Mulai
+Abd el Káder.</p>
+<p>
+"'Of course I can,' said the monk, surprised.</p>
+<p>
+"'Then, wilt thou play with me?'</p>
+<p>
+"'Certainly not,' replied the monk, indignantly.
+'Dost thou think me a fool, to come here to discuss
+the science of religion, and to be put off with a
+game of chess?'</p>
+
+<a name="page144" id="page144"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;144]</span>
+<p>
+"'Then thou acknowledgest thyself beaten;
+thou hast said thou couldst play chess, yet thou
+darest not measure thy skill at it with me. Thy
+refusal proves thy lie.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Nay, then, since thou takest it that way, I
+will consent to a match, but under protest.'</p>
+<p>
+"So the board was brought, and the players
+seated themselves. Move, move, move, went the
+pieces; kings and queens, elephants, rooks, and
+knights, with the soldiers everywhere. One by one
+they disappeared, as the fight grew fast and furious.
+But Mulai Abd el Káder had another object in
+view than the routing of his antagonist at a game
+of chess. By the exercise of his superhuman power
+he transported the monk to 'the empty third' [of
+the world], while his image remained before him at
+the board, to all appearances still absorbed in the
+contest.</p>
+<p>
+"Meanwhile the monk could not tell where he
+was, but being oppressed with a sense of severe
+thirst, rose from where he sat, and made for a rising
+ground near by, whence he hoped to be able to
+descry some signs of vegetation, which should
+denote the presence of water. Giddy and tired out,
+he approached the top, when what was his joy to
+see a city surrounded by palms but a short way off!
+With a cry of delight he quickened his steps and
+approached the gate. As he did so, a party of
+seven men in gorgeous apparel of wool and silk
+came out of the gate, each with a staff in his hand.</p>
+<p>
+"On meeting him they offered him the salutation
+of the Faithful, but he did not return it. 'Who
+mayest <i>thou</i> be,' they asked, 'who dost not wish
+peace to the Resigned?' [Muslimeen]. 'My Lords,'
+he made answer, 'I am a monk of the Nazarenes,
+I merely seek water to quench my thirst.'</p>
+<p>
+"'But he who comes here must resign himself
+[to Mohammedanism] or suffer the consequences.<a name="page145" id="page145"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;145]</span>
+Testify that 'There is no god but God, and
+Mohammed is His Messenger!' 'Never,' he replied;
+and immediately they threw him on the
+ground and flogged him with their staves till he
+cried for mercy. 'Stop!' he implored. 'I will
+testify.' No sooner had he done so than they
+ceased their blows, and raising him up gave him
+water to drink. Then, tearing his monkish robe to
+shreds, each deprived himself of a garment to dress
+him becomingly. Having re-entered the city they
+repaired to the judge.</p>
+<p>
+"'My Lord,' they said, 'we bring before thee
+a brother Resigned, once a monk of the monks,
+now a follower of the Prophet, our lord&mdash;the
+prayer of God be on him, and peace. We pray
+thee to accept his testimony and record it in due
+form.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Welcome to thee; testify!' exclaimed the
+kádi, turning to the convert. Then, holding up
+his forefinger, the quondam monk witnessed to the
+truth of the Unity [of God]. 'Call for a barber!'
+cried the kádi; and a barber was brought. Seven
+Believers of repute stood round while the deed was
+done, and the convert rose a circumcised Muslim&mdash;blessed
+be God.</p>
+<p>
+"Then came forward a notable man of that
+town, pious, worthy, and rich, respected of all, who
+said, addressing the kádi: 'My Lord&mdash;may God
+bless thy days,&mdash;thou knowest, all these worthy ones
+know, who and what I am. In the interests of
+religion and to the honour of God, I ask leave to
+adopt this brother newly resigned. What is mine
+shall be his to share with my own sons, and the care
+I bestow on them and their education shall be
+bestowed equally on him. God is witness.' 'Well
+said; so be it,' replied the learned judge; 'henceforth
+he is a member of thy family.'</p>
+<p>
+"So to the hospitable roof of this pious one<a name="page146" id="page146"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;146]</span>
+went the convert. A tutor was obtained for him,
+and he commenced to taste the riches of the
+wisdom of the Arab. Day after day he sat and
+studied, toiling faithfully, till teacher after teacher
+had to be procured, as he exhausted the stores of
+each in succession. So he read: first the Book 'To
+be Read' [the Korán], till he could repeat it faultlessly,
+then the works of the poets, Kálűn, el Mikki,
+el Bisri, and Sîdi Hamzah; then the 'Lesser' and
+'Greater Ten.'<a name="XVII5r" id="XVII5r"></a><a href="#XVII5"><sup>||</sup></a> Then he commenced at Sîdi íbnu
+Ashîr, following on through the Ajrűmiyah,<a name="XVII6r" id="XVII6r"></a><a href="#XVII6"><sup>&#35;</sup></a> and
+the Alfîyah,<a name="XVII7r" id="XVII7r"></a><a href="#XVII7"><sup>**</sup></a> to the commentaries of Sîdi Khalîl, of
+the Sheďkh el Bokhári, and of Ibnu Asîm, till there
+was nothing left to learn.</p>
+<p>
+"Thus he continued growing in wisdom and
+honour, the first year, the second year, the third
+year, even to the twentieth year, till no one could
+compete with him. Then the Judge of Judges of
+that country died, and a successor was sought for,
+but all allowed that no one's claims equalled those
+of the erstwhile monk. So he was summoned to fill
+the post, but was disqualified as unmarried. When
+they inquired if he was willing to do his duty in this
+respect, and he replied that he was, the father of
+the most beautiful girl in the city bestowed her on
+him, and that she might not be portionless, the chief
+men of the place vied one with another in heaping
+riches upon him. So he became Judge of Judges,
+rich, happy, revered.</p>
+<p>
+"And there was born unto him one son, then a
+second son, and even a third son. And there was
+born unto him a daughter, then a second daughter,
+and even a third daughter. So he prospered and
+increased. And to his sons were born sons, one,
+two, three, and four, and daughters withal. And his<a name="page147" id="page147"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;147]</span>
+daughters were given in marriage to the elders of
+that country, and with them it was likewise.</p>
+<p>
+"Now there came a day, a great feast day, when
+all his descendants came before him with their compliments
+and offerings, some small, some great, each
+receiving tenfold in return, garments of fine spun
+wool and silk, and other articles of value.</p>
+<p>
+"When the ceremony was over he went outside
+the town to walk alone, and approached the spot
+whence he had first descried what had so long
+since been his home. As he sat again upon that
+well-remembered spot, and glanced back at the
+many years which had elapsed since last he was
+there, a party of the Faithful drew near. He offered
+the customary salute of 'Peace be on you,' but they
+simply stared in return. Presently one of them
+brusquely asked what he was doing there, and he
+explained who he was. But they laughed incredulously,
+and then he noticed that once again
+he was clad in robe and cowl, with a cord round his
+waist. They taunted him as a liar, but he re-affirmed
+his statements, and related his history. He counted
+up the years since he had resigned himself, telling
+of his children and children's children.</p>
+<p>
+"'Wouldst thou know them if you sawst them?'
+asked the strangers. 'Indeed I would,' was the
+reply, 'but they would know me first.'</p>
+<p>
+"'And you are really circumcised? We'll see!'
+was their next exclamation. Just then a caravan
+appeared, wending its way across the plain, and the
+travellers hailed it. As he looked up at the shout,
+he saw Mulai Abd el Káder still sitting opposite
+him at the chess-board, reminding him that it was
+his move. He had been recounting his experiences
+for the last half century to Mulai Abd el Káder
+himself, and to the wise ones of both creeds who
+surrounded them!</p>
+
+<a name="page148" id="page148"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;148]</span>
+<p>
+"Indeed it was too true, and he had to acknowledge
+that the events of a life-time had been crowded
+into a period undefinably minute, by the God-sent
+power of my lord Slave-of-the-Able [Mulai Abd
+el Káder].</p>
+<p>
+"Now, where is the good man and true who
+reveres the name of this holy one? Who will say
+a prayer to Mulai Abd el Káder?" Here the
+narrator extends his palms as before, and all follow
+him in the motion of drawing them down his face.
+"In the name of the Pitying and Pitiful! Now
+another!" The performance is repeated.</p>
+<p>
+"Who is willing to yield himself wholly and
+entirely to Mulai Abd el Káder? Who will dedicate
+himself from the soles of his feet to the crown
+of his head? Another prayer!" Another repetition
+of the performance.</p>
+<p>
+"Now let those devoted men earn the effectual
+prayers of that holy one by offering their silver in
+his name. Nothing less than a peseta<a name="XVII8r" id="XVII8r"></a><a href="#XVII8"><sup>&dagger;&dagger;</sup></a> will do.
+That's right," as one of the bystanders throws
+down the coin specified.</p>
+<p>
+"Now let us implore the blessing of God and
+Mulai Abd el Káder on the head of this liberal
+Believer." The palm performance is once more
+gone through. The earnestness with which he
+does it this time induces more to follow suit, and
+blessings on them also are besought in the same
+fashion.</p>
+<p>
+"Now, my friends, which among you will do
+business with the palms of all these faithful ones?
+Pay a peseta and buy the prayers of them all.
+Now then, deal them out, and purchase happiness."</p>
+
+<p>
+So the appeal goes wearisomely on. As no
+more pesetas are seen to be forthcoming, a shift<a name="page149" id="page149"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;149]</span>
+is made with reals&mdash;nominally 2&frac12;<i>d.</i> pieces&mdash;the
+story-teller asking those who cannot afford more
+to make up first one dollar and then another, turning
+naďvely to his assistant to ask if they haven't
+obtained enough yet, as though it were all for them.
+As they reply that more is needed, he redoubles
+his appeals and prayers, threading his way in and
+out among the crowd, making direct for each well-dressed
+individual with a confidence which renders
+flight or refusal a shame. Meanwhile the "orchestra"
+has struck up, and only pauses when the "professor"
+returns to the centre of the circle to call
+on all present to unite in prayers for the givers. A
+few coppers which have been tossed to his feet are
+distributed scornfully amongst half a dozen beggars,
+in various stages of filthy wretchedness and deformity,
+who have collected on the ground at one
+side.</p>
+<p>
+Here a water-carrier makes his appearance,
+with his goat-skin "bottle" and tinkling bell&mdash;a
+swarthy Soudanese in most tattered garb. The
+players and many listeners having been duly refreshed
+for the veriest trifle, the performance continues.
+A prayer is even said for the solitary
+European among the crowd, on his being successfully
+solicited for his quota, and another for his
+father at the request of some of the crowd, who
+style him the "Friend of the Moors."</p>
+<p>
+At last a resort is made to coppers, and when
+the story-teller condescendingly consents to receive
+even such trifles in return for prayers, from those
+who cannot afford more, quite a pattering shower
+falls at his feet, which is supplemented by a further
+hand-to-hand collection. In all, between four and<a name="page150" id="page150"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;150]</span>
+five dollars must have been received&mdash;not a bad
+remuneration for an hour's work! Already the
+ring has been thinning; now there is a general
+uprising, and in a few moments the scene is completely
+changed, the entertainer lost among the
+entertained, for the sun has disappeared below yon
+hill, and in a few moments night will fall.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVII1" id="XVII1"></a>
+<a href="#XVII1r">*</a> So called because buried near that city. For an account of his
+life, and view of his mausoleum, see "The Moors," pp. 337-339.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVII2" id="XVII2"></a>
+<a href="#XVII2r">&dagger;</a> "The hands are raised in order to catch a blessing in them, and
+are afterwards drawn over the face to transfer it to every part of the
+body."&mdash;<span class="sc">Hughes</span>, "Dictionary of Islám."</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVII3" id="XVII3"></a>
+<a href="#XVII3r">&Dagger;</a> A term applied by Mohammedans to Christians on account of
+a mistaken conception of the doctrine of the Trinity.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVII4" id="XVII4"></a>
+<a href="#XVII4r">&sect;</a> This was the occasion on which Mohammed visited the seven
+heavens under the care of Gabriel, riding on an ass so restive that he
+had to be bribed with a promise of Paradise.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVII5" id="XVII5"></a>
+<a href="#XVII5r">||</a> Grammarians and commentators of the Korán.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVII6" id="XVII6"></a>
+<a href="#XVII6r">&#35;</a> A preliminary work on rhetoric.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVII7" id="XVII7"></a>
+<a href="#XVII7r">**</a> The "Thousand Verses" of grammar.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVII8" id="XVII8"></a>
+<a href="#XVII8r">&dagger;&dagger;</a> About eightpence, a labourer's daily wage in Tangier.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page151" id="page151"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;151]</span>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h3>XVIII</h3>
+
+<h2>SNAKE-CHARMING</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Whom a snake has bitten starts from a rope."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Descriptions of this art remembered in a book
+for boys read years before had prepared me for
+the most wonderful scenes, and when I first watched
+the performance with snakes which delights the
+Moors I was disappointed. Yet often as I might
+look on, there was nothing else to see, save in the
+faces and gestures of the crowd, who with child-like
+simplicity followed every step as though for
+the first time. These have for me a never-ending
+fascination. Thus it is that the familiar sounds of
+rapid and spasmodic beating on a tambourine, which
+tell that the charmer is collecting an audience,
+still prove an irresistible attraction for me as well.
+The ring in which I find myself is just a reproduction
+of that surrounding the story-teller of yester-e'en,
+but where his musicians sat there is a wilder
+group, more striking still in their appearance.</p>
+<p>
+This time, also, the instruments are of another
+class, two or three of the plainest sheep-skin tambourines
+with two gut strings across the centre under
+the parchment, which gives them a peculiar twanging
+sound; and a couple of reeds, mere canes
+pierced with holes, each provided with a mouthpiece<a name="page152" id="page152"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;152]</span>
+made of half an inch of flattened reed. Nothing
+is needed to add to the discord as all three are
+vigorously plied with cheek and palm.</p>
+<p>
+The principal actor has an appearance of studied
+weirdness as he gesticulates wildly and calls on God
+to protect him against the venom of his pets. Contrary
+to the general custom of the country, he has
+let his black hair grow till it streams over his
+shoulders in matted locks. His garb is of the
+simplest, a dirty white shirt over drawers of similar
+hue completing his outfit.</p>
+<p>
+Selecting a convenient stone as a seat, notebook
+in hand, I make up my mind to see the thing
+through. The "music" having continued five or
+ten minutes with the desired result of attracting a
+circle of passers-by, the actual performance is now
+to commence. On the ground in the centre lies a
+spare tambourine, and on one side are the two cloth-covered
+bottle-shaped baskets containing the snakes.</p>
+<p>
+The chief charmer now advances, commencing
+to step round the ring with occasional beats on his
+tambourine, rolling his eyes and looking demented.
+Presently, having reached a climax of rapid beating
+and pacing, he suddenly stops in the centre with an
+extra "bang!"</p>
+<p>
+"Now, every man who believes in our lord
+Mohammed ben Aďsa,<a name="XVIII1r" id="XVIII1r"></a><a href="#XVIII1"><sup>*</sup></a> say with me a Fátihah."</p>
+<p>
+Each of the onlookers extending his palms side
+by side before his face, they repeat the prayer
+in a sing-song voice, and as it concludes with a
+loud "Ameen," the charmer gives an agonized cry,
+as though deeply wrought upon. "Ah Rijál el<a name="page153" id="page153"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;153]</span>
+Blád" ("Oh Saints of the Town!"), he shouts, as
+he recommences his tambourining, this time even
+with increased vigour, beating the ground with his
+feet, and working his body up and down in a most
+extraordinary manner. The two others are also
+playing, and the noise is deafening. The chief
+figure appears to be raving mad; his starting eyes,
+his lithe and supple figure, and his streaming hair,
+give him the air of one possessed. His face is a
+study, a combination of fierceness and madness,
+yet of good-nature.</p>
+<p>
+At last he sinks down exhausted, but after a
+moment rises and advances to the centre of the
+circle, picking up a tambourine.</p>
+<p>
+"Now, Sîdi Aďsa"&mdash;turning to one of the
+musicians, whom he motions to cease their din&mdash;"what
+do you think happens to the man who puts
+a coin in there? Why, the holy saint, our lord
+Mohammed ben Aďsa, puts a ring round him like
+that," drawing a ring round a stone on the ground.
+"Is it not so?"</p>
+<p>
+"It is, Ameen," from Sidi Aďsa.</p>
+<p>
+"And what happens to him in the day time?"</p>
+<p>
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people
+too."</p>
+<p>
+"And in the night time?"</p>
+<p>
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people
+too."</p>
+<p>
+"And when at home?"</p>
+<p>
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people
+too."</p>
+<p>
+"And when abroad?"</p>
+<p>
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people
+too."</p>
+
+<a name="page154" id="page154"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;154]</span>
+<p>
+At this a copper coin is thrown into the ring,
+and the charmer replies, "Now he who is master of
+sea and land, my lord Abd el Káder el Jîláni,<a name="XVIII2r" id="XVIII2r"></a><a href="#XVIII2"><sup>&dagger;</sup></a> bless
+the giver of that coin! Now, for the love of God
+and of His blessed prophet, I offer a prayer for
+that generous one." Here the operation of passing
+their hands down their faces is performed by all.</p>
+<p>
+"Now, there's another,"&mdash;as a coin falls&mdash;"and
+from a child, too! God bless thee now, my son.
+May my lord Ben Aďsa, my lord Abd es-Slám, and
+my lord Abd el Káder, protect and keep thee!"</p>
+<p>
+Then, as more coppers fall, similar blessings
+are invoked upon the donors, interspersed with
+catechising of the musicians with a view to making
+known the advantages to be reaped by giving
+something. At last, as nothing more seems to be
+forthcoming, the performance proper is proceeded
+with, and the charmer commences to dance on one
+leg, to a terrible din from the tambourines. Then
+he pauses, and summons a little boy from the
+audience, seating him in the midst, adjuring him
+to behave himself, to do as he is bid, and to have
+faith in "our lord Ben Aďsa." Then, seating himself
+behind the boy, he places his lips against his
+skull, and blows repeatedly, coming round to the
+front to look at the lad, to see if he is sufficiently
+affected, and returning to puff again. Finally he
+bites off a piece of the boy's cloak, and chews it.
+Now he wets his finger in his mouth, and after
+putting it into the dust makes lines across his legs
+and arms, all the time calling on his patron saint;
+next holding the piece of cloth in his hands and
+walking round the ring for all to see it.</p>
+
+<a name="page155" id="page155"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;155]</span>
+<p>
+"Come hither," he says to a bystander; "search
+my mouth and see if there be anything there."</p>
+<p>
+The search is conducted as a farmer would
+examine a horse's mouth, with the result that it is
+declared empty.</p>
+<p>
+"Now I call on the prophet to witness that
+there is no deception," as he once more restores the
+piece of cloth to his mouth, and pokes his fingers
+into his neck, drawing them now up his face.</p>
+<p>
+"Enough!"</p>
+<p>
+The voices of the musicians, who have for the
+latter part of the time been giving forth a drawling
+chorus, cease, but the din of the tambourines continues,
+while the performer dances wildly, till he
+stops before the lad on the ground, and takes from
+his mouth first one date and then another, which
+the lad is told to eat, and does so, the on-lookers
+fully convinced that they were transformed from
+the rag.</p>
+<p>
+Now it is the turn of one of the musicians to
+come forward, his place being taken by the retiring
+performer, after he has made another collection in
+the manner already described.</p>
+<p>
+"He who believes in God and in the power
+of our lord Mohammed ben Aďsa, say with me a
+Fátihah," cries the new man, extending his palms
+turned upwards before him to receive the blessings
+he asks, and then brings one of the snake-baskets
+forward, plunging his hand into its sack-like mouth,
+and sharply drawing it out a time or two, as if
+afraid of being bitten.</p>
+<p>
+Finally he pulls the head of one of the reptiles
+through, and leaves it there, darting out its fangs,
+while he snatches up and wildly beats the tambourine<a name="page156" id="page156"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;156]</span>
+by his side. He now seizes the snake by the neck,
+and pulls it right out, the people starting back as
+it coils round in the ring, or uncoils and makes
+a plunge towards someone. Now he pulls out
+another, and hangs it round his neck, saying, "I
+take refuge with the saint who was dead and is
+alive, with our lord Mohammed son of Aďsa, and
+with the most holy Abd el Káder el Jîláni, king of
+land and sea. Now, let every one who believes
+bear witness with me and say a Fátihah!"</p>
+<p>
+"Say a Fátihah!" echoes one of the still noisy
+musicians, by way of chorus.</p>
+<p>
+"Now may our lord Abd el Káder see the man
+who makes a contribution with his eyes."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Chorus:</i> "With his eyes!"</p>
+<p>
+"And may his heart find rest, and our lord
+Abd er-Rahmán protect him!"</p>
+<p>
+<i>Chorus:</i> "Protect him!"</p>
+<p>
+"Now, I call you to witness, I bargain with our
+lord Abd el Káder for a forfeit!"</p>
+<p>
+<i>Chorus:</i> "For a forfeit!"</p>
+<p>
+A copper is thrown into the ring, and as he
+picks it up and hands it to the musician, the performer
+exclaims&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"Take this, see, and at the last day may the
+giver of it see our lord Abd el Káder before him!"</p>
+<p>
+<i>Chorus:</i> "Before him!"</p>
+<p>
+"May he ever be blessed, whether present or
+absent!"</p>
+<p>
+<i>Chorus:</i> "Present or absent!"</p>
+<p>
+"Who wishes to have a good conscience and a
+clean heart? Oh, ye beloved of the Lord! See,
+take from that dear one" (who has thrown down a
+copper).</p>
+
+<a name="page157" id="page157"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;157]</span>
+<p>
+The contributions now apparently sufficing for
+the present, the performance proceeds, but the
+crowd having edged a little too close, it is first
+necessary to increase the space in the centre by
+swinging one of the reptiles round by the tail,
+whereat all start back.</p>
+<p>
+"Ah! you may well be afraid!" exclaims the
+charmer. "Their fangs mean death, if you only
+knew it, but for the mercies of my lord, the son of
+Aďsa."</p>
+<p>
+"Ameen!" responds the chorus.</p>
+<p>
+Hereupon he proceeds to direct the head of the
+snake to his mouth, and caressingly invites it to
+enter. Darting from side to side, it finally makes a
+plunge down his throat, whereon the strangers
+shudder, and the <i>habitués</i> look with triumphant
+awe. Wildly he spins on one foot that all may see,
+still holding the creature by the neck with one hand,
+and by the tail with the other. At length, having
+allowed the greater part of its length to disappear
+in this uncanny manner, he proceeds to withdraw it,
+the head emerging with the sound of a cork from a
+bottle. The sight has not been pleasant, but the
+audience, transfixed, gives a sigh of relief as the
+tambourines strike up again, and the reed chimes in
+deafeningly.</p>
+<p>
+"Who says they are harmless? Who says their
+fangs are extracted?" challenges the performer.
+"Look here!"</p>
+<p>
+The seemingly angry snake has now fastened
+on his arm, and is permitted to draw blood, as
+though in reward for its recent treatment.</p>
+<p>
+"Is any incredulous here? Shall I try it on
+thee?"</p>
+
+<a name="page158" id="page158"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;158]</span>
+<p>
+The individual addressed, a poverty-stricken
+youth whose place was doubtless required for some
+more promising customer behind, flees in terror, as
+the gaping jaws approach him. One and another
+having been similarly dismissed from points of vantage,
+and a redistribution of front seats effected, the
+incredulous are once more tauntingly addressed and
+challenged. This time the challenge is accepted by
+a foreigner, who hands in a chicken held by its
+wings.</p>
+<p>
+"So? Blessed be God! Its doom is sealed if
+it comes within reach of the snake. See here!"</p>
+<p>
+All eagerly press forward, many rising to their
+feet, and it is difficult to see over their shoulders the
+next gruesome act. The reptile, held by the neck
+in the performer's right hand, is shown the chicken
+in the other, and annoyed by having it poked in its
+face, too frightened to perceive what is happening.
+In a moment the fangs are shot out, and a wound
+inflicted in the exposed part under the wing. Blood
+appears, and the bird is thrown down, being held in
+place by the performer's foot till in a few minutes
+its struggles cease. Then, picking the victim up,
+he holds it aloft by one wing to show its condition,
+and exultingly calls for a Fátihah.</p>
+<p>
+It is enough: my patience is exhausted, and I
+rise to make off with stiff knees, content at last with
+what I have seen and heard of the "charming" of
+snakes in Morocco.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVIII1" id="XVIII1"></a>
+<a href="#XVIII1r">*</a> For the history of this man and his snake-charming followers
+see "The Moors," p. 331.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XVIII2" id="XVIII2"></a>
+<a href="#XVIII2r">&dagger;</a> The surname of the Baghdád saint.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="caravanserai" id="caravanserai"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/159.jpg"><img src="images/159-500.jpg" width="499" height="306" alt="A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI)." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Cavilla, Photo., Tangier.</i><br /><br />
+<b>A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI).</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page159" id="page159"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;159]</span>
+
+<h3>XIX</h3>
+
+<h2>IN A MOORISH CAFÉ</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"A little from a friend is much."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+To the passer-by, least of all to the European, there
+is nothing in its external appearance to recommend
+old Hashmi's <i>café</i>. From the street, indeed, it is
+hardly visible, for it lies within the threshold of a
+caravansarai or fandak, in which beasts are tethered,
+goods accumulated and travellers housed, and of
+which the general appearance is that of a neglected
+farm-yard. Round an open court a colonnade supports
+the balcony by which rooms on the upper
+story are approached, a narrow staircase in the
+corner leading right up to the terraced roof. In
+the daytime the sole occupants of the rooms are
+women whose partners for the time being have
+securely locked them in before going to work.</p>
+<p>
+Beside the lofty archway forming the gate of
+this strange hostelry, is Hashmi's stall, at which
+green tea or a sweet, pea-soupy preparation of
+coffee may be had at all hours of the day, but the
+<i>café</i> proper, gloomy by daylight, lies through the
+door behind. Here, of an evening, the candles lit,
+his regular customers gather with tiny pipes, indulging
+in flowing talk. Each has before him his
+harmless glass, as he squats or reclines on the<a name="page160" id="page160"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;160]</span>
+rush-matted floor. Nothing of importance occurs in
+the city but is within a little made known here with
+as much certainty as if the proprietor subscribed to an
+evening paper. Any man who has something fresh
+to tell, who can interest or amuse the company,
+and by his frequent visits give the house a name, is
+always welcome, and will find a glass awaiting him
+whenever he chooses to come.</p>
+<p>
+Old Hashmi knows his business, and if the
+evening that I was there may be taken as a sample,
+he deserves success. That night he was in the
+best of humours. His house was full and trade
+brisk. Fattah, a negro, was keeping the house
+merry, so in view of coming demands, he brewed
+a fresh pot of real "Mekkan." The surroundings
+were grimy, and outside the rain came down in
+torrents: but that was a decided advantage, since
+it not only drove men indoors, but helped to keep
+them there. Mesaôd, the one-eyed, had finished
+an elaborate tuning of his two-stringed banjo, his
+ginbri&mdash;a home-made instrument&mdash;and was proceeding
+to arrive at a convenient pitch of voice
+for his song. With a strong nasal accent he commenced
+reciting the loves of Si Marzak and his
+fair Azîzah: how he addressed her in the fondest
+of language, and how she replied by caresses.
+When he came to the chorus they all chimed in,
+for the most part to their own tune and time, as
+they rocked to and fro, some clapping, some beating
+their thighs, and all applauding at the end.</p>
+<p>
+The whole ballad would not bear translation&mdash;for
+English ears,&mdash;and the scanty portion which
+may be given has lost its rhythm and cadence by
+the change, for Arabic is very soft and beautiful<a name="page161" id="page161"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;161]</span>
+to those who understand it. The time has come
+when Azîzah, having quarrelled with Si Marzak
+in a fit of perhaps too well-founded jealousy,
+desires to "make it up again," and thus addresses
+her beloved&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+  <p>"Oh, how I have followed thy attractiveness,</p>
+  <p>And halted between give and take!</p>
+  <p>Oh, how I'd from evil have protected thee</p>
+  <p>By my advice, hadst thou but heeded it!</p>
+    <p class="i4">Yet to-day taste, O my master,</p>
+    <p class="i4">Of the love that thou hast taught to me!</p></div>
+<div class="stanza">
+  <p>"Oh, how I have longed for the pleasure of thy visits,</p>
+  <p>And poured out bitter tears for thee;</p>
+  <p>Until at last the sad truth dawned on me</p>
+  <p>That of thy choice thou didst put me aside!</p>
+    <p class="i4">Yet to-day taste, O my master,</p>
+    <p class="i4">Of the love that thou hast taught to me!</p></div>
+<div class="stanza">
+  <p>"Thou wast sweeter than honey to me,</p>
+  <p>But thou hast become more bitter than gall.</p>
+  <p>Is it thus thou beginnest the world?</p>
+  <p>Beware lest thou make me thy foe!</p>
+    <p class="i4">Yet to-day taste, O my master,</p>
+    <p class="i4">Of the love that thou hast taught to me!</p></div>
+<div class="stanza">
+  <p>"I have hitherto been but a name to thee,</p>
+  <p>And thou took'st to thy bosom a snake,</p>
+  <p>But to-day I perceive thou'st a fancy for me:</p>
+  <p>O God, I will not be deceived!</p>
+    <p class="i4">Yes, to-day taste, O my master,</p>
+    <p class="i4">Of the love that thou hast taught to me!</p></div>
+<div class="stanza">
+  <p>"Thou know'st my complaint and my only cure:</p>
+  <p>Why, then, wilt thou heal me not?</p>
+  <p>Thou canst do so to-day, O my master,</p>
+  <p>And save me from all further woe.</p>
+    <p class="i4">Yes, to-day taste, O my master,</p>
+    <p class="i4">Of the love that thou hast taught to me!"</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>
+To which the hard-pressed swain replies&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+  <p>"Of a truth thine eyes have bewitched me,</p>
+  <p>For Death itself is in fear of them:</p>
+  <p>And thine eyebrows, like two logs of wood,</p>
+  <p>Have battered me each in its turn.</p>
+    <p class="i4">So if thou sayest die, I'll die;</p>
+    <p class="i4">And for God shall my sacrifice be!</p></div>
+
+<a name="page162" id="page162"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;162]</span>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+  <p>"I have neither yet died nor abandoned hope,</p>
+  <p>Though slumber at night I ne'er know.</p>
+  <p>With the staff of deliverance still afar off,</p>
+  <p>So that all the world knows of my woe.</p>
+     <p class="i4">And if thou sayest die, I'll die,</p>
+     <p class="i4">But for God shall my sacrifice be!"</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>
+While the singing was proceeding Sáďd and
+Drees had been indulging in a game of draughts,
+and as it ceased their voices could be heard in
+eager play. "Call thyself a Mallem (master).
+There, thy father was bewitched by a hyena; there,
+and there again!" shouted Sáďd, as he swept a
+first, a second and a third of his opponent's pieces
+from the board.</p>
+<p>
+But Drees was equal with him in another
+move.</p>
+<p>
+"So, verily, thou art my master! Let us, then,
+praise God for thy wisdom: thou art like indeed
+unto him who verily shot the fox, but who killed
+his own cow with the second shot! See, thus I
+teach thee to boast before thy betters: ha, I laugh
+at thee, I ride the donkey on thy head. I shave
+that beard of thine!" he ejaculated, taking one
+piece after another from his adversary, as the result
+of an incautious move. The board had the appearance
+of a well-kicked footstool, and the "men"&mdash;called
+"dogs" in Barbary&mdash;were more like baseless
+chess pawns. The play was as unlike that of
+Europeans as possible; the moves from "room" to
+"room" were of lightning swiftness, and accompanied
+by a running fire of slang ejaculations,
+chiefly sarcastic, but, on the whole, enlivened with
+a vein of playful humour not to be Englished
+politely. Just as the onlookers would become
+interested in the progress of one or the other,<a name="page163" id="page163"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;163]</span>
+a too rapid advance by either would result in an
+incomprehensible wholesale clearing of the board
+by his opponent's sleeve. Yet without a stop the
+pieces would be replaced in order, and a new game
+commenced, the vanquished too proud to acknowledge
+that he did not quite see how the victor had
+won.</p>
+<p>
+Then Fattah, whose <i>forte</i> was mimicry, attracted
+the attention of the company by a representation
+of a fat wazeer at prayers. Amid roars of laughter
+he succeeded in rising to his feet with the help of
+those beside him, who had still to lend occasional
+support, as his knees threatened to give way under
+his apparently ponderous carcase. Before and
+behind, his shirt was well stuffed with cushions, and
+the sides were not forgotten. His cheeks were
+puffed out to the utmost, and his eyes rolled
+superbly. At last the moment came for him to go
+on his knees, when he had to be let gently down by
+those near him, but his efforts to bow his head, now
+top-heavy with a couple of shirts for a turban, were
+most ludicrous, as he fell on one side in apparently
+vain endeavours. The spectators roared with
+laughter till the tears coursed down their cheeks;
+but that black and solemn face remained unmoved,
+and at the end of the prescribed motions the pseudo-great
+man apparently fell into slumber as heavy as
+himself, and snored in a style that a prize pig might
+have envied.</p>
+<p>
+"Áfuk! Áfuk!" the deafening bravos resounded,
+for Fattah had excelled himself, and was amply
+rewarded by the collection which followed.</p>
+<p>
+A tale was next demanded from a jovial man of
+Fez, who, nothing loth, began at once&mdash;</p>
+
+<a name="page164" id="page164"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;164]</span>
+<p>
+"Evening was falling as across the plain of
+Háhá trudged a weary traveller. The cold wind
+whistled through his tattered garments. The path
+grew dim before his eyes. The stars came out one
+by one, but no star of hope shone for him. He
+was faint and hungry. His feet were sore. His
+head ached. He shivered.</p>
+<p>
+"'May God have pity on me!' he muttered.</p>
+<p>
+"God heard him. A few minutes later he
+descried an earthly star&mdash;a solitary light was twinkling
+on the distant hillside. Thitherward he turned
+his steps.</p>
+<p>
+"Hope rose within him. His step grew brisk.
+The way seemed clear. Onward he pushed.</p>
+<p>
+"Presently he could make out the huts of a
+village.</p>
+<p>
+"'Thank God!' he cried; but still he had no
+supper.</p>
+<p>
+"His empty stomach clamoured. His purse
+was empty also. The fiendish dogs of the village
+yelped at him. He paused discomfited. He
+called.</p>
+<p>
+"Widow Záďdah stood before her light.</p>
+<p>
+"'Who's there?'</p>
+<p>
+"'A God-guest'</p>
+<p>
+"'In God's name, then, welcome! Silence
+there, curs!'</p>
+<p>
+"Abd el Hakk approached.</p>
+<p>
+"'God bless thee, my mother, and repay thee a
+thousand-fold!'</p>
+<p>
+"But Záďdah herself was poor. Her property
+consisted only of a hut and some fowls. She set
+before him eggs&mdash;two, hard-boiled,&mdash;bread also.
+He thanked God. He ate.</p>
+<p>
+"'Yes, God will repay,' she said.</p>
+<p>
+"Next day Abd el Hakk passed on to Marrákesh.
+There God blessed him. Years passed on;
+one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Abd el Hakk<a name="page165" id="page165"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;165]</span>
+was rich. Melűdi the lawyer disliked him. Said
+he to Widow Záďdah&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"'Abd el Hakk, whom once thou succouredst,
+is rich. The two eggs were never yet paid for.
+Hadst thou not given them to him they would
+have become two chickens. These would each
+have laid hundreds. Those hundreds, when hatched,
+would have laid their thousands. In seven years,
+think to what amount Abd el Hakk is indebted to
+thee. Sue him.'</p>
+<p>
+"Widow Záďdah listened. What is more, she
+acted. Abd el Hakk failed to appear to rebut the
+claim. He was worth no more.</p>
+<p>
+"'Why is the defendant not here?' asked the
+judge.</p>
+<p>
+"'My lord,' said his attorney, 'he is gone to
+sow boiled beans.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Boiled beans!'</p>
+<p>
+"'Boiled beans, my lord.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Is he mad?'</p>
+<p>
+"'He is very wise, my lord.'</p>
+<p>
+"'Thou mockest.'</p>
+<p>
+"'My lord, if boiled eggs can be hatched, sure
+boiled beans will grow!'</p>
+<p>
+"'Dismissed with costs!'</p>
+<p>
+"The tree that bends with every wind that
+blows will seldom stand upright."</p>
+
+     <br /><hr class="short" /><br />
+<p>
+A round of applause greeted the clever tale, of
+which the speaker's gestures had told even more
+than his words. But the merriment of the company
+only began there, for forthwith a babel of
+tongues was occupied in the discussion of all the
+points of the case, in imagining every impossible or
+humorous alternative, and laughter resounded on
+every side, as the glasses were quickly refilled with
+an innocent drink.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page166" id="page166"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;166]</span>
+
+<h3>XX</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MEDICINE-MAN</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Wine is a key to all evil."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Under the glare of an African sun, its rays, however,
+tempered by a fresh Atlantic breeze; no roof
+to his consulting-room save the sky, no walls surrounding
+him to keep off idle starers like ourselves;
+by the roadside sits a native doctor of repute. His
+costume is that of half the crowd around, outwardly
+consisting of a well-worn brown woollen cloak with
+a hood pulled over his head, from beneath the skirts
+of which protrude his muddy feet. By his side lies
+the basket containing his supplies and less delicate
+instruments; the finer ones we see him draw from
+a capacious wallet of leather beneath his cloak.</p>
+<p>
+Though personally somewhat gaunt, he is nevertheless
+a jolly-looking character, totally free from
+that would-be professional air assumed by some of
+our medical students to hide lack of experience; for
+he, empiric though he be, has no idea of any of his
+own shortcomings, and greets us with an easy smile.
+He is seated on the ground, hugging his knees till
+his attention is drawn to us, when, observing our gaze
+at his lancets on the ground, he picks one up to
+show it. Both are of rude construction, merely
+pieces of flat steel filed to double-edged points, and<a name="page167" id="page167"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;167]</span>
+protected by two flaps slightly bigger, in the one case
+of bone, in the other of brass. A loose rivet holding
+all together at one end completes the instrument.
+The brass one he says was made by a Jew in Fez
+out of an old clock; the other by a Jew in Marrákesh.
+For the purpose of making scratches for
+cupping he has a piece of flat steel about half an
+inch wide, sharpened across the end chisel-fashion.
+Then he has a piece of an old razor-blade tied to
+a stick with a string. That this is sharp he soon
+demonstrates by skilfully shaving an old man's head,
+after only damping the eighth of an inch stub with
+which it is covered. A stone and a bit of leather,
+supplemented by the calves of his legs, or his biceps,
+serve to keep the edges in condition.</p>
+<p>
+From a finger-shaped leather bag in his satchel
+he produces an antiquated pair of tooth extractors,
+a small pair of forceps for pulling out thorns,
+and a stiletto. The first-named article, he informs
+us, came from France to Tafilált, his home, <i>viâ</i>
+Tlemçen; it is of the design known as "Fox's
+claw," and he explains to us that the difference
+between the French and the English article is that
+the one has no spring to keep the jaws open, while
+the other has. A far more formidable instrument
+is the genuine native contrivance, a sort of exaggerated
+corkscrew without a point.</p>
+<p>
+But here comes a patient to be treated. He
+troubles the doctor with no diagnosis, asking only
+to be bled. He is a youth of medium height, bronzed
+by the sun. Telling him to sit down and bare his
+right arm, the operator feels it well up and down,
+and then places the tips of the patient's fingers on
+the ground, bidding him not to move. Pouring out<a name="page168" id="page168"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;168]</span>
+a little water into a metal dish, he washes the arm
+on the inside of the elbow, drying it with his cloak.
+Next he ties a piece of list round the upper arm as
+tightly as he can, and selecting one of the lancets,
+makes an incision into the vein which the washing
+has rendered visible. A bright stream issues, squirting
+into the air some fifteen inches; it is soon, however,
+directed into a tin soup-plate holding fourteen
+ounces, as we ascertained by measurement. The
+operator washes and dries his lancet, wraps the two
+in a white rag, and puts them into a piece of cane
+which forms an excellent case. Meanwhile the plate
+has filled, and he turns his attention once more to
+the patient. One or two passers-by have stopped,
+like ourselves, to look on.</p>
+<p>
+"I knew a man," says one, "who was being bled
+like that, and kept on saying, 'take a little more,'
+till he fell back dead in our arms."</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," chimes in another, "I have heard of such
+cases; it is very dangerous."</p>
+<p>
+Although the patient is evidently growing very
+nervous, our surgical friend affects supreme indifference
+to all this tittle-tattle, and after a while
+removes the bandage, bending the forearm inward,
+with the effect of somewhat checking the flow of
+blood. When he has bound up with list the cane
+that holds the lancets, he closes the forearm back
+entirely, so that the flow is stopped. Opening it
+again a little, he wipes a sponge over the aperture
+a few times, and closes it with his thumb. Then he
+binds a bit of filthy rag round the arm, twisting it
+above and below the elbow alternately, and crossing
+over the incision each time. When this is done, he
+sends the patient to throw away the blood and wash<a name="page169" id="page169"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;169]</span>
+the plate, receiving for the whole operation the sum
+of three half-pence.</p>
+<p>
+Another patient is waiting his turn, an old man
+desiring to be bled behind the ears for headache.
+After shaving two patches for the purpose, the
+"bleeder," as he is justly called, makes eighteen
+scratches close together, about half an inch long.
+Over these he places a brass cup of the shape of
+a high Italian hat without the brim. From near
+the edge of this protrudes a long brass tube with
+a piece of leather round and over the end. This
+the operator sucks to create a vacuum, the moistened
+leather closing like a valve, which leaves the cup
+hanging <i>in situ</i>. Repeating this on the other side,
+he empties the first cup of the blood which has by
+this time accumulated in it, and so on alternately,
+till he has drawn off what appears to him to be
+sufficient. All that remains to be done is to wipe
+the wounds and receive the fee.</p>
+<p>
+Some years ago such a worthy as this earned
+quite a reputation for exorcising devils in Southern
+Morocco. His mode of procedure was brief, but
+as a rule effective. The patient was laid on the
+ground before the wise man's tent, face downward,
+and after reading certain mystic and unintelligible
+passages, selected from one of the ponderous tomes
+which form a prominent part of the "doctor's"
+stock-in-trade, he solemnly ordered two or three
+men to hold the sufferer down while two more
+thrashed him till they were tired. If, when released,
+the patient showed the least sign of returning
+violence, or complained that the whole affair was
+a fraud, it was taken as a sure sign that he had
+not had enough, and he was forthwith seized again<a name="page170" id="page170"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;170]</span>
+and the dose repeated till he had learned that discretion
+was the better part of valour, and slunk off,
+perhaps a wiser, certainly a sadder man. It is said,
+and I do not doubt it&mdash;though it is more than most
+medical men can say of their patients&mdash;that no one
+was ever known to return in quest of further treatment.</p>
+<p>
+All this, however, is nothing compared with the
+Moor's love of fire as a universal panacea. Not
+only for his mules and his horses, but also for himself
+and his family, cauterization is in high repute,
+especially as he estimates the value of a remedy as
+much by its immediate and visible action as by its
+ultimate effects. The "fire-doctor" is therefore even
+a greater character in his way than the "bleeder,"
+whom we have just visited. His outfit includes a
+collection of queer-shaped irons designed to cauterize
+different parts of the body, a portable brazier, and
+bellows made from a goat-skin with a piece of board
+at one side wherewith to press and expel the air
+through a tube on the other side. He, too, sits by
+the roadside, and disposes of his groaning though
+wonderfully enduring "patients" much as did his
+rival of the lancet. Rohlfs, a German doctor
+who explored parts of Morocco in the garb of a
+native, exercising what he could of his profession
+for a livelihood, tells how he earned a considerable
+reputation by the introduction of "cold fire" (lunar
+caustic) as a rival to the original style; and Pellow,
+an English slave who made his escape in 1735,
+found cayenne pepper of great assistance in ingratiating
+himself with the Moors in this way, and even
+in delaying a pursuer suffering from ophthalmia
+by blowing a little into his eyes before his identity<a name="page171" id="page171"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;171]</span>
+was discovered. In extenuation of this trick,
+however, it must be borne in mind that cayenne
+pepper is an accredited Moorish remedy for ophthalmia,
+being placed on the eyelids, though it is
+only a mixture of canary seed and sugar that is
+blown in.</p>
+<p>
+Every European traveller in Morocco is supposed
+to know something about medicine, and many have
+been my own amusing experiences in this direction.
+Nothing that I used gave me greater fame than a
+bottle of oil of cantharides, the contents of which I
+applied freely behind the ears or upon the temples
+of such victims of ophthalmia as submitted themselves
+to my tender mercies. Only I found that
+when my first patient began to dance with the joy
+and pain of the noble blister which shortly arose,
+so many people fancied they needed like treatment
+that I was obliged to restrict the use of so popular
+a cure to special cases.</p>
+<p>
+One branch of Moroccan medicine consists in
+exorcising devils, of which a most amusing instance
+once came under my notice. An English gentleman
+gave one of his servants who complained
+of being troubled with these unwelcome guests two
+good-sized doses of tartaric acid and carbonate of
+soda a second apart. The immediate exit of the
+devil was so apparent that the fame of the prescriber
+as a medical man was made at once. But many of
+the cases which the amateur is called upon to treat
+are much more difficult to satisfy than this. Superstition
+is so strongly mingled with the native ideas
+of disease,&mdash;of being possessed,&mdash;that the two can
+hardly be separated. During an epidemic of cholera,
+for instance, the people keep as close as possible to<a name="page172" id="page172"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;172]</span>
+walls, and avoid sand-hills, for fear of "catching
+devils." All disease is indeed more or less ascribed
+to satanic agency, and in Morocco that practitioner
+is most in repute who claims to attack this cause of
+the malady rather than its effect.</p>
+<p>
+Although the Moors have a certain rudimentary
+acquaintance with simple medicinal agents&mdash;and
+how rudimentary that acquaintance is, will better
+appear from what is to follow,&mdash;in all their pharmacop&oelig;ia
+no remedy is so often recommended or so
+implicitly relied on as the "writing" of a man of
+reputed sanctity. Such a writing may consist merely
+of a piece of paper scribbled over with the name of
+God, or with some sentence from the Korán, such
+as, "And only God is the Healer," repeated many
+times, or in special cases it may contain a whole
+series of pious expressions and meaningless incantations.
+For an ordinary external complaint, such
+as general debility arising from the evil eye of a
+neighbour or a jealous wife, or as a preventative
+against bewitchment, or as a love philtre, it is
+usually considered sufficient to wear this in a leather
+bag around the neck or forehead; but in case of
+unfathomable internal disease, such as indigestion,
+the "writing" is prescribed to be divided into so
+many equal portions, and taken in a little water
+night and morning.</p>
+<p>
+The author of these potent documents is sometimes
+a hereditary saint descended from Mohammed,
+sometimes a saint whose sanctity arises from
+real or assumed insanity&mdash;for to be mad in Barbary
+is to have one's thoughts so occupied with things of
+heaven as to have no time left for things of earth,&mdash;and
+often they are written by ordinary public<a name="page173" id="page173"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;173]</span>
+scribes, or schoolmasters, for among the Moors
+reading and religion are almost synonymous terms.
+There are, however, a few professional gentlemen
+who dispense these writings among their drugs.
+Such alone of all their quacks aspire to the title of
+"doctor." Most of these spend their time wandering
+about the country from fair to fair, setting up
+their tents wherever there are patients to be found
+in sufficient numbers.</p>
+<p>
+Attired as natives, let us visit one. Arrived at
+the tent door, we salute the learned occupant with
+the prescribed "Salám oo alaďkum" ("To you be
+peace"), to which, on noting our superior costumes,
+he replies with a volley of complimentary inquiries
+and welcomes. These we acknowledge with dignity,
+and with as sedate an air as possible. We leisurely
+seat ourselves on the ground in orthodox style, like
+tailors. As it would not be good form to mention
+our business at once, we defer professional consultation
+till we have inquired successfully after his
+health, his travels, and the latest news at home and
+from abroad. In the course of conversation he gives
+us to understand that he is one of the Sultan's uncles,
+which is by no means impossible in a country where
+it has not been an unknown thing for an imperial
+father to lose count of his numerous progeny.</p>
+<p>
+Feeling at last that we have broken the ice, we
+turn the conversation to the subject of our supposed
+ailments. My own complaint is a general internal
+disorder resulting in occasional feverishness, griping
+pains, and loss of sleep. After asking a number
+of really sensible questions, such as would seem to
+place him above the ordinary rank of native practitioners,
+he gravely announces that he has "the<a name="page174" id="page174"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;174]</span>
+very thing" in the form of a powder, which, from its
+high virtues, and the exceeding number of its ingredients,
+some of them costly, is rather expensive.
+We remember the deference with which our costumes
+were noted, and understand. But, after all,
+the price of a supply is announced to be only seven-pence
+halfpenny. The contents of some of the
+canisters he shows us include respectively, according
+to his account, from twenty to fifty drugs. For our
+own part, we strongly suspect that all are spices to
+be procured from any Moorish grocer.</p>
+<p>
+Together with the prescription I receive instructions
+to drink the soup from a fat chicken in
+the morning, and to eat its flesh in the evening; to
+eat hot bread and drink sweet tea, and to do as
+little work as possible, the powder to be taken daily
+for a fortnight in a little honey. Whatever else he
+may not know, it is evident that our doctor knows
+full well how to humour his patients.</p>
+<p>
+The next case is even more easy of treatment
+than mine, a "writing" only being required. On a
+piece of very common paper two or three inches
+square, the doctor writes something of which the
+only legible part is the first line: "In the name of
+God, the Pitying, the Pitiful," followed, we subsequently
+learn, by repetitions of "Only God is the
+Healer." For this the patient is to get his wife to
+make a felt bag sewed with coloured silk, into which
+the charm is to be put, along with a little salt and a
+few parings of garlic, after which it is to be worn
+round his neck for ever.</p>
+<p>
+Sometimes, in wandering through Morocco, one
+comes across much more curious remedies than
+these, for the worthy we have just visited is but a<a name="page175" id="page175"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;175]</span>
+commonplace type in this country. A medical
+friend once met a professional brother in the interior
+who had a truly original method of proving his skill.
+By pressing his finger on the side of his nose close
+to his eye, he could send a jet of liquid right into his
+interlocutor's face, a proceeding sufficient to satisfy
+all doubts as to his alleged marvellous powers. On
+examination it was found that he had a small orifice
+near the corner of the eye, through which the
+pressure forced the lachrymal fluid, pure tears, in
+fact. This is just an instance of the way in which
+any natural defect or peculiarity is made the most
+of by these wandering empirics, to impose on their
+ignorant and credulous victims.</p>
+<p>
+Even such of them as do give any variety of
+remedies are hardly more to be trusted. Whatever
+they give, their patients like big doses, and are
+not content without corresponding visible effects.
+Epsom salts, which are in great repute, are never
+given to a man in less quantities than two tablespoonfuls.
+On one occasion a poor woman came to
+me suffering from ague, and looking very dejected.
+I mixed this quantity of salts in a tumblerful of
+water, with a good dose of quinine, bidding her
+drink two-thirds of it, and give the remainder to
+her daughter, who evidently needed it as much as
+she did. Her share was soon disposed of with
+hardly more than a grimace, to the infinite enjoyment
+of a fat, black slave-girl who was standing by,
+and who knew from personal experience what a
+tumblerful meant. But to induce the child to take
+hers was quite another matter. "What! not drink
+it?" the mother cried, as she held the potion to her
+lips. "The devil take thee, thou cursed offspring of<a name="page176" id="page176"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;176]</span>
+an abandoned woman! May God burn thy ancestors!"
+But though the child, accustomed to such
+mild and motherly invectives, budged not, it had
+proved altogether too much for the jovial slave,
+who was by this time convulsed with laughter, and
+so, I may as well confess, was I. At last the
+woman's powers of persuasion were exhausted, and
+she drained the glass herself.</p>
+<p>
+When in Fez some years ago, a dog I had with
+me needed dosing, so I got three drops of croton
+oil on sugar made ready for him. Mine host, a
+man of fifty or more, came in meanwhile, and
+having ascertained the action of the drug from my
+servant, thought it might possibly do him good, and
+forthwith swallowed it. Of this the first intimation
+I had was from the agonizing screams of the old
+man, who loudly proclaimed that his last hour was
+come, and from the terrified wails of the females of
+his household, who thought so too. When I saw
+him he was rolling on the tiles of the courtyard, his
+heels in the air, bellowing frantically. I need
+hardly dilate upon the relief I felt when at last we
+succeeded in alleviating his pain, and knew that he
+was out of danger.</p>
+<p>
+Among the favourite remedies of Morocco,
+hyena's head powder ranks high as a purge, and
+the dried bones and flesh may often be seen in the
+native spice-shops, coated with dust as they hang.
+Some of the prescriptions given are too filthy to
+repeat, almost to be believed. As a specimen, by no
+means the worst, I may mention a recipe at one
+time in favour among the Jewesses of Mogador,
+according to one writer. This was to drink seven
+draughts from the town drain where it entered the<a name="page177" id="page177"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;177]</span>
+sea, beaten up with seven eggs. For diseases of
+the "heart," by which they mean the stomach and
+liver, and of eyes, joints, etc., a stone, which is found
+in an animal called the horreh, the size of a small
+walnut, and valued as high as twelve dollars, is ground
+up and swallowed, the patient thereafter remaining
+indoors a week. Ants, prepared in various ways, are
+recommended for lethargy, and lion's flesh for
+cowardice. Privet or mallow leaves, fresh honey,
+and chameleons split open alive, are considered good
+for wounds and sores, while the fumes from the
+burning of the dried body of this animal are often
+inhaled. Among more ordinary remedies are saraparilla,
+senna, and a number of other well-known
+herbs and roots, whose action is more or less understood.
+Roasted pomegranate rind in powder is
+found really effectual in dysentery and diarrh&oelig;a.</p>
+<p>
+Men and women continually apply for philtres,
+and women for means to prevent their husbands
+from liking rival wives, or for poison to put them
+out of the way. As arsenic, corrosive sublimate,
+and other poisons are sold freely to children in
+every spice-shop, the number of unaccounted-for
+deaths is extremely large, but inquiry is seldom
+or never made. When it is openly averred that So-and-so
+died from "a cup of tea," the only mental
+comment seems to be that she was very foolish
+not to be more careful what she drank, and to see
+that whoever prepared it took the first sip according
+to custom. The highest recommendation of any
+particular dish or spice is that it is "heating."
+Great faith is also placed in certain sacred rocks,
+tree-stumps, etc., which are visited in the hope of
+obtaining relief from all sorts of ailments. Visitors
+<a name="page178" id="page178"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;178]</span>
+often leave rags torn from their garments by which to
+be remembered by the guardian of the place. Others
+repair to the famous sulphur springs of Zarhôn,
+supposed to derive their benefit from the interment
+close by of a certain St. Jacob&mdash;and dance in
+the waters, yelling without intermission, "Cold and
+hot, O my lord Yakoob! Cold and hot!" fearful
+lest any cessation of the cry might permit the
+temperature to be increased or diminished beyond
+the bearable point.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page179" id="page179"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;179]</span>
+
+<h3>XXI</h3>
+
+<h2>THE HUMAN MART</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Who digs a pit for his brother will fall into it."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+The slave-market differs in no respect from any
+other in Morocco, save in the nature of the "goods"
+exposed. In most cases the same place is used for
+other things at other times, and the same auctioneers
+are employed to sell cattle. The buyers seat themselves
+round an open courtyard, in the closed pens
+of which are the slaves for sale. These are brought
+out singly or in lots, inspected precisely as cattle
+would be, and expatiated upon in much the same
+manner.</p>
+<p>
+For instance, here comes a middle-aged man,
+led slowly round by the salesman, who is describing
+his "points" and noting bids. He has first-class
+muscles, although he is somewhat thin. He is
+made to lift a weight to prove his strength. His
+thighs are patted, and his lips are turned to show
+the gums, which at merrier moments would have
+been visible without such a performance. With a
+shame-faced, hang-dog air he trudges round, wondering
+what will be his lot, though a sad one it is
+already. At last he is knocked down for so many
+score of dollars, and after a good deal of further
+bargaining he changes hands.</p>
+
+<a name="page180" id="page180"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;180]</span>
+<p>
+The next brought forward are three little girls&mdash;a
+"job lot," maybe ten, thirteen, and sixteen years
+of age&mdash;two of them evidently sisters. They are
+declared to be already proficient in Arabic, and
+ready for anything. Their muscles are felt, their
+mouths examined, and their bodies scrutinized in
+general, while the little one begins to cry, and the
+others look as though they would like to keep her
+company. Round and round again they are marched,
+but the bids do not rise high enough to effect a sale,
+and they are locked up again for a future occasion.
+It is indeed a sad, sad sight.</p>
+<p>
+The sources of supply for the slave-market are
+various, but the chief is direct from Guinea and the
+Sáhara, where the raids of the traders are too well
+understood to need description. Usually some
+inter-tribal jealousy is fostered and fanned into a
+flame, and the one which loses is plundered of
+men and goods. Able-bodied lads and young girls
+are in most demand, and fetch high prices when
+brought to the north. The unfortunate prisoners
+are marched with great hardship and privation to
+depôts over the Atlas, where they pick up Arabic
+and are initiated into Mohammedanism. To a
+missionary who once asked one of the dealers how
+they found their way across the desert, the terribly
+significant reply was, "There are many bones along
+the way!" After a while the survivors are either
+exposed for sale in the markets of Marrákesh or Fez,
+or hawked round from door to door in the coast towns,
+where public auctions are prohibited. Some have
+even found their way to Egypt and Constantinople,
+having been transported in British vessels, and landed
+at Gibraltar as members of the dealer's family!</p>
+
+<a name="page181" id="page181"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;181]</span>
+<p>
+Another source of supply is the constant series
+of quarrels between the tribes of Morocco itself,
+during which many children are carried off who are
+white or nearly so. In this case the victims are
+almost all girls, for whom good prices are to be
+obtained. This opens a door for illegal supplies,
+children born of slaves and others kidnapped being
+thus disposed of for hareems. For this purpose
+the demand for white girls is much in excess of
+that for black, so that great temptation is offered.
+I knew a man who had seventeen such in his house,
+and of nearly a dozen whom I saw there, none were
+too dark to have passed for English brunettes.</p>
+<p>
+Though nothing whatever can be said in defence
+of this practice of tearing our fellow-men from their
+homes, and selling them as slaves, our natural feelings
+of horror abate considerably when we become
+acquainted with its results under the rule of Islám.
+Instead of the fearful state of things which occurred
+under English or American rule, it is a pleasure
+to find that, whatever may be the shortcomings of
+the Moors, in this case, at any rate, they have set
+us a good example. Even their barbarous treatment
+of Christian slaves till within a century was
+certainly no worse than our treatment of black slaves.</p>
+<p>
+To begin with, Mohammedans make no distinction
+in civil or religious rights between a black skin
+and a white. So long as a man avows belief in no
+god but God, and in Mohammed as the prophet of
+God, complying with certain outward forms of his
+religion, he is held to be as good a Muslim as anyone
+else; and as the whole social and civil fabrics
+are built upon religion and the teachings of the
+Korán, the social position of every well-behaved<a name="page182" id="page182"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;182]</span>
+Mohammedan is practically equal. The possession
+of authority of any kind will naturally command a
+certain amount of respectful attention, and he who
+has any reason for seeking a favour from another is
+sure to adopt a more subservient mien; but beyond
+this, few such class distinctions are known as those
+common in Europe. The slave who, away from
+home, can behave as a gentleman, will be received
+as such, irrespective of his colour, and when freed
+he may aspire to any position under the Sultan.
+There are, indeed, many instances of black men
+having been ministers, governors, and even ambassadors
+to Europe, and such appointments are too
+common to excite astonishment. They have even,
+in the past, assisted in giving rise to the misconception
+that the people of Morocco were "Black-a-Moors."</p>
+<p>
+In many households the slave becomes the trusted
+steward of his owner, and receives a sufficient allowance
+to live in comfort. He will possess a paper
+giving him his freedom on his master's death, and
+altogether he will have a very good time of it. The
+liberation of slaves is enjoined upon those who
+follow Mohammed as a most praiseworthy act, and
+as one which cannot fail to bring its own reward.
+But, like too many in our own land, they more often
+prefer to make use of what they possess till they
+start on that journey on which they can take nothing
+with them, and then affect generosity by bestowing
+upon others that over which they lose control.</p>
+<p>
+One poor fellow whom I knew very well, who
+had been liberated on the death of his master,
+having lost his papers, was re-kidnapped and sold
+again to a man who was subsequently imprisoned for<a name="page183" id="page183"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;183]</span>
+fraud, when he got free and worked for some years
+as porter; but he was eventually denounced and
+put in irons in a dungeon as part of the property
+of his <i>soi-disant</i> master.</p>
+<p>
+The ordinary place of the slave is much that
+of the average servant, but receiving only board,
+lodging, and scanty clothing, without pay, and being
+unable to change masters. Sometimes, however,
+they are permitted to beg or work for money to
+buy their own freedom, when they become, as it
+were, their own masters. On the whole, a jollier,
+harder-working, or better-tempered lot than these
+Negroes it would be hard to desire, and they are as
+light-hearted, fortunately, as true-hearted, even in
+the midst of cruel adversities.</p>
+<p>
+The condition of a woman slave&mdash;to which, also,
+most of what has been said refers&mdash;is as much
+behind that of a man-slave as is that of a free-woman
+behind that of her lord. If she becomes
+her master's wife, the mother of a child, she is
+thereby freed, though she must remain in his service
+until his death, and she is only treated as an animal,
+not as a human being.</p>
+<p>
+After all, there is a dark side&mdash;one sufficiently
+dark to need no intensifying. The fact of one man
+being the possessor of another, just as much as he
+could be of a horse or cow, places him in the same
+position with regard to his "chattel" as to such a
+four-footed animal. "The merciful man is merciful
+to his beast," but "the tender mercies of the
+wicked are cruel," and just as one man will ill-treat
+his beast, while another treats his well, so will one
+man persecute his slave. Instances of this are
+quite common enough, and here and there cases
+<a name="page184" id="page184"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;184]</span>
+could be brought forward of revolting brutality, as
+in the story which follows, but the great thing is
+that agricultural slavery is practically unknown, and
+that what exists is chiefly domestic. "Know the
+slave," says an Arab proverb, "and you know the
+master."</p>
+
+<br /><a name="narrator" id="narrator"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/185.jpg"><img src="images/185-279.jpg" width="279" height="427" alt="RABBAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Freyonne, Photo., Gibraltar.</i><br /><br />
+<b>RABBAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page185" id="page185"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;185]</span>
+
+<h3>XXII</h3>
+
+<h2>A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"After many adversities, joy."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Outside the walls of Mazagan an English traveller
+had pitched his camp. Night had fallen when one
+of his men, returning from the town, besought admission
+to the tent.</p>
+<p>
+"Well, how now?"</p>
+<p>
+"Sir, I have a woman here, by thy leave, yes,
+a woman, a slave, whom I found at the door of
+thy consulate, where she had taken refuge, but the
+police guard drove her away, so I brought her to
+thee for justice. Have pity on her, and God will
+reward thee! See, here! Rabhah!" </p>
+<p>
+At this bidding there approached a truly pitiable
+object, a dark-skinned woman, not quite black,
+though of decidedly negroid appearance&mdash;whose
+tattered garments scarcely served to hide a half-starved
+form. Throwing herself on the ground
+before the foreigner, she begged his pity, his
+assistance, for the sake of the Pitiful God.</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Bashador," she pleaded, addressing him
+as though a foreign envoy, "I take refuge with
+God and with thee! I have no one else. I have
+fled from my master, who has cruelly used me. See
+my back!"</p>
+
+<a name="page186" id="page186"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;186]</span>
+<p>
+Suiting action to word, she slipped aside the
+coverings from her shoulder and revealed the weals
+of many a stripe, tears streaming down her face the
+while. Her tones were such as none but a heart of
+stone could ignore.</p>
+<p>
+"I bore it ten days, sir, till I could do so no
+longer, and then I escaped. It was all to make me
+give false witness&mdash;from which God deliver me&mdash;for
+that I will never do. My present master is the
+Sheďkh bin Záharah, Lieutenant Kaďd of the Boo
+Azeezi, but I was once the slave-wife of the English
+agent, who sold me again, though they said that he
+dare not, because of his English protection. That
+was why I fled for justice to the English consul,
+and now come to thee. For God's sake, succour
+me!"</p>
+<p>
+With a sob her head fell forward on her breast,
+as again she crouched at the foreigner's feet, till
+made to rise and told to relate her whole story
+quietly. When she was calmer, aided by questions,
+she unfolded a tale which could, alas! be often
+paralleled in Morocco.</p>
+<p>
+"My home? How can I tell thee where that
+was, when I was brought away so early? All I
+know is that it was in the Sűdán" (<i>i.e.</i> Land of
+the Blacks), "and that I came to Mogador on my
+mother's back. In my country the slave-dealers
+lie in wait outside the villages to catch the children
+when they play. They put them in bags like those
+used for grain, with their heads left outside the necks
+for air. So they are carried off, and travel all the
+way to this country slung on mules, being set down
+from time to time to be fed. But I, though born free,
+was brought by my mother, who had been carried<a name="page187" id="page187"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;187]</span>
+off as a slave. The lines cut on my cheek show that,
+for every free-born child in our country is marked
+so by its mother. That is our sultan's order.
+In Mogador my mother's master sold me to a man
+who took me from her, and brought me to Dár el
+Baďda. They took away my mother first; they
+dragged her off crying, and I never saw or heard
+of her again. When she was gone I cried for her,
+and could not eat till they gave me sugar and sweet
+dates. At Dár el Baďda I was sold in the market
+auction to a shareefa named Lálla Moďna, wife of
+the mountain scribe who taught the kádi's children.
+With her I was very happy, for she treated me
+well, and when she went to Mekka on the pilgrimage
+she let me go out to work on my own account,
+promising to make me free if God brought her
+back safely. She was good to me, Bashador, but
+though she returned safely she always put off making
+me free; but I had laid by fifteen dollars, and had
+bought a boxful of clothes as well. And that was
+where my trouble began. For God's sake succour
+me!</p>
+<p>
+"One day the agent saw me in the street, and
+eyed me so that I was frightened of him. He
+followed me home, and then sent a letter offering to
+buy me, but my mistress refused. Then the agent
+often came to the house, and I had to wait upon
+him. He told me that he wanted to buy me, and
+that if he did I should be better off than if I were
+free, but I refused to listen. When the agent was
+away his man Sarghîni used to come and try to
+buy me, but in vain; and when the agent returned
+he threatened to bring my mistress into trouble if
+she refused. At last she had to yield, and I cried<a name="page188" id="page188"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;188]</span>
+when I had to go. 'Thou art sold to that man,'
+she said; 'but as thou art a daughter to me, he
+has promised to take care of thee and bring thee
+back whenever I wish.'</p>
+<p>
+"Sarghîni took me out by one gate with the
+servants of the agent, who took care to go out with
+a big fat Jew by another, that the English consul
+should not see him go out with a woman. We
+rode on mules, and I wore a white cloak; I had not
+then begun to fast" (<i>i.e.</i> was not yet twelve years
+of age). "After two days on the road the agent
+asked for the key of my box, in which he found my
+fifteen dollars, tied up in a rag, and took them, but
+gave me back my clothes. We were five days
+travelling to Marrákesh, staying each night with
+a kaďd who treated us very well. So I came to
+the agent's house.</p>
+<p>
+"There I found many other slave girls, besides
+men slaves in the garden. These were Ruby,
+bought in Saffi, by whom the agent had a daughter;
+and Star, a white girl stolen from her home in Sűs,
+who had no children; Jessamine the Less, another
+white girl bought in Marrákesh, mother of one
+daughter; Jessamine the Greater, whose daughter
+was her father's favourite, loaded with jewels; and
+others who cooked or served, not having children,
+though one had a son who died. There were
+thirteen of us under an older slave who clothed and
+fed us.</p>
+<p>
+"When the bashador came to the house the agent
+shut all but five or six of us in a room, the others
+waiting on him. I used to have to cook for the
+bashador, for whom they had great receptions with
+music and dancing-women. Next door there was a
+<a name="page189" id="page189"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;189]</span>
+larger house, a fandak, where the agent kept public
+women and boys, and men at the door took money
+from the Muslims and Nazarenes who went there.
+The missionaries who lived close by know the truth
+of what I say.</p>
+<p>
+"A few days after I arrived I was bathed and
+dressed in fresh clothes, and taken to my master's
+room, as he used to call for one or another according
+to fancy. But I had no child, because he struck
+me, and I was sick. When one girl, named Amber,
+refused to go to him because she was ill, he dragged
+her off to another part of the house. Presently we
+heard the report of a pistol, and he came back to
+say she was dead. He had a pistol in his hand as
+long as my forearm. We found the girl in a pool
+of blood in agonies, and tried to flee, but had nowhere
+to go. So when she was quite dead he made
+us wash her. Then he brought in four men to dig
+a pit, in which he said he would bury butter. When
+they had gone we buried her there, and I can show
+you the spot.</p>
+<p>
+"One day he took two men slaves and me on a
+journey. One of them ran away, the other was sold
+by the way. I was sold at the Tuesday market of
+Sîdi bin Nűr to a dealer in slaves, whom I heard
+promise my master to keep me close for three
+months, and not to sell me in that place lest the
+Nazarenes should get word of it. Some time after
+I was bought by a tax-collector, with whom I remained
+till he died, and then lived in the house of
+his son. This man sold me to my present master,
+who has ill-treated me as I told thee. Oh, Bashador,
+when I fled from him, I came to the English consul
+because I was told that the agent had had no right<a name="page190" id="page190"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;190]</span>
+to hold or sell me, since he had English protection.
+Thou knowest what has happened since. Here I
+am, at thy feet, imploring assistance. I beseech
+thee, turn me not away. I speak truth before
+God."</p>
+<p>
+No one could hear such a tale unmoved, and
+after due inquiry the Englishman thus appealed to
+secured her liberty on depositing at the British
+Consulate the $140 paid for her by her owner, who
+claimed her or the money. Rabhah's story, taken
+down by independent persons at different times,
+was afterwards told by her without variation in a
+British Court of Law. Subsequently a pronouncement
+as to her freedom having been made by the
+British Legation at Tangier, the $140 was refunded,
+and she lives free to-day. The last time the writer
+saw her, in the service of a European in Morocco,
+he was somewhat taken aback to find her arms
+about his neck, and to have kisses showered on his
+shoulders for the unimportant part that he had
+played in securing her freedom.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page191" id="page191"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;191]</span>
+
+
+<h3>XXIII</h3>
+
+<h2>THE PILGRIM CAMP</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Work for the children is better than pilgrimage or holy war."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Year by year the month succeeding the fast of
+Ramadán sees a motley assemblage of pilgrims
+bound for Mekka, gathered at most of the North
+African ports from all parts of Barbary and even
+beyond, awaiting vessels bound for Alexandria or
+Jedda. This comparatively easy means of covering
+the distance, which includes the whole length of the
+Mediterranean when the pilgrims from Morocco
+are concerned&mdash;not to mention some two-thirds of
+the Red Sea,&mdash;has almost entirely superseded the
+original method of travelling all the way by land, in
+the once imposing caravans.</p>
+<p>
+These historic institutions owed their importance
+no less to the facilities they offered for trade, than to
+the opportunity they afforded for accomplishing the
+pilgrimage which is enjoined on every follower of
+Mohammed. Although caravans still cross the
+deserts of North Africa in considerable force from
+west to east, as well as from south to north, to carry
+on the trade of the countries to the south of the
+Barbary States, the former are steadily dwindling
+down to mere local affairs, and the number of
+travellers who select the modern route by steamer<a name="page192" id="page192"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;192]</span>
+is yearly increasing, as its advantages become better
+known. For the accommodation of the large
+number of passengers special vessels are chartered
+by speculators, and are fitted up for the occasion.
+Only some Ł3 are charged for the whole journey
+from Tangier, a thousand pilgrims being crowded
+on a medium-sized merchant vessel, making the
+horrors of the voyage indescribable.</p>
+<p>
+But the troubles of the pilgrims do not begin
+here. Before they could even reach the sea some
+of them will have travelled on foot for a month
+from remote parts of the interior, and at the coast
+they may have to endure a wearisome time of waiting
+for a steamer. It is while they are thus learning
+a lesson of patience at one of the Moorish ports
+that I will invite you for a stroll round their encampment
+on the market-place.</p>
+<p>
+This consists of scores of low, makeshift tents,
+with here and there a better-class round one dotted
+amongst them. The prevailing shape of the
+majority is a modified edition of the dwelling of
+the nomad Arab, to which class doubtless belongs
+a fair proportion of their occupants. Across the
+top of two poles about five feet high, before and
+behind, a ridge-piece is placed, and over this is
+stretched to the ground on either side a long piece
+of palmetto or goat-hair cloth, or perhaps one of
+the long woollen blankets worn by men and women
+alike, called haďks, which will again be used for its
+original purpose on board the vessel. The back is
+formed of another piece of some sort of cloth
+stretched out at the bottom to form a semi-circle,
+and so give more room inside. Those who have a
+bit of rug or a light mattress, spread it on the floor,<a name="page193" id="page193"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;193]</span>
+and pile their various other belongings around its
+edge.</p>
+<p>
+The straits to which many of these poor people
+are put to get a covering of any kind to shelter
+them from sun, rain, and wind, are often very
+severe, to judge from some of the specimens of
+tents&mdash;if they deserve the name&mdash;constructed of
+all sorts of odds and ends, almost anything, it
+would seem, that will cover a few square inches.
+There is one such to be seen on this busy market
+which deserves special attention as a remarkable
+example of this style of architecture. Let us examine
+it. The materials of which it is composed
+include hair-cloth, woollen-cloth, a cotton shirt, a
+woollen cloak, and some sacking; goat skin, sheep's
+fleece, straw, and palmetto cord; rush mats, a palmetto
+mat, split-cane baskets and wicker baskets;
+bits of wood, a piece of cork, bark and sticks;
+petroleum tins flattened out, sheet iron, zinc, and
+jam and other tins; an earthenware dish and a
+stone bottle, with bits of crockery, stones, and a
+cow's horn to weight some of the other items down.
+Now, if any one can make anything of this, which
+is an exact inventory of such of the materials as are
+visible on the outside, he must be a born architect.
+Yet here this extraordinary construction
+stands, as it has stood for several months, and its
+occupant looks the jolliest fellow out. Let us pay
+him a visit.</p>
+<p>
+Stooping down to look under the flap which
+serves as a door, and raising it with my stick, I
+greet him with the customary salutation of "Peace
+be with you." "With you be peace," is the cheery
+reply, to which is added, "Welcome to thee; make<a name="page194" id="page194"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;194]</span>
+thyself at home." Although invited to enter, I feel
+quite enough at home on the outside of his dwelling,
+so reply that I have no time to stay, as I only
+"looked in" to have the pleasure of making his
+acquaintance and examining his "palace." At the
+last word one or two bystanders who have gathered
+round indulge in a little chuckle to themselves,
+overhearing which I turn round and make the most
+flattering remarks I can think of as to its beauty,
+elegance, comfort, and admirable system of ventilation,
+which sets the whole company, tenant included,
+into a roar of laughter. Mine host is busy
+cleaning fish, and now presses us to stay and share
+his evening meal with him, but our appetites are
+not quite equal to <i>that</i> yet, though it is beyond
+doubt that the morsel he would offer us would be
+as savoury and well cooked as could be supplied
+by any restaurant in Piccadilly.</p>
+<p>
+Inquiries elicit the fact that our friend is hoping
+to leave for Mekka by the first steamer, and that
+meanwhile he supports himself as a water-carrier,
+proudly showing us his goat-skin "bottle" lying on
+the floor, with the leather flap he wears between it
+and his side to protect him from the damp. Here,
+too, are his chain and bell, with the bright brass
+and tin cups. In fact, he is quite a "swell" in his
+way, and, in spite of his uncouth-looking surroundings,
+manages to enjoy life by looking on the bright
+side of things.</p>
+<p>
+"What will you do with your palace when
+you leave it?" we ask, seeing that it could not
+be moved unless the whole were jumbled up in
+a sack, when it would be impossible to reconstruct
+it.</p>
+
+<a name="page195" id="page195"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;195]</span>
+<p>
+"Oh, I'd let it to some one else."</p>
+<p>
+"For how much?"</p>
+<p>
+"Well, that I'd leave to God."</p>
+<p>
+A glance round the interior of this strange
+abode shows that there are still many materials
+employed in its construction which might have been
+enumerated. One or two bundles, a box and a
+basket round the sides, serve to support the roof,
+and from the ridge-pole hangs a bundle which we
+are informed contains semolina. I once saw such a
+bundle suspended from a beam in a village mosque
+in which I had passed the night in the guise of a
+pious Muslim, and, observing its dusty condition,
+inquired how it came there.</p>
+<p>
+"A traveller left it there about a year and a
+half ago, and has not yet come for it," was the
+reply; to judge from which it might remain till
+Doomsday&mdash;a fact which spoke well for the honesty
+of the country folk in that respect at least,
+although I learned that they were notorious highwaymen.</p>
+<p>
+Though the roof admits daylight every few
+inches, the occupier remarks that it keeps the sun
+and rain off fairly well, and seems to think none
+the worse of it for its transparent faults. A sick
+woman lying in a native hut with a thatched roof
+hardly in better condition than this one, remarked
+when a visitor observed a big hole just above her
+pallet bed&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, it's so nice in the summer time; it lets
+the breeze in so delightfully!"</p>
+<p>
+It was then the depth of winter, and she had
+had to shift her position once or twice to avoid the
+rain which came through that hole. What a lesson<a name="page196" id="page196"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;196]</span>
+in making the best of things did not that ignorant
+invalid teach!</p>
+<p>
+Having bid the amiable water-carrier "ŕ Dieu,"&mdash;literally
+as well as figuratively&mdash;we turn towards
+a group of tents further up, whence a white-robed
+form has been beckoning us. After the usual salutations
+have been exchanged, the eager inquiry is
+made, "Is there a steamer yet?"</p>
+<p>
+"No; I've nothing to do with steamers&mdash;but
+there's sure to be one soon."</p>
+<p>
+A man who evidently disbelieves me calls out,
+"I've got my money for the passage, and I'll hire
+a place with you, only bring the ship quickly."</p>
+<p>
+Since their arrival in Tangier they have learnt
+to call a steamer, which they have never seen before,&mdash;or
+even the sea,&mdash;a "bábor," a corruption of the
+Spanish "vapor," for Arabic knows neither "v"
+nor "p."</p>
+<p>
+Another now comes forward to know if there
+is an eye-doctor in the place, for there is a mist
+before his eyes, as he is well-advanced in the decline
+of life. The sound of the word "doctor" brings up
+a few more of the bystanders, who ask if I am one,
+and as I reply in the negative, they ask who can
+cure their ears, legs, stomachs, and what not. I
+explain where they may find an excellent doctor,
+who will be glad to do all he can for them gratis&mdash;whereat
+they open their eyes incredulously,&mdash;and
+that for God's sake, in the name of Seyďdná Aďsa
+("Our Lord Jesus"), which they appreciate at once
+with murmurs of satisfaction, though they are not
+quite satisfied until they have ascertained by further
+questioning that he receives no support from his
+own or any other government. Hearing the name<a name="page197" id="page197"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;197]</span>
+of Seyďdná Aďsa, one of the group breaks out into
+"El hamdu l'Illah, el hamdu l'Illah" ("Praise be to
+God"), a snatch of a missionary hymn to a "Moody
+and Sankey" tune, barely recognizable as he renders
+it. He has only been here a fortnight, and disclaims
+all further knowledge of the hymn or where he
+heard it.</p>
+<p>
+Before another tent hard by sits a native barber,
+bleeding a youth from a vein in the arm, for which
+the fee is about five farthings. As one or two come
+round to look on, he remarks, in an off-hand way&mdash;probably
+with a view to increasing his practice&mdash;that
+"all the pilgrims are having this done; it's
+good for the internals."</p>
+<p>
+As we turn round to pass between two of the
+tents to the row beyond, our progress is stayed by
+a cord from the ridge of one to that of another, on
+which are strung strips of what appear at first
+sight to be leather, but on a closer inspection are
+found to be pieces of meat, tripe, and apparently
+chitterlings, hung out to dry in a sun temperature
+of from 90° to 100° Fahrenheit. Thus is prepared
+a staple article of diet for winter consumption when
+fresh meat is dear, or for use on journeys, and this
+is all the meat these pilgrims will taste till they
+reach Mekka, or perhaps till they return. Big jars
+of it, with the interstices filled up with butter, are
+stowed away in the tents "among the stuff." It is
+called "khalia," and is much esteemed for its tasty
+and reputed aphrodisiac qualities&mdash;two ideals in
+Morocco cookery,&mdash;so that it commands a relatively
+good price in the market.</p>
+<p>
+The inmates of the next tent we look into are a
+woman and two men, lying down curled up asleep<a name="page198" id="page198"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;198]</span>
+in their blankets, while a couple more of the latter
+squat at the door. Having noticed our curious
+glances at their khalia, they, with the expressive
+motion of the closed fist which in native gesture-parlance
+signifies first-rate, endeavour to impress us
+with a sense of its excellence, which we do not feel
+inclined to dispute after all we have eaten on former
+occasions. This brings us to inquire what else
+these wanderers provide for the journey of thirteen
+or fourteen days one way. As bread is not to be
+obtained on board, at the door of the tent a tray-full
+of pieces are being converted into sun-dried rusks.
+Others are provided with a kind of very hard doughnut
+called "fikáks." These are flavoured with anise
+and carraway seeds, and are very acceptable to a
+hungry traveller when bread is scarce, though fearfully
+searching to hollow teeth.</p>
+<p>
+Then there is a goodly supply of the national
+food, kesk'soo or siksoo, better known by its
+Spanish name of couscoussoo. This forms an
+appetizing and lordly dish, provocative of abundant
+eructations&mdash;a sign of good breeding in these
+parts, wound up with a long-drawn "Praise be to
+God"&mdash;at the close of a regular "tuck in" with
+Nature's spoon, the fist. A similar preparation is
+hand-rolled vermicelli, cooked in broth or milk, if
+obtainable. A bag of semolina and another of zummeetah&mdash;parched
+flour&mdash;which only needs enough
+moisture to form it into a paste to prepare it for
+consumption, are two other well-patronized items.</p>
+<p>
+A quaint story comes to mind <i>ŕ propos</i> of the
+latter, which formed part of our stock of provisions
+during a journey through the province of Dukkála
+when the incident in question occurred. A tin of<a name="page199" id="page199"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;199]</span>
+insect powder was also among our goods, and
+by an odd coincidence both were relegated to
+the pail hanging from one of our packs. Under a
+spreading fig-tree near the village of Smeerah, at
+lunch, some travelling companions offered us a cup
+of tea, and among other dainties placed at their
+disposal in return was the bag of zummeetah, of
+which one of them made a good meal. Later on
+in the day, as we rested again, he complained of
+fearful internal gripings, which were easily explained
+by the discovery of the fact that the lid of the "flea's
+zummeetah," as one of our men styled it, had been
+left open, and a hole in the sack of "man's zummeetah"
+had allowed the two to mix in the bottom
+of the pail in nearly equal proportions. When this
+had been explained, no one entered more heartily
+into the joke than its victim, which spoke very well
+for his good temper, considering how seriously he
+had been affected.</p>
+<p>
+But this is rather a digression from our catalogue
+of the pilgrim's stock of provisions. Rancid
+butter melted down in pots, honey, dates, figs,
+raisins, and one or two similar items form the remainder.
+Water is carried in goat-skins or in pots
+made of the dried rind of a gourd, by far the most
+convenient for a journey, owing to their light weight
+and the absence of the prevailing taste of pitch
+imparted by the leather contrivances. Several of
+these latter are to be seen before the tents hanging
+on tripods. One of the Moors informs us that for
+the first day on board they have to provide their
+own water, after which it is found for them, but
+everything else they take with them. An ebony-hued
+son of Ham, seated by a neighbouring tent,<a name="page200" id="page200"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;200]</span>
+replies to our query as to what he is providing,
+"I take nothing," pointing heavenward to indicate
+his reliance on Divine providence.</p>
+<p>
+And so they travel. The group before us has
+come from the Sáhara, a month's long journey
+overland, on foot! Yet their travels have only
+commenced. Can they have realized what it all
+means?</p>
+
+<br /><a name="steamer" id="steamer"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/201.jpg"><img src="images/201-500.jpg" width="499" height="307" alt="WAITING FOR THE STEAMER." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Cavilla, Photo., Tangier.</i><br /><br />
+<b>WAITING FOR THE STEAMER.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page201" id="page201"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;201]</span>
+
+<h3>XXIV</h3>
+
+<h2>RETURNING HOME</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"He lengthened absence, and returned unwelcomed."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Evening is about to fall&mdash;for fall it does in these
+south latitudes, with hardly any twilight&mdash;and the
+setting sun has lit the sky with a refulgent glow
+that must be gazed at to be understood&mdash;the arc of
+heaven overspread with glorious colour, in its turn
+reflected by the heaving sea. One sound alone is
+heard as I wend my way along the sandy shore; it
+is the heavy thud and aftersplash of each gigantic
+wave, as it breaks on the beach, and hurls itself on
+its retreating predecessor, each climbing one step
+higher than the last.</p>
+<p>
+There, in the distance, stands a motley group&mdash;men,
+women, children&mdash;straining wearied eyes to
+recognize the forms which crowd a cargo lighter
+slowly nearing land. Away in the direction of
+their looks I dimly see the outline of the pilgrim
+ship, a Cardiff coaler, which has brought close on a
+thousand Hájes from Port Saďd or Alexandria&mdash;men
+chiefly, but among them wives and children&mdash;who
+have paid that toilsome pilgrimage to Mekka.</p>
+<p>
+The last rays of the sun alone remain as the
+boat strikes the shore, and as the darkness falls
+apace a score of dusky forms make a wild rush into<a name="page202" id="page202"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;202]</span>
+the surging waters, while an equal number rise up
+eager in the boat to greet their friends. So soon
+as they are near enough to be distinguished one
+from another, each watcher on the beach shouts the
+name of the friend he is awaiting, proud to affix, for
+the first time, the title Háj&mdash;Pilgrim&mdash;to his name.
+As only some twenty or thirty have yet landed
+from among so many hundreds, the number of disappointed
+ones who have to turn back and bide
+their time is proportionately large.</p>
+<p>
+"Háj Mohammed! Háj Abd es-Slám! Háj
+el Arbi! Háj boo Sháďb! Ah, Háj Drees!" and
+many such ejaculations burst from their lips, together
+with inquiries as to whether So-and-so may be on
+board. One by one the weary travellers once more
+step upon the land which is their home, and with
+assistance from their friends unload their luggage.</p>
+<p>
+Now a touching scene ensues. Strong men fall
+on one another's necks like girls, kissing and embracing
+with true joy, each uttering a perfect volley
+of inquiries, compliments, congratulations, or condolence.
+Then, with child-like simplicity, the stayer-at-home
+leads his welcome relative or friend by the
+hand to the spot where his luggage has been
+deposited, and seating themselves thereon they
+soon get deep into a conversation which renders
+them oblivious to all around, as the one relates the
+wonders of his journeyings, the other the news of
+home.</p>
+<p>
+Poor creatures! Some months ago they started,
+full of hope, on an especially trying voyage of
+several weeks, cramped more closely than emigrants,
+exposed both to sun and rain, with hardly a change
+of clothing, and only the food they had brought with<a name="page203" id="page203"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;203]</span>
+them. Arrived at their destination, a weary march
+across country began, and was repeated after they
+had visited the various points, and performed the
+various rites prescribed by the Korán or custom,
+finally returning as they went, but not all, as the
+sorrow-stricken faces of some among the waiters
+on the beach had told, and the muttered exclamation,
+"It is written&mdash;<i>Mektoob</i>."</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the night has come. The Creator's
+loving Hand has caused a myriad stars to shine
+forth from the darkness, in some measure to
+replace the light of day, while as each new boat-load
+is set down the same scenes are enacted, and
+the crowd grows greater and greater, the din of
+voices keeping pace therewith.</p>
+<p>
+Donkey-men having appeared on the scene with
+their patient beasts, they clamour for employment,
+and those who can afford it avail themselves of their
+services to get their goods transported to the city.
+What goods they are, too! All sorts of products
+of the East done up in boxes of the most varied
+forms and colours, bundles, rolls, and bales. The
+owners are apparently mere bundles of rags themselves,
+but they seem no less happy for that.</p>
+<p>
+Seated on an eminence at one side are several
+customs officers who have been delegated to inspect
+these goods; their flowing garments and
+generally superior attire afford a striking contrast
+to the state of the returning pilgrims, or even
+to that of the friends come to meet them. These
+officials have their guards marching up and down
+between and round about the groups, to see that
+nothing is carried off without inspection.</p>
+<p>
+Little by little the crowd disperses; those whose<a name="page204" id="page204"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;204]</span>
+friends have landed escort them to their homes,
+leaving those who will have to continue their
+journey overland alone, making hasty preparations
+for their evening meal. The better class speedily
+have tents erected, but the majority will have to
+spend the night in the open air, probably in the
+rain, for it is beginning to spatter already. Fires
+are lit in all directions, throwing a lurid light upon
+the interesting picture, and I turn my horse's head
+towards home with a feeling of sadness, but at the
+same time one of thankfulness that my lot was not
+cast where theirs is.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page205" id="page205"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;205]</span>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h2>PART II</h2>
+
+<h3>XXV</h3>
+
+<h2>DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO</h2>
+
+
+<table align="center" summary="Moorish Proverb" border="0">
+<tr>
+    <td>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"The Beheaded was abusing the Flayed:</p>
+<p>One with her throat cut passed by, and exclaimed,</p>
+  <p class="i4">'God deliver us from such folk!'"</p>
+ </div>
+</div>
+ </td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Instead of residing at the Court of the Sultan, as
+might be expected, the ministers accredited to the
+ruler of Morocco take up their abode in Tangier,
+where they are more in touch with Europe, and
+where there is greater freedom for pig-sticking.
+The reason for this is that the Court is not permanently
+settled anywhere, wintering successively
+at one of the three capitals, Fez, Marrákesh, or
+Mequinez. Every few years, when anything of
+note arises; when there is an accumulation of
+matters to be discussed with the Emperor, or when
+a new representative has been appointed, an embassy
+to Court is undertaken, usually in spring or autumn,
+the best times to travel in this roadless land.</p>
+<p>
+What happens on these embassies has often
+enough been related from the point of view of the
+performers, but seldom from that of residents in the
+country who know what happens, and the following
+peep behind the scenes, though fortunately not
+typical of all, is not exaggerated. Even more might
+have been told under some heads.  As strictly<a name="page206" id="page206"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;206]</span>
+applicable to no Power at present represented in
+Morocco, the record is that of an imaginary embassy
+from Greece some sixty or more years ago. To
+prevent misconception, it may be as well to add
+that it was written previous to the failure of the
+mission of Sir Charles Euan Smith.</p>
+
+
+<h4>I. <span class="sc">The Reception</span></h4>
+<p>
+In a sloop-of-war sent all the way from the
+&AElig;gean, the Ambassador and his suite sailed from
+Tangier to Saffi, where His Excellency was received
+on landing by a Royal salute from the crumbling
+batteries. The local governor and the Greek vice-consul
+awaited him on leaving the surf boat, with
+an escort which sadly upset the operations of women
+washing wool by the water-port. Outside the land-gate,
+beside the ancient palace, was pitched a
+Moorish camp awaiting his arrival, and European
+additions were soon erected beside it. At daybreak
+next morning a luncheon-party rode forward,
+whose duty it was to prepare the midday meal for
+the embassy, and to pitch the awning under which
+they should partake of it.</p>
+<p>
+Arrived at the spot selected, Drees, the "native
+agent," found the village sheďkh awaiting him with
+ample supplies, enough for every one for a couple of
+days. This he carefully packed on his mules, and
+by the time the embassy came up, having started
+some time later than he, after a good breakfast, he
+was ready to go on again with the remainder of the
+muleteers and the camel-drivers to prepare the
+evening meal and pitch for the night a camp over
+which waved the flag of Greece.</p>
+<p>
+Here the offerings of provisions or money were<a name="page207" id="page207"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;207]</span>
+made with equal profusion. There were bushels of
+kesk'soo; there were several live sheep, which were
+speedily despatched and put into pots to cook;
+there were jars of honey, of oil, and of butter;
+there were camel-loads of barley for the beasts of
+burden, and trusses of hay for their dessert; there
+were packets of candles by the dozen, and loaves of
+sugar and pounds of tea; not to speak of fowls,
+of charcoal, of sweet herbs, of fruits, and of minor
+odds and ends.</p>
+<p>
+By the time the Europeans arrived, their French
+<i>chef</i> had prepared an excellent dinner, the native
+escort and servants squatting in groups round
+steaming dishes provided ready cooked by half-starved
+villagers. When the feasting was over, and
+all seemed quiet, a busy scene was in reality being
+enacted in the background. At a little distance
+from the camp, Háj Marti, the right-hand man of
+the agent, was holding a veritable market with the
+surplus mona of the day, re-selling to the miserable
+country folk what had been wrung from them by the
+authorities. The Moorish Government declared
+that what they paid thus in kind would be deducted
+from their taxes, and this was what the Minister
+assured his questioning wife, for though he knew
+better, he found it best to wink at the proceedings
+of his unpaid henchman.</p>
+<p>
+As they proceeded inland, on the border of each
+local jurisdiction the escort was changed with an
+exhibition of "powder-play," the old one retiring as
+the new one advanced with the governor at its
+head. Thus they journeyed for about a week, till
+they reached the crumbling walls of palm-begirt
+Marrákesh.</p>
+
+<a name="page208" id="page208"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;208]</span>
+  <p>
+The official <i>personnel</i> of the embassy consisted
+of the Minister and his secretary Nikolaki Glymenopoulos,
+with Ayush ben Lezrá, the interpreter. The
+secretary was a self-confident dandy with a head
+like a pumpkin and a scrawl like the footprints
+of a wandering hen; reputed a judge of ladies and
+horse-flesh; supercilious, condescending to inferiors,
+and the plague of his tailor. The consul, Paolo
+Komnenos, a man of middle age with a kindly heart,
+yet without force of character to withstand the evils
+around him, had been left in Tangier as <i>Chargé
+d'Affaires</i>, to the great satisfaction of his wife and
+family, who considered themselves of the <i>cręme de
+la cręme</i> of Tangier society, such as it was, because,
+however much the wife of the Minister despised
+the bumptiousness of Madame Komnenos, she
+could not omit her from her invitations, unless of
+the most private nature, on account of her husband's
+official position. Now, as Madame Mavrogordato
+accompanied her husband with her little son and
+a lady friend, the consul's wife reigned supreme.</p>
+<p>
+Then there were the official <i>attachés</i> for the
+occasion, the representative of the army, a colonel
+of Roman nose, and eyes which required but one
+glass between them, a man to whom death would
+have been preferable to going one morning unshaved,
+or to failing one jot in military etiquette; and the
+representative of the navy, in cocked hat and gold-striped
+pantaloons, who found it more difficult to
+avoid tripping over his sword than most landsmen
+do to keep from stumbling over coils of rope
+on ship-board; beyond his costume there was little
+of note about him; his genial character made it
+easy to say "Ay, ay," to any one, but the yarns he<a name="page209" id="page209"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;209]</span>
+could spin round the camp-fire made him a general
+favourite. The least consequential of the party was
+the doctor, an army man of honest parts, who wished
+well to all the world. Undoubtedly he was the
+hardest worked of the lot, for no one else did anything
+but enjoy himself.</p>
+<p>
+Finally there were the "officious" <i>attachés</i>.
+Every dabbler in politics abroad knows the fine
+distinctions between "official" and "officious" action,
+and how subtle are the changes which can be rung
+upon the two, but there was nothing of that description
+here. The officious <i>attachés</i> were simply a
+party of the Minister's personal friends, and two or
+three strangers whose influence might in after times
+be useful to him. One was of course a journalist,
+to supply the special correspondence of the <i>Acropolis</i>
+and the <i>Hellenike Salpinx</i>. These would afterwards
+be worked up into a handy illustrated volume of
+experiences and impressions calculated to further
+deceive the public with regard to Morocco and the
+Moors, and to secure for the Minister his patron,
+the longed-for promotion to a European Court.
+Another was necessarily the artist of the party,
+while the remainder engaged in sport of one kind
+or another.</p>
+<p>
+Si Drees, the "native agent," was employed as
+master of horse, and superintended the native
+arrangements generally. With him rested every
+detail of camping out, and the supply of food and
+labour. Right and left he was the indispensable
+factotum, shouting himself hoarse from before dawn
+till after sunset, when he joined the gay blades of
+the Embassy in private pulls at forbidden liquors.
+No one worked as hard as he, and he seemed<a name="page210" id="page210"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;210]</span>
+omnipresent. The foreigners were justly thankful to
+have such a man, for without him all felt at sea.
+He appeared to know everything and to be available
+for every one's assistance. The only draw-back was
+his ignorance of Greek, or of any language but his
+own, yet being sharp-witted he made himself
+wonderfully understood by signs and a few words
+of the strange coast jargon, a mixture of half a
+dozen tongues.</p>
+<p>
+The early morning was fixed for the solemn
+entry of the Embassy into the city, yet the road
+had to be lined on both sides with soldiers to keep
+back the thronging crowds. Amid the din of multitudes,
+the clashing of barbarous music, and shrill
+ululations of delight from native women; surrounded
+by an eastern blaze of sun and blended colours,
+rode incongruous the Envoy from Greece. His stiff,
+grim figure, the embodiment of officialism, in full
+Court dress, was supported on either hand by his
+secretary and interpreter, almost as resplendent as
+himself. Behind His Excellency rode the <i>attachés</i>
+and other officials, then the ladies; newspaper correspondents,
+artists, and other non-official guests,
+bringing up the rear. In this order the party
+crossed the red-flowing Tansift by its low bridge
+of many arches, and drew near to the gate of
+Marrákesh called that of the Thursday [market],
+Báb el Khamees.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="gateway" id="gateway"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/211.jpg"><img src="images/211-284.jpg" width="284" height="430" alt="A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Molinari, Photo., Tangier.</i><br /><br />
+<b>A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+At last they commenced to thread the narrow
+winding streets, their bordering roofs close packed
+with shrouded figures only showing an eye, who
+greeted them after their fashion with a piercing,
+long-drawn, "Yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo; yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo;
+yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo&mdash;oo," so novel to the strangers,<a name="page211" id="page211"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;211]</span>
+and so typical. Then they crossed the wide-open
+space before the Kűtűbîyah on their way to the
+garden which had been prepared for them, the
+Maműnîyah, with its handsome residence and shady
+walks.</p>
+<p>
+Three days had to elapse from the time of their
+arrival before they could see the Sultan, for they
+were now under native etiquette, but they had much
+to occupy them, much to see and think about,
+though supposed to remain at home and rest till the
+audience. On the morning of the fourth day all was
+bustle. Each had to array himself in such official
+garb as he could muster, with every decoration he
+could borrow, for the imposing ceremony of the
+presentation to the Emperor. What a business it
+was! what a coming and going; what noise and
+what excitement! It was like living in the thick of
+a whirling pantomime.</p>
+<p>
+At length they were under way, and making
+towards the kasbah gate in a style surpassing that
+of their entry, the populace still more excited at the
+sight of the gold lace and cocked hats which showed
+what great men had come to pay their homage to
+their lord the Sultan. On arrival at the inmost
+courtyard with whitewashed, battlemented walls,
+and green-tiled roofs beyond, they found it thickly
+lined with soldiers, a clear space being left for them
+in the centre. Here they were all ranged on foot,
+the presents from King Otho placed on one side,
+and covered with rich silk cloths. Presently a blast
+of trumpets silenced the hum of voices, and the
+soldiers made a show of "attention" in their undrilled
+way, for the Sultan approached.</p>
+<p>
+In a moment the great doors on the other side<a name="page212" id="page212"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;212]</span>
+flew open, and a number of gaily dressed natives in
+peaked red caps&mdash;the Royal body-guard&mdash;emerged,
+followed by five prancing steeds, magnificent barbs
+of different colours, richly caparisoned, led by gold-worked
+bridles. Then came the Master of the
+Ceremonies in his flowing robes and monster turban,
+a giant in becoming dress, and&mdash;as they soon discovered&mdash;of
+stentorian voice. Behind him rode the
+Emperor himself in stately majesty, clothed in pure
+white, wool-white, distinct amid the mass of colours
+worn by those surrounding him, his ministers. The
+gorgeous trappings of his white steed glittered as
+the proud beast arched his neck and champed his
+gilded bit, or tried in vain to prance. Over his head
+was held by a slave at his side the only sign of
+Royalty, a huge red-silk umbrella with a fringe to
+match, and a golden knob on the point, while others
+of the household servants flicked the flies away, or
+held the spurs, the cushion, the carpet, and other
+things which might be called for by their lord.</p>
+<p>
+On his appearance deafening shouts broke forth,
+"God bless our Lord, and give him victory!" The
+rows of soldiers bowed their heads and repeated the
+cry with still an increase of vigour, "God bless our
+Lord, and give him victory!" At a motion from
+the Master of the Ceremonies the members of the
+Embassy took off their hats or helmets, and the
+representative of modern Greece stood there bareheaded
+in a broiling sun before the figure-head of
+ancient Barbary. As the Sultan approached the
+place where he stood, he drew near and offered a
+few stereotyped words in explanation of his errand,
+learned by heart, to which the Emperor replied by
+bidding him welcome. The Minister then handed<a name="page213" id="page213"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;213]</span>
+to him an engrossed address in a silk embroided
+case, which an attendant was motioned to take, the
+Sultan acknowledging it graciously. One by one
+the Minister next introduced the members of his
+suite, their names and qualities being shouted in
+awful tones by the Master of the Ceremonies, and
+after once more bidding them welcome, but with a
+scowl at the sight of Drees, His Majesty turned his
+horse's head, leaving them to re-mount as their steeds
+were brought to them. Again the music struck up
+with a deafening din, and the state reception was
+over.</p>
+<p>
+But this was not to be the only interview between
+the Ambassador and the Sultan, for several so-called
+private conferences followed, at which an
+attendant or two and the interpreter Ayush were
+present. Kyrios Mavrogordato's stock of polite
+workable Arabic had been exhausted at the public
+function, and for business matters he had to rely
+implicitly on the services of his handy Jew. Such
+other notions of the language as he boasted could
+only be addressed to inferiors, and that but to
+convey the most simple of crude instructions or
+curses.</p>
+<p>
+At the first private audience there were many
+matters of importance to be brought before the
+Sultan's notice, afterwards to be relegated to the
+consideration of his wazeers. This time no fuss
+was made, and the affair again came off in the early
+morning, for His Majesty rose at three, and after
+devotions and study transacted official business from
+five to nine, then breakfasting and reserving the
+rest of the day for recreation and further religious
+study.</p>
+
+<br />
+<a name="page214" id="page214"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;214]</span>
+
+
+<h4>II. <span class="sc">The Interview</span></h4>
+
+<p>
+At the appointed time an escort waited on the
+Ambassador<a name="XXV1r" id="XXV1r"></a><a href="#XXV1"><sup>*</sup></a> to convey him to the palace, arrived
+at which he was led into one of the many gardens
+in the interior, full of luxuriant semi-wild vegetation.
+In a room opening on to one side of the garden
+sat the Emperor, tailor-fashion, on a European sofa,
+elevated by a sort of daďs opposite the door. With
+the exception of an armchair on the lower level,
+to which the Ambassador was motioned after the
+usual formal obeisances and expressions of respect,
+the chamber was absolutely bare of furniture, though
+not lacking in beauty of decoration. The floor was
+of plain cut but elegant tiles, and the dado was a
+more intricate pattern of the same in shades of
+blue, green, and yellow, interspersed with black, but
+relieved by an abundance of greeny white. Above
+this, to the stalactite cornice, the walls were decorated
+with intricate Mauresque designs in carved white
+plaster, while the rich stalactite roofing of deep-red
+tone, just tipped with purple and gilt, made a perfect
+whole, and gave a feeling of repose to the design.
+Through the huge open horse-shoe arch of the
+door the light streamed between the branches of
+graceful creepers waving in the breeze, adding to
+the impression of coolness caused by the bubbling
+fountain outside.</p>
+<p>
+"May God bless our Lord, and prolong his
+days!" said Ayush, bowing profoundly towards the
+Sultan, as the Minister concluded the repetition
+of his stock phrases, and seated himself.</p>
+<p>
+"May it please Your Majesty," began the<a name="page215" id="page215"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;215]</span>
+Minister, in Greek, "I cannot express the honour
+I feel in again being commissioned to approach
+Your Majesty in the capacity of Ambassador from
+my Sovereign, King Otho of Greece."</p>
+<p>
+This little speech was rendered into Arabic by
+Ayush to this effect&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"May God pour blessings on our Lord. The
+Ambassador rejoices greatly, and is honoured above
+measure in being sent once more by his king to
+approach the presence of our Lord, the high and
+mighty Sovereign: yes, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+"He is welcome," answered the Sultan, graciously;
+"we love no nation better than the Greeks.
+They have always been our friends."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty is delighted to see
+Your Excellency, whom he loves from his heart,
+as also your mighty nation, than which none is
+more dear to him, and whose friendship he is ready
+to maintain at any cost."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "It pleases me greatly to hear Your
+Majesty's noble sentiments, which I, and I am sure
+my Government, reciprocate."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister is highly complimented
+by the gracious words of our Lord, and
+declares that the Greeks love no other nation on
+earth beside the Moors: yes, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "Is there anything I can do for such
+good friends?"</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty says he is ready
+to do anything for so good a friend as Your
+Excellency."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "I am deeply grateful to His
+Majesty. Yes, there are one or two matters which
+my Government would like to have settled."</p>
+
+<a name="page216" id="page216"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;216]</span>
+ <p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister is simply overwhelmed
+at the thought of the consideration of
+our Lord, and he has some trifling matters for
+which perhaps he may beg our Lord's attention:
+yes, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "He has only to make them known."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty will do all Your
+Excellency desires."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "First then, Your Majesty, there is
+the little affair of the Greek who was murdered
+last year at Azîla. I am sure that I can rely on
+an indemnity for his widow."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister speaks of the
+Greek who was murdered&mdash;by your leave, yes, my
+Lord&mdash;at Azîla last year: yes, my Lord. The
+Ambassador wishes him to be paid for."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "How much does he ask?"</p>
+<p>
+This being duly interpreted, the Minister
+replied&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"Thirty thousand dollars."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "Half that sum would do, but we will
+see. What next?"</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty thinks that too
+much, but as Your Excellency says, so be it."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "I thank His Majesty, and beg to
+bring to his notice the imprisonment of a Greek
+<i>protégé</i>, Mesaűd bin Aűdah, at Mazagan some
+months ago, and to ask for his liberation and for
+damages. This is a most important case."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister wants that thief
+Mesaűd bin Aűdah, whom the Báshá of Mazagan
+has in gaol, to be let out, and he asks also for
+damages: yes, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "The man was no lawful <i>protégé</i>. I<a name="page217" id="page217"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;217]</span>
+can do nothing in the case.  Bin Aűdah is a
+criminal, and cannot be protected."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty fears that this is a
+matter in which he cannot oblige Your Excellency,
+much as he would like to, since the man in question
+is a thief. It is no use saying anything further
+about this."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "Then ask about that Jew Botbol,
+who was thrashed. Though not a <i>protégé</i>, His
+Majesty might be able to do something."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Excellency brings before
+our Lord a most serious matter indeed; yes, my
+Lord. It is absolutely necessary that redress should
+be granted to Maimon Botbol, the eminent
+merchant of Mogador whom the kaďd of that place
+most brutally treated last year: yes, my Lord.
+And this is most important, for Botbol is a
+great friend of His Excellency, who has taken the
+treatment that the poor man received very much to
+heart. He is sure that our Lord will not hesitate
+to order the payment of the damages demanded,
+only fifty thousand dollars."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "In consideration of the stress the
+Minister lays upon this case, he shall have ten
+thousand dollars."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty will pay Your
+Excellency ten thousand dollars damages."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "As that is more than I had even
+hoped to ask, you will duly thank His Majesty
+most heartily for this spontaneous generosity."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister says that is not
+sufficient from our Lord, but he will not oppose his
+will: yes, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "I cannot do more."</p>
+
+<a name="page218" id="page218"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;218]</span>
+ <p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty says it gives him
+great pleasure to pay it."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "Now there is the question of
+slavery. I have here a petition from a great
+society at Athens requesting His Majesty to consider
+whether he cannot abolish the system throughout
+his realm," handing the Sultan an elaborate
+Arabic scroll in Syrian characters hard to be
+deciphered even by the secretary to whom it is
+consigned for perusal; the Sultan, though an
+Arabic scholar, not taking sufficient interest in the
+matter to think of it again.</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "There are some fanatics in the
+land of Greece, yes, my Lord, who want to see
+slavery abolished here, by thy leave, yes, my Lord,
+but I will explain to the Bashador that this is
+impossible."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "Certainly. It is an unalterable institution.
+Those who think otherwise are fools.
+Besides, your agent Drees deals in slaves!"</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty will give the petition
+his best attention, and if possible grant it with
+pleasure."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "You will thank His Majesty very
+much. It will rejoice my fellow-countrymen to
+hear it. Next, a Greek firm has offered to construct
+the much-needed port at Tangier, if His
+Majesty will grant us the concession till the work
+be paid for by the tolls. Such a measure would
+tend to greatly increase the Moorish revenues."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister wishes to build a
+port at Tangier, yes, my Lord, and to hold it till
+the tolls have paid for it."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "Which may not be till Doomsday.<a name="page219" id="page219"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;219]</span>
+Nevertheless, I will consent to any one making the
+port whom all the European representatives shall
+agree to appoint"&mdash;a very safe promise to make,
+since the Emperor knew that this agreement was
+not likely to be brought about till the said Domesday.</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "Your Excellency's request is
+granted. You have only to obtain the approval of
+your colleagues."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "His Majesty is exceedingly gracious,
+and I am correspondingly obliged to him. Inform
+His Majesty that the same firm is willing to build
+him bridges over his rivers, and to make roads
+between the provinces, which would increase friendly
+communications, and consequently tend to reduce
+inter-tribal feuds."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister thanks our Lord,
+and wants also to build bridges and roads in the
+interior to make the tribes friendly by intercourse."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "That would never do. The more I
+keep the tribes apart the better for me. If I did
+not shake up my rats in the sack pretty often, they
+would gnaw their way out. Besides, where my
+people could travel more easily, so could foreign
+invaders. No, I cannot think of such a thing.
+God created the world without bridges."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty is full of regret that
+in this matter he is unable to please Your Excellency,
+but he thinks his country better as it is."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "Although I beg to differ from His
+Majesty, so be it. Next there is the question of
+our commerce with Morocco. This is greatly
+hampered by the present lack of a fixed customs
+tariff.  There are several articles of which the<a name="page220" id="page220"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;220]</span>
+exportation is now prohibited, which it would be
+really very much in the interest of his people to
+allow us to purchase."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister requests of our
+Lord a new customs tariff, and the right to export
+wheat and barley."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "The tariff he may discuss with the
+Wazeer of the Interior; I will give instructions.
+As for the cereals, the bread of the Faithful cannot
+be given to infidels."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty accedes to your
+Excellency's request. You have only to make
+known the details to the Minister for Internal
+Affairs."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "Again I humbly render thanks to
+his Majesty. Since he is so particularly good to
+me, perhaps he would add one kindness more, in
+abandoning to me the old house and garden on the
+Marshan at Tangier, in which the Foreign Minister
+used to live. It is good for nothing, and would be
+useful to me."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister asks our Lord for a
+couple of houses in Tangier. Yes, my Lord, the
+one formerly occupied by the Foreign Minister on
+the Marshan at Tangier for himself; and the other
+adjoining the New Mosque in town, just an old
+tumble-down place for stores, to be bestowed upon
+me; yes, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "What sort of place is that on the
+Marshan?"</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "I will not lie unto my lord. It
+is a fine big house in a large garden, with wells and
+fruit trees: yes, my Lord. But the other is a mere
+nothing: yes, my Lord."</p>
+
+<a name="page221" id="page221"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;221]</span>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "I will do as he wishes&mdash;if it please
+God." (The latter expression showing the reverse
+of an intention to carry out the former.)</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty gives you the house."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "His Majesty is indeed too kind to
+me. I therefore regret exceedingly having to bring
+forward a number of claims which have been pending
+for a long time, but with the details of which I
+will not of course trouble His Majesty personally.
+I merely desire his instructions to the Treasury to
+discharge them on their being admitted by the competent
+authorities."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "The Minister brings before our
+Lord a number of claims, on the settlement of which
+he insists: yes, my Lord. He feels it a disgrace
+that they should have remained unpaid so long:
+yes, my Lord. And he asks for orders to be given
+to discharge them at once."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Sultan.</i> "There is neither force nor power
+save in God, the High, the Mighty. Glory to
+Him! There is no telling what these Nazarenes
+won't demand next. I will pay all just claims, of
+course, but many of these are usurers' frauds, with
+which I will have nothing to do."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Majesty will give the necessary
+instructions; but the claims will have to be
+examined, as Your Excellency has already suggested.
+His Majesty makes the sign of the conclusion
+of our interview."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Minister.</i> "Assure His Majesty how deeply
+indebted I am to him for these favours he has
+shown me, but allow me to in some measure
+acknowledge them by giving information of importance.
+I am entirely <i>au courant</i>, through private<a name="page222" id="page222"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;222]</span>
+channels, with the unworthy tactics of the British
+Minister, as also those of his two-faced colleagues,
+the representatives of France and Spain, and can
+disclose them to His Majesty whenever he desires."</p>
+<p>
+<i>Interpreter.</i> "His Excellency does not know
+how to express his gratitude to our Lord for his
+undeserved and unprecedented condescension, and
+feels himself bound the slave of our Lord, willing
+to do all our Lord requires of his hands; yes, my
+lord. But he trusts that our Lord will not forget
+the houses&mdash;and the one in town is only a little one,&mdash;or
+the payment of the indemnity to Maimon
+Botbol, yes, my Lord, or the discharging of the
+claims. God bless our Lord, and give him victory!
+And also, pardon me, my Lord, the Minister says
+that all the other ministers are rogues, and he
+knows all about them that our Lord may wish to
+learn: yes, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+"God is omniscient. He can talk of those
+matters to the Foreign Minister to-morrow. In
+peace!"</p>
+<p>
+Once more a few of his stock phrases were
+man&oelig;uvred by Kyrios Mavrogordato, as with the
+most profound of rear-steering bows the representatives
+of civilization retreated, and the potentate of
+Barbary turned with an air of relief to give instructions
+to his secretary.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXV1" id="XXV1"></a>
+<a href="#XXV1r">*</a> Strictly speaking, only "Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy
+Extraordinary."</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>III. <span class="sc">The Result</span></h4>
+<p>
+A few weeks after this interview the <i>Hellenike
+Salpinx</i>, a leading journal of Athens, contained an
+article of which the following is a translation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<a name="page223" id="page223"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;223]</span>
+
+
+<h4>"OUR INTERESTS IN MOROCCO</h4>
+
+<p class="center1">"
+(<i>From our Special Correspondent</i>)</p>
+<p class="author">
+"Marrákesh, October 20.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"The success of our Embassy to Morocco is already
+assured, and that in a remarkable degree. The Sultan has
+once more shown most unequivocally his strong partiality
+for the Greek nation, and especially for their distinguished
+representative, Kyrios Dimitri Mavrogordato, whose personal
+tact and influence have so largely contributed to
+this most thankworthy result. It is very many years since
+such a number of requests have been granted by the
+Emperor of Morocco to one ambassador, and it is probable
+that under the most favourable circumstances no other
+Power could have hoped for such an exhibition of favour.</p>
+<p>
+"The importance of the concessions is sufficient to mark
+this embassy in the history of European relations with
+Morocco, independently of the amount of ordinary business
+transacted, and the way in which the Sultan has promised
+to satisfy our outstanding claims. Among other favours,
+permission has been granted to a Greek firm to construct
+a port at Tangier, the chief seat of foreign trade in the
+Empire, which is a matter of national importance, and
+there is every likelihood of equally valuable concessions
+for the building of roads and bridges being made to the
+same company.</p>
+<p>
+"Our merchants will be rejoiced to learn that at last
+the vexatious customs regulations, or rather the absence
+of them, will be replaced by a regular tariff, which our
+minister has practically only to draw up for it to be
+sanctioned by the Moorish Government. The question of
+slavery, too, is under the consideration of the Sultan with
+a view to its restriction, if not to its abolition, a distinct
+and unexpected triumph for the friends of universal
+freedom. There can be no question that, under its present
+enlightened ruler, Morocco is at last on the high-road to
+civilization.</p>
+<p>
+"Only those who have had experience in dealing with<a name="page224" id="page224"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;224]</span>
+procrastinating politicians of the eastern school can appreciate
+in any degree the consummate skill and patience
+which is requisite to overcome the sinuosities of oriental
+minds, and it is only such a signal victory as has just been
+won for Greece and for progress in Morocco, as can enable
+us to realize the value to the State of such diplomatists as
+His Excellency, Kyrios Mavrogordato."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+This article had not appeared in print before
+affairs on the spot wore a very different complexion.
+At the interview with the Minister for the
+Interior a most elaborate customs tariff had been
+presented and discussed, some trifling alterations
+being made, and the whole being left to be submitted
+to the Sultan for his final approval, with the
+assurance that this was only a matter of form. The
+Minister of Finance had promised most blandly the
+payment of the damages demanded for the murder
+of the Greek and for the thrashing of the Jew. It
+was true that as yet no written document had been
+handed to the Greek Ambassador, but then he had
+the word of the Ministers themselves, and promises
+from the Sultan's lips as well. The only <i>fait
+accompli</i> was the despatch of a courier to Tangier
+with orders to deliver up the keys of two specified
+properties to the Ambassador and his interpreter
+respectively, a matter which, strange to say, found
+no place in the messages to the Press, and in which
+the spontaneous present to the interpreter struck
+His Excellency as a most generous act on the part
+of the Sultan.</p>
+<p>
+Quite a number of state banquets had been
+given, in which the members of the Embassy had
+obtained an insight into stylish native cooking,
+writing home that half the dishes were prepared<a name="page225" id="page225"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;225]</span>
+with pomatum and the other half with rancid oil
+and butter. The <i>littérateur</i> of the party had nearly
+completed his work on Morocco, and was seriously
+thinking of a second volume. The young <i>attachés</i>
+could swear right roundly in Arabic, and were becoming
+perfect connoisseurs of native beauty. In
+the palatial residence of Drees, as well as in a
+private residence which that worthy had placed at
+their disposal, they had enjoyed a selection of native
+female society, and had such good times under the
+wing of that "rare old cock," as they dubbed him,
+that one or two began to feel as though they had
+lighted among the lotus eaters, and had little desire
+to return.</p>
+<p>
+But to Kyrios Mavrogordato and Glymenopoulos
+his secretary, the delay at Court began to
+grow irksome, and they heartily wished themselves
+back in Tangier. Notwithstanding the useful "tips"
+which he had given to the Foreign Minister regarding
+the base designs of his various colleagues
+accredited to that Court, his own affairs seemed to
+hang fire. He had shown how France was determined
+to make war upon Morocco sooner or later,
+with a view to adding its fair plains to those it was
+acquiring in Algeria, and had warned him that if the
+Sultan lent assistance to the Ameer Abd el Káder
+he would certainly bring this trouble upon himself.
+He had also shown how England pretended friendship
+because at any cost she must maintain at least
+the neutrality of that part of his country bordering
+on the Straits of Gibraltar, and that with all her
+professions of esteem, she really cared not a straw
+for the Moors. He had shown too that puny Spain
+held it as an article of faith that Morocco should<a name="page226" id="page226"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;226]</span>
+one day become hers in return for the rule of the
+Moors upon her own soil. He had, in fact, shown
+that Greece alone cared for the real interests of the
+Sultan.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>IV. <span class="sc">Diamond Cut Diamond</span></h4>
+<p>
+Yet things did not move. The treaty of commerce
+remained unsigned, and slaves were still
+bought and sold. The numerous claims which he
+had to enforce had only been passed in part, and
+the Moorish authorities seemed inclined to dispute
+the others stoutly. At last, at a private conference
+with the Wazeer el Kiddáb, the Ambassador
+broached a proposal to cut the Gordian knot.
+He would abandon all disputed claims for a lump
+sum paid privately to himself, and asked what
+the Moorish Government might feel inclined to
+offer.</p>
+<p>
+The Wazeer el Kiddáb received this proposal
+with great complacency. He was accustomed to
+such overtures. Every day of his life that style of
+bargain was part of his business. But this was the
+first time that a European ambassador had made
+such a suggestion in its nakedness, and he was
+somewhat taken aback, though his studied indifference
+of manner did not allow the foreigner to suspect
+such a thing for a moment. The usual style
+had been for him to offer present after present to
+the ambassadors till he had reached their price, and
+then, when his master had overloaded them with
+personal favours&mdash;many of which existed but in
+promise&mdash;they had been unable to press too hard
+the claims they had come to enforce, for fear of<a name="page227" id="page227"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;227]</span>
+possible disclosures. So this was a novel proceeding,
+though quite comprehensible on the part of a
+man who had been bribed on a less extensive scale
+on each previous visit to Court. Once, however,
+such a proposition had been made, it was evident
+that his Government could not be much in earnest
+regarding demands which he could so easily afford
+to set aside.</p>
+<p>
+As soon, therefore, as Kyrios Mavrogordato
+had left, the Wazeer ordered his mule, that he
+might wait upon His Majesty before the hours of
+business were over. His errand being stated as
+urgent and private, he was admitted without delay
+to his sovereign's presence.</p>
+<p>
+"May God prolong the days of our Lord! I
+come to say that the way to rid ourselves of the
+importunity of this ambassador from Greece is
+plain. He has made it so himself by offering to
+abandon all disputed claims for a round sum down
+for his own use. What is the pleasure of my
+Lord?"</p>
+<p>
+"God is great!" exclaimed the Sultan, "that is
+well. You may inform the Minister from me that
+a positive refusal is given to every demand not
+already allowed in writing. What <i>he</i> can afford to
+abandon, <i>I</i> can't afford to pay."</p>
+<p>
+"The will of our Lord shall be done."</p>
+<p>
+"But stay! I have had my eye upon that
+Greek ambassador this long while, and am getting
+tired of him. The abuses he commits are atrocious,
+and his man Drees is a devil. Háj Taďb el Ghassál
+writes that the number of his <i>protégés</i> is legion, and
+that by far the greater number of them are illegal.
+Inform him when you see him that henceforth the<a name="page228" id="page228"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;228]</span>
+provisions of our treaties shall be strictly adhered to,
+and moreover that no protection certificates shall be
+valid unless countersigned by our Foreign Commissioner
+El Ghassál. If I rule here, I will put an end
+to this man's doings."</p>
+<p>
+"On my head and eyes be the words of my
+Lord."</p>
+<p>
+"And remind him further that the permits for
+the free passage of goods at the customs are granted
+only for his personal use, for the necessities of his
+household, and that the way Háj Taďb writes he
+has been selling them is a disgrace. The man is a
+regular swindler, and the less we have to do with
+him the better. As for his pretended information
+about his colleagues, there may be a good deal of
+truth in it, but I have the word of the English
+minister, who is about as honest as any of them,
+that this Mavrogordato is a born villain, and that if
+his Government is not greedy for my country on
+its own account, it wants to sell me to some more
+powerful neighbour in exchange for its protection.
+Greece is only a miserable fag-end of Europe."</p>
+<p>
+"Our Lord knows: may God give him victory,"
+and the Wazeer bowed himself out to consider how
+best he might obey his instructions, not exactly
+liking the task. On returning home he despatched
+a messenger to the quarters of the Embassy,
+appointing an hour on the morrow for a conference,
+and when this came the Ambassador found himself
+in for a stormy interview. The Wazeer, with his
+snuff-box in constant use, sat cool and collected on
+his mattress on the floor, the Ambassador sitting uneasily
+on a chair before him. Though the language
+used was considerably modified in filtering through<a name="page229" id="page229"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;229]</span>
+the brain of the interpreter, the increasing violence
+of tone and gesture could not be concealed, and
+were all but sufficiently comprehensible in themselves.
+The Ambassador protested that if the
+remainder of the demands were to be refused, he
+was entitled to at least as much as the French
+representative had had to shut his mouth last time
+he came to Court, and affected overwhelming indignation
+at the treatment he had received.</p>
+<p>
+"Besides," he added, "I have the promise of
+His Majesty the Sultan himself that certain of them
+should be paid in full, and I cannot abandon those.
+I have informed my Government of the Sultan's
+words."</p>
+<p>
+"Dost suppose that my master is a dog of a
+Nazarene, that he should keep his word to thee?
+Nothing thou may'st say can alter his decision.
+The claims that have been allowed in writing shall
+be paid by the Customs Administrators on thy
+return to Tangier. Here are orders for the
+money."</p>
+<p>
+"I absolutely refuse to accept a portion of what
+my Government demands. I will either receive
+the whole, or I will return empty-handed, and
+report on the treacherous way in which I have
+been treated. I am thoroughly sick of the procrastinating
+and prevaricating ways of this country&mdash;a
+disgrace to the age."</p>
+<p>
+"And we are infinitely more sick of thy behaviour
+and thine abuse of the favours we have
+granted thee. Our lord has expressly instructed
+me to tell thee that in future no excess of the rights
+guaranteed to foreigners by treaty will be permitted
+on any account. Thy protection certificates to be<a name="page230" id="page230"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;230]</span>
+valid must be endorsed by our Foreign Commissioner,
+and the nature of the goods thou importest
+free of duty as for thyself shall be strictly examined,
+as we have the right to do, that no more defrauding
+of our revenue be permitted."</p>
+<p>
+"Your words are an insult to my nation," exclaimed
+the Ambassador, rising, "and shall be duly
+reported to my Government. I cannot sit here
+and listen to vile impeachments like these; you
+know them to be false!"</p>
+<p>
+"That is no affair of mine; I have delivered
+the decision of our lord, and have no more to say.
+The claims we refuse are all of them unjust, the
+demands of usurers, on whom be the curse of God;
+and demands for money which has never been
+stolen, or has already been paid; every one of
+them is a shameful fraud, God knows. Leeches
+are only fit to be trodden on when they have done
+their work; we want none of them."</p>
+<p>
+"Your language is disgraceful, such as was
+never addressed to me in my life before; if I do
+not receive an apology by noon to-morrow, I will
+at once set out for Tangier, if not for Greece, and
+warn you of the possible consequences."</p>
+
+     <br /><hr class="short" /><br />
+<p>
+The excitement in certain circles in Athens on
+the receipt of the intelligence that the Embassy to
+Morocco had failed, after all the flourish of trumpets
+with which its presumed successes had been hailed,
+was great indeed. One might have thought that
+once more the brave Hellenes were thirsting for
+the conquest of another Sicily, to read the columns
+of the <i>Palingenesia</i>, some of the milder paragraphs
+of which, translated, ran thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<a name="page231" id="page231"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;231]</span>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"A solemn duty has been imposed upon our nation by
+the studied indignities heaped upon our representative at
+the Court of Morocco. Greece has been challenged,
+Europe defied, and the whole civilized world insulted.
+The duty now before us is none other than to wipe from
+the earth that nest of erstwhile pirates flattered by the
+name of the Moorish Government....</p>
+<p>
+"As though it were insufficient to have refused the
+just demands presented by Kyrios Mavrogordato for the
+payment of business debts due to Greek merchants, and
+for damages acknowledged to be due to others for property
+stolen by lawless bandits, His Excellency has been
+practically dismissed from the Court in a manner which
+has disgraced our flag in the eyes of all Morocco.</p>
+<p>
+"Here are two counts which need no exaggeration.
+Unless the payment of just business debts is duly enforced
+by the Moorish Government, as it would be in any other
+country, and unless the native agents of our merchants are
+protected fully by the local authorities, it is hopeless to
+think of maintaining commercial relations with such a
+nation, so that insistence on these demands is of vital
+necessity to our trade, and a duty to our growing manufactories.</p>
+<p>
+"The second count is of the simplest: such treatment
+as has been meted out to our Minister Plenipotentiary in
+Morocco, especially after the bland way in which he was
+met at first with empty promises and smiles, is worthy
+only of savages or of a people intent on war."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+The <i>Hellenike Salpinx</i> was hardly less vehement
+in the language in which it chronicled the
+course of events in Morocco:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"Notwithstanding the unprecedented manner in which
+the requests of His Excellency, Kyrios Dimitri Mavrogordato,
+our Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary
+at the Court of Morocco, were acceded to on the
+recent Embassy to Mulai Abd er-Rahmán, the Moors have
+shown their true colours at last by equally marked, but
+less astonishing, insults.</p>
+
+<a name="page232" id="page232"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;232]</span>
+<p>
+"The unrivalled diplomatic talents of our ambassador
+proved, in fact, too much for the Moorish Government,
+and though the discovery of the way in which a Nazarene
+was obtaining his desires from the Sultan may have
+aroused the inherent obstinacy of the wazeers, and thus
+produced the recoil which we have described, it is far more
+likely that this was brought about by the officious interference
+of one or two other foreign representatives at
+Tangier. It has been for some time notorious that the
+Sardinian consul-general&mdash;who at the same time represents
+Portugal&mdash;loses no opportunity of undermining
+Grecian influence in Morocco, and in this certain of his
+colleagues have undoubtedly not been far behind him.</p>
+<p>
+"Nevertheless, whatever causes may have been at work
+in bringing about this crisis, it is one which cannot be
+tided over, but which must be fairly faced. Greece has
+but one course before her."
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page233" id="page233"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;233]</span>
+
+<h3>XXVI</h3>
+
+<h2>PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Misfortune is misfortune's heir."</p>
+<p class="rindent"><i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Externally the gaol of Tangier does not differ
+greatly in appearance from an ordinary Moorish
+house, and even internally it is of the plan which
+prevails throughout the native buildings from
+fandaks to palaces. A door-way in a blank wall,
+once whitewashed, gives access to a kind of lobby,
+such as might precede the entrance to some
+grandee's house, but instead of being neat and
+clean, it is filthy and dank, and an unwholesome
+odour pervades the air. On a low bench at the
+far end lie a guard or two in dirty garments, fitting
+ornaments for such a place. By them is the low-barred
+entrance to the prison, with a hole in the
+centre the size of such a face as often fills it, wan
+and hopeless. A clanking of chains, a confused din
+of voices, and an occasional moan are borne through
+the opening on the stench-laden atmosphere. "All
+hope abandon, ye who enter here!" could never have
+been written on portal more appropriate than this,
+unless he who entered had friends and money. Here
+are forgotten good and bad, the tried and the untried,
+just and unjust together, sunk in a night of
+blank despair, a living grave.</p>
+
+<a name="page234" id="page234"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;234]</span>
+<p>
+Around an open courtyard, protected by an iron
+grating at the top, is a row of dirty columns, and
+behind them a kind of arcade, on to which open a
+number of doorless chambers. Filth is apparent
+everywhere, and to the stifling odour of that unwashed
+horde is added that caused by insanitary
+drainage. To some of the pillars are chained poor
+wretches little more than skeletons, while a cable of
+considerable length secures others. It is locked
+at one end to a staple outside the door under which
+it passes, and is threaded through rings on the iron
+collars of half a dozen prisoners who have been
+brought in as rebels from a distant province. For
+thirteen days they have tramped thus, carrying that
+chain, holding it up by their hands to save their
+shoulders, and two empty rings still threaded on
+show that when they started they numbered eight.
+Since the end rings are riveted to the chain, it has
+been impossible to remove them, so when two fell
+sick by the way the drivers cut off their heads to
+effect the release of their bodies, and to prove, by
+presenting those ghastly trophies at their journey's
+end, that none had escaped.</p>
+<p>
+Many of the prisoners are busy about the floor,
+where they squat in groups, plaiting baskets and
+satchels of palmetto leaves, while many appear too
+weak and disheartened even to earn a subsistence
+in this way. One poor fellow, who has been a
+courier, was employed one day twenty-five years
+since to carry a despatch to Court, complaining of
+the misdeeds of a governor. That official himself
+intercepted the letter, and promptly despatched
+the bearer to Tangier as a Sultan's prisoner. He
+then arrested the writer of the letter, who, on paying<a name="page235" id="page235"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;235]</span>
+a heavy fine, regained his liberty, but the courier
+remained unasked for. In course of time the kaďd
+was called to his account, and his son, who succeeded
+him in office, having died too, a stranger
+ruled in their stead. The forgotten courier had by
+this time lost his reason, fancying himself once more
+in his goat-hair tent on the southern plains, and
+with unconscious irony he still gives every new
+arrival the Arab greeting, "Welcome to thee, a
+thousand welcomes! Make thyself at home and
+comfortable. All before thee is thine, and what
+thou seest not, be sure we don't possess."</p>
+<p>
+Some few, in better garments, hold themselves
+aloof from the others, and converse together with all
+the nonchalance of gossip in the streets, for they are
+well-to-do, arrested on some trivial charge which a
+few dollars apiece will soon dispose of, but they are
+exceptions. A quieter group occupies one corner,
+members of a party of no less than sixty-two
+brought in together from Fez, on claims made
+against them by a European Power. A sympathetic
+inquiry soon elicits their histories.<a name="XXVI1r" id="XXVI1r"></a><a href="#XXVI1"><sup>*</sup></a> The
+first man to speak is hoary and bent with years; he
+was arrested several years ago, on the death of a
+brother who had owed some $50 to a European.
+The second had borrowed $900 in exchange for a
+bond for twice that amount; he had paid off half of
+this, and having been unable to do more, had been
+arrested eighteen months before. The third had
+similarly received $80 for a promise to pay $160;
+he had been in prison five years and three months.<a name="page236" id="page236"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;236]</span>
+Another had borrowed $100, and knew not the sum
+which stood yet against him. Another had been in
+prison five years for a debt alleged to have been
+contracted by an uncle long dead. Another had
+borrowed $50 on a bond for $100. Another had
+languished eighteen months in gaol on a claim for
+$120; the amount originally advanced to him was
+about $30, but the acknowledgment was for $60,
+which had been renewed for $120 on its falling due
+and being dishonoured. Another had borrowed $15
+on agreeing to refund $30, which was afterwards
+increased to $60 and then to $105. He has been
+imprisoned three years. The debt of another,
+originally $16 for a loan of half that amount, has
+since been doubled twice, and now stands at $64,
+less $17 paid on account, while for forty-two
+measures of wheat delivered on account he can get
+no allowance, though that was three years ago, and
+four months afterwards he was sent to prison.
+Another had paid off the $50 he owed for an
+advance of $25, but on some claim for expenses the
+creditor had withheld the bond, and is now suing
+for the whole amount again. He has been in
+prison two years and six months. Another has paid
+twenty measures of barley on account of a bond for
+$100, for which he has received $50, and he was
+imprisoned at the same time as the last speaker, his
+debt being due to the same man. Another had
+borrowed $90 on the usual terms, and has paid the
+whole in cash or wheat, but cannot get back the
+bond. He has previously been imprisoned for a
+year, but two years after his release he was re-arrested,
+fourteen months ago. Another has been two
+months in gaol on a claim for $25 for a loan of $12.<a name="page237" id="page237"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;237]</span>
+The last one has a bitter tale to tell, if any could
+be worse than the wearisome similarity of those who
+have preceded him.</p>
+<p>
+"Some years ago," he says, "I and my two
+brothers, Drees and Ali, borrowed $200 from a
+Jew of Mequinez, for which we gave him a notarial
+bond for $400. We paid him a small sum on
+account every month, as we could get it&mdash;a few
+dollars at a time&mdash;besides presents of butter, fowls,
+and eggs. At the end of the first year he threatened
+to imprison us, and made us change the bond for
+one for $800, and year by year he raised the debt
+this way till it reached $3000, even after allowing
+for what we had paid off. I saw no hope of ever
+meeting his claim, so I ran away, and my brother
+Drees was imprisoned for six years. He died last
+winter, leaving a wife and three children, the
+youngest, a daughter, being born a few months
+after her father was taken away. He never saw
+her. By strenuous efforts our family paid off the
+$3000, selling all their land, and borrowing small
+sums. But the Jew would not give up the bond.
+He died about two years ago, and we do not know
+who is claiming now, but we are told that the sum
+demanded is $560. We have nothing now left to
+sell, and, being in prison, we cannot work. When
+my brother Drees died, I and my brother Ali were
+seized to take his place. My kaďd was very sorry
+for me, and became surety that I would not escape,
+so that my irons were removed; but my brother
+remains still in fetters, as poor Drees did all through
+the six years. We have no hope of our friends
+raising any money, so we must wait for death to
+release us."</p>
+
+<a name="page238" id="page238"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;238]</span>
+<p>
+Here he covers his face with his hands, and
+several of his companions, in spite of their own dire
+troubles, have to draw their shrivelled arms across
+their eyes, as silence falls upon the group.</p>
+<p>
+As we turn away heartsick a more horrible
+sight than any confronts us before the lieutenant-governor's
+court. A man is suspended by the arms
+and legs, face downwards, by a party of police, who
+grasp his writhing limbs. With leather thongs a
+stalwart policeman on either side is striking his
+bare back in turn. Already blood is flowing freely,
+but the victim does not shriek. He only winces
+and groans, or gives an almost involuntary cry as
+the cruel blows fall on some previously harrowed
+spot. He is already unable to move his limbs, but
+the blows fall thick and fast. Will they never cease?</p>
+<p>
+By the side stands a young European counting
+them one by one, and when the strikers slow down
+from exhaustion he orders them to stop, that others
+may relieve them. The victim is by this time
+swooning, so the European directs that he shall be
+put on the ground and deluged with water till he
+revives. When sufficiently restored the count
+begins again. Presently the European stays them
+a second time; the man is once again insensible,
+yet he has only received six hundred lashes of the
+thousand which have been ordered.</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he exclaims, "it's no use going on with
+him to-day. Put him in the gaol now, and I'll
+come and see him have the rest to-morrow."</p>
+<p>
+"God bless thee, but surely he has had enough!"
+exclaims the lieutenant-governor, in sympathetic
+tones.</p>
+<p>
+"Enough? He deserves double! The consul<a name="page239" id="page239"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;239]</span>
+has only ordered a thousand, and I am here to see
+that he has every one. We'll teach these villains
+to rob our houses!"</p>
+<p>
+"There is neither force nor power save in
+God, the High, the Mighty! As thou sayest; it is
+written," and the powerless official turns away disgusted.
+"God burn these Nazarenes, their wives
+and families, and all their ancestors! They were
+never fit for aught but hell!" he may be heard
+muttering as he enters his house, and well may he
+feel as he does.</p>
+<p>
+The policemen carry the victim off to the gaol
+hard by, depositing him on the ground, after once
+more restoring him with cold water.</p>
+<p>
+"God burn their fathers and their grandfathers,
+and the whole cursed race of them!" they murmur,
+for their thoughts still run upon the consul and the
+clerk.</p>
+<p>
+Leaving him sorrowfully, they return to the
+yard, where we still wait to obtain some information
+as to the cause of such treatment.</p>
+<p>
+"Why, that dog of a Nazarene, the Greek
+consul, says that his house was robbed a month
+ago, though we don't believe him, for it wasn't
+worth it. The sinner says that a thousand dollars
+were stolen, and he has sent in a claim for it to the
+Sultan. The minister's now at court for the money,
+the Satan! God rid our country of them all!"</p>
+<p>
+"But how does this poor fellow come in for it?"</p>
+<p>
+"He! He never touched the money! Only
+he had some quarrel with the clerk, so they accused
+him of the theft, as he was the native living nearest
+to the house, just over the fence. He's nothing
+but a poor donkey-man, and an honest one at that.<a name="page240" id="page240"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;240]</span>
+The consul sent his clerk up here to say he was
+the thief, and that he must receive a thousand
+lashes. The governor refused till the man should
+be tried and convicted, but the Greek wouldn't hear
+of it, and said that if he wasn't punished at once he
+would send a courier to his minister at Marrákesh,
+and have a complaint made to the Sultan. The
+governor knew that if he escaped it would most
+likely cost him his post to fight the consul, so he
+gave instructions for the order to be carried out,
+and went indoors so as not to be present."</p>
+<p>
+"God is supreme!" ejaculates a bystander.</p>
+<p>
+"But these infidels of Nazarenes know nothing
+of Him. His curse be on them!" answers the
+policeman. "They made us ride the poor man
+round the town on a bare-backed donkey, with his
+face to the tail, and all the way two of us had to
+thrash him, crying, 'Thus shall be done to the man
+who robs a consul!' He was ready to faint before
+we got him up here. God knows <i>we</i> don't want to
+lash him again!"</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="short" /><br />
+<p>
+Next day as we pass the gaol we stop to inquire
+after the prisoner, but the poor fellow is still too
+weak to receive the balance due, and so it is for
+several days. Then they tell us that he has been
+freed from them by God, who has summoned his
+spirit, though meanwhile the kindly attentions of a
+doctor have been secured, and everything possible
+under the circumstances has been done to relieve
+his sufferings.  After all, he was "only a Moor!"</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="short" /><br />
+
+<a name="page241" id="page241"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;241]</span>
+<p>
+The Greek consul reported that the condition
+of the Moorish prisons was a disgrace to the age,
+and that he had himself known prisoners who had
+succumbed to their evil state after receiving a few
+strokes from the lash.</p>
+<p>
+A statement of claim for a thousand dollars,
+alleged to have been robbed from his house, was
+forwarded by courier to his chief, then at Court,
+and was promptly added to the demands that it
+was part of His Excellency's errand to enforce.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXVI1" id="XXVI1"></a>
+<a href="#XXVI1r">*</a> All these statements were taken down from the lips of the victims
+at the prison door, and most, if not all of them, were supported by
+documentary evidence.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page242" id="page242"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;242]</span>
+
+
+<h3>XXVII</h3>
+
+<h2>THE PROTECTION SYSTEM</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"My heart burns, but my lips will not give utterance."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<h4>I. <span class="sc">The Need</span></h4>
+<p>
+Crouched at the foreigner's feet lay what appeared
+but a bundle of rags, in reality a suppliant Moor,
+once a man of wealth and position. Hugging a pot
+of butter brought as an offering, clutching convulsively
+at the leg of the chair, his furrowed face
+bespoke past suffering and present earnestness.</p>
+<p>
+"God bless thee, Bashador, and all the Christians,
+and give me grace in thy sight!"</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, indeed, so you like the Christians?"</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Bashador, I must love the Christians;
+they have justice, we have none. I wish they had
+rule over the country."</p>
+<p>
+"Then you are not a good Muslim!"</p>
+<p>
+"Oh yes, I am, I am a háj (pilgrim to Mekka),
+and I love my own religion, certainly I do, but none
+of our officials follow our religion nowadays: they
+have no religion. They forget God and worship
+money; their delight is in plunder and oppression."</p>
+<p>
+"You appear to have known better days. What
+is your trouble?"</p>
+<p>
+"Trouble enough," replies the Moor, with a<a name="page243" id="page243"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;243]</span>
+sigh. "I am Hamed Zirári. I was rich once, and
+powerful in my tribe, but now I have only this
+sheep and two goats. I and my wife live alone
+with our children in a nuállah (hut), but after all we
+are happier now when they leave us alone, than
+when we were rich. I have plenty of land left, it
+is true, but we dare not for our lives cultivate more
+than a small patch around our nuállah, lest we
+should be pounced upon again."</p>
+
+<br /><a name="homestead" id="homestead"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/242.jpg"><img src="images/242-500.jpg" width="500" height="306" alt="A CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD (NUÁLLAS)." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Photograph by Dr. Rudduck.</i><br /><br />
+<b>A CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD (NUÁLLAS).</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+"How did you lose your property?"</p>
+<p>
+"I will tell you, Bashador, and then you will
+see whether I am justified in speaking of our
+Government as I do. It is a sad story, but I will
+tell you all.<a name="XXVII1r" id="XXVII1r"></a><a href="#XXVII1"><sup>*</sup></a> A few years ago I possessed more
+than six hundred cows and bullocks, more than
+twelve hundred sheep, a hundred good camels,
+fifty mules, twenty horses, and twenty-four mares.
+I had also four wives and many slaves. I had
+plenty of guns and abundance of grain in my
+stores; in fact, I was rich and powerful among my
+people, by whom I was held in great honour; but
+alas! alas! our new kaďd is worse than the old
+one; he is insatiable, a pit without a bottom!
+There is no possibility of satisfying his greed!</p>
+<p>
+"I felt that although by continually making him
+valuable presents I succeeded in keeping on friendly
+terms with him, he was always coveting my wealth.
+We have in our district two markets a week, and at
+last I had to present him with from $50 to $80
+every market-day. I was nevertheless in constant
+dread of his eyes&mdash;they are such greedy eyes&mdash;and
+I saw that it would be necessary to look out for<a name="page244" id="page244"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;244]</span>
+protection. I was too loyal a subject of the Sultan
+then, and too good a Muslim, to think of Nazarene
+protection, so I applied for help to Si Mohammed
+boo Aálam, commander-in-chief of our lord (whom
+may God send victorious), and to enter the Sultan's
+service.</p>
+<p>
+"We prepared a grand present with which to
+approach him, and when it was ready I started with
+it, accompanied by two of my cousins. We took
+four splendid horses, four mares with their foals,
+four she-camels with their young, four picked cows,
+two pairs of our best bullocks, four fine young male
+slaves, each with a silver-mounted gun, and four
+well-dressed female slaves, each carrying a new
+bucket in her hand, many jars containing fresh and
+salted butter and honey, beside other things, and a
+thousand dollars in cash. It was a fine present,
+was it not, Bashador?</p>
+<p>
+"Well, on arrival at Si Mohammed's place, we
+slaughtered two bullocks at his door, and humbly
+begged his gracious acceptance of our offering,
+which we told him we regretted was not greater,
+but that as we were his brethren, we trusted to find
+favour in his sight. We said we wished to honour
+him, and to become his fortunate slaves, whose chief
+delight it would be to do his bidding. We reminded
+him that although he was so rich and powerful he
+was still our brother, and that we desired nothing
+better than to live in continual friendship with him.</p>
+<p>
+"He received and feasted us very kindly, and
+gave us appointments as mounted guards to the
+marshal of the Sultan, as which we served happily
+for seven months. We were already thinking about
+sending for some of our family to come and relieve<a name="page245" id="page245"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;245]</span>
+us, that we might return home ourselves, when one
+day Si Mohammed sent for us to say that he was
+going away for a time, having received commands
+from the Sultan to visit a distant tribe with the
+effects of Royal displeasure. After mutual compliments
+and blessings he set off with his soldiers.</p>
+<p>
+"Five days later a party of soldiers came to our
+house. To our utter astonishment and dismay,
+without a word of explanation, they put chains on
+our necks and wrists, and placing us on mules,
+bore us away. Remonstrance and resistance were
+equally vain. We were in Mequinez. It was
+already night, and though the gates were shut, and
+are never opened again except in obedience to high
+authority, they were silently opened for us to pass
+through. Once outside, our eyes were bandaged,
+and we were lashed to our uncomfortable seats.
+Thus we travelled on as rapidly as possible, in
+silence all night long. It was a long night, that,
+indeed, Bashador, a weary night, but we felt sure
+some worse fate awaited us; what, we could not
+imagine, for we had committed no crime. Finally,
+after three days we halted, and the bandages were
+removed from our eyes. We found ourselves in a
+market-place in Rahámna, within the jurisdiction of
+our cursëd kaďd. All around us were our flocks and
+herds, camels, and horses, all our movable property,
+which we soon learnt had been brought there
+for public sale. A great gathering was there to
+purchase.</p>
+<p>
+"The kaďd was there, and when he saw us he
+exclaimed, 'There you are, are you? You can't
+escape from me now, you children of dogs!' Then
+he turned to a brutal policeman, crying, 'Put the<a name="page246" id="page246"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;246]</span>
+bastards on the ground, and give them a thousand
+lashes.' Those words ring in my ears still. I felt
+as in a dream. I was too utterly in his power to
+think of answering, and after a very few strokes the
+power of doing so was taken from me, for I lost
+consciousness. How many blows we received I
+know not, but we must have been very nearly
+killed. When I revived we were in a filthy matmorah,
+where we existed for seven months in
+misery, being kept alive on a scanty supply of
+barley loaves and water. At last I pretended to
+have lost my reason, as I should have done in truth
+had I stayed there much longer. When they told
+the kaďd this, he gave permission for me to be let
+out. I found my wife and children still living,
+thank God, though they had had very hard times.
+What has become of my cousins I do not know,
+and do not dare to ask, but thou couldst, O Bashador,
+if once I were under thy protection.</p>
+<p>
+"All I know is that, after receiving our present,
+Si Mohammed sold us to the kaďd for twelve
+hundred dollars. He was a fool, Bashador, a great
+fool; had he demanded of us we would have given
+him twelve hundred dollars to save ourselves what
+we have had to suffer.</p>
+<p>
+"Wonderest thou still, O Bashador, that I prefer
+the Nazarenes, and wish there were more of them
+in the country? I respect the dust off their shoes
+more than a whole nation of miscalled Muslims who
+could treat me as I have been treated; but God is
+just, and 'there is neither force nor power save in
+God,' yes, 'all is written.' He gives to men according
+to their hearts. We had bad hearts, and he
+gave us a Government like them."</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXVII1" id="XXVII1"></a>
+<a href="#XXVII1r">*</a> This story is reproduced from notes taken of the man's narrative
+by my father.&mdash;B. M.</p>
+<br />
+
+<a name="page247" id="page247"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;247]</span>
+
+
+<h4>II. THE SEARCH</h4>
+<p>
+The day was already far spent when at last Abd
+Allah led his animal into one of the caravansarais
+outside the gate of Mazagan, so, after saying his
+evening prayers and eating his evening meal, he
+lay down to rest on a heap of straw in one of the
+little rooms of the fandak, undisturbed either by
+anxious dreams, or by the multitude of lively
+creatures about him.</p>
+<p>
+Ere the sun had risen the voice of the muédhdhin
+awoke him with the call to early prayer. Shrill and
+clear the notes rang out on the calm morning air in
+that perfect silence&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"G-o-d is gr-ea&mdash;t! G-o-d is gr-ea&mdash;t! G-o-d
+is grea&mdash;t! I witness that there is no God but
+God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God.
+Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to prayer!
+Prayer is better than sleep! Come to prayer!"</p>
+<p>
+Quickly rising, Abd Allah repaired to the water-tap,
+and seating himself on the stone seat before it,
+rapidly performed the prescribed religious ablutions,
+this member three times, then the other as often,
+and so on, all in order, right first, left to follow as
+less honourable, finishing up with the pious ejaculation,
+"God greatest!" Thence to the mosque
+was but a step, and in a few minutes he stood barefooted
+in those dimly-lighted, vaulted aisles, in which
+the glimmering oil lamps and the early streaks of
+daylight struggled for the mastery. His shoes
+were on the ground before him at the foot of the
+pillar behind which he had placed himself, and his
+hands were raised before his face in the attitude of
+prayer. Then, at the long-drawn cry of the leader,<a name="page248" id="page248"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;248]</span>
+in company with his fellow-worshippers, he bowed
+himself, and again with them rose once more, in
+a moment to kneel down and bow his forehead to
+the earth in humble adoration.</p>
+<p>
+Having performed the usual series of prayers,
+he was ready for coffee and bread. This he took
+at the door of the fandak, seated on the ground by
+the coffee-stall, inquiring meanwhile the prospects
+of protection in Mazagan.</p>
+<p>
+There was Tájir<a name="XXVII2r" id="XXVII2r"></a><a href="#XXVII2"><sup>*</sup></a> Pépé, always ready to appoint
+a new agent for a consideration, but then he bore
+almost as bad a name for tyrannizing over his
+<i>protégés</i> as did the kaďds themselves. There was
+Tájir Yűsef the Jew, but then he asked such tremendous
+prices, because he was a vice-consul. There
+was Tájir Juan, but then he was not on good enough
+terms with his consul to protect efficiently those
+whom he appointed, so he could not be thought of
+either. But there was Tájir Vecchio, a new man
+from Gibraltar, fast friends with his minister,
+and who must therefore be strong, yet a man
+who did not name too high a figure. To him,
+therefore, Abd Allah determined to apply, and
+when his store was opened presented himself.</p>
+<p>
+Under his cloak he carried three pots of butter
+in one hand, and as many of honey in the other,
+while a ragged urchin tramped behind with half a
+dozen fowls tied in a bunch by the legs, and a
+basket of eggs. The first thing was to get a word
+with the head-man at the store; so, slipping a few
+of the eggs into his hands, Abd Allah requested
+an interview with the Tájir, with whom he had
+come to make friends. This being promised, he<a name="page249" id="page249"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;249]</span>
+squatted on his heels by the door, where he was
+left to wait an hour or two, remarking to himself at
+intervals that God was great, till summoned by one
+of the servants to enter.</p>
+<p>
+The merchant was seated behind his desk, and
+Abd Allah, having deposited his burden on the
+floor, was making round the table to throw himself
+at his feet, when he was stopped and allowed but
+to kiss his hand.</p>
+<p>
+"Well, what dost thou want?"</p>
+<p>
+"I have come to make friends, O Merchant."</p>
+<p>
+"Who art thou?"</p>
+<p>
+"I am Abd Allah bin Boo Shaďb es-Sálih, O
+Merchant, of Aďn Haloo in Rahámna. I have a
+family there, and cattle, and very much land. I
+wish to place all in thy hands, and to become thy
+friend," again endeavouring to throw himself at the
+feet of the European.</p>
+<p>
+"All right, all right, that will do. I will see
+about it; come to me again to-morrow."</p>
+<p>
+"May God bless thee, O Merchant, and fill
+thee with prosperity, and may He prolong thy
+days in peace!"</p>
+<p>
+As Tájir Vecchio went on with his writing, Abd
+Allah made off with a hopeful heart to spend the
+next twenty-four anxious hours in the fandak, while
+his offerings were carried away to the private house
+by a servant.</p>
+<p>
+Next morning saw him there again, when much
+the same scene was repeated. This time, however,
+they got to business.</p>
+<p>
+"How can I befriend you?" asked the European,
+after yesterday's conversation had been practically
+repeated.</p>
+
+<a name="page250" id="page250"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;250]</span>
+<p>
+"Thou canst very greatly befriend me by
+making me thy agent in Aďn Haloo. I will work
+for thee, and bring thee of the produce of my land
+as others do, if I may only enjoy thy protection.
+May God have mercy on thee, O Merchant. I
+take refuge with thee."</p>
+<p>
+"I can't be always appointing agents and protecting
+people for nothing. What can you give
+me?"</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever is just, O Merchant, but the Lord
+knows that I am not rich, though He has bestowed
+sufficient on me to live, praise be to Him."</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I should want two hundred dollars down,
+and something when the certificate is renewed next
+year, besides which you would of course report
+yourself each quarter, and not come empty-handed.
+Animals and corn I can do best with, but I don't
+want any of your poultry."</p>
+<p>
+"God bless thee, Merchant, and make thee
+prosperous, but two hundred dollars is a heavy sum
+for me, and this last harvest has not been so
+plentiful as the one before, as thou knowest. Grant
+me this protection for one hundred and fifty dollars,
+and I can manage it, but do not make it an
+impossibility."</p>
+<p>
+"I can't go any lower: there are scores of
+Moors who would give me that price. Do as you
+like. Good morning."</p>
+<p>
+"Thou knowest, O Merchant, I could not give
+more than I have offered," replied Abd Allah as
+he rose and left the place.</p>
+<p>
+But as no one else could be found in the town
+to protect him on better terms, he had at last to
+return, and in exchange for the sum demanded<a name="page251" id="page251"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;251]</span>
+received a paper inscribed on one side in Arabic,
+and on the other in English, as follows:&mdash;</p><br />
+
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="author">
+"<span class="sc">Vice-Consulate for Great Britain</span>,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
+"<span class="sc">Mazagan</span>, <i>Oct. 5, 1838</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>
+"<i>This is to certify that Abd Allah bin Boo Shaďb
+es-Sálih, resident at Aďn Haloo in the province of
+Rahámna, has been duly appointed agent of Edward
+Vecchio, a British subject, residing in Mazagan: all
+authorities will respect him according to existing
+treaties, not molesting him without proper notice to
+this Vice-Consulate.</i><a name="XXVII3r" id="XXVII3r"></a><a href="#XXVII3"><sup>&dagger;</sup></a>
+</p><br />
+
+<p class="author">
+"<i>Gratis</i>  <img src="images/seal-50.jpg" width="50" height="49" alt="seal" border="0" /> [Signed] "JOHN SMITH.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />
+"<i>H.B.M.'s Vice-Consul, Mazagan.</i>"</p>
+</blockquote><br />
+
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXVII2" id="XXVII2"></a>
+<a href="#XXVII2r">*</a> "Merchant," used much as "Mr." is with us.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXVII3" id="XXVII3"></a>
+<a href="#XXVII3r">&dagger;</a> A genuine "patent of protection," as prescribed by treaty, supposed
+to be granted only to wholesale traders, whereas every beggar
+can obtain "certificates of partnership." The native in question has
+then only to appear before the notaries and state that he has in
+his possession so much grain, or so many oxen or cattle, belonging to
+a certain European, who takes them as his remuneration for presenting
+the notarial document at his Legation, and obtaining the desired
+certificate. Moreover, he receives half the produce of the property
+thus made over to him. This is popularly known as "farming in
+Morocco."</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page252" id="page252"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;252]</span>
+
+<h3>XXVIII</h3>
+
+<h2>JUSTICE FOR THE JEW</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Sleep on anger, and thou wilt not rise repentant."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+The kaďd sat in his seat of office, or one might
+rather say reclined, for Moorish officials have a
+habit of lying in two ways at once when they are
+supposed to be doing justice. Strictly speaking, his
+position was a sort of halfway one, his back being
+raised by a pile of cushions, with his right leg drawn
+up before him, as he leant on his left elbow. His
+judgement seat was a veritable wool-sack, or rather
+mattress, placed across the left end of a long narrow
+room, some eight feet by twenty, with a big door in
+the centre of one side. The only other apertures in
+the whitewashed but dirty walls were a number of
+ventilating loop-holes, splayed on the inside, ten
+feet out of the twelve above the floor. This was
+of worn octagonal tiles, in parts covered with a
+yellow rush mat in an advanced state of consumption.
+Notwithstanding the fact that the ceiling was of
+some dark colour, hard to be defined at its present
+age, the audience-chamber was amply lighted from
+the lofty horse-shoe archway of the entrance, for
+sunshine is reflection in Morocco to a degree unknown
+in northern climes.</p>
+<p>
+On the wall above the head of the kaďd hung a<a name="page253" id="page253"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;253]</span>
+couple of huge and antiquated horse-pistols, while
+on a small round table at his feet, some six inches
+high, lay a collection of cartridges and gunsmith's
+tools. Behind him, on a rack, were half a dozen
+long flint-lock muskets, and on the wall by his feet
+a number of Moorish daggers and swords. In his
+hand the governor fondled a European revolver,
+poking out and replacing the charges occasionally,
+just to show that it was loaded.</p>
+<p>
+His personal attire, though rich in quality, ill
+became his gawky figure, and there was that about
+his badly folded turban which bespoke the parvenu.
+Like the muzzle of some wolf, his pock-marked
+visage glowered on a couple of prostrated litigants
+before him, as they fiercely strove to prove each
+other wrong. Near his feet was squatted his private
+secretary, and at the door stood policemen awaiting
+instructions to imprison one or both of the contending
+parties. The dispute was over the straying of
+some cattle, a paltry claim for damages. The
+plaintiff having presented the kaďd with a loaf of
+sugar and a pound of candles, was in a fair way to
+win his case, when a suggestive sign on the part of
+the defendant, comprehended by the judge as a
+promise of a greater bribe, somewhat upset his calculations,
+for he was summarily fined a couple of
+dollars, and ordered to pay another half dollar costs
+for having allowed the gate of his garden to stand
+open, thereby inviting his neighbour's cattle to enter.
+Without a word he was carried off to gaol pending
+payment, while the defendant settled with the judge
+and left the court.</p>
+<p>
+Into the midst of this scene came another policeman,
+gripping by the arm a poor Jewish seamstress<a name="page254" id="page254"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;254]</span>
+named Mesaôdah, who had had the temerity to use
+insulting language to her captor when that functionary
+was upbraiding her for not having completed some
+garment when ordered, though he insisted on paying
+only half-price, declaring that it was for the governor.
+The Jewess had hardly spoken when she lay sprawling
+on the ground from a blow which she dare not,
+under any provocation, return, but her temper had
+so far gained the mastery over her, that as she rose
+she cursed her tormentor roundly. That was enough;
+without more ado the man had laid his powerful
+arm upon her, and was dragging her to his master's
+presence, knowing how welcome any such case
+would be, even though it was not one out of which
+he might hope to make money.</p>
+<p>
+Reckless of the governor's well-known character,
+Mesaôdah at once opened her mouth to complain
+against Mahmood, pitching her voice in the terrible
+key of her kind.</p>
+<p>
+"My Lord, may God bless thee and lengthen...."</p>
+<p>
+A fierce shake from her captor interrupted the
+sentence, but did not keep her quiet, for immediately
+she continued, in pleading tones, as best she could,
+struggling the while to keep her mouth free from
+the wretch's hand.</p>
+<p>
+"Protect me, I pray thee, from this cruel man;
+he has struck me: yes, my Lord."</p>
+<p>
+"Strike her again if she doesn't stop that noise,"
+cried the kaďd, and as the man raised his hand to
+threaten her she saw there was no hope, and her
+legs giving way beneath her, she sank to the ground
+in tears.</p>
+<p>
+"For God's sake, yes, my Lord, have mercy on
+thine handmaid." It was pitiful to hear the altered<a name="page255" id="page255"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;255]</span>
+tones, and it needed the heart of a brute to reply as
+did the governor, unmoved, by harshly asking what
+she had been up to.</p>
+<p>
+"She's a thief, my Lord, a liar, like all her people;
+God burn their religion; I gave her a waistcoat to
+make a week ago, and I purposed it for a present
+to thee, my Lord, but she has made away with the
+stuff, and when I went for it she abused me, and,
+by thy leave, thee also, my Lord; here she is to be
+punished."</p>
+<p>
+"It's a lie, my Lord; the stuff is in my hut, and
+the waistcoat's half done, but I knew I should never
+get paid for it, so had to get some other work done
+to keep my children from starving, for I am a widow.
+Have mercy on me!"</p>
+<p>
+"God curse the liar!  I have spoken the truth,"
+broke in the policeman.</p>
+<p>
+"Fetch a basket for her!" ordered the kaďd, and
+in another moment a second attendant was assisting
+Mahmood to force the struggling woman to sit in a
+large and pliable basket of palmetto, the handles of
+which were quickly lashed across her stomach. She
+was then thrown shrieking on her back, her bare
+legs lifted high, and tied to a short piece of pole
+just in front of the ankles; one man seized each
+end of this, a third awaiting the governor's orders
+to strike the soles.  In his hand he had a short-handled
+lash made of twisted thongs from Tafilált,
+well soaked in water. The efforts of the victim to
+attack the men on either side becoming violent, a
+delay was caused by having to tie her hands together,
+her loud shrieks rending the air the while.</p>
+<p>
+"Give her a hundred," said the kaďd, beginning
+to count as the blows descended, giving fresh edge<a name="page256" id="page256"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;256]</span>
+to the piercing yells, interspersed with piteous cries
+for mercy, and ribbing the skin in long red lines,
+which were soon lost in one raw mass of bleeding
+flesh. As the arm of one wearied, another took his
+place, and a bucket of cold water was thrown over
+the victim's legs. At first her face had been ashy
+pale, it was now livid from the blood descending to
+it, as her legs grew white all but the soles, which
+were already turning purple under the cruel lash.
+Then merciful unconsciousness stepped in, and
+silence supervened.</p>
+<p>
+"That will do," said the governor, having counted
+eighty-nine. "Take her away; she'll know better
+next time!" and he proceeded with the cases before
+him, fining this one, imprisoning that, and bastinadoing
+a third, with as little concern as an English
+registrar would sign an order to pay a guinea fine.
+Indeed, why should he do otherwise. This was his
+regular morning's work. It was a month before
+Mesaôdah could touch the ground with her feet,
+and more than three before she could totter along
+with two sticks. Her children were kept alive by
+her neighbours till she could sit up and "stitch,
+stitch, stitch," but there was no one to hear her
+bitter complaint, and no one to dry her tears.</p>
+<p>
+One day his faithful henchman dragged before
+the kaďd a Jewish broker, whose crime of having
+bid against that functionary on the market, when
+purchasing supplies for his master, had to be expiated
+by a fine of twenty dollars, or a hundred
+lashes. The misguided wretch chose the latter,
+loving his coins too well; but after the first half-dozen
+had descended on his naked soles, he cried
+for mercy and agreed to pay.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="j-atlas" id="j-atlas"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/256.jpg"><img src="images/256-500.jpg" width="498" height="307" alt="JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Photograph by Dr. Rudduck.</i><br /><br />
+<b>JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+
+<a name="page257" id="page257"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;257]</span>
+<p>
+Another day it was a more wealthy member of
+the community who was summoned on a serious
+charge. The kaďd produced a letter addressed to
+the prisoner, which he said had been intercepted,
+couched in the woefully corrupted Arabic of the
+Moorish Jews, but in the cursive Hebrew character.</p>
+<p>
+"Canst read, O Moses?" asked the kaďd, in a
+surly tone.</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly, yes, my Lord, may God protect thee,
+when the writing is in the sacred script."</p>
+<p>
+"Read that aloud, then," handing him the
+missive.</p>
+<p>
+Moses commenced by rapidly glancing his eye
+down the page, and as he did so his face grew pale,
+his hand shook, and he muttered something in the
+Hebrew tongue as the kaďd sharply ordered him to
+proceed.</p>
+<p>
+"My Lord, yes, my Lord; it is false, it is a fraud,"
+he stammered.</p>
+<p>
+"The Devil take thee, thou son of a dog;
+read what is set before thee, and let us have none
+of thy impudence. The gaol is handy."</p>
+<p>
+With a trembling voice Moses the usurer read
+the letter, purporting to have been written by an
+intimate friend in Mogador, and implying by its
+contents that Moses had, when in that town some
+years ago, embraced the faith of Islám, from which
+he was therefore now a pervert, and consequently
+under pain of death. He was already crouched
+upon the ground, as is the custom before a great
+man, but as he spelled out slowly the damnatory
+words, he had to stretch forth his hands to keep
+from falling over. He knew that there was nothing
+to be gained by denial, by assurances that the letter<a name="page258" id="page258"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;258]</span>
+was a forgery; the kaďd's manner indicated plainly
+enough that <i>he</i> meant to be satisfied with it, and
+there was no appeal.</p>
+<p>
+"Moses," said the kaďd, in a mock confidential
+tone, as he took back the letter, "thou'rt in my
+power. All that thou hast is mine. With such
+evidence against thee as this thy very head is in my
+hands. If thou art wise, and wilt share thy fortune
+with me, all shall go well; if not, thou knowest what
+to expect. I am to-day in need of a hundred dollars.
+Now go!"</p>
+<p>
+An hour had not elapsed before, with a heart
+still heavier than the bag he carried, Moses crossed
+the courtyard again, and deposited the sum required
+in the hands of the kaďd, with fresh assurances of
+his innocence, imploring the destruction of that fatal
+document, which was readily promised, though with
+no intention of complying with the request, notwithstanding
+that to procure another as that had been
+procured would cost but a trifle.</p>
+<p>
+These are only instances which could be multiplied
+of how the Jews of Morocco suffer at the
+hands of brutal officials. As metal which attracts
+the electricity from a thunder-cloud, so they invariably
+suffer first when a newly appointed, conscienceless
+governor comes to rule.</p>
+<p>
+With all his faults the previous kaďd had recognized
+how closely bound up with that of the
+Moors under his jurisdiction was the welfare of
+Jews similarly situated, so that, favoured by his
+wise administration, their numbers and their wealth
+had increased till, though in outward appearance
+beggarly, they formed an important section of the
+community. The new kaďd, however, saw in them<a name="page259" id="page259"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;259]</span>
+but a possible mine, a goose that laid golden eggs,
+so, like the fool of the story, he set about destroying
+it when the supply of eggs fell off, for there was of
+necessity a limit to the repeated offerings which, on
+one pretext or another, he extorted from these
+luckless "tributaries," as they are described in
+Moorish legal documents.</p>
+<p>
+When he found that ordinary means of persuasion
+failed, he had resort to more drastic
+measures. He could not imagine fresh feasts and
+public occasions, auspicious or otherwise, on which to
+collect "presents" from them, so he satisfied himself
+by bringing specious charges against the more
+wealthy Jews and fining them, as well as by encouraging
+Moors to accuse them in various ways.
+Many of the payments to the governor being in
+small and mutilated coin, every Friday he sent to
+the Jews what he had received during the week,
+demanding a round sum in Spanish dollars, far
+more than their fair value. Then when he had
+forced upon them a considerable quantity of this
+depreciated stuff, he would send a crier round
+notifying the public that it was out of circulation
+and no longer legal tender, moreover giving warning
+that the "Jew's money" was not to be trusted,
+as it was known that they had counterfeit coins in
+their possession. It was then time to offer them half
+price for it, which they had no option but to accept,
+though some while later he would re-issue it at its
+full value, and having permitted its circulation, would
+force it upon them again.</p>
+<p>
+The repairs which it was found necessary to
+effect in the kasbah, the equipment of troops, the
+contributions to the expenses of the Sultan's<a name="page260" id="page260"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;260]</span>
+expeditions, or the payment of indemnities to foreign
+nations, were constantly recurring pretexts for levying
+fresh sums from the Jews as well as from
+the Moors, and these were the legal ones. The
+illegal were too harrowing for description. Young
+children and old men were brutally thrashed and
+then imprisoned till they or their friends paid heavy
+ransoms, and even the women occasionally suffered
+in this way. On Sabbaths and fast days orders
+would be issued to the Jews, irrespective of age or
+rank, to perform heavy work for the governor,
+perhaps to drag some heavy load or block of stone.
+Those who could buy themselves off were fortunate:
+those who could not do so were harnessed and
+driven like cattle under the lashes of yard-long
+whips, being compelled when their work was done
+to pay their taskmasters. Indeed, it was Egypt
+over again, but there was no Moses. Men or
+women found with shoes on were bastinadoed
+and heavily fined, and on more than one occasion
+the sons of the best-off Israelites were arrested in
+school on the charge of having used disrespectful
+language regarding the Sultan, and thrown into
+prison chained head and feet, in such a manner that
+it was impossible to stretch their bodies. Thus
+they were left for days without food, all but dead,
+in spite of the desire of their relatives to support
+them, till ransoms of two hundred dollars apiece
+could be raised to obtain their release, in some cases
+three months after their incarceration.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a name="page261" id="page261"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;261]</span>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h3>XXIX</h3>
+
+<h2>CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Wound of speech is worse than wound of sword."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Spies were already afield when the sun rose this
+morning, and while their return with the required
+information was eagerly expected, those of Asni
+who would be warriors took a hasty breakfast and
+looked to their horses and guns.</p>
+<p>
+Directly intelligence as to the whereabouts of
+the Aďt Mîzán arrived, the cavalcade set forth, perforce
+in Indian file, on account of the narrow single
+track, but wherever it was possible those behind
+pressed forward and passed their comrades in their
+eagerness to reach the scene of action. No idea of
+order or military display crossed their minds, and
+but for the skirmishers who scoured the country
+round as they advanced, it would have been easy
+for a concealed foe to have picked them off one by
+one. Nevertheless they made a gallant show in the
+morning sun, which glinted on their ornamented
+stirrups and their flint-locks, held like lances, with
+the butts upon the pummels before them. The
+varied colours of their trappings, though old and
+worn, looked gay by the side of the red cloth-covered
+saddles and the gun-cases of similar
+material used by many as turbans. But for the<a name="page262" id="page262"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;262]</span>
+serious expression on the faces of the majority, and
+the eager scanning of each knoll and shrub, the
+party might have been intent on powder-play instead
+of powder-business.</p>
+<p>
+For a mile or two no sign of human being was
+seen, and the ride was already growing wearisome
+when a sudden report on their right was followed
+by the heavy fall of one of their number, his well-trained
+horse standing still for him to re-mount,
+though he would never more do so. Nothing but a
+puff of smoke showed whence the shot had come,
+some way up the face of a hill. The first impulse
+was to make a charge in that direction, and to fire a
+volley; but the experience of the leader reminded
+him that if there were only one man there it would
+not be worth while, and if there were more they
+might fall into an ambush. So their file passed on
+while the scouts rode towards the hill slope. A
+few moments later one of these had his horse shot
+under him, and then a volley was fired which took
+little effect on the advancing horsemen, still too far
+away for successful aim.</p>
+<p>
+They had been carefully skirting a wooded
+patch which might give shelter to their foes, whom
+they soon discovered to be lying in trenches behind
+the first hill-crests. Unless they were dislodged, it
+would be almost impossible to proceed, so, making a
+rapid flank movement, the Asni party spurred their
+horses and galloped round to gain the hills above
+the hidden enemy. As they did so random shots
+were discharged, and when they approached the
+level of the trenches, they commenced a series of
+rushes forward, till they came within range. In
+doing so they followed zig-zag routes to baffle aim,<a name="page263" id="page263"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;263]</span>
+firing directly they made out the whereabouts of
+their assailants, and beating a hasty retreat. What
+success they were achieving they could not tell, but
+their own losses were not heavy.</p>
+<p>
+Soon, as their firing increased, that from the
+trenches which they were gradually approaching
+grew less, and fresh shots from behind awoke them
+to the fact that the enemy was making a rear
+attack. By this time they were in great disorder,
+scattered over a wide area; the majority had gained
+the slight cover of the brushwood to their rear, and
+a wide space separated them from the new arrivals,
+who were performing towards them the same wild
+rushes that they themselves had made towards the
+trenches. They were therefore divided roughly
+into two divisions, the footmen in the shelter of the
+shrubs, the horsemen engaging the mounted enemy.</p>
+<p>
+Among the brushwood hardly was the figure
+of friend or foe discernible, for all lay down
+behind any available shelter, crawling from point to
+point like so many caterpillars, but firing quickly
+enough when an enemy was sighted. This style of
+warfare has its advantages, for it greatly diminishes
+losses on either side. For the horsemen, deprived
+of such shelter, safety lay in rapid movements and
+unexpected evolutions, each man acting for himself,
+and keeping as far away from his comrades as
+possible. So easily were captures made that it
+almost seemed as if many preferred surrender and
+safety to the chances of war, for they knew that
+they were sure of honourable treatment on both
+sides. The prisoners were not even bound, but
+merely disarmed and marched to the rear, to be
+conveyed at night in a peaceful manner to their<a name="page264" id="page264"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;264]</span>
+captors' tents and huts, there to be treated as guests
+till peace should result in exchange.</p>
+<p>
+By this time the combatants were scattered over
+a square mile or so, and though the horsemen of
+Asni had driven the Aďt Mîzán from the foremost
+trenches by the bold rushes described, and their
+footmen had engaged them, no further advantage
+seemed likely to accrue, while they were terribly
+harassed by those who still remained under cover.
+The signal was therefore given for a preconcerted
+retreat, which at once began. Loud shouts of an
+expected victory now arose from the Aďt Mîzán,
+who were gradually drawn from their hiding-places
+by their desire to secure nearer shots at the men
+of Asni as they slowly descended the hill.</p>
+<p>
+At length the Aďt Mîzán began to draw somewhat
+to one side, as they discovered that they were
+being led too far into the open, but this movement
+was outwitted by the Asni horsemen, who
+were now pouring down on the scene. The
+wildest confusion supervened; many fell on every
+hand. Victory was now assured to Asni, which the
+enemy were quick to recognize, and as the sun was
+by this time at blazing noon, and energy grew
+slack on both sides, none was loth to call a conference.
+This resulted in an agreement by the vanquished
+to return the stolen cattle which had
+formed the <i>casus belli</i>, for indeed they were no
+longer able to protect them from their real owners.
+As many more were forfeited by way of damages,
+and messages were despatched to the women left in
+charge to hand them over to a party of the victors.
+Prisoners were meantime exchanged, while through
+the medium of the local "holy man" a peace was<a name="page265" id="page265"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;265]</span>
+formally ratified, after which each party returned
+to its dead, who were quickly consigned to their
+shallow graves.</p>
+<p>
+Such of the Asni men as were not mourners,
+now assembled in the open space of their village to
+be feasted by their women as victors. Basins, some
+two feet across, were placed on the ground filled
+with steaming kesk'soo. Round each of these portions
+sat cross-legged some eight or ten of the men,
+and a metal bowl of water was handed from one to
+the other to rinse the fingers of the right hand.
+They sat upon rude blankets spread on mats, the
+scene lit by Roman-like olive-oil lamps, and a few
+French candles round the board of the sheďkh and
+allied leaders.</p>
+<p>
+A striking picture, indeed, they presented, there
+in the still night air, thousands of heaven-lights
+gleaming from the dark blue vault above, outrivalling
+the flicker of those simple earth-flames on
+their lined and sun-burnt faces. The women who
+waited on them, all of middle age, alone remained
+erect, as they glided about on their bare feet, carrying
+bowl and towel from man to man. From the
+huts and the tents around came many strange
+sounds of bird, beast, and baby, for the cocks were
+already crowing, as it was growing late,<a name="XXIX1r" id="XXIX1r"></a><a href="#XXIX1"><sup>*</sup></a> while the
+dogs bayed at the shadow of the cactus and the
+weird shriek of the night-bird.</p>
+<p>
+"B'ism Illah!" exclaimed the host at each basin
+("In the Name of God!")&mdash;as he would ask a blessing&mdash;when
+he finished breaking bread for his circle,
+and plunged his first sop in the gravy. "B'ism Illah!"
+they all replied, and followed suit in a startlingly<a name="page266" id="page266"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;266]</span>
+sudden silence wherein naught but the stowing
+away of food could be heard, till one of them burnt
+his fingers by an injudiciously deep dive into the
+centre after a toothsome morsel.</p>
+<p>
+In the midst of a sea of broth rose mountains
+of steamed and buttered kesk'soo, in the craters
+of which had been placed the contents of the
+stew-pot, the disjointed bones of chickens with
+onions and abundant broad beans. The gravy was
+eaten daintily with sops of bread, conveyed to the
+mouth in a masterly manner without spilling a drop,
+while the kesk'soo was moulded in the palm of
+the right hand into convenient sized balls and
+shot into the mouth by the thumb. The meat
+was divided with the thumb and fingers of the right
+hand alone, since the left may touch no food.</p>
+<p>
+At last one by one sat back, his greasy hand
+outstretched, and after taking a sip of cold water
+from the common jug with his left, and licking his
+right to prevent the waste of one precious grain,
+each washed his hands, rinsed his mouth thrice,
+polished his teeth with his right forefinger, and felt
+ready to begin again, all agreeing that "he who is not
+first at the powder, should not be last at the dish."</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXIX1" id="XXIX1"></a>
+<a href="#XXIX1r">*</a> A way they have in Barbary.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a name="page267" id="page267"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;267]</span>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h3>XXX</h3>
+
+<h2>THE POLITICAL SITUATION</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"A guess of the informed is better than the assurance of the ignorant."</p>
+<p class="center1">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Ever since the accession of the present Sultan,
+Mulai Abd el Azîz IV., on his attaining the age
+of twenty in 1900, Morocco has been more than
+ever the focus of foreign designs, both public and
+private, which have brought about a much more
+disturbed condition than under his father, or even
+under the subsequent Wazeer Regent. The manifest
+friendlessness of the youth, his lack of training
+for so important a part, and the venality of his
+entourage, at once attracted birds of prey, and they
+have worked their will.</p>
+<p>
+Since the death of El Hasan III., in 1894, the
+administration had been controlled by the former
+Lord High Chamberlain, or "Curtain" of the
+shareefian throne, whose rule was severe, though
+good, and it seemed doubtful whether he would
+relinquish the reins of authority. The other
+wazeers whom his former master had left in office
+had been imprisoned on various charges, and he
+stood supreme. He was, however, old and enfeebled
+by illness, so when in 1900 his end came instead of
+his resignation, few were surprised. What they
+were not quite prepared for, however, was the<a name="page268" id="page268"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;268]</span>
+clearing of the board within a week or two by the
+death of his two brothers and a cousin, whom he had
+promoted to be respectively Commander-in-chief,
+Chamberlain, and Master of the Ceremonies&mdash;all of
+them, it was declared, by influenza. Another brother
+had died but a short while before, and the commissioner
+sent to Tangier to arrange matters with
+the French was found dead in his room&mdash;from
+asphyxia caused by burning charcoal. Thus was
+the Cabinet dissolved, and the only remaining
+member resigned. There then rose suddenly to
+power a hitherto unheard of Arab of the South, El
+Menébhi, who essayed too much in acting as Ambassador
+to London while still Minister of War, and
+returned to find his position undermined; he has
+since emigrated to Egypt. It was freely asserted
+that the depletion of the Moorish exchequer was
+due to his peculation, resulting in his shipping a
+large fortune to England in specie, with the assistance
+of British officials who were supposed to have
+received a handsome "consideration" in addition to
+an enormous price paid for British protection. Thus,
+amid a typically Moorish cloud, he left the scene.
+From that time the Court has been the centre of kaleidoscopic
+intrigues, which have seriously hampered
+administration, but which were not in themselves
+sufficient to disturb the country.</p>
+<p>
+What was of infinitely greater moment was the
+eagerness with which the young ruler, urged by his
+Circassian mother, sought advice and counsel from
+Europe, and endeavoured to act up to it. One
+disinterested and trusted friend at that juncture
+would have meant the regeneration of the Empire,
+provided that interference from outside were stayed.<a name="page269" id="page269"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;269]</span>
+But this was not to be. The few impartial individuals
+who had access to the Sultan were outnumbered
+by the horde of politicians, diplomats,
+adventurers, and schemers who surrounded him, the
+latter at least freely bribing wazeers to obtain their
+ends. In spite of an unquestionable desire to do
+what was best for his country, and to act upon the
+good among the proffered advice, wild extravagance
+resulted both in action and expenditure.</p>
+<p>
+Thus Mulai Abd el Azîz became the laughing-stock
+of Europe, and the butt of his people's scorn.
+His heart was with the foreigners&mdash;with dancing
+women and photographers,&mdash;he had been seen in
+trousers, even on a bicycle! What might he not
+do next? A man so implicated with unbelievers
+could hardly be a faithful Muslim, said the discontented.
+No more efficacious text could have been
+found to rouse fanaticism and create dissatisfaction
+throughout his dominions. Black looks accompanied
+the mention of his name, and it was
+whispered that the Leader of the Faithful was
+selling himself and his Empire, if not to the Devil,
+at least to the Nazarenes, which was just as bad.
+Any other country would have been ripe for rebellion,
+as Europe supposed that Morocco was, but
+scattered and conflicting interests defeated all
+attempts to induce a general rising.</p>
+<p>
+One of the wisest measures of the new reign
+was the attempt to reorganize finances in accordance
+with English advice, by the systematic levy of
+taxes hitherto imposed in the arbitrary fashion
+described in Chapter II. This was hailed with
+delight, and had it been maintained by a strong
+Government, would have worked wonders in<a name="page270" id="page270"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;270]</span>
+restoring prosperity. But foreign <i>protégés</i> refused to
+pay, and objections of all sorts were raised, till at
+last the "terteeb," as it was called, became impossible
+of collection without recourse to arms.
+Fearing this, the money in hand to pay the tax
+was expended on guns and cartridges, which the
+increasing demand led foreigners to smuggle in by
+the thousand.</p>
+<p>
+It is estimated that some millions of fire-arms&mdash;a
+large proportion of them repeating rifles with a
+large supply of ammunition&mdash;are now in the hands
+of the people, while the Government has never been
+worse supplied than at present. Ship-load after
+ship-load has been landed on the coast in defiance
+of all authority, and large consignments have been
+introduced over the Algerian frontier, the state of
+which has in consequence become more than ever
+unsettled. In short, the benign intentions of Mulai
+Abd el Azîz have been interpreted as weakness,
+and once again the Nazarenes are accused&mdash;to
+quote a recent remark of an Atlas scribe&mdash;of having
+"spoiled the Sultan," and of being about to "spoil
+the country."</p>
+<p>
+Active among the promoters of dissatisfaction
+have been throughout the Idreesi Shareefs, representatives
+of the original Muslim dynasty in
+Morocco; venerated for their ancestry and adherence
+to all that is retrogressive or bigoted, and on
+principle opposed to the reigning dynasty. These
+leaders of discontent find able allies in the Algerians
+in Morocco, some of whom settled there years
+ago because sharing their feelings and determined
+not to submit to the French; but of whom others,
+while expressing equal devotion to the old order,<a name="page271" id="page271"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;271]</span>
+can from personal experience recommend the advantages
+of French administration, to which even
+their exiled brethren or their descendants no longer
+feel equal objection.</p>
+<p>
+The summary punishment inflicted a few years
+ago on the murderer of an Englishman in the
+streets of Fez was, like everything else, persistently
+misinterpreted through the country. In the distant
+provinces the story&mdash;as reported by natives therefrom&mdash;ran
+that the Nazarene had been shot by a
+saint while attempting to enter and desecrate the
+sacred shrine of Mulai Idrees, and that by executing
+him the Sultan showed himself an Unbeliever.
+When British engineers were employed to survey
+the route for a railway between Fez and Mequinez
+this was reported as indicating an absolute sale of
+the country, and the people were again stirred up,
+though not to actual strife.</p>
+<p>
+Only in the semi-independent district of the
+Ghaďáta Berbers between Fez and Táza, which had
+never been entirely subjugated, did a flame break out.
+A successful writer of amulets, hitherto unknown,
+one Jelálli Zarhôni, who had acquired a great local
+reputation, began to denounce the Sultan's behaviour
+with religious fervour. Calling on the
+neighbouring tribesmen to refuse allegiance to so
+unworthy a monarch, he ultimately raised the
+standard of revolt in the name of the Sultan's imprisoned
+elder brother, M'hammed. Finally, the
+rumour ran that this prince had escaped and joined
+Jelálli, who, from his habitual prophet's mount, is
+better known throughout the country as Boo
+Hamára&mdash;"Father of the She-ass." According to
+the official statement, Jelálli Zarhôni was originally<a name="page272" id="page272"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;272]</span>
+a policeman (makházni), whose bitterness and subsequent
+sedition arose from ill-treatment then
+received. Although exalted in newspaper reports
+to the dignity of a "pretender," in Morocco he
+is best known as the "Rogi" or "Common One."</p>
+<p>
+Fez clamoured to see M'hammed, that the story
+might be disproved, and after much delay, during
+which he was supposed to be conveyed from
+Mequinez, a veiled and guarded rider arrived,
+preceded by criers who proclaimed him to be the
+Sultan's brother. But as no one could be sure if
+this were the case or not, each party believed what
+it wished, and Jelálli's hands were strengthened.
+Boldly announcing the presence with him of Mulai
+M'hammed, in his name he sought and obtained
+the allegiance of tribe after tribe. Although the
+Sultan effected a reconciliation with his presumed
+brother&mdash;whose movements, however, still remain
+restricted&mdash;serious men believe him to be in the
+rebel camp, and few know the truth.</p>
+<p>
+At first success attended the rebellion, but it
+never spread beyond the unsettled eastern provinces,
+and after three years it ineffectually smoulders on,
+the leader cooped up by the Sultan's forces near the
+coast, though the Sultan is not strong enough to
+stamp it out.</p>
+<p>
+By those whose knowledge of the country is
+limited to newspaper news a much more serious
+state of affairs is supposed to exist, a "pretender"
+collecting his forces for a final coup, etc. Something
+of truth there may be in this, but the situation
+is grossly exaggerated. The local rising of a few
+tribes in eastern Morocco never affected the rest
+of the Empire, save by that feeling of unrest which,<a name="page273" id="page273"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;273]</span>
+in the absence of complete information, jumps at all
+tales. Even the so-called "rout" of an "imperial
+army" three years ago was only a stampede without
+fighting, brought about by a clever ruse, and
+there has never been a serious conflict throughout
+the affair, though the "Rogi" is well supplied with
+arms from Algeria, and his "forces" are led by a
+Frenchman, M. Delbrel. Meanwhile comparative
+order reigns in the disaffected district, though in the
+north, usually the most peaceful portion of the
+Empire, all is disturbed.</p>
+<p>
+There a leader has arisen, Raďsűli by name, who
+obtained redress for the wrongs of tribes south of
+Tangier, and his own appointment as their kaďd, by
+the astute device of carrying off as hostages an
+American and an Englishman, so that the pressure
+certain to be brought to bear by their Governments
+would compel the Sultan to grant his demands.
+All turned out as he had hoped, and the condign
+punishment which he deserves is yet far off, though
+a local struggle continues between him and a small
+imperial force, complicated by feuds between his
+sometime supporters, who, however, fight half-heartedly,
+for fear of killing relatives pressed into
+service on the other side. Those who once looked
+to Raďsűli as a champion have found his little finger
+thicker than the Sultan's loins, and the country
+round Tangier is ruined by taxation, so that every
+one is discontented, and the district is unsafe, a
+species of civil war raging.</p>
+<p>
+The full name of this redoubtable leader is
+Mulai Ahmad bin Mohammed bin Abd Allah er-Raďsűli,
+and he is a shareef of Beni Arôs, connected
+therefore with the Wazzán shareefs; but his prestige<a name="page274" id="page274"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;274]</span>
+as such is low, both on account of his past career,
+and because of his acceptance of a civil post. His
+mother belonged to Anjera, near Tangier, where
+he was born about thirty-six years ago at the village
+of Zeenát, being well educated, as education goes in
+Morocco, with the Beni M'sawah. But falling into
+bad company, he first took to cattle-lifting, afterwards
+turning highwayman, as which he was
+eventually caught by the Abd es-Sadok family&mdash;various
+members of which were kaďds from Ceuta
+to Azîla&mdash;and consigned to prison in Mogador.
+After three or four years his release was obtained
+by Háj Torres, the Foreign Commissioner in Tangier,
+but when he found that the Abd es-Sadoks
+had sequestrated his property, he vowed not to cut
+his hair till he had secured their disgrace. Hence,
+with locks that many a woman might envy, he has
+plotted and harassed till his present position has
+been achieved. But as this is only a means to an
+end, who can tell what that may be?</p>
+<p>
+Raďsűli is allowed on all hands to be a peculiarly
+able and well-bred man, full of resource and determination.
+Though his foes have succeeded in kidnapping
+even his mother, it will certainly be a
+miracle if he is taken alive. Should all fail him, he
+is prepared to blow his brains out, or make use of a
+small phial of poison always to hand. It is interesting
+to remember that just such a character, Abd
+Allah Ghaďlán, held a similar position in this district
+when Tangier was occupied by the English, who
+knew him as "Guyland," and paid him tribute.
+The more recent imitation of Raďsűli's tactics by a
+native free-booter of the Ceuta frontier, in arresting
+two English officers as hostages wherewith to secure<a name="page275" id="page275"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;275]</span>
+the release of his brother and others from prison,
+has proved equally successful, but as matters stand
+at present, it is more than doubtful whether the
+Moorish Government is in a position to bring either
+of these offenders to book, and the outlook in the
+north is decidedly stormy. It is, indeed, quite in
+accordance with the traditions of Moorish history,
+throughout which these periods of local disorganization
+have been of constant recurrence without danger
+to the State.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="kaid" id="kaid"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/275.jpg"><img src="images/275-500.jpg" width="500" height="309" alt="A MOORISH KAĎD AND ATTENDANTS." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photograph by Dr. Rudduck.</i> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;THE KAĎD.<br /><br />
+<b>A MOORISH KAĎD AND ATTENDANTS.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+In the south things are quiet, though a spirit of
+unrest pervades the people, especially since it has
+been seen that the Sultan no longer either collects
+the regular taxes or maintains the regular army.
+There the immediate result of the failure to collect
+the taxes for a year or two was that the people had
+more to spend on cattle and other stock, which
+rapidly rose in price, no one needing to sell unless
+he wished. Within the last two years, however,
+the kaďds have recommenced their oppressive treatment,
+under the pretext of a levy to put down the
+rising in the eastern provinces. Men and money
+were several times furnished, but though now more
+difficult to raise, the demands continue. The
+wonder is that the people remain so quiet, but they
+are of a more peaceable nature than the Berbers of
+the north.</p>
+<p>
+Three of the Sultan's brothers have been for
+some time camped in as many centres, engaged in
+collecting funds, but tribe after tribe has refused to
+pay, declaring that they have been exempted by
+their lord, and until he returns they will submit to
+no kaďd and pay no dues. It is only in certain
+districts that some of the funds demanded have<a name="page276" id="page276"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;276]</span>
+been forthcoming, and the kaďds have full authority,
+but these are officials of long standing and great
+repute, whose jurisdiction has been much extended
+in consequence. Changes among the less important
+kaďds have been continual of late. One man
+would buy the office and struggle to establish himself,
+only to find a new man installed over his head
+before he was settled, which has frequently led to
+local disorders, fighting and plundering. In this
+way the Government has quite lost prestige, and a
+strong hand is awaited.</p>
+<p>
+The Moors would have preferred another
+Ismáďl the Bloodthirsty, who could compel his will,
+and awe all other rascals in his dominions, to the
+mild and well-intentioned youth now at the helm.
+Some would even welcome any change that would
+put an end to present insecurity, but only the
+French <i>protégés</i> desire to see that change effected
+by France, and only those under the German flag
+already would hail that with joy. The Jews alone
+would welcome any, as they have good cause to do.</p>
+<p>
+Such was already the condition of things when
+the long-threatening clouds burst, and the Anglo-French
+Agreement was published in April, 1904.
+Rumours of negotiations for the sale of British
+interests in Morocco to France had for some time
+filled the air, but in face of official denials, and the
+great esteem in which England was held by the
+Moors, few gave credence to them. Mulai Abd el
+Azîz had relied especially on Great Britain, and
+had confidently looked to it for protection against
+the French; the announcement of the bargain
+between them broke him down.</p>
+<p>
+It may have been inevitable; and since an<a name="page277" id="page277"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;277]</span>
+agreement among all the Powers concerned was so
+remote a possibility, an understanding between the
+three most interested may have been the wisest
+course, in view of pending internal troubles which
+would certainly afford excuses for interference. It
+was undoubtedly good policy on their part to decide
+who should inherit the vineyard, and on what terms,
+that conflict between them might be avoided. But
+on the unconsulted victim it came a cruel blow,
+unexpected and indefensible. It is important not
+to forget this.</p>
+<p>
+But the one absorbing thought of all for nearly
+a year past has been the drought and consequent
+famine. Between November, 1904, and October,
+1905, there was practically no rainfall over a large
+portion of the country, and agriculture being interfered
+with, grain rose to five times its normal price.
+Although relief has now come, it will be months
+before the cattle are in proper condition again, and
+not till after next year's harvest in May and June,
+should it prove a good one, will contentment be
+restored. Under such conditions, though more
+ready than ever to grumble, the people have had
+no heart to fight, which has, to some degree, assisted
+in keeping them quiet. The famine has, however,
+tried them sore, and only increased their exasperation.</p>
+<p>
+Added to this, the general feeling of dissatisfaction
+regarding the Sultan's foreign predilections, and
+the slumbering fanaticism of the "learned" class,
+there is now a chronic lack of funds. The money
+which should have been raised by taxation has been
+borrowed abroad and ruthlessly scattered. Fortunes
+have been made by foreigners and natives alike,
+but the Sultan is all but bankrupt. Yet never was<a name="page278" id="page278"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;278]</span>
+his entourage so rich, though many who to-day hold
+houses and lands were a few years ago penniless.</p>
+<p>
+As for the future, for many years the only
+answer possible to tediously frequent inquiries as
+to what was going to happen in Morocco has been
+that the future of the Shareefian Empire depended
+entirely on what might happen in Europe, not to
+any degree on its own internal condition. The
+only way in which this could affect the issue was
+by affording an excuse for outside interference, as
+in the present case.</p>
+<p>
+Corrupt as the native administration may be, it
+is but the expression of a corrupt population, and
+no native government, even in Europe, is ever far in
+advance of those over whom it rules. In spite, too,
+of the pressure of injustice on the individual here
+and there, the victim of to-day becomes the oppressor
+of to-morrow, and such opportunities are not to be
+surrendered without a protest. The vast majority
+is, therefore, always in favour of present conditions,
+and would rather the chances of internecine strife
+than an exotic peace. No foreign ruler, however
+benign, would be welcome, and no "penetration,"
+however "pacific," but will be endured and resented
+as a hostile wound. Even the announcement of
+the Anglo-French Agreement was sufficient to
+gravely accentuate the disorders of the country,
+and threaten immediate complications with Europe,
+by provoking attacks on Europeans who had
+hitherto been safe from interference save under
+exceptional circumstances. A good deal of the
+present unrest is attributable to this cause alone.</p>
+<p>
+It is, therefore, a matter of deep regret that the
+one possible remedy&mdash;joint action of the Powers in<a name="page279" id="page279"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;279]</span>
+policing the Moors, as it were, by demanding essential
+reforms in return for a united guarantee of
+territorial integrity&mdash;was rendered impossible by
+the rivalries between those Powers, especially on
+the part of France. Great Britain's step aside has
+made possible the only alternative, the surrender
+of the coveted task to one of their number, in
+return for such <i>quid pro quo</i> as each could obtain.
+Had the second-class Powers been bargained with
+first, not only would they have secured substantial
+terms, which now it is no use their asking, but the
+leading Powers could have held out for terms yet
+undreamed of.</p>
+<p>
+France did well to begin with Great Britain,
+but it was an egregious diplomatic error to overlook
+Germany, which was thereby promoted to
+the hitherto unhoped-for position of "next friend"
+and trusted adviser of Morocco. Up to that point
+Germany had played a waiting game so patiently
+that France fell into the trap, and gave her all she
+wanted. It is inconceivable how the astute politicians
+of the Quai d'Orsay committed such a blunder, save
+on the assumption that they were so carried away
+by the ease with which they had settled with Great
+Britain, that they forgot all other precautions&mdash;unless
+it was that they feared to jeopardize the conclusion
+of the main bargain by delay in discussing
+any subsidiary point.</p>
+<p>
+When the Agreement was made known, the
+writer pointed out in the <i>Westminster Review</i>,
+that, "Portugal, Italy and Austria have but to
+acquiesce and rest assured of the 'most favoured
+nation' treatment, as will all the other Powers save
+one. That one, of course, is Germany, <i>whose sole</i><a name="page280" id="page280"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;280]</span>
+<i>interest in Morocco is the possibility of placing a drag
+on France</i>. She will have to be dealt with. Having
+disposed of England, which had real interests at
+stake, in the command of the straits and the maintenance
+of Gibraltar, France should be able to
+accomplish this as well. Five and twenty years
+ago Germany had not even a commercial interest
+in Morocco. Great Britain did three-fourths of the
+trade, or more, France about a tenth, Spain and
+others dividing the crumbs between them. But an
+active commercial policy&mdash;by the encouragement
+and support of young firms in a way that made
+Britishers envious, and abusive of their own Foreign
+Office&mdash;has secured for Germany a growing share
+of the trade, till now she stands next to Great
+Britain, whose share is reduced to one-half."<a name="XXX1r" id="XXX1r"></a><a href="#XXX1"><sup>*</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+After all, the interests of Germany in Morocco<a name="page281" id="page281"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;281]</span>
+were but a trifling consideration, meaning much less
+to her than ours do to us, and it was evident that
+whatever position she might assume, however she
+might bluster, she, too, had her price. This not
+being perceived by the ill-informed Press of this
+country, the prey of political journalists in Paris,
+Cologne and Madrid&mdash;more recently even of Washington,
+whence the delusive reports are now re-echoed
+with alarming reverberations&mdash;there was
+heated talk of war, and everything that newspapers
+could do to bring it about was done. Even a
+private visit of the Kaiser to Tangier, the only important
+feature of which was the stir made about it,
+was utilized to fan the flame. However theatrical
+some of the political actions of Wilhelm II. may
+have been, here was a case in which, directly he
+perceived the capital being made of his visit, he
+curtailed it to express his disapprobation. It was
+in Tangier Bay that he received the newspaper
+cuttings on the subject, and although the visit was
+to have extended in any case but to a few hours, he
+at once decided not to land. It was only when it
+was urged upon him what disappointment this
+would cause to its thirty thousand inhabitants and
+visitors for the occasion, that he consented to pay
+one short visit to his Legation, abandoning the
+more important part of the programme, which included
+a climb to the citadel and an interchange of
+visits with a kinsman of the Sultan. Nothing more
+could have been done to emphasize the private
+nature of the visit, in reality of no greater moment
+than that of King Edward to Algeria almost at the
+same time.</p>
+<p>
+Neither such a personal visit, nor any other<a name="page282" id="page282"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;282]</span>
+action should have been required to remind Great
+Britain and France that they and Spain alone were
+affected by their agreements, and that not even
+official notification to Morocco or the other Powers
+could restrict their perfect liberty of action. When,
+therefore, the distracted Sultan turned to Germany
+as the most influential Power still faithful to its
+undertakings, the response of Germany was perfectly
+correct, as was his own action. But Germany,
+although prepared to meet him with a smile, and
+not averse to receiving crumbs in the form of
+concessions, had no more intention of embroiling
+herself on his behalf than Great Britain. Extraordinary
+rumours, however, pervaded the country,
+and the idea of German intervention was hailed with
+delight; now general disappointment is felt, and
+Germany is classed with England among the traitors.</p>
+<p>
+Mulai Abd el Azîz had but one resource, to
+propose another conference of the Powers, assured
+that France and Germany would never come to an
+understanding, and that this would at least ward off
+the fatal day indefinitely. Yet now that France
+and Germany have agreed, it is probable that this
+step is regretted, and that, since the two have acted
+in concert, the Moorish Court has been at its wits'
+ends; it would now regard as a God-send anything
+which might prevent the conference from being
+held, lest it should strengthen the accord among
+its enemies, and weaken its own position.</p>
+<p>
+The diplomatic negotiations between Fez, Berlin,
+and Paris have been of a character normal under the
+circumstances; and as the bickerings and insinuations
+which accompanied them were foreign to Morocco,
+the Sultan's invitation only serving as an opportunity<a name="page283" id="page283"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;283]</span>
+for arriving at an understanding, they need not be
+dwelt on here. It is the French Press which has
+stirred up the commotion, and has misled the British
+Public into the belief that there has been some
+"Morocco Tangle." The facts are simply these:
+since 1880, the date of the Madrid Convention
+regarding the vexed question of foreign rights of
+protecting natives and holding property in Morocco,
+all nations concerned have been placed on an equal
+footing in their dealings with that country. The
+"most favoured nation" clause has secured for all
+the advantages gained by any in its special treaties.
+Nothing has since occurred to destroy this situation.
+In asking his "friends" to meet again in conference
+now, the Sultan acted wisely and within his
+rights. The fact that any two or three of them
+may have agreed to give one of their number a
+"free hand," should it suit her purposes to upset
+the <i>status quo</i>, does not theoretically affect the
+position, though it has suggested the advisability
+of further discussion. It is only in virtue of their
+combined might that the Powers in question are
+enabled to assume the position they do.</p>
+<p>
+Spain, the only power with interests in Morocco
+other than commercial, had been settled with by a
+subsequent agreement in October, 1904, for she had
+been consulted in time. Special clauses dealing
+with her claims to consideration had even been
+inserted in the Anglo-French Agreement&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+Art. VII. "This arrangement does not apply to the
+points now occupied by Spain on the Moorish shore of the
+Mediterranean.</p>
+<p>
+Art. VIII. "The two Governments, animated by their
+sincerely friendly sentiments for Spain, take into particular<a name="page284" id="page284"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;284]</span>
+consideration the interests she possesses, owing to her
+geographical position and to her territorial possessions on the
+Moorish shore of the Mediterranean, in regard to which
+the French Government will make some arrangement with
+the Spanish Government ... (which) will be communicated
+to the Government of His Britannic Majesty."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+These Articles apply to Ceuta, which Spain
+withheld from the Portuguese after the brief union
+of the crowns in the sixteenth century; to Veléz, an
+absolutely worthless rock, captured in 1564 by
+Garcia de Toledo with fifteen thousand men, the
+abandonment of which has more than once been
+seriously urged in Spain; to Alhucemas, a small
+island occupied in 1673; to Melilla, a huge rock
+peninsula captured, on his own account, by Medina
+Sidonia in 1497; and to the Zaffarine (or Saffron)
+Islands, only one of which is used, in the seizure of
+which the French were cleverly forestalled in 1848.
+All are convict stations; unless heavily fortified in
+a manner that at present they are not, they would
+not be of sufficient value to tempt even a foe of
+Spain. Ceuta and Melilla alone are worthy of
+consideration, and the former is the only one it
+might ever pay to fortify.</p>
+<p>
+So far have matters gone. The conference
+asked for by Morocco&mdash;the flesh thrown to the
+wolves&mdash;is to form the next Act. To this conference
+the unfortunate Sultan would like to appeal
+for protection against the now "free hand" of
+France, but in consenting to discuss matters at all,
+she and her ally have, of course, stipulated that
+what has been done without reference to treaty
+shall not be treated of, if they are to take part, and
+as an act of courtesy to us, the United States has<a name="page285" id="page285"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;285]</span>
+followed suit. Other matters of importance which
+Mulai Abd el Azîz desired to discuss have also
+been ruled out beforehand, so that only minor
+questions are to be dealt with, hardly worth the
+trouble of meeting.</p>
+<p>
+Foremost among these is the replenishing of the
+Moorish exchequer by further loans, which might
+more easily have been arranged without a conference.
+Indeed, there are so many money-lenders
+anxious to finance Morocco on satisfactory terms, that
+the competition among them has almost degenerated
+into a scramble. But all want some direct guarantee
+through their Governments, which introduces the
+political element, as in return for such guarantee
+each Power desires to increase its interests or privileges.
+Thus, while each financier holds out his gold-bags
+temptingly before the Sultan, elbowing aside
+his rival, each demands as surety the endorsement
+of his Government, the price of which the Sultan is
+hardly prepared to pay. He probably hopes that
+by appealing to them all in conference, he will
+obtain a joint guarantee on less onerous terms,
+without affording any one of them a foothold in
+his country, should he be unable to discharge his
+obligations. He is wise, and but for the difficulties
+caused by the defection of England and France from
+the political circle, this request for money might alone
+have sufficed to introduce a reformed <i>régime</i> under the
+joint auspices of all. As it is, attempts to raise funds
+elsewhere, even to discharge the current interest,
+having failed, his French creditors, who do possess
+the support of their Government, have obligingly
+added interest to capital, and with official sanction
+continue to roll the snowball destined one day to<a name="page286" id="page286"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;286]</span>
+overwhelm the State. In the eyes of the Moors
+this is nothing less than a bill-of-sale on the Empire.</p>
+<p>
+A second point named by the Sultan for
+submission to the conference is the urgency of
+submitting all inhabitants of the country without
+distinction to the reformed taxation; a reasonable
+demand if the taxes were reasonable and justly
+assessed, but who can say at present that they
+are either? The exchequer is undoubtedly defrauded
+of large sums by the exemptions enjoyed
+by foreigners and their <i>protégés</i>, on account of the
+way in which these privileges are abused, while,
+to begin with, the system itself is unfair to the
+native. Here again is an excellent lever for securing
+reforms by co-operation. Let the Sultan understand
+that the sole condition on which such a privilege
+can be abandoned is the reform of his whole fiscal
+and judicial systems, and that this effected to the
+satisfaction of the Powers, these privileges will be
+abandoned. Nothing could do more to promote
+the internal peace and welfare of Morocco than this
+point rightly handled.</p>
+<p>
+A third demand, the abolition of foreign postal
+services in his country, may appear to many curious
+and insignificant, but the circumstances are peculiar.
+Twenty years ago, when I first knew Morocco, there
+were no means of transmitting correspondence up
+country save by intermittent couriers despatched by
+merchants, whom one had to hunt up at the <i>cafés</i> in
+which they reposed. On arrival the bundle of letters
+was carried round to likely recipients for them to
+select their own in the most hap-hazard way. Things
+were hardly more formal at the ports at which eagerly
+awaited letters and papers arrived by sea. These<a name="page287" id="page287"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;287]</span>
+were carried free from Gibraltar, and delivered on
+application at the various consular offices.</p>
+<p>
+At one time the Moorish Government maintained
+unsatisfactory courier services between two or three
+of the towns, but issued no stamps, the receipt for
+the courier's payment being of the nature of a postmark,
+stamped at the office, which, though little
+known to collectors, is the only genuine and really
+valuable Moorish postage stamp obtainable. All
+other so-called Morocco stamps were issued by
+private individuals, who later on ran couriers
+between some two Moorish towns, their income
+being chiefly derived from the sale of stamps to
+collectors. Some were either entirely bogus services,
+or only a few couriers were run to save appearances.
+Stamps of all kinds were sold at face value, postmarked
+or not to order, and as the issues were from
+time to time changed, the profits were steady and
+good. The case was in some ways analogous to
+that of the Yangtse and other treaty ports of China,
+where I found every consul's wife engaged in designing
+local issues, sometimes of not inconsiderable
+merit. In Morocco quite a circle of stamp-dealers
+sprang up, mostly sharp Jewish lads&mdash;though not
+a few foreign officials contracted the fever, and some
+time ago a stamp journal began to be issued in
+Tangier to promote the sale of issues which otherwise
+would not have been heard of.</p>
+<p>
+Now all is changed; Great Britain, France,
+Spain and Germany maintain head postal offices
+in Tangier, the British being subject to that of
+Gibraltar, whose stamps are used. All have courier
+services down the coast, as well as despatching by
+steamer, and some maintain inland mails conveyed<a name="page288" id="page288"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;288]</span>
+by runners. The distance from Tangier to Fez,
+some hundred and fifty miles, is covered by one
+man on foot in about three days and a half, and
+the forty miles' run from Tangier to Tetuan is done
+in a night for a dollar, now less than three shillings.</p>
+<p>
+But a more enlightened Sultan sees the advantage
+it would be to him, if not to all parties, to
+control the distribution of the growing correspondence
+of both Europeans and natives, the
+latter of whom prefer to register their letters, having
+very little faith in their despatch without a receipt.
+And as Mulai Abd el Azîz is willing to join the
+Postal Union, provided that the service is placed
+in efficient European hands there is no reason why
+it should not be united in one office, and facilities
+thereby increased.</p>
+<p>
+France, however, in joining the conference, has
+quite another end in view than helping others to
+bolster up the present administration, and that is to
+obtain a formal recognition by all concerned, including
+Morocco, of the new position created by her agreement
+with Great Britain. That is to say, without
+permitting her action to be questioned in any way,
+she hopes to secure some show of right to what at
+present she possesses only by the might of herself
+and her friends. She has already agreed with
+Germany to recognize her special claim for permission
+to "police" the Morocco-Algerian frontier,
+and those who recall the appropriation of Tunisia
+will remember that it originated in "policing" the
+Khomaďr&mdash;known to the French as "Kroumirs"&mdash;on
+the Tunisian frontier of Algeria.</p>
+<p>
+It is, indeed, a curious spectacle, a group of
+butchers around the unfortunate victim, talking<a name="page289" id="page289"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;289]</span>
+philanthropy, practising guile: two of the strongest
+have at last agreed between themselves which is to
+have the carcase, but preparations for the "pacific"
+death-thrust are delayed by frantic appeals for
+further consultation, and by the refusal of one of
+their number who had been ignored to recognize
+the bargain. Consultation is only agreed to on
+conditions which must defeat its object, and terms
+are arranged with the intervener. Everything,
+therefore, is clear for the operation; the tender-hearted
+are soothed by promises that though the
+"penetration" cannot but be painful, it shall at least
+not be hostile; while in order that the contumacious
+may hereafter hold their peace, the consultation is
+to result in a formal but carefully worded death-warrant.</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile it is worth while recalling the essential
+features of the Madrid Convention of 1880, mainly
+due to French claims for special privileges in protecting
+natives, or in giving them the rights of
+French citizens. This was summoned by Spain at
+the suggestion of Great Britain, with the concurrence
+of Morocco. Holland, Sweden and Norway,
+Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, France, Germany, the
+United States, Italy, Brazil, and Austria-Hungary
+accepted the invitation in the order named, but
+Brazil was ultimately unrepresented. Russia was
+also invited as an after-thought, but did not consider
+it worth while accepting. The scope of the conference
+was limited to the subject of foreign protection,
+though the question of property was by
+mutual consent included.</p>
+<p>
+The representatives of the conferring Powers
+accredited to the Spanish Court were nominated as<a name="page290" id="page290"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;290]</span>
+members&mdash;the English Plenipotentiary acting for
+Denmark&mdash;as it was felt that those accredited to
+Morocco already held too decided views of the
+matter. The Moorish Foreign Minister attended
+on behalf of Morocco, and Seńor Canovas, President
+of the Council, represented Spain. Seventeen
+meetings were held, under the presidency of Seńor
+Canovas, between May 19 and July 3, the last
+being purely formal. The Convention then signed
+contained little that was new, but it re-stated clearly
+and harmonized with satisfactory results rights previously
+granted to one and another. In several
+particulars, however, its provisions are faulty, and
+experience of their working has long led to demands
+for revision, but conflicting interests, and fears of
+opening up larger issues, have caused this to be
+postponed.</p>
+<p>
+Now that the time has arrived for a re-definition
+of the whole position and rights of foreigners and
+their Governments in Morocco, it is earnestly to
+be hoped that the opportunity may not be lost.
+The great fault of the Madrid Convention is that
+while it recognizes the right of foreigners to acquire
+land in Morocco, it stipulates for the previous consent
+of the native authorities, which is only to be
+obtained, if at all, by liberal "presents." But the
+most pressing need is the establishment of an international
+tribunal for the trial of cases involving
+more than one nationality, to replace the present
+anarchy, resulting from the conflict in one case of
+any of the thirteen independent jurisdictions at
+present in force in Morocco. Such a measure
+would be an outcome of more value than all possible
+agreements to respect the independence and integrity<a name="page291" id="page291"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;291]</span>
+of Morocco till it suited the purpose of one party
+or another to encroach thereon.</p>
+<p>
+In lands knowing but one jurisdiction it is hard
+to conceive the abuses and defeats of justice which
+result from the confusion reigning in Morocco, or
+those which existed in Egypt previous to the
+establishment of international tribunals there. For
+instance, plaintiff, of nationality A., sues defendants,
+of nationalities B., C., and D., for the return of goods
+which they have forcibly carried off, on the ground
+that they were pledged to them by a party of
+nationality E., who disputes their claim, and declares
+the goods sold to original plaintiff. Here are five
+jurisdictions involved, each with a different set of
+laws, so that during the three separate actions
+necessitated, although the three defendants have all
+acted alike and together, the judgment in the case
+of each may be different, <i>e.g.</i> case under law B. dismissed,
+that under law C. won by plaintiff, while
+law D. might recognize the defendants' claim, but
+condemn his action. Needless to follow such intricacies
+further, though this is by no means an
+extreme case, for disputes are constantly occurring&mdash;to
+say nothing of criminal actions&mdash;involving the
+several consular courts, for the most part presided
+over by men unequipped by legal training, in which
+it is a practical impossibility for justice to be done
+to all, and time and money are needlessly wasted.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXX1" id="XXX1"></a>
+<a href="#XXX1r">*</a> It is curious, indeed, how little the German Empire or its component
+States figure in the history of diplomatic relations with
+Morocco. One has to go back to the time of Rudolf II., in 1604, to
+find an active policy in force with regard to Moroccan affairs, when
+that remarkable adventurer or international diplomatist, Sir Anthony
+Sherley, was accredited to Abd el Azîz III., the last of the Moorish
+rulers to bear the same name as the present one. This intrepid
+soldier, a man after the Kaiser's own heart, had been accredited to
+Germany by the great Shah of Persia, Abbás, whose confidence he
+had won to a marvellous degree, and he appears to have made as
+great an impression on Rudolf, who sent him as his envoy to Morocco.
+Arrived there, he astonished the natives by coolly riding into the court
+of audience&mdash;a privilege still reserved to the Sultan alone. But the
+Ameer, as he was called in those days, was too politic or too polite to
+raise the question, only taking care that the next time the "dog of a
+Christian" should find a chain stretched across the gateway. This
+Sir Anthony could not brook, so rode back threatening to break off
+negotiations, and it affords a striking lesson as to the right way of
+dealing with orientals, that even in those days the Moors should
+have yielded and imprisoned the porter, permitting Sir Anthony's
+entrance on horseback thereafter. The treaty he came to negotiate
+was concluded, and relations with the Germans were established on a
+right footing, but they have been little in evidence till recent years.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page292" id="page292"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;292]</span>
+
+<h3>XXXI</h3>
+
+<h2>FRANCE IN MOROCCO</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Who stands long enough at the door is sure to enter at last."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+In a previous work on this country, "The Land of
+the Moors," published in 1901, the present writer
+concluded with this passage: "France alone is to
+be feared in the Land of the Moors, which, as things
+trend to-day, must in time form part of her colony.
+There is no use disguising the fact, and, as England
+certainly would not be prepared to go to war with
+her neighbour to prevent her repeating in Morocco
+what she has done in Tunis, it were better not to
+grumble at her action. All England cares about is
+the mouth of the Mediterranean, and if this were
+secured to her, or even guaranteed neutral&mdash;were
+that possible&mdash;she could have no cause to object to
+the French extension. Our Moorish friends will
+not listen to our advice; they keep their country
+closed, as far as they can, refusing administrative
+reforms which would prevent excuses for annexation.
+Why should we trouble them? It were
+better far to come to an agreement with France,
+and acknowledge what will prove itself one day&mdash;that
+France is the normal heir to Morocco whenever
+the present Empire breaks up."</p>
+
+<a name="page293" id="page293"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;293]</span>
+<p>
+Unpopular as this opinion was among the British
+and other foreign subjects in the country, and
+especially among the Moors, so that it had at first
+no other advocate, it has since been adopted in
+Downing Street, and what is of more moment, acted
+upon. Nay more, Great Britain has, in return for
+the mere recognition of a <i>fait accompli</i> in Egypt,
+agreed to stand aside in Morocco, and to grant
+France a free hand in any attempt to create there
+a similar state of things. Though the principle
+was good, the bargain was bad, for the positions
+of the two contracting Powers, in Egypt and
+Morocco respectively, were by no means analogous.
+France could never have driven us out of Egypt
+save with her sword at our throat; England had
+but to unite with other Powers in blocking the way
+of France in Morocco to stultify all her plans. Had
+England stood out for terms, whether as regarding
+her commercial interests in Morocco, which have
+been disgracefully sacrificed, or in the form of concessions
+elsewhere, a very much more equal-handed
+bargain might have been secured.</p>
+<p>
+The main provisions of the agreement between
+the two countries, concluded April 8, 1904, are&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+Art. II. "The British Government recognizes that it
+appertains to France, more especially as being the Power
+in contiguity with Morocco, to control the peace of the
+country, and to lend its assistance in all administrative,
+economical, financial, and military reforms. The British
+Government declares that it will not interfere with the
+action of France in this regard, provided that this action
+will leave intact the rights which, in virtue of treaties, conventions,
+and usages, Great Britain enjoys in Morocco,
+including the right of coasting between the Morocco ports,
+of which English vessels have had the benefit since 1901."</p>
+
+<a name="page294" id="page294"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;294]</span>
+<p>
+Art. VII. "In order to secure the free passage of the
+Straits of Gibraltar, both Governments agree not to allow
+fortifications or any strategic works to be erected on that
+part of the Moorish coast between Melilla and the heights
+which dominate the right bank of the Sebu exclusively."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+France has secured all that she wanted, or rather
+that her aggressive colonial party wanted, for
+opinions on that point are by no means identical,
+even in France, and the Agreement at once called
+forth the condemnation of the more moderate party.
+What appears to be permissive means much more.
+Now that Great Britain has drawn back&mdash;the
+Power to which the late Sir John Drummond Hay
+taught the Moors to look with an implicit confidence
+to champion them against all foes, as it did
+in the case of the wars with France and Spain,
+vetoing the retention of a foot of Moorish soil&mdash;Morocco
+lies at the feet of France. France, indeed,
+has become responsible for carrying out a task its
+eager spirits have been boiling over for a chance of
+undertaking. Morocco has been made the ward of
+the hand that gripped it, which but recently filched
+two outlying provinces, Figig and Tűát.</p>
+<p>
+Englishmen who know and care little about
+Morocco are quite incapable of understanding the
+hold that France already had upon this land.
+Separated from it only by an unprotected boundary,
+much better defined on paper than in fact, over
+which there is always a "rectification" dispute in
+pickle, her province of Algeria affords a prospective
+base already furnished with lines of rail from her
+ports of Oran and Algiers. From Oojda, an
+insignificant town across the border from Lalla
+Maghnîa (Marnia), there runs a valley route which<a name="page295" id="page295"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;295]</span>
+lays Fez in her power, with Táza by the way to
+fortify and keep the mountaineers in check. At
+any time the frontier forays in which the tribes on
+both sides indulge may be fomented or exaggerated,
+as in the case of Tunis, to afford a like excuse for a
+similar occupation, which beyond a doubt would be
+a good thing for Morocco. Fez captured, and the
+seaports kept in awe or bombarded by the navy,
+Mequinez would fall, and an army landed in
+Mazagan would seize Marrákesh.</p>
+<p>
+All this could be accomplished with a minimum
+of loss, for only the lowlands would have to be
+crossed, and the mountaineers have no army. But
+their "pacification" would be the lingering task in
+which lives, time, and money would be lost beyond
+all recompense. Against a European army that of
+the Sultan need not be feared; only a few battalions
+drilled by European officers might give trouble,
+but they would see former instructors among the
+foe, and without them they would soon become demoralized.
+It would be the tribal skirmishers, of
+whom half would fall before the others yielded to
+the Nazarenes, who would give the trouble.</p>
+<p>
+The military mission which France has for many
+years imposed on the Sultan at his expense, though
+under her control, which follows him in his expeditions
+and spies out the land, has afforded a training-ground
+for a series of future invading leaders. Her
+Algerian Mohammedan agents are able to pass and
+repass where foreigners never go, and besides
+collecting topographical and other information, they
+have lost no opportunity of making known the
+privileges and advantages of French rule. In case
+it may be found advisable to set up a dummy<a name="page296" id="page296"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;296]</span>
+sultan under a protectorate, the French have an able
+and powerful man to hand in the young Idreesi
+Shareef of Wazzán, whom the English refused to
+protect, and who, with his brother, received a French
+education.</p>
+<p>
+But while we, as a nation, have been unable to
+comprehend the French determination to possess
+Morocco, they have been unable to comprehend
+our calm indifference, and by the way in which
+they betray their suspicions of us, they betray their
+own methods. Protestant missionaries in Algeria
+and Tunisia, of whatever nationality, are supposed
+to be the emissaries of the British Government, and
+in consequence are harassed and maligned, while
+tourists outside the regular beat are watched. When
+visiting Oojda some years ago, I myself was twice
+arrested in Algeria, at Tlemçen and Lalla Maghnîa,
+because mingling with natives, and it was with
+difficulty that I could persuade the <i>juges d'instruction</i>
+of my peaceful motives.</p>
+<p>
+Determined and successful efforts to become
+acquainted with the remotest provinces of Morocco,
+the distribution of its population, and whatever could
+be of use to an invading or "pacifying" force have
+long been made by France, but the most valuable
+portion of this knowledge remains pigeon-holed, or
+circulates only in strictly official <i>mémoires</i>. Many
+of the officials engaged here, however, have amused
+themselves and the public by publishing pretty
+books of the average class, telling little new, while
+one even took the trouble to write his in English,
+in order to put us off the scent!</p>
+<p>
+If ever means could justify an end, France
+deserves to enjoy the fruit of her labours. No<a name="page297" id="page297"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;297]</span>
+longer need she foment strife on the Algerian
+frontier, or wink at arms being smuggled across
+it; no longer need the mis-named "pretender" be
+supplied with French gold, or intrigues be carried
+on at Court. Abd el Azîz must take the advice
+and "assistance" of France, whether he will or
+no, and curse the British to whom he formerly
+looked. This need not necessarily involve such
+drastic changes as would rouse the people to rebellion,
+and precipitate a costly conquest. There
+are many reforms urgently required in the interests
+of the people themselves, and these can now be
+gradually enforced. Such reforms had been set on
+foot already by the young Sultan, mainly under
+British advice; but to his chagrin, his advisers did
+not render the financial and moral support he needed
+to carry them out. France is now free to do this,
+and to strengthen his position, so that all wise reforms
+may be possible. These will naturally commence
+with civil and judicial functions, but must
+soon embrace the more pressing public works, such
+as roads, bridges, and port improvements. Railways
+are likely to be the first roads in most parts, and
+Mulai Abd el Azîz will welcome their introduction.
+The western ideas which he has imbibed during the
+last few years are scoffed at only by those who know
+little of him. What France will have to be prepared
+for is Court intrigue, and she will have to
+give the Moors plainly to understand that "Whatsoever
+king shall reign, she'll still be 'boss of the
+show,' sir."</p>
+<p>
+As one of the first steps needed, but one requiring
+the co-operation of all other Powers on treaty
+terms with the Moors, the establishment of tribunals<a name="page298" id="page298"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;298]</span>
+to which all should be amenable, has already been
+touched upon. These must necessarily be presided
+over by specially qualified Europeans in
+receipt of sufficient salary to remove them from
+temptation. A clear distinction should then be
+made between a civil code administered by such
+tribunals and the jurisdiction of the Muslim law in
+matters of religion and all dependent upon it. But
+of even more pressing importance is the reform of
+the currency, and the admission of Morocco to the
+Latin Union. This could well be insisted on when
+the financial question is discussed at the Algeciras
+Conference, as well as the equally important establishment
+in competent hands of a State Bank.
+This and the reform of the whole fiscal system
+must precede every other measure, as they form
+the ground-work of the whole.</p>
+<p>
+Whatever public works may be eventually undertaken,
+the first should be, as far as possible, such as
+the Moors themselves can execute under European
+direction, and as they can appreciate. Irrigation
+would command enthusiasm where railways would
+only provoke opposition, and the French could find
+no surer way of winning the hearts of the people
+than by coping at once with the agricultural water
+supply, in order to provide against such years of
+famine as the present, and worse that are well
+remembered. That would be a form of "pacific
+penetration," to which none could object.</p>
+<p>
+Education, too, when attempted, should be
+gradually introduced as a means of personal advancement,
+the requirements of the public service being
+raised year by year, as the younger generation has
+had opportunities of better qualifying themselves.<a name="page299" id="page299"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;299]</span>
+Above all, every post should be in theory at least
+thrown open to the native, and in practice as soon
+as the right man turned up. Better retain or
+instal more of the able Moors of to-day as figureheads
+with European advisers, than attempt a new
+set to start with. But a clean sweep should be
+made of the foreigners at present in the Moorish
+service, all of whom should be adequately pensioned
+off, that with the new order might come new men,
+adequately paid and independent of "commissions."
+It is essential that the people learn to feel that they
+are not being exploited, but that their true welfare
+is sought. Every reform should be carried out
+along native lines, and in conformity with native
+thought.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="execution" id="execution"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/299.jpg"><img src="images/299-277.jpg" width="277" height="430" alt="TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH&mdash;AN EXECUTION." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Albert, Photo., Tunis.</i><br /><br />
+<b>TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH&mdash;AN EXECUTION.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+The costly lesson of Algeria, where native rights
+and interests were overthrown, and a complete detested
+foreign rule set up, has taught the French
+the folly of such a system, however glorious it may
+appear on paper. They have been wiser in Tunisia,
+where a nominally native government is directed
+by Frenchmen, whom it pays, and sooner or later
+Morocco is almost certain to become a second
+Tunisia. This will not only prove the best working
+system, but it will enable opposition to be dealt
+with by Moorish forces, instead of by an invading
+army, which would unite the Berber tribes under
+the Moorish flag. This was what prolonged the
+conquest of Algeria for so many years, and the
+Berbers of Morocco are more independent and
+better armed than were those of Algeria seventy
+years ago. What France will gain by the change
+beyond openings for Frenchmen and the glory of
+an extended colonial empire, it is hard to imagine,
+<a name="page300" id="page300"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;300]</span>
+but empty glory seems to satisfy most countries
+greedy of conquest. So far the only outward evidences
+of the new position are the over-running of
+the ports, especially of Tangier, by Frenchmen of
+an undesirable class, and by an attempt to establish
+a French colony at the closed port of Mehedîya
+by doubtful means, to say nothing of the increased
+smuggling of arms.</p>
+<p>
+How the welfare of the Moors will be affected
+by the change is a much more important question,
+though one often held quite unworthy of consideration,
+the accepted axiom being that, whether they
+like it or not, what is good for us is good for them.
+Needless to say that most of the reforms required
+will be objected to, and that serious obstacles
+will be opposed to some; the mere fact that the
+foreigner, contemptuously called a "Nazarene," is
+their author, is sufficient to prejudice them in native
+eyes, and the more prominent the part played by
+him, the more difficult to follow his advice. But if
+the Sultan and his new advisers will consent to a
+wise course of quiet co-operation, much may be
+effected without causing trouble. It is astonishing
+how readily the Moors submit to the most radical
+changes when unostentatiously but forcibly carried
+out. Never was there a greater call for the <i>suaviter
+in modo, fortiter in re</i>. Power which makes itself
+felt by unwavering action has always had their
+respect, and if the Sultan is prepared not to act
+till with gold in his coffers, disciplined troops at his
+command, and loyal officials to do his behest, he
+can do so with unquestioned finality, all will go well.</p>
+<p>
+Then will the prosperity of the people revive&mdash;indeed,
+achieve a condition hitherto unknown save
+<a name="page301" id="page301"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;301]</span>
+in two or three reigns of the distant past, perhaps
+not then. The poor will not fear to sow their
+barren fields, or the rich to display their wealth;
+hidden treasure will come to light, and the groan of
+the oppressed will cease.  Individual cases of gross
+injustice will doubtless arise; but they will be
+as nothing compared with what occurs in Morocco
+to-day, even with that wrought by Europeans
+who avail themselves of existing evils. So that if
+France is wise, and restrains her hot-heads, she
+may perform a magnificent work for the Moors, as
+the British have done in Egypt; at least, it is to be
+hoped she may do as well in Morocco as in Tunisia.</p>
+<p>
+But it would be idle to ignore the deep dissatisfaction
+with which the Anglo-French Agreement
+has been received by others than the Moors.<a name="XXXI1r" id="XXXI1r"></a><a href="#XXXI1"><sup>*</sup></a>
+Most British residents in Morocco, probably every
+tourist who has been conducted along the coast,
+or sniffed at the capital cities; those firms of ours
+who share the bulk of the Moorish trade, and
+others who yearned to open up possible mines, and
+undertake the public works so urgently needed;
+ay, and the concession-prospectors and company-mongers
+who see the prey eluding their grasp; even
+the would-be heroes across the straits who have
+dreamed in vain of great deeds to be done on those
+hills before them; all unite in deploring what
+appears to them a gross blunder. After all, this
+is but natural. So few of us can see beyond our
+own domains, so many hunger after anything&mdash;in
+their particular line&mdash;that belongs to a weaker
+neighbour, that it is well we have disinterested
+statesmen who take a wider view.  Else had we<a name="page302" id="page302"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;302]</span>
+long since attempted to possess ourselves of the
+whole earth, like the conquering hordes of Asia,
+and in consequence we should have been dispossessed
+ourselves.</p>
+<p>
+Even to have been driven to undertake in
+Morocco a task such as we were in Egypt, would
+have been a calamity, for our hands are too full
+already of similar tasks. It is all very well in these
+times of peace, but in the case of war, when we
+might be attacked by more than one antagonist, we
+should have all our work cut out to hold what
+we have. The policy of "grab," and dabbing
+the world with red, may be satisfactory up to a
+certain point, but it will be well for us as a nation
+when we realize that we have had enough. In
+Morocco, what is easy for France with her contiguous
+province, with her plans for trans-Sáharan
+traffic, and her thirst to copy our colonial expansion&mdash;though
+without men to spare&mdash;would have been
+for us costly and unremunerative. We are well quit
+of the temptation.</p>
+<p>
+Moreover, we have freed ourselves of a possible,
+almost certain, cause of friction with France, of
+itself a most important gain. Just as France would
+never have acquiesced in our establishing a protectorate
+in Morocco without something more
+than words, so the rag-fed British public, always
+capable of being goaded to madness by the newspapers,
+would have bitterly objected to French
+action, if overt, while powerless to prevent the
+insidious grasp from closing on Morocco by degrees.
+The first war engaging at once British attention
+and forces was like to see France installed in
+Morocco without our leave. The early reverses of<a name="page303" id="page303"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;303]</span>
+the Transvaal War induced her to appropriate Tűát
+and Figig, and had the fortune of war been against
+us, Morocco would have been French already.
+These facts must not be overlooked in discussing
+what was our wisest course. We were unprepared
+to do what France was straining to do: we
+occupied the manger to no one's good&mdash;practically
+the position later assumed by Germany. Surely we
+were wiser to come to terms while we could, not as
+in the case of Tunisia, when too late.</p>
+<p>
+But among the objecting critics one class has
+a right to be heard, those who have invested life
+and fortune in the Morocco trade; the men who
+have toiled for years against the discouraging odds
+involved, who have wondered whether Moorish
+corruption or British apathy were their worst foe, in
+whom such feeling is not only natural but excusable.
+Only those who have experienced it know what it
+means to be defrauded by complacent Orientals, and
+to be refused the redress they see officials of other
+nations obtaining for rivals. Yet now they find all
+capped by the instructions given to our consuls not
+to act without conferring with the local representatives
+of France, which leads to the taunt that Great
+Britain has not only sold her interests in Morocco
+to the French, but also her subjects!</p>
+<p>
+The British policy has all along been to maintain
+the <i>status quo</i> in spite of individual interests,
+deprecating interference which might seem high-handed,
+or create a precedent from which retraction
+would be difficult. In the collection of debts, in
+enforcing the performance of contracts, or in securing
+justice of any kind where the policy is to promise
+all and evade all till pressure is brought to bear,<a name="page304" id="page304"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;304]</span>
+British subjects in Morocco have therefore always
+found themselves at a disadvantage in competition
+with others whose Governments openly supported
+them. The hope that buoyed them up was that
+one day the tide might turn, and that Great Britain
+might feel it incumbent on her to "protect"
+Morocco against all comers. Now hope has fled.
+What avails it that grace of a generation's span
+is allowed them, that they may not individually
+suffer from the change? It is the dream of years
+that lies shattered.</p>
+<p>
+Here are the provisions for their protection:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+Art. IV. "The two Governments, equally attached to
+the principle of commercial liberty, both in Egypt and
+Morocco, declare that they will not lend themselves to
+any inequality either in the establishment of customs
+rights or other taxes, or in the establishment of tariffs
+for transport on the railways.... This mutual agreement
+is valid for a period of thirty years" (subject to extensions
+of five years).</p>
+<p>
+Art. V. secures the maintenance in their posts of British
+officials in the Moorish service, but while it is specially
+stipulated that French missionaries and schools in Egypt
+shall not be molested, British missionaries in Morocco are
+committed to the tender mercies of the French.
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+Thus there can be no immediate exhibition of
+favouritism beyond the inevitable placing of all concessions
+in French hands, and there is really not
+much ground of complaint, while there is a hope of
+cause for thankfulness. Released from its former
+bugbears, no longer open to suspicion of secret
+designs, our Foreign Office can afford to impart a
+little more backbone into its dealings with Moorish
+officials; a much more acceptable policy should,<a name="page305" id="page305"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;305]</span>
+therefore, be forthwith inaugurated, that the Morocco
+traders may see that what they have lost in possibilities
+they have gained in actualities. Still more!
+the French, now that their hands are free, are in a
+position to "advise" reforms which will benefit all.
+Thus out of the ashes of one hope another rises.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXXI1" id="XXXI1"></a>
+<a href="#XXXI1r">*</a> See <a class="index" href="#appendix">Appendix.</a></p>
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page307" id="page307"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;307]</span>
+
+<h2>PART III</h2>
+
+<h3>XXXII</h3>
+
+<h2>ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"One does not become a horseman till one has fallen."</p>
+
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+A journey through Algeria shows what a stable
+and enlightened Government has been able to do
+in a land by no means so highly favoured by Nature
+as Morocco, and peopled by races on the whole
+inferior. The far greater proportion of land there
+under cultivation emphasizes the backward state
+of Morocco, although much of it still remains untouched;
+while the superior quality of the produce,
+especially of the fruits, shows what might
+be accomplished in the adjoining country were its
+condition improved. The hillsides of Algeria are
+in many districts clothed with vines which prosper
+exceedingly, often almost superseding cereals as
+objects of cultivation by Europeans.</p>
+<p>
+The European colonists are of all nationalities,
+and the proportion which is not French is astonishingly
+large, but every inducement is held out for
+naturalization as Algerians, and all legitimate
+obstacles are thrown in the way of those who
+maintain fidelity to their fatherlands. Every effort<a name="page308" id="page308"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;308]</span>
+is made to render Algeria virtually part of France,
+as politically it is already considered to be. It is
+the case of the old days of slavery revived under a
+new form, when the renegade was received with
+open arms, and the man who remained steadfast
+was seldom released from slavery. Of course, in
+these days there is nothing approaching such treatment,
+and it is only the natives who suffer to any
+extent.</p>
+<p>
+These are despised, if not hated, and despise
+and hate in return. The conquerors have repeated
+in Algeria the old mistake which has brought about
+such dire results in other lands, of always retaining
+the position of conquerors, and never unbending to
+the conquered, or encouraging friendship with them.
+This attitude nullifies whatever good may result
+from the mixed schools in which Muslim, Jew, and
+European are brought in contact, in the hope of
+turning out a sort of social amalgam. Most of the
+French settlers are too conceited and too ignorant
+to learn Arabic, though this is by no means the
+fault of the Government, which provides free public
+classes for instruction in that language in the chief
+towns of Algeria and Tunisia. The result is that
+the natives who meet most with foreigners have,
+without the most ordinary facilities enjoyed by
+the Europeans, to pick up a jargon which often
+does much more credit to them than the usual
+light acquaintance of the foreigner with Arabic
+does to him. Those who make any pretence at
+it, usually speak it with an accent, a pronunciation
+and a nonchalance which show that they have
+taken no pains whatever to acquire it. Evidently
+it pays better to spend money educating natives<a name="page309" id="page309"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;309]</span>
+in French than Frenchmen in Arabic. It is an
+amusing fact that most of the teachers have produced
+their own text-books, few of which possess
+special merit.</p>
+<p>
+As a colony Algeria has proved a failure.
+Foreign settlers hold most of the desirable land,
+and till it with native labour. The native may
+have safety and justice now, but he has suffered
+terribly in the past, as the reports of the Bureau
+Arabe, established for his protection, abundantly
+prove, and bitterly he resents his fate. No love is
+lost between French and natives in Tunisia, but
+there is actual hatred in Algeria, fostered by the
+foreigner far more than by the smouldering bigotry
+of Islám. They do not seem to intermingle even
+as oil and water, but to follow each a separate,
+independent course.</p>
+<p>
+Among the foreign colonists it is a noteworthy
+fact that the most successful are not the French,
+who want too much comfort, but almost any of the
+nationalities settled there, chiefly Spaniards and
+Italians. The former are to be found principally
+in the neighbourhood of Óran, and the latter further
+east; they abound in Tunisia. Englishmen and
+others of more independent nature have not been
+made welcome in either country, and year by year
+their interests have dwindled. Even in Tunisia,
+under a different system, the same result has been
+achieved, and every restriction reconcilable with
+paper rights has been placed on other than French
+imports. There may be an "open door," but
+it is too closely guarded for us. The English
+houses that once existed have disappeared, and
+what business is done with this country has<a name="page310" id="page310"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;310]</span>
+had to take refuge with agents, for the most part
+Jews.</p>
+<p>
+In studying the life of Algerian towns, the almost
+entire absence of well-to-do Arabs or Berbers is
+striking. I never came across one who might be
+judged from his appearance to be a man of means
+or position, unless in military or official garb, though
+there are doubtless many independent natives
+among the Berber and Arab tribes. The few
+whom I encountered making any pretence of dressing
+well were evidently of no social rank, and the
+complaint on every hand is that the natives are
+being gradually ousted from what little is left to
+them.</p>
+<p>
+As for European law, they consider this to have
+no connection with justice, and think themselves
+very heavily taxed to support innovations with
+which they have no concern, and which they would
+rather dispense with. One can, indeed, feel for
+them, though there is no doubt much to be said
+on both sides, especially when it is the other side
+which boasts the power, if not the superior intelligence.
+The Jews, however, thrive, and in many
+ways have the upper hand, especially so since the
+wise move which accorded them the rights of
+French citizenship. It is remarkable, however,
+how much less conspicuous they are in the groups
+about the streets than in Morocco, notwithstanding
+that their dress is quite as distinctive as there,
+though different.</p>
+<p>
+The new-comer who arrives at the fine port of
+Algiers finds it as greatly transformed as its name
+has been from the town which originally bore it,
+El Jazîrah.  The fine appearance of the rising<a name="page311" id="page311"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;311]</span>
+tiers of houses gives an impression of a still larger
+city than it really is, for very little is hidden from
+view except the suburbs. From a short way out
+to sea the panorama is grand, but it cannot be as
+chaste as when the native city clustered in the
+hollow with its whitewashed houses and its many
+minarets, completely surrounded by green which
+has long since disappeared under the advancing tide
+of bricks and mortar. One can hardly realize that
+this fine French city has replaced the den of pirates
+of such fearful histories. Yet there is the original
+light-house, the depôt for European slaves, and away
+on the top of yonder hill are remains of the ancient
+citadel. It was there, indeed, that those dreadful
+cruelties were perpetrated, where so many Christians
+suffered martyrdom. Yes, this is where once stood
+the "famous and war-like city, El Jazîrah," which
+was in its time "the scourge of Christendom."</p>
+<p>
+Whether the visitor be pleased or disappointed
+with the modern city depends entirely on what he
+seeks. If he seeks Europe in Africa, with perhaps
+just a dash of something oriental, he will be amply
+satisfied with Algiers, which is no longer a native
+city at all. It is as French as if it had risen from
+the soil entirely under French hands, and only the
+slums of the Arab town remain. The seeker after
+native life will therefore meet with complete disappointment,
+unless he comes straight from Europe,
+with no idea what he ought to expect. All the
+best parts of the town, the commercial and the
+residential quarters, have long since been replaced
+by European substitutes, leaving hardly a trace of
+the picturesque originals, while every day sees a
+further encroachment on the erstwhile African<a name="page312" id="page312"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;312]</span>
+portion, the interest of which is almost entirely removed
+by the presence of crowds of poor Europeans
+and European-dressed Jews. The visitor to Algiers
+would therefore do well to avoid everything native,
+unless he has some opportunity of also seeing something
+genuine elsewhere. The only specimens he
+meets in the towns are miserable half-caste fellows&mdash;by
+habit, if not by birth,&mdash;for their dress, their
+speech, their manners, their homes, their customs,
+their religion&mdash;or rather their lack of religion,&mdash;have
+all suffered from contact with Europeans. But even
+before the Frenchmen came, it is notorious how the
+Algerines had sunk under the bane of Turkish rule,
+as is well illustrated by their own saying, that where
+the foot of the Turk had trod, grass refused to
+grow. Of all the Barbary States, perhaps none
+has suffered more from successive outside influences
+than the people of Algeria.</p>
+<p>
+The porter who seizes one's luggage does not
+know when he is using French words or Arabic, or
+when he introduces Italian, Turkish, or Spanish,
+and cannot be induced to make an attempt at Arabic
+to a European unless the latter absolutely refuses to
+reply to his jargon. Then comes a hideous corruption
+of his mother tongue, in which the foreign
+expressions are adorned with native inflexions in
+the most comical way. His dress is barbarous,
+an ancient and badly fitting pair of trousers, and
+stockingless feet in untidy boots, on the heels of
+which he stamps along the streets with a most
+unpleasant noise. The collection of garments which
+complete his attire are mostly European, though
+the "Fez" cap remains the distinctive feature of
+the Muslim's dress, and a selhám&mdash;that cloak of<a name="page313" id="page313"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;313]</span>
+cloaks, there called a "bűrnűs"&mdash;is slung across his
+shoulder. Some few countrymen are to be seen
+who still retain the more graceful native costume,
+with the typical camel-hair or cotton cord bound
+round the head-dress, but the old inhabitants are
+being steadily driven out of town.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="tent2" id="tent2"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/313.jpg"><img src="images/313-500.jpg" width="499" height="309" alt="TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEĎKH." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<br />
+<b>TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEĎKH.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+The characteristic feature of Algerian costumes
+is the head-cord referred to, which pervades a great
+part of Arabdom, in Syria and Arabia being composed
+of two twists of black camel hair perhaps
+an inch thick. In Algeria it is about an eighth of
+an inch thick, and brown. The slippers are also
+characteristic, but ugly, being of black leather,
+excellently made, and cut very far open, till it
+becomes an art to keep them on, and the heels
+have to be worn up. The use of the white selhám
+is almost universal, unhemmed at the edges, as in
+Tunis also; and over it is loosely tied a short haďk
+fastened on the head by the cord.</p>
+
+<p>
+There is, however, even in Algiers itself, one
+class of men who remain unaffected by their
+European surroundings, passive amid much change,
+a model for their neighbours. These are the Beni
+M'záb, a tribe of Mohammedan Protestants from
+southern Algeria, where they settled long ago, as
+the Puritans did in New England, that they might
+there worship God in freedom. They were the
+Abadîya, gathered from many districts, who have
+taken their modern name from the tribe whose
+country they now inhabit. They speak a dialect of
+Berber, and dress in a manner which is as distinctive
+as their short stature, small, dark, oily features, jet-black
+twinkling eyes, and scanty beard. They come
+to the towns to make money, and return home to<a name="page314" id="page314"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;314]</span>
+spend it, after a few years of busy shop-keeping. A
+butcher whom I met said that he and a friend had
+the business year and year about, so as not to be
+too long away from home at a time. They are
+very hard-working, and have a great reputation for
+honesty; they keep their shops open from about
+five in the morning till nine at night. As the Beni
+M'záb do not bring their wives with them, they
+usually live together in a large house, and have
+their own mosque, where they worship alone, resenting
+the visits of all outsiders, even of other
+Muslims. Admission to their mosque is therefore
+practically refused to Europeans, but in Moorish
+dress I was made welcome as some distinguished
+visitor from saintly Fez, and found it very plain,
+more like the kűbbah of a saint-house than an
+ordinary mosque.</p>
+<p>
+There are also many Moors in Algeria, especially
+towards the west. These, being better workmen than
+the Algerines, find ready employment as labourers
+on the railways. Great numbers also annually visit
+Óran and the neighbourhood to assist at harvest
+time. Those Moors who live there usually disport
+themselves in trousers, strange to stay, and, when
+they can afford it, carry umbrellas. They still adhere
+to the turban, however, instead of adopting the
+head cord. At Blidah I found that all the sellers
+of sfinges&mdash;yeast fritters&mdash;were Moors, and those
+whom I came across were enthusiastic to find one
+who knew and liked their country. The Algerines
+affect to despise them and their home, which they
+declare is too poor to support them, thus accounting
+for their coming over to work.</p>
+<p>
+The specimens of native architecture to be met<a name="page315" id="page315"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;315]</span>
+with in Algeria are seldom, if ever, pure in style,
+and are generally extremely corrupt. The country
+never knew prosperity as an independent kingdom,
+such as Morocco did, and it is only in Tlemçen, on
+the borders of that Empire, that real architectural
+wealth is found, but then this was once the capital
+of an independent kingdom. The palace at Constantine
+is not Moorish at all, except in plan, being
+adorned with a hap-hazard collection of odds and
+ends from all parts. It is worse than even the
+Bardo at Tunis, where there is some good plaster
+carving&mdash;naksh el hadeed&mdash;done by Moorish or
+Andalucian workmen. In the palaces of the Governor
+and the Archbishop of Algiers, which are also very
+composite, though not without taste, there is more
+of this work, some of it very fine, though much of it
+is merely modern moulded imitation.</p>
+<p>
+Of more than a hundred mosques and shrines
+found in Algiers when it was taken by the French,
+only four of the former and a small number of the
+latter remain, the rest having been ruthlessly turned
+into churches. The Mosque of Hasan, built just
+over a century ago, is now the cathedral, though for
+this transformation it has been considerably distorted,
+and a mock-Moorish façade erected in the
+very worst taste. Inside things are better, having
+been less interfered with, but what is now a church
+was never a good specimen of a mosque, having
+been originally partly European in design, the work
+of renegades. The same may be said of the Mosque
+of the Fisheries, a couple of centuries old, built in
+the form of a Greek cross! One can well understand
+how the Dey, according to the story, had the
+architect put to death on discovering this anomaly.<a name="page316" id="page316"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;316]</span>
+These incongruities mar all that is supposed in
+Algeria to be Arabesque. The Great Mosque,
+nevertheless, is more ancient and in better style,
+more simple, more chaste, and more awe-inspiring.
+The Zawîah of Sîdi Abd er-Rahmán, outside the
+walls, is as well worth a visit as anything in Algiers,
+being purely and typically native. It is for the
+opportunities given for such peeps as this that one
+is glad to wander in Algeria after tasting the real
+thing in Morocco, where places of worship and baths
+are closed to Europeans. These latter I found
+all along North Africa to be much what they are
+in Morocco, excepting only the presence of the
+foreigners.</p>
+<p>
+The tile work of Algeria is ugly, but many of
+the older Italian and other foreign specimens are
+exceptionally good, both in design and colour.
+Some of the Tunisian tiles are also noteworthy,
+but it is probable that none of any real artistic value
+were ever produced in what is now conveniently
+called Algeria. There is nothing whatever in either
+country to compare with the exquisite Fez work
+found in the Alhambra, hardly to rival the inferior
+productions of Tetuan. A curious custom in Algeria
+is to use all descriptions of patterns together
+"higgledy-piggledy," upside down or side-ways,
+as though the idea were to cover so much surface
+with tiling, irrespective of design. Of course this
+is comparatively modern, and marks a period since
+what art Algeria ever knew had died out. It is
+noticeable, too, how poor the native manufacturers
+are compared with those of Morocco, themselves of
+small account beside those of the East. The wave
+of civilization which swept over North Africa in the<a name="page317" id="page317"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;317]</span>
+Middle Ages failed to produce much effect till it
+recoiled upon itself in the far, far west, and then
+turned northward into Spain.</p>
+<p>
+Notwithstanding all this, Algeria affords an
+ample field for study for the scientist, especially
+the mountain regions to the south, where Berber
+clans and desert tribes may be reached in a manner
+impossible yet in Morocco, but the student of
+oriental life should not visit them till he has learnt
+to distinguish true from false among the still behind-hand
+Moors.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page318" id="page318"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;318]</span>
+
+<h3>XXXIII</h3>
+
+<h2>TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"The slave toils, but the Lord completes."</p>
+
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunately for the French, the lesson learned in
+Algeria was not neglected when the time came for
+their "pacific penetration" of Tunisia. Their first
+experience had been as conquerors of anything but
+pacific intent, and for a generation they waged war
+with the Berber tribes. Everywhere, even on the
+plains, where conquest was easy, the native was
+dispossessed. The land was allotted to Frenchmen
+or to natives who took the oath of allegiance to
+France, and became French subjects. Those who
+fought for their fatherland were driven off, the
+villages depopulated, and the country laid waste. In
+the cities the mosques were desecrated or appropriated
+to what the native considered idolatrous
+worship. They have never been restored to their
+owners. Those Algerines only have flourished
+who entered the French army or Government
+service, and affected manners which all but cut
+them off from their fellow-countrymen.</p>
+<p>
+In Tunisia the French succeeded, under cover
+of specious assurances to the contrary, in overthrowing
+the Turkish beys, rehabilitating them in
+name as their puppets, with hardly more opposition
+<a name="page319" id="page319"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;319]</span>
+than the British met with in Burma. The result
+is a nominally native administration which takes
+the blame for failures, and French direction which
+takes the credit for successes. All that was best
+in Algeria has been repeated, but native rights
+have been respected, and the cities, with their
+mosques and shrines, left undisturbed as far as
+possible. The desecration of the sacred mosque
+of Kaďrwán as a stable was a notable exception.</p>
+<p>
+The difference between the administration of
+Algeria and that of Tunisia makes itself felt at
+every step. In the one country it is the ruling
+of a conquered people for the good of the conquerors
+alone, and in the other it is the ruling of
+an unconquered people by bolstering up and improving
+their own institutions under the pretence
+of seeking their welfare. The immense advantage
+of the Tunisian system is apparent on all sides.
+The expense is less, the excuses for irregularities
+are greater, and the natives still remain a nominal
+power in the land, instead of being considered as
+near serfs as is permissible in this twentieth century.</p>
+<p>
+The results of the French occupation were
+summed up to me by a Tunisian as the making
+of roads, the introduction of more money and much
+drunkenness, and the institution of laws which no
+native could ever hope to understand. But France
+has done more than that in Tunis, even for the
+native. He has the benefit of protection for life
+and property, with means of education and facilities
+for travel, and an outlet for his produce. He might
+do well&mdash;and there are many instances of commercial
+success&mdash;but while he is jibbing against the foreign
+yoke, the expatriated Jews, whom he treated so<a name="page320" id="page320"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;320]</span>
+badly when he had the upper hand, are outstripping
+him every day. The net result of the foreigners'
+presence is good for him, but it would be much
+better had he the sense to take advantage of his
+chances as the Jew does. Many of the younger
+generation, indeed, learn French, and enter the
+great army of functionaries, but they are rigidly
+restricted to the lowest posts, and here again the
+Jew stands first.</p>
+<p>
+In business or agriculture there is sure to come
+a time when cash is needed, so that French and
+Jewish money-lenders flourish, and when the Tunisian
+cannot pay, the merciless hand of foreign law
+irresistibly sells him up. In the courts the complicated
+procedure, the intricate code, and the swarm
+of lawyers, bewilder him, and he sighs for the time
+when a bribe would have settled the question, and
+one did at least know beforehand which would win&mdash;the
+one with the longer purse. Now, who
+knows? But the Tunisian's principal occasions for
+discontent are the compulsory military service, and
+the multiplication and weight of the taxes. From
+the former only those are exempt who can pass
+certain examinations in French, and stiff ones at
+that, so that Arabic studies are elbowed out; the
+unremitted military duties during the Ramadán fast
+are regarded as a peculiar hardship. To the taxes
+there seems no end, and from them no way of
+escape. Even the milkman complains, for example,
+that though his goats themselves are taxed, he
+cannot bring their food into town from his garden
+without an additional charge being paid!</p>
+<p>
+With the superficial differences to be accounted
+for by this new state of things, there still remains<a name="page321" id="page321"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;321]</span>
+much more in Tunisia to remind one of Morocco
+than in Algeria. What deeper distinctions there
+are result in both countries from Turkish influence,
+and Turkish blood introduced in the past, but even
+these do not go very deep. Beneath it all there
+are the foundations of race and creed common to all,
+and the untouched countryman of Tunisia is closely
+akin to his fellow of Morocco. Even in the towns
+the underlying likeness is strong.</p>
+<p>
+The old city of Tunis is wonderfully like that
+of Fez; the streets, the shops, the paving, being
+identical; but in the former a picturesque feature
+is sometimes introduced, stone columns forming
+arcades in front of the shops, painted in spiral
+bands of green and red, separated by a band of
+white. The various trades are grouped there as
+further west, and the streets are named after them.
+The Mellah, or Jewish Quarter, has lost its boundary,
+as at Tangier, and the gates dividing the various
+wards have disappeared too. Hardly anything
+remains of the city walls, new ones having arisen to
+enclose the one European and two native suburbs.
+But under a modern arcade in the main street, the
+Avenue de France, there is between the shops the
+barred gate leading to a mosque behind, which does
+not look as if it were often opened.</p>
+<p>
+Tramways run round the line of the old walls,
+and it is strange to see the natives jumping on and
+off without stopping the car, in the most approved
+western style. There, as in the trains, European
+and African sit side by side, though it is to be
+observed that as a rule, should another seat be free,
+neither gets in where the other is. As for hopes
+of encouraging any degree of amalgamation, these<a name="page322" id="page322"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;322]</span>
+are vain indeed. A mechanical mixture is all that
+can be hoped for: nothing more is possible. A
+few French people have embraced Islám for worldly
+aims, and it is popularly believed by the natives
+that in England thousands are accepting Mohammed.</p>
+<p>
+The mosques of Tunis are less numerous than
+those of Fez, but do not differ greatly from them
+except in the inferior quality of the tile-work, and
+in the greater use of stone for the arches and
+towers. The latter are of the Moorish square
+shape, but some, if not all, are ascended by steps,
+instead of by inclined planes. The mosques, with
+the exception of that at Kaďrwán&mdash;the most holy,
+strange to say&mdash;are as strictly forbidden to Europeans
+and Jews as in Morocco, and screens are put
+up before the doors as in Tangier.</p>
+<p>
+The Moors are very well known in Tunis, so
+many of them, passing through from Mekka on the
+Hajj, have been prevented from getting home by
+quarantine or lack of funds. Clad as a Moor myself,
+I was everywhere recognized as from that country,
+and was treated with every respect, being addressed
+as "Amm el Háj" ("Uncle Pilgrim"), having my
+shoulders and hands kissed in orthodox fashion.
+There are several <i>cafés</i> where Morocco men are to
+be met with by the score. One feature of this
+cosmopolitan city is that there are distinct <i>cafés</i> for
+almost every nation represented here except the
+English.</p>
+<p>
+The Arabs of Morocco are looked upon as great
+thieves, but the Sűsis have the highest reputation
+for honesty. Not only are all the gate-keepers of
+the city from that distant province, but also those
+of the most important stores and houses, as well as<a name="page323" id="page323"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;323]</span>
+of the railway-stations, and many are residents in
+the town. The chief snake-charmers and story-tellers
+also hail from Sűs.</p>
+<p>
+The veneration for Mulai Táďb of Wazzán, from
+whom the shareefs of that place are descended, is
+great, and the Aďsáwa, hailing from Mequinez, are
+to be met with all along this coast; they are
+especially strong at Kaďrwán. In Tunis, as also in
+Algeria and Tripoli, the comparative absence of any
+objection to having pictures taken of human beings,
+which is an almost insurmountable hindrance in
+Morocco, again allowed me to use my kodak frequently,
+but I found that the Jews had a strong
+prejudice against portraits.</p>
+<p>
+The points in which the domestic usages of
+Tunisia differ from those of Morocco are the more
+striking on account of the remarkably minute
+resemblance, if not absolute identity, of so very
+many others, and as the novelty of the innovations
+wears off, it is hard to realize that one is not still in
+the "Far West."</p>
+<p>
+In a native household of which I found myself
+temporarily a member, it was the wholesale assimilation
+of comparatively trivial foreign matters which
+struck me. Thus, for instance, as one of the sons
+of my host remarked&mdash;though he was dressed in a
+manner which to most travellers would have appeared
+exclusively oriental&mdash;there was not a thing upon
+him which was not French. Doubtless a closer examination
+of his costume would have shown that
+some of the articles only reached him through French
+hands, but the broad fact remained that they were
+all foreign. It is in this way that the more civilized
+countries show a strong and increasing tendency to<a name="page324" id="page324"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;324]</span>
+develop into nations of manufacturers, with their
+gigantic workshops forcing the more backward,
+<i>nolens volens</i>, to relapse to the more primitive condition
+of producers of raw material only.</p>
+<p>
+There was, of course, a time when every garment
+such a man would have worn would have been of
+native manufacture, without having been in any
+feature less complete, less convenient, or less artistic
+than his present dress. In many points, indeed,
+there is a distinct loss in the more modern style,
+especially in the blending of colours, while it is
+certain that in no point has improvement been
+made. My friend, for instance, had the addition,
+common there, of a pair of striped merino socks,
+thrust into a pair of rubber-soled tennis shoes.
+Underneath he wore a second pair of socks, and
+said that in winter he added a third. Above them
+was not much bare leg, for the pantaloons are cut
+there so as often to reach right down to the ankles.
+This is necessitated by the custom of raising the
+mattresses used for seats on divans, and by sitting
+at table on European chairs with the legs dangling
+in the cold. The turban has nothing of the gracefulness
+of its Moorish counterpart, being often of a
+dirty-green silk twisted into a rope, and then bound
+round the head in the most inelegant fashion, sometimes
+showing the head between the coils; they are
+not folds. Heads are by no means kept so carefully
+shaved as in Morocco, and I have seen hair
+which looked as though only treated with scissors,
+and that rarely.</p>
+<p>
+The fashion for all connected with the Government
+to wear European dress, supplemented by the
+"Fez" (fortunately not the Turkish style), brings<a name="page325" id="page325"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;325]</span>
+about most absurd anomalies. This is especially
+observable in the case of the many very stout
+individuals who waddle about like ducks in their
+ungainly breeches. I was glad to find on visiting
+the brother of the late Bey that he retained the
+correct costume, though the younger members of
+his family and all his attendants were in foreign
+guise. The Bey himself received me in the frock-coat
+with pleated skirt, favoured by his countrymen
+the Turks.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="tunisian" id="tunisian"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/325.jpg"><img src="images/325-279.jpg" width="279" height="430" alt="A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Albert, Photo., Tunis.</i><br /><br />
+<b>A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+The Mohammedan women seen in the streets
+generally wear an elegant fine silk and wool haďk
+over a costume culminating in a peaked cap, the
+face being covered&mdash;all but the eyes&mdash;by two black
+handkerchiefs, awful to behold, like the mask of a
+stage villain. More stylish women wear a larger
+veil, which they stretch out on either side in front
+of them with their hands. They seem to think
+nothing of sitting in a railway carriage opposite a
+man and chatting gaily with him. I learn from
+an English lady resident in Tunis that the indoor
+costume of the women is much that of the Jewesses
+out of doors&mdash;extraordinary indeed. It is not
+every day that one meets ladies in the street in
+long white drawers, often tight, and short jackets,
+black or white, but this is the actual walking dress
+of the Jewish ladies of Tunis.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page326" id="page326"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;326]</span>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h3>XXXIV</h3>
+
+<h2>TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Every sheep hangs by her own legs."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+When, after an absence of twenty months, I found
+myself in Tripoli, although far enough from Morocco,
+I was still amid familiar sights and sounds which
+made it hard to realize that I was not in some
+hitherto unvisited town of that Empire. The petty
+differences sank to naught amid the wonderful
+resemblances. It was the Turkish element alone
+which was novel, and that seemed altogether out of
+place, foreign as it is to Africa. There was something
+quite incongruous in the sight of those ungainly
+figures in their badly fitting, quasi-European
+black coats and breeches, crowned with tall and
+still more ungainly red caps. The Turks are such
+an inferior race to the Berbers and Arabs that it is
+no wonder that they are despised by the natives.
+They appear much more out of place than do the
+Europeans, who remain, as in Morocco, a class by
+themselves. To see a Turk side by side with a
+white-robed native at prayer in a mosque is too
+ridiculous, and to see him eating like a wild man
+of the woods! Even the governor, a benign
+old gentleman, looked very undignified in his
+shabby European surroundings, after the important<a name="page327" id="page327"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;327]</span>
+appearance of the Moorish functionaries in their
+flowing robes. The sentinels at the door seemed to
+have been taught to imitate the wooden salute of
+the Germans, which removes any particle of grace
+which might have remained in spite of their clumsy
+dress. It is a strange sight to see them selling
+their rations of uninviting bread in the market to
+buy something more stimulating. They squat
+behind a sack on the ground as the old women do
+in Tangier. These are the little things reminding
+one that Tripoli is but a Turkish dependency.</p>
+<p>
+We may complain of the Moorish customs
+arrangements, but from my own experience, and
+from what others tell me, I should say that here is
+worse still. Not only were our things carefully
+overhauled, but the books had to be examined, as a
+result of which process Arabic works are often confiscated,
+either going in or out. The confusing lack
+of a monetary system equals anything even in
+southern Morocco, between which and this place
+the poor despised "gursh" turns up as a familiar
+link, not to be met with between Casablanca and
+Tripoli.</p>
+<p>
+Perhaps the best idea of the town for those
+readers acquainted with Morocco will be to call it a
+large edition of Casablanca. The country round
+is flat, the streets are on the whole fairly regular,
+and wider than the average in this part of the
+world. Indeed, carriages are possible, though not
+throughout the town. A great many more flying
+arches are thrown across the streets than we are
+accustomed to further west, but upper storeys are
+rare. The paving is of the orthodox Barbary style.</p>
+<p>
+The Tripolitan mosques are of a very different<a name="page328" id="page328"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;328]</span>
+style from those of Morocco, the people belonging
+to a different sect&mdash;the Hánafis&mdash;Moors,
+Algerines and Tunisians being of the more rigorous
+Málikis. Instead of the open courtyard surrounded
+by a colonnade, here they have a perfectly
+closed interior roofed with little domes, and lighted
+by barred windows. The walls are adorned with
+inferior tiles, mostly European, and the floors are
+carpeted. Round the walls hang cheap glazed
+texts from the Korán, and there is a general
+appearance of tawdry display which is disappointing
+after the chaste adornment of the finer Moorish
+mosques, or even the rude simplicity of the poorer
+ones. Orders may be obtained to view these buildings,
+of which it is hardly necessary to say I availed
+myself, in one case ascending also the minaret.
+These minarets are much less substantial than those
+of Morocco, being octangular, with protruding stone
+balconies in something of the Florentine style,
+reached by winding stairs. The exteriors are whitewashed,
+the balconies being tiled, and the cupolas
+painted green. Lamps are hung out at certain
+feasts. As for the voice of the muédhdhin, it must
+be fairly faint, since during the week I was there
+I never heard it. In Morocco this would have
+been an impossibility.</p>
+<p>
+The language, though differing in many minor
+details from that employed in Morocco, presents no
+difficulty to conversation, but it was sometimes
+necessary to try a second word to explain myself.
+The differences are chiefly in the names of common
+things in daily use, and in common adjectives. The
+music was identical with what we know in the "Far
+West." Religious strictness is much less than in<a name="page329" id="page329"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;329]</span>
+Morocco, the use of intoxicants being fairly general
+in the town, the hours of prayer less strictly kept,
+and the objection to portraits having vanished.
+There seemed fewer women in the streets than in
+Morocco, but those who did appear were for the
+most part less covered up; there was nothing new
+in the way the native women were veiled, only one
+eye being shown&mdash;I do not now take the foreign
+Turks into account.</p>
+<p>
+In the streets the absence of the better-class
+natives is most noticeable; one sees at once that
+Tripoli is not an aristocratic town like Fez, Tetuan,
+or Rabat. The differences which exist between the
+costumes observed and those of Morocco are almost
+entirely confined to the upper classes. The poor
+and the country people would be undistinguishable
+in a Moorish crowd. Among the townsfolk stockings
+and European shoes are common, but there
+are no native slippers to equal those of Morocco,
+and yellow ones are rare. I saw no natives riding
+in the town; though in the country it must be
+more common. The scarcity of four-footed beasts
+of burden is noticeable after the crowded Moorish
+thoroughfares.</p>
+<p>
+On the whole there is a great lack of the picturesque
+in the Tripoli streets, and also of noise. The
+street cries are poor, being chiefly those of vegetable
+hawkers, and one misses the striking figure of the
+water-seller, with his tinkling bell and his cry.</p>
+<p>
+The houses and shops are much like those of
+Morocco, so far as exteriors go, and so are the
+interiors of houses occupied by Europeans. The
+only native house to which I was able to gain
+access was furnished in the worst possible mixture<a name="page330" id="page330"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;330]</span>
+of European and native styles to be found in many
+Jewish houses in Morocco, but from what I gleaned
+from others this was no exception to the rule.</p>
+<p>
+Unfortunately the number of grog-shops is unduly
+large, with all their attendant evils. The
+wheeled vehicles being foreign, claim no description,
+though the quaintness of the public ones is great.
+Palmetto being unknown, the all-pervading halfah
+fibre takes its place for baskets, ropes, etc. The
+public ovens are very numerous, and do not differ
+greatly from the Moorish, except in being more
+open to the street. The bread is much less tempting;
+baked in small round cakes, varnished, made
+yellow with saffron, and sprinkled with gingelly
+seed. Most of the beef going alive to Malta,
+mutton is the staple animal food; vegetables are
+much the same as in Morocco.</p>
+<p>
+The great drawback to Tripoli is its proximity
+to the desert, which, after walking through a belt
+of palms on the land side of the town&mdash;itself built
+on a peninsula&mdash;one may see rolling away to the
+horizon. The gardens and palm groves are watered
+by a peculiar system, the precious liquid being
+drawn up from the wells by ropes over pulleys, in
+huge leather funnels of which the lower orifice is
+slung on a level with the upper, thus forming a bag.
+The discharge is ingeniously accomplished automatically
+by a second rope over a lower pulley, the
+two being pulled by a bullock walking down an
+incline. The lower lip being drawn over the lower
+pulley, releases the water when the funnel reaches
+the top.</p>
+<p>
+The weekly market, Sôk et-Thláthah, held on
+the sands, is much as it would be in the Gharb el<a name="page331" id="page331"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;331]</span>
+Jawáni, as Morocco is called in Tripoli. The
+greater number of Blacks is only natural, especially
+when it is noted that hard by they have a large
+settlement.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="tripoli" id="tripoli"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/330.jpg"><img src="images/330-500.jpg" width="500" height="309" alt="OUTSIDE TRIPOLI." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Photograph by G. Michell, Esq.</i><br /><br />
+<b>OUTSIDE TRIPOLI.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+<p>
+It would, of course, be possible to enter into a
+much more minute comparison, but sufficient has
+been said to give a general idea of Tripoli to those
+who know something of Morocco, without having
+entered upon a general description of the place.
+From what I saw of the country people, I have no
+doubt that further afield the similarity between them
+and the people of central and southern Morocco,
+to whom they are most akin, would even be
+increased.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page332" id="page332"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;332]</span>
+
+<h3>XXXV</h3>
+
+<h2>FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN</h2>
+
+<p class="center1">
+"Every one buries his mother as he likes."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+
+<h4>I. <span class="sc">First Impressions</span>.</h4>
+
+<p>
+Much as I had been prepared by the accounts of
+others to observe the prevalence of Moorish remains
+in the Peninsula, I was still forcibly struck at every
+turn by traces of their influence upon the country,
+especially in what was their chief home there,
+Andalucia. Though unconnected with these traces,
+an important item in strengthening this impression
+is the remarkable similarity between the natural
+features of the two countries. The general contour
+of the surface is the same on either side of the
+straits for a couple of hundred miles; the same
+broad plains, separated by low ranges of hills, and
+crossed by sluggish, winding streams, fed from
+distant snow-capped mountains, and subject to
+sudden floods. The very colours of the earth are
+the same in several regions, the soil being of that
+peculiar red which gives its name to the Blád
+Hamrá ("Red Country") near Marrákesh. This
+is especially observable in the vicinity of Jeréz,
+and again at Granáda, where one feels almost in<a name="page333" id="page333"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;333]</span>
+Morocco again. Even the colour of the rugged
+hills and rocks is the same, but more of the soil is
+cultivated than in any save the grain districts of
+Morocco.</p>
+<p>
+The vegetation is strikingly similar, the aloe and
+the prickly pear, the olive and the myrtle abounding,
+while from the slight glimpses I was able to
+obtain of the flora, the identity seems also to be
+continued there. Yet all this, though interesting
+to the observer, is not to be wondered at. It is our
+habit of considering the two lands as if far apart,
+because belonging to separate continents, which
+leads us to expect a difference between countries
+divided only by a narrow gap of fourteen miles or
+less, but one from whose formation have resulted
+most important factors in the world's history.</p>
+<p>
+The first striking reminders of the Moorish
+dominion are the names of Arabic origin. Some
+of the most noteworthy are Granáda (Gharnátah),
+Alcazar (El Kasar), Arjona (R'honah), Gibraltar
+(Gibel Tárik), Trafalgár (Tarf el Gharb, "West
+Point"), Medinah (Madînah, "Town"), Algeciras
+(El Jazîrah, "The Island"), Guadalquivir (Wád el
+Kebeer&mdash;so pronounced in Spain&mdash;"The Great
+River"), Mulahacen (Mulai el Hasan), Alhama
+(El Hama, "The Hot Springs"), and numberless
+others which might be mentioned, including almost
+every name beginning with "Al."</p>
+<p>
+The rendering of these old Arabic words
+into Spanish presents a curious proof of the
+changes which the pronunciation of the Spanish
+alphabet has undergone during the last four centuries.
+To obtain anything like the Arabic sound
+it is necessary to give the letters precisely the same<a name="page334" id="page334"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;334]</span>
+value as in English, with the exception of pronouncing
+"x" as "sh." Thus the word "alhaja,"
+in everyday use&mdash;though unrecognizable as heard
+from the lips of the modern Castilian, "aláha,"&mdash;is
+nothing but the Arabic "el hájah," with practically
+the same meaning in the plural, "things" or
+"goods." To cite more is unnecessary. The
+genuine pronunciation is still often met with among
+Jews of Morocco who have come little in contact
+with Spaniards, and retain the language of
+their ancestors when expelled from the Peninsula,
+as also in Spanish America.</p>
+<p>
+The Spanish language is saturated with corrupted
+Arabic, at all events so far as nouns are
+concerned. The names of families also are frequently
+of Arabic origin, as, for instance, Alarcos
+(Er-Rakkás&mdash;"the courier"), Alhama, etc., most of
+which are to be met with more in the country than
+in the towns, while very many others, little suspected
+as such, are Jewish. Although when the
+most remarkable of nations was persecuted and
+finally expelled from Spain, a far larger proportion
+nobly sacrificed their all rather than accept the
+bauble religion offered them by "The Catholic
+Kings" (King and Queen), they also have left
+their mark, and many a noble family could, if it
+would, trace its descent from the Jews. Some of
+their synagogues are yet standing, notably at
+Toledo&mdash;whence the many Toledános,&mdash;built by
+Samuel Levy, who was secretary to Don Pedro
+the Cruel. This was in 1336, a century and a half
+before the Moors were even conquered, much less
+expelled, and if the sons of Ishmael have left their
+mark upon that sunny land, so have the sons of<a name="page335" id="page335"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;335]</span>
+Israel, though in a far different manner. Morocco
+has ever since been the home of the descendants of
+a large proportion of the exiles.</p>
+<p>
+The Spanish physiognomy, not so much of the
+lower as of the upper classes, is strikingly similar
+to that of the mountaineers of Morocco, and these
+include some of the finest specimens. The Moors
+of to-day are of too mingled a descent to present
+any one distinct type of countenance, and it is the
+same with the Spaniards. So much of the blood of
+each flows in the veins of the other, that comparison
+is rendered more difficult. It is a well-known fact
+that several of the most ancient families in the
+kingdom can trace their descent from Mohammedans.
+A leading instance of this is the house
+of Mondéjar, lords of Granáda from the time of
+its conquest, as the then head of the house,
+Sidi Yahia, otherwise Don Pedro de Granáda,
+had become a Christian. In the Generalife at that
+town, still in the custody of the same family, is a
+genealogical tree tracing its origin right back to
+the Goths!<a name="XXXV1r" id="XXXV1r"></a><a href="#XXXV1"><sup>*</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Next to physiognomy come habits and customs,
+and of these there are many which have been
+borrowed, or rather retained, from the Moors,
+especially in the country. The ploughs, the water-mills,
+the water-wheels, the irrigation, the treading
+out of the corn, the weaving of coarse cloth, and
+many other daily sights, from their almost complete
+similarity, remind one of Morocco. The bread-shops
+they call "tahônas," unaware that this is the
+Arabic for a flour-mill; their water-wheels they
+still call by their Arabic name, "naôrahs," and it is<a name="page336" id="page336"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;336]</span>
+the same with their pack-saddles, "albardas" (bardah).
+The list might be extended indefinitely,
+even from such common names as these.</p>
+<p>
+The salutations of the people seem literal translations
+of those imported from the Orient, such as
+I am not aware of among other Europeans. What,
+for instance, is "Dios guarda Vd." ("God keep
+you"), said at parting, but the "Allah îhannak" of
+Morocco, or "se lo passe bien," but "B'is-salámah"
+("in peace!"). More might be cited, but to those
+unacquainted with Arabic they would be of little
+interest.</p>
+<p>
+Then, again, the singing of the country-folk in
+southern Spain has little to distinguish it from that
+indulged in by most Orientals. The same sing-song
+drawl with numerous variations is noticeable
+throughout. Once a more civilized tune gets
+among these people for a few months, its very composer
+would be unlikely to recognize its prolongations
+and lazy twists.</p>
+<p>
+The narrow, tortuous streets of the old towns
+once occupied by the invaders take one back across
+the straits, and the whole country is covered with
+spots which, apart from any remains of note, are
+associated by record or legend with anecdotes from
+that page of Spanish history. Here it is the "Sigh
+of the Moor," the spot from which the last Ameer
+of Andalucia gazed in sorrow on the capital that he
+had lost; there it is a cave (at Criptana) where the
+Moors found refuge when their power in Castile
+was broken; elsewhere are the chains (in Toledo)
+with which the devotees of Islám chained their
+Christian captives.</p>
+<p>
+In addition to this, the hills of a great part<a name="page337" id="page337"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;337]</span>
+of Spain are dotted with fortresses of "tabia"
+(rammed earth concrete) precisely such as are occupied
+still by the country kaďds of Morocco; and by
+the wayside are traces of the skill exercised in
+bringing water underground from the hills beyond
+Marrákesh. How many church towers in Spain
+were built for the call of the muédhdhin, and how
+many houses had their foundations laid for hareems!
+In the south especially such are conspicuous from
+their design. To crown all stand the palaces and
+mosques of Córdova, Sevílle, and Granáda, not to
+mention minor specimens.</p>
+<p>
+When we talk of the Moors in Spain, we often
+forget how nearly we were enabled to speak also of
+the Moors in France. Their brave attempts to
+pass that natural barrier, the Pyrenees, find a suitable
+monument in the perpetual independence of
+the wee republic of Andorra, whose inhabitants so
+successfully stemmed the tide of invasion. The
+story of Charles Martel, too, the "Hammer" who
+broke the Muslim power in that direction, is one
+of the most important in the history of Europe.
+What if the people who were already levying taxes
+in the districts of Narbonne and Nîmes had found
+as easy a victory over the vineyards of southern
+France, as they had over those of Spain? Where
+would they have stopped? Would they ever have
+been driven out, or would St. Paul's have been a
+second Kűtűbîya, and Westminster a Karűeeďn?
+God knows!</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXXV1" id="XXXV1"></a>
+<a href="#XXXV1r">*</a> Andalucia is but a corruption of Vandalucia.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<a name="page338" id="page338"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;338]</span>
+
+
+<h4>II. <span class="sc">Córdova</span></h4>
+
+<p>
+The earliest notable monument of Moorish
+dominion in Andalucia still existing is the famous
+mosque of Córdova, now deformed into a cathedral.
+Its erection occupied the period from 786 to 796
+of the Christian era, and it is said that it stands
+on the site of a Gothic church erected on the ruins
+of a still earlier temple dedicated to Janus. Portions,
+however, have been added since that date, as inscriptions
+on the walls record, and the European
+additions date from 1521, when, notwithstanding
+the protests of the people of Córdova, the bishops
+obtained permission from Charles V. to rear the
+present quasi-Gothic structure in its central court.
+The disgust and anger which the lover of Moorish
+architecture&mdash;or art of any sort&mdash;feels for the name
+of "<i>Carlos quinto</i>," as at point after point hideous
+additions to the Moorish remains are ascribed to
+that conceited monarch, are somewhat tempered for
+once by the record that even he repented when he
+saw the result of his permission in this instance.
+"You have built here," he said, "what you might
+have built anywhere, and in doing so you have
+spoiled what was unique in the world!" In each
+of the three great centres of Moorish rule, Sevílle,
+Granáda and Córdova, the same hand is responsible
+for outrageous modern erections in the midst of
+hoary monuments of eastern art, carefully inscribed
+with their author's name, as "Cćsar the Emperor,
+Charles the Fifth."</p>
+<p>
+The Córdova Mosque, antedated only by those
+of Old Cairo and Kaďrwán, is a forest of marble<a name="page339" id="page339"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;339]</span>
+pillars, with a fine court to the west, surrounded
+by an arcade, and planted with orange trees and
+palms, interspersed with fountains. Nothing in
+Morocco can compare with it save the Karűeeďn
+mosque at Fez, built a century later, but that building
+is too low, and the pillars are for the most part
+mere brick erections, too short to afford the elegance
+which here delights. This is grand in its simplicity;
+nineteen aisles of slightly tapering columns of beautiful
+marbles, jasper or porphyry, about nine feet in
+height, supporting long vistas of flying horse-shoe
+arches, of which the stones are now coloured
+alternately yellow and red, though probably intended
+to be all pure white. Other still more
+elegant scolloped arches, exquisitely decorated by
+carving the plaster, spring between alternate pillars,
+and from arch to arch, presumably more modern
+work.</p>
+<p>
+The aisles are rather over twenty feet in width,
+and the thirty-three cross vaultings about half as
+much, while the height of the roof is from thirty to
+forty feet. In all, the pillars number about 500,
+though frequently stated to total 850 out of an
+original 1419, but it is difficult to say where all
+these can be, since the sum of 33 by 19 is only
+627, and a deduction has to be made for the
+central court, in which stands the church or choir.
+Since these notes were first published, in 1890, I
+have seen it disputed between modern impressionist
+writers which of them first described the wonderful
+scene as a palm grove, a comparison of which I had
+never heard when I wrote, but the wonder to me
+would be if any one could attempt to picture the
+scene without making use of it.</p>
+
+<a name="page340" id="page340"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;340]</span>
+<p>
+Who but a nation of nomads, accustomed to
+obey the call to prayer beneath the waving branches
+of African and Arabian palm-groves, would have
+dreamed of raising such a House of God? Unless
+for the purpose of supporting a wide and solid roof,
+or of dividing the centre into the form of a cross,
+what other ecclesiastical architects would have conceived
+the idea of filling a place of worship with
+pillars or columns? No one who has walked in a
+palm-grove can fail to be struck by the resemblance
+to it of this remarkable mosque. The very tufted
+heads with their out-curving leaves are here reproduced
+in the interlacing arches, and with the light
+originally admitted by the central court and the
+great doors, the present somewhat gloomy area
+would have been bright and pleasant as a real
+grove, with its bubbling fountains, and the soothing
+sound of trickling streams. I take the present skylights
+to be of modern construction, as I never saw
+such a device in a Moorish building.</p>
+<p>
+Most of the marble columns are the remains of
+earlier erections, chiefly Roman, like the bridge over
+the Guadalquivir close by, restored by the builder
+of the mosque. Some, indeed, came from Constantinople,
+and others were brought from the south
+of France. They are neither uniform in height nor
+girth&mdash;some having been pieced at the bottom, and
+others partly buried;&mdash;so also with the capitals,
+certain of which are evidently from the same source
+as the pillars, while the remainder are but rude
+imitations, mostly Corinthian in style. The original
+expenses of the building were furnished by a fifth of
+the booty taken from the Spaniards, with the subsidies
+raised in Catalonia and Narbonne. The<a name="page341" id="page341"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;341]</span>
+Moors supplied voluntary, and European captives
+forced labour.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="cordova" id="cordova"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/340.jpg"><img src="images/340-346.jpg" width="346" height="430" alt="A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<br />
+<b>A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+On Fridays, when the Faithful met in thousands
+for the noon-day prayer, what a sight and what a
+melody! The deep, rich tones of the organ may
+add impressiveness to a service of worship, but there
+is nothing in the world so grand, so awe-inspiring
+as the human voice. When a vast body of males
+repeats the formulć of praise, together, but just
+slightly out of time, the effect once heard is never
+forgotten. I have heard it often, and as I walk
+these aisles I hear it ringing in my ears, and can
+picture to myself a close-packed row of white-robed
+figures between each pillar, and rows from end to
+end between, all standing, stooping, or forehead on
+earth, as they follow the motions of the leader before
+them. A grand sight it is, whatever may be one's
+opinion of their religion. In the manner they sit
+on the matted floors of their mosques there would
+be room here for thirteen thousand without using
+the Orange Court, and there is little doubt that on
+days when the Court attended it used to be filled to
+its utmost.</p>
+<p>
+To the south end of the cathedral the floor of
+two wide aisles is raised on arches, exactly opposite
+the niche which marks the direction of Mekka, and
+the space above is more richly decorated than any
+other portion of the edifice except the niche itself.
+This doubtless formed the spot reserved for the
+Ameer and his Court, screened off on three sides
+to prevent the curiosity of the worshippers overcoming
+their devotion, as is still arranged in
+the mosques which the Sultan of Morocco attends
+in his capitals. Until a few years ago this rich<a name="page342" id="page342"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;342]</span>
+work in arabesque and tiles was hidden by
+plaster.</p>
+<p>
+The kiblah niche is a gem of its kind. It
+consists of a horse-shoe arch, the face of which
+is ornamented with gilded glass mosaic, forming the
+entrance to a semi-circular recess beautifully adorned
+with arabesques and inscriptions, the top of the
+dome being a large white marble slab hollowed out
+in the form of a pecten shell. The wall over the
+entrance is covered with texts from the Korán,
+forming an elegant design, and on either side are
+niches of lesser merit, but serving to set off the
+central one which formed the kiblah. Eleven
+centuries have elapsed since the hands of the
+workmen left it, and still it stands a witness of
+the pitch of art attained by the Berbers in Spain.</p>
+<p>
+It is said that here was deposited a copy of the
+Korán written by Othmán himself, and stained with
+his blood, of such a size that two men could
+hardly lift it. When, for a brief period, the town
+fell into the hands of Alfonso VII., his soldiers used
+the mosque as a stable, and tore up this valuable
+manuscript. When a Moorish Embassy was sent
+to Madrid some years ago, the members paid a
+visit to this relic of the greatness of their forefathers,
+and to the astonishment of the custodians,
+having returned to the court-yard to perform the
+required ablutions, re-entered, slippers in hand, to
+go through the acts of worship as naturally as
+if at home. What a strange sight for a Christian
+cathedral! Right in front of the niche is a plain
+marble tomb with no sign but a plain bar dexter.
+Evidently supposing this to be the resting-place of
+some saint of their own persuasion, they made the<a name="page343" id="page343"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;343]</span>
+customary number of revolutions around it. It would
+be interesting to learn from their lips what their
+impressions were.</p>
+<p>
+Of the tower which once added to the imposing
+appearance of the building, it is recorded that it had
+no rival in height known to the builders. It was of
+stone, and, like one still standing in Baghdád from
+the days of Harűn el Rasheed, had two ways to the
+top, winding one above the other, so that those
+who ascended by the one never met those descending
+by the other. According to custom it was
+crowned by three gilded balls, and it had fourteen
+windows. This was of considerably later date than
+the mosque itself, but has long been a thing of
+the past.</p>
+<p>
+The European additions to the Córdova mosque
+are the choir, high altar, etc., which by themselves
+would make a fine church, occupying what must
+have been originally a charming court, paved with
+white marble and enlivened by fountains; the
+tower, built over the main entrance, opening into
+the Court of Oranges; and a score or two of
+shrines with iron railings in front round the sides,
+containing altars, images, and other fantastic baubles
+to awe the ignorant. An inscription in the tower
+records that it was nearly destroyed by the earth-quake
+of 1755, and though it is the least objectionable
+addition, it is a pity that it did not fall on that
+or some subsequent occasion. It was raised on
+the ruins of its Moorish predecessor in 1593. The
+chief entrance, like that of Sevílle, is a curious
+attempt to blend Roman architecture with Mauresque,
+having been restored in 1377, but the result
+is not bad. Recent "restorations" are observable<a name="page344" id="page344"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;344]</span>
+in some parts of the mosque, hideous with colour,
+but a few of the original beams are still visible.
+I am inclined to consider the greater part of the
+roof modern, but could not inspect it closely enough
+to be certain. Though vaulted inside, it is tiled
+in ridges in the usual Moorish style, but very few
+green tiles are to be seen.</p>
+<p>
+From the tower the view reminds one strongly
+of Morocco. The hills to the north and south,
+with the river winding close to the town across the
+fertile plain, give the scene a striking resemblance
+to that from the tower of the Spanish consulate
+at Tetuan. All around are the still tortuous streets
+of a Moorish town, though the roofs of the houses
+are tiled in ridges of Moorish pattern, as those
+of Tangier were when occupied by the English
+two hundred years ago, and as those of El K'sar
+are now.</p>
+<p>
+The otherwise Moorish-looking building at one's
+feet is marred by the unsightly erection in the
+centre, and its court-yard seems to have degenerated
+into a play-ground, where the neighbours saunter
+or fill pitchers from the fountains.</p>
+<p>
+After enduring the apparently unceasing din
+of the bells in those erstwhile stations of the muédhdhin,
+one ceases to wonder that the lazy Moors
+have such a detestation for them, and make use
+instead of the stirring tones of the human voice.
+Rest and quiet seem impossible in their vicinity,
+for their jarring is simply head-splitting. And as
+if they were not excruciating enough, during "Holy
+Week" they conspire against the ear-drums of
+their victims by revolving a sort of infernal machine
+made of wood in the form of a hollow cross, with<a name="page345" id="page345"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;345]</span>
+four swinging hammers on each arm which strike
+against iron plates as the thing goes round. The
+keeper's remark that the noise was awful was
+superfluous.</p>
+<p>
+The history of the town of Córdova has been
+as chequered as that of most Andalucian cities.
+Its foundation is shrouded in obscurity. The
+Romans and Vandals had in turn been its masters
+before the Moors wrested it from the Spaniards
+in the year 710 <span class="sc">a.d.</span> Though the Spaniards regained
+possession of it in 1075, it was not for long,
+as it soon fell into the hands of the invaders once
+more. The Spanish victors only left a Moorish
+viceroy in charge, who proved too true a Berber
+to serve against his countrymen, so he betrayed
+his trust. In 1236 it was finally recovered by the
+Spaniards, after five hundred and twenty-four years
+of Moorish rule. Since that time the traces of that
+epoch of its history have been gradually disappearing,
+till there only remain the mutilated mosque, and
+portions of the ancient palace, or of saint-houses
+(as the side-chapel of the Church of St. Miguel),
+and of a few dwellings. Since the first train
+steamed to this ancient city, in 1859, the railway
+has probably brought as many pilgrims to the
+mosque as ever visited it from other motives in its
+greatest days.</p>
+<p>
+The industry founded here by the Moors&mdash;that
+of tanning&mdash;which has given its name to a trade
+in several countries,<a name="XXXV2r" id="XXXV2r"></a><a href="#XXXV2"><sup>*</sup></a> seems to have gone with
+them to Morocco, for though many of the old
+tan-pits still exist by the river side, no leather of
+any repute is now produced here. The Moorish<a name="page346" id="page346"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;346]</span>
+water-mills are yet at work though, having been
+repaired and renewed on the original model. These,
+as at Granáda and other places, are horizontal wheels
+worked from a small spout above, directly under
+the mill-stone, such as is met with in Fez and
+Tetuan.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXXV2" id="XXXV2"></a>
+<a href="#XXXV2r">*</a> Sp. <i>cordován</i>, Fr. <i>cordonnier</i>, Eng. <i>cordwainer</i>, etc.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>III. <span class="sc">Sevílle</span></h4>
+
+<p>
+In the Girálda tower of Sevílle I expected to
+find a veritable Moorish trophy in the best state of
+preservation, open to that minute inspection which
+was impossible in the only complete specimen of
+such a tower, the Kutűbîya, part of a mosque still
+in use. Imagine, then, my regret on arriving at the
+foot of that venerable monument, to find it "spick
+and span," as if just completed, looking new and
+tawdry by the side of the cathedral which has
+replaced the mosque it once adorned. Instead of
+the hoary antiquity to which the rich deep colour
+of the stone of the sister towers in Morocco bears
+witness in their weather-beaten glory, this one,
+built, above the first few stone courses, of inch
+pan-tiles, separated by a like thickness of mortar,
+has the appearance of having been newly pointed
+and rubbed down, while faded frescoes on the walls
+testify to the barbarity of the conquerors of the
+"barbarians."</p>
+<p>
+The delicate tracery in hewn stone which adds
+so greatly to the beauty of the Morocco and
+Tlemçen examples, is almost entirely lacking, while
+the once tasteful horse-shoe windows are now
+pricked out in red and yellow, with a hideous
+modern balcony of white stone before each. The<a name="page347" id="page347"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;347]</span>
+quasi-Moorish belfry is the most pardonable addition,
+but to crown all is an exhibition of incongruity
+which has no excuse. The original tile-faced turret
+of the Moors, with its gilded balls, has actually been
+replaced by a structure of several storeys, the first
+of which is Doric, the second Ionic, and the third
+Corinthian. Imagine this crowning the comely
+severity of the solid Moorish structure without a
+projecting ornament! But this is not all. Swinging
+in gaunt uneasiness over the whole, stands a
+huge revolving statue, supposed to represent Faith,
+holding out in one hand a shield which catches the
+wind, and causes it to act as a weather-vane.</p>
+<p>
+Such is the Girálda of the twentieth century,
+and the guide-books are full of praises for the
+restorer, who doubtless deserves great credit for
+his skill in repairing the tower after it had suffered
+severely from lightning, but who might have done
+more towards restoring the original design, at all
+events in the original portion. We read in "Raôd
+el Kártás" that the mosque was finished and the
+tower commenced in 1197, during the reign of
+Mulai Yakűb el Mansűr, who commenced its sisters
+at Marrákesh and Rabat in the same year. One
+architect is recorded to have designed all three&mdash;indeed,
+they have little uncommon in their design,
+and have been once almost alike. Some assert
+that this man was a Christian, but there is nothing
+in the style of building to favour such a supposition.</p>
+<p>
+The plan is that of all the mosque towers of
+Morocco, and the only tower of a mosque in actual
+use which I have ascended in that country&mdash;one
+at Mogador&mdash;was just a miniature of this. It is,
+therefore, in little else than point of size that these<a name="page348" id="page348"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;348]</span>
+three are remarkable. The similarity between these
+and the recently fallen tower of St. Mark's at Venice
+is most striking, both in design and in the method
+of ascent by an inclined plane; while around the
+Italian lakes are to be seen others of less size, but
+strongly resembling these.</p>
+<p>
+All three are square, and consist of six to eight
+storeys in the centre, with thick walls and vaulted
+roof, surrounded by an inclined plane from base to
+summit, at an angle which makes it easy walking,
+and horses have been ridden up. The unfinished
+Hassan Tower at Rabat having at one time become
+a place of evil resort, the reigning ameer ordered
+the way up to be destroyed, but it was found so
+hard that only the first round was cut away, and
+the door bricked up. Each ramp of the Girálda,
+if I remember rightly, has its window, but in the
+Hassan many are without light, though at least
+every alternate one has a window, some of these
+being placed at the corner to serve for two, while
+here they are always in the centre. The Girálda
+proper contains seven of these storeys, with thirty-five
+ramps. To the top of the eighth storey, which
+is the first addition, dating from the sixteenth
+century, now used as a belfry, the height is about
+220 feet. The present total height is a little over
+300 feet.</p>
+<p>
+The original turret of the Girálda, similar to
+that at Marrákesh, was destroyed in 1396 by a
+hurricane. The additions were finished in 1598.
+An old view, still in existence, and dating from the
+thirteenth century, shows it in its pristine glory,
+and there is another&mdash;Moorish&mdash;as old as the
+tower itself.</p>
+
+<a name="page349" id="page349"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;349]</span>
+<p>
+After all that I had read and heard of the
+palace at Sevílle, I was more disappointed than
+even in the case of the Girálda. Not only does
+it present nothing imposing in the way of Moorish
+architecture, but it has evidently been so much
+altered by subsequent occupants as to have lost
+much of its original charm. To begin with the
+outside, instead of wearing the fine crumbling
+appearance of the palaces of Morocco or Granáda,
+this also had been all newly plastered till it looks
+like a work of yesterday, and coloured a not unbecoming
+red. Even the main entrance has a
+Gothic inscription half way up, and though its
+general aspect is that of Moorish work, on a
+closer inspection, the lower part at least is seen to
+be an imitation, as in many ways the unwritten
+laws of that style have been widely departed from.
+The Gothic inscription states that Don Pedro I.
+built it in 1364.</p>
+<p>
+Inside, the general ground plan remains much
+as built, but connecting doorways have been opened
+where Moors never put them, and with the exception
+of the big raised tank in the corner, there is nothing
+African about the garden. Even the plan has been
+in places destroyed to obtain rooms of a more suitable
+width for the conveniences of European life.
+The property is a portion of the Royal patrimony,
+and is from time to time occupied by the reigning
+sovereign when visiting Sevílle. A marble tablet
+in one of these rooms tells of a queen having been
+born there during the last century.</p>
+<p>
+Much of the ornamentation on the walls is of
+course original, as well as some of the ceilings and
+doors, but the "restorations" effected at various<a name="page350" id="page350"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;350]</span>
+epochs have greatly altered the face of things.
+Gaudy colours show up both walls and ceilings,
+but at the same time greatly detract from their
+value, besides which there are coarse imitations of
+the genuine tile-work, made in squares, with lines
+in relief to represent the joints, as well as patterns
+painted on the plaster to fill up gaps in the designs.
+Then, too, the most prominent parts of the ornamentation
+have been disfigured by the interposition
+of Spanish shields and coats-of-arms on tiles. The
+border round the top of the dado is alternated with
+these all the way round some of the rooms. To
+crown all, certain of the fine old doors, resembling
+a wooden patchwork, have been "restored" with
+plaster-of-Paris. Some of the arabesques which
+now figure on these walls were actually pillaged
+from the Alhambra.</p>
+<p>
+Many of the Arabic inscriptions have been
+pieced so as to render them illegible, and some
+have been replaced upside down, while others tell
+their own tale, for they ascribe glory and might to
+a Spanish sovereign, Don Pedro the Cruel, instead
+of to a "Leader of the Faithful." A reference to
+the history of the country tells us that this ruler
+"reconstructed" the palace of the Moors, while
+later it was repaired by Don Juan II., before
+Ferdinand and Isabella built their oratories within
+its precincts, or Charles V., with his mania for "improving"
+these monuments of a foreign dominion,
+doubled it in size. For six centuries this work,
+literally of spoliation, has been proceeding in the
+hands of successive owners; what other result than
+that arrived at, could be hoped for?</p>
+<p>
+When this is realized, the greater portion of<a name="page351" id="page351"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;351]</span>
+the historic value of this palace vanishes, and its
+original character as a Moorish palace is seen to
+have almost disappeared. There still, however,
+remains the indisputable fact, apparent from what
+does remain of the work of its builders, that it was
+always a work of art and a trophy of the skill of
+its designers, those who have interfered with it
+subsequently having far from improved it.</p>
+<p>
+According to Arab historians, the foundations
+of this palace were laid in 1171 <span class="sc">a.d.</span> and it was
+reconstructed between 1353 and 1364. In 1762
+a fire did considerable damage, which was not
+repaired till 1805. The inscriptions are of no
+great historical interest. "Wa lá ghálib ílá Allah"&mdash;"there
+is none victorious but God"&mdash;abounds
+here, as at the Alhambra, and there are some very
+neat specimens of the Kufic character.</p>
+<p>
+Of Moorish Sevílle, apart from the Girálda
+and the Palace&mdash;El Kasar, corrupted into Alcazar&mdash;the
+only remains of importance are the Torre
+del Oro&mdash;Borj ed-Daheb&mdash;built in 1220 at the
+riverside, close to where the Moors had their bridge
+of boats, and the towers of the churches of SS.
+Marcos and Marina. Others there are, built in
+imitation of the older erections, often by Moorish
+architects, as those of the churches of Omnium
+Sanctorum, San Nicolas, Ermita de la Virgen, and
+Santa Catalina. Many private houses contain
+arches, pillars, and other portions of Moorish
+buildings which have preceded them, such as are
+also to be found in almost every town of southern
+Spain. As late as 1565 the town had thirteen
+gates more or less of Moorish origin, but these
+have all long since disappeared.</p>
+
+<a name="page352" id="page352"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;352]</span>
+<p>
+Sevílle was one of the first cities to surrender
+to the Moors after the battle of Guadalete, <span class="sc">a.d.</span> 711,
+and remained in their hands till taken by St.
+Ferdinand after fifteen months' siege in 1248, six
+years after its inhabitants had thrown off their
+allegiance to the Emperor of Morocco, and formed
+themselves into a sort of republic, and ten years
+after the Moorish Kingdom of Granáda was founded.
+It then became the capital of Spain till Charles V.
+removed the Court to Valladolid.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>IV. <span class="sc">Granáda</span></h4>
+<p>
+"O Palace Red! From distant lands I have
+come to see thee, believing thee to be a garden in
+spring, but I have found thee as a tree in autumn.
+I thought to see thee with my heart full of joy, but
+instead my eyes have filled with tears."</p>
+<p>
+So wrote in the visitors' album of the Alhambra,
+in 1876, an Arab poet in his native tongue, and
+another inscription in the same volume, written by
+a Moor some years before, remarks, "Peace be on
+thee, O Granáda! We have seen thee and admired
+thee, and have said, 'Praised be he who constructed
+thee, and may they who destroyed thee receive
+mercy.'"</p>
+<p>
+As the sentiments of members of the race of its
+builders, these expressions are especially interesting;
+but they can hardly fail to be shared to some extent
+by visitors from eastern lands, of whatever nationality.
+Although the loveliest monument of Moorish art in
+Spain, and a specimen of their highest architectural
+skill, destructions, mutilations, and restorations have<a name="page353" id="page353"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;353]</span>
+wrought so much damage to it that it now stands,
+indeed, "as a tree in autumn." It was not those
+who conquered the Moors on whom mercy was
+implored by the writer quoted&mdash;for they, Ferdinand
+and Isabella, did their best to preserve their trophy&mdash;but
+on such of their successors as Charles V.,
+who actually planted a still unfinished palace right
+among the buildings of this venerable spot, adjoining
+the remains of the Alhambra, part of which it
+has doubtless replaced.</p>
+<p>
+This unartistic Austrian styled these remains
+"the ugly abominations of the Moors," and forthwith
+proceeded to erect really ugly structures. But
+the most unpardonable destroyers of all that the
+Moors left beautiful were, perhaps, the French,
+who in 1810 entered Granáda with hardly a blow,
+and under Sebastian practically desolated the
+palace. They turned it into barracks and storehouses,
+as inscriptions on its walls still testify&mdash;notably
+on the sills of the "Miranda de la Reina."
+Ere they left in 1812, they even went so far as
+to blow up eight of the towers, the remainder only
+escaping through the negligence of an employee, and
+the fuses were put out by an old Spanish soldier.</p>
+<p>
+The Spaniards having thus regained possession,
+the commissioners appointed to look after it "sold
+everything for themselves, and then, like good
+patriots, reported that the invaders had left nothing."
+After a brief respite in the care of an old woman,
+who exhibited more sense in the matter than all
+the generals who had perpetrated such outrages
+upon it, the Alhambra was again desecrated by a
+new Governor, who used it as a store of salt fish
+for the galley slaves.</p>
+
+<a name="page354" id="page354"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;354]</span>
+<p>
+While the old woman&mdash;Washington Irving's
+"Tia Antonia"&mdash;was in possession, that famous
+writer did more than any one to restore the ancient
+fame of the palace by coming to stay there, and
+writing his well-known account of his visit. Mr.
+Forde, and his friend Mr. Addington, the British
+Ambassador, helped to remind people of its existence,
+and saved what was left. Subsequent civil
+wars have, however, afforded fresh opportunities
+of injury to its hoary walls, and to-day it stands a
+mere wreck of what it once was.</p>
+<p>
+The name by which these buildings are now
+known is but the adjective by which the Arabs
+described it, "El Hamra," meaning "The Red,"
+because of its colour outside. When occupied it
+was known only as either "The Palace of Granáda,"
+or "The Red Palace." The colour of the earth
+here is precisely that of the plains of Dukála and
+Marrákesh, and the buildings, being all constructed
+of tabia, are naturally of that colour. In no part
+of Spain could one so readily imagine one's self in
+Morocco; indeed, it is hard to realize that one is
+not there till the new European streets are reached.
+In the palace grounds, apart from the fine carriage-drive,
+with its seats and lamp-posts, when out of
+sight of the big hotels and other modern erections,
+the delusion is complete. Even in the town the
+running water and the wayside fountains take one
+back to Fez; and the channels underneath the
+pavements with their plugs at intervals are only
+Moorish ones repaired. On walking the crooked
+streets of the part which formed the town of four
+centuries ago, on every hand the names are Moorish.
+Here is the Kaisarîya, restored after a fire in<a name="page355" id="page355"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;355]</span>
+1843; there is the street of the grain fandaks, and
+beyond is a hammám, now a dwelling-house.</p>
+<p>
+The site of the chief mosque is now the cathedral,
+in the chief chapel of which are buried the
+conquerors of Granáda. There lie Ferdinand and
+Isabella in plain iron-bound leaden coffins&mdash;far
+from the least interesting sights of the place&mdash;in
+a spot full of memories of that contest which
+they considered the event of their lives, and which
+was indeed of such vital importance to the country.
+The inscription on their marble tomb in the church
+above tells how that the Moors having been conquered
+and heresy stamped out (?), that worthy
+couple took their rest. The very atmosphere of
+the place seems charged with reminiscences of the
+Moors and their successful foes, and here the spirits
+of Prescott and Gayangos, the historians, seem to
+linger still.</p>
+<p>
+On either side of the high altar are extremely
+interesting painted carvings. On one is figured the
+delivering up of the Alhambra. Ferdinand, Isabella
+and Mendoza ride in a line, and the latter
+receives the key in his gloved hand as the conquered
+king offers him the ring end, followed by a
+long row of captives. Behind the victors ride their
+knights and dames. On the other the Moors and
+Mooresses are seen being christened wholesale by
+the monks, their dresses being in some respects
+remarkably correct in detail, but with glaring defects
+in others, just what might be expected from one
+whose acquaintance with them was recent but
+brief.</p>
+<p>
+Before these carvings kneel real likenesses of
+the royal couple in wood, and on the massive<a name="page356" id="page356"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;356]</span>
+square tomb in front they repose in alabaster. A
+fellow-tomb by their side has been raised to the
+memory of their immediate successors. In the
+sacristry are to be seen the very robes of Cardinal
+Mendoza, and his missal, with the sceptre and
+jewel-case of Isabella, and the sword of Ferdinand,
+while that of the conquered Bű Abd Allah is
+on view elsewhere. Here, too, are the standards
+unfurled on the day of the recapture, January 2,
+1492, and a picture full of interest, recording the
+adieux of "Boabdil" and Ferdinand, who, after
+their bitter contest, have shaken hands and are
+here falling on each other's necks.</p>
+<p>
+As a model of Moorish art, the palace of
+Granáda, commenced in 1248, is a monument of
+its latest and most refined period. The heavy and
+comparatively simple styles of Córdova and Sevílle
+are here amplified and refined, the result being the
+acme of elegance and oriental taste. This I say
+from personal acquaintance with the temples of the
+far East, although those present a much more
+gorgeous appearance, and are much more costly
+erections, evincing a degree of architectural ability
+and the possession of hoards of wealth beside
+which what the builders of the Alhambra could
+boast of was insignificant; nor do I attempt to compare
+these interesting relics with the equally familiar
+immensity of ancient masonry, or with the magnificent
+work of the Middle Ages still existing in
+Europe. These monuments hold a place of their
+own, unique and unassailable. They are the
+mementoes of an era in the history of Europe, not
+only of the Peninsula, and the interest which
+attaches itself to them even on this score alone<a name="page357" id="page357"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;357]</span>
+is very great. As relics on a foreign soil, they
+have stood the storms of five centuries under the
+most trying circumstances, and the simplicity of
+their components lends an additional charm to the
+fabric. They are to a great extent composed of
+what are apparently the weakest materials&mdash;mud,
+gypsum, and wood; the marble and tiles are but
+adornments.</p>
+<p>
+From without the appearance of the palace has
+been well described as that of "reddish cork models
+rising out of a girdle of trees." On a closer inspection
+the "cork" appears like red sandstone, and one
+wonders how it has stood even one good storm.
+There is none of that facing of stone which gives
+most other styles of architecture an appearance of
+durability, and whatever facing of plaster it may
+once have possessed has long since disappeared.
+But inside all is different. Instead of crumbling
+red walls, the courts and apartments are highly
+ornamented with what we now call plaster-of-Paris,
+but which the Moors have long prepared by roasting
+the gypsum in rude kilns, calling it "gibs."</p>
+<p>
+A full description of each room or court-yard
+would better become a guide-book, and to those
+who have the opportunity of visiting the spot, I
+would recommend Ford's incomparable "Handbook
+to Spain," published by Murray, the older
+the edition the better. To those who can read
+Spanish, the "Estudio descriptivo de los Monumentos
+arabes," by the late Sr. Contreras (Government
+restorer of the Moorish remains in Spain), to
+be obtained in Granáda, is well worth reading.
+Such information as a visitor would need to correct
+the mistaken impressions of these and other writers<a name="page358" id="page358"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;358]</span>
+ignorant of Moorish usages as to the original
+purpose of the various apartments, I have embodied
+in Macmillan's "Guide to the Western
+Mediterranean."</p>
+<p>
+Certain points, however, either for their architectural
+merit or historic interest, cannot be passed
+over. Such is the Court of the Lions, of part of
+which a model disfigured by garish painting may be
+seen at the Crystal Palace. In some points it is
+resembled by the chief court of the mosque of the
+Karűeeďn at Fez. In the centre is that strange
+departure from the injunctions of the Korán which
+has given its name to the spot, the alabaster fountain
+resting on the loins of twelve beasts, called, by
+courtesy, "lions." They remind one rather of cats.
+"Their faces barbecued, and their manes cut like
+the scales of a griffin, and the legs like bed-posts; a
+water-pipe stuck in their mouths does not add to
+their dignity." In the inscription round the basin
+above, among flowery phrases belauding the
+fountain, and suggesting that the work is so fine
+that it is difficult to distinguish the water from the
+alabaster, the spectator is comforted with the
+assurance that they cannot bite!</p>
+<p>
+The court is surrounded by the usual tiled
+verandah, supported by one hundred and twenty-two
+light and elegant white marble pillars, the arches
+between which show some eleven different forms.
+At each end is a portico jutting out from the
+verandahs, and four cupolas add to the appearance
+of the roofs. The length of the court is twice its
+width, which is sixty feet, and on each side lies a
+beautiful decorated apartment with the unusual
+additions of jets of water from the floor in the<a name="page359" id="page359"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;359]</span>
+centre of each, as also before each of the three doors
+apiece of the long narrow Moorish rooms, and under
+the two porticoes. The overflows, instead of being
+hidden pipes, are channels in the marble pavement,
+for the Moors were too great lovers of rippling
+water to lose the opportunity as we cold-blooded
+northerners would.</p>
+<p>
+To fully realize the delights of such a place one
+must imagine it carpeted with the products of Rabat,
+surrounded by soft mattresses piled with cushions,
+and with its walls hung with a dado of dark-coloured
+felt cloths of various colours, interworked to represent
+pillars and arches such as surround the gallery, and
+showing up the beautiful white of the marble by contrast.
+Thus furnished&mdash;in true Moorish style&mdash;the
+place should be visited on a hot summer's day, after
+a wearisome toil up the hill from the town. Then,
+lolling among the cushions, and listening to the
+splashing water, if strong sympathy is not felt
+with the builders of the palace, who thought it a
+paradise, the visitor ought never to have left his
+armchair by the fire-side at home.</p>
+<p>
+If, instead of wasting money on re-plastering the
+walls until they look ready for papering, and then
+scratching geometrical designs upon them in a style
+no Moor ever dreamed of, the Spanish Government
+would entrust a Moor of taste to decorate it in his own
+native style, without the modern European additions,
+they would do far better and spend less. One step
+further, and the introduction of Moorish guides and
+caretakers who spoke Spanish&mdash;easy to obtain&mdash;would
+add fifty per cent. to the interest of the place.
+Then fancy the Christian and Muslim knights meeting
+in single combat on the plains beneath those<a name="page360" id="page360"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;360]</span>
+walls. People once more the knolls and pastures
+with the turban and the helm, fill in the colours
+of robe and plume; oh, what a picture it would
+make!</p>
+<p>
+Doubtless similar apartments for the hareem
+exist in the recesses of the palaces of Fez, Mequinez,
+Marrákesh and Rabat. Some very fine
+work is to be seen in the comparatively public
+parts, in many respects equalling this, and certainly
+better than that of the palace of Sevílle. Various
+alterations and "restorations" have been effected
+from time to time in this as in other parts of the
+palace, notably in the fountain, the top part of
+which is modern. It is probable that originally
+there was only one basin, resting immediately on
+the "lions" below. Its date is given as 1477 <span class="sc">a.d.</span></p>
+<p>
+The room known for disputed reasons as the
+Hall of the Two Sisters was originally a bedroom.
+The entrance is one of the most elaborate in the
+palace, and its wooden ceiling, pieced to resemble
+stalactites, is a charming piece of work, as also are
+those of the other important rooms of the palace.</p>
+<p>
+Another apartment opening out of the Court of
+Lions, known as the Hall of Justice&mdash;most likely in
+error&mdash;contains one of the most curious remains in
+the palace, another departure from the precepts of
+the religion professed by its builders. This is no
+less than a series of pictures painted on skins sewn
+together, glued and fastened to the wooden dome
+with tinned tacks, and covered with a fine coating
+of gypsum, the gilt parts being in relief. Though
+the date of their execution must have been in the
+fourteenth century, the colours are still clear and
+fresh. The picture in the centre of the three domes<a name="page361" id="page361"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;361]</span>
+is supposed by some to represent ten Moorish kings
+of Granáda, though it is more likely meant for ten
+wise men in council. On the other two ceilings are
+pictures, one of a lady holding a chained lion, on the
+point of being delivered from a man in skins by a
+European, who is afterwards slain by a mounted
+Moor. The other is of a boar-hunt and people drinking
+at a fountain, with a man up a tree in a dress
+which looks remarkably like that of the eighteenth
+century in England, wig and all. This work must
+have been that of some Christian renegade, though
+considerable discussion has taken place over the
+authorship. It is most likely that the lions are of
+similar origin, sculptured by some one who had but
+a remote idea of the king of the forest.</p>
+<p>
+After the group of apartments surrounding the
+Court of the Lions, the most valuable specimen of
+Moorish architecture is that known as the Hall of
+the Ambassadors, probably once devoted to official
+interviews, as its name denotes. This is the largest
+room in the palace, occupying the upper floor in one
+of the massive towers which defended the citadel,
+overlooking the Vega and the remains of the camp-town
+of Santa Fé, built during the siege by the
+"Catholic Kings." The thickness of its walls is
+therefore immense, and the windows look like little
+tunnels; under it are dungeons. The hall is thirty-seven
+feet square, and no less than seventy-five feet
+high in the centre of the roof, which is not the
+original one. Some of the finest stucco wall decoration
+in the place is to be seen here, with elegant
+Arabic inscriptions, in the ancient style of ornamental
+writing known as Kufic, most of the instances of the
+latter meaning, "O God, to Thee be endless praise,<a name="page362" id="page362"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;362]</span>
+and thanks ascending." Over the windows are
+lines in cursive Arabic, ascribing victory and glory
+to the "leader of the resigned, our lord the father of
+the pilgrims" (Yűsef I.), with a prayer for his welfare,
+while everywhere is to be seen here, as in other
+parts, the motto, "and there is none victorious but
+God."</p>
+<p>
+Between the two blocks already described lie
+the baths, the undressing-room of which has been
+very creditably restored by the late Sr. Contreras,
+and looks splendid. It is, in fact, a covered patio
+with the gallery of the next floor running round, and
+as no cloth hangings or carpets could be used here,
+the walls and floor are fully decorated with stucco
+and tiles. The inner rooms are now in fair condition,
+and are fitted with marble, though the boiler
+and pipes were sold long ago by a former "keeper"
+of the palace. The general arrangement is just the
+same as that of the baths in Morocco.</p>
+<p>
+One room of the palace was fitted up by Ferdinand
+and Isabella as a chapel, the gilt ornaments of
+which look very gaudy by the side of the original
+Moorish work. Opening out of this is a little gem
+of a mosque, doubtless intended for the royal devotions
+alone, as it is too small for a company.</p>
+<p>
+Surrounding the palace proper are several other
+buildings forming part of the Alhambra, which must
+not be overlooked. Among them are the two
+towers of the Princesses and the Captives, both of
+which have been ably repaired. In the latter are
+to be seen tiles of a peculiar rosy tint, not met with
+elsewhere. In the Dar Aďshah ("Gabinete de
+Lindaraxa"&mdash;"x" pronounced as "sh") are excellent
+specimens of those with a metallic hue, resembling<a name="page363" id="page363"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;363]</span>
+the colours on the surface of tar-water. Ford points
+out that it was only in these tiles that the Moors
+employed any but the primary colours, with gold for
+yellow. This is evident, and holds good to the
+present day. Both these towers give a perfect
+idea of a Moorish house of the better class in
+miniature. Outside the walls are of the rough red of
+the mud concrete, while inside they are nearly all
+white, and beautifully decorated. The thickness of
+the walls keeps them delightfully cool, and the
+crooked passages render the courts in the centre
+quite private.</p>
+<p>
+Of the other towers and gates, the only notable
+one is that of Justice, a genuine Moorish erection
+with a turning under it to stay the onrush of an
+enemy, and render it easier of defence. The hand
+carved on the outer arch and the key on the inner
+one have given rise to many explanations, but their
+only significance was probably that this gate was
+the key of the castle, while the hand was to protect
+the key from the effects of the evil eye. This
+superstition is still popular, and its practice is to be
+seen to-day on thousands of doors in Morocco, in
+rudely painted hands on the doorposts.</p>
+<p>
+The Watch Tower (de la Vela) is chiefly noteworthy
+as one of the points from which the Spanish
+flag was unfurled on the memorable day of the
+entry into Granáda. The anniversary of that date,
+January 2nd, is a high time for the young ladies,
+who flock here to toll the bell in the hopes of being
+provided with a husband during the new-begun
+year.</p>
+<p>
+At a short distance from the Alhambra itself is
+a group known as the Torres Bermejas (Vermilion<a name="page364" id="page364"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;364]</span>
+Towers), probably the most ancient of the Moorish
+reign, if part did not exist before their settlement
+here, but they present no remarkable architectural
+features.</p>
+<p>
+Across a little valley is the Generalife, a charming
+summer residence built about 1320, styled by its
+builder the "Paradise of the Wise,"&mdash;Jinah el Arîf&mdash;which
+the Spaniards have corrupted to its present
+designation, pronouncing it Kheneraliffy. Truly
+this is a spot after the Moor's own heart: a
+luxuriant garden with plenty of dark greens against
+white walls and pale-blue trellis-work, harmonious
+at every turn with the rippling and splashing of
+nature's choicest liquid. Of architectural beauty the
+buildings in this garden have but little, yet as specimens
+of Moorish style&mdash;though they have suffered
+with the rest&mdash;they form a complement to the Alhambra.
+That is the typical fortress-palace, the abode
+of a martial Court; this is the pleasant resting-place,
+the cool retreat for love and luxury. Nature is here
+predominant, and Art has but a secondary place, for
+once retaining her true position as great Nature's
+handmaid. Light arched porticoes and rooms
+behind serve but as shelter from the noonday glare,
+while roomy turrets treat the occupier to delightful
+views. Superfluous ornament within is not allowed
+to interfere with the contemplation of beauty
+without.</p>
+<p>
+Between the lower and upper terrace is a remarkable
+arrangement of steps, a Moorish ideal, for
+at equal distances from top to bottom, between each
+flight, are fountains playing in the centre, round
+which one must walk, while a stream runs down the
+top of each side wall in a channel made of tiles.<a name="page365" id="page365"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;365]</span>
+What a pleasant sight and sound to those to whom
+stair climbing in a broiling sun is too much exercise!
+The cypresses in the garden are very fine, but they
+give none too much shade. The present owner's
+agent has Bű Abd Allah's sword on view at his
+house in the town, and this is a gem worth asking
+to see when a ticket is obtained for the Generalife.
+It is of a totally different pattern and style of ornament
+from the modern Moorish weapons, being
+inlaid in a very clever and tasteful manner.</p>
+<p>
+To the antiquary the most interesting part of
+Granáda is the Albaycin, the quarter lying highest
+up the valley of the Darro, originally peopled by
+refugees from the town of Baeza&mdash;away to the
+north, beyond Jaen&mdash;the Baďseeďn. As the last
+stronghold of Moorish rule in the Peninsula, when
+one by one the other cities, once its rivals, fell into
+the hands of the Christians again, Granáda became
+a centre of refuge from all parts, and to this owed
+much of its ultimate importance.</p>
+<p>
+Unfortunately no attempt has been made to preserve
+the many relics of that time which still exist
+in this quarter, probably the worst in the town.
+Many owners of property in the neighbourhood can
+still display the original Arabic title deeds, their
+estates having been purchased by Spanish grandees
+from the expelled Moors, or later from the expelled
+Jews. A morning's tour will reveal much of
+interest in back alleys and ruined courts. One
+visitor alone is hardly safe among the wild half-gipsy
+lot who dwell there now, but a few copper
+coins are all the keys needed to gain admission
+to some fine old patios with marble columns,
+crumbling fandaks, and ruined baths. By the<a name="page366" id="page366"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;366]</span>
+roadside may be seen the identical style of water-mill
+still used in Morocco, and the presence of the
+Spaniard seems a dream.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>V. <span class="sc">Hither and Thither</span></h4>
+
+<p>
+Having now made pilgrimages to the more
+famous homes of the Moor in Europe, let us in
+fancy take an aërial flight over sunny Spain, and
+glance here and there at the scattered traces of
+Muslim rule in less noted quarters. Everything
+we cannot hope to spy, but we may still surprise
+ourselves and others by the number of our finds.
+Even this task accomplished, a volume on the subject
+might well be written by a second Borrow or a
+Ford, whose residence among the modern Moors
+had sharpened his scent for relics of that ilk.<a name="XXXV3r" id="XXXV3r"></a><a href="#XXXV3"><sup>*</sup></a> Let
+not the reader think that with these wayside jottings
+all has been disclosed, for the Moor yet lives
+in Spain, and there is far more truth in the saying
+that "Barbary begins at the Pyrenees" than is
+generally imagined.</p>
+<p>
+We will start from Tarifa, perhaps the most
+ancient town of Andalucia. The Moors named
+this ancient Punic city after T'arîf ibn Málek ("The
+Wise, son of King"), a Berber chief. They beleaguered
+it about 1292, and it is still enclosed
+by Moorish walls. The citadel, a genuine Moorish
+castle, lies just within these walls, and was not so
+long ago the abode of galley-slaves. Close to
+Sevílle, where the river Guadalquivir branches off,<a name="page367" id="page367"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;367]</span>
+it forms two islands&mdash;Islas Mayor y Menor. The
+former was the Kaptal of the Moors. At Coria
+the river winds under the Moorish "Castle of the
+Cleft" (El Faraj), now called St. Juan de Alfarache,
+and passes near the Torre del Oro, a monument
+of the invader already referred to. Old Xeres, of
+sherry fame, is a straggling, ill-built, ill-drained
+Moorish city. It was taken from the Moors in
+1264. Part of the original walls and gates remain
+in the old town. The Moorish citadel is well preserved,
+and offers a good specimen of those turreted
+and walled palatial fortresses.</p>
+<p>
+But it is not till we reach Sevílle that we come
+to a museum of Moorish antiquities. Here we see
+Arabesque ceilings, marqueterie woodwork, stucco
+panelling, and the elegant horse-shoe arches. There
+are beautiful specimens in the citadel, in Calle
+Pajaritos No. 15, in the Casa Prieto and elsewhere.
+The Moors possessed the city for five hundred
+years, during which time they entirely rebuilt it,
+using the Roman buildings as materials. Many
+Moorish houses still exist, the windows of which
+are barricaded with iron gratings. On each side
+of the patios, or courts, are corridors supported by
+marble pillars, whilst a fountain plays in the centre.
+These houses are rich in Moorish porcelain tilings,
+called azulejos&mdash;from the Arabic ez-zulaďj&mdash;but the
+best of these are in the patio of the citadel. Carmona
+is not far off, with its oriental walls and
+castle, famous as ever for its grateful springs. The
+tower of San Pedro transports us again to Tangier,
+as do the massy walls and arched gate.</p>
+<p>
+Some eight leagues on the way to Badajos from
+Sevílle rises a Moorish tower, giving to the adjoining<a name="page368" id="page368"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;368]</span>
+village the name of Castillo de las Guardias.
+Five leagues beyond are the mines of the "Inky
+River"&mdash;Rio Tinto&mdash;a name sufficiently expressive
+and appropriate, for it issues from the mountain-side
+impregnated with copper, and is consequently
+corrosive. The Moors seem to have followed the
+Romans in their workings on the north side of the
+hill. Further on are more mines, still proclaiming
+the use the Moors made of them by their present
+name Almádin&mdash;"the Mine"&mdash;a name which has
+almost become Spanish; it is still so generally used.
+Five leagues from Rio Tinto, at Aracena, is another
+Moorish castle, commanding a fine panorama, and
+the belfry of the church hard by is Arabesque.</p>
+<p>
+Many more of these ruined kasbahs are to be
+seen upon the heights of Andalucia, and even
+much further north; but the majority must go unmentioned.
+One, in an equally fine position, is to
+be seen eleven leagues along the road from Sevílle
+to Badajos, above Santa Olalla&mdash;a name essentially
+Moorish, denoting the resting-place of some female
+Mohammedan saint, whose name has been lost sight
+of. (Lallah, or "Lady," is the term always prefixed
+to the names of canonized ladies in Morocco.)
+Three leagues from Sevílle on the Granáda road,
+at Gandul, lies another of these castles, picturesquely
+situated amid palms and orange groves; four
+leagues beyond, the name Arahal (er-rahálah&mdash;"the
+day's journey") reminds the Arabicist that it is
+time to encamp; a dozen leagues further on the
+name of Roda recalls its origin, raôdah, "the cemetery."
+Riding into Jaen on the top of the diligence
+from Granáda, I was struck with the familiar
+appearance of two brown tabia fortresses above the<a name="page369" id="page369"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;369]</span>
+town, giving the hillside the appearance of one of
+the lower slopes of the Atlas. This was a place
+after the Moors' own heart, for abundant springs
+gush everywhere from the rocks. In their days it
+was for a time the capital of an independent
+kingdom.</p>
+<p>
+At Ronda, a town originally built by the Moors&mdash;for
+Old Ronda is two leagues away to the north,&mdash;their
+once extensive remains have been all but
+destroyed. Its tortuous streets and small houses,
+however, testify as to its origin, and its Moorish castle
+still appears to guard the narrow ascent by which
+alone it can be reached from the land, for it crowns a
+river-girt rock. Down below, this river, the Guadalvin,
+still turns the same rude class of corn-mills that
+we have seen at Fez and Granáda. Other remnants
+are another Moorish tower in the Calle del
+Puente Viejo, and the "House of the Moorish
+King" in Calle San Pedro, dating from about 1042.
+Descending to the river's edge by a flight of stairs
+cut in the solid rock, there is a grotto dug by
+Christian slaves three centuries later. Some five
+leagues on the road thence to Granáda are the
+remains of the ancient Teba, at the siege of
+which in 1328, when it was taken from the Moors,
+Lord James Douglas fought in obedience to the
+dying wish of the Bruce his master, whose heart
+he wore in a silver case hung from his neck,
+throwing it among the enemy as he rushed in
+and fell.</p>
+<p>
+On the way from Ronda to Gibraltar are a
+number of villages whose Arab names are startling
+even in this land of Ishmaelitish memories. Among
+these are Atajate, Gaucin, Benahali, Benarraba,<a name="page370" id="page370"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;370]</span>
+Benadalid, Benalaurin. At Gaucin an excellent view
+of Gibraltar and Jibel Műsa is obtainable from its
+Moorish citadel. This brings us to old "Gib," whose
+relics of Tárîk and his successors are much better
+known to travellers than most of those minor remains.
+An inscription over the gate of the castle, now a
+prison, tells of its erection over eleven centuries ago,
+for this was naturally one of the early captures of
+the invaders. Yet the mud-concrete walls stand firm
+and sound, though scarred by many a shot. Algeciras&mdash;El
+Jazîrah&mdash;"the Island" has passed through
+too many vicissitudes to have much more than the
+name left.</p>
+<p>
+Malaga, though seldom heard of in connection
+with the history of Mohammedan rule in the Peninsula,
+played a considerable part in that drama. It
+and Cadiz date far back to the time of the Carthaginians,
+so that, after all, their origin is African.
+If its name is not of an earlier origin, it may be from
+Málekah, "the Queen." Every year on August 18,
+at 3 p.m. the great bell of the cathedral is struck
+thrice, for that is the anniversary of its recovery
+from the Aliens in 1487. The flag of Ferdinand
+then hoisted is (or was recently) still to be seen,
+together with a Moorish one, probably that of the
+vanquished city, over the tomb of the Conde de
+Buena Vista in the convent of La Victoria. Though
+odd bits of Moorish architecture may still be met
+with in places, the only remains of note are the
+castle, built in 1279, with its fine horse-shoe gate&mdash;sadly
+disfigured by modern barbarism&mdash;and what
+was the dockyard of the Moors, now left high and
+dry by the receding sea.</p>
+<p>
+The name Alhama, met with in several parts of<a name="page371" id="page371"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;371]</span>
+Spain, merely denotes "the hot," alluding to springs
+of that character which are in most instances still
+active. This is the case at the Alhama between
+Malaga and Granáda, where the baths are worth
+a visit. The Moorish bath is called the strong
+one, being nearer the spring.</p>
+<p>
+At Antequera the castle is Moorish, though
+built on Roman foundations, and it is only of recent
+years that the mosque has disappeared under the
+"protection" of an impecunious governor.</p>
+<p>
+Leaving the much-sung Andalűs, the first name
+striking us in Murcia is that of Guadíx (pronounced
+Wadish), a corruption of Wád Aďsh, "River of Life."
+Its Moorish castle still stands. Some ten leagues
+further on, at Cullar de Baza is another Moorish
+ruin, and the next of note, a fine specimen, is fifteen
+leagues away at Lorca, whose streets are in the
+genuine intricate style. The city of Murcia, though
+founded by the Moors, contains little calling them
+to remembrance. In the post-office and prison,
+however, and in the public granary, mementoes are
+to be found.</p>
+<p>
+Orihuela, on the road from Carthagena to
+Alicante, still looks oriental with its palm-trees,
+square towers and domes, and Elche is just another
+such, with flat roofs and the orthodox kasbah, now
+a prison. The enormous number of palms which
+surround the town recall Marrákesh, but they are
+sadly neglected. Monte Alegre is a small place
+with a ruined Moorish castle, about fifteen leagues
+from Elche on the road to Madrid. Between
+Alicante and Xativa is the Moorish castle of Tibi,
+close to a large reservoir, and there is a square
+Moorish tower at Concentaina.  Xativa has a<a name="page372" id="page372"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;372]</span>
+hermitage, San Felin, adorned with horse-shoe
+arches, having a Moorish cistern hard by.</p>
+<p>
+Valencia the Moors considered a Paradise, and
+their skill in irrigation has been retained, so that of
+the Guadalaviar (Wad el Abîad&mdash;"River of the
+Whites") the fullest use is made in agriculture, and
+the familiar water-wheels and conduits go by the
+corruptions of their Arabic names, naôrahs and
+sakkáďahs. The city itself is very Moorish in
+appearance, with its narrow tortuous streets and
+gloomy buildings, but I know of no remarkable
+legacy of the Moors there. There are the remains
+of a Moorish aqueduct at Chestalgár&mdash;a very Arabic
+sounding name, of which the last two syllables are
+corrupted from El Ghárb ("the West") as in the
+case of Trafalgár (Terf el Ghárb&mdash;"West Point").
+All this district was inhabited by the Moriscos or
+Christianized Moors as late as the beginning of
+the seventeenth century, and there must their descendants
+live still, although no longer distinguished
+from true sons of the soil.</p>
+<p>
+Whatever may remain of the ancient Saguntum,
+what is visible is mostly Moorish, as, for instance,
+cisterns on the site of a Roman temple. Not far
+from Valencia is Burjasot, where are yet to be seen
+specimens of matmôrahs or underground granaries.
+Morella is a scrambling town with Moorish walls
+and towers, coroneted by a castle.</p>
+<p>
+Entering Catalonia, Tortosa, at the mouth of
+the Ebro, is reached, once a stronghold of the
+Moors, and a nest of pirates till recovered by
+Templars, Pisans and Genoese together. It was
+only withheld from the Moors next year by the
+valour of the women besieged. The tower of the<a name="page373" id="page373"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;373]</span>
+cathedral still bears the title of Almudena, a reminder
+of the muédhdhin who once summoned
+Muslims to prayer from its summit. Here, too, are
+sundry remnants of Moorish masonry, and some
+ancient matmôrahs.</p>
+<p>
+Tarragona and Barcelona, if containing no
+Moorish ruins of note, have all, in common with
+other neighbouring places, retained the Arabic name
+Rambla (rimlah, "sand") for the quondam sandy
+river beds which of late years have been transformed
+into fashionable promenades. In the cathedral of
+Tarragona an elegant Moorish arch is noticeable,
+with a Kufic inscription giving the date as 960 <span class="sc">a.d.</span>
+For four centuries after this city was destroyed by
+Tarîf it remained unoccupied, so that much cannot
+be expected to call to mind his dynasty. Of a
+bridge at Martorell over the Llobregat, Ford says
+it is "attributed to Hannibal by the learned, and to
+the devil, as usual, by the vulgar. The pointed
+centre arch, which is very steep and narrow to pass,
+is 133 feet wide in the span, and is unquestionably
+a work of the Moors." Not far away is a place
+whose name, Mequineza, is strongly suggestive
+of Moorish origin, but I know nothing further
+about it.</p>
+<p>
+Now let us retrace our flight, and wing our way
+once more to the north of Sevílle, to the inland
+province of Estremadura. Here we start from
+Mérida, where the Roman-Moorish "alcazar" towers
+proudly yet. The Moors repaired the old Roman
+bridge over the Guadiana, and the gateway near
+the river has a marble tablet with an Arabic inscription.
+The Muslims observed towards the
+people of this place good faith such as was never<a name="page374" id="page374"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;374]</span>
+shown to them in return, inasmuch as they allowed
+them to retain their temples, creed, and bishops.
+They built the citadel in 835, and the city dates
+its decline from the time that Alonzo el Sabio took
+it from them in 1229. Zámora is another ancient
+place. It was taken from the Moors in 939, when
+40,000 of them are said to have been killed. The
+Moorish designs in the remarkable circular arches of
+La Magdalena are worthy of note.</p>
+<p>
+In Toledo the church of Santo Tomé has a
+brick tower of Moorish character; near it is the
+Moorish bridge of San Martin, and in the neighbourhood,
+by a stream leading to the Tagus,
+Moorish mills and the ruins of a villa with Moorish
+arches, now a farm hovel, may still be seen. The
+ceiling of the chapel of the church of San Juan de
+la Penetencia is in the Moorish style, much dilapidated
+(1511 <span class="sc">a.d.</span>). The Toledan Moors were first-rate
+hydraulists. One of their kings had a lake
+in his palace, and in the middle a kiosk, whence
+water descended on each side, thus enclosing
+him in the coolest of summer-houses. It was in
+Toledo that Ez-Zarkal made water-clocks for astronomical
+calculations, but now this city obtains its
+water only by the primitive machinery of donkeys,
+which are driven up and down by water-carriers as
+in Barbary itself. The citadel was once the kasbah
+of the Moors.</p>
+<p>
+The Cathedral of Toledo is one of the most
+remarkable in Spain. The arches of the transept
+are semi-Moorish, Xamete, who wrought it in
+Arcos stone in 1546-50, having been a Moor.
+The very ancient manufactory of arms for which
+Toledo has a world-wide fame dates from the time<a name="page375" id="page375"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;375]</span>
+of the Goths; into this the Moors introduced
+their Damascene system of ornamenting and tempering,
+and as early as 852 this identical "fabrica" was at
+work under Abd er-Rahman ibn El Hákim. The
+Moors treasured and named their swords like
+children. These were the weapons which Othello,
+the Moor, "kept in his chamber."</p>
+
+<br /><a name="tetuan" id="tetuan"></a><br />
+<p class="center">
+<a href="images/375.jpg"><img src="images/375-500.jpg" width="500" height="307" alt="THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN." border="0" /></a><br /><br />
+<i>Cavilla, Photo., Tangier.</i><br /><br />
+<b>THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN.</b>
+</p><br /><br />
+
+<p>
+At Alcazar de San Juan, in La Mancha, I found
+a few remnants of the Moorish town, as in the
+church tower, but the name is now almost the only
+Moorish thing about it. Hence we pass to Alarcon,
+a truly Moorish city, built like a miniature Toledo,
+on a craggy peninsula hemmed in by the river
+Jucar. The land approach is still guarded by
+Moorish towers and citadel.</p>
+<p>
+In Zocodovar&mdash;which takes its name from the
+word sôk, "market-place"&mdash;we find a very Moorish
+"plaza," with its irregular windows and balconies,
+and in San Eugenio are some remains of an old
+mosque with Kufic inscriptions, as well as an
+arch and tomb of elaborate design. In the Calle
+de las Tornarías there used to be a dilapidated
+Moorish house with one still handsome room, but
+it is doubtful whether this now survives the wreck
+of time. It was called El Taller del Moro, because
+Ambron, the Moorish governor of Huesca, is said
+to have invited four hundred of the refractory chiefs
+of Toledo to dine here, and to have cut off the head
+of each as he arrived.  There is a curious mosque
+in the Calle del Cristo de la Luz, the roof is supported
+by four low square pillars, each having a
+different capital, from which spring double arches
+like those at Córdova. The ceiling is divided into
+nine compartments with domes.</p>
+
+<a name="page376" id="page376"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;376]</span>
+<p>
+Madrid has passed through such various fortunes,
+and has been so much re-built, that it now contains
+few traces of the Moors. The only relic
+which I saw in 1890 was a large piece of tabia,
+forming a substantial wall near to the new cathedral,
+which might have belonged to the city wall or only
+to a fortress.  The Museum of the Capital contains a
+good collection of Moorish coins. In the Armoury
+are Moorish guns, swords, saddles, and leather
+shields, the last named made of two hides cemented
+with a mortar composed of herbs and camel-hair.</p>
+<p>
+In Old Castile the footprints grow rare and
+faint, although the name of Valladolid&mdash;Blád Walîd,
+"Town of Walîd," a Moorish ameer&mdash;sufficiently
+proclaims its origin, but I am not aware of any
+Moorish remains there. In Burgos one old gate
+near the triumphal arch, erected by Philip II., still
+retains its Moorish opening, and on the opposite
+hill stands the castle in which was celebrated the
+bridal of our Edward I. with Eleanor of Castile.
+It was then a true Moorish kasar, but part has
+since been destroyed by fire. On the road from
+Burgos to Vittoria we pass between the mountains
+of Oca and the Pyrenean spurs, in which narrow
+defile the old Spaniards defied the advancing Moors.
+Moorish caverns or cisterns are still to be seen.</p>
+<p>
+Turning southward again, we come to Medinaceli,
+or "the city of Selim," once the strong
+frontier hold of a Moor of that name, the scene
+of many conflicts among the Moors themselves,
+and against the Christians. Here, on August 7,
+1002, died the celebrated El Mansűr&mdash;"The
+Victorious"&mdash;the "Cid" (Seyyid) of the Moors,
+and the most terrible enemy of the Christians.<a name="page377" id="page377"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;377]</span>
+He was born in 938 near Algeciras, and by a
+series of intrigues, treacheries and murders, rose
+in importance till he became in reality master of
+the puppet ameer. He proclaimed a holy crusade
+against the Christians each year, and was buried
+in the dust of fifty campaigns, for after every battle
+he used to shake off the soil from his garments into
+a chest which he carried about with him for that
+purpose.</p>
+<p>
+In Aragon the situation of Daroca, in the fertile
+basin of the Jiloca, is very picturesque. The little
+town lies in a hill-girt valley around which rise
+eminences defended by Moorish walls and towers,
+which, following the irregular declivities, command
+charming views from above. The palace of the
+Mendozas at Guadalajara, in the same district, boasts
+of an elegant row of Moorish windows, though these
+appear to have been constructed after Guadalajara
+was reconquered from the Moors by the Spaniards.
+Near this place is a Moorish brick building, turned
+into a battery by the invaders, and afterwards used
+as a prison. Before leaving this town it will be
+worth while to visit San Miguel, once a mosque, with
+its colonnaded entrance, horse-shoe arches, machiolations,
+and herring-bone patterns under the roof.</p>
+<p>
+Calatayud, the second town of Aragon, is of
+Moorish origin. Its Moorish name means the
+"Castle of Ayűb"&mdash;or Job&mdash;the nephew of Műsa,
+who used the ancient Bilbilis as a quarry whence
+to obtain stones for its construction. The Dominican
+convent of Calatayud has a glorious patio with
+three galleries rising one above another, and a
+portion of the exterior is enriched with pseudo-Moorish
+work like the prisons at Guadalajara.</p>
+
+<a name="page378" id="page378"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;378]</span>
+<p>
+Saragossa gave me more the impression of
+Moorish origin than any town I saw in Spain,
+except Sevílle and Córdova. The streets of the
+original settlement are just those of Mequinez on
+a small scale. The only object of genuinely Moorish
+origin that I could find, however, was the Aljaferia,
+once a palace-citadel, now a barrack, so named
+after Jáfer, a Muslim king of this province.  Since
+his times Ferdinand and Isabella used it, and then
+handed it over to the Inquisition.  Some of the
+rooms still retain Moorish decorations, but most
+of the latter are of the period of their conquerors.
+On one ceiling is pointed out the first gold brought
+from the New World. The only genuine Moorish
+remnant is the private mosque, with beautiful inscriptions.
+The building has been incorporated in
+a huge fort-like modern brick structure, which
+would lead no one to seek inside for Arab traces.</p>
+<p>
+Passing from Saragossa northwards, we arrive
+at Jaca, the railway terminus, which to this day
+quarters on her shield the heads of four sheďkhs
+who were left behind when their fellow-countrymen
+fled from the city in 795, after a desperate
+battle in which the Spanish women fought like
+men.  The site of the battle, called Las Tiendas,
+is still visited on the first Friday in May, when
+the daughters of these Amazons go gloriously
+"a-shopping." The municipal charter of Jaca dates
+from the Moorish expulsion, and is reckoned among
+the earliest in Spain.</p>
+<p>
+Gerona, almost within sight of France, played
+an important part, too, in those days, siding alternately
+with that country and with Spain when in the
+possession of the Moors. The Ameer Sulaďmán,<a name="page379" id="page379"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;379]</span>
+in 759 <span class="sc">a.d.</span>, entered into an alliance with Pepin, and
+in 785 Charlemagne took the town, which the
+Moors re-captured ten years later. It became their
+headquarters for raids upon Narbonne and Nîsmes.
+Castellon de Ampurias, once on the coast, which
+has receded, was strong enough to resist
+the Moors for a time, but after they had dismantled
+it, the Normans appeared and finally destroyed it.
+Now it is but a hamlet.</p>
+<p>
+We are now in the extreme north-west of the
+Peninsula, where the relics we seek grow scanty,
+and, in consequence, of more importance. Instead
+of buildings in stone or concrete, we find here a
+monument of independence, perhaps more interesting
+in its way than any other. When the Pyrenees
+and their hardy mountaineers checked the onward
+rush of Islám, several independent states arose,
+recognized by both France and Spain on account
+of their bravery in opposing a common foe. The
+only one of these retaining a semi-independence is
+the republic of Andorra, a name corrupted from the
+Arabic el (al) darra, "a plenteous rainfall," showing
+how the Moors appreciated this feature of so well
+wooded and hilly a district after the arid plains of
+the south. The old Moorish castle of the chief
+town bears the name of Carol, derived from that
+of Charlemagne, who granted it the privileges
+it still enjoys, so that it is a memento of the
+meeting of Arab and Teuton. At Planes is a
+church said to be of Moorish origin, and earlier
+than Charlemagne; it certainly dates from no later
+than the tenth century. These "foot-prints" show
+that the Moor got a fairly good footing here, before
+he was driven back, and his progress stayed.</p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a name="XXXV3" id="XXXV3"></a>
+<a href="#XXXV3r">*</a> To the latter I am indebted for particulars regarding the many
+places mentioned in this final survey which it was impossible for me
+to visit.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page381" id="page381"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;381]</span>
+
+<a name="appendix" id="appendix"></a>
+<h2>APPENDIX</h2>
+
+<h3>"MOROCCO NEWS"</h3>
+<p class="center1">
+"A lie is not worth the lying, nor is truth worth repeating."</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+<i>Moorish Proverb.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+So unanimous have been the uninformed reiteration
+of the Press in contravention of much that has
+been stated in the foregoing pages, that it will not
+be out of place to quote a few extracts from men on
+the spot who do know the facts. The first three
+are from leaders in <i>Al-moghreb Al-aksa</i>, the present
+English paper in Morocco, which accurately voices
+the opinion of the British Colony in that country,
+opinions shared by most disinterested residents of
+other nationalities.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"However we look upon the situation as it
+stands to-day, and wherever our sympathies may
+lie, it is impossible to over-estimate the danger
+attending the unfortunate Anglo-French Agreement.
+We have always&mdash;as our readers will acknowledge&mdash;advocated
+the simple doctrine of the <i>status quo</i>,
+and in this have received the support of every disinterested
+person in and out of Morocco.  Our
+policy has at times thrown us into antagonism with
+the exponents of the French colonial schemes; but
+we at least have the satisfaction of knowing that,
+however we may have fallen short of our duty, it<a name="page382" id="page382"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;382]</span>
+has been one which we have persevered in, prompted
+by earnest conviction, by love of the country and
+its people, and by admiration for its Sultan. The
+simplicity of our aim has helped us in our uphill
+fight, and will, no doubt, continue to do so in the
+future.</p>
+<p>
+"Needless to say we look forward with no little
+anxiety to the result of the conference. This needs
+no explanation. In the discussion of such a question
+it is absolutely imperative that the individual
+members of the conference should be selected from
+those who know their Morocco, and who are
+acquainted with the causes which led up to the
+present dead-lock. Only the keenest, shrewdest
+men should be selected, for it must be borne in
+mind that France will spare no pains to uphold
+the recent Anglo-French Convention. Her most astute
+diplomats will figure largely, for her dignity is at
+stake. Indeed, her very position, diplomatic and
+political, is in effect challenged. Taking this into
+consideration, it is more than necessary to see that
+the representatives of Great Britain are not chosen
+for their family influence or for the perfection they
+may have attained in the French language.</p>
+<p>
+"The task is hard and perilous. England is
+waking to the fact that she has blundered, and,
+as usual, she is unwilling to admit the fact. Circumstances,
+however, will sooner or later force
+her to modify her terms. Germany, Spain, the
+United States, and other nations, to say nothing
+of Morocco, must point out the absurdity of the
+situation. If the agreement is inoperative with
+regard to Morocco, it may as well be openly admitted
+to be useless. This is not all. Should
+English statesmanship direct that this injudicious
+arrangement be adhered to, France and Great
+Britain will stand as self-confessed violators of the
+Convention of Madrid.</p>
+
+<a name="page383" id="page383"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;383]</span>
+<p>
+"Fortunately the Moorish cause has some excellent
+champions. For many years she has been
+dumb. Now, however, that she is assailed, we find
+a small but influential band of writers coming forward
+with their pens to do battle for her.</p>
+<p>
+"This is the great consolation we have. Moorish
+interests will no longer be the sport of European
+political expediency. These men will, no doubt, protest
+against the land-grabbing propensities of the
+French colonial party, and they may find time to
+point out that after a thousand years of not ignoble
+independence, the Moorish race deserves a little
+more consideration than has hitherto been granted.</p>
+<p>
+"Even those people who are responsible for this
+deplorable state of affairs must now stand more or
+less amazed at their handiwork. No diplomatic
+subterfuge can efface the humiliation that underlies
+the situation; and no one can possibly exaggerate
+the danger that lies ahead of us."</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="short" /><br />
+<p>
+"Two centuries ago Great Britain abandoned
+Tangier, and it is only the present generation that
+has realized the huge mistake. A maudlin sentimentalism,
+to avoid displeasing the French King,
+prevented us from handing the city back to Portugal;
+an act which would have been wise, either
+strategically, commercially, or with a view to the
+suppression of the famous Salee rovers, who were
+for long a scourge to ships entering the Straits. A
+Commission of experts was appointed to consider
+the question of the abandonment, one of them being
+Mr. Pepys....</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever the opinion may have been of the
+experts consulted by the Government on the present
+agreement with France, we are strongly disposed
+to believe that if they have been endowed with
+greater sense than those of 1683, there is probably
+more, as we must hope there is, in favour of British<a name="page384" id="page384"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;384]</span>
+interests, than appears to the public eye. Time
+alone will tell what reservation, mental or otherwise,
+may be locked up in the British Foreign Office.
+It is difficult to believe that any British statesman
+would wantonly give away any national interest,
+but too lofty a policy has often been wanting in
+practical sense which, had that policy descended
+from principles to facts, would have saved the
+nation thousands of lives, millions of money, and
+sacrifices of its best interests."</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="short" /><br />
+<p>
+"The events that have been fully before the
+eyes of British subjects in Morocco in the abnormal
+condition of the country during the past two years,
+seem to have been ignored by our Foreign Office.
+In short, it fully appears that our Foreign Office
+policy has been designed to lead the Sultan to
+political destruction, and to sacrifice every British
+interest.</p>
+<p>
+"About two years ago our Foreign Office began
+well in starting the Sultan on the path of progress:
+in carrying out its aims it has done nothing but
+blunders. Had it but acted with a little firmness,
+the opening up of this country would have already
+begun, and there would have been no 'Declaration'
+which will assuredly give future Foreign Secretaries
+matter for some anxiety. The declaration is only a
+display of political fireworks that will dazzle the
+eyes of the British public for a while, delighting
+our Little Englanders, but only making the future
+hazy and possibly more dangerous to deal with. It
+seems only a way of putting off the real settlement,
+which may not wait for thirty years to be dealt
+with, on the points still at issue, and for which a
+splendid opportunity has been thrown away at
+Downing Street, and could have been availed of to
+maintain British interests, prestige, and influence in
+this country. Briefly, we fear that the attainment<a name="page385" id="page385"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;385]</span>
+of the end in view may yet cost millions to the
+British nation.</p>
+<p>
+"That Morocco will progress under French
+guidance there can be no question, and France may
+be congratulated on her superior diplomacy
+and the working of her Foreign Office system."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+With regard to the Moorish position, a contributor
+observes in a later issue&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"The attitude of the Sultan and his Cabinet
+may be summed up in a few words. 'You nations
+have made your agreements about our country without
+consulting us. We owe you nothing that we
+are unable to pay on the conditions arranged
+between us. We did not ask your subjects to
+reside and trade on Moorish soil. In fact, we have
+invariably discouraged their so doing. Troubles
+exist in Morocco, it is true, but we are far greater
+sufferers than you&mdash;our unbidden guests. And
+but for the wholesale smuggling of repeating rifles
+by <i>your</i> people, our tribes would not be able to
+cause the disorders of which you complain. As
+to your intention to intervene in our affairs, we
+agree to no interference. If you are resolved to
+try force, we believe that the Faith of the Prophet
+will conquer. We still believe there is a God
+stronger than man. And should the fight go
+against us, we believe that it is better to earn Paradise
+in a holy war for the defence of our soil, than
+to submit tamely to Christian rule.'</p>
+<p>
+"The position, however lamentable, is intelligible;
+but on the other hand it is incredible that
+France&mdash;her mind made up long ago that she is to
+inherit the Promised Land of Sunset&mdash;will sit down
+meekly and allow herself to be flouted by the
+monarch and people of a crumbling power like
+Morocco. And this is what she has to face. Not<a name="page386" id="page386"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;386]</span>
+indeed a nation, as we understand the term, but a
+gathering of units differing widely in character and
+race&mdash;Arabs, Berbers, mulattoes, and negroes&mdash;unable
+to agree together on any subject under the
+sun but one, and that one the defence of Islám
+from foreign intervention. Under the standard of
+the invincible Prophet they will join shoulder to
+shoulder. And hopeless and pathetic as it may
+seem, they will defy the disciplined ranks and
+magazine guns of Europe. Thus, wherever our
+sympathies may lie, the possibilities of a peaceful
+settlement of the Morocco question appear to be
+dwindling day by day. The anarchy paramount in
+three-quarters of the sultanate is not only an ever-increasing
+peril to European lives and property,
+but a direct encouragement to intervention. Of
+one thing we in Morocco have no kind of doubt.
+The landing of foreign troops, even for protective
+service, in any one part of the coast would infallibly
+be the signal for a general rising in every part
+of the Empire. No sea-port would be safe for
+foreigners or for friendly natives until protected by
+a strong European force. And, once begun, the
+task of 'pacifying' the interior must entail an
+expenditure of lives and treasure which will amply
+satisfy French demands for colonial extension for
+many a year to come."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+One more quotation from an editorial&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"And so it would appear, that, with the smiling
+approval of the world's Press, the wolf is to take
+over the affairs of the lamb. We use the phrase
+advisedly. We have never hesitated to criticize the
+action, and to condemn the errors, of the Makhzen
+where such a course has been needful in the public
+interest. We can, therefore, with all the more
+justice, call attention to the real issues of the compact<a name="page387" id="page387"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;387]</span>
+embodied in the Morocco clauses of the Anglo-French
+Agreement of April, 1904. How long the
+leading journals of England may continue to ignore
+the facts of the case it is impossible to say; but
+that there will come a startling awakening seems
+inevitable. Every merely casual observer on this
+side of the Mediterranean knows only too well
+that the most trifling pretext may be at any hour
+seized for the next move in the development of
+French intervention. Evidence is piling up to show
+that the forward party in France, and still more in
+Algeria, is burning to strike while yet the frantic
+enthusiasm of the Entente lasts, and while they can
+rely upon the support&mdash;we had almost written, the
+moral support&mdash;of Great Britain. Can we shut our
+eyes to the deliberate provocations they are giving
+the Makhzen in almost every part of the sultanate?</p>
+<p>
+"These things are not reported to Europe,
+naturally. In spite of all our comfortable cant about
+justice to less powerful races, who in England cares
+about justice to Morocco and her Sultan? We owe
+it to Germany that the thing was not rushed
+through a few months ago. Who has heard, who
+wants to hear, the Moorish side of the question?
+Morocco is mute. The Sultan pulls no journalistic
+wires. He has no advocate in the Press, or in
+Parliament, or in Society. Hardly a public man
+opens his mouth in England to refer to Morocco,
+without talking absolute twaddle. The only member
+of either House of Parliament who has shown a real
+grasp of the tremendous issues of the question is
+Lord Rosebery, in the memorable words&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"'No more one-sided agreement was ever concluded
+between two Powers at peace with each
+other. I hope and trust, but I hope and trust
+rather than believe, that the Power which holds
+Gibraltar may never have cause to regret having
+handed Morocco over to a great military Power.'</p>
+
+<a name="page388" id="page388"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;388]</span>
+<p>
+"Had that true statesman, and true Englishman,
+been in power eighteen months ago, England would
+never have been pledged to sacrifice her commercial
+interests in Morocco, to abandon her wholesome,
+traditional policy in the Mediterranean, and to
+revoke her solemn engagement to uphold the integrity
+of the Sultan's dominions."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+An excellent idea of the discrepancies between
+the alarmist reports with which the Press is from
+time to time deluged, and the facts as known on
+the spot, is afforded by the following extracts from
+<i>Al-moghreb Al-aksa</i> of January 7, 1905, when the
+London papers had been almost daily victimized by
+their correspondents regarding Morocco:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"The dismissal of the military <i>attachés</i> at the
+Moorish Court threatened to raise a terrible conflagration
+in Europe, and great indignation among
+foreign residents in this country&mdash;according to
+certain Press reports. This fiery disposition of
+some offered a remarkable contrast with the coolness
+of the others. For instance, the British took
+almost no interest in the matter, for the simple
+reason that there has never been any British official
+military mission in the Moorish Court. It is true
+there are a few British subjects in Moorish military
+service, but they are privately employed by the
+Sultan's Government, and their service is simply
+voluntary. Even personally, they actually show no
+great concern in remaining here or not.</p>
+<p>
+"The Italian military mission is composed of
+very few persons. The chief, Col. Ferrara, is on
+leave in Italy, and the Mission is now represented
+by Captain Campini, who lives at Fez with his
+family. They report having received all kind attentions
+from the Sultan quite recently, and that they<a name="page389" id="page389"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;389]</span>
+know nothing about the dismissal which has so
+noisily sounded in Europe. According to the same
+Press reports, great fears were entertained of a
+general rising against the foreign residents in Fez
+and other places in the interior, and while it is
+reported that the military <i>attachés</i>, consular officers
+and residents of all nations were notified to leave
+Fez and come to Tangier or the coast ports as a
+matter of precaution, we find that nobody moves
+from the Court, because, they say, they have seen
+nothing to induce them to leave that residence.
+And what has Mulai Abd El Azîz replied to French
+complaints and demands respecting the now historical
+dismissal of the military <i>attachés</i>? A very simple
+thing&mdash;that H.S.M. did not think that the dismissal
+could resent any of the civilized nations,
+because it was decided as an economic measure,
+there being no money to pay even other more
+pressing liabilities. However, the Sultan, wishing
+to be on friendly terms with France and all other
+nations, immediately withdrew the dismissal and
+promised to pay the <i>attachés</i> as long as it is possible
+to do so. The missions, consuls, etc., have now no
+need to leave Fez, and everything remains stationary
+as before. The only thing steadily progressing is
+the insecurity of life and property in the outskirts
+and district of Tangier, where murders and robberies
+proceed unabated, and this state of affairs has caused
+the British and German residents in this town to
+send petitions to their respective Governments,
+through their legations, soliciting that some measure
+may be adopted to do away with the present state
+of insecurity which has already paralysed all overland
+traffic between this city and the neighbouring towns.</p>
+<p>
+"The contrasts of the situation are as remarkable
+as they are comic, and while the whole country is
+perfectly quiet, those places more in contact with<a name="page390" id="page390"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;390]</span>
+the civilized world, like Tangier and the Algerian
+frontier, are the only spots which are seriously
+troubled with disturbances."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+So much for northern Morocco. The same
+issue contains the following report from its Mogador
+correspondent regarding the "disturbed state" of
+southern Morocco.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"It would puzzle even the trained imagination
+of certain journalists we wot of to evolve anything
+alarmist out of the condition of the great tribes
+between Mogador and the Atlas. During the
+recent tribal differences not one single highway
+robbery, even of a native, was, I believe, committed.
+The roads are open everywhere; the rival chieftains
+have, figuratively, exchanged the kiss of peace, and
+the tribes have confessed that it was a mistake to
+leave their farms and farm-work simply to please an
+ambitious and utterly thankless governor.</p>
+<p>
+"As for Europeans, they have been rambling
+all over the country with their wonted freedom
+from interference. A Frenchman, travelling almost
+alone, has just returned from Imintanoot. Another
+has twice crossed the Atlas. Needless to say the
+route to Marrákesh is almost as devoid of other
+than pleasurable novelty as a stroll on the Embankment
+or down the shady side of Pall Mall. When,
+indeed, will folks at home grasp the fact that the
+Berber clans of southern Morocco belong to a race
+differing utterly in character and largely in customs
+from the ruffians infesting the northern half of the
+sultanate?</p>
+<p>
+"'Nothing but the unpleasant prospect of being
+held up by brigands,' writes a friend, 'prevents me
+from revisiting your beautiful country.' How convince
+such people that brigandage is an art unknown
+south of the Oom Rabya? That the prayer of the<a name="page391" id="page391"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;391]</span>
+Shluh, when a Nazarene visits their land, is that
+nothing may happen to bring trouble on the clan?
+They may inwardly hate the <i>Rűmi</i>, or they may
+regard him merely as an uncouth blot on the
+scenery; but should actual unpleasantness arise,
+he will, in almost every case, have himself to thank
+for it. (London papers please copy!)"
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+This letter was dated two days after the Paris
+correspondent of the <i>Times</i> had telegraphed&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"Events would seem likely to be coming to a
+head in consequence of the anarchy prevailing in
+the Shereefian Empire. The Pretender is just now
+concentrating his troops in the plain of Angad, and
+is preparing to take an energetic offensive against
+Ujda. The camp of the Pretender is imposing in
+its warlike display. All the caids and the sons of
+Bu Amema surround Mulai Mahomed. The men
+are armed with French <i>chassepots</i>, and are well
+dressed in new uniforms supplied by an Oran firm.
+All the war material was embarked on board the
+French yacht <i>Zut</i>, which landed it last month on
+the shores of Rastenga between Cape Eau and
+Melilla under the direction of the Pretender's
+troops."
+</p></blockquote>
+<p>
+Towards Christmas, 1902, circumstantial reports
+began to appear in the newspapers of an overwhelming
+defeat of the imperial army by rebels who were
+marching on Fez, who had besieged it, and had cut
+off the aqueduct bringing its water, the Sultan retreating
+to the palace, Europeans being ordered to
+the coast, etc., etc. These statements I promptly
+and categorically denied in an interview for the
+London <i>Echo</i>; there was no real "pretender," only
+a religious fanatic supported by two disaffected<a name="page392" id="page392"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;392]</span>
+tribes, the imperial army had not been defeated, as
+only a small body had been despatched to quell the
+disturbance; the "rebels" were not besieging Fez, as
+they had no army, and only the guns captured by
+the clever midnight surprise of sleeping troops, of
+which the "battle"&mdash;really a panic&mdash;consisted; they
+had not cut the "aqueduct," as Fez is built on the
+banks of a river from which it drinks; the Sultan's
+palace was his normal abode; the Europeans had
+not fled, seeing no danger, but that <i>on account of the
+alarming telegrams from Europe</i>, their Ministers in
+Tangier had advised them to withdraw, much
+against their will.</p>
+<p>
+So sweeping a contradiction of statements receiving
+daily confirmation from Tangier, heightened
+colour from Oran, and intensification from Madrid,
+must have been regarded as the ravings of a madman,
+for the interview was held over for a week for
+confirmation. Had not thirty-four correspondents
+descended on Tangier alone, each with expenses to
+meet? Something had to be said, though the
+correspondent nearest to the scene, in Fez, was two
+days' journey from it, and six from Tangier, the
+nearest telegraph station. It is true that some
+years ago an American boldly did the journey
+"From Fez to Fleet Street in Eight Days," by forgetting
+most of the journey to Tangier, but this was
+quite out-done now. Meanwhile every rumour was
+remodelled in Oran or Madrid, and served up afresh
+with confirmatory <i>sauce piquante</i>, <i>ŕ la française</i> or
+<i>ŕ l'espagnol</i>, as the case might be. It was not till
+Reuter had obtained an independent, common-sense
+report, that the interview was published, my statements
+having been all confirmed, but by that time<a name="page393" id="page393"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;393]</span>
+interest had flagged, and the British public still
+believes that a tremendous upheaval took place in
+Morocco just then.</p>
+<p>
+Yet, notwithstanding the detailed accounts of
+battles and reverses&mdash;a collation of which shows
+the "Father of the She-ass" fighting in several
+places at once, captured or slain to-day and fighting
+to-morrow, and so on&mdash;the Government of Morocco
+was never in real danger from the "Rogi's" rising,
+and the ultimate issue was never in doubt. The
+late Sultan, El Hasan, more than once suffered in
+person at the hands of the same tribes, defeats more
+serious than those experienced by the inadequate
+forces sent by his son.</p>
+<p>
+The moral of all this is that any news from
+Morocco, save that concerning Europeans or events
+on the coast, must be received with caution, and
+confirmation awaited. The most reliable accounts
+at present available are those of the <i>Times</i> correspondent
+at Tangier, while the <i>Manchester Guardian</i>
+is well informed from Mogador. Whatever emanates
+from Paris or Algeria, not referring directly to frontier
+events; or from Madrid, not referring to events
+near the Spanish "presidios," should be refused
+altogether, as at best it is second-hand, more often
+fabricated. How the London Press can seriously
+publish telegrams about Morocco from New York
+and Washington passes comprehension. The low
+ebb reached by American journals with one or two
+notable exceptions in their competitive sensationalism
+would of itself suffice to discredit much
+that appears, even were the countries in touch with
+each other.</p>
+<p>
+The fact is that very few men in Morocco itself<a name="page394" id="page394"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;394]</span>
+are in a position to form adequate judgements on
+current affairs, or even to collect reliable news from
+all parts. So few have direct relations with the
+authorities, native and foreign; so many can only
+rely on and amplify rumour or information from
+interested sources. So many, too, of the latter <i>must</i>
+make money somehow! The soundest judgements
+are to be formed by those who, being well-informed
+as to the conditions and persons concerned, and
+Moorish affairs in general, are best acquainted with
+the origin of the reports collected by others, and
+can therefore rightly appraise them.</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="page395" id="page395"></a><span class="left">[page&nbsp;395]</span>
+
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#A">A</a> | <a href="#B">B</a> | <a href="#C">C</a> | <a href="#D">D</a> |
+<a href="#E">E</a> | <a href="#F">F</a> | <a href="#G">G</a> | <a href="#H">H</a> |
+<a href="#Im">I</a> | <a href="#J">J</a> | <a href="#K">K</a> | <a href="#L">L</a> |
+<a href="#M">M</a> |  <a href="#O">O</a> | <a href="#P">P</a> |
+<a href="#R">R</a> | <a href="#S">S</a> | <a href="#T">T</a> |
+<a href="#Va">V</a> | <a href="#W">W</a> | <a href="#Xa">X</a> |
+<a href="#Z">Z</a><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<br />
+	<a name="A" id="A"></a>
+	<ul class="index">
+
+<li>A</li>
+<li>Abbas, Shah of Persia, <a class="index" href="#page280">280</a> <i>note</i></li>
+
+<li>Abd Allah bin Boo Shaďb es-Sálih,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>story of: protection system, <a class="index" href="#page247">247</a>-251</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Abd Allah Ghaďlán, former rebel leader, <a class="index" href="#page274">274</a></li>
+
+<li>Abd el Hakk and the Widow Záďdah, story of the, <a class="index" href="#page164">164</a>, <a class="index" href="#page165">165</a></li>
+
+<li>Addington, Mr., British Ambassador at Granáda, <a class="index" href="#page354">354</a></li>
+
+<li>Aghmát, capital of Southern Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page5">5</a></li>
+
+<li>Ahmad II., "the Golden," addressed by Queen Elizabeth, <a class="index" href="#page9">9</a></li>
+
+<li>Algeria, 281;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>the French in, <a class="index" href="#page294">294</a>-296, <a class="index" href="#page299">299</a>;</li>
+  <li>viewed from Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page307">307</a>-317;</li>
+  <li>under French rule, <a class="index" href="#page308">308</a>-315;</li>
+  <li>failure as a colony, <a class="index" href="#page309">309</a>;</li>
+  <li>Arabs in, <a class="index" href="#page313">313</a>;</li>
+  <li>Moors in, <a class="index" href="#page314">314</a>;</li>
+  <li>mosques, <a class="index" href="#page315">315</a>;</li>
+  <li>tilework, <a class="index" href="#page316">316</a>;</li>
+  <li>field for scientist, <a class="index" href="#page317">317</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Algiers (El Jazîrah), the city and people, <a class="index" href="#page310">310</a>-316</li>
+
+<li>Alhambra, the, at Granáda (<i>q.v.</i>)</li>
+
+<li><i>Al-moghreb Al-aksa</i> on the political situation, <a class="index" href="#page381">381</a>-394</li>
+
+<li>Andorra, the Pyrenean republic of, <a class="index" href="#page7">7</a>, <a class="index" href="#page337">337</a>, <a class="index" href="#page379">379</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>its privileges granted by Charlemagne, <a class="index" href="#page379">379</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Anglo-French Agreement, <a class="index" href="#page276">276</a>, <a class="index" href="#page279">279</a>, <a class="index" href="#page301">301</a>, <a class="index" href="#page304">304</a>, <a class="index" href="#page381">381</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>clauses in, <a class="index" href="#page283">283</a>, <a class="index" href="#page293">293</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Anne, Queen, <a class="index" href="#page9">9</a></li>
+
+<li>Arabs, the wandering, <a class="index" href="#page57">57</a>-62;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>tent-life, <a class="index" href="#page57">57</a>-62;</li>
+  <li>food, <a class="index" href="#page59">59</a>;</li>
+  <li>hospitality, <a class="index" href="#page60">60</a>;</li>
+  <li>in Algeria, <a class="index" href="#page313">313</a>;</li>
+  <li>in Tunisia, <a class="index" href="#page322">322</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<a name="B" id="B"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+<li>B</li>
+
+<li>Beggars, native, <a class="index" href="#page115">115</a>, <a class="index" href="#page116">116</a></li>
+
+<li>Berber race, <a class="index" href="#page3">3</a>, <a class="index" href="#page6">6</a>, <a class="index" href="#page47">47</a>-56;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>pirates, <a class="index" href="#page3">3</a>; </li>
+  <li>men brave and warlike, <a class="index" href="#page48">48</a>, <a class="index" href="#page49">49</a>; </li>
+  <li>Reefian, <a class="index" href="#page48">48</a>, <a class="index" href="#page50">50</a>; </li>
+  <li>women often very intelligent, <a class="index" href="#page51">51</a>; </li>
+  <li>they, not Saracens or Arabs, real conquerors of Spain, <a class="index" href="#page6">6</a>, <a class="index" href="#page54">54</a>;</li>
+  <li>origin still a problem, <a class="index" href="#page55">55</a>;</li>
+  <li>Ghaďátŕ Berbers in revolt, <a class="index" href="#page271">271</a>-273</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Boabdil, <a class="index" href="#page356">356</a>, <a class="index" href="#page365">365</a></li>
+
+<li>Boo Ziaro Miliáni, arrest and release of, <a class="index" href="#page34">34</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="C" id="C"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>C</li>
+
+<li>Café, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page159">159</a>-165</li>
+
+<li>Carthage, <a class="index" href="#page53">53</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Christian and Mohammedan, <a class="index" href="#page53">53</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Charlemagne,  <a class="index" href="#page379">379</a></li>
+
+<li>Charles Martel, the "Hammer," <a class="index" href="#page337">337</a></li>
+
+<li>Charles V., "improver" of Spanish monuments of Moorish art, <a class="index" href="#page338">338</a>, <a class="index" href="#page350">350</a>, <a class="index" href="#page353">353</a></li>
+
+<li>Chess, <a class="index" href="#page133">133</a>, <a class="index" href="#page144">144</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>an Arab game, <a class="index" href="#page134">134</a><a name="page396" id="page396"></a><span class="left1">[page&nbsp;396]</span></li></ul></li>
+<li>Child-life, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page94">94</a>-101;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>infancy, <a class="index" href="#page95">95</a>;</li>
+  <li>school days, <a class="index" href="#page97">97</a>;</li>
+  <li>youth, <a class="index" href="#page99">99</a>;</li>
+  <li>early vices, <a class="index" href="#page101">101</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>"Cid," the, El Mansűr, <a class="index" href="#page376">376</a></li>
+
+<li>City life in Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page63">63</a>-70</li>
+
+<li>Civil war in Morocco: Asni and the Aďt Mîzán, <a class="index" href="#page261">261</a>-266</li>
+
+<li>Coinage, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page23">23</a>-25, <a class="index" href="#page125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>Córdova, <a class="index" href="#page337">337</a>, <a class="index" href="#page338">338</a>-346, <a class="index" href="#page375">375;</a>
+  <ul class="index1"><li>its famous mosque (cathedral), <a class="index" href="#page338">338</a>-345;</li>
+  <li>aisles, columns, arches, <a class="index" href="#page339">339</a>, <a class="index" href="#page340">340</a>;</li>
+  <li>the kiblah niche, <a class="index" href="#page342">342</a>;</li>
+  <li>Moorish worshippers in, <a class="index" href="#page342">342</a>;</li>
+  <li>European additions to, <a class="index" href="#page343">343</a>-345;</li>
+  <li>history of the town, <a class="index" href="#page345">345</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Corrosive sublimate tea&mdash;for disgraced officials, <a class="index" href="#page28">28</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="D" id="D"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>D</li>
+
+<li>Debts in Morocco, how settled, <a class="index" href="#page30">30</a>-34</li>
+
+<li>Delbrel, M., leader of the "Rogi's" forces, <a class="index" href="#page273">273</a></li>
+
+<li>Dining out in Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page102">102</a>-106</li>
+
+<li>Diplomacy in Morocco. <i>See</i> Embassy</li>
+
+<li>Draughts, game of, <a class="index" href="#page162">162</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="E" id="E"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>E</li>
+
+<li>Edward I. and Eleanor of Castile, <a class="index" href="#page376">376</a></li>
+
+<li>Edward VII. in Algeria, <a class="index" href="#page281">281</a></li>
+
+<li>Elizabeth, Queen, <a class="index" href="#page9">9</a></li>
+
+<li>El K'sar es-Sagheer, <a class="index" href="#page6">6</a></li>
+
+<li>El Menébhi, ambassador to London and Minister of War, <a class="index" href="#page268">268</a></li>
+
+<li>El Moghreb el Aksa, native name of Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page14">14</a></li>
+
+<li>El Yazeed, Sultan in 1790, declares war on all Christendom, <a class="index" href="#page10">10</a></li>
+
+<li>Embassy to court of Sultan, a typical, <a class="index" href="#page206">206</a>-232;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>requisitioning provisions, <a class="index" href="#page206">206</a>, <a class="index" href="#page207">207</a>;</li>
+  <li><i>personnel</i> and <i>attachés</i>, <a class="index" href="#page208">208</a>, <a class="index" href="#page209">209</a>;</li>
+  <li>native agent, <a class="index" href="#page209">209</a>; </li>
+  <li>arrival at Marrákesh, <a class="index" href="#page210">210</a>;</li>
+  <li>reception, <a class="index" href="#page212">212</a>, <a class="index" href="#page213">213</a>;</li>
+  <li>the diplomatic interview:
+    <ul class="index2"><li>ambassador, interpreter, and Sultan, <a class="index" href="#page214">214</a>-222;</li></ul></li>
+  <li>the result:
+    <ul class="index2"><li>as it appeared in the Press, <a class="index" href="#page223">223</a>;</li>
+    <li>as it was in reality, <a class="index" href="#page224">224</a>, <a class="index" href="#page225">225</a>; </li></ul></li>
+  <li>diamond cut diamond, <a class="index" href="#page226">226</a>-230;</li>
+  <li>failure, and its causes, <a class="index" href="#page227">227</a>-230</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>England and Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page276">276</a>, <a class="index" href="#page293">293</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page294">294</a>, <a class="index" href="#page381">381</a>-394;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>British trade, <a class="index" href="#page280">280</a>;</li>
+  <li>British policy in, <a class="index" href="#page301">301</a>-304;</li>
+  <li>Anglo-French Agreement (<i>q.v.</i>);</li>
+  <li>"Morocco news," <a class="index" href="#page381">381</a>-394</li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="F" id="F"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>F</li>
+
+<li>Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, <a class="index" href="#page334">334</a>, <a class="index" href="#page350">350</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page353">353</a>, <a class="index" href="#page362">362</a>, <a class="index" href="#page378">378</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>their nuptials the death-knell of Moorish rule in Europe, <a class="index" href="#page7">7</a>;</li>
+  <li>tomb of, <a class="index" href="#page355">355</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Fez, founded by son of Mulai Idrees, <a class="index" href="#page5">5</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Karűeeďn mosque at, <a class="index" href="#page44">44</a>, <a class="index" href="#page337">337</a>,
+  <a class="index" href="#page339">339</a>, <a class="index" href="#page358">358</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Football, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page97">97</a>, <a class="index" href="#page137">137</a></li>
+
+<li>Ford's "Handbook to Spain," <a class="index" href="#page357">357</a>, <a class="index" href="#page366">366</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page373">373</a></li>
+
+<li>France in Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page288">288</a>, <a class="index" href="#page292">292</a>-305;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>"policing" the frontier, <a class="index" href="#page288">288</a>;</li>
+  <li>her rule inevitable and desirable, <a class="index" href="#page294">294</a>-300;</li>
+  <li>hope for the Moors, <a class="index" href="#page301">301</a>, <a class="index" href="#page305">305</a>,
+  <a class="index" href="#page385">385</a>;</li>
+  <li>Anglo-French Agreement (<i>q.v.</i>); </li>
+  <li>in Algeria, <a class="index" href="#page308">308</a>-315;</li>
+  <li>in Tunisia, <a class="index" href="#page318">318</a>-320;</li>
+  <li><i>see</i> Political situation, the, and Appendix, <a class="index" href="#page381">381</a>-394</li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<a name="page397" id="page397"></a><span class="left1">[page&nbsp;397]</span>
+
+<a class="index" name="G" id="G"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>G</li>
+
+<li>German interests in Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page279">279</a>-282</li>
+
+<li>Gerona: Sulaďmán, Pepin, and Charlemagne, <a class="index" href="#page378">378</a>, <a class="index" href="#page379">379</a></li>
+
+<li>Gibraltar, Moorish castle, <a class="index" href="#page370">370</a></li>
+
+<li>Granáda, <a class="index" href="#page337">337</a>, <a class="index" href="#page352">352</a>-365;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>the Alhambra Palace, loveliest monument of Moorish art in Spain, <a class="index" href="#page352">352</a>-354,
+  <a class="index" href="#page356">356</a>-362;</li>
+  <li>despoiled by Charles V. and the French, <a class="index" href="#page353">353</a>;</li>
+  <li>"Tia Antonia," <a class="index" href="#page353">353</a>, <a class="index" href="#page354">354</a>;</li>
+  <li>Morocco-like surroundings, <a class="index" href="#page354">354</a>;</li>
+  <li>mosques, <a class="index" href="#page355">355</a>;</li>
+  <li>tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella, <a class="index" href="#page355">355</a>;</li>
+  <li>remains of Cardinal Mendoza, <a class="index" href="#page356">356</a>, <a class="index" href="#page377">377</a>;</li>
+  <li>Bu Abd Allah's sword, <a class="index" href="#page356">356</a>, <a class="index" href="#page365">365</a>;</li>
+  <li>courts and halls of the Alhambra, <a class="index" href="#page358">358</a>-362;</li>
+  <li>other Moorish remains, <a class="index" href="#page362">362</a>-365</li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="H" id="H"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>H</li>
+
+<li>Hamed Zirári, story of: protection system, <a class="index" href="#page242">242</a>-246</li>
+
+<li>Hareems, royal, <a class="index" href="#page73">73</a>-75;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>and other, <a class="index" href="#page82">82</a>-87</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Hasheesh, opium of Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page130">130</a></li>
+
+<li>Hay, Sir John Drummond, <a class="index" href="#page294">294</a></li>
+
+<li>Herbs, fragrant, use of, <a class="index" href="#page86">86</a>, <a class="index" href="#page108">108</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page122">122</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="Im" id="Im"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>I</li>
+
+<li>Infant mortality in Morocco high, <a class="index" href="#page96">96</a></li>
+
+<li>Irving, Washington, at Granáda, <a class="index" href="#page354">354</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>his "Tia Antonia," <a class="index" href="#page354">354</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ismaďl the Bloodthirsty exchanges compliments with Queen Anne, <a class="index" href="#page9">9</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="J" id="J"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>J</li>
+
+<li>Jaca, site of desperate battle between Spaniards and Moors, <a class="index" href="#page378">378</a></li>
+
+<li>Jelálli Zarhôni, the "Rogi," head of the revolt of the Ghaďátŕ Berbers, <a class="index" href="#page271">271</a>-273</li>
+
+<li>Jewish interpreter, astute, <a class="index" href="#page214">214</a>-222</li>
+
+<li>Jews in Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page16">16</a>-17;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>justice for, <a class="index" href="#page252">252</a>-260;</li>
+  <li>in Spain, traces of, <a class="index" href="#page334">334</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="K" id="K"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>K</li>
+
+<li>Kabyles, <a class="index" href="#page54">54</a></li>
+
+<li>Kaďd, the, and his court, <a class="index" href="#page252">252</a>-259</li>
+
+<li>Kesk'soo, the national dish, <a class="index" href="#page59">59</a>, <a class="index" href="#page105">105</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page121">121</a>, <a class="index" href="#page198">198</a>, <a class="index" href="#page266">266</a></li>
+
+<li>Khalia, staple article of winter diet, <a class="index" href="#page197">197</a></li>
+
+<li>Korán, the, at schools, <a class="index" href="#page97">97</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>the standard work at colleges, <a class="index" href="#page98">98</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Kufic inscriptions, <a class="index" href="#page351">351</a>, <a class="index" href="#page361">361</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page373">373</a>, <a class="index" href="#page375">375</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="L" id="L"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>L</li>
+
+<li><i>L'Aigle</i> at Mogador and Agadir, <a class="index" href="#page35">35</a></li>
+
+<li>"Land of the Moors, The," <a class="index" href="#page292">292</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Lex talionis</i>, <a class="index" href="#page48">48</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="M" id="M"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>M</li>
+
+<li>Machiavellian arts, Moors excel in, <a class="index" href="#page38">38</a></li>
+
+<li>Madrid Convention of 1880 ... <a class="index" href="#page282">282</a>, <a class="index" href="#page382">382</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>essential features of, <a class="index" href="#page289">289</a>, <a class="index" href="#page290">290</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Madrid, Moorish remains in, <a class="index" href="#page376">376</a></li>
+
+<li>Malaga, Moorish dockyard, <a class="index" href="#page370">370</a></li>
+
+<li>Market-place, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page107">107</a>-110, <a class="index" href="#page121">121</a>-123,
+<a class="index" href="#page125">125</a>-132;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>and marketing, <a class="index" href="#page109">109</a>, <a class="index" href="#page113">113</a>-115,
+  <a class="index" href="#page118">118</a>-124</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Marrákesh, founded in the middle of the 11th century, <a class="index" href="#page5">5</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>kingdom of, <a class="index" href="#page5">5</a>, <a class="index" href="#page14">14</a>;</li>
+  <li>the Kűtűbîya at, <a class="index" href="#page44">44</a>, <a class="index" href="#page337">337</a>,
+  <a class="index" href="#page346">346</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Marriage in Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page75">75</a>, <a class="index" href="#page77">77</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>country wedding, <a class="index" href="#page88">88</a>-93;</li>
+  <li>feastings, presents, and rejoicings, <a class="index" href="#page88">88</a>-91<a name="page398" id="page398"></a><span class="left1">[page&nbsp;398]</span></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Mauretania Tingitana, titular North African bishopric still, <a class="index" href="#page3">3</a></li>
+
+<li>Mavrogordato, Kyrios Dimitri: typical embassy, <a class="index" href="#page206">206</a>-232</li>
+
+<li>Medicine-men, <a class="index" href="#page166">166</a>-178;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>cupping, <a class="index" href="#page167">167</a>-169, <a class="index" href="#page197">197</a>;</li>
+  <li>exorcising, <a class="index" href="#page169">169</a>, <a class="index" href="#page171">171</a>;</li>
+  <li>cauterizing, <a class="index" href="#page170">170</a>;</li>
+  <li>charms, <a class="index" href="#page172">172</a>;</li>
+  <li>curious remedies, <a class="index" href="#page174">174</a>-177;</li>
+  <li>philtres and poisons, <a class="index" href="#page177">177</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Mekka, pilgrimage to. <i>See</i> Pilgrimage</li>
+
+<li>Mendoza, Cardinal, <a class="index" href="#page355">355</a>, <a class="index" href="#page356">356</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>remains of the Mendozas, <a class="index" href="#page377">377</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Merchants, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page109">109</a>, <a class="index" href="#page113">113</a>-115</li>
+
+<li>Mérida, Muslim toleration at, <a class="index" href="#page373">373</a></li>
+
+<li>Mokhtar and Zóharah, wedding of, <a class="index" href="#page88">88</a>-93</li>
+
+<li>Monk, General, <a class="index" href="#page9">9</a></li>
+
+<li>Moors in Spain, traces of. <i>See</i> Spain</li>
+
+<li>Morals, Moorish, lax, <a class="index" href="#page39">39</a>-44, 101</li>
+
+<li>Morocco: retrospect, <a class="index" href="#page1">1</a>-13;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>of present day, <a class="index" href="#page14">14</a>-65;</li>
+  <li>races: Berbers, Arabs, Moors, <a class="index" href="#page15">15</a>-17, <a class="index" href="#page47">47</a>-62;</li>
+  <li>life of the people--society, business, pastime, religion, <a class="index" href="#page63">63</a>-204;</li>
+  <li>diplomacy (<i>q.v.</i>);</li>
+  <li>law and justice, <a class="index" href="#page233">233</a>-260;</li>
+  <li>the political situation (<i>q.v.</i>);</li>
+  <li>her neighbours, <a class="index" href="#page307">307</a>-331;</li>
+  <li>Moors in Spain (<i>q.v.</i>);</li>
+  <li>"Morocco news," <i>Al-moghreb Al-aksa</i>, <a class="index" href="#page381">381</a>-394</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Morocco-Algerian frontier, France "policing" the, <a class="index" href="#page288">288</a></li>
+
+<li>Mosques, French treatment of, <a class="index" href="#page315">315</a>, <a class="index" href="#page319">319</a></li>
+
+<li>Mulai Abd Allah V., 1756, makes war upon Gibraltar, <a class="index" href="#page11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Mulai Abd el Azîz IV., present Sultan, <a class="index" href="#page267">267</a>-291</li>
+
+<li>Mulai Abd el Káder, a favourite saint, <a class="index" href="#page115">115</a></li>
+
+<li>Mulai el Hasan III., late Sultan, <a class="index" href="#page24">24</a>, <a class="index" href="#page40">40</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page267">267</a></li>
+
+<li>Mulai Idrees, direct descendant of Mohammed, and early Arabian missionary to Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page4">4</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>founded the Shurfŕ Idreeseeďn dynasty, <a class="index" href="#page5">5</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Mulai Yakűb el Mansűr, builder of mosque towers at Sevílle, Marrákesh, and Rabat, <a class="index" href="#page347">347</a></li>
+
+<li>Musical instruments, <a class="index" href="#page135">135</a>, <a class="index" href="#page139">139</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page151">151</a>, <a class="index" href="#page160">160</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="O" id="O"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>O</li>
+
+<li>Official rapacity, <a class="index" href="#page28">28</a>, <a class="index" href="#page242">242</a>-251,
+<a class="index" href="#page252">252</a>-260</li>
+
+<li>Orihuela, palms at, <a class="index" href="#page371">371</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="P" id="P"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>P</li>
+
+<li>Pawkers, Admiral, <a class="index" href="#page11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Pepys, Samuel, once on a Moorish Commission, <a class="index" href="#page383">383</a></li>
+
+<li>Pilgrims to Mekka, <a class="index" href="#page191">191</a>-204;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>sea-route preferred to-day, <a class="index" href="#page191">191</a>;</li>
+  <li>camp at Tangier, <a class="index" href="#page192">192</a>-200;</li>
+  <li>comforts and discomforts, <a class="index" href="#page192">192</a>-200;</li>
+  <li>a novel tent, <a class="index" href="#page193">193</a>-195;</li>
+  <li>food, <a class="index" href="#page197">197</a>-199;</li>
+  <li>returning home, <a class="index" href="#page201">201</a>-204</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Piracy of Moors, <a class="index" href="#page7">7</a>-9;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>tribute extorted from European Powers, <a class="index" href="#page9">9</a>, <a class="index" href="#page10">10</a>,
+  <a class="index" href="#page12">12</a>;</li>
+  <li>abandoned by Algiers, <a class="index" href="#page12">12</a>;</li>
+  <li>not wholly unknown to-day, <a class="index" href="#page13">13</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Political situation, the, <a class="index" href="#page267">267</a>-291;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>the Sultan and reforms, <a class="index" href="#page268">268</a>-270;</li>
+  <li>unsettled state of the empire, <a class="index" href="#page270">270</a>-275;</li>
+  <li>a change welcome, <a class="index" href="#page276">276</a>;</li>
+  <li>agreement among the three great Powers remote, <a class="index" href="#page276">276</a>;</li>
+  <li>Anglo-French Agreement (<i>q.v.</i>);</li>
+  <li>famine and unrest, <a class="index" href="#page277">277</a>;</li>
+  <li>German interests, <a class="index" href="#page280">280</a>;</li>
+  <li>Spanish interests, <a class="index" href="#page283">283</a>;<a name="page399" id="page399"></a><span class="left1">[page&nbsp;399]</span></li>
+  <li>conference proposed, <a class="index" href="#page282">282</a>, <a class="index" href="#page284">284</a>;</li>
+  <li>points for discussion, <a class="index" href="#page285">285</a>-288;</li>
+  <li>"Morocco news" must be received with caution, <a class="index" href="#page381">381</a>-394</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Postal reform needed, <a class="index" href="#page286">286</a></li>
+
+<li>Powder play, <a class="index" href="#page91">91</a>, <a class="index" href="#page94">94</a>, <a class="index" href="#page121">121</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page135">135</a></li>
+
+<li>Prayer, Moslem, <a class="index" href="#page69">69</a>, <a class="index" href="#page142">142</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page152">152</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>call to, <a class="index" href="#page69">69</a>, <a class="index" href="#page70">70</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Prisons and prisoners, miserable, <a class="index" href="#page233">233</a>-241;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>long terms, <a class="index" href="#page234">234</a>-237;</li>
+  <li>the lash, <a class="index" href="#page238">238</a>, <a class="index" href="#page246">246</a>;</li>
+  <li>the bastinado, <a class="index" href="#page255">255</a>;</li>
+  <li>Jews in, <a class="index" href="#page260">260</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Protection system, the, <a class="index" href="#page29">29</a>, <a class="index" href="#page242">242</a>-251;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>the need: story of Hamed Zirári, <a class="index" href="#page242">242</a>-246;</li>
+  <li>the search: story of Abd Allah bin Boo Shaďb es-Sálih, <a class="index" href="#page247">247</a>-251;</li>
+  <li>patent of, <a class="index" href="#page251">251</a>;</li>
+  <li>"farming," <a class="index" href="#page251">251</a> <i>note</i></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="R" id="R"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>R</li>
+
+<li>Rabat, Hassan tower at, <a class="index" href="#page347">347</a>, <a class="index" href="#page348">348</a></li>
+
+<li>Railways would be welcomed by the Sultan, <a class="index" href="#page297">297</a></li>
+
+<li>Raďsűli, rebel leader in the disaffected north, <a class="index" href="#page273">273</a>-275</li>
+
+<li>Rio Tinto copper-mines, <a class="index" href="#page368">368</a></li>
+
+<li>Ronda, corn-mills at, <a class="index" href="#page369">369</a></li>
+
+<li>Rosebery, Lord, on Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page387">387</a></li>
+
+<li>Rudolf II., 1604: his active policy respecting Moroccan affairs, <a class="index" href="#page280">280</a> <i>note</i></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="S" id="S"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>S</li>
+
+<li>Saragossa, the Aljaferia at, <a class="index" href="#page378">378</a></li>
+
+<li>School, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page97">97</a>, <a class="index" href="#page98">98</a></li>
+
+<li>Sevílle, <a class="index" href="#page337">337</a>, <a class="index" href="#page346">346</a>-352,
+<a class="index" href="#page367">367</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Girálda tower, <a class="index" href="#page346">346</a>-348;</li>
+  <li>palace, El Kasar, <a class="index" href="#page349">349</a>-351;</li>
+  <li>royal "improvers" of Moorish work, <a class="index" href="#page350">350</a>;</li>
+  <li>capital of Charles V., <a class="index" href="#page352">352</a>;</li>
+  <li>Moorish remains at, <a class="index" href="#page367">367</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Sherley, Sir Anthony, 1604, adventurer and diplomatist, <a class="index" href="#page280">280</a> <i>note</i></li>
+
+<li>Shurfŕ Idreeseeďn dynasty founded by Mulai Idrees, <a class="index" href="#page5">5</a></li>
+
+<li>Sidi Mohammed, son of Mulai Abd Allah V., <a class="index" href="#page11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Si Marzak and his fair Azîzah, the loves of, <a class="index" href="#page160">160</a>-162</li>
+
+<li>Slave-markets, Marrákesh and Fez, <a class="index" href="#page179">179</a>-181</li>
+
+<li>Slavery in Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page8">8</a>, <a class="index" href="#page17">17</a>, <i>et passim</i>,
+<a class="index" href="#page179">179</a>-190;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>sources of supply, <a class="index" href="#page180">180</a>;</li>
+  <li>girls for hareems, <a class="index" href="#page181">181</a>;</li>
+  <li>treatment fairly kind, <a class="index" href="#page181">181</a>, <a class="index" href="#page182">182</a>;</li>
+  <li>men have risen to high positions, <a class="index" href="#page182">182</a>;</li>
+  <li>use chiefly domestic, <a class="index" href="#page183">183</a>;</li>
+  <li>a slave-girl's cruel story, <a class="index" href="#page185">185</a>-190</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Smeerah, quaint incident at, <a class="index" href="#page199">199</a></li>
+
+<li>Smin, use of, <a class="index" href="#page112">112</a>, <a class="index" href="#page131">131</a></li>
+
+<li>Smith, Sir Chas. Euan, <a class="index" href="#page206">206</a></li>
+
+<li>Snake-charming, <a class="index" href="#page137">137</a>, <a class="index" href="#page151">151</a>-158</li>
+
+<li>Social life, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page82">82</a>-87</li>
+
+<li>Spain, Moorish empire in, founded by Berbers, <a class="index" href="#page6">6</a>, <a class="index" href="#page54">54</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>footprints of Moors in, <a class="index" href="#page332">332</a>-379;</li>
+  <li>place-names and words of Arabic origin, <a class="index" href="#page333">333</a>, <a class="index" href="#page369">369</a>;</li>
+  <li>physiognomy of the people, <a class="index" href="#page335">335</a>;</li>
+  <li>habits and customs, <a class="index" href="#page335">335</a>;</li>
+  <li>salutations, <a class="index" href="#page336">336</a>;</li>
+  <li>narrow streets, <a class="index" href="#page336">336</a>;</li>
+  <li>forts and mosques (churches), <a class="index" href="#page337">337</a>;</li>
+  <li>the mosque at Córdova (<i>q.v.</i>);</li>
+  <li>Girálda and El Kasar at Sevílle (<i>q.v.</i>); </li>
+  <li>the Alhambra at Granáda (<i>q.v.</i>); </li>
+  <li>other Moorish towns, villages, castles, and remains, <a class="index" href="#page366">366</a>-379;</li>
+  <li>women of, at the battle of Jaca, <a class="index" href="#page378">378</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Sports and pastimes, Moorish:
+  <ul class="index1"><li>active, <a class="index" href="#page96">96</a>, <a class="index" href="#page133">133</a>-137;</li>
+  <li>passive, <a class="index" href="#page138">138</a>-150, <a class="index" href="#page151">151</a>-158,
+  <a class="index" href="#page159">159</a>-165</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Stamps and stamp-dealers, <a class="index" href="#page287">287</a></li>
+
+<li>Story-teller, the, <a class="index" href="#page122">122</a>, <a class="index" href="#page137">137</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page138">138</a>-150;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Mulai Abd el Káder and the Monk of Monks, <a class="index" href="#page141">141</a>-148</li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<a name="page400" id="page400"></a><span class="left1">[page&nbsp;400]</span>
+
+<a class="index" name="T" id="T"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>T</li>
+
+<li>Tafilált, home for discarded Sultanas, <a class="index" href="#page73">73</a></li>
+
+<li>Tangier, English cede possession of, <a class="index" href="#page9">9</a>, <a class="index" href="#page383">383</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>drunkenness and vice, <a class="index" href="#page41">41</a>;</li>
+  <li>North African Mission, <a class="index" href="#page42">42</a>;</li>
+  <li>shopping in, <a class="index" href="#page118">118</a>-124;</li>
+  <li>market-place, <a class="index" href="#page121">121</a>-123;</li>
+  <li>Sunday market, <a class="index" href="#page125">125</a>-132;</li>
+  <li>salt-pans, <a class="index" href="#page129">129</a>;</li>
+  <li>English Church at, <a class="index" href="#page132">132</a>;</li>
+  <li>starting-place for Mekka pilgrims, <a class="index" href="#page192">192</a>, <a class="index" href="#page196">196</a>;</li>
+  <li>residence of ambassadors, <a class="index" href="#page205">205</a>;</li>
+  <li>gaol at, <a class="index" href="#page233">233</a>;</li>
+  <li>many Frenchmen at, <a class="index" href="#page300">300</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Tarifa, Moorish remains at, <a class="index" href="#page366">366</a></li>
+
+<li>Tarragona, cathedral of, <a class="index" href="#page373">373</a></li>
+
+<li>Tea, making, <a class="index" href="#page86">86</a>, <a class="index" href="#page103">103</a></li>
+
+<li>Tilework of Algeria, <a class="index" href="#page316">316</a></li>
+
+<li>Toledo, <a class="index" href="#page336">336</a>, <a class="index" href="#page374">374</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Moorish hydraulists, <a class="index" href="#page374">374</a>;</li>
+  <li>Ez-Zarkal's water-clocks, <a class="index" href="#page374">374</a>;</li>
+  <li>cathedral, <a class="index" href="#page374">374</a>;</li>
+  <li>sword-manufacture, <a class="index" href="#page375">375</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Tortosa, ancient pirate stronghold, <a class="index" href="#page372">372</a></li>
+
+<li>Tripoli, city and people, <a class="index" href="#page326">326</a>-331;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>the Turkish element in, <a class="index" href="#page326">326</a>;</li>
+  <li>viewed from Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page326">326</a>-331;</li>
+  <li>mosques, <a class="index" href="#page328">328</a>;</li>
+  <li>irrigation, <a class="index" href="#page330">330</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Tunis, city, <a class="index" href="#page321">321</a>, <a class="index" href="#page322">322</a></li>
+
+<li>Tunisia, <a class="index" href="#page299">299</a>, <a class="index" href="#page308">308</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>viewed from Morocco, <a class="index" href="#page318">318</a>-325;</li>
+  <li>under French rule, <a class="index" href="#page318">318</a>-320;</li>
+  <li>Jews in, <a class="index" href="#page319">319</a>;</li>
+  <li>Arabs in, <a class="index" href="#page322">322</a>;</li>
+  <li>Moors in, <a class="index" href="#page322">322</a>;</li>
+  <li>women in, <a class="index" href="#page325">325</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="Va" id="Va"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>V</li>
+
+<li>Valencia, ancient Moorish paradise, <a class="index" href="#page372">372</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="W" id="W"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>W</li>
+
+<li>Water-carriers, Moorish, <a class="index" href="#page132">132</a>, <a class="index" href="#page149">149</a></li>
+
+<li>Water-clocks, Ez-Zarkal's, <a class="index" href="#page374">374</a></li>
+
+<li>Wazzân, Shareef of, present representative of Shurfá Idreeseeďn dynasty, <a class="index" href="#page5">5</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page296">296</a></li>
+
+<li>Wilhelm II. in Tangier Bay, <a class="index" href="#page281">281</a></li>
+
+<li>Women of Morocco, occupations, <a class="index" href="#page58">58</a>, <a class="index" href="#page62">62</a>,
+<a class="index" href="#page77">77</a>, <a class="index" href="#page111">111</a>, <a class="index" href="#page134">134</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>seclusion, <a class="index" href="#page64">64</a>, <a class="index" href="#page77">77</a>,
+  <a class="index" href="#page83">83</a>, <a class="index" href="#page103">103</a>, <a class="index" href="#page107">107</a>;</li>
+  <li>subservient position, <a class="index" href="#page71">71</a>-81, <a class="index" href="#page107">107</a>;</li>
+  <li>possibilities of influence, <a class="index" href="#page73">73</a>;</li>
+  <li>marriages, <a class="index" href="#page75">75</a>, <a class="index" href="#page77">77</a>, <a class="index" href="#page88">88</a>-93;</li>
+  <li>divorce, <a class="index" href="#page76">76</a>;</li>
+  <li>social visits, <a class="index" href="#page82">82</a>-87;</li>
+  <li>wearing apparel, <a class="index" href="#page84">84</a>;</li>
+  <li>excellent cooks, <a class="index" href="#page85">85</a>, <a class="index" href="#page105">105</a>,
+  <a class="index" href="#page111">111</a>, <a class="index" href="#page112">112</a>;</li>
+  <li>slaves, <a class="index" href="#page181">181</a>, <a class="index" href="#page183">183</a>,
+  <a class="index" href="#page185">185</a>, <a class="index" href="#page190">190</a>; </li>
+  <li>women in Tunisia, <a class="index" href="#page325">325</a>;</li>
+  <li>in Tripoli, <a class="index" href="#page329">329</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="Xa" id="Xa"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>X</li>
+
+<li>Xeres, Old, Moorish citadel, <a class="index" href="#page367">367</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a class="index" name="Z" id="Z"></a>
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li>Z</li>
+
+<li>Zarhôn, most sacred town, <a class="index" href="#page5">5</a></li>
+
+<li>Zawîah of Sîdi Abd er-Rahmán, <a class="index" href="#page316">316</a></li>
+
+<li>Zummeetah, "mixed," quaint story of, <a class="index" href="#page198">198</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+<h4>THE END</h4>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+<p class="center">PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<br />
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<table align="center" summary="note">
+<tr>
+    <td class="note">
+Transcriber's Note:<br /><br />
+Page 6: Missing accent added to Seville (Sevílle).<br />
+Page 36: corrected mis-matched quotes.<br />
+Page 104: 'whch' corrected to 'which'.<br />
+Page 128: 'beats' changed to 'beasts', to fit context.<br />
+Page 130: 'flead' [sic] <br />
+Page 153: corrected mis-matched quotes. ("And when at home? ')<br />
+Page 185: 'Rabhah' is spelled 'Rabbah' in previous illustration.<br />
+Page 198: sic: carraway/caraway]<br />
+Page 263: changed comma for period at sentence end. (sighted, This)<br />
+Page 273: 'through' changed to 'though', to fit context.<br />
+Page 274: 'accetpance' changed to 'acceptance'.<br />
+Page 284: 'territoral' changed to 'territorial'.<br />
+Page 289: carcase/carcass, both are correct: Oxford Dictionary.<br />
+Page 299: sic: instal/install.<br />
+Page 346: added missing accent to III <span class="sc">Seville</span> (<span class="sc">Sevílle</span>), for conformity.
+           (II <span class="sc">Córdova</span> is accented).<br />
+Page 349: added missing accent to Giralda (Girálda), for conformity.<br />
+Page 353: corrected 'architectual' to 'architectural'.<br />
+Page 372: comma corrected to period. (a Moorish cistern hard by.)<br />
+Page 296: colon corrected to semicolon. (Moorish worshippers in, 342; )<br />
+Page 296: added comma (Debts in Morocco, how settled, 30-34)<br />
+Page 377: added closing quote to "Castle of Ayűb.<br />
+Page 395: 'Bobadil' changed to 'Boabdil'.<br />
+Page 395: removed extraneous '378' reference for Charlemagne.<br />
+Page 397: removed extraneous entry (368) for 'kufic inscriptions'; changed '575' to '375'.<br />
+Pages 398, 399: Missing accent added to Seville (Sevílle).<br />
+Page 399: '198' changed to '199' for reference to 'Smeerah'.<br />
+Page 399: missing accent added to Cordova (Córdova).<br />
+Page 399: comma added after 'remains' (other Moorish towns, villages,
+          castles, and remains, 366-379;).<br />
+Page 399: Changed '373' to '374' for reference to "Toledo'.<br />
+Page 400: comma added after 'occupations' (Women of Morocco, occupations,
+          58, 62, 77, 111, 134;). <br />
+
+
+
+
+<br />
+
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond, by 
+Budgett Meakin
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+</body>
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+
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@@ -0,0 +1,12270 @@
+Project Gutenberg's Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond, by Budgett Meakin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond
+
+Author: Budgett Meakin
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2006 [EBook #18764]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN MOROCCO AND GLIMPSES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Lesley Halamek and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+LIFE IN MOROCCO
+
+
+
+BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+In uniform style. Demy 8vo, 15s. each.
+
+THE MOORS: an Account of People and Customs. With 132 Illustrations.
+
+    CONTENTS:--"The Madding Crowd"--Within the Gates--Where the Moors
+    Live--How the Moors Dress--Moorish Courtesy and Etiquette--What
+    the Moors Eat and Drink--Everyday Life--Slavery and
+    Servitude--Country Life--Trade--Arts and Manufactures--Matters
+    Medical.
+
+    Some Moorish Characteristics--The Mohammedan Year (Feasts
+    and Fasts)--Places of Worship--Alms, Hospitality, and
+    Pilgrimage--Education--Saints and Superstitions--Marriage--Funeral
+    Rites.
+
+    The Morocco Berbers--The Jews of Morocco--The Jewish Year.
+
+THE LAND OF THE MOORS: A Comprehensive Description. With a New Map and
+83 Illustrations.
+
+    CONTENTS:--Physical Features--Natural Resources--Vegetable
+    Products--Animal Life.
+
+    Descriptions and Histories of Tangier, Tetuan, Laraiche,
+    Salli-Rabat, Dar el Baida, Mazagan, Saffi and Mogador; Azila,
+    Fedala, Mehedia, Mansuriya, Azammur and Waladiya; Fez, Mequinez
+    and Marrakesh; Zarhon, Wazzan and Sheshawan; El Kasar, Sifru,
+    Tadla, Damnat, Taza, Dibdu and Oojda; Ceuta, Velez, Alhucemas,
+    Melilla and the Zaffarines; Sus, the Draa, Tafilalt, Figig, and
+    Tuat.
+
+    Reminiscences of Travel--In the Guise of a Moor--To Marrakesh on a
+    Bicycle--In Search of Miltsin.
+
+THE MOORISH EMPIRE: A Historical Epitome. With Maps, 118
+Illustrations, and a unique Chronological, Geographical, and
+Genealogical Chart.
+
+    CONTENTS:--Mauretania--The Mohammedan Invasion--Foundation of
+    Empire--Consolidation of Empire--Extension of Empire--Contraction
+    of Empire--Stagnation of Empire--Personification of Empire--The
+    Reigning Shareefs--The Moorish Government--Present Administration.
+
+    Europeans in the Moorish Service--The Salli Rovers--Record of
+    the Christian Slaves--Christian Influences in Morocco--Foreign
+    Relations--Moorish Diplomatic Usages--Foreign Rights and
+    Privileges--Commercial Intercourse--The Fate of the Empire.
+
+    Works on Morocco reviewed (213 vols. in 11 languages)--The
+    Place of Morocco in Fiction--Journalism in Morocco--Works
+    Recommended--Classical Authorities on Morocco.
+
+LONDON: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LTD.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARABIC OF MOROCCO: VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR NOTES,
+ETC., IN ROMAN CHARACTERS. Specially prepared for Visitors and
+Beginners on a new and eminently practical system.
+
+Crown 8vo, Cloth, Round Corners for Pocket, _6s._
+
+Also, Uniform with this, in English or Spanish, Price _4s._
+
+_IN ARABIC CHARACTERS_
+
+MOROCCO-ARABIC DIALOGUES,
+
+OR
+
+DIALOGOS EN ARABE MAROQUI.
+
+By C.W. BALDWIN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LONDON: BERNARD QUARITCH, PICCADILLY.
+
+TANGIER: BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY'S DEPOT.
+
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Edward Lee, Esq., Saffi._
+
+A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  =LIFE IN MOROCCO=
+
+  AND GLIMPSES BEYOND
+
+
+  BY
+
+  BUDGETT MEAKIN
+
+  AUTHOR OF
+
+  "THE MOORS," "THE LAND OF THE MOORS," "THE MOORISH EMPIRE,"
+  "MODEL FACTORIES AND VILLAGES," ETC.
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  WITH TWENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+  LONDON
+  CHATTO & WINDUS
+  1905
+
+
+
+
+  PRINTED BY
+  WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
+  LONDON AND BECCLES.
+
+
+
+
+=FOREWORD=
+
+
+Which of us has yet forgotten that first day when we set foot in
+Barbary? Those first impressions, as the gorgeous East with all its
+countless sounds and colours, forms and odours, burst upon us; mingled
+pleasures and disgusts, all new, undreamed-of, or our wildest dreams
+enhanced! Those yelling, struggling crowds of boatmen, porters,
+donkey-boys; guides, thieves, and busy-bodies; clad in mingled finery
+and tatters; European, native, nondescript; a weird, incongruous
+medley--such as is always produced when East meets West--how they did
+astonish and amuse us! How we laughed (some trembling inwardly) and
+then, what letters we wrote home!
+
+One-and-twenty years have passed since that experience entranced the
+present writer, and although he has repeated it as far as possible in
+practically every other oriental country, each fresh visit to Morocco
+brings back somewhat of the glamour of that maiden plunge, and
+somewhat of that youthful ardour, as the old associations are renewed.
+Nothing he has seen elsewhere excels Morocco in point of life and
+colour save Bokhara; and only in certain parts of India or in China is
+it rivalled. Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli have lost much of that charm
+under Turkish or western rule; Egypt still more markedly so, while
+Palestine is of a population altogether mixed and heterogeneous. The
+bazaars of Damascus, even, and Constantinople, have given way to
+plate-glass, and nothing remains in the nearer East to rival Morocco.
+
+Notwithstanding the disturbed condition of much of the country,
+nothing has occurred to interfere with the pleasure certain to be
+afforded by a visit to Morocco at any time, and all who can do so
+are strongly recommended to include it in an early holiday. The best
+months are from September to May, though the heat on the coast
+is never too great for an enjoyable trip. The simplest way of
+accomplishing this is by one of Messrs. Forwood's regular steamers
+from London, calling at most of the Morocco ports and returning by the
+Canaries, the tour occupying about a month, though it may be broken
+and resumed at any point. Tangier may be reached direct from Liverpool
+by the Papayanni Line, or indirectly _via_ Gibraltar, subsequent
+movements being decided by weather and local sailings. British
+consular officials, missionaries, and merchants will be found at the
+various ports, who always welcome considerate strangers.
+
+Comparatively few, even of the ever-increasing number of visitors who
+year after year bring this only remaining independent Barbary State
+within the scope of their pilgrimage, are aware of the interest with
+which it teems for the scientist, the explorer, the historian, and
+students of human nature in general. One needs to dive beneath the
+surface, to live on the spot in touch with the people, to fathom the
+real Morocco, and in this it is doubtful whether any foreigners not
+connected by ties of creed or marriage ever completely succeed. What
+can be done short of this the writer attempted to do, mingling with
+the people as one of themselves whenever this was possible. Inspired
+by the example of Lane in his description of the "Modern Egyptians,"
+he essayed to do as much for the Moors, and during eighteen years he
+laboured to that end.
+
+The present volume gathers together from many quarters sketches drawn
+under those circumstances, supplemented by a _resume_ of recent events
+and the political outlook, together with three chapters--viii., xi.,
+and xiv.--contributed by his wife, whose assistance throughout its
+preparation he has once more to acknowledge with pleasure. To many
+correspondents in Morocco he is also indebted for much valuable
+up-to-date information on current affairs, but as most for various
+reasons prefer to remain unmentioned, it would be invidious to name
+any. For most of the illustrations, too, he desires to express his
+hearty thanks to the gentlemen who have permitted him to reproduce
+their photographs.
+
+Much of the material used has already appeared in more fugitive form
+in the _Times of Morocco_, the _London Quarterly Review_, the _Forum_,
+the _Westminster Review_, _Harper's Magazine_, the _Humanitarian_,
+the _Gentleman's Magazine_, the _Independent_ (New York), the
+_Modern Church_, the _Jewish Chronicle_, _Good Health_, the _Medical
+Missionary_, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, the _Westminster Gazette_, the
+_Outlook_, etc., while Chapters ix., xix., and xxv. to xxix. have been
+extracted from a still unpublished picture of Moorish country life,
+"Sons of Ishmael."
+
+  B.M.
+
+  HAMPSTEAD,
+  _November 1905._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  PART I
+
+     CHAPTER                                 PAGE
+
+     I. RETROSPECTIVE                           1
+
+    II. THE PRESENT DAY                        14
+
+   III. BEHIND THE SCENES                      36
+
+    IV. THE BERBER RACE                        47
+
+     V. THE WANDERING ARAB                     57
+
+    VI. CITY LIFE                              63
+
+   VII. THE WOMEN-FOLK                         71
+
+  VIII. SOCIAL VISITS                          82
+
+    IX. A COUNTRY WEDDING                      88
+
+     X. THE BAIRNS                             94
+
+    XI. "DINING OUT"                          102
+
+   XII. DOMESTIC ECONOMY                      107
+
+  XIII. THE NATIVE "MERCHANT"                 113
+
+   XIV. SHOPPING                              118
+
+    XV. A SUNDAY MARKET                       125
+
+   XVI. PLAY-TIME                             133
+
+  XVII. THE STORY-TELLER                      138
+
+ XVIII. SNAKE-CHARMING                        151
+
+   XIX.  IN A MOORISH CAFE                    159
+
+    XX.  THE MEDICINE-MAN                     166
+
+   XXI.  THE HUMAN MART                       179
+
+  XXII.  A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY                 185
+
+ XXIII.  THE PILGRIM CAMP                     191
+
+  XXIV.  RETURNING HOME                       201
+
+
+  PART II
+
+   XXV.  DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO                 205
+
+  XXVI.  PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES               233
+
+ XXVII.  THE PROTECTION SYSTEM                242
+
+XXVIII.  JUSTICE FOR THE JEW                  252
+
+  XXIX.  CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO                 261
+
+   XXX.  THE POLITICAL SITUATION              267
+
+  XXXI.  FRANCE IN MOROCCO                    292
+
+
+  PART III
+
+ XXXII. ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO           307
+
+XXXIII. TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO           318
+
+ XXXIV. TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO           326
+
+  XXXV. FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN     332
+
+
+  APPENDIX
+
+        "MOROCCO NEWS"                        381
+
+        INDEX                                 395
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                        TO FACE PAGE
+
+A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE           _Frontispiece_
+
+GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI                1
+
+CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER                       26
+
+A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS                  47
+
+AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO                        57
+
+ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE    71
+
+A MOORISH CARAVAN                              91
+
+FRUIT-SELLERS                                 107
+
+A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER                         118
+
+THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER                    128
+
+GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARRAKESH            141
+
+A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI)               159
+
+RABHAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY    185
+
+WAITING FOR THE STEAMER                       201
+
+A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO                     211
+
+CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD                     242
+
+JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS                         256
+
+A MOORISH KAID AND ATTENDANTS                 275
+
+TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH--AN EXECUTION        299
+
+TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEIKH                    313
+
+A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS             325
+
+OUTSIDE TRIPOLI                               330
+
+A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE                    340
+
+THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN                      375
+
+
+
+
+    NOTE.--_The system of transliterating Arabic adopted by the Author
+    in his previous works has here been followed only so far as it is
+    likely to be adopted by others than specialists, all signs being
+    omitted which are not essential to approximate pronunciation._
+
+
+
+
+=LIFE IN MOROCCO=
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+I
+
+RETROSPECTIVE
+
+  "The firmament turns, and times are changing."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+By the western gate of the Mediterranean, where the narrowed sea has
+so often tempted invaders, the decrepit Moorish Empire has become
+itself a bait for those who once feared it. Yet so far Morocco remains
+untouched, save where a fringe of Europeans on the coast purvey the
+luxuries from other lands that Moorish tastes demand, and in exchange
+take produce that would otherwise be hardly worth the raising. Even
+here the foreign influence is purely superficial, failing to affect
+the lives of the people; while the towns in which Europeans reside are
+so few in number that whatever influence they do possess is limited
+in area. Moreover, Morocco has never known foreign dominion, not even
+that of the Turks, who have left their impress on the neighbouring
+Algeria and Tunisia. None but the Arabs have succeeded in obtaining a
+foothold among its Berbers, and they, restricted to the plains, have
+long become part of the nation. Thus Morocco, of all the North African
+kingdoms, has always maintained its independence, and in spite of
+changes all round, continues to live its own picturesque life.
+
+Picturesque it certainly is, with its flowing costumes and primitive
+homes, both of which vary in style from district to district, but all
+of which seem as though they must have been unchanged for thousands
+of years. Without security for life or property, the mountaineers go
+armed, they dwell in fortresses or walled-in villages, and are at
+constant war with one another. On the plains, except in the vicinity
+of towns, the country people group their huts around the fortress of
+their governor, within which they can shelter themselves and their
+possessions in time of war. No other permanent erection is to be seen
+on the plains, unless it be some wayside shrine which has outlived
+the ruin fallen on the settlement to which it once belonged, and is
+respected by the conquerors as holy ground. Here and there gaunt
+ruins rise, vast crumbling walls of concrete which have once been
+fortresses, lending an air of desolation to the scene, but offering no
+attraction to historian or antiquary. No one even knows their names,
+and they contain no monuments. If ever more solid remains are
+encountered, they are invariably set down as the work of the Romans.
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI.]
+
+Yet Morocco has a history, an interesting history indeed, one
+linked with ours in many curious ways, as is recorded in scores of
+little-known volumes. It has a literature amazingly voluminous, but
+there were days when the relations with other lands were much closer,
+if less cordial, the days of the crusades and the Barbary pirates,
+the days of European tribute to the Moors, and the days of Christian
+slavery in Morocco. Constantly appearing brochures in many tongues
+made Europe of those days acquainted with the horrors of that dreadful
+land. All these only served to augment the fear in which its people
+were held, and to deter the victimized nations from taking action
+which would speedily have put an end to it all, by demonstrating the
+inherent weakness of the Moorish Empire.
+
+But for those whose study is only the Moors as they exist to-day, the
+story of Morocco stretches back only a thousand years, as until then
+its scattered tribes of Berber mountaineers had acknowledged no head,
+and knew no common interests; they were not a nation. War was their
+pastime; it is so now to a great extent. Every man for himself, every
+tribe for itself. Idolatry, of which abundant traces still remain,
+had in places been tinged with the name and some of the forms of
+Christianity, but to what extent it is now impossible to discover. In
+the Roman Church there still exist titular bishops of North Africa,
+one, in particular, derives his title from the district of Morocco of
+which Fez is now the capital, Mauretania Tingitana.
+
+It was among these tribes that a pioneer mission of Islam penetrated
+in the eighth of our centuries. Arabs were then greater strangers in
+Barbary than we are now, but they were by no means the first strange
+faces seen there. Ph[oe]nicians, Romans and Vandals had preceded them,
+but none had stayed, none had succeeded in amalgamating with the
+Berbers, among whom those individuals who did remain were absorbed.
+These hardy clansmen, exhibiting the characteristics of hill-folk
+the world round, still inhabited the uplands and retained their
+independence. In this they have indeed succeeded to a great extent
+until the present day, but between that time and this they have given
+of their life-blood to build up by their side a less pure nation of
+the plains, whose language as well as its creed is that of Arabia.
+
+To imagine that Morocco was invaded by a Muslim host who carried
+all before them is a great mistake, although a common one. Mulai
+Idrees--"My Lord Enoch" in English--a direct descendant of Mohammed,
+was among the first of the Arabian missionaries to arrive, with one or
+two faithful adherents, exiles fleeing from the Khalifa of Mekka. So
+soon as he had induced one tribe to accept his doctrines, he assisted
+them with his advice and prestige in their combats with hereditary
+enemies, to whom, however, the novel terms were offered of fraternal
+union with the victors, if they would accept the creed of which they
+had become the champions. Thus a new element was introduced into the
+Berber polity, the element of combination, for the lack of which
+they had always been weak before. Each additional ally meant an
+augmentation of the strength of the new party out of all proportion to
+the losses from occasional defeats.
+
+In course of time the Mohammedan coalition became so strong that it
+was in a position to dictate terms and to impose governors upon the
+most obstinate of its neighbours. The effect of this was to divide the
+allies into two important sections, the older of which founded Fez
+in the days of the son of Idrees, accounted the second ameer of that
+name, who there lies buried in the most important mosque of the
+Empire, the very approaches of which are closed to the Jew and the
+Nazarene. The only spot which excels it in sanctity is that at Zarhon,
+a day's journey off, in which the first Idrees lies buried. There the
+whole town is forbidden to the foreigner, and an attempt made by the
+writer to gain admittance in disguise was frustrated by discovery
+at the very gate, though later on he visited the shrine in Fez. The
+dynasty thus formed, the Shurfa Idreeseein, is represented to-day by
+the Shareef of Wazzan.
+
+In southern Morocco, with its capital at Aghmat, on the Atlas slopes,
+was formed what later grew to be the kingdom of Marrakesh, the city of
+that name being founded in the middle of the eleventh century. Towards
+the close of the thirteenth, the kingdoms of Fez and Marrakesh became
+united under one ruler, whose successor, after numerous dynastic
+changes, is the Sultan of Morocco now.[1]
+
+  [1: For a complete outline of Moorish history, see the writer's
+      "Moorish Empire."]
+
+But from the time that the united Berbers had become a nation, to
+prevent them falling out among themselves again it was necessary to
+find some one else to fight, to occupy the martial instinct nursed in
+fighting one another. So long as there were ancient scores to be wiped
+out at home, so long as under cover of a missionary zeal they could
+continue intertribal feuds, things went well for the victors; but as
+soon as excuses for this grew scarce, it was needful to fare afield.
+The pretty story--told, by the way, of other warriors as well--of the
+Arab leader charging the Atlantic surf, and weeping that the world
+should end there, and his conquests too, may be but fiction, but it
+illustrates a fact. Had Europe lain further off, the very causes which
+had conspired to raise a central power in Morocco would have sufficed
+to split it up again. This, however, was not to be. In full view of
+the most northern strip of Morocco, from Ceuta to Cape Spartel, the
+north-west corner of Africa, stretches the coast of sunny Spain.
+Between El K'sar es-Sagheer, "The Little Castle," and Tarifa Point is
+only a distance of nine or ten miles, and in that southern atmosphere
+the glinting houses may be seen across the straits.
+
+History has it that internal dissensions at the Court of Spain led to
+the Moors being actually invited over; but that inducement was hardly
+needed. Here was a country of infidels yet to be conquered; here was
+indeed a land of promise. Soon the Berbers swarmed across, and in
+spite of reverses, carried all before them. Spain was then almost as
+much divided into petty states as their land had been till the Arabs
+taught them better, and little by little they made their way in
+a country destined to be theirs for five hundred years. Cordova,
+Seville, Granada, each in turn became their capital, and rivalled Fez
+across the sea.
+
+The successes they achieved attracted from the East adventurers and
+merchants, while by wise administration literature and science were
+encouraged, till the Berber Empire of Spain and Morocco took a
+foremost rank among the nations of the day. Judged from the standpoint
+of their time, they seem to us a prodigy; judged from our standpoint,
+they were but little in advance of their descendants of the twentieth
+century, who, after all, have by no means retrograded, as they are
+supposed to have done, though they certainly came to a standstill,
+and have suffered all the evils of four centuries of torpor and
+stagnation. Civilization wrought on them the effects that it too often
+produces, and with refinement came weakness. The sole remaining state
+of those which the invaders, finding independent, conquered one by
+one, is the little Pyrenean Republic of Andorra, still enjoying
+privileges granted to it for its brave defence against the Moors,
+which made it the high-water mark of their dominion. As peace once
+more split up the Berbers, the subjected Spaniards became strong
+by union, till at length the death-knell of Moorish rule in Europe
+sounded at the nuptials of the famous Ferdinand and Isabella, linking
+Aragon with proud Castile.
+
+Expelled from Spain, the Moor long cherished plans for the recovery of
+what had been lost, preparing fleets and armies for the purpose, but
+in vain. Though nominally still united, his people lacked that zeal in
+a common cause which had carried them across the straits before, and
+by degrees the attempts to recover a kingdom dwindled into continued
+attacks upon shipping and coast towns. Thus arose that piracy which
+was for several centuries the scourge of Christendom. Further east a
+distinct race of pirates flourished, including Turks and Greeks and
+ruffians from every shore, but they were not Moors, of whom the Salli
+rover was the type. Many thousands of Europeans were carried off by
+Moorish corsairs into slavery, including not a few from England. Those
+who renounced their own religion and nationality, accepting those of
+their captors, became all but free, only being prevented from leaving
+the country, and often rose to important positions. Those who had the
+courage of their convictions suffered much, being treated like
+cattle, or worse, but they could be ransomed when their price was
+forthcoming--a privilege abandoned by the renegades--so that the
+principal object of every European embassy in those days was the
+redemption of captives. Now and then escapes would be accomplished,
+but such strict watch was kept when foreign merchantmen were in
+port, or when foreign ambassadors came and went, that few attempts
+succeeded, though many were made.
+
+Sympathies are stirred by pictures of the martyrdom of Englishmen and
+Irishmen, Franciscan missionaries to the Moors; and side by side with
+them the foreign mercenaries in the native service, Englishmen among
+them, who would fight in any cause for pay and plunder, even though
+their masters held their countrymen in thrall. And thrall it was, as
+that of Israel in Egypt, when our sailors were chained to galley seats
+beneath the lash of a Moor, or when they toiled beneath a broiling
+sun erecting the grim palace walls of concrete which still stand as
+witnesses of those fell days. Bought and sold in the market like
+cattle, Europeans were more despised than Negroes, who at least
+acknowledged Mohammed as their prophet, and accepted their lot without
+attempt to escape.
+
+Dark days were those for the honour of Europe, when the Moors inspired
+terror from the Balearics to the Scilly Isles, and when their rovers
+swept the seas with such effect that all the powers of Christendom
+were fain to pay them tribute. Large sums of money, too, collected
+at church doors and by the sale of indulgences, were conveyed by the
+hands of intrepid friars, noble men who risked all to relieve those
+slaves who had maintained their faith, having scorned to accept a
+measure of freedom as the reward of apostasy. Thousands of English
+and other European slaves were liberated through the assistance of
+friendly letters from Royal hands, as when the proud Queen Bess
+addressed Ahmad II., surnamed "the Golden," as "Our Brother after the
+Law of Crown and Sceptre," or when Queen Anne exchanged compliments
+with the bloodthirsty Ismail, who ventured to ask for the hand of a
+daughter of Louis XIV.
+
+In the midst of it all, when that wonderful man, with a household
+exceeding Solomon's, and several hundred children, had reigned
+forty-three of his fifty-five years, the English, in 1684, ceded to
+him their possession of Tangier. For twenty-two years the "Castle in
+the streights' mouth," as General Monk had described it, had been the
+scene of as disastrous an attempt at colonization as we have ever
+known: misunderstanding of the circumstances and mismanagement
+throughout; oppression, peculation and terror within as well as
+without; a constant warfare with incompetent or corrupt officials
+within as with besieging Moors without; till at last the place had to
+be abandoned in disgust, and the expensive mole and fortifications
+were destroyed lest others might seize what we could not hold.
+
+Such events could only lower the prestige of Europeans, if, indeed,
+they possessed any, in the eyes of the Moors, and the slaves up
+country received worse treatment than before. Even the ambassadors
+and consuls of friendly powers were treated with indignities beyond
+belief. Some were imprisoned on the flimsiest pretexts, all had to
+appear before the monarch in the most abject manner, and many were
+constrained to bribe the favourite wives of the ameers to secure their
+requests. It is still the custom for the state reception to take place
+in an open courtyard, the ambassador standing bareheaded before the
+mounted Sultan under his Imperial parasol. As late as 1790 the brutal
+Sultan El Yazeed, who emulated Ismail the Bloodthirsty, did not
+hesitate to declare war on all Christendom except England, agreeing to
+terms of peace on the basis of tribute. Cooperation between the Powers
+was not then thought of, and one by one they struck their bargains as
+they are doing again to-day.
+
+Yet even at the most violent period of Moorish misrule it is a
+remarkable fact that Europeans were allowed to settle and trade in the
+Empire, in all probability as little molested there as they would
+have been had they remained at home, by varying religious tests and
+changing governments. It is almost impossible to conceive, without
+a perusal of the literature of the period, the incongruity of the
+position. Foreign slaves would be employed in gangs outside the
+dwellings of free fellow-countrymen with whom they were forbidden to
+communicate, while every returning pirate captain added to the number
+of the captives, sometimes bringing friends and relatives of those
+who lived in freedom as the Sultan's "guests," though he considered
+himself "at war" with their Governments. So little did the Moors
+understand the position of things abroad, that at one time they made
+war upon Gibraltar, while expressing the warmest friendship for
+England, who then possessed it. This was done by Mulai Abd Allah V.,
+in 1756, because, he said, the Governor had helped his rebel uncle at
+Arzila, so that the English, his so-called friends, did more harm than
+his enemies--the Portuguese and Spaniards. "My father and I believe,"
+wrote his son, Sidi Mohammed, to Admiral Pawkers, "that the king your
+master has no knowledge of the behaviour towards us of the Governor of
+Gibraltar, ... so Gibraltar shall be excluded from the peace to which
+I am willing to consent between England and us, and with the aid of
+the Almighty God, I will know how to avenge myself as I may on the
+English of Gibraltar."
+
+Previously Spain and Portugal had held the principal Moroccan
+seaports, the twin towns of Rabat and Salli alone remaining always
+Moorish, but these two in their turn set up a sort of independent
+republic, nourished from the Berber tribes in the mountains to the
+south of them. No Europeans live in Salli yet, for here the old
+fanaticism slumbers still. So long as a port remained in foreign hands
+it was completely cut off from the surrounding country, and played no
+part in Moorish history, save as a base for periodical incursions.
+One by one most of them fell again into the hands of their rightful
+owners, till they had recovered all their Atlantic sea-board. On the
+Mediterranean, Ceuta, which had belonged to Portugal, came under the
+rule of Spain when those countries were united, and the Spaniards hold
+it still, as they do less important positions further east.
+
+The piracy days of the Moors have long passed, but they only ceased at
+the last moment they could do so with grace, before the introduction
+of steamships. There was not, at the best of times, much of the noble
+or heroic in their raids, which generally took the nature of lying
+in wait with well-armed, many-oared vessels, for unarmed, unwieldy
+merchantmen which were becalmed, or were outpaced by sail and oar
+together.
+
+Early in the nineteenth century Algiers was forced to abandon piracy
+before Lord Exmouth's guns, and soon after the Moors were given to
+understand that it could no longer be permitted to them either, since
+the Moorish "fleets"--if worthy the name--had grown so weak, and those
+of the Nazarenes so strong, that the tables were turned. Yet for many
+years more the nations of Europe continued the tribute wherewith the
+rapacity of the Moors was appeased, and to the United States belongs
+the honour of first refusing this disgraceful payment.
+
+The manner in which the rovers of Salli and other ports were permitted
+to flourish so long can be explained in no other way than by the
+supposition that they were regarded as a sort of necessary nuisance,
+just a hornet's-nest by the wayside, which it would be hopeless to
+destroy, as they would merely swarm elsewhere. And then we must
+remember that the Moors were not the only pirates of those days, and
+that Europeans have to answer for the most terrible deeds of the
+Mediterranean corsairs. News did not travel then as it does now.
+Though students of Morocco history are amazed at the frequent captures
+and the thousands of Christian slaves so imported, abroad it was only
+here and there that one was heard of at a time.
+
+To-day the plunder of an Italian sailing vessel aground on their
+shore, or the fate of too-confident Spanish smugglers running close in
+with arms, is heard of the world round. And in the majority of cases
+there is at least a question: What were the victims doing there? Not
+that this in any way excuses the so-called "piracy," but it must not
+be forgotten in considering the question. Almost all these tribes
+in the troublous districts carry European arms, instead of the more
+picturesque native flint-lock: and as not a single gun is legally
+permitted to pass the customs, there must be a considerable inlet
+somewhere, for prices are not high.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE PRESENT DAY
+
+  "What has passed has gone, and what is to come is distant;
+  Thou hast only the hour in which thou art."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Far from being, as Hood described them, "poor rejected Moors who
+raised our childish fears," the people of Morocco consist of fine,
+open races, capable of anything, but literally rotting in one of the
+finest countries of the world. The Moorish remains in Spain, as well
+as the pages of history, testify to the manner in which they once
+flourished, but to-day their appearance is that of a nation asleep.
+Yet great strides towards reform have been made during the past
+century, and each decade sees steps taken more important than the
+last. For the present decade is promised complete transformation.
+
+But how little do we know of this people! The very name "Moor" is
+a European invention, unknown in Morocco, where no more precise
+definition of the inhabitants can be given than that of
+"Westerners"--Maghribin, while the land itself is known as "The
+Further West"--El Moghreb el Aksa. The name we give to the country is
+but a corruption of that of the southern capital, Marrakesh ("Morocco
+City") through the Spanish version, Marueccos.
+
+The genuine Moroccans are the Berbers among whom the Arabs introduced
+Islam and its civilization, later bringing Negroes from their raids
+across the Atlas to the Sudan and Guinea. The remaining important
+section of the people are Jews of two classes--those settled in the
+country from prehistoric times, and those driven to it when expelled
+from Spain. With the exception of the Arabs and the Blacks, none of
+these pull together, and in that case it is only because the latter
+are either subservient to the former, or incorporated with them.
+
+First in importance come the earliest known possessors of the land,
+the Berbers. These are not confined to Morocco, but still hold the
+rocky fastnesses which stretch from the Atlantic, opposite the
+Canaries, to the borders of Egypt; from the sands of the Mediterranean
+to those of the Sahara, that vast extent of territory to which we have
+given their name, Barbary. Of these but a small proportion really
+amalgamated with their Muslim victors, and it is only to this mixed
+race which occupies the cities of Morocco that the name "Moor" is
+strictly applicable.
+
+On the plains are to be found the Arabs, their tents scattered in
+every direction. From the Atlantic to the Atlas, from Tangier to
+Mogador, and then away through the fertile province of Sus, one of
+the chief features of Morocco is the series of wide alluvial treeless
+plains, often apparently as flat as a table, but here and there cut up
+by winding rivers and crossed by low ridges. The fertility of these
+districts is remarkable; but owing to the misgovernment of the
+country, which renders native property so insecure, only a small
+portion is cultivated. The untilled slopes which border the plains
+are generally selected by the Arabs for their encampments, circles or
+ovals of low goat-hair tents, each covering a large area in proportion
+to the number of its inhabitants.
+
+The third section of the people of Morocco--by no means the least
+important--has still to be glanced at; these are the ubiquitous,
+persecuted and persecuting Jews. Everywhere that money changes hands
+and there is business to be done they are to be found. In the towns
+and among the thatched huts of the plains, even in the Berber villages
+on the slopes of the Atlas, they have their colonies. With the
+exception of a few ports wherein European rule in past centuries
+has destroyed the boundaries, they are obliged to live in their own
+restricted quarters, and in most instances are only permitted to cross
+the town barefooted and on foot, never to ride a horse. In the Atlas
+they live in separate villages adjoining or close to those belonging
+to the Berbers, and sometimes even larger than they. Always clad
+in black or dark-coloured cloaks, with hideous black skull-caps or
+white-spotted blue kerchiefs on their heads, they are conspicuous
+everywhere. They address the Moors with a villainous, cringing look
+which makes the sons of Ishmael savage, for they know it is only
+feigned. In return they are treated like dogs, and cordial hatred
+exists on both sides. So they live, together yet divided; the Jew
+despised but indispensable, bullied but thriving. He only wins at
+law when richer than his opponent; against a Muslim he can bear no
+testimony; there is scant pretence at justice. He dares not lift his
+hand to strike a Moor, however ill-treated, but he finds revenge in
+sucking his life's blood by usury. Receiving no mercy, he shows none,
+and once in his clutches, his prey is fortunate to escape with his
+life.
+
+The happy influence of more enlightened European Jews is, however,
+making itself felt in the chief towns, through excellent schools
+supported from London and Paris, which are turning out a class
+of highly respectable citizens. While the Moors fear the tide of
+advancing westernization, the town Jews court it, and in them centres
+one of the chief prospects of the country's welfare. Into their hands
+has already been gathered much of the trade of Morocco, and there can
+be little doubt that, by the end of the thirty years' grace afforded
+to other merchants than the French, they will have practically
+absorbed it all, even the Frenchmen trading through them. They have
+at least the intimate knowledge of the people and local conditions to
+which so few foreigners ever attain.
+
+When the Moorish Empire comes to be pacifically penetrated and
+systematically explored, it will probably be found that little more
+is known of it than of China, notwithstanding its proximity, and
+its comparatively insignificant size. A map honestly drawn, from
+observations only, would astonish most people by its vast
+blank spaces.[2] It would be noted that the limit of European
+exploration--with the exception of the work of two or three hardy
+travellers in disguise--is less than two hundred miles from the coast,
+and that this limit is reached at two points only--south of Fez and
+Marrakesh respectively,--which form the apices of two well-known
+triangular districts, the contiguous bases of which form part of the
+Atlantic coast line, under four hundred miles in length. Beyond these
+limits all is practically unknown, the language, customs and beliefs
+of the people providing abundant ground for speculation, and
+permitting theorists free play. So much is this the case, that a few
+years ago an enthusiastic "savant" was able to imagine that he had
+discovered a hidden race of dwarfs beyond the Atlas, and to obtain
+credence for his "find" among the best-informed students of Europe.
+
+  [2: An approximation to this is given in the writer's
+      "Land of the Moors."]
+
+But there is also another point of view from which Morocco is unknown,
+that of native thought and feeling, penetrated by extremely few
+Europeans, even when they mingle freely with the people, and converse
+with them in Arabic. The real Moor is little known by foreigners,
+a very small number of whom mix with the better classes. Some, as
+officials, meet officials, but get little below the official exterior.
+Those who know most seldom speak, their positions or their occupations
+preventing the expression of their opinions. Sweeping statements
+about Morocco may therefore be received with reserve, and dogmatic
+assertions with caution. This Empire is in no worse condition now than
+it has been for centuries; indeed, it is much better off than ever
+since its palmy days, and there is no occasion whatever to fear its
+collapse.
+
+Few facts are more striking in the study of Morocco than the absolute
+stagnation of its people, except in so far as they have been to a very
+limited extent affected by outside influences. Of what European--or
+even oriental--land could descriptions of life and manners written in
+the sixteenth century apply as fully in the twentieth as do those
+of Morocco by Leo Africanus? Or even to come later, compare the
+transitions England has undergone since Hoest and Jackson wrote a
+hundred years ago, with the changes discoverable in Morocco since that
+time. The people of Morocco remain the same, and their more primitive
+customs are those of far earlier ages, of the time when their
+ancestors lived upon the plain of Palestine and North Arabia, and when
+"in the loins of Abraham" the now unfriendly Jew and Arab were yet
+one. It is the position of Europeans among them which has changed.
+
+In the time of Hoest and Jackson piracy was dying hard, restrained by
+tribute from all the Powers of Europe. The foreign merchant was not
+only tolerated, but was at times supplied with capital by the Moorish
+sultans, to whom he was allowed to go deeply in debt for custom's
+dues, and half a century later the British Consul at Mogador was not
+permitted to embark to escape a bombardment of the town, because of
+his debt to the Sultan. Many of the restrictions complained of to-day
+are the outcome of the almost enslaved condition of the merchants of
+those times in consequence of such customs. Indeed, the position of
+the European in Morocco is still a series of anomalies, and so it is
+likely to continue until it passes under foreign rule.
+
+The same old spirit of independence reigns in the Berber breast to-day
+as when he conquered Spain, and though he has forgotten his past and
+cares naught for his future, he still considers himself a superior
+being, and feels that no country can rival his home. In his eyes the
+embassies from Europe and America come only to pay the tribute which
+is the price of peace with his lord, and when he sees a foreign
+minister in all his black and gold stand in the sun bareheaded to
+address the mounted Sultan beneath his parasol, he feels more proud
+than ever of his greatness, and is more decided to be pleasant to the
+stranger, but to keep him out.
+
+Instead of increased relations between Moors and foreigners tending to
+friendship, the average foreign settler or tourist is far too bigoted
+and narrow-minded to see any good in the native, much less to
+acknowledge his superiority on certain points. Wherever the Sultan's
+authority is recognized the European is free to travel and live,
+though past experience has led officials not to welcome him. At the
+same time, he remains entirely under the jurisdiction of his own
+authorities, except in cases of murder or grave crime, when he must be
+at once handed over to the nearest consul of his country. Not only are
+he and his household thus protected, but also his native employees,
+and, to a certain extent, his commercial and agricultural agents.
+
+Thus foreigners in Morocco enjoy within the limits of the central
+power the security of their own lands, and the justice of their own
+laws. They do not even find in Morocco that immunity from justice
+which some ignorant writers of fiction have supposed; for unless a
+foreigner abandons his own nationality and creed, and buries himself
+in the interior under a native name, he cannot escape the writs of
+foreign courts. In any case, the Moorish authorities will arrest him
+on demand, and hand him over to his consul to be dealt with according
+to law. The colony of refugees which has been pictured by imaginative
+raconteurs is therefore non-existent. Instead there are growing
+colonies of business men, officials, missionaries, and a few retired
+residents, quite above the average of such colonies in the Levant, for
+instance.
+
+For many years past, though the actual business done has shown a
+fairly steady increase, the commercial outlook in Morocco has gone
+from bad to worse. Yet more of its products are now exported, and
+there are more European articles in demand, than were thought of
+twenty years ago. This anomalous and almost paradoxical condition is
+due to the increase of competition and the increasing weakness of the
+Government. Men who had hope a few years ago, now struggle on because
+they have staked too much to be able to leave for more promising
+fields. This has been especially the case since the late Sultan's
+death. The disturbances which followed that event impoverished many
+tribes, and left behind a sense of uncertainty and dread. No European
+Bourse is more readily or lastingly affected by local political
+troubles than the general trade of a land like Morocco, in which men
+live so much from hand to mouth.
+
+It is a noteworthy feature of Moorish diplomatic history that to the
+Moors' love of foreign trade we owe almost every step that has led to
+our present relations with the Empire. Even while their rovers were
+the terror of our merchantmen, as has been pointed out, foreign
+traders were permitted to reside in their ports, the facilities
+granted to them forming the basis of all subsequent negotiations. Now
+that concession after concession has been wrung from their unwilling
+Government, and in spite of freedom of residence, travel, and trade in
+the most important parts of the Empire, it is disheartening to see the
+foreign merchant in a worse condition than ever.
+
+The previous generation, fewer in number, enjoying far less
+privileges, and subjected to restrictions and indignities that would
+not be suffered to-day, were able to make their fortunes and retire,
+while their successors find it hard to hold their own. The "hundred
+tonners" who, in the palmy days of Mogador, were wont to boast that
+they shipped no smaller quantities at once, are a dream of the past.
+The ostrich feathers and elephants' tusks no longer find their way out
+by that port, and little gold now passes in or out. Merchant princes
+will never be seen here again; commercial travellers from Germany are
+found in the interior, and quality, as well as price, has been reduced
+to its lowest ebb.
+
+A crowd of petty trading agents has arisen with no capital to speak
+of, yet claiming and abusing credit, of which a most ruinous system
+prevails, and that in a land in which the collection of debts is
+proverbially difficult, and oftentimes impossible. The native Jews,
+who were interpreters and brokers years ago, have now learned the
+business and entered the lists. These new competitors content
+themselves with infinitesimal profits, or none at all in cases where
+the desideratum is cash to lend out at so many hundreds per cent. per
+annum. Indeed, it is no uncommon practice for goods bought on long
+credit to be sold below cost price for this purpose. Against such
+methods who can compete?
+
+Yet this is a rich, undeveloped land--not exactly an El Dorado, though
+certainly as full of promise as any so styled has proved to be when
+reached--favoured physically and geographically, but politically
+stagnant, cursed with an effete administration, fettered by a decrepit
+creed. In view of this situation, it is no wonder that from time to
+time specious schemes appear and disappear with clockwork regularity.
+Now it is in England, now in France, that a gambling public is found
+to hazard the cost of proving the impossibility of opening the country
+with a rush, and the worthlessness of so-called concessions and
+monopolies granted by sheikhs in the south, who, however they may
+chafe under existing rule which forbids them ports of their own,
+possess none of the powers required to treat with foreigners.
+
+As normal trade has waned in Morocco, busy minds have not been slow in
+devising illicit, or at least unusual, methods of making money,
+even, one regrets to say, of making false money. Among the drawbacks
+suffered by the commerce which pines under the shade of the shareefian
+umbrella, one--and that far from the least--is the unsatisfactory
+coinage, which till a few years ago was almost entirely foreign. To
+have to depend in so important a matter on any mint abroad is bad
+enough, but for that mint to be Spanish means much. Centuries ago
+the Moors coined more, but with the exception of a horrible token of
+infinitesimal value called "floos," the products of their extinct
+mints are only to be found in the hands of collectors, in buried
+hoards, or among the jewellery displayed at home by Mooresses and
+Jewesses, whose fortunes, so invested, may not be seized for debt.
+Some of the older issues are thin and square, with well-preserved
+inscriptions, and of these a fine collection--mostly gold--may be seen
+at the British Museum; but the majority, closely resembling those of
+India and Persia, are rudely stamped and unmilled, not even round,
+but thick, and of fairly good metal. The "floos" referred to (_sing._
+"fils") are of three sizes, coarsely struck in zinc rendered hard and
+yellow by the addition of a little copper. The smallest, now rarely
+met with, runs about 19,500 to L1 when this is worth 32-1/2 Spanish
+pesetas; the other two, still the only small change of the country,
+are respectively double and quadruple its value. The next coin in
+general circulation is worth 2_d._, so the inconvenience is great.
+A few years ago, however, Europeans resident in Tangier resolutely
+introduced among themselves the Spanish ten and five centimo pieces,
+corresponding to our 1_d._ and 1/2_d._, which are now in free local
+use, but are not accepted up-country.
+
+What passes as Moorish money to-day has been coined in France for many
+years, more recently also in Germany; the former is especially neat,
+but the latter lacks style. The denominations coincide with those of
+Spain, whose fluctuations in value they closely follow at a respectful
+distance. This autumn the "Hasani" coin--that of Mulai el Hasan, the
+late Sultan--has fallen to fifty per cent. discount on Spanish. With
+the usual perversity also, the common standard "peseta," in which
+small bargains are struck on the coast, was omitted, the nearest coin,
+the quarter-dollar, being nominally worth ptas. 1.25. It was only
+after a decade, too, that the Government put in circulation the
+dollars struck in France, which had hitherto been laid up in the
+treasury as a reserve. And side by side with the German issue came
+abundant counterfeit coins, against which Government warnings were
+published, to the serious disadvantage of the legal issue. Even the
+Spanish copper has its rival, and a Frenchman was once detected trying
+to bring in a nominal four hundred dollars' worth of an imitation,
+which he promptly threw overboard when the port guards raised
+objections to its quality.
+
+The increasing need of silver currency inland, owing to its free use
+in the manufacture of trinkets, necessitates a constant importation,
+and till recently all sorts of coins, discarded elsewhere, were in
+circulation. This was the case especially with French, Swiss, Belgian,
+Italian, Greek, Roumanian, and other pieces of the value of twenty
+centimos, known here by the Turkish name "gursh," which were accepted
+freely in Central Morocco, but not in the north. Twenty years ago
+Spanish Carolus, Isabella and Philippine shillings and kindred coins
+were in use all over the country, and when they were withdrawn from
+circulation in Spain they were freely shipped here, till the country
+was flooded with them. When the merchants and customs at last refused
+them, their astute importers took them back at a discount, putting
+them into circulation later at what they could, only to repeat the
+transaction. In Morocco everything a man can be induced to take is
+legal tender, and for bribes and religious offerings all things pass,
+this practice being an easier matter than at first sight appears; so
+in the course of a few years one saw a whole series of coins in vogue,
+one after the other, the main transactions taking place on the coast
+with country Moors, than whom, though none more suspicious, none are
+more easily gulled.
+
+A much more serious obstacle to inland trade is the periodically
+disturbed state of the country, not so much the local struggles and
+uprisings which serve to free superfluous energy, as the regular
+administrative expeditions of the Moorish Court, or of considerable
+bodies of troops. These used to take place in some direction every
+year, "the time when kings go forth to war" being early summer, just
+when agricultural operations are in full swing, and every man is
+needed on his fields. In one district the ranks of the workers are
+depleted by a form of conscription or "harka," and in another these
+unfortunates are employed preventing others doing what they should
+be doing at home. Thus all suffer, and those who are not themselves
+engaged in the campaign are forced to contribute cash, if only to find
+substitutes to take their places in the ranks.
+
+The movement of the Moorish Court means the transportation of a
+numerous host at tremendous expense, which has eventually to be
+recouped in the shape of regular contributions, arrears of taxes and
+fines, collected _en route_, so the pace is abnormally slow. Not
+only is there an absolute absence of roads, and, with one or two
+exceptions, of bridges, but the Sultan himself, with all his army,
+cannot take the direct route between his most important inland cities
+without fighting his way. The configuration of the empire explains its
+previous sub-division into the kingdoms of Fez, Marrakesh, Tafilalt
+and Sus, and the Reef, for between the plains of each run mountain
+ranges which have never known absolute "foreign" rulers.
+
+[Illustration: CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER. _Molinari, Photo., Tangier._]
+
+To European engineers the passes through these closed districts would
+offer no great obstacles in the construction of roads such as thread
+the Himalayas, but the Moors do not wish for the roads; for, while
+what the Government fears to promote thereby is combination, the
+actual occupants of the mountains, the native Berbers, desire not to
+see the Arab tax-gatherers, only tolerating their presence as long as
+they cannot help it, and then rising against them.
+
+Often a tribe will be left for several years to enjoy independence,
+while the slip-shod army of the Sultan is engaged elsewhere. When
+its turn comes it holds out for terms, since it has no hope of
+successfully confronting such an overwhelming force as is sooner
+or later brought against it. The usual custom is to send small
+detachments of soldiers to the support of the over-grasping
+functionaries, and when they have been worsted, to send down an
+army to "eat up" the province, burning villages, deporting cattle,
+ill-treating the women, and often carrying home children as slaves.
+The men of the district probably flee and leave their homes to be
+ransacked. They content themselves with hiding behind crags which seem
+to the plainsmen inaccessible, whence they can in safety harass the
+troops on the march. After more or less protracted skirmishing, the
+country having been devastated by the troops, who care only for the
+booty, women will be sent into the camp to make terms, or one of the
+shareefs or religious nobles who accompany the army is sent out to
+treat with the rebels. The terms are usually hard--so much arrears
+of tribute in cash and kind, so much as a fine for expenses, so many
+hostages. Then hostages and prisoners are driven to the capital in
+chains, and pickled heads are exposed on the gateways, imperial
+letters being read in the chief mosques throughout the country,
+telling of a glorious victory, and calling for rejoicings. To any
+other people the short spell of freedom would have been too dearly
+bought for the experiment to be repeated, but as soon as they begin to
+chafe again beneath the lawless rule of Moorish officials, the Berbers
+rebel once more. It has been going on thus for hundreds of years, and
+will continue till put an end to by France.
+
+In Morocco each official preys upon the one below him, and on all
+others within his reach, till the poor oppressed and helpless villager
+lives in terror of them all, not daring to display signs of prosperity
+for fear of tempting plunder. Merit is no key to positions of trust
+and authority, and few have such sufficient salary attached to render
+them attractive to honest men. The holders are expected in most cases
+to make a living out of the pickings, and are allowed an unquestioned
+run of office till they are presumed to have amassed enough to make it
+worth while treating them as they have treated others, when they are
+called to account and relentlessly "squeezed." The only means of
+staving off the fatal day is by frequent presents to those above them,
+wrung from those below. A large proportion of Moorish officials end
+their days in disgrace, if not in dungeons, and some meet their end
+by being invited to corrosive sublimate tea, a favourite beverage in
+Morocco--for others. Yet there is always a demand for office, and
+large prices are paid for posts affording opportunities for plunder.
+
+The Moorish financial system is of a piece with this method. When the
+budget is made out, each tribe or district is assessed at the utmost
+it is believed capable of yielding, and the candidate for its
+governorship who undertakes to get most out of it probably has the
+task allotted to him. His first duty is to repeat on a small scale
+the operation of the Government, informing himself minutely as to the
+resources under his jurisdiction, and assessing the sub-divisions
+so as to bring in enough for himself, and to provide against
+contingencies, in addition to the sum for which he is responsible. The
+local sheikhs or head-men similarly apportion their demands among the
+individuals entrusted to their tender mercy. A fool is said to have
+once presented the Sultan with a bowl of skimmed and watered milk, and
+on being remonstrated with, to have declared that His Majesty received
+no more from any one, as his wazeers and governors ate half the
+revenue cream each, and the sheikhs drank half the revenue milk. The
+fool was right.
+
+The richer a man is, the less proportion he will have to pay, for he
+can make it so agreeable--or disagreeable--for those entrusted with a
+little brief authority. It is the struggling poor who have to pay
+or go to prison, even if to pay they have to sell their means of
+subsistence. Three courses lie before this final victim--to obtain
+the protection of some influential name, native or foreign, to buy a
+"friend at court," or to enter Nazarene service. But native friends
+are uncertain and hard to find, and, above all, they may be alienated
+by a higher bid from a rival or from a rapacious official. Such
+affairs are of common occurrence, and harrowing tales might be told of
+homes broken up in this way, of tortures inflicted, and of lives
+spent in dungeons because display has been indulged in, or because an
+independent position has been assumed under cover of a protection that
+has failed. But what can one expect with such a standard of honour?
+
+Foreigners, on the other hand, seldom betray their
+_proteges_--although, to their shame be it mentioned, some in high
+places have done so,--wherefore their protection is in greater demand;
+besides which it is more effectual, as coming from outside, while no
+Moor, however well placed, is absolutely secure in his own position.
+Thus it is that the down-trodden natives desire and are willing to pay
+for protection in proportion to their means; and it is this power
+of dispensing protection which, though often abused, does more than
+anything else to raise the prestige of the foreigner, and in turn to
+protect him.
+
+The claims most frequently made against Moors by foreign countries are
+for debt, claims which afford the greatest scope for controversy
+and the widest loophole for abuse. Although, unfortunately, for the
+greater part usurious, a fair proportion are for goods delivered, but
+to evade the laws even loan receipts are made out as for goods to be
+delivered, a form in which discrimination is extremely difficult. The
+condition of the country, in which every man is liable to be arrested,
+thrashed, imprisoned, if not tortured, to extort from him his wealth,
+is such as furnishes the usurer with crowding clients; and the
+condition of things among the Indian cultivators, bad as it is, since
+they can at least turn to a fair-handed Government, is not to be
+compared to that of the down-trodden Moorish farmer.
+
+The assumption by the Government of responsibility for the debts of
+its subjects, or at all events its undertaking to see that they pay,
+is part of the patriarchal system in force, by which the family is
+made responsible for individuals, the tribe for families, and so on.
+No other system would bring offenders to justice without police; but
+it transforms each man into his brother's keeper. This, however, does
+not apply only to debts the collection of which is urged upon the
+Government, for whom it is sufficient to produce the debtor and let
+him prove absolute poverty for him to be released, with the claim
+cancelled. This in theory: but in practice, to appease these claims,
+however just, innocent men are often thrown into prison, and untold
+horrors are suffered, in spite of all the efforts of foreign ministers
+to counteract the injustice.
+
+A mere recital of tales which have come under my own observation would
+but harrow my readers' feelings to no purpose, and many would appear
+incredible. With the harpies of the Government at their heels, men
+borrow wildly for a month or two at cent. per cent., and as the
+Moorish law prohibits interest, a document is sworn to before notaries
+by which the borrower declares that he has that day taken in hard cash
+the full amount to be repaid, the value of certain crops or produce of
+which he undertakes delivery upon a certain date. Very seldom,
+indeed, does it happen that by that date the money can be repaid, and
+generally the only terms offered for an extension of time for another
+three or six months are the addition of another fifty or one hundred
+per cent. to the debt, always fully secured on property, or by the
+bonds of property holders. Were not this thing of everyday occurrence
+in Morocco, and had I not examined scores of such papers, the way in
+which the ignorant Moors fall into such traps would seem incredible.
+It is usual to blame the Jews for it all, and though the business lies
+mostly in their hands, it must not be overlooked that many foreigners
+engage in it, and, though indirectly, some Moors also.
+
+But besides such claims, there is a large proportion of just business
+debts which need to be enforced. It does not matter how fair a claim
+may be, or how legitimate, it is very rarely that trouble is not
+experienced in pressing it. The Moorish Courts are so venal, so
+degraded, that it is more often the unscrupulous usurer who wins his
+case and applies the screw, than the honest trader. Here lies the
+rub. Another class of claims is for damage done, loss suffered, or
+compensation for imaginary wrongs. All these together mount up, and a
+newly appointed minister or consul-general is aghast at the list which
+awaits him. He probably contents himself at first with asking for the
+appointment of a commission to examine and report on the legality of
+all these claims, and for the immediate settlement of those approved.
+But he asks and is promised in vain, till at last he obtains the moral
+support of war-ships, in view of which the Moorish Government most
+likely pays much more than it would have got off with at first, and
+then proceeds to victimize the debtors.
+
+It is with expressed threats of bombardment that the ships come, but
+experience has taught the Moorish Government that it is well not to
+let things go that length, and they now invariably settle amicably. To
+our western notions it may seem strange that whatever questions have
+to be attended to should not be put out of hand without requiring
+such a demonstration; but while there is sleep there is hope for an
+Oriental, and the rulers of Morocco would hardly be Moors if they
+resisted the temptation to procrastinate, for who knows what may
+happen while they delay? And then there is always the chance of
+driving a bargain, so dear to the Moorish heart, for the wazeer knows
+full well that although the Nazarene may be prepared to bombard, as
+he has done from time to time, he is no more desirous than the Sultan
+that such an extreme measure should be necessary.
+
+So, even when things come to the pinch, and the exasperated
+representative of Christendom talks hotly of withdrawing, hauling down
+his flag and giving hostile orders, there is time at least to make an
+offer, or to promise everything in words. And when all is over, claims
+paid, ships gone, compliments and presents passed, nothing really
+serious has happened, just the everyday scene on the market applied to
+the nation, while the Moorish Government has once more given proof of
+worldly wisdom, and endorsed the proverb that discretion is the better
+part of valour.
+
+An illustration of the high-handed way in which things are done
+in Morocco has but recently been afforded by the action of France
+regarding an alleged Algerian subject arrested by the Moorish
+authorities for conspiracy. The man, Boo Zian Miliani by name, was the
+son of one of those Algerians who, when their country was conquered by
+the French, preferred exile to submission, and migrated to Morocco,
+where they became naturalized. He was charged with supporting the
+so-called "pretender" in the Reef province, where he was arrested with
+two others early in August last. His particular offence appears to
+have been the reading of the "Rogi's" proclamations to the public, and
+inciting them to rebel against the Sultan. But when brought a
+prisoner to Tangier, and thence despatched to Fez, he claimed French
+citizenship, and the Minister of France, then at Court, demanded his
+release.
+
+This being refused, a peremptory note followed, with a threat to break
+off diplomatic negotiations if the demand were not forthwith complied
+with. The usual _communiques_ were made to the Press, whereby a chorus
+was produced setting forth the insult to France, the imminence of war,
+and the general gravity of the situation. Many alarming head-lines
+were provided for the evening papers, and extra copies were doubtless
+sold. In Morocco, however, not only the English and Spanish papers,
+but also the French one, admitted that the action of France was wrong,
+though the ultimate issue was never in doubt, and the man's release
+was a foregone conclusion. Elsewhere the rights of the matter would
+have been sifted, and submitted at least to the law-courts, if not to
+arbitration.
+
+While the infliction of this indignity was stirring up northern
+Morocco, the south was greatly exercised by the presence on the
+coast of a French vessel, _L'Aigle_, officers from which proceeded
+ostentatiously to survey the fortifications of Mogador and its island,
+and then effected a landing on the latter by night. Naturally the
+coastguards fired at them, fortunately without causing damage, but
+had any been killed, Europe would have rung with the "outrage." From
+Mogador the vessel proceeded after a stay of a month to Agadir, the
+first port of Sus, closed to Europeans.
+
+Here its landing-party was met on the beach by some hundreds of armed
+men, whose commander resolutely forbade them to land, so they had to
+retire. Had they not done so, who would answer for the consequences?
+As it was, the natives, eager to attack the "invaders," were with
+difficulty kept in hand, and one false step would undoubtedly have
+led to serious bloodshed. Of course this was a dreadful rebuff for
+"pacific penetration," but the matter was kept quiet as a little
+premature, since in Europe the coast is not quite clear enough yet for
+retributory measures. The effect, however, on the Moors, among whom
+the affair grew more grave each time it was recited, was out of all
+proportion to the real importance of the incident, which otherwise
+might have passed unnoticed.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+BEHIND THE SCENES
+
+  "He knows of every vice an ounce."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Though most eastern lands may be described as slip-shod, with
+reference both to the feet of their inhabitants and to the way in
+which things are done, there can be no country in the world more aptly
+described by that epithet than Morocco. One of the first things which
+strikes the visitor to this country is the universality of the slipper
+as foot-gear, at least, so far as the Moors are concerned. In the
+majority of cases the men wear the heels of their slippers folded down
+under the feet, only putting them up when necessity compels them to
+run, which they take care shall not be too often, as they much prefer
+a sort of ambling gait, best compared to that of their mules, or to
+that of an English tramp.
+
+Nothing delights them better as a means of agreeably spending an
+hour or two, than squatting on their heels in the streets or on some
+door-stoop, gazing at the passers-by, exchanging compliments with
+their acquaintances. Native "swells" consequently promenade with a
+piece of felt under their arms on which to sit when they wish, in
+addition to its doing duty as a carpet for prayer. The most public
+places, and usually the cool of the afternoon, are preferred for this
+pastime.
+
+The ladies of their Jewish neighbours also like to sit at their doors
+in groups at the same hour, or in the doorways of main thoroughfares
+on moonlight evenings, while the gentlemen, who prefer to do their
+gossiping afoot, roam up and down. But this is somewhat apart from the
+point of the lazy tendencies of the Moors. With them--since they have
+no trains to catch, and disdain punctuality--all hurry is undignified,
+and one could as easily imagine an elegantly dressed Moorish scribe
+literally flying as running, even on the most urgent errand. "Why
+run," they ask, "when you might just as well walk? Why walk, when
+standing would do? Why stand, when sitting is so much less fatiguing?
+Why sit, when lying down gives so much more rest? And why, lying down,
+keep your eyes open?"
+
+In truth, this is a country in which things are left pretty much to
+look after themselves. Nothing is done that can be left undone, and
+everything is postponed until "to-morrow." Slipper-slapper go the
+people, and slipper-slapper goes their policy. If you can get through
+a duty by only half doing it, by all means do so, is the generally
+accepted rule of life. In anything you have done for you by a Moor,
+you are almost sure to discover that he has "scamped" some part;
+perhaps the most important. This, of course, means doing a good
+deal yourself, if you like things done well, a maxim holding good
+everywhere, indeed, but especially here.
+
+The Moorish Government's way of doing things--or rather, of not doing
+them if it can find an excuse--is eminently slip-shod. The only point
+in which they show themselves astute is in seeing that their Rubicon
+has a safe bridge by which they may retreat, if that suits their plans
+after crossing it. To deceive the enemy they hide this as best
+they can, for the most part successfully, causing the greatest
+consternation in the opposite camp, which, at the moment when it
+thinks it has driven them into a corner, sees their ranks gradually
+thinning from behind, dribbling away by an outlet hitherto invisible.
+Thus, in accepting a Moor's promise, one must always consider the
+conditions or rider annexed.
+
+This can be well illustrated by the reluctant permission to transport
+grain from one Moorish port to another, granted from time to time,
+but so hampered by restrictions as to be only available to a few, the
+Moorish Government itself deriving the greatest advantage from it.
+Then, too, there is the property clause in the Convention of Madrid,
+which has been described as the sop by means of which the Powers were
+induced to accept other less favourable stipulations. Instead of being
+the step in advance which it appeared to be, it was, in reality, a
+backward step, the conditions attached making matters worse than
+before.
+
+In this way only do the Moors shine as politicians, unless
+prevarication and procrastination be included, Machiavellian arts in
+which they easily excel. Otherwise they are content to jog along in
+the same slip-shod manner as their fathers did centuries ago, as soon
+as prosperity had removed the incentive to exert the energy they once
+possessed. The same carelessness marks their conduct in everything,
+and the same unsatisfactory results inevitably follow.
+
+But to get at the root of the matter it is necessary to go a step
+further. The absolute lack of morals among the people is the real
+cause of the trouble. Morocco is so deeply sunk in the degradation of
+vice, and so given up to lust, that it is impossible to lay bare its
+deplorable condition. In most countries, with a fair proportion of
+the pure and virtuous, some attempt is made to gloss over and conceal
+one's failings; but in this country the only vice which public opinion
+seriously condemns is drunkenness, and it is only before foreigners
+that any sense of shame or desire for secrecy about others is
+observable. The Moors have not yet attained to that state of
+hypocritical sanctimoniousness in which modern society in civilized
+lands delights to parade itself.
+
+The taste for strong drink, though still indulged comparatively in
+secret, is steadily increasing, the practice spreading from force
+of example among the Moors themselves, as a result of the strenuous
+efforts of foreigners to inculcate this vice. European consular
+reports not infrequently note with congratulation the growing imports
+of wines and liqueurs into Morocco, nominally for the sole use of
+foreigners, although manifestly far in excess of their requirements.
+As yet, it is chiefly among the higher and lower classes that the
+victims are found, the former indulging in the privacy of their own
+homes, and the latter at the low drinking-dens kept by the scum of
+foreign settlers in the open ports. Among the country people of
+the plains and lower hills there are hardly any who would touch
+intoxicating liquor, though among the mountaineers the use of alcohol
+has ever been more common.
+
+Tobacco smoking is very general on the coast, owing to contact with
+Europeans, but still comparatively rare in the interior, although the
+native preparations of hemp (keef), and also to some extent opium,
+have a large army of devotees, more or less victims. The latter,
+however, being an expensive import, is less known in the interior.
+Snuff-taking is fairly general among men and women, chiefly the
+elderly. What they take is very strong, being a composition of
+tobacco, walnut shells, and charcoal ash. The writer once saw a young
+Englishman, who thought he could stand a good pinch of snuff, fairly
+"knocked over" by a quarter as much as the owner of the nut from which
+it came took with the utmost complacency.
+
+The feeling of the Moorish Government about smoking has long been so
+strong that in every treaty with Europe is inserted a clause reserving
+the right of prohibiting the importation of all narcotics, or articles
+used in their manufacture or consumption. Till a few years ago the
+right to deal in these was granted yearly as a monopoly; but in 1887
+the late Sultan, Mulai el Hasan, and his aolama, or councillors,
+decided to abolish the business altogether, so, purchasing the
+existing stocks at a valuation, they had the whole burned. But first
+the foreign officials and then private foreigners demanded the right
+to import whatever they needed "for their own consumption," and the
+abuse of this courtesy has enabled several tobacco factories to spring
+up in the country. The position with regard to the liquor traffic is
+almost the same. If the Moors were free to legislate as they wished,
+they would at once prohibit the importation of intoxicants.
+
+Of late years, however, a great change has come over the Moors of the
+ports, more especially so in Tangier, where the number of taverns and
+_cafes_ has increased most rapidly. During many years' residence there
+the cases of drunkenness met with could be counted on the fingers, and
+were then confined to guides or servants of foreigners; on the last
+visit paid to the country more were observed in a month than then in
+years. In those days to be seen with a cigarette was almost a crime,
+and those who indulged in a whiff at home took care to deodorize their
+mouths with powdered coffee; now Moors sit with Europeans, smoking and
+drinking, unabashed, at tables in the streets, but not those of the
+better sort. Thus Morocco is becoming civilized!
+
+However ashamed a Moor may be of drunkenness, no one thinks of making
+a pretence of being chaste or moral. On the contrary, no worse is
+thought of a man who is wholly given up to the pleasures of the flesh
+than of one who is addicted to the most innocent amusements. If a
+Moor is remonstrated with, he declares he is not half so bad as the
+"Nazarenes" he has come across, who, in addition to practising most of
+his vices, indulge in drunkenness. It is not surprising, therefore,
+that the diseases which come as a penalty for these vices are
+fearfully prevalent in Morocco. Everywhere one comes across the
+ravages of such plagues, and is sickened at the sight of their
+victims. Without going further into details, it will suffice to
+mention that one out of every five patients (mostly males) who attend
+at the dispensary of the North Africa Mission at Tangier are direct,
+or indirect, sufferers from these complaints.
+
+The Moors believe in "sowing wild oats" when young, till their energy
+is extinguished, leaving them incapable of accomplishing anything.
+Then they think the pardon of God worth invoking, if only in the vain
+hope of having their youth renewed as the eagle's. Yet if this could
+happen, they would be quite ready to commence a fresh series of
+follies more outrageous than before. This is a sad picture, but
+nevertheless true, and, far from being exaggerated, does not even hint
+at much that exists in Morocco to-day.
+
+The words of the Koran about such matters are never considered, though
+nominally the sole guide for life. The fact that God is "the Pitying,
+the Pitiful, King of the Day of Judgement," is considered sufficient
+warrant for the devotees of Islam to lightly indulge in breaches of
+laws which they hold to be His, confident that if they only perform
+enough "vain repetitions," fast at the appointed times, and give alms,
+visiting Mekka, if possible, or if not, making pilgrimages to shrines
+of lesser note nearer home, God, in His infinite mercy, will overlook
+all.
+
+An anonymous writer has aptly remarked--"Every good Mohammedan has
+a perpetual free pass over that line, which not only secures to him
+personally a safe transportation to Paradise, but provides for him
+upon his arrival there so luxuriously that he can leave all the
+cumbersome baggage of his earthly harem behind him, and begin his
+celestial house-keeping with an entirely new outfit."
+
+Here lies the whole secret of Morocco's backward state. Her people,
+having outstepped even the ample limits of licentiousness laid down in
+the Koran, and having long ceased to be even true Mohammedans, by
+the time they arrive at manhood have no energy left to promote her
+welfare, and sink into an indolent, procrastinating race, capable of
+little in the way of progress till a radical change takes place in
+their morals.
+
+Nothing betrays their moral condition more clearly than their
+unrestrained conversation, a reeking vapour arising from a mass of
+corruption. The foul ejaculations of an angry Moor are unreproducible,
+only serving to show extreme familiarity with vice of every sort. The
+tales to which they delight to listen, the monotonous chants rehearsed
+by hired musicians at public feasts or private entertainments, and the
+voluptuous dances they delight to have performed before them as they
+lie sipping forbidden liquors, are all of one class, recounting and
+suggesting evil deeds to hearers or observers.
+
+The constant use made of the name of God, mostly in stock phrases
+uttered without a thought as to their real meaning, is counterbalanced
+in some measure by cursing of a most elaborate kind, and the frequent
+mention of the "Father of Lies," called by them "The Liar" _par
+excellence_. The term "elaborate" is the only one wherewith to
+describe a curse so carefully worded that, if executed, it would
+leave no hope of Paradise either for the unfortunate addressee or his
+ancestors for several generations. On the slightest provocation,
+or without that excuse, the Moor can roll forth the most intricate
+genealogical objurgations, or rap out an oath. In ordinary cases of
+displeasure he is satisfied with showering expletives on the parents
+and grand-parents of the object of his wrath, with derogatory
+allusions to the morals of those worthies' "better halves." "May God
+have mercy on thy relatives, O my Lord," is a common way of addressing
+a stranger respectfully, and the contrary expression is used to
+produce a reverse effect.
+
+I am often asked, "What would a Moor think of this?" Probably some
+great invention will be referred to, or some manifest improvement in
+our eyes over Moorish methods or manufactures. If it was something
+he could see, unless above the average, he would look at it as a cow
+looks at a new gate, without intelligence, realizing only the change,
+not the cause or effect. By this time the Moors are becoming familiar,
+at least by exaggerated descriptions, with most of the foreigner's
+freaks, and are beginning to refuse to believe that the Devil assists
+us, as they used to, taking it for granted that we should be more
+ingenious, and they more wise! The few who think are apt to pity the
+rush of our lives, and write us down, from what they have themselves
+observed in Europe as in Morocco, as grossly immoral beside even their
+acknowledged failings. The faults of our civilization they quickly
+detect, the advantages are mostly beyond their comprehension.
+
+Some years ago a friend of mine showed two Moors some of the sights
+of London. When they saw St. Paul's they told of the glories of the
+Karueein mosque at Fez; with the towers of Westminster before them
+they sang the praises of the Kutubiya at Marrakesh. Whatever they saw
+had its match in Morocco. But at last, as a huge dray-horse passed
+along the highway with its heavy load, one grasped the other's arm
+convulsively, exclaiming, "M'bark Allah! Aoud hadha!"--"Blessed be
+God! That's a horse!" Here at least was something that did appeal to
+the heart of the Arab. For once he saw a creature he could understand,
+the like of which was never bred in Barbary, and his wonder knew no
+bounds.
+
+An equally good story is told of an Englishman who endeavoured to
+convince a Moor at home of the size of these horses. With his stick he
+drew on the ground one of their full-sized shoes. "But we have horses
+beyond the mountains with shoes _this_ size," was the ready reply, as
+the native drew another twice as big. Annoyed at not being able to
+convince him, the Englishman sent home for a specimen shoe. When he
+showed it to the Moor, the only remark he elicited was that a native
+smith could make one twice the size. Exasperated now, and not to be
+outdone, the Englishman sent home for a cart-horse skull. "Now you've
+beaten me!" at last acknowledged the Moor. "You Christians can make
+anything, but _we can't make bones!_"
+
+Bigoted and fanatical as the Moors may show themselves at times,
+they are generally willing enough to be friends with those who show
+themselves friendly. And notwithstanding the way in which the strong
+oppress the weak, as a nation they are by no means treacherous or
+cruel; on the contrary, the average Moor is genial and hospitable,
+does not forget a kindness, and is a man whom one can respect. Yet it
+is strange how soon a little power, and the need for satisfying the
+demands of his superiors, will corrupt the mildest of them; and the
+worst are to be found among families which have inherited office. The
+best officials are those chosen from among retired merchants whose
+palms no longer itch, and who, by intercourse with Europeans, have had
+their ideas of life broadened.
+
+The greatest obstacle to progress in Morocco is the blind prejudice
+of ignorance. It is hard for the Moors to realize that their presumed
+hereditary foes can wish them well, and it is suspicion, rather than
+hostility, which induces them to crawl within their shell and ask to
+be left alone. Too often subsequent events have shown what good ground
+they have had for suspicion. It is a pleasure for me to be able to
+state that during all the years that I have lived among them, often in
+the closest intercourse, I have never received the least insult, but
+have been well repaid in my own coin. What more could be wished?
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS]
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE BERBER RACE
+
+  "Every lion in his own forest roars."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Few who glibly use the word "Barbarian" pause to consider whether the
+present meaning attached to the name is justified or not, or whether
+the people of Barbary are indeed the uncivilized, uncouth, incapable
+lot their name would seem to imply to-day. In fact, the popular
+ignorance regarding the nearest point of Africa is even greater than
+of the actually less known central portions, where the white man
+penetrates with every risk. To declare that the inhabitants of the
+four Barbary States--Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli--are not
+"Blackamoors" at all, but white like ourselves, is to astonish most
+folk at the outset.
+
+Of course in lands where the enslavement of neighbouring negro races
+has been an institution for a thousand years or more, there is a
+goodly proportion of mulattoes; and among those whose lives have been
+spent for generations in field work there are many whose skins are
+bronzed and darkened, but they are white by nature, nevertheless, and
+town life soon restores the original hue. The student class of Fez,
+drawn from all sections of the population of Morocco, actually makes
+a boast of the pale and pasty complexions attained by life amid the
+shaded cloisters and covered streets of the intellectual capital. Then
+again those who are sunburned and bronzed are more of the Arab stock
+than of the Berber.
+
+These Berbers, the original Barbarians, known to the Romans and Greeks
+as such before the Arab was heard of outside Arabia, are at once the
+greatest and the most interesting nation, or rather race, of the whole
+of Africa. Had such a coalition as "the United States of North Africa"
+been possible, Europe would long ago have learned to fear and respect
+the title "Barbarian" too much to put it to its present use. But the
+weak point of the Berber race has been its lack of homogeneity; it
+has ever been split up into independent states and tribes, constantly
+indulging in internecine warfare. This is a principle which has its
+origin in the relations of the units whereof they are composed, of
+whom it may be said as of the sons of Ishmael, that every man's hand
+is against his neighbour. The vendetta, a result of the _lex talionis_
+of "eye for eye and tooth for tooth," flourishes still. No youth is
+supposed to have attained full manhood until he has slain his man, and
+excuses are seldom lacking. The greatest insult that can be offered to
+an enemy is to tell him that his father died in bed--even greater than
+the imputation of evil character to his maternal relatives.
+
+Some years ago I had in my service a lad of about thirteen, one
+of several Reefians whom I had about me for the practice of their
+language. Two or three years later, on returning to Morocco, I met him
+one day on the market.
+
+"I am so glad to see you," he said; "I want you to help me buy some
+guns."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Well, my father's dead; may God have mercy on him!"
+
+"How did he die?"
+
+"God knows."
+
+"But what has that to do with the gun?"
+
+"You see, we must kill my three uncles, I and my two brothers, and we
+want three guns."
+
+"What! Did they kill your father?"
+
+"God knows."
+
+"May He deliver you from such a deed. Come round to the house for some
+food."
+
+"But I've got married since you saw me, and expect an heir, yet they
+chaff me and call me a boy because I have never yet killed a man."
+
+I asked an old servant who had been to England, and seemed "almost
+a Christian," to try and dissuade him, but only to meet with an
+appreciative, "Well done! I always thought there was something in that
+lad."
+
+So I tried a second, but with worse results, for he patted the boy
+on the back with an assurance that he could not dissuade him from so
+sacred a duty; and at last I had to do what I could myself. I extorted
+a promise that he would try and arrange to take blood-money, but as he
+left the door his eye fell on a broken walking-stick.
+
+"Oh, do give me that! It's no use to you, and it _would_ make such a
+nice prop for my gun, as I am a very bad shot, and we mean to wait
+outside for them in the dark."
+
+The sequel I have never heard.
+
+Up in those mountains every one lives in fortified dwellings--big men
+in citadels, others in wall-girt villages, all from time to time
+at war with one another, or with the dwellers in some neighbouring
+valley. Fighting is their element; as soon as "the powder speaks"
+there are plenty to answer, for every one carries his gun, and it is
+wonderful how soon upon these barren hills an armed crowd can muster.
+Their life is a hard fight with Nature; all they ask is to be left
+alone to fight it out among themselves. Even on the plains among the
+Arabs and the mixed tribes described as Moors, things are not much
+better, for there, too, vendettas and cattle lifting keep them at
+loggerheads, and there is nothing the clansmen like so well as a raid
+on the Governor's kasbah or castle. These kasbahs are great walled
+strongholds dotted about the country; in times of peace surrounded by
+groups of huts and tents, whose inhabitants take refuge inside when
+their neighbours appear. The high walls and towers are built of mud
+concrete, often red like the Alhambra, the surface of which stands the
+weather ill, but which, when kept in repair, lasts for centuries.
+
+The Reefian Berbers are among the finest men in Morocco--warlike and
+fierce, it is true, from long habit and training; but they have many
+excellent qualities, in addition to stalwart frames. "If you don't
+want to be robbed," say they, "don't come our way. We only care to see
+men who can fight, with whom we may try our luck." They will come and
+work for Europeans, forming friendships among them, and if it were
+not for the suspicion of those who have not done so, who always fear
+political agents and spies, they would often be willing to take
+Europeans through their land. I have more than once been invited to
+go as a Moor. But the ideas they get of Europeans in Tangier do not
+predispose to friendship, and they will not allow them to enter their
+territories if they can help it. Only those who are in subjection to
+the Sultan permit them to do so freely.
+
+The men are a hardy, sturdy race, wiry and lithe, inured to toil and
+cold, fonder far of the gun and sword than of the ploughshare, and
+steady riders of an equally wiry race of mountain ponies. Their
+dwellings are of stone and mud, often of two floors, flat-topped, with
+rugged, projecting eaves, the roofs being made of poles covered with
+the same material as the walls, stamped and smoothed. These houses are
+seldom whitewashed, and present a ruinous appearance. Their ovens are
+domes about three feet or less in height outside; they are heated by
+a fire inside, then emptied, and the bread put in. Similar ovens are
+employed in camp to bake for the Court.
+
+Instead of that forced seclusion and concealment of the features to
+which the followers of Islam elsewhere doom their women, in these
+mountain homes they enjoy almost as perfect liberty as their sisters
+in Europe. I have been greatly struck with their intelligence and
+generally superior appearance to such Arab women as I have by chance
+been able to see. Once, when supping with the son of a powerful
+governor from above Fez, his mother, wife, and wife's sister sat
+composedly to eat with us, which could never have occurred in the
+dwelling of a Moor. No attempt at covering their faces was made,
+though male attendants were present at times, but the little daughter
+shrieked at the sight of a Nazarene. The grandmother, a fine,
+buxom dame, could read and write--which would be an astonishing
+accomplishment for a Moorish woman--and she could converse better than
+many men who would in this country pass for educated.
+
+The Berber dress has either borrowed from or lent much to the Moor,
+but a few articles stamp it wherever worn. One of these is a large
+black cloak of goat's-hair, impervious to rain, made of one piece,
+with no arm-holes. At the point of the cowl hangs a black tassel,
+and right across the back, about the level of the knees, runs an
+assagai-shaped patch, often with a centre of red. It has been opined
+that this remarkable feature represents the All-seeing Eye, so often
+used as a charm, but from the scanty information I could gather from
+the people themselves, I believe that they have lost sight of the
+original idea, though some have told me that variations in the
+pattern mark clan distinctions. I have ridden--when in the guise of a
+native--for days together in one of these cloaks, during pelting rain
+which never penetrated it. In more remote districts, seldom visited by
+Europeans, the garments are ruder far, entirely of undyed wool, and
+unsewn, mere blankets with slits cut in the centre for the head. This
+is, however, in every respect, a great difference between the various
+districts. The turban is little used by these people, skull-caps
+being preferred, while their red cloth gun-cases are commonly twisted
+turban-wise as head-gear, though often a camel's-hair cord is deemed
+sufficient protection for the head.
+
+Every successive ruler of North Africa has had to do with the problem
+of subduing the Berbers and has failed. In the wars between Rome and
+Carthage it was among her sturdy Berber soldiers that the southern
+rival of the great queen city of the world found actual sinews enough
+to hold the Roman legions so long at bay, and often to overcome her
+vaunted cohorts and carry the war across into Europe. Where else did
+Rome find so near a match, and what wars cost her more than did those
+of Africa? Carthage indeed has fallen, and from her once famed Byrsa
+the writer has been able to count on his fingers the local remains of
+her greatness, yet the people who made her what she was remain--the
+Berbers of Tunisia. The Ph[oe]nician settlers, though bringing with
+them wealth and learning and arts, could never have done alone what
+they did without the hardy fighting men supplied by the hills around.
+
+When Rome herself had fallen, and the fames of Carthage and Utica were
+forgotten, there came across North Africa a very different race from
+those who had preceded them, the desert Arabs, introducing the creed
+of Islam. In the course of a century or two, North Africa became
+Mohammedan, pagan and Christian institutions being swept away before
+that onward wave. It is not probable that at any time Christianity
+had any real hold upon the Berbers themselves, and Islam itself sits
+lightly on their easy consciences.
+
+The Arabs had for the moment solved the Berber problem. They were the
+amalgam which, by coalescing with the scattered factions of their
+race, had bound them up together and had formed for once a nation of
+them. Thus it was that the Muslim armies obtained force to carry all
+before them, and thus was provided the new blood and the active
+temper to which alone are due the conquest of Spain, and subsequent
+achievements there. The popular description of the Mohammedan rulers
+of Spain as "Saracens"--Easterners--is as erroneous as the supposition
+that they were Arabs. The people who conquered Spain were Berbers,
+although their leaders often adopted Arabic names with an Arab
+religion and Arab culture. The Arabic language, although official, was
+by no means general, nor is it otherwise to-day. The men who fought
+and the men who ruled were Berbers out and out, though the latter were
+often the sons of Arab fathers or mothers, and the great religious
+chiefs were purely Arab on the father's side at least, the majority
+claiming descent from Mohammed himself, and as such forming a class
+apart of shareefs or nobles.
+
+Though nominal Mohammedans, and in Morocco acknowledging the religious
+supremacy of the reigning shareefian family, the Moorish Berbers still
+retain a semi-independence. The mountains of the Atlas chain have
+always been their home and refuge, where the plainsmen find it
+difficult and dangerous to follow them. The history of the conquest
+of Algeria and Tunisia by the French has shown that they are no mean
+opponents even to modern weapons and modern warfare. The Kabyles,[3]
+as they are erroneously styled in those countries, have still to be
+kept in check by the fear of arms, and their prowess no one disputes.
+These are the people the French propose to subdue by "pacific
+penetration." The awe with which these mountaineers have inspired the
+plainsmen and townsfolk is remarkable; as good an illustration of it
+as I know was the effect produced on a Moor by my explanation that a
+Highland friend to whom I had introduced him was not an Englishman,
+but what I might call a "British Berber." The man was absolutely
+awe-struck.
+
+  [3: _I.e._ "Provincials," so misnamed from Kabilah (_pl._
+      Kabail), a province.]
+
+Separated from the Arab as well as from the European by a totally
+distinct, unwritten language, with numerous dialects, these people
+still exist as a mine of raw material, full of possibilities. In
+habits and style of life they may be considered uncivilized even in
+contrast to the mingled dwellers on the lowlands; but they are far
+from being savages. Their stalwart frames and sturdy independence fit
+them for anything, although the latter quality keeps them aloof, and
+has so far prevented intercourse with the outside world.
+
+Many have their own pet theories as to the origin of the Berbers and
+their language, not a few believing them to have once been altogether
+Christians, while others, following native authors, attribute to them
+Canaanitish ancestors, and ethnologists dispute as to the branch of
+Noah's family in which to class them. It is more than probable that
+they are one with the ancient Egyptians, who, at least, were no
+barbarians, if Berbers. But all are agreed that some of the finest
+stocks of southern and western Europe are of kindred origin, if not
+identical with them, and even if this be uncertain, enough has been
+said to show that they have played no unimportant part in European
+history, though it has ever been their lot to play behind the
+scenes--scene-shifters rather than actors.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO.]
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE WANDERING ARAB
+
+  "I am loving, not lustful."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Some strange fascination attaches itself to the simple nomad life of
+the Arab, in whatever country he be found, and here, in the far west
+of his peregrinations, he is encountered living almost in the same
+style as on the other side of Suez; his only roof a cloth, his country
+the wide world. Sometimes the tents are arranged as many as thirty
+or more in a circle, and at other times they are grouped hap-hazard,
+intermingled with round huts of thatch, and oblong ones of sun-dried
+bricks, thatched also; but in the latter cases the occupants are
+unlikely to be pure Arabs, for that race seldom so nearly approaches
+to settling anywhere. When the tents are arranged in a circle, the
+animals are generally picketed in the centre, but more often some are
+to be found sharing the homes of their owners.
+
+The tent itself is of an oval shape, with a wooden ridge on two poles
+across the middle third of the centre, from front to back, with a
+couple of strong bands of the same material as the tent fixed on
+either side, whence cords lead to pegs in the ground, passing over two
+low stakes leaning outwards. A rude camel's hair canvas is stretched
+over this frame, being kept up at the edges by more leaning stakes,
+and fastened by cords to pegs all round. The door space is left on
+the side which faces the centre of the encampment, and the walls or
+"curtains" are formed of high thistles lashed together in sheaves.
+Surrounding the tent is a yard, a simple bog in winter, the boundary
+of which is a ring formed by bundles of prickly branches, which
+compose a really formidable barrier, being too much for a jump, and
+too tenacious to one another and to visitors for penetration. The
+break left for an entrance is stopped at night by another bundle which
+makes the circle complete.
+
+The interior of the tent is often more or less divided by the pole
+supporting the roof, and by a pile of household goods, such as they
+are. Sometimes a rude loom is fastened to the poles, and at it a woman
+sits working on the floor. The framework--made of canes--is kept in
+place by rigging to pegs in the ground. The woman's hand is her only
+shuttle, and she threads the wool through with her fingers, a span at
+a time, afterwards knocking it down tightly into place with a heavy
+wrought-iron comb about two inches wide, with a dozen prongs. She
+seems but half-dressed, and makes no effort to conceal either face or
+breast, as a filthy child lies feeding in her lap. Her seat is a piece
+of matting, but the principal covering for the floor of trodden mud is
+a layer of palmetto leaves. Round the "walls" are several hens with
+chicks nestling under their wings, and on one side a donkey is
+tethered, while a calf sports at large.
+
+The furniture of this humble dwelling consists of two or three large,
+upright, mud-plastered, split-cane baskets, containing corn, partially
+sunk in the ground, and a few dirty bags. On one side is the mill, a
+couple of stones about eighteen inches across, the upper one convex,
+with a handle at one side. Three stones above a small hole in the
+ground serve as a cooking-range, while the fuel is abundant in the
+form of sun-dried thistles and other weeds, or palmetto leaves and
+sticks. Fire is obtained by borrowing from one another, but should it
+happen that no one in the encampment had any, the laborious operation
+of lighting dry straw from the flash in the pan of a flint-lock would
+have to be performed. To light the rude lamp--merely a bit of cotton
+protruding from anything with olive-oil in it--it is necessary to blow
+some smoking straw or weed till it bursts into a flame.
+
+Little else except the omnipresent dirt is to be found in the average
+Arab tent. A tin or two for cooking operations, a large earthen
+water-jar, and a pan or two to match, in which the butter-milk is
+kept, a sieve for the flour, and a few rough baskets, usually complete
+the list, and all are remarkable only for the prevailing grime. Making
+a virtue of necessity, the Arab prefers sour milk to fresh, for with
+this almost total lack of cleanliness, no milk would long keep sweet.
+Their food is of the simplest, chiefly the flour of wheat, barley, or
+Indian millet prepared in various ways, for the most part made up into
+flat, heavy cakes of bread, or as kesk'soo. Milk, from which butter is
+made direct by tossing it in a goat-skin turned inside out, eggs and
+fowls form the chief animal food, butcher's meat being but seldom
+indulged in. Vegetables do not enter into their diet, as they have no
+gardens, and beyond possessing flocks and herds, those Arabs met with
+in Barbary are wretchedly poor and miserably squalid. The patriarchal
+display of Arabia is here unknown.
+
+Of children and dogs there is no lack. Both abound, and wallow in the
+mud together. Often the latter seem to have the better time of it. Two
+families by one father will sometimes share one tent between them, but
+generally each "household" is distinct, though all sleep together
+in the one apartment of their abode. As one approaches a duar, or
+encampment, an early warning is given by the hungry dogs, and soon the
+half-clad children rush out to see who comes, followed leisurely by
+their elders. Hospitality has ever been an Arab trait, and these poor
+creatures, in their humble way, sustain the best traditions of their
+race. A native visitor of their own class is entertained and fed by
+the first he comes across, while the foreign traveller or native of
+means with his own tent is accommodated on the rubbish in the midst
+of the encampment, and can purchase all he wishes--all that they
+have--for a trifle, though sometimes they turn disagreeable and "pile
+it on." A present of milk and eggs, perhaps fowls, may be brought, for
+which, however, a _quid pro quo_ is expected.
+
+Luxuries they have not. Whatever they need to do in the way of
+shopping, is done at the nearest market once a week, and nothing but
+the produce already mentioned is to be obtained from them. In the
+evenings they stuff themselves to repletion, if they can afford it,
+with a wholesome dish of prepared barley or wheat meal, sometimes
+crowned with beans; then, after a gossip round the crackling fire, or,
+on state occasions, three cups of syrupy green tea apiece, they roll
+themselves in their long blankets and sleep on the ground.
+
+The first blush of dawn sees them stirring, and soon all is life and
+excitement. The men go off to their various labours, as do many of the
+stronger women, while the remainder attend to their scanty household
+duties, later on basking in the sun. But the moment the stranger
+arrives the scene changes, and the incessant din of dogs, hags and
+babies commences, to which the visitor is doomed till late at
+night, with the addition then of neighs and brays and occasional
+cock-crowing.
+
+It never seemed to me that these poor folk enjoyed life, but rather
+that they took things sadly. How could it be otherwise? No security
+of life and property tempts them to make a show of wealth; on the
+contrary, they bury what little they may save, if any, and lead lives
+of misery for fear of tempting the authorities. Their work is hard;
+their comforts are few. The wild wind howls through their humble
+dwellings, and the rain splashes in at the door. In sickness, for lack
+of medical skill, they lie and perish. In health their only pleasures
+are animal. Their women, once they are past the prime of life, which
+means soon after thirty with this desert race, go unveiled, and work
+often harder than the men, carrying burdens, binding sheaves, or even
+perhaps helping a donkey to haul a plough. Female features are never
+so jealously guarded here as in the towns.
+
+Yet they are a jolly, good-tempered, simple folk. Often have I spent a
+merry evening round the fire with them, squatted on a bit of matting,
+telling of the wonders of "That Country," the name which alternates in
+their vocabulary with "Nazarene Land," as descriptive of all the world
+but Morocco and such portions of North Africa or Arabia as they may
+have heard of. Many an honest laugh have we enjoyed over their wordy
+tales, or perchance some witty sally; but in my heart I have pitied
+these down-trodden people in their ignorance and want. Home they do
+not know. When the pasture in Shechem is short, they remove to Dothan;
+next month they may be somewhere else. But they are always ready to
+share their scanty portion with the wayfarer, wherever they are.
+
+When the time comes for changing quarters these wanderers find the
+move but little trouble. Their few belongings are soon collected and
+packed, and the tent itself made ready for transportation. Their
+animals are got together, and ere long the cavalcade is on the road.
+Often one poor beast will carry a fair proportion of the family--the
+mother and a child or two, for instance--in addition to a load of
+household goods, and bundles of fowls slung by their feet. At the side
+men and boys drive the flocks and herds, while as often as not the
+elder women-folk take a full share in the porterage of their property.
+To meet such a caravan is to feel one's self transported to Bible
+times, and to fancy Jacob going home from Padan Aram.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+CITY LIFE
+
+  "Seek the neighbour before the house,
+  And the companion before the road."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Few countries afford a better insight into typical Mohammedan life, or
+boast a more primitive civilization, than Morocco, preserved as it
+has been so long from western contamination. The patriarchal system,
+rendered more or less familiar to us by our Bibles, still exists in
+the homes of its people, especially those of the country-side; but
+Moorish city life is no less interesting or instructive. If an
+Englishman's house is his castle, the Mohammedan's house is a
+prison--not for himself, but for his women. Here is the radical
+difference between their life and ours. No one who has not mixed
+intimately with the people as one of themselves, lodging in their
+houses and holding constant intercourse with them, can form an
+adequate idea of the lack of home feeling, even in the happiest
+families.
+
+The moment you enter a town, however, the main facts are brought
+vividly before you on every hand. You pass along a narrow
+thoroughfare--maybe six, maybe sixteen feet in width--bounded by
+almost blank walls, in some towns whitewashed, in others bare mud, in
+which are no windows, lest their inmates might see or be seen. Even
+above the roofs of the majority of two-storied houses (for very many
+in the East consist but of ground floor), the wall is continued to
+form a parapet round the terrace. If you meet a woman in the street,
+she is enveloped from head to ankle in close disguise, with only a
+peep-hole for one or both eyes, unless too ugly and withered for such
+precautions to be needful.
+
+You arrive at the door of your friend's abode, a huge massive barrier
+painted brown or green--if not left entirely uncoloured--and studded
+all over with nails. A very prison entrance it appears, for the only
+other breaks in the wall above are slits for ventilation, all placed
+so high in the room as to be out of reach. In the warmer parts of
+the country you would see latticed boxes protruding from the
+walls--meshrabiyahs or drinking-places--shelves on which porous
+earthen jars may be placed to catch the slightest breeze, that the
+God-sent beverage to which Mohammedans are wisely restricted may be at
+all times cool. You are terrified, if a stranger, by the resonance of
+this great door, as you let the huge iron ring which serves as knocker
+fall on the miniature anvil beneath it. Presently your scattered
+thoughts are recalled by a chirping voice from within--
+
+"Who's that?"
+
+You recognize the tones as those of a tiny negress slave, mayhap a
+dozen years of age, and as you give your name you hear a patter of
+bare feet on the tiles within, but if you are a male, you are left
+standing out in the street. In a few moments the latch of the inner
+door is sedately lifted, and with measured tread you hear the slippers
+of your friend advancing.
+
+"Is that So-and-so?" he asks, pausing on the other side of the door.
+
+"It is, my Lord."
+
+"Welcome, then."
+
+The heavy bolt is drawn, and the door swings on its hinges during a
+volley and counter-volley of inquiries, congratulations, and thanks to
+God, accompanied by the most graceful bows, the mutual touching and
+kissing of finger-tips, and the placing of hands on hearts. As these
+exercises slacken, your host advances to the inner door, and possibly
+disappears through it, closing it carefully behind him. You hear his
+stentorian voice commanding, "_Amel trek!_"--"Make way!"--and this is
+followed by a scuffle of feet which tells you he is being obeyed. Not
+a female form will be in sight by the time your host returns to lead
+you in by the hand with a thousand welcomes, entreating you to make
+yourself at home.
+
+The passage is constructed with a double turn, so that you could not
+look, if you would, from the roadway into the courtyard which you now
+enter. If one of the better-class houses, the floor will be paved with
+marble or glazed mosaics, and in the centre will stand a bubbling
+fountain. Round the sides is a colonnade supporting the first-floor
+landing, reached by a narrow stairway in the corner. Above is the
+deep-blue sky, obscured, perhaps, by the grateful shade of fig or
+orange boughs, or a vine on a trellis, under which the people live.
+The walls, if not tiled, are whitewashed, and often beautifully
+decorated in plaster mauresques. In the centre of three of the four
+sides are huge horseshoe-arched doorways, two of which will probably
+be closed by cotton curtains. These suffice to ensure the strictest
+privacy within, as no one would dream of approaching within a couple
+of yards of a room with the curtain down, till leave had been asked
+and obtained.
+
+You are led into the remaining room, the guest-chamber, and the
+curtain over the entrance is lowered. You may not now venture to rise
+from your seat on the mattress facing the door till the women whom you
+hear emerging from their retreats have been admonished to withdraw
+again. The long, narrow apartment, some eight feet by twenty, in
+which you find yourself has a double bed at each end, for it is
+sleeping-room and sitting-room combined, as in Barbary no distinction
+is known between the two. However long you may remain, you see no
+female face but that of the cheery slave-girl, who kisses your hand so
+demurely as she enters with refreshments.
+
+Thus the husband receives his friends--perforce all males unless he be
+"on the spree,"--in apartments from which all women-folk are banished.
+Likewise the ladies of the establishment hold their festive gatherings
+apart. Most Moors, however, are too strict to allow much visiting
+among their women, especially if they be wealthy and have a good
+complexion, when they are very closely confined, except when allowed
+to visit the bath at certain hours set apart for the fair sex, or on
+Fridays to lay myrtle branches on the tombs of saints and departed
+relatives. Most of the ladies' calls are roof-to-roof visitations, and
+very nimble they are in getting over the low partition walls, even
+dragging a ladder up and down with them if there are high ones to
+be crossed. The reason is that the roofs, or rather terraces, are
+especially reserved for women-folk, and men are not even allowed to go
+up except to do repairs, when the neighbouring houses are duly warned;
+it is illegal to have a window overlooking another's roof. David's
+temptation doubtless arose from his exercise of a Royal exemption from
+this all-prevailing custom.
+
+But for their exceedingly substantial build, the Moorish women in the
+streets might pass for ghosts, for with the exception of their red
+Morocco slippers, their costume is white--wool-white. A long and heavy
+blanket of coarse homespun effectually conceals all features but
+the eyes, which are touched up with antimony on the lids, and are
+sufficiently expressive. Sometimes a wide-brimmed straw hat is
+jauntily clapped on; but here ends the plate of Moorish out-door
+fashions. In-doors all is colour, light and glitter.
+
+In matters of colour and flowing robes the men are not far behind, and
+they make up abroad for what they lack at home. No garment is more
+artistic, and no drapery more graceful, than that in which the wealthy
+Moor takes his daily airing, either on foot or on mule back. Beneath
+a gauze-like woollen toga--relic of ancient art--glimpses of luscious
+hue are caught--crimson and purple; deep greens and "afternoon sun
+colour" (the native name for a rich orange); salmons, and pale, clear
+blues. A dark-blue cloak, when it is cold, negligently but gracefully
+thrown across the shoulders, or a blue-green prayer-carpet folded
+beneath the arm, helps to set off the whole.
+
+_Chez lui_ our friend of the flowing garments is a king, with slaves
+to wait upon him, wives to obey him, and servants to fear his wrath.
+But his everyday reception-room is the lobby of his stables, where he
+sits behind the door in rather shabby garments attending to business
+matters, unless he is a merchant or shopkeeper, when his store serves
+as office instead.
+
+If all that the Teuton considers essential to home-life is really a
+_sine qua non_, then Orientals have no home-life. That is our way
+of looking upon it, judging in the most natural way, by our own
+standards. The Eastern, from his point of view, forms an equally poor
+idea of the customs which familiarity has rendered most dear to us.
+It is as difficult for us to set aside prejudice and to consider his
+systems impartially, as for him to do so with regard to our peculiar
+style. There are but two criteria by which the various forms of
+civilization so far developed by man may be fairly judged. The first
+is the suitability of any given form to the surroundings and exterior
+conditions of life of the nation adopting it, and the second is the
+moral or social effect on the community at large.
+
+Under the first head the unbiassed student of mankind will approve in
+the main of most systems adopted by peoples who have attained that
+artificiality which we call civilization. An exchange among Westerners
+of their time-honoured habits for those of the East would not be less
+beneficial or more incongruous than a corresponding exchange on the
+part of orientals. Those who are ignorant of life towards the sunrise
+commonly suppose that they can confer no greater benefit upon the
+natives of these climes than chairs, top-hats, and so on. Hardly could
+they be more mistaken. The Easterner despises the man who cannot eat
+his dinner without a fork or other implement, and who cannot tuck his
+legs beneath him, infinitely more than ill-informed Westerners despise
+petticoated men and shrouded women. Under the second head, however,
+a very different issue is reached, and one which involves not only
+social, but religious life, and consequently the creed on which this
+last is based. It is in this that Moorish civilization fails.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But list! what is that weird, low sound which strikes upon our ear and
+interrupts our musings? It is the call to prayer. For the fifth time
+to-day that cry is sounding--a warning to the faithful that the hour
+for evening devotions has come. See! yonder Moor has heard it too, and
+is already spreading his felt on the ground for the performance of his
+nightly orisons. Standing Mekka-wards, and bowing to the ground, he
+goes through the set forms used throughout the Mohammedan world. The
+majority satisfy their consciences by working off the whole five sets
+at once. But that cry! I hear it still; as one voice fails another
+carries on the strain in ever varying cadence, each repeating it to
+the four quarters of the heavens.
+
+It was yet early in the morning when the first call of the day burst
+on the stilly air; the sun had not then risen o'er the hill tops, nor
+had his first, soft rays dispelled the shadows of the night. Only the
+rustling of the wind was heard as it died among the tree tops--that
+wind which was a gale last night. The hurried tread of the night guard
+going on his last--perhaps his only--round before returning home, had
+awakened me from dreaming slumbers, and I was about to doze away into
+that sweetest of sleeps, the morning nap, when the distant cry broke
+forth. Pitched in a high, clear key, the Muslim confession of faith
+was heard; "La ilaha il' Al-lah; wa Mohammed er-rasool Al-l-a-h!"
+Could ever bell send thrill like that? I wot not.
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE, SHOWING FLAGSTAFFS OF
+FOREIGN LEGATIONS.]
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE WOMEN-FOLK
+
+  "Teach not thy daughter letters; let her not live on the roof."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Of no country in the world can it more truly be said than of the
+Moorish Empire that the social condition of the people may be measured
+by that of its women. Holding its women in absolute subjection, the
+Moorish nation is itself held in subjection, morally, politically,
+socially. The proverb heading this chapter, implying that women should
+not enjoy the least education or liberty, expresses the universal
+treatment of the weaker sex among Mohammedans. It is the subservient
+position of women which strikes the visitor from Europe more than all
+the oriental strangeness of the local customs or the local art and
+colour. Advocates of the restriction of the rights of women in our own
+land, and of the retention of disabilities unknown to men, who fail to
+recognize the justice and invariability of the principle of absolute
+equality in rights and liberty between the sexes, should investigate
+the state of things existing in Morocco, where the natural results of
+a fallacious principle have had free course.
+
+No welcome awaits the infant daughter, and few care to bear the evil
+news to the father, who will sometimes be left uninformed as to the
+sex of his child till the time comes to name her. It is rarely that
+girls are taught to read, or even to understand the rudiments of their
+religious system. Here and there a father who ranks in Morocco as
+scholarly, takes the trouble to teach his children at home, including
+his daughters in the class, but this is very seldom the case. Only
+those women succeed in obtaining even an average education in whom
+a thirst for knowledge is combined with opportunities in every way
+exceptional. In the country considerably more liberty is permitted
+than in the towns, and the condition of the Berber women has already
+been noted.
+
+Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, women attain a power quite
+abnormal under such conditions, usually the result of natural
+astuteness, combined--at the outset, at least--with a reasonable share
+of good looks, for when a woman is fairly astute she is a match for a
+man anywhere. A Mohammedan woman's place in life depends entirely on
+her personal attractions. If she lacks good looks, or is thin--which
+in Barbary, as in other Muslim countries, amounts to much the
+same thing--her future is practically hopeless. The chances being
+less--almost _nil_--of getting her easily off their hands by marriage,
+the parents feel they must make the best they can of her by setting
+her to work about the house, and she becomes a general drudge. If the
+home is a wealthy one, she may be relieved from this lot, and steadily
+ply her needle at minutely fine silk embroidery, or deck and paint
+herself in style, but, despised by her more fortunate sisters, she is
+even then hardly better off.
+
+If, on the other hand, a daughter is the beauty of the family, every
+one pays court to her in some degree, for there is no telling to what
+she may arrive. Perhaps, in Morocco, she is even thought good enough
+for the Sultan--plump, clear-skinned, bright-eyed. Could she but get a
+place in the Royal hareem, it would be in the hands of God to make her
+the mother of the coming sultan. But good looks alone will not suffice
+to take her there. Influence--a word translatable in the Orient by a
+shorter one, cash--must be brought to bear. The interest of a wazeer
+or two must be secured, and finally an interview must take place with
+one of the "wise women" who are in charge of the Imperial ladies. She,
+too, must be convinced by the eloquence of dollars, that His Majesty
+could not find another so graceful a creature in all his dominions.
+
+When permission is given to send her to Court, what joy there is,
+what bedecking, what congratulation! At last she is taken away with
+a palpitating heart, as she thinks of the possibilities before her,
+bundled up in her blanket and mounted on an ambling mule under
+strictest guard. On arrival at her new home her very beauty will make
+enemies, especially among those who have been there longest, and who
+feel their chances grow less as each new-comer appears. Perhaps one
+Friday the Sultan notices her as he walks in his grounds in the
+afternoon, and taking a fancy to her, decides to make her his wife. At
+once all jealousies are hidden, and each vies with the other to render
+her service, and assist the preparations for the coming event. For a
+while she will remain supreme--a very queen indeed--but only till her
+place is taken by another. If she has sons her chances are better; but
+unless she maintains her influence over her husband till her offspring
+are old enough to find a lasting place in his affections, she will
+probably one day be despatched to Tafilalt, beyond the Atlas by the
+Saharah, whence come those luscious dates. There every other man is a
+direct descendant of some Moorish king, as for centuries it has served
+as a sort of overflow for the prolific Royal house.
+
+As Islam knows no right of primogeniture, each sultan appoints his
+heir; so each wife strives to obtain this favour for her son, and
+often enough the story of Ishmael and Isaac repeats itself among these
+reputed descendants of Hagar. The usual way is for the pet son to
+be placed in some command, even before really able to discharge the
+duties of the post, which shall secure him supreme control on his
+father's death. The treasury and the army are the two great means
+to this end. Those possible rivals who have not been sent away to
+Tafilalt are as often as not imprisoned or put to death on some slight
+charge, as used to be the custom in England a few hundred years ago.
+
+This method of bequeathing rights which do not come under the strict
+scale for the division of property contained in the Koran is not
+confined to Royalty. It applies also to religious sanctity. An
+instance is that of the late Shareef, or Noble, of Wazzan, a feudal
+"saint" of great influence. His father, on his deathbed, appointed
+as successor to his title, his holiness, and the estates connected
+therewith, the son who should be found playing with a certain stick,
+a common toy of his favourite. But a black woman by whom he had a son
+was present, and ran out to place the stick in the hands of her own
+child, who thus inherited his father's honours. Some of the queens of
+Morocco have arrived at such power through their influence over their
+husbands that they have virtually ruled the Empire.
+
+Supposing, however, that the damsel who has at last found admittance
+to the hareem does not, after all, prove attractive to her lord, she
+will in all probability be sent away to make room for some one else.
+She will be bestowed upon some country governor when he comes
+to Court. Sometimes it is an especially astute one who is thus
+transferred, that she may thereafter serve as a spy on his actions.
+
+Though those before whom lies such a career as has been described will
+be comparatively few, none who can be considered beautiful are without
+their chances, however poor. Many well-to-do men prefer a poor wife
+to a rich one, because they can divorce her when tired of her without
+incurring the enmity of powerful relatives. Marriage is enjoined
+upon every Muslim as a religious duty, and, if able to afford it, he
+usually takes to himself his first wife before he is out of his teens.
+He is relieved of the choice of a partner which troubles some of us so
+much, for the ladies of his family undertake this for him: if they do
+not happen to know of a likely individual they employ a professional
+go-between, a woman who follows also the callings of pedlar and
+scandal-monger. It is the duty of this personage, on receipt of a
+present from his friends, to sing his praises and those of his family
+in the house of some beautiful girl, whose friends are thereby induced
+to give her a present to go and do likewise on their behalf in the
+house of so promising a youth. Personal negotiations will then
+probably take place between the lady friends, and all things proving
+satisfactory, the fathers or brothers of the might-be pair discuss the
+dowry and marriage-settlement from a strictly business point of view.
+
+At this stage the bride-elect will perhaps be thought not fat enough,
+and will have to submit to a course of stuffing. This consists in
+swallowing after each full meal a few small sausage-shaped boluses
+of flour, honey and butter, flavoured with anise-seed or something
+similar. A few months of this treatment give a marvellous rotundity to
+the figure, thus greatly increasing her charms in the native eye. But
+of these the bridegroom will see nothing, if not surreptitiously, till
+after the wedding, when she is brought to his house.
+
+By that time formal documents of marriage will have been drawn up,
+and signed by notaries before the kadi or judge, setting forth the
+contract--with nothing in it about love or honour,--detailing every
+article which the wife brings with her, including in many instances a
+considerable portion of the household utensils. Notwithstanding all
+this, she may be divorced by her husband simply saying, "I divorce
+thee!" and though she may claim the return of all she brought, she
+has no option but to go home again. He may repent and take her back a
+first and a second time, but after he has put her away three times he
+may not marry her again till after she has been wedded to some one
+else and divorced. Theoretically she may get a divorce from him, but
+practically this is a matter of great difficulty.
+
+The legal expression employed for the nuptial tie is one which conveys
+the idea of purchasing a field, to be put to what use the owner will,
+according him complete control. This idea is borne out to the full,
+and henceforward the woman lives for her lord, with no thought of
+independence or self-assertion. If he is poor, all work too hard for
+him that is not considered unwomanly falls to her share, hewing of
+wood and drawing of water, grinding of corn and making of bread,
+weaving and washing; but, strange to us, little sewing. When decidedly
+_passee_, she saves him a donkey in carrying wood and charcoal and
+grass to market, often bent nearly double under a load which she
+cannot lift, which has to be bound on her back. Her feet are bare,
+but her sturdy legs are at times encased in leather to ward off the
+wayside thorns. No longer jealously covered, she and her unmarried
+daughters trudge for many weary miles at dawn, her decidedly
+better-off half and a son or two riding the family mule. From this it
+is but a short step to helping the cow or donkey draw the plough, and
+this step is sometimes taken.
+
+Until a woman's good looks have quite disappeared, which
+generally occurs about the time they become grandmothers--say
+thirty,--intercourse of any sort with men other than her relatives
+of the first degree is strictly prohibited, and no one dare salute a
+woman in the street, even if her attendant or mount shows her to be
+a privileged relative. The slightest recognition of a man
+out-of-doors--or indeed anywhere--would be to proclaim herself one of
+that degraded outcaste class as common in Moorish towns as in Europe.
+
+Of companionship in wedlock the Moor has no conception, and his ideas
+of love are those of lust. Though matrimony is considered by the
+Muslim doctors as "half of Islam," its value in their eyes is purely
+as a legalization of license by the substitution of polygamy for
+polyandry. Slavishly bound to the observance of wearisome customs,
+immured in a windowless house with only the roof for a promenade,
+seldom permitted outside the door, and then most carefully wrapped in
+a blanket till quite unrecognizable, the life of a Moorish woman, from
+the time she has first been caught admiring herself in a mirror, is
+that of a bird encaged. Lest she might grow content with such a lot,
+she has before her eyes from infancy the jealousies and rivalries of
+her father's wives and concubines, and is early initiated into the
+disgusting and unutterable practices employed to gain the favour of
+their lord. Her one thought from childhood is man, and distance lends
+enchantment. A word, the interchange of a look, with a man is sought
+for by the Moorish maiden more than are the sighs and glances of a
+coy brunette by a Spaniard. Nothing short of the unexpurgated Arabian
+Nights' Entertainments can convey an adequate idea of what goes on
+within those whited sepulchres, the broad, blank walls of Moorish
+towns. A word with the mason who comes to repair the roof, or even a
+peep at the men at work on the building over the way, on whose account
+the roof promenade is forbidden, is eagerly related and expatiated
+on. In short, all the training a Moorish woman receives is sensual,
+a training which of itself necessitates most rigorous, though often
+unavailing, seclusion.
+
+Both in town and country intrigues are common, but intrigues which
+have not even the excuse of the blindness of love, whose only motive
+is animal passion. The husband who, on returning home, finds a pair
+of red slippers before the door of his wife's apartment, is bound to
+understand thereby that somebody else's wife or daughter is within,
+and he dare not approach. If he has suspicions, all he can do is
+to bide his time and follow the visitor home, should the route lie
+through the streets, or despatch a faithful slave-girl or jealous
+concubine on a like errand, should the way selected be over
+the roof-tops. In the country, under a very different set of
+conventionalities, much the same takes place.
+
+In a land where woman holds the degraded position which she does under
+Islam, such family circles as the Briton loves can never exist. The
+foundation of the home system is love, which seldom links the members
+of these families, most seldom of all man and wife. Anything else is
+not to be expected when they meet for the first time on their wedding
+night. To begin with, no one's pleasure is studied save that of
+the despotic master of the house. All the inmates, from the poor
+imprisoned wives down to the lively slave-girl who opens the door, all
+are there to serve his pleasure, and woe betide those who fail.
+
+The first wife may have a fairly happy time of it for a season, if her
+looks are good, and her ways pleasing, but when a second usurps her
+place, she is generally cast aside as a useless piece of furniture,
+unless set to do servile work. Although four legal wives are allowed
+by the Koran, it is only among the rich that so many are found, on
+account of the expense of their maintenance in appropriate style. The
+facility of divorce renders it much cheaper to change from time to
+time, and slaves are more economical. To the number of such women that
+a man may keep no limit is set; he may have "as many as his right hand
+can possess." Then, too, these do the work of the house, and if
+they bear their master no children, they may be sold like any other
+chattels.
+
+The consequence of such a system is that she reigns who for the time
+stands highest in her lord's favour, so that the strife and jealousies
+which disturb the peace of the household are continual. This rivalry
+is naturally inherited by the children, who side with their several
+mothers, which is especially the case with the boys. Very often the
+legal wife has no children, or only daughters, while quite a little
+troop of step-children play about her house. In these cases it is
+not uncommon for at least the best-looking of these youngsters to be
+taught to call her "mother," and their real parent "Dadda M'barkah,"
+or whatever her name may be. The offspring of wives and bondwomen
+stand on an equal footing before the law, in which Islam is still
+ahead of us.
+
+Such is the sad lot of women in Morocco. Religion itself being all but
+denied them in practice, whatever precept provides, it is with blank
+astonishment that the majority of them hear the message of those noble
+foreign sisters of theirs who have devoted their lives to showing them
+a better way. The greatest difficulty is experienced in arousing
+in them any sense of individuality, any feeling of personal
+responsibility, or any aspiration after good. They are so accustomed
+to be treated as cattle, that their higher powers are altogether
+dormant, all possibilities of character repressed. The welfare of
+their souls is supposed to be assured by union with a Muslim, and few
+know even how to pray. Instead of religion, their minds are saturated
+with the grossest superstition. If this be the condition of the free
+woman, how much worse that of the slave!
+
+The present socially degraded state in which the people live,
+and their apparent, though not real, incapacity for progress and
+development, is to a great extent the curse entailed by this
+brutalization of women. No race can ever rise above the level of its
+weaker sex, and till Morocco learns this lesson it will never rise.
+The boy may be the father of the man, but the woman is the mother of
+the boy, and so controls the destiny of the nation. Nothing can indeed
+be hoped for in this country in the way of social progress till the
+minds of the men have been raised, and their estimation of women
+entirely changed. Though Turkey was so long much in the position in
+which Morocco remains to-day, it is a noteworthy fact that as she
+steadily progresses in the way of civilization, one of the most
+apparent features of this progress is the growing respect for women,
+and the increasing liberty which is allowed them, both in public and
+private.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+SOCIAL VISITS[4]
+[4: Contributed by my wife.--B. M.]
+
+  "Every country its customs."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+"Calling" is not the common, every-day event in Barbary which it has
+grown to be in European society. The narrowed-in life of the Moorish
+woman of the higher classes, and the strict watch which is kept lest
+some other man than her husband should see her, makes a regular
+interchange of visits practically impossible. No doubt the Moorish
+woman would find them quite as great a burden as her western sister,
+and in this particular her ignorance may be greater bliss than her
+knowledge. In spite of the paucity of the "calls" she receives or
+pays, she is by no means ignorant of the life and character of her
+neighbours, thanks to certain old women (amongst them the professional
+match-makers) who go about as veritable gossip-mongers, and preserve
+their more cloistered sisters at least from dying of inanition. Thus
+the veriest trifles of house arrangement or management are thoroughly
+canvassed.
+
+Nor is it a privilege commonly extended to European women to be
+received into the hareems of the high-class and wealthy Moors,
+although lady missionaries have abundant opportunities for making
+the acquaintance of the women of the poorer classes, especially when
+medical knowledge and skill afford a key. But the wives of the rich
+are shut away to themselves, and if you are fortunate enough to be
+invited to call upon them, do not neglect your opportunity.
+
+You will find that the time named for calling is not limited to the
+afternoon. Thus it may be when the morning air is blowing fresh from
+the sea, and the sun is mounting in the heavens, that you are ushered,
+perhaps by the master of the house, through winding passages to the
+quarters of the women. If there is a garden, this is frequently
+reserved for their use, and jealously protected from view, and as in
+all cases they are supposed to have the monopoly of the flat roof, the
+courteous male foreigner will keep his gaze from wandering thither too
+frequently, or resting there too long.
+
+Do not be surprised if you are ushered into an apparently empty room,
+furnished after the Moorish manner with a strip of richly coloured
+carpet down the centre, and mattresses round the edge. If there is a
+musical box in the room, it will doubtless be set going as a pleasant
+accompaniment to conversation, and the same applies to striking or
+chiming clocks, for which the Moors have a strong predilection as
+_objets d'art_, rather than to mark the march of time.
+
+Of course you will not have forgotten to remove your shoes at the
+door, and will be sitting cross-legged and quite at ease on one of
+the immaculate mattresses, when the ladies begin to arrive from their
+retreats. As they step forward to greet you, you may notice their
+henna-stained feet, a means of decoration which is repeated on their
+hands, where it is sometimes used in conjunction with harkos, a black
+pigment with which is applied a delicate tracery giving the effect of
+black silk mittens. The dark eyes are made to appear more lustrous
+and almond-shaped by the application of antimony, and the brows are
+extended till they meet in a black line above the nose. The hair
+is arranged under a head-dress frequently composed of two
+bright-coloured, short-fringed silk handkerchiefs, knotted together
+above the ears, sometimes with the addition of an artificial flower:
+heavy ear-rings are worn, and from some of them there are suspended
+large silver hands, charms against the "evil eye." But undoubtedly the
+main feature of the whole costume is the kaftan or tunic of lustrous
+satin or silk, embroidered richly in gold and silver, of a colour
+showing to advantage beneath a white lace garment of similar shape.
+
+The women themselves realize that such fine feathers must be guarded
+from spot or stain, for they are in many cases family heir-looms, so
+after they have greeted you with a slight pressure of their finger
+tips laid upon yours, and taken their seats, tailor fashion, you will
+notice that each sedulously protects her knees with a rough Turkish
+towel, quite possibly the worse for wear. In spite of her love for
+personal decoration, evidenced by the strings of pearls with which her
+neck is entwined, and the heavy silver armlets, the well-bred Moorish
+woman evinces no more curiosity than her European sister about the
+small adornments of her visitor, and this is the more remarkable when
+you remember how destitute of higher interests is her life. She will
+make kindly and very interested inquiries about your relatives, and
+even about your life, though naturally, in spite of your explanations,
+it remains a sealed book to her. The average Moorish woman, however,
+shows herself as inquisitive as the Chinese.
+
+It is quite possible that you may see some of the children,
+fascinating, dark-eyed, soft-skinned morsels of humanity, with
+henna-dyed hair, which may be plaited in a pig-tail, the length of
+which is augmented by a strange device of coloured wool with which the
+ends of the hair are interwoven. But children of the better class in
+Morocco are accustomed to keep in the background, and unless invited,
+do not venture farther than the door of the reception room, and then
+with a becoming modesty. If any of the slave-wives enter, you will
+have an opportunity of noticing their somewhat quaint greeting of
+those whom they desire to honour, a kiss bestowed on each hand, which
+they raise to meet their lips, and upon each shoulder, before they,
+too, take their seats upon the mattresses.
+
+Probably you will not have long to wait before a slave-girl enters
+with the preparations for tea, orange-flower water, incense, a
+well-filled tray, a samovar, and two or three dishes piled high with
+cakes. If you are wise, you will most assuredly try the "gazelle's
+hoofs," so-called from their shape, for they are a most delicious
+compound of almond paste, with a spiciness so skilfully blended as to
+be almost elusive. If you have a sweet tooth, the honey cakes will be
+eminently satisfactory, but if your taste is plainer, you will enjoy
+the f'kakis, or dry biscuit. Three cups of their most fragrant tea is
+the orthodox allowance, but a Moorish host or hostess is not slow to
+perceive any disinclination, however slight, and will sometimes of his
+or her own accord pave your way to a courteous refusal, by appearing
+not over anxious either for the last cup.
+
+If you have already had an experience of dining in Morocco, the whole
+process of the tea-making will be familiar; if not, you will be
+interested to notice how the tea ("gunpowder") is measured in the
+hand, then emptied into the pot, washed, thoroughly sweetened, made
+with boiling water from the samovar, and flavoured with mint or
+verbena. If the master of the house is present, he is apt to keep the
+tea-making in his own hands, although he may delegate it to one of his
+wives, who thus becomes the hostess of the occasion.
+
+After general inquiries as to the purpose of your visit to Morocco,
+you may be asked if you are a tabeebah or lady doctor, the one
+profession which they know, by hearsay at least, is open to women. If
+you can claim ever so little knowledge, you will probably be asked for
+a prescription to promote an increase of adipose tissue, which they
+consider their greatest charm; perhaps a still harder riddle may be
+propounded, with the hope that its satisfactory solution may secure to
+them the wavering affection of their lord, and prevent alienation
+and, perhaps, divorce. Yet all you can say is, "In sha Allah" (If God
+will!)
+
+When you bid them farewell it will be with a keen realization of their
+narrow, cramped lives, and an appreciation of your own opportunities.
+Did you but know it, they too are full of sympathy for that poor,
+over-strained Nazarene woman, who is obliged to leave the shelter of
+her four walls, and face the world unveiled, unprotected, unabashed.
+
+And thus our proverb is proved true.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+A COUNTRY WEDDING
+
+  "Silence is at the door of consent."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Thursday was chosen as auspicious for the wedding, but the ceremonies
+commenced on the Sunday before. The first item on an extensive
+programme was the visit of the bride with her immediate female
+relatives and friends to the steam bath at the kasbah, a rarity in
+country villages, in this case used only by special favour. At the
+close of an afternoon of fun and frolic in the bath-house, Zoharah,
+the bride, was escorted to her home closely muffled, to keep her bed
+till the following day.
+
+Next morning it was the duty of Mokhtar, the bridegroom, to send his
+betrothed a bullock, with oil, butter and onions; pepper, salt and
+spices; charcoal and wood; figs, raisins, dates and almonds; candles
+and henna, wherewith to prepare the marriage feast. He had already,
+according to the custom of the country, presented the members of her
+family with slippers and ornaments. As soon as the bullock arrived it
+was killed amid great rejoicings and plenty of "tom-tom," especially
+as in the villages a sheep is usually considered sufficient provision.
+On this day Mokhtar's male friends enjoyed a feast in the afternoon,
+while in the evening the bride had to undergo the process of
+re-staining with henna to the accompaniment of music. The usual effect
+of this was somewhat counteracted, however, by the wails of those who
+had lost relatives during the year. On each successive night, when the
+drumming began, the same sad scene was repeated--a strange alloy in
+all the merriment of the wedding.
+
+On the Tuesday Zoharah received her maiden friends, children attending
+the reception in the afternoon, till the none too roomy hut was
+crowded to suffocation, and the bride exhausted, although custom
+prescribed that she should lie all day on the bed, closely wrapped
+up, and seen by none of her guests, from whom she was separated by a
+curtain. Every visitor had brought with her some little gift, such
+as handkerchiefs, candles, sugar, tea, spices and dried fruits, the
+inspection of which, when all were gone, was her only diversion that
+day. Throughout that afternoon and the next the neighbouring villages
+rivalled one another in peaceful sport and ear-splitting ululation, as
+though, within the memory of man, no other state of things had ever
+existed between them.
+
+Meanwhile Mokhtar had a more enlivening time with his bachelor
+friends, who, after feasting with him in the evening, escorted him,
+wrapped in a haik or shawl, to the house of his betrothed, outside
+which they danced and played for three or four hours by the light of
+lanterns. On returning home, much fun ensued round the supper-basin
+on the floor, while the palms of the whole company were stained with
+henna. Then their exuberant spirits found relief in dancing round
+with basins on their heads, till one of them dropped his basin, and
+snatching off Mokhtar's cloak as if for protection, was immediately
+chased by the others till supper was ready. After supper all lay back
+to sleep. For four days the bridegroom's family had thus to feast and
+amuse his male friends, while the ladies were entertained by that of
+the bride.
+
+On Wednesday came the turn of the married women visitors, whose
+bulky forms crowded the hut, if possible more closely than had their
+children. Gossip and scandal were now retailed with a zest and
+minuteness of detail not permissible in England, while rival belles
+waged wordy war in shouts which sounded like whispers amid the din.
+The walls of the hut were hung with the brightest coloured garments
+that could be borrowed, and the gorgeous finery of the guests made
+up a scene of dazzling colour. Green tea and cakes were first passed
+round, and then a tray for offerings for the musicians, which, when
+collected, were placed on the floor beneath a rich silk handkerchief.
+Presents were also made by all to the bride's mother, on behalf of her
+daughter, who sat in weary state on the bed at one end of the room. As
+each coin was put down for the players, or for the hostess, a portly
+female who acted as crier announced the sum contributed, with a prayer
+for blessing in return, which was in due course echoed by the chief
+musician. At the bridegroom's house a similar entertainment was held,
+the party promenading the lanes at dusk with torches and lanterns,
+after which they received from the bridegroom the powder for next
+day's play.
+
+[Illustration: A MOORISH CARAVAN.]
+
+Thursday opened with much-needed rest for Zoharah and her mother till
+the time came for the final decking; but Mokhtar had to go to the bath
+with his bachelor friends, and on returning to his newly prepared
+dwelling, to present many of them with small coins, receiving in
+return cotton handkerchiefs and towels, big candles and matches. Then
+all sat down to a modest repast, for which he had provided raisins and
+other dried fruits, some additional fun being provided by a number of
+the married neighbours, who tried in vain to gain admission, and in
+revenge made off with other people's shoes, ultimately returning them
+full of dried fruits and nuts. Then Mokhtar's head was shaved to the
+accompaniment of music, and the barber was feasted, while the box in
+which the bride was to be fetched was brought in, and decked with
+muslin curtains, surmounted by a woman's head-gear, handkerchiefs, and
+a sash. The box was about two and a half feet square, and somewhat
+more in height, including its pointed top.
+
+After three drummings to assemble the friends, a procession was formed
+about a couple of hours after sunset, lit by torches, lanterns
+and candles, led by the powder-players, followed by the mounted
+bridegroom, and behind him the bridal box lashed on the back of a
+horse; surrounded by more excited powder-players, and closed by the
+musicians. As they proceeded by a circuitous route the women shrieked,
+the powder spoke, till all were roused to a fitting pitch of fervour,
+and so reached the house of the bride. "Behold, the bridegroom
+cometh!"
+
+Presently the "litter" was deposited at the door, Mokhtar remaining a
+short distance off, while the huge old negress, who had officiated so
+far as mistress of the ceremonies, lifted Zoharah bodily off the
+bed, and placed her, crying, in the cage. In this a loaf of bread, a
+candle, some sugar and salt had been laid by way of securing good luck
+in her new establishment. Her valuables, packed in another box, were
+entrusted to the negress, who was to walk by her side, while strong
+arms mounted her, and lashed the "amariah" in its place. As soon as
+the procession had reformed, the music ceased, and a Fatihah[5] was
+solemnly recited. Then they started slowly, as they had come, Mokhtar
+leaving his bride as she was ushered, closely veiled, from her box
+into her new home, contenting himself with standing by the side and
+letting her pass beneath his arm in token of submission. The door was
+then closed, and the bridegroom took a turn with his friends while
+the bride should compose herself, and all things be made ready by the
+negress. Later on he returned, and being admitted, the newly married
+couple met at last.
+
+  [5: The beautiful opening prayer of the Koran.]
+
+Next day they were afforded a respite, but on Saturday the bride had
+once more to hold a reception, and on the succeeding Thursday came the
+ceremony of donning the belt, a long, stiff band of embroidered silk,
+folded to some six inches in width, wound many times round. Standing
+over a dish containing almonds, raisins, figs, dates, and a couple of
+eggs, in the presence of a gathering of married women, one of whom
+assisted in the winding, two small boys adjusted the sash with all due
+state, after which a procession was formed round the house, and the
+actual wedding was over. Thus commenced a year's imprisonment for
+the bride, as it was not till she was herself a mother that she was
+permitted to revisit her old home.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE BAIRNS
+
+  "Every monkey is a gazelle to its mother."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+If there is one point in the character of the Moor which commends
+itself above others to the mind of the European it is his love for his
+children. But when it is observed that in too many cases this love
+is unequally divided, and that the father prefers his sons to his
+daughters, our admiration is apt to wane. Though by no means an
+invariable rule, this is the most common outcome of the pride felt in
+being the father of a son who may be a credit to the house, and
+the feeling that a daughter who has to be provided for is an added
+responsibility.
+
+All is well when the two tiny children play together on the floor, and
+quarrel on equal terms, but it is another thing when little Hamed goes
+daily to school, and as soon as he has learned to read is brought home
+in triumph on a gaily dressed horse, heading a procession of shouting
+schoolfellows, while his pretty sister Fatimah is fast developing into
+a maid-of-all-work whom nobody thinks of noticing. And the distinction
+widens when Hamed rides in the "powder-play," or is trusted to keep
+shop by himself, while Fatimah is closely veiled and kept a prisoner
+indoors, body and mind unexercised, distinguishable by colour and
+dress alone from Habibah, the ebony slave-girl, who was sold like a
+calf from her mother's side. Yes, indeed, far different paths lie
+before the two play-mates, but while they are treated alike, let us
+take a peep at them in their innocent sweetness.
+
+Their mother, Ayeshah, went out as usual one morning to glean in the
+fields, and in the evening returned with two bundles upon her back;
+the upper one was to replace crowing Hamed in his primitive cradle: it
+was Fatimah. Next day, as Ayeshah set off to work again, she left her
+son kicking up his heels on a pile of blankets, howling till he should
+become acquainted with his new surroundings, and a little skinny mite
+lay peacefully sleeping where he had hitherto lived. No mechanical
+bassinette ever swung more evenly, and no soft draperies made a better
+cot than the sheet tied up by the corners to a couple of ropes, and
+swung across the room like a hammock. The beauty of it was that,
+roll as he would, even active Hamed had been safe in it, and all his
+energies only served to rock him off to sleep again, for the sides
+almost met at the top. Yet he was by no means dull, for through a hole
+opposite his eye he could watch the cows and goats and sheep as they
+wandered about the yard, not to speak of the cocks and hens that
+roamed all over the place.
+
+At last the time came when both the wee ones could toddle, and Ayeshah
+carried them no more to the fields astride her hips or slung over her
+shoulders in a towel. They were then left to disport themselves
+as they pleased--which, of course, meant rolling about on the
+ground,--their garments tied up under their arms, leaving them bare
+from the waist. No wonder that sitting on cold and wet stones had
+threatened to shrivel up their thin legs, which looked wonderfully
+shaky at best.
+
+It seems to be a maxim among the Moors that neither head, arms nor
+legs suffer in any way from exposure to cold or heat, and the mothers
+of the poorer classes think nothing of carrying their children slung
+across their backs with their little bare pates exposed to the sun and
+rain, or of allowing their lower limbs to become numbed with cold as
+just described. The sole recommendation of such a system is that only
+the fittest--in a certain sense--survive. Of the attention supposed to
+be bestowed in a greater or less degree upon all babes in our own land
+they get little. One result, however, is satisfactory, for they early
+give up yelling, as an amusement which does not pay, and no one is
+troubled to march them up and down for hours when teething. Yet it is
+hardly surprising that under such conditions infant mortality is
+very great, and, indeed, all through life in this doctorless land
+astonishing numbers are carried off by diseases we should hardly
+consider dangerous.
+
+Beyond the much-enjoyed dandle on Father's knee, or the cuddle with
+Mother, delights are few in Moorish child-life, and of toys such as we
+have they know nothing, whatever they may find to take their place.
+But when a boy is old enough to amuse himself, there is no end to the
+mischief and fun he will contrive, and the lads of Barbary are as fond
+of their games as we of ours. You may see them racing about after
+school hours at a species of "catch-as-catch-can," or playing football
+with their heels, or spinning tops, sometimes of European make. Or,
+dearest sport of all, racing a donkey while seated on its far hind
+quarters, with all the noise and enjoyment we threw into such pastimes
+a few years ago. To look at the merry faces of these lively youths,
+and to hear their cheery voices, is sufficient to convince anyone of
+their inherent capabilities, which might make them easily a match for
+English lads if they had their chances.
+
+But what chances have they? At the age of four or five they are
+drafted off to school, not to be educated, but to be taught to read
+by rote, and to repeat long chapters of the Koran, if not the whole
+volume, by heart, hardly understanding what they read. Beyond this
+little is taught but the four great rules of arithmetic in the figures
+which we have borrowed from them, but worked out in the most primitive
+style. In "long" multiplication, for instance, they write every figure
+down, and "carry" nothing, so that a much more formidable addition
+than need be has to conclude the calculation. But they have a quaint
+system of learning their multiplication tables by mnemonics, in which
+every number is represented by a letter, and these being made up into
+words, are committed to memory in place of the figures.
+
+A Moorish school is a simple affair. No forms, no desks, few books.
+A number of boards about the size of foolscap, painted white on both
+sides, on which the various lessons--from the alphabet to portions of
+the Koran--are plainly written in large black letters; a switch or
+two, a pen and ink and a book, complete the furnishings. The dominie,
+squatted tailor-fashion on the ground, like his pupils, who may number
+from ten to thirty, repeats the lesson in a sonorous sing-song voice,
+and is imitated by the little urchins, who accompany their voices by
+a rocking to and fro, which occasionally enables them to keep time. A
+sharp application of the switch is wonderfully effectual in re-calling
+wandering attention. Lazy boys are speedily expelled.
+
+On the admission of a pupil the parents pay some small sum,
+varying according to their means, and every Wednesday, which is a
+half-holiday, a payment is made from a farthing to twopence. New
+moons and feasts are made occasions for larger payments, and count
+as holidays, which last ten days on the occasion of the greater
+festivals. Thursday is a whole holiday, and no work is done on Friday
+morning, that being the Mohammedan Sabbath, or at least "meeting day,"
+as it is called.
+
+At each successive stage of the scholastic career the schoolmaster
+parades the pupils one by one, if at all well-to-do, in the style
+already alluded to, collecting gifts from the grateful parents to
+supplement the few coppers the boys bring to school week by week. If
+they intend to become notaries or judges, they go on to study at Fez,
+where they purchase the key of a room at one of the colleges, and read
+to little purpose for several years. In everything the Koran is the
+standard work. The chapters therein being arranged without any idea
+of sequence, only according to length,--with the exception of the
+Fatihah,--the longest at the beginning and the shortest at the end,
+after the first the last is learned, and so backwards to the second.
+
+Most of the lads are expected to do something to earn their bread at
+quite an early age, in one way or another, even if not called on to
+assist their parents in something which requires an old head on young
+shoulders. Such youths being so early independent, at least in a
+measure, mix with older lads, who soon teach them all the vices they
+have not already learned, in which they speedily become as adept as
+their parents.
+
+Those intended for a mercantile career are put into the shop at twelve
+or fourteen, and after some experience in weighing-out and bargaining
+by the side of a father or elder brother, they are left entirely to
+themselves, being supplied with goods from the main shop as they need
+them.
+
+It is by this means that the multitudinous little box-shops which
+are a feature of the towns are enabled to pay their way, this being
+rendered possible by an expensive minutely retail trade. The average
+English tradesman is a wholesale dealer compared to these petty
+retailers, and very many middle-class English households take in
+sufficient supplies at a time to stock one of their shops. One reason
+for this is the hand-to-mouth manner in which the bulk of the people
+live, with no notion of thrift. They earn their day's wage, and if
+anything remains above the expense of living, it is invested in gay
+clothing or jimcracks. Another reason is that those who could afford
+it have seldom any member of their household whom they can trust as
+housekeeper, of which more anon.
+
+It seems ridiculous to send for sugar, tea, etc., by the ounce or
+less; candles, boxes of matches, etc., one by one; needles, thread,
+silk, in like proportion, even when cash is available, but such is the
+practice here, and there is as much haggling over the price of one
+candle as over that of an expensive article of clothing. Often quite
+little children, who elsewhere would be considered babes, are sent out
+to do the shopping, and these cheapen and bargain like the sharpest
+old folk, with what seems an inherent talent.
+
+Very little care is taken of even the children of the rich, and they
+get no careful training. The little sons and daughters of quite
+important personages are allowed to run about as neglected and dirty
+as those of the very poor. Hence the practice of shaving the head
+cannot be too highly praised in a country where so much filth abounds,
+and where cutaneous diseases of the worst type are so frequent. It is,
+however, noteworthy that while the Moors do not seem to consider it
+any disgrace to be scarred and covered with disgusting sores, the
+result of their own sins and those of their fathers, they are greatly
+ashamed of any ordinary skin disease on the head. But though the
+shaven skulls are the distinguishing feature of the boys in the house,
+where their dress closely resembles that of their sisters, the girls
+may be recognized by their ample locks, often dyed to a fashionable
+red with henna; yet they, too, are often partially shaved, sometimes
+in a fantastic style. It may be the hair in front is cut to a fringe
+an inch long over the forehead, and a strip a quarter of an inch wide
+is shaved just where the visible part of a child's comb would come,
+while behind this the natural frizzy or straight hair is left, cut
+short, while the head is shaved again round the ears and at the back
+of the neck. To perform these operations a barber is called in, who
+attends the family regularly. Little boys of certain tribes have long
+tufts left hanging behind their ears, and occasionally they also have
+their heads shaved in strange devices.
+
+Since no attempt is made to bring the children up as useful members
+of the community at the age when they are most susceptible, they are
+allowed to run wild. Thus, bright and tractable as they are naturally,
+no sooner do the lads approach the end of their 'teens, than a marked
+change comes over them, a change which even the most casual observer
+cannot fail to notice. The hitherto agreeable youths appear washed-out
+and worthless. All their energy has disappeared, and from this time
+till a second change takes place for the worse, large numbers drag out
+a weary existence, victims of vices which hold them in their grip,
+till as if burned up by a fierce but short-lived fire, they ultimately
+become seared and shattered wrecks. From this time every effort is
+made to fan the flickering or extinguished flame, till death relieves
+the weary mortal of the burden of his life.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+"DINING OUT"[6]
+  [6: Contributed by my wife.--B. M.]
+
+  "A good supper is known by its odour."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+There are no more important qualifications for the diner-out in
+Morocco than an open mind and a teachable spirit. Then start with a
+determination to forget European table manners, except in so far as
+they are based upon consideration for the feelings of others, setting
+yourself to do in Morocco as the Moors do, and you cannot fail to gain
+profit and pleasure from your experience.
+
+One slight difficulty arises from the fact that it is somewhat hard to
+be sure at any time that you have been definitely invited to partake
+of a Moorish meal. A request that you would call at three o'clock in
+the afternoon, mid-way between luncheon and dinner, would seem an
+unusual hour for a heavy repast, yet that is no guarantee that you may
+not be expected to partake freely of an elaborate feast.
+
+If you are a member of the frail, fair sex, the absence of all other
+women will speedily arouse you to the fact that you are in an oriental
+country, for in Morocco the sons and chief servants, though they
+eat after the master of the house, take precedence of the wives and
+women-folk, who eat what remains of the various dishes, or have
+specially prepared meals in their own apartments. For the same reason
+you need not be surprised if you are waited upon after the men of
+the party, though this order is sometimes reversed where the host
+is familiar with European etiquette with regard to women. If a man,
+perhaps a son will wait upon you.
+
+The well-bred Moor is quite as great a stickler for the proprieties as
+the most conservative Anglo-Saxon, and you will do well if you show
+consideration at the outset by removing your shoes at the door of the
+room, turning a deaf ear to his assurance that such a proceeding is
+quite unnecessary on your part. A glance round the room will make it
+clear that your courtesy will be appreciated, for the carpet on the
+floor is bright and unmarked by muddy or dusty shoes (in spite of the
+condition of the streets outside), and the mattresses upon which you
+are invited to sit are immaculate in their whiteness.
+
+Having made yourself comfortable, you will admire the arrangements
+for the first item upon the programme. The slave-girl appears with a
+handsome tray, brass or silver, upon which there are a goodly number
+of cups or tiny glass tumblers, frequently both, of delicate pattern
+and artistic colouring, a silver tea-pot, a caddy of green tea, a
+silver or glass bowl filled with large, uneven lumps of sugar, which
+have been previously broken off from the loaf, and a glass containing
+sprigs of mint and verbena. The brass samovar comes next, and having
+measured the tea in the palm of his right hand, and put it into the
+pot, the host proceeds to pour a small amount of boiling water upon
+it, which he straightway pours off, a precaution lest the Nazarenes
+should have mingled some colouring matter therewith. He then adds
+enough sugar to ensure a semi-syrupy result, with some sprigs of
+peppermint, and fills the pot from the samovar. A few minutes later he
+pours out a little, which he tastes himself, frequently returning the
+remainder to the pot, although the more Europeanized consume the whole
+draught. If the test has been satisfactory, he proceeds to fill the
+cups or glasses, passing them in turn to the guests in order of
+distinction. To make a perceptible noise in drawing it from the glass
+to the mouth is esteemed a delicate token of appreciation.
+
+The tray is then removed; the slave in attendance brings a chased
+brass basin and ewer of water, and before the serious portion of the
+meal begins you are expected to hold out your right hand just to
+cleanse it from any impurities which may have been contracted in
+coming. Orange-flower water in a silver sprinkler is then brought in,
+followed by a brass incense burner filled with live charcoal, on which
+a small quantity of sandal-wood or other incense is placed, and the
+result is a delicious fragrance which you are invited to waft by a
+circular motion of your hands into your hair, your ribbons and your
+laces, while your Moorish host finds the folds of his loose garments
+invaluable for the retention of the spicy perfume.
+
+A circular table about eight inches high is then placed in the centre
+of the guests; on this is placed a tray with the first course of the
+dinner, frequently puffs of delicate pastry fried in butter over a
+charcoal fire, and containing sometimes meat, sometimes a delicious
+compound of almond paste and cinnamon. This, being removed, is
+followed by a succession of savoury stews with rich, well-flavoured
+gravies, each with its own distinctive spiciness, but all excellently
+cooked. The host first dips a fragment of bread into the gravy, saying
+as he does so, "B'ism Illah!" ("In the name of God!"), which the
+guests repeat, as each follows suit with a sop from the dish.
+
+There is abundant scope for elegance of gesture in the eating of the
+stews, but still greater opportunity when the _piece de resistance_ of
+a Moorish dinner, the dish of kesk'soo, is brought on. This kesk'soo
+is a small round granule prepared from semolina, which, having been
+steamed, is served like rice beneath and round an excellent stew,
+which is heaped up in the centre of the dish. With the thumb and
+two first fingers of the right hand you are expected to secure some
+succulent morsel from the stew,--meat, raisins, onions, or vegetable
+marrow,--and with it a small quantity of the kesk'soo. By a skilful
+motion of the palm the whole is formed into a round ball, which is
+thrown with a graceful curve of hand and wrist into the mouth. Woe
+betide you if your host is possessed by the hospitable desire to make
+one of these boluses for you, for he is apt to measure the cubic
+content of your mouth by that of his own, and for a moment your
+feelings will be too deep for words; but this is only a brief
+discomfort, and you will find the dish an excellent one, for Moorish
+cooks never serve tough meat.
+
+If your fingers have suffered from contact with the kesk'soo, it is
+permitted to you to apply your tongue to each digit in turn in the
+following order; fourth (or little finger), second, thumb, third,
+first; but a few moments later the slave appears, and after bearing
+away the table with the remains of the feast gives the opportunity for
+a most satisfactory ablution. In this case you are expected to use
+soap, and to wash both hands, over which water is poured three times.
+If you are at all acquainted with Moorish ways, you will not fail at
+the same time to apply soap and water to your mouth both outwardly and
+inwardly, being careful to rinse it three times with plenty of noise,
+ejecting the water behind your hand into the basin which is held
+before you.
+
+Orange-flower water and incense now again appear, and you may be
+required to drink three more glasses of refreshing tea, though this is
+sometimes omitted at the close of a repast. Of course "the feast of
+reason and the flow of soul" have not been lacking, and you have been
+repeatedly assured of your welcome, and invited to partake beyond
+the limit of human possibility, for the Moor believes you can pay
+no higher compliment to the dainties he has provided than by their
+consumption.
+
+For a while you linger, reclining upon the mattress as gracefully as
+may be possible for a tyro, with your arm upon a pile of many-coloured
+cushions of embroidered leather or cloth. Then, after a thousand
+mutual thanks and blessings, accompanied by graceful bowings and
+bendings, you say farewell and step to the door, where your slippers
+await you, and usher yourself out, not ill-satisfied with your
+initiation into the art of dining-out in Barbary.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+FRUIT-SELLERS.]
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+DOMESTIC ECONOMY
+
+  "Manage with bread and butter till God sends the jam."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+If the ordinary regulations of social life among the Moors differ
+materially from those in force among ourselves, how much more so must
+the minor details of the housekeeping when, to begin with, the husband
+does the marketing and keeps the keys! And the consequential Moor
+does, indeed, keep the keys, not only of the stores, but also often of
+the house. What would an English lady think of being coolly locked
+in a windowless house while her husband went for a journey, the
+provisions for the family being meanwhile handed in each morning
+through a loophole by a trusty slave left as gaoler? That no surprise
+whatever would be elicited in Barbary by such an arrangement speaks
+volumes. Woman has no voice under Mohammed's creed.
+
+Early in the morning let us take a stroll into the market, and see how
+things are managed there. Round the inside of a high-walled enclosure
+is a row of the rudest of booths. Over portions of the pathway,
+stretching across to other booths in the centre--if the market is a
+wide one--are pieces of cloth, vines on trellis, or canes interwoven
+with brushwood. As the sun gains strength these afford a most grateful
+shade, and during the heat of the day there is no more pleasant place
+for a stroll, and none more full of characteristic life. In the wider
+parts, on the ground, lie heaps two or three feet high of mint,
+verbena and lemon thyme, the much-esteemed flavourings for the
+national drink--green-tea syrup--exhaling a most delicious fragrance.
+It is early summer: the luscious oranges are not yet over, and in
+tempting piles they lie upon the stalls made of old packing-cases,
+many with still legible familiar English and French inscriptions.
+Apricots are selling at a halfpenny or less the pound, and plums and
+damsons, not to speak of greengages, keep good pace with them in price
+and sales. The bright tints of the lettuces and other fresh green
+vegetables serve to set off the rich colours of the God-made
+delicacies, but the prevailing hue of the scene is a restful
+earth-brown, an autumnal leaf-tint; the trodden ground, the sun-dried
+brush-wood of the booths and awnings, and the wet-stained wood-work.
+No glamour of paint or gleam of glass destroys the harmony of the
+surroundings.
+
+But with all the feeling of cool and repose, rest there is not, or
+idleness, for there is not a brisker scene in an oriental town than
+its market-place. Thronging those narrow pathways come the rich and
+poor--the portly merchant in his morning cloak, a spotless white wool
+jellab, with a turban and girth which bespeak easy circumstances; the
+labourer in just such a cloak with the hood up, but one which was
+always brown, and is now much mended; the slave in shirt and drawers,
+with a string round his shaven pate; the keen little Jew boy pushing
+and bargaining as no other could; the bearded son of Israel, with
+piercing eyes, and his daughter with streaming hair; lastly, the widow
+or time-worn wife of the poor Mohammedan, who must needs market for
+herself. Her wrinkled face and care-worn look tell a different tale
+from the pompous self-content of the merchant by her side, who drives
+as hard a bargain as she does. In his hand he carries a palmetto-leaf
+basket, already half full, as with slippered feet he carefully picks
+his way among puddles and garbage.
+
+"Good morning, O my master; God bless thee!" exclaims the stall-keeper
+as his customer comes in sight.
+
+Said el Faraji has to buy cloth of the merchant time and time again,
+so makes a point of pleasing one who can return a kindness.
+
+"No ill, praise God; and thyself, O Said?" comes the cheery reply;
+then, after five minutes' mutual inquiry after one another's
+household, horses and other interests, health and general welfare,
+friend Said points out the daintiest articles on his stall, and in the
+most persuasive of tones names his "lowest price."
+
+All the while he is sitting cross-legged on an old box, with his
+scales before him.
+
+"What? Now, come, I'll give you _so_ much," says the merchant, naming
+a price slightly less than that asked.
+
+"Make it _so_ much," exclaims Said, even more persuasively than
+before, as he "splits the difference."
+
+"Well, I'll give you _so_ much," offering just a little less than this
+sum. "I can't go above that, you know."
+
+"All right, but you always get the better of me, you know. That is
+just what I paid. Anyhow, don't forget that when I want a new cloak,"
+and he proceeds to measure out the purchases, using as weights two or
+three bits of old iron, a small cannon-ball, some bullets, screws,
+coins, etc. "Go with prosperity, my friend; and may God bless thee!"
+
+"And may God increase thy prosperity, and grant to thee a blessing!"
+rejoins the successful man, as he proceeds to another stall.
+
+By the time he reaches home his basket will contain meat, fish,
+vegetables, fruit and herbs, besides, perhaps, a loaf of sugar, and a
+quarter of a pound of tea, with supplies of spices and some candles.
+Bread they make at home.
+
+The absurdly minute quantities of what we should call "stores," which
+a man will purchase who could well afford to lay in a supply, seem
+very strange to the foreigner; but it is part of his domestic
+economy--or lack of that quality. He will not trust his wife with more
+than one day's supply at a time, and to weigh things out himself each
+morning would be trouble not to be dreamed of; besides which it would
+deprive him of the pleasure of all that bargaining, not to speak of
+the appetite-promoting stroll, and the opportunities for gossip with
+acquaintances which it affords. In consequence, wives and slaves are
+generally kept on short allowances, if these are granted at all.
+
+An amusing incident which came under my notice in Tangier shows how
+little the English idea of the community of interest of husband and
+wife is appreciated here. A Moorish woman who used to furnish milk to
+an English family being met by the lady of the house one morning, when
+she had brought short measure, said, pointing to the husband in the
+distance, "_You_ be my friend; take this" (slipping a few coppers
+worth half a farthing into her hand), "don't tell _him_ anything about
+it. I'll share the profit with you!" She probably knew from experience
+that the veriest trifle would suffice to buy over the wife of a Moor.
+
+Instructions having been given to his wife or wives as to what is to
+be prepared, and how--he probably pretends to know more of the art
+culinary than he does--the husband will start off to attend to his
+shop till lunch, which will be about noon. Then a few more hours in
+the shop, and before the sun sets a ride out to his garden by the
+river, returning in time for dinner at seven, after which come talk,
+prayers, and bed, completing what is more or less his daily round. His
+wives will probably be assisted in the house-work--or perhaps entirely
+relieved of it--by a slave-girl or two, and the water required will be
+brought in on the shoulders of a stalwart negro in skins or
+barrels filled from some fountain of good repute, but of certain
+contamination.
+
+In cooking the Moorish women excel, as their first-rate productions
+afford testimony. It is the custom of some Europeans to systematically
+disparage native preparations, but such judges have been the victims
+either of their own indiscretion in eating too many rich things
+without the large proportion of bread or other digestible nutriment
+which should have accompanied them, or of the essays of their own
+servants, usually men without any more knowledge of how their mothers
+prepare the dishes they attempt to imitate than an ordinary English
+working man would have of similar matters. Of course there are certain
+flavourings which to many are really objectionable, but none can be
+worse to us than any preparation of pig would be to a Moor. Prominent
+among such is the ancient butter which forms the basis of much
+of their spicings, butter made from milk, which has been
+preserved--usually buried a year or two--till it has acquired the
+taste, and somewhat the appearance, of ripe Gorgonzola. Those who
+commence by trying a very slight flavour of this will find the fancy
+grow upon them, and there is no smell so absolutely appetizing as the
+faintest whiff of anything being cooked in this butter, called "smin."
+
+Another point, much misunderstood, which enables them to cook the
+toughest old rooster or plough-ox joint till it can be eaten readily
+with the fingers, is the stewing in oil or butter. When the oil itself
+is pure and fresh, it imparts no more taste to anything cooked in it
+than does the fresh butter used by the rich. Articles plunged into
+either at their high boiling point are immediately browned and
+enclosed in a kind of case, with a result which can be achieved in
+no other manner than by rolling in paste or clay, and cooking amid
+embers. Moorish pastry thus cooked in oil is excellent, flaky and
+light.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE NATIVE "MERCHANT"
+
+  "A turban without a beard shows lack of modesty."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Haj Mohammed Et-Tajir, a grey-bearded worthy, who looks like a prince
+when he walks abroad, and dwells in a magnificent house, sits during
+business hours on a diminutive tick and wool mattress, on the floor
+of a cob-webbed room on one side of an ill-paved, uncovered, dirty
+court-yard. Light and air are admitted by the door in front of which
+he sits, while the long side behind him, the two ends, and much of the
+floor, are packed with valuable cloths, Manchester goods, silk, etc.
+Two other sides of the court-yard consist of similar stores, one
+occupied by a couple of Jews, and the other by another fine-looking
+Haj, his partner.
+
+Enters a Moor, in common clothing, market basket in hand. He
+advances to the entrance of the store, and salutes the owner
+respectfully--"Peace be with thee, Uncle Pilgrim!"
+
+"With thee be peace, O my master," is the reply, and the new-comer is
+handed a cushion, and motioned to sit on it at the door. "How doest
+thou?" "How fares thy house?" "How dost thou find thyself this
+morning?" "Is nothing wrong with thee?" These and similar inquiries
+are showered by each on the other, and an equal abundance is returned
+of such replies as, "Nothing wrong;" "Praise be to God;" "All is
+well."
+
+When both cease for lack of breath, after a brief pause the new
+arrival asks, "Have you any of that 'Merican?" (unbleached calico).
+The dealer puts on an indignant air, as if astonished at being asked
+such a question. "_Have_ I? There is no counting what I have of it,"
+and he commences to tell his beads, trying to appear indifferent as to
+whether his visitor buys or not. Presently the latter, also anxious
+not to appear too eager, exclaims, "Let's look at it." A piece is
+leisurely handed down, and the customer inquires in a disparaging
+tone, "How much?"
+
+"Six and a half," and the speaker again appears absorbed in
+meditation.
+
+"Give thee six," says the customer, rising as if to go.
+
+"Wait, thou art very dear to us; to thee alone will I give a special
+price, six and a quarter."
+
+"No, no," replies the customer, shaking his finger before his face, as
+though to emphasize his refusal of even such special terms.
+
+"Al-l-lah!" piously breathes the dealer, as he gazes abstractedly out
+of the door, presently adding in the same devout tone, "There is no
+god but God! God curse the infidels!"
+
+"Come, I'll give thee six and an okea"--of which latter six and a half
+go to the 'quarter' peseta or franc of which six were offered.
+
+"No, six and five is the lowest I can take."
+
+The might-be purchaser made his last offer in a half-rising posture,
+and is now nearly erect as he says, "Then I can't buy; give it me for
+six and three," sitting down as though the bargain were struck.
+
+"No, I never sell that quality for less than six and four, and it's a
+thing I make no profit on; you know that."
+
+The customer doesn't look as though he did, and rising, turns to go.
+
+"Send a man to carry it away," says the dealer.
+
+"At six and three!"
+
+"No, at six and four!" and the customer goes away.
+
+"Send the man, it is thine," is hastily called after him, and in a few
+moments he returns with a Jewish porter, and pays his "six and three."
+
+So our worthy trader does business all day, and seems to thrive on it.
+Occasionally a friend drops in to chat and not to buy, and now and
+then there is a beggar; here is one.
+
+An aged crone she is, of most forbidding countenance, swathed in rags,
+it is a wonder she can keep together. She leans on a formidable staff,
+and in a piteous voice, "For the face of the Lord," and "In the name
+of my Lord Slave-of-the-Able" (Mulai Abd el Kader, a favourite saint),
+she begs something "For God." One copper suffices to induce her to
+call down untold blessings on the head of the donor, and she trudges
+away in the mud, barefooted, repeating her entreaties till they sound
+almost a wail, as she turns the next corner. But beggars who can be
+so easily disposed of at the rate of a hundred and ninety-five for a
+shilling can hardly be considered troublesome.
+
+A respectable-looking man next walks in with measured tread, and
+leaning towards us, says almost in a whisper--
+
+"O Friend of the Prophet, is there anything to-day?"
+
+"Nothing, O my master," is the courteously toned reply, for the
+beggar appears to be a shareef or noble, and with a "God bless thee,"
+disappears.
+
+A miserable wretch now turns up, and halfway across the yard begins to
+utter a whine which is speedily cut short by a curt "God help thee!"
+whereat the visitor turns on his heel and is gone.
+
+With a confident bearing an untidy looking figure enters a moment
+later, and after due salaams inquires for a special kind of cloth.
+
+"Call to-morrow morning," he is told, for he has not the air of a
+purchaser, and he takes his departure meekly.
+
+A creaky voice here breaks in from round the corner--
+
+"Hast thou not a copper for the sake of the Lord?"
+
+"No, O my brother."
+
+After a few minutes another female comes on the scene, exhibiting
+enough of her face to show that it is a mass of sores.
+
+"Only a trifle, in the name of my lord Idrees," she cries, and turns
+away on being told, "God bring it!"
+
+Then comes a policeman, a makhazni, who seats himself amid a shower of
+salutations--
+
+"Hast thou any more of those selhams" (hooded cloaks)?
+
+"Come on the morrow, and thou shalt see."
+
+The explanation of this answer given by the "merchant" is that he sees
+such folk only mean to bother him for nothing.
+
+And this appears to be the daily routine of "business," though a good
+bargain must surely be made some time to have enabled our friend to
+acquire all the property he has, but so far as an outsider can judge,
+it must be a slow process. Anyhow, it has heartily tired the writer,
+who has whiled away the morning penning this account on a cushion on
+one side of the shop described. Yet it is a fair specimen of what has
+been observed by him on many a morning in this sleepy land.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+SHOPPING[7]
+  [7: Contributed by my wife.--B. M.]
+
+  "Debt destroys religion."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+If any should imagine that time is money in Morocco, let them
+undertake a shopping expedition in Tangier, the town on which, if
+anywhere in Morocco, occidental energy has set its seal. Not that one
+such excursion will suffice, unless, indeed, the purchaser be of the
+class who have more money than wit, or who are absolutely at the mercy
+of the guide and interpreter who pockets a commission upon every
+bargain he brings about. For the ordinary mortal, who wants to spread
+his dollars as far as it is possible for dollars to go, a tour of
+inspection, if not two or three, will be necessary before such a feat
+can be accomplished. To be sure, there is always the risk that between
+one visit and another some coveted article may find its way into the
+hands of a more reckless, or at least less thrifty, purchaser, but
+that risk may be safely taken.
+
+[Illustration: _Albert, Photo., Tunis._
+
+A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER.]
+
+There is something very attractive in the small cupboard-like shops
+of the main street. Their owners sit cross-legged ready for a chat,
+looking wonderfully picturesque in cream-coloured jellab, or in
+semi-transparent white farrajiyah, or tunic, allowing at the throat
+a glimpse of saffron, cerise, or green from the garment beneath. The
+white turban, beneath which shows a line of red Fez cap, serves as a
+foil to the clear olive complexion and the dark eyes and brows, while
+the faces are in general goodly to look upon, except where the lines
+have grown coarse and sensuous.
+
+So strong is the impression of elegant leisure, that it is difficult
+to imagine that these men expect to make a living from their trade,
+but they are more than willing to display their goods, and will
+doubtless invite you to a seat upon the shop ledge--where your feet
+dangle gracefully above a rough cobble-stone pavement--and sometimes
+even to a cup of tea. One after another, in quick succession, carpets
+of different dimensions (but all oblong, for Moorish rooms are narrow
+in comparison with their length) are spread out in the street, and the
+shop-owners' satellite, by reiterated cries of "Balak! Balak!" (Mind
+out! Mind out!) accompanied by persuasive pushes, keeps off the
+passing donkeys. A miniature crowd of interested spectators will
+doubtless gather round you, making remarks upon you and your
+purchases. Charmed by the artistic colourings, rich but never garish,
+you ask the price, and if you are wise you will immediately offer just
+half of that named. It is quite probable that the carpets will be
+folded up and returned to their places upon the shelf at the back of
+the shop, but it is equally probable that by slow and tactful yielding
+upon either side, interspersed with curses upon your ancestors and
+upon yourself, the bargain will be struck about halfway between the
+two extremes.
+
+The same method must be adopted with every article bought, and if you
+purpose making many purchases in the same shop, you will be wise to
+obtain and write down the price quoted in each case as "the _very_
+lowest," and make your bid for the whole at once, lest, made cunning
+by one experience of your tactics, the shopman should put on a wider
+marginal profit in every other instance to circumvent you. It is also
+well for the purchaser to express ardent admiration in tones of calm
+indifference, for the Moor has quick perceptions, and though he may
+not understand English, when enthusiasm is apparent, he has the key to
+the situation, and refuses to lower his prices.
+
+Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to avoid a warm expression of
+admiration at the handsome brass trays, the Morocco leather bags into
+which such charming designs of contrasting colours are skilfully
+introduced, or the graceful utensils of copper and brass with which
+a closer acquaintance was made when you were the guest at a Moorish
+dinner. Many and interesting are the curious trifles which may be
+purchased, but they will be found in the greatest profusion in the
+bazaars established for the convenience of Nazarene tourists, where
+prices will frequently be named in English money, for an English
+"yellow-boy" is nowhere better appreciated than in Tangier.
+
+In the shops in the sok, or market-place, prices are sometimes more
+moderate, and there you may discover some of the more distinctively
+Moorish articles, which are brought in from the country; nor can there
+be purchased a more interesting memento than a flint-lock, a pistol,
+or a carved dagger, all more or less elaborately decorated, such as
+are carried by town or country Moor, the former satisfied with a
+dagger in its chased sheath, except at the time of "powder-play," when
+flint-locks are in evidence everywhere.
+
+But in the market-place there are exposed for sale the more perishable
+things of Moorish living. Some of the small cupboards are grocers'
+shops, where semolina for the preparation of kesk'soo, the national
+dish, may be purchased, as well as candles for burning at the saints'
+shrines, and a multitude of small necessaries for the Moorish
+housewives. In the centre of the market sit the bread-sellers, for the
+most part women whose faces are supposed to be religiously kept veiled
+from the gaze of man, but who are apt to let their haiks fall back
+quite carelessly when only Europeans are near. An occasional glimpse
+may sometimes be thus obtained of a really pretty face of some lass on
+the verge of womanhood.
+
+Look at that girl in front of us, stooping over the stall of a vendor
+of what some one has dubbed "sticky nastinesses," her haik lightly
+thrown back; her bent form and the tiny hand protruding at her side
+show that she is not alone, her little baby brother proving almost
+as much as she can carry. Her teeth are pearly white; her hair and
+eyebrows are jet black; her nut-brown cheeks bear a pleasant smile,
+and as she stretches out one hand to give the "confectioner" a few
+coppers, with the other clutching at her escaping garment, and moves
+on amongst the crowd, we come to the conclusion that if not fair, she
+is at least comely.
+
+The country women seated on the ground with their wares form a nucleus
+for a dense crowd. They have carried in upon their backs heavy loads
+of grass for provender, or firewood and charcoal which they sell in
+wholesale quantities to the smaller shopkeepers, who purchase from
+other countryfolk donkey loads of ripe melons and luscious black figs.
+
+There is a glorious inconsequence in the arrangement of the wares.
+Here you may see a pile of women's garments exposed for sale, and not
+far away are sweet-sellers with honey-cakes and other unattractive
+but toothsome delicacies. If you can catch a glimpse of the native
+brass-workers busily beating out artistic designs upon trays of
+different sizes and shapes, do not fail to seize the opportunity
+of watching them. You may form one in the ring gathered round the
+snake-charmer, or join the circle which listens open-mouthed and with
+breathless attention to that story-teller, who breaks off at a most
+critical juncture in his narrative to shake his tambourine, declaring
+that so close-fisted an audience does not deserve to hear another
+word, much less the conclusion of his fascinating tale.
+
+But before you join either party, indeed before you mingle at all
+freely in the crowd upon a Moorish market-place, it is well to
+remember that the flea is a common domestic insect, impartial in the
+distribution of his favours to Moor, Jew and Nazarene, and is in fact
+not averse to "fresh fields and pastures new."
+
+If you are clad in perishable garments, beware of the water-carrier
+with his goat-skin, his tinkling bell, his brass cup, and his strange
+cry. Beware, too, of the strings of donkeys with heavily laden packs,
+and do not scruple to give them a forcible push out of your way.
+If you are mounted upon a donkey yourself, so much the better; by
+watching the methods of your donkey-boy to ensure a clear passage for
+his beast, you will realize that dwellers in Barbary are not strangers
+to the spirit of the saying, "Each man for himself, and the de'il take
+the hindmost."
+
+Yet they are a pleasant crowd to be amongst, in spite of insect-life,
+water-carriers, and bulky pack-saddles, and there is an exhaustless
+store of interest, not alone in the wares they have for sale, and in
+the trades they ply, but more than all in the faces, so often keen and
+alert, and still more often bright and smiling.
+
+One typical example of Moorish methods of shopping, and I have done.
+Among those who make their money by trade, you may find a man who
+spends his time in bringing the would-be purchaser into intimate
+relations with the article he desires to obtain. He has no shop of his
+own, but may often be recognized as an interested spectator of some
+uncompleted bargain. Having discovered your dwelling-place, he
+proceeds to "bring the mountain to Mohammed," and you will doubtless
+be confronted in the court-yard of your hotel by the very article for
+which you have been seeking in vain. Of course he expects a good price
+which shall ensure him a profit of at least fifty per cent. upon his
+expenditure, but he too is open to a bargain, and a little skilful
+pointing out of flaws in the article which he has brought for
+purchase, in a tone of calm and supreme indifference, is apt to ensure
+a very satisfactory reduction of price in favour of the shopper in
+Barbary.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+A SUNDAY MARKET
+
+  "A climb with a friend is a descent."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+One of the sights of Tangier is its market. Sundays and Thursdays,
+when the weather is fine, see the disused portion of the Mohammedan
+graveyard outside _Bab el Fahs_ (called by the English Port St.
+Catherine, and now known commonly as the Sok Gate) crowded with buyers
+and sellers of most quaint appearance to the foreign eye, not to
+mention camels, horses, mules, and donkeys, or the goods they have
+brought. Hither come the sellers from long distances, trudging all the
+way on foot, laden or not, according to means, all eager to exchange
+their goods for European manufacturers, or to carry home a few more
+dollars to be buried with their store.
+
+Sunday is no Sabbath for the sons of Israel, so the money-changers are
+doing a brisk trade from baskets of filthy native bronze coin, the
+smallest of which go five hundred to the shilling, and the largest
+three hundred and thirty-three! Hard by a venerable rabbi is leisurely
+cutting the throats of fowls brought to him for the purpose by the
+servants or children of Jews, after the careful inspection enjoined
+by the Mosaic law. The old gentleman has the coolest way of doing it
+imaginable; he might be only peeling an orange for the little girl who
+stands waiting. After apparently all but turning the victim inside
+out, he twists back its head under its wings, folding these across its
+breast as a handle, and with his free hand removing his razor-like
+knife from his mouth, nearly severs its neck and hands it to the
+child, who can scarcely restrain its struggles except by putting her
+foot on it, while he mechanically wipes his blade and prepares to
+despatch another.
+
+Eggs and milk are being sold a few yards off by country women squatted
+on the ground, the former in baskets or heaps on the stones, the
+latter in uninviting red jars, with a round of prickly-pear leaf for a
+stopper, and a bit of palmetto rope for a handle.
+
+By this time we are in the midst of a perfect Babel--a human
+maelstrom. In a European crowd one is but crushed by human beings;
+here all sorts of heavily laden quadrupeds, with packs often four feet
+across, come jostling past, sometimes with the most unsavoury loads.
+We have just time to observe that more country women are selling
+walnuts, vegetables, and fruits, on our left, at the door of what used
+to be the tobacco and hemp fandak, and that native sweets, German
+knick-knacks and Spanish fruit are being sold on our right, as amid
+the din of forges on either side we find ourselves in the midst of the
+crush to get through the narrow gate.
+
+Here an exciting scene ensues. Continuous streams of people and beasts
+of burden are pushing both ways; a drove of donkeys laden with rough
+bundles of cork-wood for the ovens approaches, the projecting ends
+prodding the passers-by; another drove laden with stones tries to pass
+them, while half a dozen mules and horses vainly endeavour to pass
+out. A European horseman trots up and makes the people fly, but not so
+the beasts, till he gets wedged in the midst, and must bide his time
+after all. Meanwhile one is almost deafened by the noise of
+shouting, most of it good-humoured. "Zeed! Arrah!" vociferates
+the donkey-driver. "Balak!" shouts the horseman. "Balak! Guarda!"
+(pronounced warda) in a louder key comes from a man who is trying to
+pilot a Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary through the
+gate, with Her Excellency on his arm.
+
+At last we seize a favourable opportunity and are through. Now we can
+breathe. In front of us, underneath an arch said to have been built
+to shelter the English guard two hundred years ago (which is very
+unlikely, since the English destroyed the fortifications of this
+gate), we see the native shoeing-smiths hacking at the hoofs of
+horses, mules, and donkeys, in a manner most extraordinary to us, and
+nailing on triangular plates with holes in the centre--though most
+keep a stock of English imported shoes and nails for the fastidious
+Nazarenes. Spanish and Jewish butchers are driving a roaring trade at
+movable stalls made of old boxes, and the din is here worse than ever.
+
+Now we turn aside into the vegetable market, as it is called, though
+as we enter we are almost sickened by the sight of more butchers'
+stalls, and further on by putrid fish. This market is typical. Low
+thatched booths of branches and canes are the only shops but those of
+the butchers, the arcade which surrounds the interior of the building
+being chiefly used for stores. Here and there a filthy rag is
+stretched across the crowded way to keep the sun off, and anon we have
+to stop to avoid some drooping branch. Fruit and vegetables of all
+descriptions in season are sold amid the most good-humoured haggling.
+
+Emerging from this interesting scene by a gate leading to the outer
+sok, we come to one quite different in character. A large open space
+is packed with country people, their beasts and their goods, and
+towns-people come out to purchase. Women seem to far outnumber
+the men, doubtless on account of their size and their conspicuous
+head-dress. They are almost entirely enveloped in white haiks,
+over the majority of which are thrown huge native sun-hats made of
+palmetto, with four coloured cords by way of rigging to keep the brim
+extended. When the sun goes down these are to be seen slung across the
+shoulders instead. Very many of the women have children slung on their
+backs, or squatting on their hips if big enough. This causes them to
+stoop, especially if some other burden is carried on their shoulders
+as well.
+
+[Illustration: THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER.
+
+_Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._]
+
+On our right are typical Moorish shops,--grocers', if you please,--in
+which are exposed to view an assortment of dried fruits, such as nuts,
+raisins, figs, etc., with olive and argan oil, candles, tea, sugar,
+and native soap and butter. Certainly of all the goods that butter is
+the least inviting; the soap, though the purest of "soft," looks a
+horribly repulsive mass, but the butter which, like it, is streaked
+all over with finger marks, is in addition full of hairs. Similar
+shops are perched on our left, where old English biscuit-boxes are
+conspicuous.
+
+Beyond these come slipper- and clothes-menders. The former are at work
+on native slippers of such age that they would long ago have been
+thrown away in any less poverty-stricken land, transforming them into
+wearable if unsightly articles, after well soaking them in earthen
+pans. Just here a native "medicine man" dispenses nostrums of doubtful
+efficacy, and in front a quantity of red Moorish pottery is exposed
+for sale. This consists chiefly of braziers for charcoal and kesk'soo
+steamers for stewing meat and vegetables as well.
+
+A native _cafe_ here attracts our attention. Under the shade of a
+covered way the kahwaji has a brazier on which he keeps a large kettle
+of water boiling. A few steps further on we light upon the sellers of
+native salt. This is in very large crystals, heaped in mule panniers,
+from which the dealers mete it out in wooden measures. It comes from
+along the beach near Old Tangier, where the heaps can be seen from the
+town, glistening in the sunlight. Ponds are dug along the shore, in
+which sea water is enclosed by miniature dykes, and on evaporating
+leaves the salt.
+
+Pressing on with difficulty through a crowd of horses, mules and
+donkeys, mostly tethered by their forefeet, we reach some huts in
+front of which are the most gorgeous native waistcoats exposed for
+sale, together with Manchester goods, by fat, ugly old women of
+a forbidding aspect. Further on we come upon "confectioners." A
+remarkable peculiarity of the tables on which the sweets are being
+sold in front of us is the total absence of flies, though bees
+abound, in spite of the lazy whisking of the sweet-seller. The sweets
+themselves consist of red, yellow and white sticks of what Cousin
+Jonathan calls "candy;" almond and gingelly rock, all frizzling in the
+sun. A small basin, whose contents resemble a dark plum-pudding full
+of seeds, contains a paste of the much-lauded hasheesh, the opiate of
+Morocco, which, though contraband, and strictly prohibited by Imperial
+decrees, is being freely purchased in small doses.
+
+On the opposite side of the way some old Spaniards are selling a kind
+of coiled-up fritter by the yard, swimming in oil. Then we come to a
+native restaurant. Trade does not appear very brisk, so we shall not
+interrupt it by pausing for a few moments to watch the cooking. In a
+tiny lean-to of sticks and thatch two men are at work. One is cutting
+up liver and what would be flead if the Moors ate pigs, into pieces
+about the size of a filbert. These the other threads on skewers in
+alternate layers, three or four of each. Having rolled them in a basin
+of pepper and salt, they are laid across an earthen pot resembling a
+log scooped out, like some primaeval boat. In the bottom of the hollow
+is a charcoal fire, which causes the khotban, as they are called, to
+give forth a most appetizing odour--the only thing tempting about them
+after seeing them made. Half loaves of native bread lie ready to hand,
+and the hungry passer-by is invited to take an _al fresco_ meal for
+the veriest trifle. Another sort of kabab--for such is the name of
+the preparation--is being made from a large wash-basin full of ready
+seasoned minced meat, small handfuls of which the jovial _chef_
+adroitly plasters on more skewers, cooking them like the others.
+
+Squatted on the ground by the side of this "bar" is a retailer of
+ripened native butter, "warranted five years old." This one can
+readily smell without stooping; it is in an earthenware pan, and looks
+very dirty, but is weighed out by the ounce as very precious after
+being kept so long underground.
+
+Opposite is the spot where the camels from and for the interior load
+and unload. Some forty of these ungainly but useful animals are here
+congregated in groups. At feeding-time a cloth is spread on the
+ground, on which a quantity of barley is poured in a heap. Each animal
+lies with its legs doubled up beneath it in a manner only possible to
+camels, with its head over the food, munching contentedly. In one of
+the groups we notice the driver beating his beast to make it kneel
+down preparatory to the removal of its pack, some two hundred-weight
+and a half. After sundry unpleasant sounds, and tramping backwards and
+forwards to find a comfortable spot, the gawky creature settles down
+in a stately fashion, packing up his stilt-like legs in regular
+order, limb after limb, till he attains the desired position. A short
+distance off one of them is making hideous noises by way of protest
+against the weight of the load being piled upon him, threatening to
+lose his temper, and throw a little red bladder out of his mouth,
+which, hanging there as he breathes excitedly, makes a most unpleasing
+sound.
+
+Here one of the many water-carriers who have crossed our path does so
+again, tinkling his little bell of European manufacture, and we turn
+to watch him as he gives a poor lad to drink. Slung across his back is
+the "bottle" of the East--a goat-skin with the legs sewn up. A long
+metal spout is tied into the neck, and on this he holds his left
+thumb, which he uses as a tap by removing it to aim a long stream of
+water into the tin mug in his right hand. Two bright brass cups cast
+and engraved in Fez hang from a chain round his neck, but these are
+reserved for purchasers, the urchin who is now enjoying a drink
+receiving it as charity. Tinkle, tinkle, goes the bell again, as
+the weary man moves on with his ever-lightening burden, till he is
+confronted by another wayfarer who turns to him to quench his thirst.
+As these skins are filled indiscriminately from wells and tanks, and
+cleaned inside with pitch, the taste must not be expected to satisfy
+all palates; but if hunger is the best sauce for food, thirst is an
+equal recommendation for drink.
+
+A few minutes' walk across a cattle-market brings us at last to the
+English church, a tasteful modern construction in pure Moorish style,
+and banishing the thoughts of our stroll, we join the approaching
+group of fellow-worshippers, for after all it is Sunday.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+PLAY-TIME
+
+  "According to thy shawl stretch thy leg."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Few of us realize to what an extent our amusements, pastimes,
+and recreations enter into the formation of our individual, and
+consequently of our national, character. It is therefore well worth
+our while to take a glance at the Moor at play, or as near play as he
+ever gets. The stately father of a family must content himself, as his
+years and flesh increase, with such amusements as shall not entail
+exertion. By way of house game, since cards and all amusements
+involving chance are strictly forbidden, chess reigns supreme, and
+even draughts--with which the denizens of the coffee-house, where he
+would not be seen, disport themselves--are despised by him. In Shiraz,
+however, the Sheikh ul Islam, or chief religious authority, declared
+himself shocked when I told him how often I had played this game with
+Moorish theologians, whereupon ensued a warm discussion as to whether
+it was a game of chance. At last I brought this to a satisfactory
+close by remarking that as his reverence was ignorant even of the
+rules of the game,--and therefore no judge, since he had imagined it
+to be based on hazard,--he at least was manifestly innocent of it.
+
+The connection between chess and Arabdom should not be forgotten,
+especially as the very word with which it culminates, "checkmate," is
+but a corruption of the Arabic "sheikh mat"--"chief dead." The king of
+games is, however, rare on the whole, requiring too much concentration
+for a weary or lazy official, or a merchant after a busy day. Their
+method of playing does not materially differ from ours, but they
+play draughts with very much more excitement and fun. The jocular
+vituperation which follows a successful sally, and the almost
+unintelligible rapidity with which the moves are made, are as novel to
+the European as appreciated by the natives.
+
+Gossip, the effervescence of an idle brain, is the prevailing pastime,
+and at no afternoon tea-table in Great Britain is more aimless talk
+indulged in than while the cup goes round among the Moors. The ladies,
+with a more limited scope, are not far behind their lords in this
+respect. Otherwise their spare time is devoted to minutely fine
+embroidery. This is done in silk on a piece of calico or linen tightly
+stretched on a frame, and is the same on both sides; in this way
+are ornamented curtains, pillow-cases, mattress-covers, etc. It is,
+nevertheless, considered so far a superfluity that few who have not
+abundant time to spare trouble about it, and the material decorated is
+seldom worth the labour bestowed thereon.
+
+The fact is that in these southern latitudes as little time as
+possible is passed within doors, and for this reason we must seek the
+real amusements of the people outside. When at home they seem to
+think it sufficient to loll about all the day long if not at work,
+especially if they have an enclosed flower-garden, beautifully wild
+and full of green and flowers, with trickling, splashing water. I
+exclude, of course, all feasts and times when the musicians come,
+but I must not omit mention of dancing. Easterns think their western
+friends mad to dance themselves, when they can so easily get others
+to do it for them, so they hire a number of women to go through all
+manner of quaint--too often indecent--posings and wrigglings before
+them, to the tune of a nasal chant, which, aided by fiddles, banjos,
+and tambourines, is being drawled out by the musicians. Some of these
+seemingly inharmonious productions are really enjoyable when one gets
+into the spirit of the thing.
+
+At times the Moors are themselves full of life and vigour, especially
+in the enjoyment of what may be called the national sport of
+"powder-play," not to speak of boar-hunting, hawking, rabbit-chasing,
+and kindred pastimes. Just as in the days of yore their forefathers
+excelled in the use of the spear, brandishing and twirling it as
+easily as an Indian club or singlestick, so they excel to-day in the
+exercise of their five-foot flint-locks, performing the most dexterous
+feats on horseback at full gallop.
+
+Here is such a display about to commence. It is the feast of
+Mohammed's birthday, and the market-place outside the gate, so changed
+since yesterday, is crowded with spectators; men and boys in gay, but
+still harmonious, colours, decked out for the day, and women shrouded
+in their blankets, plain wool-white. An open space is left right
+through the centre, up a gentle slope, and a dozen horsemen are
+spurring and holding in their prancing steeds at yonder lower end.
+At some unnoticed signal they have started towards us. They gallop
+wildly, the beat of their horses' hoofs sounding as iron hail on the
+stony way. A cloud of dust flies upward, and before we are aware of it
+they are abreast of us--a waving, indistinguishable mass of flowing
+robes, of brandished muskets, and of straining, foaming steeds. We can
+just see them tossing their guns in the air, and then a rider, bolder
+than the rest, stands on his saddle, whirling round his firearm aloft
+without stopping, while another swings his long weapon underneath his
+horse, and seizes it upon the other side. But now they are in line
+again, and every gun is pointed over the right, behind the back, the
+butt grasped by the twisted left arm, and the lock by the right
+under the left armpit. In this constrained position they fire at an
+imaginary foe who is supposed to have appeared from ambush as they
+pass. Immediately the reins--which have hitherto been held in the
+mouth, the steed guided by the feet against his gory flanks--are
+pulled up tight, throwing the animal upon his haunches, and wheeling
+him round for a sober walk back.
+
+This is, in truth, a practice or drill for war, for such is the method
+of fighting in these parts. A sortie is made to seek the hidden foe,
+who may start up anywhere from the ravines or boulders, and who must
+be aimed at instanter, before he regains his cover, while those who
+have observed him must as quickly as possible get beyond his range to
+reload and procure reinforcements.
+
+The only other active sports of moment, apart from occasional horse
+races, are football and fencing, indulged in by boys. The former is
+played with a stuffed leather ball some six or eight inches across,
+which is kicked into the air with the back of the heel, and caught
+in the hands, the object being to drive it as high as possible. The
+fencing is only remarkable for its free and easy style, and the
+absence of hilts and guards.
+
+Yet there are milder pastimes in equal favour, and far more in
+accordance with the fancy of southerners in warm weather, such as
+watching a group of jugglers or snake-charmers, or listening to a
+story-teller. These are to be met with in the market-place towards
+the close of hot and busy days, when the wearied bargainers gather in
+groups to rest before commencing the homeward trudge. The jugglers are
+usually poor, the production of fire from the mouth, of water from an
+empty jar, and so on, forming stock items. But often fearful realities
+are to be seen--men who in a frenzied state catch cannon balls upon
+their heads, blood spurting out on every side; or, who stick skewers
+through their legs. These are religious devotees who live by such
+performances. From the public _raconteur_ the Moor derives the
+excitement the European finds in his novel, or the tale "to be
+continued in our next," and it probably does him less harm.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+THE STORY-TELLER
+
+  "Gentleman without reading, dog without scent."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+The story-teller is, _par excellence_, the prince of Moorish
+performers. Even to the stranger unacquainted with the language the
+sight of the Arab bard and his attentive audience on some erstwhile
+bustling market at the ebbing day is full of interest--to the student
+of human nature a continual attraction. After a long trudge from home,
+commenced before dawn, and a weary haggling over the most worthless of
+"coppers" during the heat of the day, the poor folk are quite ready
+for a quiet resting-time, with something to distract their minds and
+fill them with thoughts for the homeward way. Here have been fanned
+and fed the great religious and political movements which from time
+to time have convulsed the Empire, and here the pulse of the nation
+throbs. In the cities men lead a different life, and though
+the townsfolk appreciate tales as well as any, it is on these
+market-places that the wandering troubadour gathers the largest
+crowds.
+
+Like public performers everywhere, a story-teller of note always
+goes about with regular assistants, who act as summoners to his
+entertainment, and as chorus to his songs. They consist usually of a
+player on the native fiddle, another who keeps time on a tambourine,
+and a third who beats a kind of earthenware drum with his fingers.
+Less pretentious "professors" are content with themselves manipulating
+a round or square tambourine or a two-stringed fiddle, and to many
+this style has a peculiar charm of its own. Each pause, however
+slight, is marked by two or three sharp beats on the tightly stretched
+skin, or twangs with a palmetto leaf plectrum, loud or soft, according
+to the subject of the discourse at that point. The dress of this
+class--the one most frequently met with--is usually of the plainest,
+if not of the scantiest; a tattered brown jellab (a hooded woollen
+cloak) and a camel's-hair cord round the tanned and shaven skull are
+the garments which strike the eye. Waving bare arms and sinewy legs,
+with a wild, keen-featured face, lit up by flashing eyes, complete the
+picture.
+
+This is the man from whom to learn of love and fighting, of beautiful
+women and hairbreadth escapes, the whole on the model of the "Thousand
+Nights and a Night," of which versions more or less recognizable
+may now and again be heard from his lips. Commencing with plenty
+of tambourine, and a few suggestive hints of what is to follow, he
+gathers around him a motley audience, the first comers squatting in a
+circle, and later arrivals standing behind. Gradually their excitement
+is aroused, and as their interest grows, the realistic semi-acting and
+the earnest mien of the performer rivet every eye upon him. Suddenly
+his wild gesticulations cease at the entrancing point. One step
+more for liberty, one blow, and the charming prize would be in the
+possession of her adorer. Now is the time to "cash up." With a pious
+reference to "our lord Mohammed--the prayer of God be on him, and
+peace,"--and an invocation of a local patron saint or other equally
+revered defunct, an appeal is made to the pockets of the Faithful "for
+the sake of Mulai Abd el Kader"--"Lord Slave-of-the-Able." Arousing as
+from a trance, the eager listeners instinctively commence to feel in
+their pockets for the balance from the day's bargaining; and as every
+blessing from the legion of saints who would fill the Mohammedan
+calendar if there were one is invoked on the cheerful giver, one
+by one throws down his hard-earned coppers--one or two--and as if
+realizing what he has parted with, turns away with a long-drawn breath
+to untether his beasts, and set off home.
+
+But exciting as are these acknowledged fictions, specimens are so
+familiar to most readers from the pages of the collection referred to
+that much more interest will be felt in an attempt to reproduce one
+of a higher type, pseudo-historical, and alleged to be true. Such
+narratives exhibit much of native character, and shades of thought
+unencountered save in daily intercourse with the people. Let us,
+therefore, seize the opportunity of a visit from a noted _raconteur_
+and reputed poet to hear his story. Tame, indeed, would be the result
+of an endeavour to transfer to black and white the animated tones and
+gestures of the narrator, which the imagination of the reader must
+supply.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by A. Lennox, Esq._
+
+GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARRAKESH.]
+
+The initial "voluntary" by the "orchestra" has ended; every eye is
+directed towards the central figure, this time arrayed in ample
+turban, white jellab and yellow slippers, with a face betokening
+a lucrative profession. After a moment's silence he commences the
+history of--
+
+  "MULAI ABD EL KADER AND THE MONK OF MONKS."
+
+"The thrones of the Nazarenes were once in number sixty, but the star
+of the Prophet of God--the prayer of God be on him, and peace--was in
+the ascendant, and the religion of Resignation [Islam] was everywhere
+victorious. Many of the occupiers of those thrones had either
+submitted to the Lieutenant ['Caliph'] of our Lord, and become
+Muslimeen, or had been vanquished by force of arms. The others were
+terrified, and a general assembly was convoked to see what was to be
+done. As the rulers saw they were helpless against the decree of
+God, they called for their monks to advise them. The result of the
+conference was that it was decided to invite the Resigned Ones
+(Muslimeen) to a discussion on their religious differences, on the
+understanding that whichever was victorious should be thenceforth
+supreme.
+
+"The Leader of the Faithful having summoned his wise men, their
+opinion was asked. 'O victorious of God,' they with one voice replied,
+'since God, the High and Blessed, is our King, what have we to fear?
+Having on our side the truth revealed in the "Book to be Read" [the
+Koran] by the hand of the Messenger of God--the prayer of God be on
+him, and peace--we _must_ prevail. Let us willingly accept their
+proposal.' An early day was accordingly fixed for the decisive
+contest, and each party marshalled its forces. At the appointed time
+they met, a great crowd on either side, and it was asked which should
+begin. Knowing that victory was on his side, the Lieutenant of the
+Prophet--the prayer of God be on him, and peace--replied, 'Since ye
+have desired this meeting, open ye the discussion.'
+
+"Then the chief of the Nazarene kings made answer, 'But we are here so
+many gathered together, that if we commence to dispute all round we
+shall not finish by the Judgement Day. Let each party therefore choose
+its wisest man, and let the two debate before us, the remainder
+judging the result.'
+
+"'Well hast thou spoken,' said the Leader of the Faithful; 'be it even
+so.' Then the learned among the Resigned selected our lord Abd el
+Kader of Baghdad,[8] a man renowned the world over for piety and for
+the depth of his learning. Now a prayer [Fatihah] for Mulai Abd el
+Kader!"
+
+  [8: So called because buried near that city. For an account of his
+      life, and view of his mausoleum, see "The Moors," pp. 337-339.]
+
+Here the speaker, extending his open palms side by side before him, as
+if to receive a blessing thereon, is copied by the by-standers.[9] "In
+the name of God, the Pitying, the Pitiful!" All draw their hands down
+their faces, and, if they boast beards, end by stroking them out.
+
+  [9: "The hands are raised in order to catch a blessing in
+       them, and are afterwards drawn over the face to transfer it to
+       every part of the body."--HUGHES, "Dictionary of Islam."]
+
+  [10: A term applied by Mohammedans to Christians on account of
+       a mistaken conception of the doctrine of the Trinity.]
+
+"Then the polytheists[10] likewise chose their man, one held among them
+in the highest esteem, well read and wise, a monk of monks. Between
+these two, then, the controversy commenced. As already agreed, the
+Nazarene was the first to question:
+
+"'How far is it from the Earth to the first heaven?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'And thence to the second heaven?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the third?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the fourth?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the fifth?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the sixth?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'Thence to the seventh?'
+
+"'Five hundred years.'
+
+"'And from Mekka to Jerusalem?'
+
+"'Forty days.'
+
+"'Add up the whole.'
+
+"'Three thousand, five hundred years, and forty days.'
+
+"'In his famous ride on El Borak [Lightning] where did Mohammed go?'
+
+"'From the Sacred Temple [of Mekka] to the Further Temple [of
+Jerusalem], and from the Holy House [Jerusalem] to the seventh heaven,
+and the presence of God.'[11]
+
+  [11: This was the occasion on which Mohammed visited the seven
+       heavens under the care of Gabriel, riding on an ass so restive
+       that he had to be bribed with a promise of Paradise.]
+
+"'How long did this take?'
+
+"'The tenth of one night.'
+
+"'Did he find his bed still warm on his return?'
+
+"'Yes.'
+
+"'Dost thou think such a thing possible; to travel three thousand five
+hundred years and back, and find one's bed still warm on returning?'
+
+"'Canst thou play chess?' then asked Mulai Abd el Kader.
+
+"'Of course I can,' said the monk, surprised.
+
+"'Then, wilt thou play with me?'
+
+"'Certainly not,' replied the monk, indignantly. 'Dost thou think me a
+fool, to come here to discuss the science of religion, and to be put
+off with a game of chess?'
+
+"'Then thou acknowledgest thyself beaten; thou hast said thou couldst
+play chess, yet thou darest not measure thy skill at it with me. Thy
+refusal proves thy lie.'
+
+"'Nay, then, since thou takest it that way, I will consent to a match,
+but under protest.'
+
+"So the board was brought, and the players seated themselves. Move,
+move, move, went the pieces; kings and queens, elephants, rooks, and
+knights, with the soldiers everywhere. One by one they disappeared, as
+the fight grew fast and furious. But Mulai Abd el Kader had another
+object in view than the routing of his antagonist at a game of chess.
+By the exercise of his superhuman power he transported the monk to
+'the empty third' [of the world], while his image remained before him
+at the board, to all appearances still absorbed in the contest.
+
+"Meanwhile the monk could not tell where he was, but being oppressed
+with a sense of severe thirst, rose from where he sat, and made for a
+rising ground near by, whence he hoped to be able to descry some signs
+of vegetation, which should denote the presence of water. Giddy and
+tired out, he approached the top, when what was his joy to see a city
+surrounded by palms but a short way off! With a cry of delight he
+quickened his steps and approached the gate. As he did so, a party of
+seven men in gorgeous apparel of wool and silk came out of the gate,
+each with a staff in his hand.
+
+"On meeting him they offered him the salutation of the Faithful, but
+he did not return it. 'Who mayest _thou_ be,' they asked, 'who dost
+not wish peace to the Resigned?' [Muslimeen]. 'My Lords,' he made
+answer, 'I am a monk of the Nazarenes, I merely seek water to quench
+my thirst.'
+
+"'But he who comes here must resign himself [to Mohammedanism] or
+suffer the consequences. Testify that 'There is no god but God, and
+Mohammed is His Messenger!' 'Never,' he replied; and immediately they
+threw him on the ground and flogged him with their staves till he
+cried for mercy. 'Stop!' he implored. 'I will testify.' No sooner had
+he done so than they ceased their blows, and raising him up gave
+him water to drink. Then, tearing his monkish robe to shreds, each
+deprived himself of a garment to dress him becomingly. Having
+re-entered the city they repaired to the judge.
+
+"'My Lord,' they said, 'we bring before thee a brother Resigned, once
+a monk of the monks, now a follower of the Prophet, our lord--the
+prayer of God be on him, and peace. We pray thee to accept his
+testimony and record it in due form.'
+
+"'Welcome to thee; testify!' exclaimed the kadi, turning to the
+convert. Then, holding up his forefinger, the quondam monk witnessed
+to the truth of the Unity [of God]. 'Call for a barber!' cried the
+kadi; and a barber was brought. Seven Believers of repute stood
+round while the deed was done, and the convert rose a circumcised
+Muslim--blessed be God.
+
+"Then came forward a notable man of that town, pious, worthy, and
+rich, respected of all, who said, addressing the kadi: 'My Lord--may
+God bless thy days,--thou knowest, all these worthy ones know, who and
+what I am. In the interests of religion and to the honour of God, I
+ask leave to adopt this brother newly resigned. What is mine shall be
+his to share with my own sons, and the care I bestow on them and their
+education shall be bestowed equally on him. God is witness.' 'Well
+said; so be it,' replied the learned judge; 'henceforth he is a member
+of thy family.'
+
+"So to the hospitable roof of this pious one went the convert. A tutor
+was obtained for him, and he commenced to taste the riches of the
+wisdom of the Arab. Day after day he sat and studied, toiling
+faithfully, till teacher after teacher had to be procured, as he
+exhausted the stores of each in succession. So he read: first the Book
+'To be Read' [the Koran], till he could repeat it faultlessly, then
+the works of the poets, Kalun, el Mikki, el Bisri, and Sidi Hamzah;
+then the 'Lesser' and 'Greater Ten.'[12] Then he commenced at Sidi ibnu
+Ashir, following on through the Ajrumiyah,[13] and the Alfiyah,[14] to
+the commentaries of Sidi Khalil, of the Sheikh el Bokhari, and of Ibnu
+Asim, till there was nothing left to learn.
+
+  [12: Grammarians and commentators of the Koran.]
+
+  [13: A preliminary work on rhetoric.]
+
+  [14: The "Thousand Verses" of grammar.]
+
+"Thus he continued growing in wisdom and honour, the first year, the
+second year, the third year, even to the twentieth year, till no one
+could compete with him. Then the Judge of Judges of that country died,
+and a successor was sought for, but all allowed that no one's claims
+equalled those of the erstwhile monk. So he was summoned to fill the
+post, but was disqualified as unmarried. When they inquired if he was
+willing to do his duty in this respect, and he replied that he was,
+the father of the most beautiful girl in the city bestowed her on him,
+and that she might not be portionless, the chief men of the place vied
+one with another in heaping riches upon him. So he became Judge of
+Judges, rich, happy, revered.
+
+"And there was born unto him one son, then a second son, and even
+a third son. And there was born unto him a daughter, then a second
+daughter, and even a third daughter. So he prospered and increased.
+And to his sons were born sons, one, two, three, and four, and
+daughters withal. And his daughters were given in marriage to the
+elders of that country, and with them it was likewise.
+
+"Now there came a day, a great feast day, when all his descendants
+came before him with their compliments and offerings, some small, some
+great, each receiving tenfold in return, garments of fine spun wool
+and silk, and other articles of value.
+
+"When the ceremony was over he went outside the town to walk alone,
+and approached the spot whence he had first descried what had so long
+since been his home. As he sat again upon that well-remembered spot,
+and glanced back at the many years which had elapsed since last he was
+there, a party of the Faithful drew near. He offered the customary
+salute of 'Peace be on you,' but they simply stared in return.
+Presently one of them brusquely asked what he was doing there, and
+he explained who he was. But they laughed incredulously, and then he
+noticed that once again he was clad in robe and cowl, with a cord
+round his waist. They taunted him as a liar, but he re-affirmed his
+statements, and related his history. He counted up the years since he
+had resigned himself, telling of his children and children's children.
+
+"'Wouldst thou know them if you sawst them?' asked the strangers.
+'Indeed I would,' was the reply, 'but they would know me first.'
+
+"'And you are really circumcised? We'll see!' was their next
+exclamation. Just then a caravan appeared, wending its way across the
+plain, and the travellers hailed it. As he looked up at the shout, he
+saw Mulai Abd el Kader still sitting opposite him at the chess-board,
+reminding him that it was his move. He had been recounting his
+experiences for the last half century to Mulai Abd el Kader himself,
+and to the wise ones of both creeds who surrounded them!
+
+"Indeed it was too true, and he had to acknowledge that the events of
+a life-time had been crowded into a period undefinably minute, by the
+God-sent power of my lord Slave-of-the-Able [Mulai Abd el Kader].
+
+"Now, where is the good man and true who reveres the name of this holy
+one? Who will say a prayer to Mulai Abd el Kader?" Here the narrator
+extends his palms as before, and all follow him in the motion of
+drawing them down his face. "In the name of the Pitying and Pitiful!
+Now another!" The performance is repeated.
+
+"Who is willing to yield himself wholly and entirely to Mulai Abd el
+Kader? Who will dedicate himself from the soles of his feet to
+the crown of his head? Another prayer!" Another repetition of the
+performance.
+
+"Now let those devoted men earn the effectual prayers of that holy one
+by offering their silver in his name. Nothing less than a peseta[15]
+will do. That's right," as one of the bystanders throws down the coin
+specified.
+
+  [15: About eightpence, a labourer's daily wage in Tangier.]
+
+"Now let us implore the blessing of God and Mulai Abd el Kader on the
+head of this liberal Believer." The palm performance is once more gone
+through. The earnestness with which he does it this time induces more
+to follow suit, and blessings on them also are besought in the same
+fashion.
+
+"Now, my friends, which among you will do business with the palms of
+all these faithful ones? Pay a peseta and buy the prayers of them all.
+Now then, deal them out, and purchase happiness."
+
+So the appeal goes wearisomely on. As no more pesetas are seen to
+be forthcoming, a shift is made with reals--nominally 2-1/2_d._
+pieces--the story-teller asking those who cannot afford more to make
+up first one dollar and then another, turning naively to his assistant
+to ask if they haven't obtained enough yet, as though it were all for
+them. As they reply that more is needed, he redoubles his appeals and
+prayers, threading his way in and out among the crowd, making direct
+for each well-dressed individual with a confidence which renders
+flight or refusal a shame. Meanwhile the "orchestra" has struck up,
+and only pauses when the "professor" returns to the centre of the
+circle to call on all present to unite in prayers for the givers.
+A few coppers which have been tossed to his feet are distributed
+scornfully amongst half a dozen beggars, in various stages of filthy
+wretchedness and deformity, who have collected on the ground at one
+side.
+
+Here a water-carrier makes his appearance, with his goat-skin "bottle"
+and tinkling bell--a swarthy Soudanese in most tattered garb. The
+players and many listeners having been duly refreshed for the veriest
+trifle, the performance continues. A prayer is even said for the
+solitary European among the crowd, on his being successfully solicited
+for his quota, and another for his father at the request of some of
+the crowd, who style him the "Friend of the Moors."
+
+At last a resort is made to coppers, and when the story-teller
+condescendingly consents to receive even such trifles in return for
+prayers, from those who cannot afford more, quite a pattering shower
+falls at his feet, which is supplemented by a further hand-to-hand
+collection. In all, between four and five dollars must have been
+received--not a bad remuneration for an hour's work! Already the ring
+has been thinning; now there is a general uprising, and in a few
+moments the scene is completely changed, the entertainer lost among
+the entertained, for the sun has disappeared below yon hill, and in a
+few moments night will fall.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+SNAKE-CHARMING
+
+  "Whom a snake has bitten starts from a rope."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Descriptions of this art remembered in a book for boys read years
+before had prepared me for the most wonderful scenes, and when I first
+watched the performance with snakes which delights the Moors I was
+disappointed. Yet often as I might look on, there was nothing else to
+see, save in the faces and gestures of the crowd, who with child-like
+simplicity followed every step as though for the first time. These
+have for me a never-ending fascination. Thus it is that the familiar
+sounds of rapid and spasmodic beating on a tambourine, which tell that
+the charmer is collecting an audience, still prove an irresistible
+attraction for me as well. The ring in which I find myself is just a
+reproduction of that surrounding the story-teller of yester-e'en, but
+where his musicians sat there is a wilder group, more striking still
+in their appearance.
+
+This time, also, the instruments are of another class, two or three of
+the plainest sheep-skin tambourines with two gut strings across the
+centre under the parchment, which gives them a peculiar twanging
+sound; and a couple of reeds, mere canes pierced with holes, each
+provided with a mouthpiece made of half an inch of flattened reed.
+Nothing is needed to add to the discord as all three are vigorously
+plied with cheek and palm.
+
+The principal actor has an appearance of studied weirdness as he
+gesticulates wildly and calls on God to protect him against the venom
+of his pets. Contrary to the general custom of the country, he has
+let his black hair grow till it streams over his shoulders in matted
+locks. His garb is of the simplest, a dirty white shirt over drawers
+of similar hue completing his outfit.
+
+Selecting a convenient stone as a seat, notebook in hand, I make up my
+mind to see the thing through. The "music" having continued five
+or ten minutes with the desired result of attracting a circle of
+passers-by, the actual performance is now to commence. On the ground
+in the centre lies a spare tambourine, and on one side are the two
+cloth-covered bottle-shaped baskets containing the snakes.
+
+The chief charmer now advances, commencing to step round the ring
+with occasional beats on his tambourine, rolling his eyes and looking
+demented. Presently, having reached a climax of rapid beating and
+pacing, he suddenly stops in the centre with an extra "bang!"
+
+"Now, every man who believes in our lord Mohammed ben Aisa,[16] say
+with me a Fatihah."
+
+  [16: For the history of this man and his snake-charming
+       followers see "The Moors," p. 331.]
+
+Each of the onlookers extending his palms side by side before his
+face, they repeat the prayer in a sing-song voice, and as it concludes
+with a loud "Ameen," the charmer gives an agonized cry, as though
+deeply wrought upon. "Ah Rijal el Blad" ("Oh Saints of the Town!"),
+he shouts, as he recommences his tambourining, this time even with
+increased vigour, beating the ground with his feet, and working his
+body up and down in a most extraordinary manner. The two others are
+also playing, and the noise is deafening. The chief figure appears to
+be raving mad; his starting eyes, his lithe and supple figure, and
+his streaming hair, give him the air of one possessed. His face is a
+study, a combination of fierceness and madness, yet of good-nature.
+
+At last he sinks down exhausted, but after a moment rises and advances
+to the centre of the circle, picking up a tambourine.
+
+"Now, Sidi Aisa"--turning to one of the musicians, whom he motions to
+cease their din--"what do you think happens to the man who puts a coin
+in there? Why, the holy saint, our lord Mohammed ben Aisa, puts a ring
+round him like that," drawing a ring round a stone on the ground. "Is
+it not so?"
+
+"It is, Ameen," from Sidi Aisa.
+
+"And what happens to him in the day time?"
+
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people too."
+
+"And in the night time?"
+
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people too."
+
+"And when at home?"
+
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people too."
+
+"And when abroad?"
+
+"He is in the hands of God, and his people too."
+
+At this a copper coin is thrown into the ring, and the charmer
+replies, "Now he who is master of sea and land, my lord Abd el Kader
+el Jilani,[17] bless the giver of that coin! Now, for the love of God
+and of His blessed prophet, I offer a prayer for that generous
+one." Here the operation of passing their hands down their faces is
+performed by all.
+
+  [17: The surname of the Baghdad saint.]
+
+"Now, there's another,"--as a coin falls--"and from a child, too! God
+bless thee now, my son. May my lord Ben Aisa, my lord Abd es-Slam, and
+my lord Abd el Kader, protect and keep thee!"
+
+Then, as more coppers fall, similar blessings are invoked upon the
+donors, interspersed with catechising of the musicians with a view to
+making known the advantages to be reaped by giving something. At last,
+as nothing more seems to be forthcoming, the performance proper is
+proceeded with, and the charmer commences to dance on one leg, to
+a terrible din from the tambourines. Then he pauses, and summons a
+little boy from the audience, seating him in the midst, adjuring him
+to behave himself, to do as he is bid, and to have faith in "our lord
+Ben Aisa." Then, seating himself behind the boy, he places his lips
+against his skull, and blows repeatedly, coming round to the front to
+look at the lad, to see if he is sufficiently affected, and returning
+to puff again. Finally he bites off a piece of the boy's cloak, and
+chews it. Now he wets his finger in his mouth, and after putting it
+into the dust makes lines across his legs and arms, all the time
+calling on his patron saint; next holding the piece of cloth in his
+hands and walking round the ring for all to see it.
+
+"Come hither," he says to a bystander; "search my mouth and see if
+there be anything there."
+
+The search is conducted as a farmer would examine a horse's mouth,
+with the result that it is declared empty.
+
+"Now I call on the prophet to witness that there is no deception," as
+he once more restores the piece of cloth to his mouth, and pokes his
+fingers into his neck, drawing them now up his face.
+
+"Enough!"
+
+The voices of the musicians, who have for the latter part of the
+time been giving forth a drawling chorus, cease, but the din of the
+tambourines continues, while the performer dances wildly, till he
+stops before the lad on the ground, and takes from his mouth first one
+date and then another, which the lad is told to eat, and does so, the
+on-lookers fully convinced that they were transformed from the rag.
+
+Now it is the turn of one of the musicians to come forward, his place
+being taken by the retiring performer, after he has made another
+collection in the manner already described.
+
+"He who believes in God and in the power of our lord Mohammed ben
+Aisa, say with me a Fatihah," cries the new man, extending his palms
+turned upwards before him to receive the blessings he asks, and then
+brings one of the snake-baskets forward, plunging his hand into its
+sack-like mouth, and sharply drawing it out a time or two, as if
+afraid of being bitten.
+
+Finally he pulls the head of one of the reptiles through, and leaves
+it there, darting out its fangs, while he snatches up and wildly beats
+the tambourine by his side. He now seizes the snake by the neck, and
+pulls it right out, the people starting back as it coils round in the
+ring, or uncoils and makes a plunge towards someone. Now he pulls out
+another, and hangs it round his neck, saying, "I take refuge with the
+saint who was dead and is alive, with our lord Mohammed son of Aisa,
+and with the most holy Abd el Kader el Jilani, king of land and
+sea. Now, let every one who believes bear witness with me and say a
+Fatihah!"
+
+"Say a Fatihah!" echoes one of the still noisy musicians, by way of
+chorus.
+
+"Now may our lord Abd el Kader see the man who makes a contribution
+with his eyes."
+
+_Chorus:_ "With his eyes!"
+
+"And may his heart find rest, and our lord Abd er-Rahman protect him!"
+
+_Chorus:_ "Protect him!"
+
+"Now, I call you to witness, I bargain with our lord Abd el Kader for
+a forfeit!"
+
+_Chorus:_ "For a forfeit!"
+
+A copper is thrown into the ring, and as he picks it up and hands it
+to the musician, the performer exclaims--
+
+"Take this, see, and at the last day may the giver of it see our lord
+Abd el Kader before him!"
+
+_Chorus:_ "Before him!"
+
+"May he ever be blessed, whether present or absent!"
+
+_Chorus:_ "Present or absent!"
+
+"Who wishes to have a good conscience and a clean heart? Oh, ye
+beloved of the Lord! See, take from that dear one" (who has thrown
+down a copper).
+
+The contributions now apparently sufficing for the present, the
+performance proceeds, but the crowd having edged a little too close,
+it is first necessary to increase the space in the centre by swinging
+one of the reptiles round by the tail, whereat all start back.
+
+"Ah! you may well be afraid!" exclaims the charmer. "Their fangs mean
+death, if you only knew it, but for the mercies of my lord, the son of
+Aisa."
+
+"Ameen!" responds the chorus.
+
+Hereupon he proceeds to direct the head of the snake to his mouth, and
+caressingly invites it to enter. Darting from side to side, it finally
+makes a plunge down his throat, whereon the strangers shudder, and the
+_habitues_ look with triumphant awe. Wildly he spins on one foot that
+all may see, still holding the creature by the neck with one hand, and
+by the tail with the other. At length, having allowed the greater part
+of its length to disappear in this uncanny manner, he proceeds to
+withdraw it, the head emerging with the sound of a cork from a bottle.
+The sight has not been pleasant, but the audience, transfixed, gives a
+sigh of relief as the tambourines strike up again, and the reed chimes
+in deafeningly.
+
+"Who says they are harmless? Who says their fangs are extracted?"
+challenges the performer. "Look here!"
+
+The seemingly angry snake has now fastened on his arm, and is
+permitted to draw blood, as though in reward for its recent treatment.
+
+"Is any incredulous here? Shall I try it on thee?"
+
+The individual addressed, a poverty-stricken youth whose place was
+doubtless required for some more promising customer behind, flees in
+terror, as the gaping jaws approach him. One and another having been
+similarly dismissed from points of vantage, and a redistribution
+of front seats effected, the incredulous are once more tauntingly
+addressed and challenged. This time the challenge is accepted by a
+foreigner, who hands in a chicken held by its wings.
+
+"So? Blessed be God! Its doom is sealed if it comes within reach of
+the snake. See here!"
+
+All eagerly press forward, many rising to their feet, and it is
+difficult to see over their shoulders the next gruesome act. The
+reptile, held by the neck in the performer's right hand, is shown the
+chicken in the other, and annoyed by having it poked in its face, too
+frightened to perceive what is happening. In a moment the fangs are
+shot out, and a wound inflicted in the exposed part under the wing.
+Blood appears, and the bird is thrown down, being held in place by
+the performer's foot till in a few minutes its struggles cease. Then,
+picking the victim up, he holds it aloft by one wing to show its
+condition, and exultingly calls for a Fatihah.
+
+It is enough: my patience is exhausted, and I rise to make off with
+stiff knees, content at last with what I have seen and heard of the
+"charming" of snakes in Morocco.
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI).]
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+IN A MOORISH CAFE
+
+  "A little from a friend is much."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+To the passer-by, least of all to the European, there is nothing in
+its external appearance to recommend old Hashmi's _cafe_. From the
+street, indeed, it is hardly visible, for it lies within the threshold
+of a caravansarai or fandak, in which beasts are tethered, goods
+accumulated and travellers housed, and of which the general appearance
+is that of a neglected farm-yard. Round an open court a colonnade
+supports the balcony by which rooms on the upper story are approached,
+a narrow staircase in the corner leading right up to the terraced
+roof. In the daytime the sole occupants of the rooms are women whose
+partners for the time being have securely locked them in before going
+to work.
+
+Beside the lofty archway forming the gate of this strange hostelry, is
+Hashmi's stall, at which green tea or a sweet, pea-soupy preparation
+of coffee may be had at all hours of the day, but the _cafe_ proper,
+gloomy by daylight, lies through the door behind. Here, of an evening,
+the candles lit, his regular customers gather with tiny pipes,
+indulging in flowing talk. Each has before him his harmless glass, as
+he squats or reclines on the rush-matted floor. Nothing of importance
+occurs in the city but is within a little made known here with as much
+certainty as if the proprietor subscribed to an evening paper. Any
+man who has something fresh to tell, who can interest or amuse the
+company, and by his frequent visits give the house a name, is always
+welcome, and will find a glass awaiting him whenever he chooses to
+come.
+
+Old Hashmi knows his business, and if the evening that I was there may
+be taken as a sample, he deserves success. That night he was in the
+best of humours. His house was full and trade brisk. Fattah, a negro,
+was keeping the house merry, so in view of coming demands, he brewed a
+fresh pot of real "Mekkan." The surroundings were grimy, and outside
+the rain came down in torrents: but that was a decided advantage,
+since it not only drove men indoors, but helped to keep them there.
+Mesaod, the one-eyed, had finished an elaborate tuning of his
+two-stringed banjo, his ginbri--a home-made instrument--and was
+proceeding to arrive at a convenient pitch of voice for his song. With
+a strong nasal accent he commenced reciting the loves of Si Marzak and
+his fair Azizah: how he addressed her in the fondest of language,
+and how she replied by caresses. When he came to the chorus they all
+chimed in, for the most part to their own tune and time, as they
+rocked to and fro, some clapping, some beating their thighs, and all
+applauding at the end.
+
+The whole ballad would not bear translation--for English ears,--and
+the scanty portion which may be given has lost its rhythm and cadence
+by the change, for Arabic is very soft and beautiful to those who
+understand it. The time has come when Azizah, having quarrelled with
+Si Marzak in a fit of perhaps too well-founded jealousy, desires to
+"make it up again," and thus addresses her beloved--
+
+  "Oh, how I have followed thy attractiveness,
+  And halted between give and take!
+  Oh, how I'd from evil have protected thee
+  By my advice, hadst thou but heeded it!
+      Yet to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!
+
+  "Oh, how I have longed for the pleasure of thy visits,
+  And poured out bitter tears for thee;
+  Until at last the sad truth dawned on me
+  That of thy choice thou didst put me aside!
+      Yet to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!
+
+  "Thou wast sweeter than honey to me,
+  But thou hast become more bitter than gall.
+  Is it thus thou beginnest the world?
+  Beware lest thou make me thy foe!
+      Yet to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!
+
+  "I have hitherto been but a name to thee,
+  And thou took'st to thy bosom a snake,
+  But to-day I perceive thou'st a fancy for me:
+  O God, I will not be deceived!
+      Yes, to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!
+
+  "Thou know'st my complaint and my only cure:
+  Why, then, wilt thou heal me not?
+  Thou canst do so to-day, O my master,
+  And save me from all further woe.
+      Yes, to-day taste, O my master,
+      Of the love that thou hast taught to me!"
+
+To which the hard-pressed swain replies--
+
+  "Of a truth thine eyes have bewitched me,
+  For Death itself is in fear of them:
+  And thine eyebrows, like two logs of wood,
+  Have battered me each in its turn.
+      So if thou sayest die, I'll die;
+      And for God shall my sacrifice be!
+
+  "I have neither yet died nor abandoned hope,
+  Though slumber at night I ne'er know.
+  With the staff of deliverance still afar off,
+  So that all the world knows of my woe.
+      And if thou sayest die, I'll die,
+      But for God shall my sacrifice be!"
+
+While the singing was proceeding Said and Drees had been indulging in
+a game of draughts, and as it ceased their voices could be heard in
+eager play. "Call thyself a Mallem (master). There, thy father was
+bewitched by a hyena; there, and there again!" shouted Said, as he
+swept a first, a second and a third of his opponent's pieces from the
+board.
+
+But Drees was equal with him in another move.
+
+"So, verily, thou art my master! Let us, then, praise God for thy
+wisdom: thou art like indeed unto him who verily shot the fox, but who
+killed his own cow with the second shot! See, thus I teach thee to
+boast before thy betters: ha, I laugh at thee, I ride the donkey on
+thy head. I shave that beard of thine!" he ejaculated, taking one
+piece after another from his adversary, as the result of an incautious
+move. The board had the appearance of a well-kicked footstool, and the
+"men"--called "dogs" in Barbary--were more like baseless chess pawns.
+The play was as unlike that of Europeans as possible; the moves from
+"room" to "room" were of lightning swiftness, and accompanied by a
+running fire of slang ejaculations, chiefly sarcastic, but, on the
+whole, enlivened with a vein of playful humour not to be Englished
+politely. Just as the onlookers would become interested in the
+progress of one or the other, a too rapid advance by either would
+result in an incomprehensible wholesale clearing of the board by his
+opponent's sleeve. Yet without a stop the pieces would be replaced
+in order, and a new game commenced, the vanquished too proud to
+acknowledge that he did not quite see how the victor had won.
+
+Then Fattah, whose _forte_ was mimicry, attracted the attention of the
+company by a representation of a fat wazeer at prayers. Amid roars of
+laughter he succeeded in rising to his feet with the help of those
+beside him, who had still to lend occasional support, as his knees
+threatened to give way under his apparently ponderous carcase. Before
+and behind, his shirt was well stuffed with cushions, and the sides
+were not forgotten. His cheeks were puffed out to the utmost, and his
+eyes rolled superbly. At last the moment came for him to go on his
+knees, when he had to be let gently down by those near him, but his
+efforts to bow his head, now top-heavy with a couple of shirts for a
+turban, were most ludicrous, as he fell on one side in apparently vain
+endeavours. The spectators roared with laughter till the tears coursed
+down their cheeks; but that black and solemn face remained unmoved,
+and at the end of the prescribed motions the pseudo-great man
+apparently fell into slumber as heavy as himself, and snored in a
+style that a prize pig might have envied.
+
+"Afuk! Afuk!" the deafening bravos resounded, for Fattah had excelled
+himself, and was amply rewarded by the collection which followed.
+
+A tale was next demanded from a jovial man of Fez, who, nothing loth,
+began at once--
+
+"Evening was falling as across the plain of Haha trudged a weary
+traveller. The cold wind whistled through his tattered garments. The
+path grew dim before his eyes. The stars came out one by one, but no
+star of hope shone for him. He was faint and hungry. His feet were
+sore. His head ached. He shivered.
+
+"'May God have pity on me!' he muttered.
+
+"God heard him. A few minutes later he descried an earthly star--a
+solitary light was twinkling on the distant hillside. Thitherward he
+turned his steps.
+
+"Hope rose within him. His step grew brisk. The way seemed clear.
+Onward he pushed.
+
+"Presently he could make out the huts of a village.
+
+"'Thank God!' he cried; but still he had no supper.
+
+"His empty stomach clamoured. His purse was empty also. The fiendish
+dogs of the village yelped at him. He paused discomfited. He called.
+
+"Widow Zaidah stood before her light.
+
+"'Who's there?'
+
+"'A God-guest'
+
+"'In God's name, then, welcome! Silence there, curs!'
+
+"Abd el Hakk approached.
+
+"'God bless thee, my mother, and repay thee a thousand-fold!'
+
+"But Zaidah herself was poor. Her property consisted only of a hut and
+some fowls. She set before him eggs--two, hard-boiled,--bread also. He
+thanked God. He ate.
+
+"'Yes, God will repay,' she said.
+
+"Next day Abd el Hakk passed on to Marrakesh. There God blessed him.
+Years passed on; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Abd el Hakk
+was rich. Meludi the lawyer disliked him. Said he to Widow Zaidah--
+
+"'Abd el Hakk, whom once thou succouredst, is rich. The two eggs were
+never yet paid for. Hadst thou not given them to him they would have
+become two chickens. These would each have laid hundreds. Those
+hundreds, when hatched, would have laid their thousands. In seven
+years, think to what amount Abd el Hakk is indebted to thee. Sue him.'
+
+"Widow Zaidah listened. What is more, she acted. Abd el Hakk failed to
+appear to rebut the claim. He was worth no more.
+
+"'Why is the defendant not here?' asked the judge.
+
+"'My lord,' said his attorney, 'he is gone to sow boiled beans.'
+
+"'Boiled beans!'
+
+"'Boiled beans, my lord.'
+
+"'Is he mad?'
+
+"'He is very wise, my lord.'
+
+"'Thou mockest.'
+
+"'My lord, if boiled eggs can be hatched, sure boiled beans will
+grow!'
+
+"'Dismissed with costs!'
+
+"The tree that bends with every wind that blows will seldom stand
+upright."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A round of applause greeted the clever tale, of which the speaker's
+gestures had told even more than his words. But the merriment of
+the company only began there, for forthwith a babel of tongues was
+occupied in the discussion of all the points of the case, in imagining
+every impossible or humorous alternative, and laughter resounded on
+every side, as the glasses were quickly refilled with an innocent
+drink.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+THE MEDICINE-MAN
+
+  "Wine is a key to all evil."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Under the glare of an African sun, its rays, however, tempered by a
+fresh Atlantic breeze; no roof to his consulting-room save the sky, no
+walls surrounding him to keep off idle starers like ourselves; by the
+roadside sits a native doctor of repute. His costume is that of half
+the crowd around, outwardly consisting of a well-worn brown woollen
+cloak with a hood pulled over his head, from beneath the skirts of
+which protrude his muddy feet. By his side lies the basket containing
+his supplies and less delicate instruments; the finer ones we see him
+draw from a capacious wallet of leather beneath his cloak.
+
+Though personally somewhat gaunt, he is nevertheless a jolly-looking
+character, totally free from that would-be professional air assumed
+by some of our medical students to hide lack of experience; for he,
+empiric though he be, has no idea of any of his own shortcomings, and
+greets us with an easy smile. He is seated on the ground, hugging his
+knees till his attention is drawn to us, when, observing our gaze at
+his lancets on the ground, he picks one up to show it. Both are of
+rude construction, merely pieces of flat steel filed to double-edged
+points, and protected by two flaps slightly bigger, in the one case of
+bone, in the other of brass. A loose rivet holding all together at one
+end completes the instrument. The brass one he says was made by a Jew
+in Fez out of an old clock; the other by a Jew in Marrakesh. For the
+purpose of making scratches for cupping he has a piece of flat steel
+about half an inch wide, sharpened across the end chisel-fashion. Then
+he has a piece of an old razor-blade tied to a stick with a string.
+That this is sharp he soon demonstrates by skilfully shaving an old
+man's head, after only damping the eighth of an inch stub with which
+it is covered. A stone and a bit of leather, supplemented by the
+calves of his legs, or his biceps, serve to keep the edges in
+condition.
+
+From a finger-shaped leather bag in his satchel he produces an
+antiquated pair of tooth extractors, a small pair of forceps for
+pulling out thorns, and a stiletto. The first-named article, he
+informs us, came from France to Tafilalt, his home, _via_ Tlemcen; it
+is of the design known as "Fox's claw," and he explains to us that the
+difference between the French and the English article is that the one
+has no spring to keep the jaws open, while the other has. A far more
+formidable instrument is the genuine native contrivance, a sort of
+exaggerated corkscrew without a point.
+
+But here comes a patient to be treated. He troubles the doctor with
+no diagnosis, asking only to be bled. He is a youth of medium height,
+bronzed by the sun. Telling him to sit down and bare his right arm,
+the operator feels it well up and down, and then places the tips of
+the patient's fingers on the ground, bidding him not to move. Pouring
+out a little water into a metal dish, he washes the arm on the inside
+of the elbow, drying it with his cloak. Next he ties a piece of list
+round the upper arm as tightly as he can, and selecting one of the
+lancets, makes an incision into the vein which the washing has
+rendered visible. A bright stream issues, squirting into the air some
+fifteen inches; it is soon, however, directed into a tin soup-plate
+holding fourteen ounces, as we ascertained by measurement. The
+operator washes and dries his lancet, wraps the two in a white rag,
+and puts them into a piece of cane which forms an excellent case.
+Meanwhile the plate has filled, and he turns his attention once more
+to the patient. One or two passers-by have stopped, like ourselves, to
+look on.
+
+"I knew a man," says one, "who was being bled like that, and kept on
+saying, 'take a little more,' till he fell back dead in our arms."
+
+"Yes," chimes in another, "I have heard of such cases; it is very
+dangerous."
+
+Although the patient is evidently growing very nervous, our surgical
+friend affects supreme indifference to all this tittle-tattle, and
+after a while removes the bandage, bending the forearm inward, with
+the effect of somewhat checking the flow of blood. When he has bound
+up with list the cane that holds the lancets, he closes the forearm
+back entirely, so that the flow is stopped. Opening it again a little,
+he wipes a sponge over the aperture a few times, and closes it with
+his thumb. Then he binds a bit of filthy rag round the arm, twisting
+it above and below the elbow alternately, and crossing over the
+incision each time. When this is done, he sends the patient to throw
+away the blood and wash the plate, receiving for the whole operation
+the sum of three half-pence.
+
+Another patient is waiting his turn, an old man desiring to be bled
+behind the ears for headache. After shaving two patches for the
+purpose, the "bleeder," as he is justly called, makes eighteen
+scratches close together, about half an inch long. Over these he
+places a brass cup of the shape of a high Italian hat without the
+brim. From near the edge of this protrudes a long brass tube with a
+piece of leather round and over the end. This the operator sucks to
+create a vacuum, the moistened leather closing like a valve, which
+leaves the cup hanging _in situ_. Repeating this on the other side, he
+empties the first cup of the blood which has by this time accumulated
+in it, and so on alternately, till he has drawn off what appears to
+him to be sufficient. All that remains to be done is to wipe the
+wounds and receive the fee.
+
+Some years ago such a worthy as this earned quite a reputation for
+exorcising devils in Southern Morocco. His mode of procedure was
+brief, but as a rule effective. The patient was laid on the ground
+before the wise man's tent, face downward, and after reading certain
+mystic and unintelligible passages, selected from one of the ponderous
+tomes which form a prominent part of the "doctor's" stock-in-trade, he
+solemnly ordered two or three men to hold the sufferer down while two
+more thrashed him till they were tired. If, when released, the patient
+showed the least sign of returning violence, or complained that the
+whole affair was a fraud, it was taken as a sure sign that he had not
+had enough, and he was forthwith seized again and the dose repeated
+till he had learned that discretion was the better part of valour, and
+slunk off, perhaps a wiser, certainly a sadder man. It is said, and I
+do not doubt it--though it is more than most medical men can say of
+their patients--that no one was ever known to return in quest of
+further treatment.
+
+All this, however, is nothing compared with the Moor's love of fire as
+a universal panacea. Not only for his mules and his horses, but
+also for himself and his family, cauterization is in high repute,
+especially as he estimates the value of a remedy as much by its
+immediate and visible action as by its ultimate effects. The
+"fire-doctor" is therefore even a greater character in his way than
+the "bleeder," whom we have just visited. His outfit includes a
+collection of queer-shaped irons designed to cauterize different parts
+of the body, a portable brazier, and bellows made from a goat-skin
+with a piece of board at one side wherewith to press and expel the air
+through a tube on the other side. He, too, sits by the roadside, and
+disposes of his groaning though wonderfully enduring "patients" much
+as did his rival of the lancet. Rohlfs, a German doctor who explored
+parts of Morocco in the garb of a native, exercising what he could of
+his profession for a livelihood, tells how he earned a considerable
+reputation by the introduction of "cold fire" (lunar caustic) as a
+rival to the original style; and Pellow, an English slave who made
+his escape in 1735, found cayenne pepper of great assistance in
+ingratiating himself with the Moors in this way, and even in delaying
+a pursuer suffering from ophthalmia by blowing a little into his eyes
+before his identity was discovered. In extenuation of this trick,
+however, it must be borne in mind that cayenne pepper is an accredited
+Moorish remedy for ophthalmia, being placed on the eyelids, though it
+is only a mixture of canary seed and sugar that is blown in.
+
+Every European traveller in Morocco is supposed to know something
+about medicine, and many have been my own amusing experiences in this
+direction. Nothing that I used gave me greater fame than a bottle of
+oil of cantharides, the contents of which I applied freely behind the
+ears or upon the temples of such victims of ophthalmia as submitted
+themselves to my tender mercies. Only I found that when my first
+patient began to dance with the joy and pain of the noble blister
+which shortly arose, so many people fancied they needed like treatment
+that I was obliged to restrict the use of so popular a cure to special
+cases.
+
+One branch of Moroccan medicine consists in exorcising devils, of
+which a most amusing instance once came under my notice. An English
+gentleman gave one of his servants who complained of being troubled
+with these unwelcome guests two good-sized doses of tartaric acid and
+carbonate of soda a second apart. The immediate exit of the devil was
+so apparent that the fame of the prescriber as a medical man was made
+at once. But many of the cases which the amateur is called upon to
+treat are much more difficult to satisfy than this. Superstition is
+so strongly mingled with the native ideas of disease,--of being
+possessed,--that the two can hardly be separated. During an epidemic
+of cholera, for instance, the people keep as close as possible to
+walls, and avoid sand-hills, for fear of "catching devils." All
+disease is indeed more or less ascribed to satanic agency, and in
+Morocco that practitioner is most in repute who claims to attack this
+cause of the malady rather than its effect.
+
+Although the Moors have a certain rudimentary acquaintance with simple
+medicinal agents--and how rudimentary that acquaintance is, will
+better appear from what is to follow,--in all their pharmacop[oe]ia
+no remedy is so often recommended or so implicitly relied on as the
+"writing" of a man of reputed sanctity. Such a writing may consist
+merely of a piece of paper scribbled over with the name of God, or
+with some sentence from the Koran, such as, "And only God is the
+Healer," repeated many times, or in special cases it may contain a
+whole series of pious expressions and meaningless incantations. For an
+ordinary external complaint, such as general debility arising from
+the evil eye of a neighbour or a jealous wife, or as a preventative
+against bewitchment, or as a love philtre, it is usually considered
+sufficient to wear this in a leather bag around the neck or forehead;
+but in case of unfathomable internal disease, such as indigestion, the
+"writing" is prescribed to be divided into so many equal portions, and
+taken in a little water night and morning.
+
+The author of these potent documents is sometimes a hereditary saint
+descended from Mohammed, sometimes a saint whose sanctity arises from
+real or assumed insanity--for to be mad in Barbary is to have one's
+thoughts so occupied with things of heaven as to have no time left
+for things of earth,--and often they are written by ordinary public
+scribes, or schoolmasters, for among the Moors reading and religion
+are almost synonymous terms. There are, however, a few professional
+gentlemen who dispense these writings among their drugs. Such alone of
+all their quacks aspire to the title of "doctor." Most of these spend
+their time wandering about the country from fair to fair, setting up
+their tents wherever there are patients to be found in sufficient
+numbers.
+
+Attired as natives, let us visit one. Arrived at the tent door, we
+salute the learned occupant with the prescribed "Salam oo alaikum"
+("To you be peace"), to which, on noting our superior costumes, he
+replies with a volley of complimentary inquiries and welcomes. These
+we acknowledge with dignity, and with as sedate an air as possible.
+We leisurely seat ourselves on the ground in orthodox style, like
+tailors. As it would not be good form to mention our business at once,
+we defer professional consultation till we have inquired successfully
+after his health, his travels, and the latest news at home and from
+abroad. In the course of conversation he gives us to understand that
+he is one of the Sultan's uncles, which is by no means impossible in a
+country where it has not been an unknown thing for an imperial father
+to lose count of his numerous progeny.
+
+Feeling at last that we have broken the ice, we turn the conversation
+to the subject of our supposed ailments. My own complaint is a general
+internal disorder resulting in occasional feverishness, griping pains,
+and loss of sleep. After asking a number of really sensible questions,
+such as would seem to place him above the ordinary rank of native
+practitioners, he gravely announces that he has "the very thing" in
+the form of a powder, which, from its high virtues, and the exceeding
+number of its ingredients, some of them costly, is rather expensive.
+We remember the deference with which our costumes were noted, and
+understand. But, after all, the price of a supply is announced to be
+only seven-pence halfpenny. The contents of some of the canisters he
+shows us include respectively, according to his account, from twenty
+to fifty drugs. For our own part, we strongly suspect that all are
+spices to be procured from any Moorish grocer.
+
+Together with the prescription I receive instructions to drink the
+soup from a fat chicken in the morning, and to eat its flesh in the
+evening; to eat hot bread and drink sweet tea, and to do as little
+work as possible, the powder to be taken daily for a fortnight in a
+little honey. Whatever else he may not know, it is evident that our
+doctor knows full well how to humour his patients.
+
+The next case is even more easy of treatment than mine, a "writing"
+only being required. On a piece of very common paper two or three
+inches square, the doctor writes something of which the only legible
+part is the first line: "In the name of God, the Pitying, the
+Pitiful," followed, we subsequently learn, by repetitions of "Only God
+is the Healer." For this the patient is to get his wife to make a felt
+bag sewed with coloured silk, into which the charm is to be put, along
+with a little salt and a few parings of garlic, after which it is to
+be worn round his neck for ever.
+
+Sometimes, in wandering through Morocco, one comes across much more
+curious remedies than these, for the worthy we have just visited is
+but a commonplace type in this country. A medical friend once met a
+professional brother in the interior who had a truly original method
+of proving his skill. By pressing his finger on the side of his
+nose close to his eye, he could send a jet of liquid right into his
+interlocutor's face, a proceeding sufficient to satisfy all doubts as
+to his alleged marvellous powers. On examination it was found that
+he had a small orifice near the corner of the eye, through which the
+pressure forced the lachrymal fluid, pure tears, in fact. This is just
+an instance of the way in which any natural defect or peculiarity
+is made the most of by these wandering empirics, to impose on their
+ignorant and credulous victims.
+
+Even such of them as do give any variety of remedies are hardly more
+to be trusted. Whatever they give, their patients like big doses, and
+are not content without corresponding visible effects. Epsom salts,
+which are in great repute, are never given to a man in less quantities
+than two tablespoonfuls. On one occasion a poor woman came to me
+suffering from ague, and looking very dejected. I mixed this quantity
+of salts in a tumblerful of water, with a good dose of quinine,
+bidding her drink two-thirds of it, and give the remainder to her
+daughter, who evidently needed it as much as she did. Her share was
+soon disposed of with hardly more than a grimace, to the infinite
+enjoyment of a fat, black slave-girl who was standing by, and who knew
+from personal experience what a tumblerful meant. But to induce the
+child to take hers was quite another matter. "What! not drink it?"
+the mother cried, as she held the potion to her lips. "The devil take
+thee, thou cursed offspring of an abandoned woman! May God burn thy
+ancestors!" But though the child, accustomed to such mild and motherly
+invectives, budged not, it had proved altogether too much for the
+jovial slave, who was by this time convulsed with laughter, and so, I
+may as well confess, was I. At last the woman's powers of persuasion
+were exhausted, and she drained the glass herself.
+
+When in Fez some years ago, a dog I had with me needed dosing, so I
+got three drops of croton oil on sugar made ready for him. Mine host,
+a man of fifty or more, came in meanwhile, and having ascertained the
+action of the drug from my servant, thought it might possibly do him
+good, and forthwith swallowed it. Of this the first intimation I had
+was from the agonizing screams of the old man, who loudly proclaimed
+that his last hour was come, and from the terrified wails of the
+females of his household, who thought so too. When I saw him he was
+rolling on the tiles of the courtyard, his heels in the air, bellowing
+frantically. I need hardly dilate upon the relief I felt when at last
+we succeeded in alleviating his pain, and knew that he was out of
+danger.
+
+Among the favourite remedies of Morocco, hyena's head powder ranks
+high as a purge, and the dried bones and flesh may often be seen in
+the native spice-shops, coated with dust as they hang. Some of the
+prescriptions given are too filthy to repeat, almost to be believed.
+As a specimen, by no means the worst, I may mention a recipe at one
+time in favour among the Jewesses of Mogador, according to one writer.
+This was to drink seven draughts from the town drain where it entered
+the sea, beaten up with seven eggs. For diseases of the "heart," by
+which they mean the stomach and liver, and of eyes, joints, etc., a
+stone, which is found in an animal called the horreh, the size of a
+small walnut, and valued as high as twelve dollars, is ground up and
+swallowed, the patient thereafter remaining indoors a week. Ants,
+prepared in various ways, are recommended for lethargy, and lion's
+flesh for cowardice. Privet or mallow leaves, fresh honey, and
+chameleons split open alive, are considered good for wounds and sores,
+while the fumes from the burning of the dried body of this animal are
+often inhaled. Among more ordinary remedies are saraparilla, senna,
+and a number of other well-known herbs and roots, whose action is more
+or less understood. Roasted pomegranate rind in powder is found really
+effectual in dysentery and diarrh[oe]a.
+
+Men and women continually apply for philtres, and women for means to
+prevent their husbands from liking rival wives, or for poison to
+put them out of the way. As arsenic, corrosive sublimate, and other
+poisons are sold freely to children in every spice-shop, the number of
+unaccounted-for deaths is extremely large, but inquiry is seldom or
+never made. When it is openly averred that So-and-so died from "a cup
+of tea," the only mental comment seems to be that she was very foolish
+not to be more careful what she drank, and to see that whoever
+prepared it took the first sip according to custom. The highest
+recommendation of any particular dish or spice is that it is
+"heating." Great faith is also placed in certain sacred rocks,
+tree-stumps, etc., which are visited in the hope of obtaining relief
+from all sorts of ailments. Visitors often leave rags torn from their
+garments by which to be remembered by the guardian of the place.
+Others repair to the famous sulphur springs of Zarhon, supposed to
+derive their benefit from the interment close by of a certain St.
+Jacob--and dance in the waters, yelling without intermission, "Cold
+and hot, O my lord Yakoob! Cold and hot!" fearful lest any cessation
+of the cry might permit the temperature to be increased or diminished
+beyond the bearable point.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+THE HUMAN MART
+
+  "Who digs a pit for his brother will fall into it."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+The slave-market differs in no respect from any other in Morocco, save
+in the nature of the "goods" exposed. In most cases the same place is
+used for other things at other times, and the same auctioneers are
+employed to sell cattle. The buyers seat themselves round an open
+courtyard, in the closed pens of which are the slaves for sale. These
+are brought out singly or in lots, inspected precisely as cattle would
+be, and expatiated upon in much the same manner.
+
+For instance, here comes a middle-aged man, led slowly round by the
+salesman, who is describing his "points" and noting bids. He has
+first-class muscles, although he is somewhat thin. He is made to lift
+a weight to prove his strength. His thighs are patted, and his lips
+are turned to show the gums, which at merrier moments would have been
+visible without such a performance. With a shame-faced, hang-dog air
+he trudges round, wondering what will be his lot, though a sad one it
+is already. At last he is knocked down for so many score of dollars,
+and after a good deal of further bargaining he changes hands.
+
+The next brought forward are three little girls--a "job lot," maybe
+ten, thirteen, and sixteen years of age--two of them evidently
+sisters. They are declared to be already proficient in Arabic, and
+ready for anything. Their muscles are felt, their mouths examined, and
+their bodies scrutinized in general, while the little one begins
+to cry, and the others look as though they would like to keep her
+company. Round and round again they are marched, but the bids do not
+rise high enough to effect a sale, and they are locked up again for a
+future occasion. It is indeed a sad, sad sight.
+
+The sources of supply for the slave-market are various, but the chief
+is direct from Guinea and the Sahara, where the raids of the traders
+are too well understood to need description. Usually some inter-tribal
+jealousy is fostered and fanned into a flame, and the one which loses
+is plundered of men and goods. Able-bodied lads and young girls are
+in most demand, and fetch high prices when brought to the north. The
+unfortunate prisoners are marched with great hardship and privation
+to depots over the Atlas, where they pick up Arabic and are initiated
+into Mohammedanism. To a missionary who once asked one of the dealers
+how they found their way across the desert, the terribly significant
+reply was, "There are many bones along the way!" After a while the
+survivors are either exposed for sale in the markets of Marrakesh
+or Fez, or hawked round from door to door in the coast towns, where
+public auctions are prohibited. Some have even found their way to
+Egypt and Constantinople, having been transported in British vessels,
+and landed at Gibraltar as members of the dealer's family!
+
+Another source of supply is the constant series of quarrels between
+the tribes of Morocco itself, during which many children are carried
+off who are white or nearly so. In this case the victims are almost
+all girls, for whom good prices are to be obtained. This opens a door
+for illegal supplies, children born of slaves and others kidnapped
+being thus disposed of for hareems. For this purpose the demand
+for white girls is much in excess of that for black, so that great
+temptation is offered. I knew a man who had seventeen such in his
+house, and of nearly a dozen whom I saw there, none were too dark to
+have passed for English brunettes.
+
+Though nothing whatever can be said in defence of this practice of
+tearing our fellow-men from their homes, and selling them as slaves,
+our natural feelings of horror abate considerably when we become
+acquainted with its results under the rule of Islam. Instead of the
+fearful state of things which occurred under English or American rule,
+it is a pleasure to find that, whatever may be the shortcomings of the
+Moors, in this case, at any rate, they have set us a good example.
+Even their barbarous treatment of Christian slaves till within a
+century was certainly no worse than our treatment of black slaves.
+
+To begin with, Mohammedans make no distinction in civil or religious
+rights between a black skin and a white. So long as a man avows belief
+in no god but God, and in Mohammed as the prophet of God, complying
+with certain outward forms of his religion, he is held to be as good a
+Muslim as anyone else; and as the whole social and civil fabrics
+are built upon religion and the teachings of the Koran, the social
+position of every well-behaved Mohammedan is practically equal. The
+possession of authority of any kind will naturally command a certain
+amount of respectful attention, and he who has any reason for seeking
+a favour from another is sure to adopt a more subservient mien; but
+beyond this, few such class distinctions are known as those common in
+Europe. The slave who, away from home, can behave as a gentleman, will
+be received as such, irrespective of his colour, and when freed he
+may aspire to any position under the Sultan. There are, indeed, many
+instances of black men having been ministers, governors, and even
+ambassadors to Europe, and such appointments are too common to excite
+astonishment. They have even, in the past, assisted in giving rise to
+the misconception that the people of Morocco were "Black-a-Moors."
+
+In many households the slave becomes the trusted steward of his owner,
+and receives a sufficient allowance to live in comfort. He will
+possess a paper giving him his freedom on his master's death, and
+altogether he will have a very good time of it. The liberation
+of slaves is enjoined upon those who follow Mohammed as a most
+praiseworthy act, and as one which cannot fail to bring its own
+reward. But, like too many in our own land, they more often prefer to
+make use of what they possess till they start on that journey on
+which they can take nothing with them, and then affect generosity by
+bestowing upon others that over which they lose control.
+
+One poor fellow whom I knew very well, who had been liberated on the
+death of his master, having lost his papers, was re-kidnapped and sold
+again to a man who was subsequently imprisoned for fraud, when he
+got free and worked for some years as porter; but he was eventually
+denounced and put in irons in a dungeon as part of the property of his
+_soi-disant_ master.
+
+The ordinary place of the slave is much that of the average servant,
+but receiving only board, lodging, and scanty clothing, without pay,
+and being unable to change masters. Sometimes, however, they are
+permitted to beg or work for money to buy their own freedom, when
+they become, as it were, their own masters. On the whole, a jollier,
+harder-working, or better-tempered lot than these Negroes it would
+be hard to desire, and they are as light-hearted, fortunately, as
+true-hearted, even in the midst of cruel adversities.
+
+The condition of a woman slave--to which, also, most of what has been
+said refers--is as much behind that of a man-slave as is that of a
+free-woman behind that of her lord. If she becomes her master's wife,
+the mother of a child, she is thereby freed, though she must remain in
+his service until his death, and she is only treated as an animal, not
+as a human being.
+
+After all, there is a dark side--one sufficiently dark to need no
+intensifying. The fact of one man being the possessor of another,
+just as much as he could be of a horse or cow, places him in the same
+position with regard to his "chattel" as to such a four-footed animal.
+"The merciful man is merciful to his beast," but "the tender mercies
+of the wicked are cruel," and just as one man will ill-treat his
+beast, while another treats his well, so will one man persecute his
+slave. Instances of this are quite common enough, and here and there
+cases could be brought forward of revolting brutality, as in the story
+which follows, but the great thing is that agricultural slavery is
+practically unknown, and that what exists is chiefly domestic. "Know
+the slave," says an Arab proverb, "and you know the master."
+
+[Illustration: _Freyonne, Photo., Gibraltar._
+
+RABBAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY.]
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY
+
+  "After many adversities, joy."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Outside the walls of Mazagan an English traveller had pitched his
+camp. Night had fallen when one of his men, returning from the town,
+besought admission to the tent.
+
+"Well, how now?"
+
+"Sir, I have a woman here, by thy leave, yes, a woman, a slave, whom
+I found at the door of thy consulate, where she had taken refuge, but
+the police guard drove her away, so I brought her to thee for justice.
+Have pity on her, and God will reward thee! See, here! Rabhah!"
+
+At this bidding there approached a truly pitiable object, a
+dark-skinned woman, not quite black, though of decidedly negroid
+appearance--whose tattered garments scarcely served to hide a
+half-starved form. Throwing herself on the ground before the
+foreigner, she begged his pity, his assistance, for the sake of the
+Pitiful God.
+
+"Oh, Bashador," she pleaded, addressing him as though a foreign envoy,
+"I take refuge with God and with thee! I have no one else. I have fled
+from my master, who has cruelly used me. See my back!"
+
+Suiting action to word, she slipped aside the coverings from her
+shoulder and revealed the weals of many a stripe, tears streaming down
+her face the while. Her tones were such as none but a heart of stone
+could ignore.
+
+"I bore it ten days, sir, till I could do so no longer, and then I
+escaped. It was all to make me give false witness--from which God
+deliver me--for that I will never do. My present master is the Sheikh
+bin Zaharah, Lieutenant Kaid of the Boo Azeezi, but I was once the
+slave-wife of the English agent, who sold me again, though they said
+that he dare not, because of his English protection. That was why I
+fled for justice to the English consul, and now come to thee. For
+God's sake, succour me!"
+
+With a sob her head fell forward on her breast, as again she crouched
+at the foreigner's feet, till made to rise and told to relate her
+whole story quietly. When she was calmer, aided by questions, she
+unfolded a tale which could, alas! be often paralleled in Morocco.
+
+"My home? How can I tell thee where that was, when I was brought away
+so early? All I know is that it was in the Sudan" (_i.e._ Land of
+the Blacks), "and that I came to Mogador on my mother's back. In my
+country the slave-dealers lie in wait outside the villages to catch
+the children when they play. They put them in bags like those used for
+grain, with their heads left outside the necks for air. So they are
+carried off, and travel all the way to this country slung on mules,
+being set down from time to time to be fed. But I, though born free,
+was brought by my mother, who had been carried off as a slave. The
+lines cut on my cheek show that, for every free-born child in our
+country is marked so by its mother. That is our sultan's order. In
+Mogador my mother's master sold me to a man who took me from her,
+and brought me to Dar el Baida. They took away my mother first; they
+dragged her off crying, and I never saw or heard of her again. When
+she was gone I cried for her, and could not eat till they gave me
+sugar and sweet dates. At Dar el Baida I was sold in the market
+auction to a shareefa named Lalla Moina, wife of the mountain scribe
+who taught the kadi's children. With her I was very happy, for she
+treated me well, and when she went to Mekka on the pilgrimage she let
+me go out to work on my own account, promising to make me free if God
+brought her back safely. She was good to me, Bashador, but though she
+returned safely she always put off making me free; but I had laid by
+fifteen dollars, and had bought a boxful of clothes as well. And that
+was where my trouble began. For God's sake succour me!
+
+"One day the agent saw me in the street, and eyed me so that I was
+frightened of him. He followed me home, and then sent a letter
+offering to buy me, but my mistress refused. Then the agent often came
+to the house, and I had to wait upon him. He told me that he wanted to
+buy me, and that if he did I should be better off than if I were free,
+but I refused to listen. When the agent was away his man Sarghini used
+to come and try to buy me, but in vain; and when the agent returned he
+threatened to bring my mistress into trouble if she refused. At last
+she had to yield, and I cried when I had to go. 'Thou art sold to that
+man,' she said; 'but as thou art a daughter to me, he has promised to
+take care of thee and bring thee back whenever I wish.'
+
+"Sarghini took me out by one gate with the servants of the agent, who
+took care to go out with a big fat Jew by another, that the English
+consul should not see him go out with a woman. We rode on mules, and I
+wore a white cloak; I had not then begun to fast" (_i.e._ was not yet
+twelve years of age). "After two days on the road the agent asked for
+the key of my box, in which he found my fifteen dollars, tied up in
+a rag, and took them, but gave me back my clothes. We were five days
+travelling to Marrakesh, staying each night with a kaid who treated us
+very well. So I came to the agent's house.
+
+"There I found many other slave girls, besides men slaves in the
+garden. These were Ruby, bought in Saffi, by whom the agent had a
+daughter; and Star, a white girl stolen from her home in Sus, who
+had no children; Jessamine the Less, another white girl bought in
+Marrakesh, mother of one daughter; Jessamine the Greater, whose
+daughter was her father's favourite, loaded with jewels; and others
+who cooked or served, not having children, though one had a son who
+died. There were thirteen of us under an older slave who clothed and
+fed us.
+
+"When the bashador came to the house the agent shut all but five or
+six of us in a room, the others waiting on him. I used to have to cook
+for the bashador, for whom they had great receptions with music and
+dancing-women. Next door there was a larger house, a fandak, where the
+agent kept public women and boys, and men at the door took money from
+the Muslims and Nazarenes who went there. The missionaries who lived
+close by know the truth of what I say.
+
+"A few days after I arrived I was bathed and dressed in fresh clothes,
+and taken to my master's room, as he used to call for one or another
+according to fancy. But I had no child, because he struck me, and I
+was sick. When one girl, named Amber, refused to go to him because she
+was ill, he dragged her off to another part of the house. Presently we
+heard the report of a pistol, and he came back to say she was dead. He
+had a pistol in his hand as long as my forearm. We found the girl in a
+pool of blood in agonies, and tried to flee, but had nowhere to go. So
+when she was quite dead he made us wash her. Then he brought in four
+men to dig a pit, in which he said he would bury butter. When they had
+gone we buried her there, and I can show you the spot.
+
+"One day he took two men slaves and me on a journey. One of them ran
+away, the other was sold by the way. I was sold at the Tuesday market
+of Sidi bin Nur to a dealer in slaves, whom I heard promise my master
+to keep me close for three months, and not to sell me in that place
+lest the Nazarenes should get word of it. Some time after I was bought
+by a tax-collector, with whom I remained till he died, and then lived
+in the house of his son. This man sold me to my present master, who
+has ill-treated me as I told thee. Oh, Bashador, when I fled from him,
+I came to the English consul because I was told that the agent had had
+no right to hold or sell me, since he had English protection. Thou
+knowest what has happened since. Here I am, at thy feet, imploring
+assistance. I beseech thee, turn me not away. I speak truth before
+God."
+
+No one could hear such a tale unmoved, and after due inquiry the
+Englishman thus appealed to secured her liberty on depositing at the
+British Consulate the $140 paid for her by her owner, who claimed her
+or the money. Rabhah's story, taken down by independent persons at
+different times, was afterwards told by her without variation in a
+British Court of Law. Subsequently a pronouncement as to her freedom
+having been made by the British Legation at Tangier, the $140 was
+refunded, and she lives free to-day. The last time the writer saw her,
+in the service of a European in Morocco, he was somewhat taken aback
+to find her arms about his neck, and to have kisses showered on his
+shoulders for the unimportant part that he had played in securing her
+freedom.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+THE PILGRIM CAMP
+
+  "Work for the children is better than pilgrimage or holy war."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Year by year the month succeeding the fast of Ramadan sees a motley
+assemblage of pilgrims bound for Mekka, gathered at most of the North
+African ports from all parts of Barbary and even beyond, awaiting
+vessels bound for Alexandria or Jedda. This comparatively easy means
+of covering the distance, which includes the whole length of the
+Mediterranean when the pilgrims from Morocco are concerned--not
+to mention some two-thirds of the Red Sea,--has almost entirely
+superseded the original method of travelling all the way by land, in
+the once imposing caravans.
+
+These historic institutions owed their importance no less to the
+facilities they offered for trade, than to the opportunity they
+afforded for accomplishing the pilgrimage which is enjoined on every
+follower of Mohammed. Although caravans still cross the deserts of
+North Africa in considerable force from west to east, as well as from
+south to north, to carry on the trade of the countries to the south
+of the Barbary States, the former are steadily dwindling down to mere
+local affairs, and the number of travellers who select the modern
+route by steamer is yearly increasing, as its advantages become better
+known. For the accommodation of the large number of passengers special
+vessels are chartered by speculators, and are fitted up for the
+occasion. Only some L3 are charged for the whole journey from Tangier,
+a thousand pilgrims being crowded on a medium-sized merchant vessel,
+making the horrors of the voyage indescribable.
+
+But the troubles of the pilgrims do not begin here. Before they could
+even reach the sea some of them will have travelled on foot for a
+month from remote parts of the interior, and at the coast they may
+have to endure a wearisome time of waiting for a steamer. It is while
+they are thus learning a lesson of patience at one of the Moorish
+ports that I will invite you for a stroll round their encampment on
+the market-place.
+
+This consists of scores of low, makeshift tents, with here and there
+a better-class round one dotted amongst them. The prevailing shape of
+the majority is a modified edition of the dwelling of the nomad Arab,
+to which class doubtless belongs a fair proportion of their occupants.
+Across the top of two poles about five feet high, before and behind,
+a ridge-piece is placed, and over this is stretched to the ground on
+either side a long piece of palmetto or goat-hair cloth, or perhaps
+one of the long woollen blankets worn by men and women alike, called
+haiks, which will again be used for its original purpose on board the
+vessel. The back is formed of another piece of some sort of cloth
+stretched out at the bottom to form a semi-circle, and so give more
+room inside. Those who have a bit of rug or a light mattress, spread
+it on the floor, and pile their various other belongings around its
+edge.
+
+The straits to which many of these poor people are put to get a
+covering of any kind to shelter them from sun, rain, and wind, are
+often very severe, to judge from some of the specimens of tents--if
+they deserve the name--constructed of all sorts of odds and ends,
+almost anything, it would seem, that will cover a few square inches.
+There is one such to be seen on this busy market which deserves
+special attention as a remarkable example of this style of
+architecture. Let us examine it. The materials of which it is composed
+include hair-cloth, woollen-cloth, a cotton shirt, a woollen cloak,
+and some sacking; goat skin, sheep's fleece, straw, and palmetto cord;
+rush mats, a palmetto mat, split-cane baskets and wicker baskets; bits
+of wood, a piece of cork, bark and sticks; petroleum tins flattened
+out, sheet iron, zinc, and jam and other tins; an earthenware dish and
+a stone bottle, with bits of crockery, stones, and a cow's horn to
+weight some of the other items down. Now, if any one can make anything
+of this, which is an exact inventory of such of the materials as are
+visible on the outside, he must be a born architect. Yet here this
+extraordinary construction stands, as it has stood for several months,
+and its occupant looks the jolliest fellow out. Let us pay him a
+visit.
+
+Stooping down to look under the flap which serves as a door, and
+raising it with my stick, I greet him with the customary salutation
+of "Peace be with you." "With you be peace," is the cheery reply, to
+which is added, "Welcome to thee; make thyself at home." Although
+invited to enter, I feel quite enough at home on the outside of his
+dwelling, so reply that I have no time to stay, as I only "looked in"
+to have the pleasure of making his acquaintance and examining his
+"palace." At the last word one or two bystanders who have gathered
+round indulge in a little chuckle to themselves, overhearing which I
+turn round and make the most flattering remarks I can think of as to
+its beauty, elegance, comfort, and admirable system of ventilation,
+which sets the whole company, tenant included, into a roar of
+laughter. Mine host is busy cleaning fish, and now presses us to stay
+and share his evening meal with him, but our appetites are not quite
+equal to _that_ yet, though it is beyond doubt that the morsel he
+would offer us would be as savoury and well cooked as could be
+supplied by any restaurant in Piccadilly.
+
+Inquiries elicit the fact that our friend is hoping to leave for Mekka
+by the first steamer, and that meanwhile he supports himself as a
+water-carrier, proudly showing us his goat-skin "bottle" lying on
+the floor, with the leather flap he wears between it and his side to
+protect him from the damp. Here, too, are his chain and bell, with the
+bright brass and tin cups. In fact, he is quite a "swell" in his way,
+and, in spite of his uncouth-looking surroundings, manages to enjoy
+life by looking on the bright side of things.
+
+"What will you do with your palace when you leave it?" we ask, seeing
+that it could not be moved unless the whole were jumbled up in a sack,
+when it would be impossible to reconstruct it.
+
+"Oh, I'd let it to some one else."
+
+"For how much?"
+
+"Well, that I'd leave to God."
+
+A glance round the interior of this strange abode shows that there are
+still many materials employed in its construction which might have
+been enumerated. One or two bundles, a box and a basket round the
+sides, serve to support the roof, and from the ridge-pole hangs a
+bundle which we are informed contains semolina. I once saw such a
+bundle suspended from a beam in a village mosque in which I had passed
+the night in the guise of a pious Muslim, and, observing its dusty
+condition, inquired how it came there.
+
+"A traveller left it there about a year and a half ago, and has not
+yet come for it," was the reply; to judge from which it might remain
+till Doomsday--a fact which spoke well for the honesty of the country
+folk in that respect at least, although I learned that they were
+notorious highwaymen.
+
+Though the roof admits daylight every few inches, the occupier remarks
+that it keeps the sun and rain off fairly well, and seems to think
+none the worse of it for its transparent faults. A sick woman lying in
+a native hut with a thatched roof hardly in better condition than this
+one, remarked when a visitor observed a big hole just above her pallet
+bed--
+
+"Oh, it's so nice in the summer time; it lets the breeze in so
+delightfully!"
+
+It was then the depth of winter, and she had had to shift her position
+once or twice to avoid the rain which came through that hole. What
+a lesson in making the best of things did not that ignorant invalid
+teach!
+
+Having bid the amiable water-carrier "a Dieu,"--literally as well as
+figuratively--we turn towards a group of tents further up, whence a
+white-robed form has been beckoning us. After the usual salutations
+have been exchanged, the eager inquiry is made, "Is there a steamer
+yet?"
+
+"No; I've nothing to do with steamers--but there's sure to be one
+soon."
+
+A man who evidently disbelieves me calls out, "I've got my money for
+the passage, and I'll hire a place with you, only bring the ship
+quickly."
+
+Since their arrival in Tangier they have learnt to call a steamer,
+which they have never seen before,--or even the sea,--a "babor," a
+corruption of the Spanish "vapor," for Arabic knows neither "v" nor
+"p."
+
+Another now comes forward to know if there is an eye-doctor in the
+place, for there is a mist before his eyes, as he is well-advanced in
+the decline of life. The sound of the word "doctor" brings up a few
+more of the bystanders, who ask if I am one, and as I reply in the
+negative, they ask who can cure their ears, legs, stomachs, and what
+not. I explain where they may find an excellent doctor, who will be
+glad to do all he can for them gratis--whereat they open their eyes
+incredulously,--and that for God's sake, in the name of Seyidna Aisa
+("Our Lord Jesus"), which they appreciate at once with murmurs of
+satisfaction, though they are not quite satisfied until they have
+ascertained by further questioning that he receives no support from
+his own or any other government. Hearing the name of Seyidna Aisa,
+one of the group breaks out into "El hamdu l'Illah, el hamdu l'Illah"
+("Praise be to God"), a snatch of a missionary hymn to a "Moody and
+Sankey" tune, barely recognizable as he renders it. He has only been
+here a fortnight, and disclaims all further knowledge of the hymn or
+where he heard it.
+
+Before another tent hard by sits a native barber, bleeding a youth
+from a vein in the arm, for which the fee is about five farthings.
+As one or two come round to look on, he remarks, in an off-hand
+way--probably with a view to increasing his practice--that "all the
+pilgrims are having this done; it's good for the internals."
+
+As we turn round to pass between two of the tents to the row beyond,
+our progress is stayed by a cord from the ridge of one to that of
+another, on which are strung strips of what appear at first sight to
+be leather, but on a closer inspection are found to be pieces of
+meat, tripe, and apparently chitterlings, hung out to dry in a sun
+temperature of from 90 deg. to 100 deg. Fahrenheit. Thus is prepared a staple
+article of diet for winter consumption when fresh meat is dear, or for
+use on journeys, and this is all the meat these pilgrims will taste
+till they reach Mekka, or perhaps till they return. Big jars of it,
+with the interstices filled up with butter, are stowed away in the
+tents "among the stuff." It is called "khalia," and is much esteemed
+for its tasty and reputed aphrodisiac qualities--two ideals in Morocco
+cookery,--so that it commands a relatively good price in the market.
+
+The inmates of the next tent we look into are a woman and two men,
+lying down curled up asleep in their blankets, while a couple more of
+the latter squat at the door. Having noticed our curious glances at
+their khalia, they, with the expressive motion of the closed fist
+which in native gesture-parlance signifies first-rate, endeavour
+to impress us with a sense of its excellence, which we do not feel
+inclined to dispute after all we have eaten on former occasions. This
+brings us to inquire what else these wanderers provide for the journey
+of thirteen or fourteen days one way. As bread is not to be obtained
+on board, at the door of the tent a tray-full of pieces are being
+converted into sun-dried rusks. Others are provided with a kind of
+very hard doughnut called "fikaks." These are flavoured with anise and
+carraway seeds, and are very acceptable to a hungry traveller when
+bread is scarce, though fearfully searching to hollow teeth.
+
+Then there is a goodly supply of the national food, kesk'soo or
+siksoo, better known by its Spanish name of couscoussoo. This forms
+an appetizing and lordly dish, provocative of abundant eructations--a
+sign of good breeding in these parts, wound up with a long-drawn
+"Praise be to God"--at the close of a regular "tuck in" with Nature's
+spoon, the fist. A similar preparation is hand-rolled vermicelli,
+cooked in broth or milk, if obtainable. A bag of semolina and another
+of zummeetah--parched flour--which only needs enough moisture to
+form it into a paste to prepare it for consumption, are two other
+well-patronized items.
+
+A quaint story comes to mind _a propos_ of the latter, which formed
+part of our stock of provisions during a journey through the province
+of Dukkala when the incident in question occurred. A tin of insect
+powder was also among our goods, and by an odd coincidence both were
+relegated to the pail hanging from one of our packs. Under a spreading
+fig-tree near the village of Smeerah, at lunch, some travelling
+companions offered us a cup of tea, and among other dainties placed
+at their disposal in return was the bag of zummeetah, of which one of
+them made a good meal. Later on in the day, as we rested again, he
+complained of fearful internal gripings, which were easily explained
+by the discovery of the fact that the lid of the "flea's zummeetah,"
+as one of our men styled it, had been left open, and a hole in the
+sack of "man's zummeetah" had allowed the two to mix in the bottom of
+the pail in nearly equal proportions. When this had been explained, no
+one entered more heartily into the joke than its victim, which spoke
+very well for his good temper, considering how seriously he had been
+affected.
+
+But this is rather a digression from our catalogue of the pilgrim's
+stock of provisions. Rancid butter melted down in pots, honey, dates,
+figs, raisins, and one or two similar items form the remainder. Water
+is carried in goat-skins or in pots made of the dried rind of a gourd,
+by far the most convenient for a journey, owing to their light weight
+and the absence of the prevailing taste of pitch imparted by the
+leather contrivances. Several of these latter are to be seen before
+the tents hanging on tripods. One of the Moors informs us that for the
+first day on board they have to provide their own water, after which
+it is found for them, but everything else they take with them. An
+ebony-hued son of Ham, seated by a neighbouring tent, replies to
+our query as to what he is providing, "I take nothing," pointing
+heavenward to indicate his reliance on Divine providence.
+
+And so they travel. The group before us has come from the Sahara, a
+month's long journey overland, on foot! Yet their travels have only
+commenced. Can they have realized what it all means?
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+WAITING FOR THE STEAMER.]
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+RETURNING HOME
+
+  "He lengthened absence, and returned unwelcomed."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Evening is about to fall--for fall it does in these south latitudes,
+with hardly any twilight--and the setting sun has lit the sky with
+a refulgent glow that must be gazed at to be understood--the arc of
+heaven overspread with glorious colour, in its turn reflected by the
+heaving sea. One sound alone is heard as I wend my way along the sandy
+shore; it is the heavy thud and aftersplash of each gigantic wave,
+as it breaks on the beach, and hurls itself on its retreating
+predecessor, each climbing one step higher than the last.
+
+There, in the distance, stands a motley group--men, women,
+children--straining wearied eyes to recognize the forms which crowd
+a cargo lighter slowly nearing land. Away in the direction of their
+looks I dimly see the outline of the pilgrim ship, a Cardiff coaler,
+which has brought close on a thousand Hajes from Port Said or
+Alexandria--men chiefly, but among them wives and children--who have
+paid that toilsome pilgrimage to Mekka.
+
+The last rays of the sun alone remain as the boat strikes the shore,
+and as the darkness falls apace a score of dusky forms make a wild
+rush into the surging waters, while an equal number rise up eager in
+the boat to greet their friends. So soon as they are near enough to be
+distinguished one from another, each watcher on the beach shouts the
+name of the friend he is awaiting, proud to affix, for the first time,
+the title Haj--Pilgrim--to his name. As only some twenty or
+thirty have yet landed from among so many hundreds, the number of
+disappointed ones who have to turn back and bide their time is
+proportionately large.
+
+"Haj Mohammed! Haj Abd es-Slam! Haj el Arbi! Haj boo Shaib! Ah, Haj
+Drees!" and many such ejaculations burst from their lips, together
+with inquiries as to whether So-and-so may be on board. One by one the
+weary travellers once more step upon the land which is their home, and
+with assistance from their friends unload their luggage.
+
+Now a touching scene ensues. Strong men fall on one another's necks
+like girls, kissing and embracing with true joy, each uttering
+a perfect volley of inquiries, compliments, congratulations, or
+condolence. Then, with child-like simplicity, the stayer-at-home leads
+his welcome relative or friend by the hand to the spot where his
+luggage has been deposited, and seating themselves thereon they soon
+get deep into a conversation which renders them oblivious to all
+around, as the one relates the wonders of his journeyings, the other
+the news of home.
+
+Poor creatures! Some months ago they started, full of hope, on an
+especially trying voyage of several weeks, cramped more closely than
+emigrants, exposed both to sun and rain, with hardly a change of
+clothing, and only the food they had brought with them. Arrived
+at their destination, a weary march across country began, and was
+repeated after they had visited the various points, and performed the
+various rites prescribed by the Koran or custom, finally returning as
+they went, but not all, as the sorrow-stricken faces of some among the
+waiters on the beach had told, and the muttered exclamation, "It is
+written--_Mektoob_."
+
+Meanwhile the night has come. The Creator's loving Hand has caused
+a myriad stars to shine forth from the darkness, in some measure to
+replace the light of day, while as each new boat-load is set down the
+same scenes are enacted, and the crowd grows greater and greater, the
+din of voices keeping pace therewith.
+
+Donkey-men having appeared on the scene with their patient beasts,
+they clamour for employment, and those who can afford it avail
+themselves of their services to get their goods transported to the
+city. What goods they are, too! All sorts of products of the East done
+up in boxes of the most varied forms and colours, bundles, rolls, and
+bales. The owners are apparently mere bundles of rags themselves, but
+they seem no less happy for that.
+
+Seated on an eminence at one side are several customs officers who
+have been delegated to inspect these goods; their flowing garments and
+generally superior attire afford a striking contrast to the state of
+the returning pilgrims, or even to that of the friends come to meet
+them. These officials have their guards marching up and down between
+and round about the groups, to see that nothing is carried off without
+inspection.
+
+Little by little the crowd disperses; those whose friends have landed
+escort them to their homes, leaving those who will have to continue
+their journey overland alone, making hasty preparations for their
+evening meal. The better class speedily have tents erected, but the
+majority will have to spend the night in the open air, probably in the
+rain, for it is beginning to spatter already. Fires are lit in all
+directions, throwing a lurid light upon the interesting picture, and
+I turn my horse's head towards home with a feeling of sadness, but
+at the same time one of thankfulness that my lot was not cast where
+theirs is.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+
+XXV
+
+DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO
+
+  "The Beheaded was abusing the Flayed:
+  One with her throat cut passed by, and exclaimed,
+  'God deliver us from such folk!'"
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Instead of residing at the Court of the Sultan, as might be expected,
+the ministers accredited to the ruler of Morocco take up their abode
+in Tangier, where they are more in touch with Europe, and where there
+is greater freedom for pig-sticking. The reason for this is that the
+Court is not permanently settled anywhere, wintering successively at
+one of the three capitals, Fez, Marrakesh, or Mequinez. Every few
+years, when anything of note arises; when there is an accumulation of
+matters to be discussed with the Emperor, or when a new representative
+has been appointed, an embassy to Court is undertaken, usually in
+spring or autumn, the best times to travel in this roadless land.
+
+What happens on these embassies has often enough been related from the
+point of view of the performers, but seldom from that of residents in
+the country who know what happens, and the following peep behind the
+scenes, though fortunately not typical of all, is not exaggerated.
+Even more might have been told under some heads. As strictly
+applicable to no Power at present represented in Morocco, the record
+is that of an imaginary embassy from Greece some sixty or more years
+ago. To prevent misconception, it may be as well to add that it was
+written previous to the failure of the mission of Sir Charles Euan
+Smith.
+
+
+  I. THE RECEPTION
+
+In a sloop-of-war sent all the way from the AEgean, the Ambassador
+and his suite sailed from Tangier to Saffi, where His Excellency was
+received on landing by a Royal salute from the crumbling batteries.
+The local governor and the Greek vice-consul awaited him on leaving
+the surf boat, with an escort which sadly upset the operations of
+women washing wool by the water-port. Outside the land-gate, beside
+the ancient palace, was pitched a Moorish camp awaiting his arrival,
+and European additions were soon erected beside it. At daybreak next
+morning a luncheon-party rode forward, whose duty it was to prepare
+the midday meal for the embassy, and to pitch the awning under which
+they should partake of it.
+
+Arrived at the spot selected, Drees, the "native agent," found the
+village sheikh awaiting him with ample supplies, enough for every one
+for a couple of days. This he carefully packed on his mules, and by
+the time the embassy came up, having started some time later than he,
+after a good breakfast, he was ready to go on again with the remainder
+of the muleteers and the camel-drivers to prepare the evening meal and
+pitch for the night a camp over which waved the flag of Greece.
+
+Here the offerings of provisions or money were made with equal
+profusion. There were bushels of kesk'soo; there were several live
+sheep, which were speedily despatched and put into pots to cook; there
+were jars of honey, of oil, and of butter; there were camel-loads of
+barley for the beasts of burden, and trusses of hay for their dessert;
+there were packets of candles by the dozen, and loaves of sugar and
+pounds of tea; not to speak of fowls, of charcoal, of sweet herbs, of
+fruits, and of minor odds and ends.
+
+By the time the Europeans arrived, their French _chef_ had prepared an
+excellent dinner, the native escort and servants squatting in groups
+round steaming dishes provided ready cooked by half-starved villagers.
+When the feasting was over, and all seemed quiet, a busy scene was in
+reality being enacted in the background. At a little distance from
+the camp, Haj Marti, the right-hand man of the agent, was holding a
+veritable market with the surplus mona of the day, re-selling to
+the miserable country folk what had been wrung from them by the
+authorities. The Moorish Government declared that what they paid thus
+in kind would be deducted from their taxes, and this was what the
+Minister assured his questioning wife, for though he knew better, he
+found it best to wink at the proceedings of his unpaid henchman.
+
+As they proceeded inland, on the border of each local jurisdiction the
+escort was changed with an exhibition of "powder-play," the old one
+retiring as the new one advanced with the governor at its head. Thus
+they journeyed for about a week, till they reached the crumbling walls
+of palm-begirt Marrakesh.
+
+The official _personnel_ of the embassy consisted of the Minister
+and his secretary Nikolaki Glymenopoulos, with Ayush ben Lezra, the
+interpreter. The secretary was a self-confident dandy with a head like
+a pumpkin and a scrawl like the footprints of a wandering hen; reputed
+a judge of ladies and horse-flesh; supercilious, condescending to
+inferiors, and the plague of his tailor. The consul, Paolo Komnenos, a
+man of middle age with a kindly heart, yet without force of character
+to withstand the evils around him, had been left in Tangier as _Charge
+d'Affaires_, to the great satisfaction of his wife and family, who
+considered themselves of the _creme de la creme_ of Tangier society,
+such as it was, because, however much the wife of the Minister
+despised the bumptiousness of Madame Komnenos, she could not omit her
+from her invitations, unless of the most private nature, on account
+of her husband's official position. Now, as Madame Mavrogordato
+accompanied her husband with her little son and a lady friend, the
+consul's wife reigned supreme.
+
+Then there were the official _attaches_ for the occasion, the
+representative of the army, a colonel of Roman nose, and eyes which
+required but one glass between them, a man to whom death would have
+been preferable to going one morning unshaved, or to failing one jot
+in military etiquette; and the representative of the navy, in cocked
+hat and gold-striped pantaloons, who found it more difficult to avoid
+tripping over his sword than most landsmen do to keep from stumbling
+over coils of rope on ship-board; beyond his costume there was little
+of note about him; his genial character made it easy to say "Ay, ay,"
+to any one, but the yarns he could spin round the camp-fire made him
+a general favourite. The least consequential of the party was the
+doctor, an army man of honest parts, who wished well to all the world.
+Undoubtedly he was the hardest worked of the lot, for no one else did
+anything but enjoy himself.
+
+Finally there were the "officious" _attaches_. Every dabbler in
+politics abroad knows the fine distinctions between "official" and
+"officious" action, and how subtle are the changes which can be rung
+upon the two, but there was nothing of that description here. The
+officious _attaches_ were simply a party of the Minister's personal
+friends, and two or three strangers whose influence might in after
+times be useful to him. One was of course a journalist, to supply the
+special correspondence of the _Acropolis_ and the _Hellenike Salpinx_.
+These would afterwards be worked up into a handy illustrated volume of
+experiences and impressions calculated to further deceive the public
+with regard to Morocco and the Moors, and to secure for the Minister
+his patron, the longed-for promotion to a European Court. Another was
+necessarily the artist of the party, while the remainder engaged in
+sport of one kind or another.
+
+Si Drees, the "native agent," was employed as master of horse, and
+superintended the native arrangements generally. With him rested every
+detail of camping out, and the supply of food and labour. Right and
+left he was the indispensable factotum, shouting himself hoarse from
+before dawn till after sunset, when he joined the gay blades of the
+Embassy in private pulls at forbidden liquors. No one worked as hard
+as he, and he seemed omnipresent. The foreigners were justly thankful
+to have such a man, for without him all felt at sea. He appeared to
+know everything and to be available for every one's assistance. The
+only draw-back was his ignorance of Greek, or of any language but his
+own, yet being sharp-witted he made himself wonderfully understood by
+signs and a few words of the strange coast jargon, a mixture of half a
+dozen tongues.
+
+The early morning was fixed for the solemn entry of the Embassy into
+the city, yet the road had to be lined on both sides with soldiers
+to keep back the thronging crowds. Amid the din of multitudes, the
+clashing of barbarous music, and shrill ululations of delight from
+native women; surrounded by an eastern blaze of sun and blended
+colours, rode incongruous the Envoy from Greece. His stiff, grim
+figure, the embodiment of officialism, in full Court dress, was
+supported on either hand by his secretary and interpreter, almost as
+resplendent as himself. Behind His Excellency rode the _attaches_ and
+other officials, then the ladies; newspaper correspondents, artists,
+and other non-official guests, bringing up the rear. In this order
+the party crossed the red-flowing Tansift by its low bridge of many
+arches, and drew near to the gate of Marrakesh called that of the
+Thursday [market], Bab el Khamees.
+
+[Illustration: _Molinari, Photo., Tangier._
+
+A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO.]
+
+At last they commenced to thread the narrow winding streets, their
+bordering roofs close packed with shrouded figures only showing an
+eye, who greeted them after their fashion with a piercing, long-drawn,
+"Yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo; yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo; yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo--oo," so novel
+to the strangers, and so typical. Then they crossed the wide-open
+space before the Kutubiyah on their way to the garden which had been
+prepared for them, the Mamuniyah, with its handsome residence and
+shady walks.
+
+Three days had to elapse from the time of their arrival before they
+could see the Sultan, for they were now under native etiquette, but
+they had much to occupy them, much to see and think about, though
+supposed to remain at home and rest till the audience. On the morning
+of the fourth day all was bustle. Each had to array himself in such
+official garb as he could muster, with every decoration he could
+borrow, for the imposing ceremony of the presentation to the Emperor.
+What a business it was! what a coming and going; what noise and what
+excitement! It was like living in the thick of a whirling pantomime.
+
+At length they were under way, and making towards the kasbah gate in a
+style surpassing that of their entry, the populace still more excited
+at the sight of the gold lace and cocked hats which showed what great
+men had come to pay their homage to their lord the Sultan. On arrival
+at the inmost courtyard with whitewashed, battlemented walls, and
+green-tiled roofs beyond, they found it thickly lined with soldiers,
+a clear space being left for them in the centre. Here they were all
+ranged on foot, the presents from King Otho placed on one side, and
+covered with rich silk cloths. Presently a blast of trumpets silenced
+the hum of voices, and the soldiers made a show of "attention" in
+their undrilled way, for the Sultan approached.
+
+In a moment the great doors on the other side flew open, and a
+number of gaily dressed natives in peaked red caps--the Royal
+body-guard--emerged, followed by five prancing steeds, magnificent
+barbs of different colours, richly caparisoned, led by gold-worked
+bridles. Then came the Master of the Ceremonies in his flowing robes
+and monster turban, a giant in becoming dress, and--as they soon
+discovered--of stentorian voice. Behind him rode the Emperor himself
+in stately majesty, clothed in pure white, wool-white, distinct amid
+the mass of colours worn by those surrounding him, his ministers. The
+gorgeous trappings of his white steed glittered as the proud beast
+arched his neck and champed his gilded bit, or tried in vain to
+prance. Over his head was held by a slave at his side the only sign of
+Royalty, a huge red-silk umbrella with a fringe to match, and a golden
+knob on the point, while others of the household servants flicked the
+flies away, or held the spurs, the cushion, the carpet, and other
+things which might be called for by their lord.
+
+On his appearance deafening shouts broke forth, "God bless our Lord,
+and give him victory!" The rows of soldiers bowed their heads and
+repeated the cry with still an increase of vigour, "God bless our
+Lord, and give him victory!" At a motion from the Master of the
+Ceremonies the members of the Embassy took off their hats or helmets,
+and the representative of modern Greece stood there bareheaded in a
+broiling sun before the figure-head of ancient Barbary. As the Sultan
+approached the place where he stood, he drew near and offered a few
+stereotyped words in explanation of his errand, learned by heart, to
+which the Emperor replied by bidding him welcome. The Minister then
+handed to him an engrossed address in a silk embroided case, which
+an attendant was motioned to take, the Sultan acknowledging it
+graciously. One by one the Minister next introduced the members of his
+suite, their names and qualities being shouted in awful tones by the
+Master of the Ceremonies, and after once more bidding them welcome,
+but with a scowl at the sight of Drees, His Majesty turned his horse's
+head, leaving them to re-mount as their steeds were brought to
+them. Again the music struck up with a deafening din, and the state
+reception was over.
+
+But this was not to be the only interview between the Ambassador and
+the Sultan, for several so-called private conferences followed, at
+which an attendant or two and the interpreter Ayush were present.
+Kyrios Mavrogordato's stock of polite workable Arabic had been
+exhausted at the public function, and for business matters he had to
+rely implicitly on the services of his handy Jew. Such other notions
+of the language as he boasted could only be addressed to inferiors,
+and that but to convey the most simple of crude instructions or
+curses.
+
+At the first private audience there were many matters of importance to
+be brought before the Sultan's notice, afterwards to be relegated to
+the consideration of his wazeers. This time no fuss was made, and the
+affair again came off in the early morning, for His Majesty rose at
+three, and after devotions and study transacted official business from
+five to nine, then breakfasting and reserving the rest of the day for
+recreation and further religious study.
+
+
+  II. THE INTERVIEW
+
+At the appointed time an escort waited on the Ambassador[18] to convey
+him to the palace, arrived at which he was led into one of the many
+gardens in the interior, full of luxuriant semi-wild vegetation. In
+a room opening on to one side of the garden sat the Emperor,
+tailor-fashion, on a European sofa, elevated by a sort of dais
+opposite the door. With the exception of an armchair on the lower
+level, to which the Ambassador was motioned after the usual formal
+obeisances and expressions of respect, the chamber was absolutely bare
+of furniture, though not lacking in beauty of decoration. The floor
+was of plain cut but elegant tiles, and the dado was a more intricate
+pattern of the same in shades of blue, green, and yellow, interspersed
+with black, but relieved by an abundance of greeny white. Above this,
+to the stalactite cornice, the walls were decorated with intricate
+Mauresque designs in carved white plaster, while the rich stalactite
+roofing of deep-red tone, just tipped with purple and gilt, made a
+perfect whole, and gave a feeling of repose to the design. Through the
+huge open horse-shoe arch of the door the light streamed between the
+branches of graceful creepers waving in the breeze, adding to the
+impression of coolness caused by the bubbling fountain outside.
+
+  [18: Strictly speaking, only "Minister Plenipotentiary and
+       Envoy Extraordinary."]
+
+"May God bless our Lord, and prolong his days!" said Ayush, bowing
+profoundly towards the Sultan, as the Minister concluded the
+repetition of his stock phrases, and seated himself.
+
+"May it please Your Majesty," began the Minister, in Greek, "I cannot
+express the honour I feel in again being commissioned to approach Your
+Majesty in the capacity of Ambassador from my Sovereign, King Otho of
+Greece."
+
+This little speech was rendered into Arabic by Ayush to this effect--
+
+"May God pour blessings on our Lord. The Ambassador rejoices greatly,
+and is honoured above measure in being sent once more by his king to
+approach the presence of our Lord, the high and mighty Sovereign: yes,
+my Lord."
+
+"He is welcome," answered the Sultan, graciously; "we love no nation
+better than the Greeks. They have always been our friends."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty is delighted to see Your Excellency, whom
+he loves from his heart, as also your mighty nation, than which none
+is more dear to him, and whose friendship he is ready to maintain at
+any cost."
+
+_Minister._ "It pleases me greatly to hear Your Majesty's noble
+sentiments, which I, and I am sure my Government, reciprocate."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister is highly complimented by the gracious
+words of our Lord, and declares that the Greeks love no other nation
+on earth beside the Moors: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "Is there anything I can do for such good friends?"
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty says he is ready to do anything for so
+good a friend as Your Excellency."
+
+_Minister._ "I am deeply grateful to His Majesty. Yes, there are one
+or two matters which my Government would like to have settled."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister is simply overwhelmed at the thought of
+the consideration of our Lord, and he has some trifling matters for
+which perhaps he may beg our Lord's attention: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "He has only to make them known."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will do all Your Excellency desires."
+
+_Minister._ "First then, Your Majesty, there is the little affair of
+the Greek who was murdered last year at Azila. I am sure that I can
+rely on an indemnity for his widow."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister speaks of the Greek who was murdered--by
+your leave, yes, my Lord--at Azila last year: yes, my Lord. The
+Ambassador wishes him to be paid for."
+
+_Sultan._ "How much does he ask?"
+
+This being duly interpreted, the Minister replied--
+
+"Thirty thousand dollars."
+
+_Sultan._ "Half that sum would do, but we will see. What next?"
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty thinks that too much, but as Your
+Excellency says, so be it."
+
+_Minister._ "I thank His Majesty, and beg to bring to his notice the
+imprisonment of a Greek _protege_, Mesaud bin Audah, at Mazagan some
+months ago, and to ask for his liberation and for damages. This is a
+most important case."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister wants that thief Mesaud bin Audah, whom
+the Basha of Mazagan has in gaol, to be let out, and he asks also for
+damages: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "The man was no lawful _protege_. I can do nothing in the
+case. Bin Audah is a criminal, and cannot be protected."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty fears that this is a matter in which he
+cannot oblige Your Excellency, much as he would like to, since the man
+in question is a thief. It is no use saying anything further about
+this."
+
+_Minister._ "Then ask about that Jew Botbol, who was thrashed. Though
+not a _protege_, His Majesty might be able to do something."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Excellency brings before our Lord a most serious
+matter indeed; yes, my Lord. It is absolutely necessary that redress
+should be granted to Maimon Botbol, the eminent merchant of Mogador
+whom the kaid of that place most brutally treated last year: yes, my
+Lord. And this is most important, for Botbol is a great friend of His
+Excellency, who has taken the treatment that the poor man received
+very much to heart. He is sure that our Lord will not hesitate to
+order the payment of the damages demanded, only fifty thousand
+dollars."
+
+_Sultan._ "In consideration of the stress the Minister lays upon this
+case, he shall have ten thousand dollars."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will pay Your Excellency ten thousand
+dollars damages."
+
+_Minister._ "As that is more than I had even hoped to ask, you will
+duly thank His Majesty most heartily for this spontaneous generosity."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister says that is not sufficient from our
+Lord, but he will not oppose his will: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "I cannot do more."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty says it gives him great pleasure to pay
+it."
+
+_Minister._ "Now there is the question of slavery. I have here a
+petition from a great society at Athens requesting His Majesty to
+consider whether he cannot abolish the system throughout his realm,"
+handing the Sultan an elaborate Arabic scroll in Syrian characters
+hard to be deciphered even by the secretary to whom it is consigned
+for perusal; the Sultan, though an Arabic scholar, not taking
+sufficient interest in the matter to think of it again.
+
+_Interpreter._ "There are some fanatics in the land of Greece, yes, my
+Lord, who want to see slavery abolished here, by thy leave, yes, my
+Lord, but I will explain to the Bashador that this is impossible."
+
+_Sultan._ "Certainly. It is an unalterable institution. Those who
+think otherwise are fools. Besides, your agent Drees deals in slaves!"
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will give the petition his best attention,
+and if possible grant it with pleasure."
+
+_Minister._ "You will thank His Majesty very much. It will rejoice
+my fellow-countrymen to hear it. Next, a Greek firm has offered to
+construct the much-needed port at Tangier, if His Majesty will grant
+us the concession till the work be paid for by the tolls. Such a
+measure would tend to greatly increase the Moorish revenues."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister wishes to build a port at Tangier, yes,
+my Lord, and to hold it till the tolls have paid for it."
+
+_Sultan._ "Which may not be till Doomsday. Nevertheless, I
+will consent to any one making the port whom all the European
+representatives shall agree to appoint"--a very safe promise to make,
+since the Emperor knew that this agreement was not likely to be
+brought about till the said Domesday.
+
+_Interpreter._ "Your Excellency's request is granted. You have only to
+obtain the approval of your colleagues."
+
+_Minister._ "His Majesty is exceedingly gracious, and I am
+correspondingly obliged to him. Inform His Majesty that the same firm
+is willing to build him bridges over his rivers, and to make roads
+between the provinces, which would increase friendly communications,
+and consequently tend to reduce inter-tribal feuds."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister thanks our Lord, and wants also to build
+bridges and roads in the interior to make the tribes friendly by
+intercourse."
+
+_Sultan._ "That would never do. The more I keep the tribes apart the
+better for me. If I did not shake up my rats in the sack pretty often,
+they would gnaw their way out. Besides, where my people could travel
+more easily, so could foreign invaders. No, I cannot think of such a
+thing. God created the world without bridges."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty is full of regret that in this matter he
+is unable to please Your Excellency, but he thinks his country better
+as it is."
+
+_Minister._ "Although I beg to differ from His Majesty, so be it. Next
+there is the question of our commerce with Morocco. This is greatly
+hampered by the present lack of a fixed customs tariff. There are
+several articles of which the exportation is now prohibited, which it
+would be really very much in the interest of his people to allow us to
+purchase."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister requests of our Lord a new customs
+tariff, and the right to export wheat and barley."
+
+_Sultan._ "The tariff he may discuss with the Wazeer of the Interior;
+I will give instructions. As for the cereals, the bread of the
+Faithful cannot be given to infidels."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty accedes to your Excellency's request.
+You have only to make known the details to the Minister for Internal
+Affairs."
+
+_Minister._ "Again I humbly render thanks to his Majesty. Since he is
+so particularly good to me, perhaps he would add one kindness more, in
+abandoning to me the old house and garden on the Marshan at Tangier,
+in which the Foreign Minister used to live. It is good for nothing,
+and would be useful to me."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister asks our Lord for a couple of houses
+in Tangier. Yes, my Lord, the one formerly occupied by the Foreign
+Minister on the Marshan at Tangier for himself; and the other
+adjoining the New Mosque in town, just an old tumble-down place for
+stores, to be bestowed upon me; yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "What sort of place is that on the Marshan?"
+
+_Interpreter._ "I will not lie unto my lord. It is a fine big house
+in a large garden, with wells and fruit trees: yes, my Lord. But the
+other is a mere nothing: yes, my Lord."
+
+_Sultan._ "I will do as he wishes--if it please God." (The latter
+expression showing the reverse of an intention to carry out the
+former.)
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty gives you the house."
+
+_Minister._ "His Majesty is indeed too kind to me. I therefore regret
+exceedingly having to bring forward a number of claims which have been
+pending for a long time, but with the details of which I will not
+of course trouble His Majesty personally. I merely desire his
+instructions to the Treasury to discharge them on their being admitted
+by the competent authorities."
+
+_Interpreter._ "The Minister brings before our Lord a number of
+claims, on the settlement of which he insists: yes, my Lord. He feels
+it a disgrace that they should have remained unpaid so long: yes, my
+Lord. And he asks for orders to be given to discharge them at once."
+
+_Sultan._ "There is neither force nor power save in God, the High, the
+Mighty. Glory to Him! There is no telling what these Nazarenes won't
+demand next. I will pay all just claims, of course, but many of these
+are usurers' frauds, with which I will have nothing to do."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will give the necessary instructions; but
+the claims will have to be examined, as Your Excellency has already
+suggested. His Majesty makes the sign of the conclusion of our
+interview."
+
+_Minister._ "Assure His Majesty how deeply indebted I am to him
+for these favours he has shown me, but allow me to in some measure
+acknowledge them by giving information of importance. I am entirely
+_au courant_, through private channels, with the unworthy tactics of
+the British Minister, as also those of his two-faced colleagues, the
+representatives of France and Spain, and can disclose them to His
+Majesty whenever he desires."
+
+_Interpreter._ "His Excellency does not know how to express
+his gratitude to our Lord for his undeserved and unprecedented
+condescension, and feels himself bound the slave of our Lord, willing
+to do all our Lord requires of his hands; yes, my lord. But he trusts
+that our Lord will not forget the houses--and the one in town is only
+a little one,--or the payment of the indemnity to Maimon Botbol, yes,
+my Lord, or the discharging of the claims. God bless our Lord, and
+give him victory! And also, pardon me, my Lord, the Minister says that
+all the other ministers are rogues, and he knows all about them that
+our Lord may wish to learn: yes, my Lord."
+
+"God is omniscient. He can talk of those matters to the Foreign
+Minister to-morrow. In peace!"
+
+Once more a few of his stock phrases were man[oe]uvred by Kyrios
+Mavrogordato, as with the most profound of rear-steering bows the
+representatives of civilization retreated, and the potentate of
+Barbary turned with an air of relief to give instructions to his
+secretary.
+
+
+  III. THE RESULT
+
+A few weeks after this interview the _Hellenike Salpinx_, a leading
+journal of Athens, contained an article of which the following is a
+translation:--
+
+    "OUR INTERESTS IN MOROCCO
+
+    "(_From our Special Correspondent_)
+
+    "Marrakesh, October 20.
+
+    "The success of our Embassy to Morocco is already assured, and
+    that in a remarkable degree. The Sultan has once more shown most
+    unequivocally his strong partiality for the Greek nation, and
+    especially for their distinguished representative, Kyrios Dimitri
+    Mavrogordato, whose personal tact and influence have so largely
+    contributed to this most thankworthy result. It is very many years
+    since such a number of requests have been granted by the Emperor
+    of Morocco to one ambassador, and it is probable that under the
+    most favourable circumstances no other Power could have hoped for
+    such an exhibition of favour.
+
+    "The importance of the concessions is sufficient to mark this
+    embassy in the history of European relations with Morocco,
+    independently of the amount of ordinary business transacted,
+    and the way in which the Sultan has promised to satisfy our
+    outstanding claims. Among other favours, permission has been
+    granted to a Greek firm to construct a port at Tangier, the chief
+    seat of foreign trade in the Empire, which is a matter of national
+    importance, and there is every likelihood of equally valuable
+    concessions for the building of roads and bridges being made to
+    the same company.
+
+    "Our merchants will be rejoiced to learn that at last the
+    vexatious customs regulations, or rather the absence of them,
+    will be replaced by a regular tariff, which our minister has
+    practically only to draw up for it to be sanctioned by the
+    Moorish Government. The question of slavery, too, is under the
+    consideration of the Sultan with a view to its restriction, if
+    not to its abolition, a distinct and unexpected triumph for the
+    friends of universal freedom. There can be no question that, under
+    its present enlightened ruler, Morocco is at last on the high-road
+    to civilization.
+
+    "Only those who have had experience in dealing with
+    procrastinating politicians of the eastern school can appreciate
+    in any degree the consummate skill and patience which is requisite
+    to overcome the sinuosities of oriental minds, and it is only such
+    a signal victory as has just been won for Greece and for progress
+    in Morocco, as can enable us to realize the value to the State of
+    such diplomatists as His Excellency, Kyrios Mavrogordato."
+
+This article had not appeared in print before affairs on the spot wore
+a very different complexion. At the interview with the Minister for
+the Interior a most elaborate customs tariff had been presented and
+discussed, some trifling alterations being made, and the whole being
+left to be submitted to the Sultan for his final approval, with the
+assurance that this was only a matter of form. The Minister of Finance
+had promised most blandly the payment of the damages demanded for the
+murder of the Greek and for the thrashing of the Jew. It was true that
+as yet no written document had been handed to the Greek Ambassador,
+but then he had the word of the Ministers themselves, and promises
+from the Sultan's lips as well. The only _fait accompli_ was the
+despatch of a courier to Tangier with orders to deliver up the keys
+of two specified properties to the Ambassador and his interpreter
+respectively, a matter which, strange to say, found no place in the
+messages to the Press, and in which the spontaneous present to the
+interpreter struck His Excellency as a most generous act on the part
+of the Sultan.
+
+Quite a number of state banquets had been given, in which the members
+of the Embassy had obtained an insight into stylish native cooking,
+writing home that half the dishes were prepared with pomatum and the
+other half with rancid oil and butter. The _litterateur_ of the party
+had nearly completed his work on Morocco, and was seriously thinking
+of a second volume. The young _attaches_ could swear right roundly in
+Arabic, and were becoming perfect connoisseurs of native beauty. In
+the palatial residence of Drees, as well as in a private residence
+which that worthy had placed at their disposal, they had enjoyed a
+selection of native female society, and had such good times under the
+wing of that "rare old cock," as they dubbed him, that one or two
+began to feel as though they had lighted among the lotus eaters, and
+had little desire to return.
+
+But to Kyrios Mavrogordato and Glymenopoulos his secretary, the delay
+at Court began to grow irksome, and they heartily wished themselves
+back in Tangier. Notwithstanding the useful "tips" which he had given
+to the Foreign Minister regarding the base designs of his various
+colleagues accredited to that Court, his own affairs seemed to hang
+fire. He had shown how France was determined to make war upon Morocco
+sooner or later, with a view to adding its fair plains to those it
+was acquiring in Algeria, and had warned him that if the Sultan lent
+assistance to the Ameer Abd el Kader he would certainly bring this
+trouble upon himself. He had also shown how England pretended
+friendship because at any cost she must maintain at least the
+neutrality of that part of his country bordering on the Straits of
+Gibraltar, and that with all her professions of esteem, she really
+cared not a straw for the Moors. He had shown too that puny Spain held
+it as an article of faith that Morocco should one day become hers in
+return for the rule of the Moors upon her own soil. He had, in fact,
+shown that Greece alone cared for the real interests of the Sultan.
+
+
+  IV. DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND
+
+Yet things did not move. The treaty of commerce remained unsigned, and
+slaves were still bought and sold. The numerous claims which he had
+to enforce had only been passed in part, and the Moorish authorities
+seemed inclined to dispute the others stoutly. At last, at a private
+conference with the Wazeer el Kiddab, the Ambassador broached a
+proposal to cut the Gordian knot. He would abandon all disputed claims
+for a lump sum paid privately to himself, and asked what the Moorish
+Government might feel inclined to offer.
+
+The Wazeer el Kiddab received this proposal with great complacency. He
+was accustomed to such overtures. Every day of his life that style of
+bargain was part of his business. But this was the first time that a
+European ambassador had made such a suggestion in its nakedness, and
+he was somewhat taken aback, though his studied indifference of manner
+did not allow the foreigner to suspect such a thing for a moment. The
+usual style had been for him to offer present after present to the
+ambassadors till he had reached their price, and then, when his master
+had overloaded them with personal favours--many of which existed but
+in promise--they had been unable to press too hard the claims they had
+come to enforce, for fear of possible disclosures. So this was a novel
+proceeding, though quite comprehensible on the part of a man who had
+been bribed on a less extensive scale on each previous visit to Court.
+Once, however, such a proposition had been made, it was evident that
+his Government could not be much in earnest regarding demands which he
+could so easily afford to set aside.
+
+As soon, therefore, as Kyrios Mavrogordato had left, the Wazeer
+ordered his mule, that he might wait upon His Majesty before the hours
+of business were over. His errand being stated as urgent and private,
+he was admitted without delay to his sovereign's presence.
+
+"May God prolong the days of our Lord! I come to say that the way to
+rid ourselves of the importunity of this ambassador from Greece is
+plain. He has made it so himself by offering to abandon all disputed
+claims for a round sum down for his own use. What is the pleasure of
+my Lord?"
+
+"God is great!" exclaimed the Sultan, "that is well. You may inform
+the Minister from me that a positive refusal is given to every demand
+not already allowed in writing. What _he_ can afford to abandon, _I_
+can't afford to pay."
+
+"The will of our Lord shall be done."
+
+"But stay! I have had my eye upon that Greek ambassador this long
+while, and am getting tired of him. The abuses he commits are
+atrocious, and his man Drees is a devil. Haj Taib el Ghassal writes
+that the number of his _proteges_ is legion, and that by far the
+greater number of them are illegal. Inform him when you see him that
+henceforth the provisions of our treaties shall be strictly adhered
+to, and moreover that no protection certificates shall be valid unless
+countersigned by our Foreign Commissioner El Ghassal. If I rule here,
+I will put an end to this man's doings."
+
+"On my head and eyes be the words of my Lord."
+
+"And remind him further that the permits for the free passage of
+goods at the customs are granted only for his personal use, for the
+necessities of his household, and that the way Haj Taib writes he has
+been selling them is a disgrace. The man is a regular swindler, and
+the less we have to do with him the better. As for his pretended
+information about his colleagues, there may be a good deal of truth
+in it, but I have the word of the English minister, who is about as
+honest as any of them, that this Mavrogordato is a born villain,
+and that if his Government is not greedy for my country on its own
+account, it wants to sell me to some more powerful neighbour in
+exchange for its protection. Greece is only a miserable fag-end of
+Europe."
+
+"Our Lord knows: may God give him victory," and the Wazeer bowed
+himself out to consider how best he might obey his instructions, not
+exactly liking the task. On returning home he despatched a messenger
+to the quarters of the Embassy, appointing an hour on the morrow for a
+conference, and when this came the Ambassador found himself in for a
+stormy interview. The Wazeer, with his snuff-box in constant use,
+sat cool and collected on his mattress on the floor, the Ambassador
+sitting uneasily on a chair before him. Though the language used
+was considerably modified in filtering through the brain of the
+interpreter, the increasing violence of tone and gesture could not be
+concealed, and were all but sufficiently comprehensible in themselves.
+The Ambassador protested that if the remainder of the demands were
+to be refused, he was entitled to at least as much as the French
+representative had had to shut his mouth last time he came to Court,
+and affected overwhelming indignation at the treatment he had
+received.
+
+"Besides," he added, "I have the promise of His Majesty the Sultan
+himself that certain of them should be paid in full, and I cannot
+abandon those. I have informed my Government of the Sultan's words."
+
+"Dost suppose that my master is a dog of a Nazarene, that he should
+keep his word to thee? Nothing thou may'st say can alter his decision.
+The claims that have been allowed in writing shall be paid by the
+Customs Administrators on thy return to Tangier. Here are orders for
+the money."
+
+"I absolutely refuse to accept a portion of what my Government
+demands. I will either receive the whole, or I will return
+empty-handed, and report on the treacherous way in which I have been
+treated. I am thoroughly sick of the procrastinating and prevaricating
+ways of this country--a disgrace to the age."
+
+"And we are infinitely more sick of thy behaviour and thine abuse of
+the favours we have granted thee. Our lord has expressly instructed
+me to tell thee that in future no excess of the rights guaranteed to
+foreigners by treaty will be permitted on any account. Thy protection
+certificates to be valid must be endorsed by our Foreign Commissioner,
+and the nature of the goods thou importest free of duty as for thyself
+shall be strictly examined, as we have the right to do, that no more
+defrauding of our revenue be permitted."
+
+"Your words are an insult to my nation," exclaimed the Ambassador,
+rising, "and shall be duly reported to my Government. I cannot sit
+here and listen to vile impeachments like these; you know them to be
+false!"
+
+"That is no affair of mine; I have delivered the decision of our lord,
+and have no more to say. The claims we refuse are all of them unjust,
+the demands of usurers, on whom be the curse of God; and demands for
+money which has never been stolen, or has already been paid; every one
+of them is a shameful fraud, God knows. Leeches are only fit to be
+trodden on when they have done their work; we want none of them."
+
+"Your language is disgraceful, such as was never addressed to me in my
+life before; if I do not receive an apology by noon to-morrow, I will
+at once set out for Tangier, if not for Greece, and warn you of the
+possible consequences."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The excitement in certain circles in Athens on the receipt of the
+intelligence that the Embassy to Morocco had failed, after all the
+flourish of trumpets with which its presumed successes had been
+hailed, was great indeed. One might have thought that once more the
+brave Hellenes were thirsting for the conquest of another Sicily, to
+read the columns of the _Palingenesia_, some of the milder paragraphs
+of which, translated, ran thus:--
+
+    "A solemn duty has been imposed upon our nation by the studied
+    indignities heaped upon our representative at the Court of
+    Morocco. Greece has been challenged, Europe defied, and the whole
+    civilized world insulted. The duty now before us is none other
+    than to wipe from the earth that nest of erstwhile pirates
+    flattered by the name of the Moorish Government....
+
+    "As though it were insufficient to have refused the just demands
+    presented by Kyrios Mavrogordato for the payment of business debts
+    due to Greek merchants, and for damages acknowledged to be due to
+    others for property stolen by lawless bandits, His Excellency has
+    been practically dismissed from the Court in a manner which has
+    disgraced our flag in the eyes of all Morocco.
+
+    "Here are two counts which need no exaggeration. Unless the
+    payment of just business debts is duly enforced by the Moorish
+    Government, as it would be in any other country, and unless the
+    native agents of our merchants are protected fully by the local
+    authorities, it is hopeless to think of maintaining commercial
+    relations with such a nation, so that insistence on these demands
+    is of vital necessity to our trade, and a duty to our growing
+    manufactories.
+
+    "The second count is of the simplest: such treatment as has been
+    meted out to our Minister Plenipotentiary in Morocco, especially
+    after the bland way in which he was met at first with empty
+    promises and smiles, is worthy only of savages or of a people
+    intent on war."
+
+The _Hellenike Salpinx_ was hardly less vehement in the language in
+which it chronicled the course of events in Morocco:--
+
+    "Notwithstanding the unprecedented manner in which the requests
+    of His Excellency, Kyrios Dimitri Mavrogordato, our Minister
+    Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Morocco,
+    were acceded to on the recent Embassy to Mulai Abd er-Rahman, the
+    Moors have shown their true colours at last by equally marked, but
+    less astonishing, insults.
+
+    "The unrivalled diplomatic talents of our ambassador proved,
+    in fact, too much for the Moorish Government, and though the
+    discovery of the way in which a Nazarene was obtaining his desires
+    from the Sultan may have aroused the inherent obstinacy of the
+    wazeers, and thus produced the recoil which we have described, it
+    is far more likely that this was brought about by the officious
+    interference of one or two other foreign representatives at
+    Tangier. It has been for some time notorious that the Sardinian
+    consul-general--who at the same time represents Portugal--loses no
+    opportunity of undermining Grecian influence in Morocco, and in
+    this certain of his colleagues have undoubtedly not been far
+    behind him.
+
+    "Nevertheless, whatever causes may have been at work in bringing
+    about this crisis, it is one which cannot be tided over, but which
+    must be fairly faced. Greece has but one course before her."
+
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES
+
+  "Misfortune is misfortune's heir."
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Externally the gaol of Tangier does not differ greatly in appearance
+from an ordinary Moorish house, and even internally it is of the
+plan which prevails throughout the native buildings from fandaks to
+palaces. A door-way in a blank wall, once whitewashed, gives access to
+a kind of lobby, such as might precede the entrance to some grandee's
+house, but instead of being neat and clean, it is filthy and dank, and
+an unwholesome odour pervades the air. On a low bench at the far end
+lie a guard or two in dirty garments, fitting ornaments for such a
+place. By them is the low-barred entrance to the prison, with a hole
+in the centre the size of such a face as often fills it, wan and
+hopeless. A clanking of chains, a confused din of voices, and an
+occasional moan are borne through the opening on the stench-laden
+atmosphere. "All hope abandon, ye who enter here!" could never have
+been written on portal more appropriate than this, unless he who
+entered had friends and money. Here are forgotten good and bad, the
+tried and the untried, just and unjust together, sunk in a night of
+blank despair, a living grave.
+
+Around an open courtyard, protected by an iron grating at the top, is
+a row of dirty columns, and behind them a kind of arcade, on to which
+open a number of doorless chambers. Filth is apparent everywhere, and
+to the stifling odour of that unwashed horde is added that caused by
+insanitary drainage. To some of the pillars are chained poor wretches
+little more than skeletons, while a cable of considerable length
+secures others. It is locked at one end to a staple outside the door
+under which it passes, and is threaded through rings on the iron
+collars of half a dozen prisoners who have been brought in as rebels
+from a distant province. For thirteen days they have tramped thus,
+carrying that chain, holding it up by their hands to save their
+shoulders, and two empty rings still threaded on show that when they
+started they numbered eight. Since the end rings are riveted to the
+chain, it has been impossible to remove them, so when two fell sick by
+the way the drivers cut off their heads to effect the release of their
+bodies, and to prove, by presenting those ghastly trophies at their
+journey's end, that none had escaped.
+
+Many of the prisoners are busy about the floor, where they squat in
+groups, plaiting baskets and satchels of palmetto leaves, while many
+appear too weak and disheartened even to earn a subsistence in this
+way. One poor fellow, who has been a courier, was employed one day
+twenty-five years since to carry a despatch to Court, complaining of
+the misdeeds of a governor. That official himself intercepted the
+letter, and promptly despatched the bearer to Tangier as a Sultan's
+prisoner. He then arrested the writer of the letter, who, on paying
+a heavy fine, regained his liberty, but the courier remained unasked
+for. In course of time the kaid was called to his account, and his
+son, who succeeded him in office, having died too, a stranger ruled in
+their stead. The forgotten courier had by this time lost his reason,
+fancying himself once more in his goat-hair tent on the southern
+plains, and with unconscious irony he still gives every new arrival
+the Arab greeting, "Welcome to thee, a thousand welcomes! Make thyself
+at home and comfortable. All before thee is thine, and what thou seest
+not, be sure we don't possess."
+
+Some few, in better garments, hold themselves aloof from the others,
+and converse together with all the nonchalance of gossip in the
+streets, for they are well-to-do, arrested on some trivial charge
+which a few dollars apiece will soon dispose of, but they are
+exceptions. A quieter group occupies one corner, members of a party
+of no less than sixty-two brought in together from Fez, on claims
+made against them by a European Power. A sympathetic inquiry soon
+elicits their histories.[19] The first man to speak is hoary and
+bent with years; he was arrested several years ago, on the death of
+a brother who had owed some $50 to a European. The second had
+borrowed $900 in exchange for a bond for twice that amount; he had
+paid off half of this, and having been unable to do more, had been
+arrested eighteen months before. The third had similarly received
+$80 for a promise to pay $160; he had been in prison five years and
+three months. Another had borrowed $100, and knew not the sum which
+stood yet against him. Another had been in prison five years for a
+debt alleged to have been contracted by an uncle long dead. Another
+had borrowed $50 on a bond for $100. Another had languished eighteen
+months in gaol on a claim for $120; the amount originally advanced
+to him was about $30, but the acknowledgment was for $60, which had
+been renewed for $120 on its falling due and being dishonoured.
+Another had borrowed $15 on agreeing to refund $30, which was
+afterwards increased to $60 and then to $105. He has been imprisoned
+three years. The debt of another, originally $16 for a loan of half
+that amount, has since been doubled twice, and now stands at $64,
+less $17 paid on account, while for forty-two measures of wheat
+delivered on account he can get no allowance, though that was three
+years ago, and four months afterwards he was sent to prison. Another
+had paid off the $50 he owed for an advance of $25, but on some
+claim for expenses the creditor had withheld the bond, and is now
+suing for the whole amount again. He has been in prison two years
+and six months. Another has paid twenty measures of barley on
+account of a bond for $100, for which he has received $50, and he
+was imprisoned at the same time as the last speaker, his debt being
+due to the same man. Another had borrowed $90 on the usual terms,
+and has paid the whole in cash or wheat, but cannot get back the
+bond. He has previously been imprisoned for a year, but two years
+after his release he was re-arrested, fourteen months ago. Another
+has been two months in gaol on a claim for $25 for a loan of $12.
+The last one has a bitter tale to tell, if any could be worse than
+the wearisome similarity of those who have preceded him.
+
+  [19: All these statements were taken down from the lips of the
+       victims at the prison door, and most, if not all of them, were
+       supported by documentary evidence.]
+
+"Some years ago," he says, "I and my two brothers, Drees and Ali,
+borrowed $200 from a Jew of Mequinez, for which we gave him a notarial
+bond for $400. We paid him a small sum on account every month, as we
+could get it--a few dollars at a time--besides presents of butter,
+fowls, and eggs. At the end of the first year he threatened to
+imprison us, and made us change the bond for one for $800, and year
+by year he raised the debt this way till it reached $3000, even after
+allowing for what we had paid off. I saw no hope of ever meeting his
+claim, so I ran away, and my brother Drees was imprisoned for six
+years. He died last winter, leaving a wife and three children, the
+youngest, a daughter, being born a few months after her father was
+taken away. He never saw her. By strenuous efforts our family paid off
+the $3000, selling all their land, and borrowing small sums. But the
+Jew would not give up the bond. He died about two years ago, and we do
+not know who is claiming now, but we are told that the sum demanded
+is $560. We have nothing now left to sell, and, being in prison, we
+cannot work. When my brother Drees died, I and my brother Ali were
+seized to take his place. My kaid was very sorry for me, and became
+surety that I would not escape, so that my irons were removed; but my
+brother remains still in fetters, as poor Drees did all through the
+six years. We have no hope of our friends raising any money, so we
+must wait for death to release us."
+
+Here he covers his face with his hands, and several of his companions,
+in spite of their own dire troubles, have to draw their shrivelled
+arms across their eyes, as silence falls upon the group.
+
+As we turn away heartsick a more horrible sight than any confronts us
+before the lieutenant-governor's court. A man is suspended by the arms
+and legs, face downwards, by a party of police, who grasp his writhing
+limbs. With leather thongs a stalwart policeman on either side is
+striking his bare back in turn. Already blood is flowing freely, but
+the victim does not shriek. He only winces and groans, or gives an
+almost involuntary cry as the cruel blows fall on some previously
+harrowed spot. He is already unable to move his limbs, but the blows
+fall thick and fast. Will they never cease?
+
+By the side stands a young European counting them one by one, and when
+the strikers slow down from exhaustion he orders them to stop, that
+others may relieve them. The victim is by this time swooning, so the
+European directs that he shall be put on the ground and deluged with
+water till he revives. When sufficiently restored the count begins
+again. Presently the European stays them a second time; the man is
+once again insensible, yet he has only received six hundred lashes of
+the thousand which have been ordered.
+
+"Well," he exclaims, "it's no use going on with him to-day. Put him in
+the gaol now, and I'll come and see him have the rest to-morrow."
+
+"God bless thee, but surely he has had enough!" exclaims the
+lieutenant-governor, in sympathetic tones.
+
+"Enough? He deserves double! The consul has only ordered a thousand,
+and I am here to see that he has every one. We'll teach these villains
+to rob our houses!"
+
+"There is neither force nor power save in God, the High, the Mighty!
+As thou sayest; it is written," and the powerless official turns away
+disgusted. "God burn these Nazarenes, their wives and families, and
+all their ancestors! They were never fit for aught but hell!" he may
+be heard muttering as he enters his house, and well may he feel as he
+does.
+
+The policemen carry the victim off to the gaol hard by, depositing him
+on the ground, after once more restoring him with cold water.
+
+"God burn their fathers and their grandfathers, and the whole cursed
+race of them!" they murmur, for their thoughts still run upon the
+consul and the clerk.
+
+Leaving him sorrowfully, they return to the yard, where we still wait
+to obtain some information as to the cause of such treatment.
+
+"Why, that dog of a Nazarene, the Greek consul, says that his house
+was robbed a month ago, though we don't believe him, for it wasn't
+worth it. The sinner says that a thousand dollars were stolen, and he
+has sent in a claim for it to the Sultan. The minister's now at court
+for the money, the Satan! God rid our country of them all!"
+
+"But how does this poor fellow come in for it?"
+
+"He! He never touched the money! Only he had some quarrel with the
+clerk, so they accused him of the theft, as he was the native living
+nearest to the house, just over the fence. He's nothing but a poor
+donkey-man, and an honest one at that. The consul sent his clerk up
+here to say he was the thief, and that he must receive a thousand
+lashes. The governor refused till the man should be tried and
+convicted, but the Greek wouldn't hear of it, and said that if he
+wasn't punished at once he would send a courier to his minister at
+Marrakesh, and have a complaint made to the Sultan. The governor knew
+that if he escaped it would most likely cost him his post to fight the
+consul, so he gave instructions for the order to be carried out, and
+went indoors so as not to be present."
+
+"God is supreme!" ejaculates a bystander.
+
+"But these infidels of Nazarenes know nothing of Him. His curse be on
+them!" answers the policeman. "They made us ride the poor man round
+the town on a bare-backed donkey, with his face to the tail, and all
+the way two of us had to thrash him, crying, 'Thus shall be done to
+the man who robs a consul!' He was ready to faint before we got him up
+here. God knows _we_ don't want to lash him again!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next day as we pass the gaol we stop to inquire after the prisoner,
+but the poor fellow is still too weak to receive the balance due, and
+so it is for several days. Then they tell us that he has been freed
+from them by God, who has summoned his spirit, though meanwhile the
+kindly attentions of a doctor have been secured, and everything
+possible under the circumstances has been done to relieve his
+sufferings. After all, he was "only a Moor!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Greek consul reported that the condition of the Moorish prisons
+was a disgrace to the age, and that he had himself known prisoners who
+had succumbed to their evil state after receiving a few strokes from
+the lash.
+
+A statement of claim for a thousand dollars, alleged to have been
+robbed from his house, was forwarded by courier to his chief, then at
+Court, and was promptly added to the demands that it was part of His
+Excellency's errand to enforce.
+
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+THE PROTECTION SYSTEM
+
+  "My heart burns, but my lips will not give utterance."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+  I. THE NEED
+
+Crouched at the foreigner's feet lay what appeared but a bundle of
+rags, in reality a suppliant Moor, once a man of wealth and position.
+Hugging a pot of butter brought as an offering, clutching convulsively
+at the leg of the chair, his furrowed face bespoke past suffering and
+present earnestness.
+
+"God bless thee, Bashador, and all the Christians, and give me grace
+in thy sight!"
+
+"Oh, indeed, so you like the Christians?"
+
+"Yes, Bashador, I must love the Christians; they have justice, we have
+none. I wish they had rule over the country."
+
+"Then you are not a good Muslim!"
+
+"Oh yes, I am, I am a haj (pilgrim to Mekka), and I love my own
+religion, certainly I do, but none of our officials follow our
+religion nowadays: they have no religion. They forget God and worship
+money; their delight is in plunder and oppression."
+
+"You appear to have known better days. What is your trouble?"
+
+"Trouble enough," replies the Moor, with a sigh. "I am Hamed Zirari.
+I was rich once, and powerful in my tribe, but now I have only this
+sheep and two goats. I and my wife live alone with our children in a
+nuallah (hut), but after all we are happier now when they leave us
+alone, than when we were rich. I have plenty of land left, it is true,
+but we dare not for our lives cultivate more than a small patch around
+our nuallah, lest we should be pounced upon again."
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+A CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD (NUALLAS).]
+
+"How did you lose your property?"
+
+"I will tell you, Bashador, and then you will see whether I am
+justified in speaking of our Government as I do. It is a sad story,
+but I will tell you all.[20] A few years ago I possessed more than six
+hundred cows and bullocks, more than twelve hundred sheep, a hundred
+good camels, fifty mules, twenty horses, and twenty-four mares. I had
+also four wives and many slaves. I had plenty of guns and abundance of
+grain in my stores; in fact, I was rich and powerful among my people,
+by whom I was held in great honour; but alas! alas! our new kaid is
+worse than the old one; he is insatiable, a pit without a bottom!
+There is no possibility of satisfying his greed!
+
+  [20: This story is reproduced from notes taken of the man's
+       narrative by my father.--B. M.]
+
+"I felt that although by continually making him valuable presents
+I succeeded in keeping on friendly terms with him, he was always
+coveting my wealth. We have in our district two markets a week, and at
+last I had to present him with from $50 to $80 every market-day. I
+was nevertheless in constant dread of his eyes--they are such greedy
+eyes--and I saw that it would be necessary to look out for protection.
+I was too loyal a subject of the Sultan then, and too good a Muslim,
+to think of Nazarene protection, so I applied for help to Si Mohammed
+boo Aalam, commander-in-chief of our lord (whom may God send
+victorious), and to enter the Sultan's service.
+
+"We prepared a grand present with which to approach him, and when it
+was ready I started with it, accompanied by two of my cousins. We took
+four splendid horses, four mares with their foals, four she-camels
+with their young, four picked cows, two pairs of our best bullocks,
+four fine young male slaves, each with a silver-mounted gun, and four
+well-dressed female slaves, each carrying a new bucket in her hand,
+many jars containing fresh and salted butter and honey, beside other
+things, and a thousand dollars in cash. It was a fine present, was it
+not, Bashador?
+
+"Well, on arrival at Si Mohammed's place, we slaughtered two bullocks
+at his door, and humbly begged his gracious acceptance of our
+offering, which we told him we regretted was not greater, but that as
+we were his brethren, we trusted to find favour in his sight. We said
+we wished to honour him, and to become his fortunate slaves, whose
+chief delight it would be to do his bidding. We reminded him that
+although he was so rich and powerful he was still our brother, and
+that we desired nothing better than to live in continual friendship
+with him.
+
+"He received and feasted us very kindly, and gave us appointments
+as mounted guards to the marshal of the Sultan, as which we served
+happily for seven months. We were already thinking about sending for
+some of our family to come and relieve us, that we might return home
+ourselves, when one day Si Mohammed sent for us to say that he was
+going away for a time, having received commands from the Sultan to
+visit a distant tribe with the effects of Royal displeasure. After
+mutual compliments and blessings he set off with his soldiers.
+
+"Five days later a party of soldiers came to our house. To our utter
+astonishment and dismay, without a word of explanation, they put
+chains on our necks and wrists, and placing us on mules, bore us away.
+Remonstrance and resistance were equally vain. We were in Mequinez.
+It was already night, and though the gates were shut, and are never
+opened again except in obedience to high authority, they were silently
+opened for us to pass through. Once outside, our eyes were bandaged,
+and we were lashed to our uncomfortable seats. Thus we travelled on as
+rapidly as possible, in silence all night long. It was a long night,
+that, indeed, Bashador, a weary night, but we felt sure some worse
+fate awaited us; what, we could not imagine, for we had committed no
+crime. Finally, after three days we halted, and the bandages were
+removed from our eyes. We found ourselves in a market-place in
+Rahamna, within the jurisdiction of our cursed kaid. All around
+us were our flocks and herds, camels, and horses, all our movable
+property, which we soon learnt had been brought there for public sale.
+A great gathering was there to purchase.
+
+"The kaid was there, and when he saw us he exclaimed, 'There you are,
+are you? You can't escape from me now, you children of dogs!' Then he
+turned to a brutal policeman, crying, 'Put the bastards on the ground,
+and give them a thousand lashes.' Those words ring in my ears still.
+I felt as in a dream. I was too utterly in his power to think of
+answering, and after a very few strokes the power of doing so was
+taken from me, for I lost consciousness. How many blows we received I
+know not, but we must have been very nearly killed. When I revived
+we were in a filthy matmorah, where we existed for seven months in
+misery, being kept alive on a scanty supply of barley loaves and
+water. At last I pretended to have lost my reason, as I should have
+done in truth had I stayed there much longer. When they told the kaid
+this, he gave permission for me to be let out. I found my wife and
+children still living, thank God, though they had had very hard times.
+What has become of my cousins I do not know, and do not dare to ask,
+but thou couldst, O Bashador, if once I were under thy protection.
+
+"All I know is that, after receiving our present, Si Mohammed sold us
+to the kaid for twelve hundred dollars. He was a fool, Bashador, a
+great fool; had he demanded of us we would have given him twelve
+hundred dollars to save ourselves what we have had to suffer.
+
+"Wonderest thou still, O Bashador, that I prefer the Nazarenes, and
+wish there were more of them in the country? I respect the dust off
+their shoes more than a whole nation of miscalled Muslims who could
+treat me as I have been treated; but God is just, and 'there is
+neither force nor power save in God,' yes, 'all is written.' He gives
+to men according to their hearts. We had bad hearts, and he gave us a
+Government like them."
+
+
+  II. THE SEARCH
+
+The day was already far spent when at last Abd Allah led his animal
+into one of the caravansarais outside the gate of Mazagan, so, after
+saying his evening prayers and eating his evening meal, he lay down
+to rest on a heap of straw in one of the little rooms of the fandak,
+undisturbed either by anxious dreams, or by the multitude of lively
+creatures about him.
+
+Ere the sun had risen the voice of the muedhdhin awoke him with the
+call to early prayer. Shrill and clear the notes rang out on the calm
+morning air in that perfect silence--
+
+"G-o-d is gr-ea--t! G-o-d is gr-ea--t! G-o-d is grea--t! I witness
+that there is no God but God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God.
+Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Prayer is better than
+sleep! Come to prayer!"
+
+Quickly rising, Abd Allah repaired to the water-tap, and seating
+himself on the stone seat before it, rapidly performed the prescribed
+religious ablutions, this member three times, then the other as
+often, and so on, all in order, right first, left to follow as less
+honourable, finishing up with the pious ejaculation, "God greatest!"
+Thence to the mosque was but a step, and in a few minutes he stood
+barefooted in those dimly-lighted, vaulted aisles, in which the
+glimmering oil lamps and the early streaks of daylight struggled for
+the mastery. His shoes were on the ground before him at the foot of
+the pillar behind which he had placed himself, and his hands were
+raised before his face in the attitude of prayer. Then, at the
+long-drawn cry of the leader, in company with his fellow-worshippers,
+he bowed himself, and again with them rose once more, in a moment to
+kneel down and bow his forehead to the earth in humble adoration.
+
+Having performed the usual series of prayers, he was ready for coffee
+and bread. This he took at the door of the fandak, seated on the
+ground by the coffee-stall, inquiring meanwhile the prospects of
+protection in Mazagan.
+
+There was Tajir[21] Pepe, always ready to appoint a new agent for a
+consideration, but then he bore almost as bad a name for tyrannizing
+over his _proteges_ as did the kaids themselves. There was Tajir Yusef
+the Jew, but then he asked such tremendous prices, because he was a
+vice-consul. There was Tajir Juan, but then he was not on good enough
+terms with his consul to protect efficiently those whom he appointed,
+so he could not be thought of either. But there was Tajir Vecchio, a
+new man from Gibraltar, fast friends with his minister, and who must
+therefore be strong, yet a man who did not name too high a figure. To
+him, therefore, Abd Allah determined to apply, and when his store was
+opened presented himself.
+
+  [21: "Merchant," used much as "Mr." is with us.]
+
+Under his cloak he carried three pots of butter in one hand, and as
+many of honey in the other, while a ragged urchin tramped behind with
+half a dozen fowls tied in a bunch by the legs, and a basket of eggs.
+The first thing was to get a word with the head-man at the store; so,
+slipping a few of the eggs into his hands, Abd Allah requested an
+interview with the Tajir, with whom he had come to make friends. This
+being promised, he squatted on his heels by the door, where he was
+left to wait an hour or two, remarking to himself at intervals that
+God was great, till summoned by one of the servants to enter.
+
+The merchant was seated behind his desk, and Abd Allah, having
+deposited his burden on the floor, was making round the table to throw
+himself at his feet, when he was stopped and allowed but to kiss his
+hand.
+
+"Well, what dost thou want?"
+
+"I have come to make friends, O Merchant."
+
+"Who art thou?"
+
+"I am Abd Allah bin Boo Shaib es-Salih, O Merchant, of Ain Haloo in
+Rahamna. I have a family there, and cattle, and very much land. I
+wish to place all in thy hands, and to become thy friend," again
+endeavouring to throw himself at the feet of the European.
+
+"All right, all right, that will do. I will see about it; come to me
+again to-morrow."
+
+"May God bless thee, O Merchant, and fill thee with prosperity, and
+may He prolong thy days in peace!"
+
+As Tajir Vecchio went on with his writing, Abd Allah made off with
+a hopeful heart to spend the next twenty-four anxious hours in the
+fandak, while his offerings were carried away to the private house by
+a servant.
+
+Next morning saw him there again, when much the same scene was
+repeated. This time, however, they got to business.
+
+"How can I befriend you?" asked the European, after yesterday's
+conversation had been practically repeated.
+
+"Thou canst very greatly befriend me by making me thy agent in Ain
+Haloo. I will work for thee, and bring thee of the produce of my land
+as others do, if I may only enjoy thy protection. May God have mercy
+on thee, O Merchant. I take refuge with thee."
+
+"I can't be always appointing agents and protecting people for
+nothing. What can you give me?"
+
+"Whatever is just, O Merchant, but the Lord knows that I am not rich,
+though He has bestowed sufficient on me to live, praise be to Him."
+
+"Well, I should want two hundred dollars down, and something when the
+certificate is renewed next year, besides which you would of course
+report yourself each quarter, and not come empty-handed. Animals and
+corn I can do best with, but I don't want any of your poultry."
+
+"God bless thee, Merchant, and make thee prosperous, but two hundred
+dollars is a heavy sum for me, and this last harvest has not been so
+plentiful as the one before, as thou knowest. Grant me this protection
+for one hundred and fifty dollars, and I can manage it, but do not
+make it an impossibility."
+
+"I can't go any lower: there are scores of Moors who would give me
+that price. Do as you like. Good morning."
+
+"Thou knowest, O Merchant, I could not give more than I have offered,"
+replied Abd Allah as he rose and left the place.
+
+But as no one else could be found in the town to protect him on better
+terms, he had at last to return, and in exchange for the sum demanded
+received a paper inscribed on one side in Arabic, and on the other in
+English, as follows:--
+
+  "VICE-CONSULATE FOR GREAT BRITAIN,
+  "MAZAGAN, _Oct. 5, 1838_.
+
+    "_This is to certify that Abd Allah bin Boo Shaib es-Salih,
+    resident at Ain Haloo in the province of Rahamna, has been duly
+    appointed agent of Edward Vecchio, a British subject, residing in
+    Mazagan: all authorities will respect him according to existing
+    treaties, not molesting him without proper notice to this
+    Vice-Consulate._[22]
+
+  "_Gratis_  Seal. [Signed] "JOHN SMITH.
+  "_H.B.M.'s Vice-Consul, Mazagan._"
+
+
+  [22: A genuine "patent of protection," as prescribed by treaty,
+       supposed to be granted only to wholesale traders, whereas
+       every beggar can obtain "certificates of partnership." The
+       native in question has then only to appear before the notaries
+       and state that he has in his possession so much grain, or so
+       many oxen or cattle, belonging to a certain European, who takes
+       them as his remuneration for presenting the notarial document at
+       his Legation, and obtaining the desired certificate. Moreover,
+       he receives half the produce of the property thus made over to
+       him. This is popularly known as "farming in Morocco."]
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+JUSTICE FOR THE JEW
+
+  "Sleep on anger, and thou wilt not rise repentant."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+The kaid sat in his seat of office, or one might rather say reclined,
+for Moorish officials have a habit of lying in two ways at once when
+they are supposed to be doing justice. Strictly speaking, his position
+was a sort of halfway one, his back being raised by a pile of
+cushions, with his right leg drawn up before him, as he leant on his
+left elbow. His judgement seat was a veritable wool-sack, or rather
+mattress, placed across the left end of a long narrow room, some eight
+feet by twenty, with a big door in the centre of one side. The only
+other apertures in the whitewashed but dirty walls were a number of
+ventilating loop-holes, splayed on the inside, ten feet out of the
+twelve above the floor. This was of worn octagonal tiles, in parts
+covered with a yellow rush mat in an advanced state of consumption.
+Notwithstanding the fact that the ceiling was of some dark colour,
+hard to be defined at its present age, the audience-chamber was
+amply lighted from the lofty horse-shoe archway of the entrance, for
+sunshine is reflection in Morocco to a degree unknown in northern
+climes.
+
+On the wall above the head of the kaid hung a couple of huge and
+antiquated horse-pistols, while on a small round table at his feet,
+some six inches high, lay a collection of cartridges and gunsmith's
+tools. Behind him, on a rack, were half a dozen long flint-lock
+muskets, and on the wall by his feet a number of Moorish daggers and
+swords. In his hand the governor fondled a European revolver, poking
+out and replacing the charges occasionally, just to show that it was
+loaded.
+
+His personal attire, though rich in quality, ill became his gawky
+figure, and there was that about his badly folded turban which bespoke
+the parvenu. Like the muzzle of some wolf, his pock-marked visage
+glowered on a couple of prostrated litigants before him, as they
+fiercely strove to prove each other wrong. Near his feet was squatted
+his private secretary, and at the door stood policemen awaiting
+instructions to imprison one or both of the contending parties. The
+dispute was over the straying of some cattle, a paltry claim for
+damages. The plaintiff having presented the kaid with a loaf of sugar
+and a pound of candles, was in a fair way to win his case, when a
+suggestive sign on the part of the defendant, comprehended by
+the judge as a promise of a greater bribe, somewhat upset his
+calculations, for he was summarily fined a couple of dollars, and
+ordered to pay another half dollar costs for having allowed the gate
+of his garden to stand open, thereby inviting his neighbour's cattle
+to enter. Without a word he was carried off to gaol pending payment,
+while the defendant settled with the judge and left the court.
+
+Into the midst of this scene came another policeman, gripping by the
+arm a poor Jewish seamstress named Mesaodah, who had had the temerity
+to use insulting language to her captor when that functionary was
+upbraiding her for not having completed some garment when ordered,
+though he insisted on paying only half-price, declaring that it was
+for the governor. The Jewess had hardly spoken when she lay sprawling
+on the ground from a blow which she dare not, under any provocation,
+return, but her temper had so far gained the mastery over her, that as
+she rose she cursed her tormentor roundly. That was enough; without
+more ado the man had laid his powerful arm upon her, and was dragging
+her to his master's presence, knowing how welcome any such case would
+be, even though it was not one out of which he might hope to make
+money.
+
+Reckless of the governor's well-known character, Mesaodah at once
+opened her mouth to complain against Mahmood, pitching her voice in
+the terrible key of her kind.
+
+"My Lord, may God bless thee and lengthen...."
+
+A fierce shake from her captor interrupted the sentence, but did not
+keep her quiet, for immediately she continued, in pleading tones, as
+best she could, struggling the while to keep her mouth free from the
+wretch's hand.
+
+"Protect me, I pray thee, from this cruel man; he has struck me: yes,
+my Lord."
+
+"Strike her again if she doesn't stop that noise," cried the kaid, and
+as the man raised his hand to threaten her she saw there was no hope,
+and her legs giving way beneath her, she sank to the ground in tears.
+
+"For God's sake, yes, my Lord, have mercy on thine handmaid." It was
+pitiful to hear the altered tones, and it needed the heart of a brute
+to reply as did the governor, unmoved, by harshly asking what she had
+been up to.
+
+"She's a thief, my Lord, a liar, like all her people; God burn their
+religion; I gave her a waistcoat to make a week ago, and I purposed it
+for a present to thee, my Lord, but she has made away with the stuff,
+and when I went for it she abused me, and, by thy leave, thee also, my
+Lord; here she is to be punished."
+
+"It's a lie, my Lord; the stuff is in my hut, and the waistcoat's half
+done, but I knew I should never get paid for it, so had to get some
+other work done to keep my children from starving, for I am a widow.
+Have mercy on me!"
+
+"God curse the liar! I have spoken the truth," broke in the policeman.
+
+"Fetch a basket for her!" ordered the kaid, and in another moment a
+second attendant was assisting Mahmood to force the struggling woman
+to sit in a large and pliable basket of palmetto, the handles of which
+were quickly lashed across her stomach. She was then thrown shrieking
+on her back, her bare legs lifted high, and tied to a short piece of
+pole just in front of the ankles; one man seized each end of this, a
+third awaiting the governor's orders to strike the soles. In his hand
+he had a short-handled lash made of twisted thongs from Tafilalt, well
+soaked in water. The efforts of the victim to attack the men on either
+side becoming violent, a delay was caused by having to tie her hands
+together, her loud shrieks rending the air the while.
+
+"Give her a hundred," said the kaid, beginning to count as the blows
+descended, giving fresh edge to the piercing yells, interspersed with
+piteous cries for mercy, and ribbing the skin in long red lines, which
+were soon lost in one raw mass of bleeding flesh. As the arm of one
+wearied, another took his place, and a bucket of cold water was thrown
+over the victim's legs. At first her face had been ashy pale, it was
+now livid from the blood descending to it, as her legs grew white all
+but the soles, which were already turning purple under the cruel lash.
+Then merciful unconsciousness stepped in, and silence supervened.
+
+"That will do," said the governor, having counted eighty-nine. "Take
+her away; she'll know better next time!" and he proceeded with the
+cases before him, fining this one, imprisoning that, and bastinadoing
+a third, with as little concern as an English registrar would sign an
+order to pay a guinea fine. Indeed, why should he do otherwise. This
+was his regular morning's work. It was a month before Mesaodah could
+touch the ground with her feet, and more than three before she could
+totter along with two sticks. Her children were kept alive by her
+neighbours till she could sit up and "stitch, stitch, stitch," but
+there was no one to hear her bitter complaint, and no one to dry her
+tears.
+
+One day his faithful henchman dragged before the kaid a Jewish broker,
+whose crime of having bid against that functionary on the market, when
+purchasing supplies for his master, had to be expiated by a fine of
+twenty dollars, or a hundred lashes. The misguided wretch chose the
+latter, loving his coins too well; but after the first half-dozen had
+descended on his naked soles, he cried for mercy and agreed to pay.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
+
+JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS.]
+
+Another day it was a more wealthy member of the community who was
+summoned on a serious charge. The kaid produced a letter addressed
+to the prisoner, which he said had been intercepted, couched in the
+woefully corrupted Arabic of the Moorish Jews, but in the cursive
+Hebrew character.
+
+"Canst read, O Moses?" asked the kaid, in a surly tone.
+
+"Certainly, yes, my Lord, may God protect thee, when the writing is in
+the sacred script."
+
+"Read that aloud, then," handing him the missive.
+
+Moses commenced by rapidly glancing his eye down the page, and as he
+did so his face grew pale, his hand shook, and he muttered something
+in the Hebrew tongue as the kaid sharply ordered him to proceed.
+
+"My Lord, yes, my Lord; it is false, it is a fraud," he stammered.
+
+"The Devil take thee, thou son of a dog; read what is set before thee,
+and let us have none of thy impudence. The gaol is handy."
+
+With a trembling voice Moses the usurer read the letter, purporting to
+have been written by an intimate friend in Mogador, and implying
+by its contents that Moses had, when in that town some years ago,
+embraced the faith of Islam, from which he was therefore now a
+pervert, and consequently under pain of death. He was already crouched
+upon the ground, as is the custom before a great man, but as he
+spelled out slowly the damnatory words, he had to stretch forth his
+hands to keep from falling over. He knew that there was nothing to be
+gained by denial, by assurances that the letter was a forgery; the
+kaid's manner indicated plainly enough that _he_ meant to be satisfied
+with it, and there was no appeal.
+
+"Moses," said the kaid, in a mock confidential tone, as he took back
+the letter, "thou'rt in my power. All that thou hast is mine. With
+such evidence against thee as this thy very head is in my hands. If
+thou art wise, and wilt share thy fortune with me, all shall go well;
+if not, thou knowest what to expect. I am to-day in need of a hundred
+dollars. Now go!"
+
+An hour had not elapsed before, with a heart still heavier than the
+bag he carried, Moses crossed the courtyard again, and deposited the
+sum required in the hands of the kaid, with fresh assurances of his
+innocence, imploring the destruction of that fatal document, which
+was readily promised, though with no intention of complying with the
+request, notwithstanding that to procure another as that had been
+procured would cost but a trifle.
+
+These are only instances which could be multiplied of how the Jews
+of Morocco suffer at the hands of brutal officials. As metal which
+attracts the electricity from a thunder-cloud, so they invariably
+suffer first when a newly appointed, conscienceless governor comes to
+rule.
+
+With all his faults the previous kaid had recognized how closely bound
+up with that of the Moors under his jurisdiction was the welfare of
+Jews similarly situated, so that, favoured by his wise administration,
+their numbers and their wealth had increased till, though in outward
+appearance beggarly, they formed an important section of the
+community. The new kaid, however, saw in them but a possible mine, a
+goose that laid golden eggs, so, like the fool of the story, he set
+about destroying it when the supply of eggs fell off, for there was of
+necessity a limit to the repeated offerings which, on one pretext or
+another, he extorted from these luckless "tributaries," as they are
+described in Moorish legal documents.
+
+When he found that ordinary means of persuasion failed, he had resort
+to more drastic measures. He could not imagine fresh feasts and public
+occasions, auspicious or otherwise, on which to collect "presents"
+from them, so he satisfied himself by bringing specious charges
+against the more wealthy Jews and fining them, as well as by
+encouraging Moors to accuse them in various ways. Many of the payments
+to the governor being in small and mutilated coin, every Friday he
+sent to the Jews what he had received during the week, demanding a
+round sum in Spanish dollars, far more than their fair value.
+Then when he had forced upon them a considerable quantity of this
+depreciated stuff, he would send a crier round notifying the public
+that it was out of circulation and no longer legal tender, moreover
+giving warning that the "Jew's money" was not to be trusted, as it was
+known that they had counterfeit coins in their possession. It was then
+time to offer them half price for it, which they had no option but
+to accept, though some while later he would re-issue it at its full
+value, and having permitted its circulation, would force it upon them
+again.
+
+The repairs which it was found necessary to effect in the kasbah, the
+equipment of troops, the contributions to the expenses of the Sultan's
+expeditions, or the payment of indemnities to foreign nations, were
+constantly recurring pretexts for levying fresh sums from the Jews as
+well as from the Moors, and these were the legal ones. The illegal
+were too harrowing for description. Young children and old men were
+brutally thrashed and then imprisoned till they or their friends paid
+heavy ransoms, and even the women occasionally suffered in this
+way. On Sabbaths and fast days orders would be issued to the Jews,
+irrespective of age or rank, to perform heavy work for the governor,
+perhaps to drag some heavy load or block of stone. Those who could
+buy themselves off were fortunate: those who could not do so were
+harnessed and driven like cattle under the lashes of yard-long whips,
+being compelled when their work was done to pay their taskmasters.
+Indeed, it was Egypt over again, but there was no Moses. Men or women
+found with shoes on were bastinadoed and heavily fined, and on more
+than one occasion the sons of the best-off Israelites were arrested in
+school on the charge of having used disrespectful language regarding
+the Sultan, and thrown into prison chained head and feet, in such a
+manner that it was impossible to stretch their bodies. Thus they were
+left for days without food, all but dead, in spite of the desire of
+their relatives to support them, till ransoms of two hundred dollars
+apiece could be raised to obtain their release, in some cases three
+months after their incarceration.
+
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO
+
+  "Wound of speech is worse than wound of sword."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Spies were already afield when the sun rose this morning, and while
+their return with the required information was eagerly expected, those
+of Asni who would be warriors took a hasty breakfast and looked to
+their horses and guns.
+
+Directly intelligence as to the whereabouts of the Ait Mizan arrived,
+the cavalcade set forth, perforce in Indian file, on account of the
+narrow single track, but wherever it was possible those behind pressed
+forward and passed their comrades in their eagerness to reach the
+scene of action. No idea of order or military display crossed their
+minds, and but for the skirmishers who scoured the country round as
+they advanced, it would have been easy for a concealed foe to have
+picked them off one by one. Nevertheless they made a gallant show in
+the morning sun, which glinted on their ornamented stirrups and their
+flint-locks, held like lances, with the butts upon the pummels before
+them. The varied colours of their trappings, though old and worn,
+looked gay by the side of the red cloth-covered saddles and the
+gun-cases of similar material used by many as turbans. But for the
+serious expression on the faces of the majority, and the eager
+scanning of each knoll and shrub, the party might have been intent on
+powder-play instead of powder-business.
+
+For a mile or two no sign of human being was seen, and the ride was
+already growing wearisome when a sudden report on their right was
+followed by the heavy fall of one of their number, his well-trained
+horse standing still for him to re-mount, though he would never more
+do so. Nothing but a puff of smoke showed whence the shot had come,
+some way up the face of a hill. The first impulse was to make a charge
+in that direction, and to fire a volley; but the experience of the
+leader reminded him that if there were only one man there it would not
+be worth while, and if there were more they might fall into an ambush.
+So their file passed on while the scouts rode towards the hill slope.
+A few moments later one of these had his horse shot under him, and
+then a volley was fired which took little effect on the advancing
+horsemen, still too far away for successful aim.
+
+They had been carefully skirting a wooded patch which might give
+shelter to their foes, whom they soon discovered to be lying in
+trenches behind the first hill-crests. Unless they were dislodged,
+it would be almost impossible to proceed, so, making a rapid flank
+movement, the Asni party spurred their horses and galloped round to
+gain the hills above the hidden enemy. As they did so random shots
+were discharged, and when they approached the level of the trenches,
+they commenced a series of rushes forward, till they came within
+range. In doing so they followed zig-zag routes to baffle aim, firing
+directly they made out the whereabouts of their assailants, and
+beating a hasty retreat. What success they were achieving they could
+not tell, but their own losses were not heavy.
+
+Soon, as their firing increased, that from the trenches which they
+were gradually approaching grew less, and fresh shots from behind
+awoke them to the fact that the enemy was making a rear attack. By
+this time they were in great disorder, scattered over a wide area; the
+majority had gained the slight cover of the brushwood to their rear,
+and a wide space separated them from the new arrivals, who were
+performing towards them the same wild rushes that they themselves had
+made towards the trenches. They were therefore divided roughly into
+two divisions, the footmen in the shelter of the shrubs, the horsemen
+engaging the mounted enemy.
+
+Among the brushwood hardly was the figure of friend or foe
+discernible, for all lay down behind any available shelter, crawling
+from point to point like so many caterpillars, but firing quickly
+enough when an enemy was sighted. This style of warfare has its
+advantages, for it greatly diminishes losses on either side. For the
+horsemen, deprived of such shelter, safety lay in rapid movements and
+unexpected evolutions, each man acting for himself, and keeping as far
+away from his comrades as possible. So easily were captures made that
+it almost seemed as if many preferred surrender and safety to the
+chances of war, for they knew that they were sure of honourable
+treatment on both sides. The prisoners were not even bound, but
+merely disarmed and marched to the rear, to be conveyed at night in a
+peaceful manner to their captors' tents and huts, there to be treated
+as guests till peace should result in exchange.
+
+By this time the combatants were scattered over a square mile or so,
+and though the horsemen of Asni had driven the Ait Mizan from the
+foremost trenches by the bold rushes described, and their footmen had
+engaged them, no further advantage seemed likely to accrue, while they
+were terribly harassed by those who still remained under cover. The
+signal was therefore given for a preconcerted retreat, which at once
+began. Loud shouts of an expected victory now arose from the Ait
+Mizan, who were gradually drawn from their hiding-places by their
+desire to secure nearer shots at the men of Asni as they slowly
+descended the hill.
+
+At length the Ait Mizan began to draw somewhat to one side, as they
+discovered that they were being led too far into the open, but this
+movement was outwitted by the Asni horsemen, who were now pouring down
+on the scene. The wildest confusion supervened; many fell on every
+hand. Victory was now assured to Asni, which the enemy were quick to
+recognize, and as the sun was by this time at blazing noon, and energy
+grew slack on both sides, none was loth to call a conference. This
+resulted in an agreement by the vanquished to return the stolen cattle
+which had formed the _casus belli_, for indeed they were no longer
+able to protect them from their real owners. As many more were
+forfeited by way of damages, and messages were despatched to the women
+left in charge to hand them over to a party of the victors. Prisoners
+were meantime exchanged, while through the medium of the local "holy
+man" a peace was formally ratified, after which each party returned to
+its dead, who were quickly consigned to their shallow graves.
+
+Such of the Asni men as were not mourners, now assembled in the open
+space of their village to be feasted by their women as victors.
+Basins, some two feet across, were placed on the ground filled with
+steaming kesk'soo. Round each of these portions sat cross-legged some
+eight or ten of the men, and a metal bowl of water was handed from one
+to the other to rinse the fingers of the right hand. They sat upon
+rude blankets spread on mats, the scene lit by Roman-like olive-oil
+lamps, and a few French candles round the board of the sheikh and
+allied leaders.
+
+A striking picture, indeed, they presented, there in the still night
+air, thousands of heaven-lights gleaming from the dark blue vault
+above, outrivalling the flicker of those simple earth-flames on their
+lined and sun-burnt faces. The women who waited on them, all of middle
+age, alone remained erect, as they glided about on their bare feet,
+carrying bowl and towel from man to man. From the huts and the tents
+around came many strange sounds of bird, beast, and baby, for the
+cocks were already crowing, as it was growing late,[23] while the
+dogs bayed at the shadow of the cactus and the weird shriek of the
+night-bird.
+
+  [23: A way they have in Barbary.]
+
+"B'ism Illah!" exclaimed the host at each basin ("In the Name of
+God!")--as he would ask a blessing--when he finished breaking bread
+for his circle, and plunged his first sop in the gravy. "B'ism Illah!"
+they all replied, and followed suit in a startlingly sudden silence
+wherein naught but the stowing away of food could be heard, till one
+of them burnt his fingers by an injudiciously deep dive into the
+centre after a toothsome morsel.
+
+In the midst of a sea of broth rose mountains of steamed and buttered
+kesk'soo, in the craters of which had been placed the contents of the
+stew-pot, the disjointed bones of chickens with onions and abundant
+broad beans. The gravy was eaten daintily with sops of bread, conveyed
+to the mouth in a masterly manner without spilling a drop, while the
+kesk'soo was moulded in the palm of the right hand into convenient
+sized balls and shot into the mouth by the thumb. The meat was divided
+with the thumb and fingers of the right hand alone, since the left may
+touch no food.
+
+At last one by one sat back, his greasy hand outstretched, and after
+taking a sip of cold water from the common jug with his left, and
+licking his right to prevent the waste of one precious grain, each
+washed his hands, rinsed his mouth thrice, polished his teeth with his
+right forefinger, and felt ready to begin again, all agreeing that "he
+who is not first at the powder, should not be last at the dish."
+
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+THE POLITICAL SITUATION
+
+  "A guess of the informed is better than the assurance of the ignorant."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Ever since the accession of the present Sultan, Mulai Abd el Aziz IV.,
+on his attaining the age of twenty in 1900, Morocco has been more than
+ever the focus of foreign designs, both public and private, which have
+brought about a much more disturbed condition than under his
+father, or even under the subsequent Wazeer Regent. The manifest
+friendlessness of the youth, his lack of training for so important a
+part, and the venality of his entourage, at once attracted birds of
+prey, and they have worked their will.
+
+Since the death of El Hasan III., in 1894, the administration had been
+controlled by the former Lord High Chamberlain, or "Curtain" of the
+shareefian throne, whose rule was severe, though good, and it seemed
+doubtful whether he would relinquish the reins of authority. The other
+wazeers whom his former master had left in office had been imprisoned
+on various charges, and he stood supreme. He was, however, old and
+enfeebled by illness, so when in 1900 his end came instead of his
+resignation, few were surprised. What they were not quite prepared
+for, however, was the clearing of the board within a week or two by
+the death of his two brothers and a cousin, whom he had promoted to
+be respectively Commander-in-chief, Chamberlain, and Master of the
+Ceremonies--all of them, it was declared, by influenza. Another
+brother had died but a short while before, and the commissioner sent
+to Tangier to arrange matters with the French was found dead in his
+room--from asphyxia caused by burning charcoal. Thus was the Cabinet
+dissolved, and the only remaining member resigned. There then rose
+suddenly to power a hitherto unheard of Arab of the South, El Menebhi,
+who essayed too much in acting as Ambassador to London while still
+Minister of War, and returned to find his position undermined; he has
+since emigrated to Egypt. It was freely asserted that the depletion
+of the Moorish exchequer was due to his peculation, resulting in his
+shipping a large fortune to England in specie, with the assistance
+of British officials who were supposed to have received a handsome
+"consideration" in addition to an enormous price paid for British
+protection. Thus, amid a typically Moorish cloud, he left the scene.
+From that time the Court has been the centre of kaleidoscopic
+intrigues, which have seriously hampered administration, but which
+were not in themselves sufficient to disturb the country.
+
+What was of infinitely greater moment was the eagerness with which the
+young ruler, urged by his Circassian mother, sought advice and counsel
+from Europe, and endeavoured to act up to it. One disinterested and
+trusted friend at that juncture would have meant the regeneration of
+the Empire, provided that interference from outside were stayed. But
+this was not to be. The few impartial individuals who had access to
+the Sultan were outnumbered by the horde of politicians, diplomats,
+adventurers, and schemers who surrounded him, the latter at least
+freely bribing wazeers to obtain their ends. In spite of an
+unquestionable desire to do what was best for his country, and to act
+upon the good among the proffered advice, wild extravagance resulted
+both in action and expenditure.
+
+Thus Mulai Abd el Aziz became the laughing-stock of Europe, and the
+butt of his people's scorn. His heart was with the foreigners--with
+dancing women and photographers,--he had been seen in trousers, even
+on a bicycle! What might he not do next? A man so implicated with
+unbelievers could hardly be a faithful Muslim, said the discontented.
+No more efficacious text could have been found to rouse fanaticism
+and create dissatisfaction throughout his dominions. Black looks
+accompanied the mention of his name, and it was whispered that the
+Leader of the Faithful was selling himself and his Empire, if not to
+the Devil, at least to the Nazarenes, which was just as bad. Any other
+country would have been ripe for rebellion, as Europe supposed that
+Morocco was, but scattered and conflicting interests defeated all
+attempts to induce a general rising.
+
+One of the wisest measures of the new reign was the attempt to
+reorganize finances in accordance with English advice, by the
+systematic levy of taxes hitherto imposed in the arbitrary fashion
+described in Chapter II. This was hailed with delight, and had it
+been maintained by a strong Government, would have worked wonders
+in restoring prosperity. But foreign _proteges_ refused to pay, and
+objections of all sorts were raised, till at last the "terteeb," as it
+was called, became impossible of collection without recourse to arms.
+Fearing this, the money in hand to pay the tax was expended on guns
+and cartridges, which the increasing demand led foreigners to smuggle
+in by the thousand.
+
+It is estimated that some millions of fire-arms--a large proportion of
+them repeating rifles with a large supply of ammunition--are now in
+the hands of the people, while the Government has never been worse
+supplied than at present. Ship-load after ship-load has been landed on
+the coast in defiance of all authority, and large consignments have
+been introduced over the Algerian frontier, the state of which has
+in consequence become more than ever unsettled. In short, the benign
+intentions of Mulai Abd el Aziz have been interpreted as weakness, and
+once again the Nazarenes are accused--to quote a recent remark of an
+Atlas scribe--of having "spoiled the Sultan," and of being about to
+"spoil the country."
+
+Active among the promoters of dissatisfaction have been throughout the
+Idreesi Shareefs, representatives of the original Muslim dynasty in
+Morocco; venerated for their ancestry and adherence to all that is
+retrogressive or bigoted, and on principle opposed to the reigning
+dynasty. These leaders of discontent find able allies in the Algerians
+in Morocco, some of whom settled there years ago because sharing their
+feelings and determined not to submit to the French; but of whom
+others, while expressing equal devotion to the old order, can from
+personal experience recommend the advantages of French administration,
+to which even their exiled brethren or their descendants no longer
+feel equal objection.
+
+The summary punishment inflicted a few years ago on the murderer of
+an Englishman in the streets of Fez was, like everything else,
+persistently misinterpreted through the country. In the distant
+provinces the story--as reported by natives therefrom--ran that the
+Nazarene had been shot by a saint while attempting to enter and
+desecrate the sacred shrine of Mulai Idrees, and that by executing him
+the Sultan showed himself an Unbeliever. When British engineers were
+employed to survey the route for a railway between Fez and Mequinez
+this was reported as indicating an absolute sale of the country, and
+the people were again stirred up, though not to actual strife.
+
+Only in the semi-independent district of the Ghaiata Berbers between
+Fez and Taza, which had never been entirely subjugated, did a flame
+break out. A successful writer of amulets, hitherto unknown, one
+Jelalli Zarhoni, who had acquired a great local reputation, began to
+denounce the Sultan's behaviour with religious fervour. Calling on the
+neighbouring tribesmen to refuse allegiance to so unworthy a monarch,
+he ultimately raised the standard of revolt in the name of the
+Sultan's imprisoned elder brother, M'hammed. Finally, the rumour
+ran that this prince had escaped and joined Jelalli, who, from his
+habitual prophet's mount, is better known throughout the country
+as Boo Hamara--"Father of the She-ass." According to the official
+statement, Jelalli Zarhoni was originally a policeman (makhazni),
+whose bitterness and subsequent sedition arose from ill-treatment then
+received. Although exalted in newspaper reports to the dignity of a
+"pretender," in Morocco he is best known as the "Rogi" or "Common
+One."
+
+Fez clamoured to see M'hammed, that the story might be disproved, and
+after much delay, during which he was supposed to be conveyed from
+Mequinez, a veiled and guarded rider arrived, preceded by criers who
+proclaimed him to be the Sultan's brother. But as no one could be sure
+if this were the case or not, each party believed what it wished, and
+Jelalli's hands were strengthened. Boldly announcing the presence
+with him of Mulai M'hammed, in his name he sought and obtained the
+allegiance of tribe after tribe. Although the Sultan effected a
+reconciliation with his presumed brother--whose movements, however,
+still remain restricted--serious men believe him to be in the rebel
+camp, and few know the truth.
+
+At first success attended the rebellion, but it never spread
+beyond the unsettled eastern provinces, and after three years it
+ineffectually smoulders on, the leader cooped up by the Sultan's
+forces near the coast, though the Sultan is not strong enough to stamp
+it out.
+
+By those whose knowledge of the country is limited to newspaper news a
+much more serious state of affairs is supposed to exist, a "pretender"
+collecting his forces for a final coup, etc. Something of truth there
+may be in this, but the situation is grossly exaggerated. The local
+rising of a few tribes in eastern Morocco never affected the rest of
+the Empire, save by that feeling of unrest which, in the absence of
+complete information, jumps at all tales. Even the so-called "rout"
+of an "imperial army" three years ago was only a stampede without
+fighting, brought about by a clever ruse, and there has never been
+a serious conflict throughout the affair, though the "Rogi" is well
+supplied with arms from Algeria, and his "forces" are led by a
+Frenchman, M. Delbrel. Meanwhile comparative order reigns in the
+disaffected district, though in the north, usually the most peaceful
+portion of the Empire, all is disturbed.
+
+There a leader has arisen, Raisuli by name, who obtained redress for
+the wrongs of tribes south of Tangier, and his own appointment as
+their kaid, by the astute device of carrying off as hostages an
+American and an Englishman, so that the pressure certain to be brought
+to bear by their Governments would compel the Sultan to grant his
+demands. All turned out as he had hoped, and the condign punishment
+which he deserves is yet far off, though a local struggle continues
+between him and a small imperial force, complicated by feuds between
+his sometime supporters, who, however, fight half-heartedly, for fear
+of killing relatives pressed into service on the other side. Those
+who once looked to Raisuli as a champion have found his little finger
+thicker than the Sultan's loins, and the country round Tangier is
+ruined by taxation, so that every one is discontented, and the
+district is unsafe, a species of civil war raging.
+
+The full name of this redoubtable leader is Mulai Ahmad bin Mohammed
+bin Abd Allah er-Raisuli, and he is a shareef of Beni Aros, connected
+therefore with the Wazzan shareefs; but his prestige as such is low,
+both on account of his past career, and because of his acceptance of a
+civil post. His mother belonged to Anjera, near Tangier, where he was
+born about thirty-six years ago at the village of Zeenat, being well
+educated, as education goes in Morocco, with the Beni M'sawah. But
+falling into bad company, he first took to cattle-lifting, afterwards
+turning highwayman, as which he was eventually caught by the Abd
+es-Sadok family--various members of which were kaids from Ceuta to
+Azila--and consigned to prison in Mogador. After three or four years
+his release was obtained by Haj Torres, the Foreign Commissioner in
+Tangier, but when he found that the Abd es-Sadoks had sequestrated
+his property, he vowed not to cut his hair till he had secured their
+disgrace. Hence, with locks that many a woman might envy, he has
+plotted and harassed till his present position has been achieved. But
+as this is only a means to an end, who can tell what that may be?
+
+Raisuli is allowed on all hands to be a peculiarly able and well-bred
+man, full of resource and determination. Though his foes have
+succeeded in kidnapping even his mother, it will certainly be a
+miracle if he is taken alive. Should all fail him, he is prepared to
+blow his brains out, or make use of a small phial of poison always to
+hand. It is interesting to remember that just such a character, Abd
+Allah Ghailan, held a similar position in this district when Tangier
+was occupied by the English, who knew him as "Guyland," and paid him
+tribute. The more recent imitation of Raisuli's tactics by a native
+free-booter of the Ceuta frontier, in arresting two English officers
+as hostages wherewith to secure the release of his brother and others
+from prison, has proved equally successful, but as matters stand at
+present, it is more than doubtful whether the Moorish Government is in
+a position to bring either of these offenders to book, and the outlook
+in the north is decidedly stormy. It is, indeed, quite in accordance
+with the traditions of Moorish history, throughout which these periods
+of local disorganization have been of constant recurrence without
+danger to the State.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._ THE KAID.
+
+A MOORISH KAID AND ATTENDANTS.]
+
+In the south things are quiet, though a spirit of unrest pervades the
+people, especially since it has been seen that the Sultan no longer
+either collects the regular taxes or maintains the regular army. There
+the immediate result of the failure to collect the taxes for a year or
+two was that the people had more to spend on cattle and other stock,
+which rapidly rose in price, no one needing to sell unless he wished.
+Within the last two years, however, the kaids have recommenced their
+oppressive treatment, under the pretext of a levy to put down the
+rising in the eastern provinces. Men and money were several times
+furnished, but though now more difficult to raise, the demands
+continue. The wonder is that the people remain so quiet, but they are
+of a more peaceable nature than the Berbers of the north.
+
+Three of the Sultan's brothers have been for some time camped in as
+many centres, engaged in collecting funds, but tribe after tribe has
+refused to pay, declaring that they have been exempted by their lord,
+and until he returns they will submit to no kaid and pay no dues. It
+is only in certain districts that some of the funds demanded have
+been forthcoming, and the kaids have full authority, but these are
+officials of long standing and great repute, whose jurisdiction has
+been much extended in consequence. Changes among the less important
+kaids have been continual of late. One man would buy the office and
+struggle to establish himself, only to find a new man installed over
+his head before he was settled, which has frequently led to local
+disorders, fighting and plundering. In this way the Government has
+quite lost prestige, and a strong hand is awaited.
+
+The Moors would have preferred another Ismail the Bloodthirsty, who
+could compel his will, and awe all other rascals in his dominions, to
+the mild and well-intentioned youth now at the helm. Some would even
+welcome any change that would put an end to present insecurity, but
+only the French _proteges_ desire to see that change effected by
+France, and only those under the German flag already would hail that
+with joy. The Jews alone would welcome any, as they have good cause to
+do.
+
+Such was already the condition of things when the long-threatening
+clouds burst, and the Anglo-French Agreement was published in April,
+1904. Rumours of negotiations for the sale of British interests in
+Morocco to France had for some time filled the air, but in face of
+official denials, and the great esteem in which England was held by
+the Moors, few gave credence to them. Mulai Abd el Aziz had relied
+especially on Great Britain, and had confidently looked to it for
+protection against the French; the announcement of the bargain between
+them broke him down.
+
+It may have been inevitable; and since an agreement among all the
+Powers concerned was so remote a possibility, an understanding between
+the three most interested may have been the wisest course, in view of
+pending internal troubles which would certainly afford excuses for
+interference. It was undoubtedly good policy on their part to decide
+who should inherit the vineyard, and on what terms, that conflict
+between them might be avoided. But on the unconsulted victim it came a
+cruel blow, unexpected and indefensible. It is important not to forget
+this.
+
+But the one absorbing thought of all for nearly a year past has
+been the drought and consequent famine. Between November, 1904, and
+October, 1905, there was practically no rainfall over a large portion
+of the country, and agriculture being interfered with, grain rose to
+five times its normal price. Although relief has now come, it will be
+months before the cattle are in proper condition again, and not till
+after next year's harvest in May and June, should it prove a good one,
+will contentment be restored. Under such conditions, though more ready
+than ever to grumble, the people have had no heart to fight, which
+has, to some degree, assisted in keeping them quiet. The famine has,
+however, tried them sore, and only increased their exasperation.
+
+Added to this, the general feeling of dissatisfaction regarding the
+Sultan's foreign predilections, and the slumbering fanaticism of the
+"learned" class, there is now a chronic lack of funds. The money which
+should have been raised by taxation has been borrowed abroad and
+ruthlessly scattered. Fortunes have been made by foreigners and
+natives alike, but the Sultan is all but bankrupt. Yet never was his
+entourage so rich, though many who to-day hold houses and lands were a
+few years ago penniless.
+
+As for the future, for many years the only answer possible to
+tediously frequent inquiries as to what was going to happen in Morocco
+has been that the future of the Shareefian Empire depended entirely
+on what might happen in Europe, not to any degree on its own internal
+condition. The only way in which this could affect the issue was by
+affording an excuse for outside interference, as in the present case.
+
+Corrupt as the native administration may be, it is but the expression
+of a corrupt population, and no native government, even in Europe, is
+ever far in advance of those over whom it rules. In spite, too, of the
+pressure of injustice on the individual here and there, the victim of
+to-day becomes the oppressor of to-morrow, and such opportunities
+are not to be surrendered without a protest. The vast majority is,
+therefore, always in favour of present conditions, and would rather
+the chances of internecine strife than an exotic peace. No foreign
+ruler, however benign, would be welcome, and no "penetration," however
+"pacific," but will be endured and resented as a hostile wound. Even
+the announcement of the Anglo-French Agreement was sufficient to
+gravely accentuate the disorders of the country, and threaten
+immediate complications with Europe, by provoking attacks on Europeans
+who had hitherto been safe from interference save under exceptional
+circumstances. A good deal of the present unrest is attributable to
+this cause alone.
+
+It is, therefore, a matter of deep regret that the one possible
+remedy--joint action of the Powers in policing the Moors, as it were,
+by demanding essential reforms in return for a united guarantee of
+territorial integrity--was rendered impossible by the rivalries
+between those Powers, especially on the part of France. Great
+Britain's step aside has made possible the only alternative, the
+surrender of the coveted task to one of their number, in return for
+such _quid pro quo_ as each could obtain. Had the second-class
+Powers been bargained with first, not only would they have secured
+substantial terms, which now it is no use their asking, but the
+leading Powers could have held out for terms yet undreamed of.
+
+France did well to begin with Great Britain, but it was an egregious
+diplomatic error to overlook Germany, which was thereby promoted to
+the hitherto unhoped-for position of "next friend" and trusted adviser
+of Morocco. Up to that point Germany had played a waiting game so
+patiently that France fell into the trap, and gave her all she wanted.
+It is inconceivable how the astute politicians of the Quai d'Orsay
+committed such a blunder, save on the assumption that they were so
+carried away by the ease with which they had settled with Great
+Britain, that they forgot all other precautions--unless it was that
+they feared to jeopardize the conclusion of the main bargain by delay
+in discussing any subsidiary point.
+
+When the Agreement was made known, the writer pointed out in the
+_Westminster Review_, that, "Portugal, Italy and Austria have but to
+acquiesce and rest assured of the 'most favoured nation' treatment, as
+will all the other Powers save one. That one, of course, is Germany,
+_whose sole interest in Morocco is the possibility of placing a
+drag on France_. She will have to be dealt with. Having disposed of
+England, which had real interests at stake, in the command of the
+straits and the maintenance of Gibraltar, France should be able to
+accomplish this as well. Five and twenty years ago Germany had not
+even a commercial interest in Morocco. Great Britain did three-fourths
+of the trade, or more, France about a tenth, Spain and others dividing
+the crumbs between them. But an active commercial policy--by the
+encouragement and support of young firms in a way that made Britishers
+envious, and abusive of their own Foreign Office--has secured for
+Germany a growing share of the trade, till now she stands next to
+Great Britain, whose share is reduced to one-half."[24]
+
+  [24: It is curious, indeed, how little the German Empire or its
+       component States figure in the history of diplomatic relations
+       with Morocco. One has to go back to the time of Rudolf II., in
+       1604, to find an active policy in force with regard to Moroccan
+       affairs, when that remarkable adventurer or international
+       diplomatist, Sir Anthony Sherley, was accredited to Abd el Aziz
+       III., the last of the Moorish rulers to bear the same name as
+       the present one. This intrepid soldier, a man after the Kaiser's
+       own heart, had been accredited to Germany by the great Shah of
+       Persia, Abbas, whose confidence he had won to a marvellous
+       degree, and he appears to have made as great an impression on
+       Rudolf, who sent him as his envoy to Morocco. Arrived there,
+       he astonished the natives by coolly riding into the court of
+       audience--a privilege still reserved to the Sultan alone. But
+       the Ameer, as he was called in those days, was too politic or
+       too polite to raise the question, only taking care that the
+       next time the "dog of a Christian" should find a chain stretched
+       across the gateway. This Sir Anthony could not brook, so rode
+       back threatening to break off negotiations, and it affords a
+       striking lesson as to the right way of dealing with orientals,
+       that even in those days the Moors should have yielded and
+       imprisoned the porter, permitting Sir Anthony's entrance on
+       horseback thereafter. The treaty he came to negotiate was
+       concluded, and relations with the Germans were established on
+       a right footing, but they have been little in evidence till
+       recent years.]
+
+After all, the interests of Germany in Morocco were but a trifling
+consideration, meaning much less to her than ours do to us, and it was
+evident that whatever position she might assume, however she might
+bluster, she, too, had her price. This not being perceived by the
+ill-informed Press of this country, the prey of political journalists
+in Paris, Cologne and Madrid--more recently even of Washington,
+whence the delusive reports are now re-echoed with alarming
+reverberations--there was heated talk of war, and everything that
+newspapers could do to bring it about was done. Even a private visit
+of the Kaiser to Tangier, the only important feature of which was the
+stir made about it, was utilized to fan the flame. However theatrical
+some of the political actions of Wilhelm II. may have been, here was
+a case in which, directly he perceived the capital being made of
+his visit, he curtailed it to express his disapprobation. It was in
+Tangier Bay that he received the newspaper cuttings on the subject,
+and although the visit was to have extended in any case but to a few
+hours, he at once decided not to land. It was only when it was urged
+upon him what disappointment this would cause to its thirty thousand
+inhabitants and visitors for the occasion, that he consented to pay
+one short visit to his Legation, abandoning the more important part
+of the programme, which included a climb to the citadel and an
+interchange of visits with a kinsman of the Sultan. Nothing more
+could have been done to emphasize the private nature of the visit,
+in reality of no greater moment than that of King Edward to Algeria
+almost at the same time.
+
+Neither such a personal visit, nor any other action should have been
+required to remind Great Britain and France that they and Spain
+alone were affected by their agreements, and that not even official
+notification to Morocco or the other Powers could restrict their
+perfect liberty of action. When, therefore, the distracted Sultan
+turned to Germany as the most influential Power still faithful to its
+undertakings, the response of Germany was perfectly correct, as was
+his own action. But Germany, although prepared to meet him with a
+smile, and not averse to receiving crumbs in the form of concessions,
+had no more intention of embroiling herself on his behalf than Great
+Britain. Extraordinary rumours, however, pervaded the country, and
+the idea of German intervention was hailed with delight; now general
+disappointment is felt, and Germany is classed with England among the
+traitors.
+
+Mulai Abd el Aziz had but one resource, to propose another conference
+of the Powers, assured that France and Germany would never come to an
+understanding, and that this would at least ward off the fatal day
+indefinitely. Yet now that France and Germany have agreed, it is
+probable that this step is regretted, and that, since the two have
+acted in concert, the Moorish Court has been at its wits' ends; it
+would now regard as a God-send anything which might prevent the
+conference from being held, lest it should strengthen the accord among
+its enemies, and weaken its own position.
+
+The diplomatic negotiations between Fez, Berlin, and Paris have been
+of a character normal under the circumstances; and as the bickerings
+and insinuations which accompanied them were foreign to Morocco, the
+Sultan's invitation only serving as an opportunity for arriving at an
+understanding, they need not be dwelt on here. It is the French Press
+which has stirred up the commotion, and has misled the British Public
+into the belief that there has been some "Morocco Tangle." The facts
+are simply these: since 1880, the date of the Madrid Convention
+regarding the vexed question of foreign rights of protecting natives
+and holding property in Morocco, all nations concerned have been
+placed on an equal footing in their dealings with that country. The
+"most favoured nation" clause has secured for all the advantages
+gained by any in its special treaties. Nothing has since occurred
+to destroy this situation. In asking his "friends" to meet again in
+conference now, the Sultan acted wisely and within his rights. The
+fact that any two or three of them may have agreed to give one of
+their number a "free hand," should it suit her purposes to upset the
+_status quo_, does not theoretically affect the position, though it
+has suggested the advisability of further discussion. It is only in
+virtue of their combined might that the Powers in question are enabled
+to assume the position they do.
+
+Spain, the only power with interests in Morocco other than commercial,
+had been settled with by a subsequent agreement in October, 1904,
+for she had been consulted in time. Special clauses dealing with her
+claims to consideration had even been inserted in the Anglo-French
+Agreement--
+
+    Art. VII. "This arrangement does not apply to the points now
+    occupied by Spain on the Moorish shore of the Mediterranean.
+
+    Art. VIII. "The two Governments, animated by their sincerely
+    friendly sentiments for Spain, take into particular consideration
+    the interests she possesses, owing to her geographical position
+    and to her territorial possessions on the Moorish shore of the
+    Mediterranean, in regard to which the French Government will make
+    some arrangement with the Spanish Government ... (which) will be
+    communicated to the Government of His Britannic Majesty."
+
+These Articles apply to Ceuta, which Spain withheld from the
+Portuguese after the brief union of the crowns in the sixteenth
+century; to Velez, an absolutely worthless rock, captured in 1564 by
+Garcia de Toledo with fifteen thousand men, the abandonment of which
+has more than once been seriously urged in Spain; to Alhucemas, a
+small island occupied in 1673; to Melilla, a huge rock peninsula
+captured, on his own account, by Medina Sidonia in 1497; and to the
+Zaffarine (or Saffron) Islands, only one of which is used, in the
+seizure of which the French were cleverly forestalled in 1848. All are
+convict stations; unless heavily fortified in a manner that at present
+they are not, they would not be of sufficient value to tempt even a
+foe of Spain. Ceuta and Melilla alone are worthy of consideration, and
+the former is the only one it might ever pay to fortify.
+
+So far have matters gone. The conference asked for by Morocco--the
+flesh thrown to the wolves--is to form the next Act. To this
+conference the unfortunate Sultan would like to appeal for protection
+against the now "free hand" of France, but in consenting to discuss
+matters at all, she and her ally have, of course, stipulated that what
+has been done without reference to treaty shall not be treated of, if
+they are to take part, and as an act of courtesy to us, the United
+States has followed suit. Other matters of importance which Mulai Abd
+el Aziz desired to discuss have also been ruled out beforehand, so
+that only minor questions are to be dealt with, hardly worth the
+trouble of meeting.
+
+Foremost among these is the replenishing of the Moorish exchequer by
+further loans, which might more easily have been arranged without a
+conference. Indeed, there are so many money-lenders anxious to finance
+Morocco on satisfactory terms, that the competition among them has
+almost degenerated into a scramble. But all want some direct guarantee
+through their Governments, which introduces the political element,
+as in return for such guarantee each Power desires to increase its
+interests or privileges. Thus, while each financier holds out his
+gold-bags temptingly before the Sultan, elbowing aside his rival, each
+demands as surety the endorsement of his Government, the price of
+which the Sultan is hardly prepared to pay. He probably hopes that by
+appealing to them all in conference, he will obtain a joint guarantee
+on less onerous terms, without affording any one of them a foothold in
+his country, should he be unable to discharge his obligations. He is
+wise, and but for the difficulties caused by the defection of England
+and France from the political circle, this request for money might
+alone have sufficed to introduce a reformed _regime_ under the joint
+auspices of all. As it is, attempts to raise funds elsewhere, even to
+discharge the current interest, having failed, his French creditors,
+who do possess the support of their Government, have obligingly added
+interest to capital, and with official sanction continue to roll the
+snowball destined one day to overwhelm the State. In the eyes of the
+Moors this is nothing less than a bill-of-sale on the Empire.
+
+A second point named by the Sultan for submission to the conference
+is the urgency of submitting all inhabitants of the country without
+distinction to the reformed taxation; a reasonable demand if the taxes
+were reasonable and justly assessed, but who can say at present that
+they are either? The exchequer is undoubtedly defrauded of large sums
+by the exemptions enjoyed by foreigners and their _proteges_, on
+account of the way in which these privileges are abused, while, to
+begin with, the system itself is unfair to the native. Here again
+is an excellent lever for securing reforms by co-operation. Let the
+Sultan understand that the sole condition on which such a privilege
+can be abandoned is the reform of his whole fiscal and judicial
+systems, and that this effected to the satisfaction of the Powers,
+these privileges will be abandoned. Nothing could do more to promote
+the internal peace and welfare of Morocco than this point rightly
+handled.
+
+A third demand, the abolition of foreign postal services in his
+country, may appear to many curious and insignificant, but the
+circumstances are peculiar. Twenty years ago, when I first knew
+Morocco, there were no means of transmitting correspondence up country
+save by intermittent couriers despatched by merchants, whom one had to
+hunt up at the _cafes_ in which they reposed. On arrival the bundle
+of letters was carried round to likely recipients for them to select
+their own in the most hap-hazard way. Things were hardly more formal
+at the ports at which eagerly awaited letters and papers arrived
+by sea. These were carried free from Gibraltar, and delivered on
+application at the various consular offices.
+
+At one time the Moorish Government maintained unsatisfactory courier
+services between two or three of the towns, but issued no stamps, the
+receipt for the courier's payment being of the nature of a postmark,
+stamped at the office, which, though little known to collectors, is
+the only genuine and really valuable Moorish postage stamp obtainable.
+All other so-called Morocco stamps were issued by private individuals,
+who later on ran couriers between some two Moorish towns, their income
+being chiefly derived from the sale of stamps to collectors. Some were
+either entirely bogus services, or only a few couriers were run
+to save appearances. Stamps of all kinds were sold at face value,
+postmarked or not to order, and as the issues were from time to time
+changed, the profits were steady and good. The case was in some ways
+analogous to that of the Yangtse and other treaty ports of China,
+where I found every consul's wife engaged in designing local issues,
+sometimes of not inconsiderable merit. In Morocco quite a circle of
+stamp-dealers sprang up, mostly sharp Jewish lads--though not a few
+foreign officials contracted the fever, and some time ago a stamp
+journal began to be issued in Tangier to promote the sale of issues
+which otherwise would not have been heard of.
+
+Now all is changed; Great Britain, France, Spain and Germany maintain
+head postal offices in Tangier, the British being subject to that of
+Gibraltar, whose stamps are used. All have courier services down the
+coast, as well as despatching by steamer, and some maintain inland
+mails conveyed by runners. The distance from Tangier to Fez, some
+hundred and fifty miles, is covered by one man on foot in about three
+days and a half, and the forty miles' run from Tangier to Tetuan is
+done in a night for a dollar, now less than three shillings.
+
+But a more enlightened Sultan sees the advantage it would be to him,
+if not to all parties, to control the distribution of the growing
+correspondence of both Europeans and natives, the latter of whom
+prefer to register their letters, having very little faith in their
+despatch without a receipt. And as Mulai Abd el Aziz is willing
+to join the Postal Union, provided that the service is placed in
+efficient European hands there is no reason why it should not be
+united in one office, and facilities thereby increased.
+
+France, however, in joining the conference, has quite another end in
+view than helping others to bolster up the present administration, and
+that is to obtain a formal recognition by all concerned, including
+Morocco, of the new position created by her agreement with Great
+Britain. That is to say, without permitting her action to be
+questioned in any way, she hopes to secure some show of right to what
+at present she possesses only by the might of herself and her friends.
+She has already agreed with Germany to recognize her special claim for
+permission to "police" the Morocco-Algerian frontier, and those who
+recall the appropriation of Tunisia will remember that it originated
+in "policing" the Khomair--known to the French as "Kroumirs"--on the
+Tunisian frontier of Algeria.
+
+It is, indeed, a curious spectacle, a group of butchers around the
+unfortunate victim, talking philanthropy, practising guile: two of the
+strongest have at last agreed between themselves which is to have the
+carcase, but preparations for the "pacific" death-thrust are delayed
+by frantic appeals for further consultation, and by the refusal of
+one of their number who had been ignored to recognize the bargain.
+Consultation is only agreed to on conditions which must defeat its
+object, and terms are arranged with the intervener. Everything,
+therefore, is clear for the operation; the tender-hearted are soothed
+by promises that though the "penetration" cannot but be painful, it
+shall at least not be hostile; while in order that the contumacious
+may hereafter hold their peace, the consultation is to result in a
+formal but carefully worded death-warrant.
+
+Meanwhile it is worth while recalling the essential features of the
+Madrid Convention of 1880, mainly due to French claims for special
+privileges in protecting natives, or in giving them the rights of
+French citizens. This was summoned by Spain at the suggestion of Great
+Britain, with the concurrence of Morocco. Holland, Sweden and Norway,
+Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, France, Germany, the United States, Italy,
+Brazil, and Austria-Hungary accepted the invitation in the order
+named, but Brazil was ultimately unrepresented. Russia was also
+invited as an after-thought, but did not consider it worth while
+accepting. The scope of the conference was limited to the subject of
+foreign protection, though the question of property was by mutual
+consent included.
+
+The representatives of the conferring Powers accredited to the Spanish
+Court were nominated as members--the English Plenipotentiary acting
+for Denmark--as it was felt that those accredited to Morocco already
+held too decided views of the matter. The Moorish Foreign Minister
+attended on behalf of Morocco, and Senor Canovas, President of the
+Council, represented Spain. Seventeen meetings were held, under the
+presidency of Senor Canovas, between May 19 and July 3, the last being
+purely formal. The Convention then signed contained little that was
+new, but it re-stated clearly and harmonized with satisfactory results
+rights previously granted to one and another. In several particulars,
+however, its provisions are faulty, and experience of their working
+has long led to demands for revision, but conflicting interests, and
+fears of opening up larger issues, have caused this to be postponed.
+
+Now that the time has arrived for a re-definition of the whole
+position and rights of foreigners and their Governments in Morocco,
+it is earnestly to be hoped that the opportunity may not be lost. The
+great fault of the Madrid Convention is that while it recognizes the
+right of foreigners to acquire land in Morocco, it stipulates for
+the previous consent of the native authorities, which is only to be
+obtained, if at all, by liberal "presents." But the most pressing need
+is the establishment of an international tribunal for the trial of
+cases involving more than one nationality, to replace the present
+anarchy, resulting from the conflict in one case of any of the
+thirteen independent jurisdictions at present in force in Morocco.
+Such a measure would be an outcome of more value than all possible
+agreements to respect the independence and integrity of Morocco till
+it suited the purpose of one party or another to encroach thereon.
+
+In lands knowing but one jurisdiction it is hard to conceive the
+abuses and defeats of justice which result from the confusion
+reigning in Morocco, or those which existed in Egypt previous to
+the establishment of international tribunals there. For instance,
+plaintiff, of nationality A., sues defendants, of nationalities B.,
+C., and D., for the return of goods which they have forcibly carried
+off, on the ground that they were pledged to them by a party of
+nationality E., who disputes their claim, and declares the goods sold
+to original plaintiff. Here are five jurisdictions involved, each with
+a different set of laws, so that during the three separate actions
+necessitated, although the three defendants have all acted alike and
+together, the judgment in the case of each may be different, _e.g._
+case under law B. dismissed, that under law C. won by plaintiff, while
+law D. might recognize the defendants' claim, but condemn his action.
+Needless to follow such intricacies further, though this is by no
+means an extreme case, for disputes are constantly occurring--to say
+nothing of criminal actions--involving the several consular courts,
+for the most part presided over by men unequipped by legal training,
+in which it is a practical impossibility for justice to be done to
+all, and time and money are needlessly wasted.
+
+
+
+
+XXXI
+
+FRANCE IN MOROCCO
+
+  "Who stands long enough at the door is sure to enter at last."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+In a previous work on this country, "The Land of the Moors," published
+in 1901, the present writer concluded with this passage: "France alone
+is to be feared in the Land of the Moors, which, as things trend
+to-day, must in time form part of her colony. There is no use
+disguising the fact, and, as England certainly would not be prepared
+to go to war with her neighbour to prevent her repeating in Morocco
+what she has done in Tunis, it were better not to grumble at her
+action. All England cares about is the mouth of the Mediterranean, and
+if this were secured to her, or even guaranteed neutral--were that
+possible--she could have no cause to object to the French extension.
+Our Moorish friends will not listen to our advice; they keep their
+country closed, as far as they can, refusing administrative reforms
+which would prevent excuses for annexation. Why should we trouble
+them? It were better far to come to an agreement with France, and
+acknowledge what will prove itself one day--that France is the normal
+heir to Morocco whenever the present Empire breaks up."
+
+Unpopular as this opinion was among the British and other foreign
+subjects in the country, and especially among the Moors, so that it
+had at first no other advocate, it has since been adopted in Downing
+Street, and what is of more moment, acted upon. Nay more, Great
+Britain has, in return for the mere recognition of a _fait accompli_
+in Egypt, agreed to stand aside in Morocco, and to grant France a free
+hand in any attempt to create there a similar state of things. Though
+the principle was good, the bargain was bad, for the positions of the
+two contracting Powers, in Egypt and Morocco respectively, were by no
+means analogous. France could never have driven us out of Egypt save
+with her sword at our throat; England had but to unite with other
+Powers in blocking the way of France in Morocco to stultify all her
+plans. Had England stood out for terms, whether as regarding her
+commercial interests in Morocco, which have been disgracefully
+sacrificed, or in the form of concessions elsewhere, a very much more
+equal-handed bargain might have been secured.
+
+The main provisions of the agreement between the two countries,
+concluded April 8, 1904, are--
+
+    Art. II. "The British Government recognizes that it appertains
+    to France, more especially as being the Power in contiguity with
+    Morocco, to control the peace of the country, and to lend its
+    assistance in all administrative, economical, financial, and
+    military reforms. The British Government declares that it will not
+    interfere with the action of France in this regard, provided that
+    this action will leave intact the rights which, in virtue of
+    treaties, conventions, and usages, Great Britain enjoys in
+    Morocco, including the right of coasting between the Morocco
+    ports, of which English vessels have had the benefit since 1901."
+
+    Art. VII. "In order to secure the free passage of the Straits of
+    Gibraltar, both Governments agree not to allow fortifications or
+    any strategic works to be erected on that part of the Moorish
+    coast between Melilla and the heights which dominate the right
+    bank of the Sebu exclusively."
+
+France has secured all that she wanted, or rather that her aggressive
+colonial party wanted, for opinions on that point are by no means
+identical, even in France, and the Agreement at once called forth the
+condemnation of the more moderate party. What appears to be permissive
+means much more. Now that Great Britain has drawn back--the Power to
+which the late Sir John Drummond Hay taught the Moors to look with an
+implicit confidence to champion them against all foes, as it did in
+the case of the wars with France and Spain, vetoing the retention of
+a foot of Moorish soil--Morocco lies at the feet of France. France,
+indeed, has become responsible for carrying out a task its eager
+spirits have been boiling over for a chance of undertaking. Morocco
+has been made the ward of the hand that gripped it, which but recently
+filched two outlying provinces, Figig and Tuat.
+
+Englishmen who know and care little about Morocco are quite incapable
+of understanding the hold that France already had upon this land.
+Separated from it only by an unprotected boundary, much better defined
+on paper than in fact, over which there is always a "rectification"
+dispute in pickle, her province of Algeria affords a prospective
+base already furnished with lines of rail from her ports of Oran and
+Algiers. From Oojda, an insignificant town across the border from
+Lalla Maghnia (Marnia), there runs a valley route which lays Fez in
+her power, with Taza by the way to fortify and keep the mountaineers
+in check. At any time the frontier forays in which the tribes on both
+sides indulge may be fomented or exaggerated, as in the case of Tunis,
+to afford a like excuse for a similar occupation, which beyond a doubt
+would be a good thing for Morocco. Fez captured, and the seaports kept
+in awe or bombarded by the navy, Mequinez would fall, and an army
+landed in Mazagan would seize Marrakesh.
+
+All this could be accomplished with a minimum of loss, for only the
+lowlands would have to be crossed, and the mountaineers have no army.
+But their "pacification" would be the lingering task in which lives,
+time, and money would be lost beyond all recompense. Against a
+European army that of the Sultan need not be feared; only a few
+battalions drilled by European officers might give trouble, but they
+would see former instructors among the foe, and without them they
+would soon become demoralized. It would be the tribal skirmishers, of
+whom half would fall before the others yielded to the Nazarenes, who
+would give the trouble.
+
+The military mission which France has for many years imposed on the
+Sultan at his expense, though under her control, which follows him in
+his expeditions and spies out the land, has afforded a training-ground
+for a series of future invading leaders. Her Algerian Mohammedan
+agents are able to pass and repass where foreigners never go, and
+besides collecting topographical and other information, they have lost
+no opportunity of making known the privileges and advantages of French
+rule. In case it may be found advisable to set up a dummy sultan under
+a protectorate, the French have an able and powerful man to hand in
+the young Idreesi Shareef of Wazzan, whom the English refused to
+protect, and who, with his brother, received a French education.
+
+But while we, as a nation, have been unable to comprehend the French
+determination to possess Morocco, they have been unable to comprehend
+our calm indifference, and by the way in which they betray their
+suspicions of us, they betray their own methods. Protestant
+missionaries in Algeria and Tunisia, of whatever nationality, are
+supposed to be the emissaries of the British Government, and in
+consequence are harassed and maligned, while tourists outside the
+regular beat are watched. When visiting Oojda some years ago, I myself
+was twice arrested in Algeria, at Tlemcen and Lalla Maghnia, because
+mingling with natives, and it was with difficulty that I could
+persuade the _juges d'instruction_ of my peaceful motives.
+
+Determined and successful efforts to become acquainted with the
+remotest provinces of Morocco, the distribution of its population, and
+whatever could be of use to an invading or "pacifying" force have long
+been made by France, but the most valuable portion of this knowledge
+remains pigeon-holed, or circulates only in strictly official
+_memoires_. Many of the officials engaged here, however, have amused
+themselves and the public by publishing pretty books of the average
+class, telling little new, while one even took the trouble to write
+his in English, in order to put us off the scent!
+
+If ever means could justify an end, France deserves to enjoy the fruit
+of her labours. No longer need she foment strife on the Algerian
+frontier, or wink at arms being smuggled across it; no longer need the
+mis-named "pretender" be supplied with French gold, or intrigues be
+carried on at Court. Abd el Aziz must take the advice and "assistance"
+of France, whether he will or no, and curse the British to whom he
+formerly looked. This need not necessarily involve such drastic
+changes as would rouse the people to rebellion, and precipitate a
+costly conquest. There are many reforms urgently required in the
+interests of the people themselves, and these can now be gradually
+enforced. Such reforms had been set on foot already by the young
+Sultan, mainly under British advice; but to his chagrin, his advisers
+did not render the financial and moral support he needed to carry them
+out. France is now free to do this, and to strengthen his position, so
+that all wise reforms may be possible. These will naturally commence
+with civil and judicial functions, but must soon embrace the more
+pressing public works, such as roads, bridges, and port improvements.
+Railways are likely to be the first roads in most parts, and Mulai Abd
+el Aziz will welcome their introduction. The western ideas which he
+has imbibed during the last few years are scoffed at only by those who
+know little of him. What France will have to be prepared for is Court
+intrigue, and she will have to give the Moors plainly to understand
+that "Whatsoever king shall reign, she'll still be 'boss of the show,'
+sir."
+
+As one of the first steps needed, but one requiring the co-operation
+of all other Powers on treaty terms with the Moors, the establishment
+of tribunals to which all should be amenable, has already been touched
+upon. These must necessarily be presided over by specially qualified
+Europeans in receipt of sufficient salary to remove them from
+temptation. A clear distinction should then be made between a civil
+code administered by such tribunals and the jurisdiction of the Muslim
+law in matters of religion and all dependent upon it. But of even more
+pressing importance is the reform of the currency, and the admission
+of Morocco to the Latin Union. This could well be insisted on when the
+financial question is discussed at the Algeciras Conference, as well
+as the equally important establishment in competent hands of a State
+Bank. This and the reform of the whole fiscal system must precede
+every other measure, as they form the ground-work of the whole.
+
+Whatever public works may be eventually undertaken, the first should
+be, as far as possible, such as the Moors themselves can execute under
+European direction, and as they can appreciate. Irrigation would
+command enthusiasm where railways would only provoke opposition, and
+the French could find no surer way of winning the hearts of the people
+than by coping at once with the agricultural water supply, in order to
+provide against such years of famine as the present, and worse that
+are well remembered. That would be a form of "pacific penetration," to
+which none could object.
+
+Education, too, when attempted, should be gradually introduced as a
+means of personal advancement, the requirements of the public
+service being raised year by year, as the younger generation has had
+opportunities of better qualifying themselves. Above all, every post
+should be in theory at least thrown open to the native, and in
+practice as soon as the right man turned up. Better retain or instal
+more of the able Moors of to-day as figureheads with European
+advisers, than attempt a new set to start with. But a clean sweep
+should be made of the foreigners at present in the Moorish service,
+all of whom should be adequately pensioned off, that with the new
+order might come new men, adequately paid and independent of
+"commissions." It is essential that the people learn to feel that
+they are not being exploited, but that their true welfare is sought.
+Every reform should be carried out along native lines, and in
+conformity with native thought.
+
+[Illustration: _Albert, Photo., Tunis._
+
+TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH--AN EXECUTION.]
+
+The costly lesson of Algeria, where native rights and interests were
+overthrown, and a complete detested foreign rule set up, has taught
+the French the folly of such a system, however glorious it may appear
+on paper. They have been wiser in Tunisia, where a nominally native
+government is directed by Frenchmen, whom it pays, and sooner or later
+Morocco is almost certain to become a second Tunisia. This will not
+only prove the best working system, but it will enable opposition to
+be dealt with by Moorish forces, instead of by an invading army, which
+would unite the Berber tribes under the Moorish flag. This was what
+prolonged the conquest of Algeria for so many years, and the Berbers
+of Morocco are more independent and better armed than were those of
+Algeria seventy years ago. What France will gain by the change beyond
+openings for Frenchmen and the glory of an extended colonial empire,
+it is hard to imagine, but empty glory seems to satisfy most countries
+greedy of conquest. So far the only outward evidences of the new
+position are the over-running of the ports, especially of Tangier, by
+Frenchmen of an undesirable class, and by an attempt to establish a
+French colony at the closed port of Mehediya by doubtful means, to say
+nothing of the increased smuggling of arms.
+
+How the welfare of the Moors will be affected by the change is a much
+more important question, though one often held quite unworthy of
+consideration, the accepted axiom being that, whether they like it or
+not, what is good for us is good for them. Needless to say that
+most of the reforms required will be objected to, and that serious
+obstacles will be opposed to some; the mere fact that the foreigner,
+contemptuously called a "Nazarene," is their author, is sufficient to
+prejudice them in native eyes, and the more prominent the part played
+by him, the more difficult to follow his advice. But if the Sultan and
+his new advisers will consent to a wise course of quiet co-operation,
+much may be effected without causing trouble. It is astonishing
+how readily the Moors submit to the most radical changes when
+unostentatiously but forcibly carried out. Never was there a greater
+call for the _suaviter in modo, fortiter in re_. Power which makes
+itself felt by unwavering action has always had their respect, and
+if the Sultan is prepared not to act till with gold in his coffers,
+disciplined troops at his command, and loyal officials to do his
+behest, he can do so with unquestioned finality, all will go well.
+
+Then will the prosperity of the people revive--indeed, achieve a
+condition hitherto unknown save in two or three reigns of the distant
+past, perhaps not then. The poor will not fear to sow their barren
+fields, or the rich to display their wealth; hidden treasure will come
+to light, and the groan of the oppressed will cease. Individual cases
+of gross injustice will doubtless arise; but they will be as nothing
+compared with what occurs in Morocco to-day, even with that wrought by
+Europeans who avail themselves of existing evils. So that if France is
+wise, and restrains her hot-heads, she may perform a magnificent work
+for the Moors, as the British have done in Egypt; at least, it is to
+be hoped she may do as well in Morocco as in Tunisia.
+
+But it would be idle to ignore the deep dissatisfaction with which the
+Anglo-French Agreement has been received by others than the Moors.[25]
+Most British residents in Morocco, probably every tourist who has been
+conducted along the coast, or sniffed at the capital cities; those
+firms of ours who share the bulk of the Moorish trade, and others who
+yearned to open up possible mines, and undertake the public works
+so urgently needed; ay, and the concession-prospectors and
+company-mongers who see the prey eluding their grasp; even the
+would-be heroes across the straits who have dreamed in vain of great
+deeds to be done on those hills before them; all unite in deploring
+what appears to them a gross blunder. After all, this is but natural.
+So few of us can see beyond our own domains, so many hunger after
+anything--in their particular line--that belongs to a weaker
+neighbour, that it is well we have disinterested statesmen who take a
+wider view. Else had we long since attempted to possess ourselves
+of the whole earth, like the conquering hordes of Asia, and in
+consequence we should have been dispossessed ourselves.
+
+  [25: See Appendix.]
+
+Even to have been driven to undertake in Morocco a task such as we
+were in Egypt, would have been a calamity, for our hands are too full
+already of similar tasks. It is all very well in these times of peace,
+but in the case of war, when we might be attacked by more than one
+antagonist, we should have all our work cut out to hold what we
+have. The policy of "grab," and dabbing the world with red, may be
+satisfactory up to a certain point, but it will be well for us as a
+nation when we realize that we have had enough. In Morocco, what is
+easy for France with her contiguous province, with her plans
+for trans-Saharan traffic, and her thirst to copy our colonial
+expansion--though without men to spare--would have been for us costly
+and unremunerative. We are well quit of the temptation.
+
+Moreover, we have freed ourselves of a possible, almost certain, cause
+of friction with France, of itself a most important gain. Just as
+France would never have acquiesced in our establishing a protectorate
+in Morocco without something more than words, so the rag-fed British
+public, always capable of being goaded to madness by the newspapers,
+would have bitterly objected to French action, if overt, while
+powerless to prevent the insidious grasp from closing on Morocco by
+degrees. The first war engaging at once British attention and forces
+was like to see France installed in Morocco without our leave. The
+early reverses of the Transvaal War induced her to appropriate Tuat
+and Figig, and had the fortune of war been against us, Morocco would
+have been French already. These facts must not be overlooked in
+discussing what was our wisest course. We were unprepared to do
+what France was straining to do: we occupied the manger to no one's
+good--practically the position later assumed by Germany. Surely we
+were wiser to come to terms while we could, not as in the case of
+Tunisia, when too late.
+
+But among the objecting critics one class has a right to be heard,
+those who have invested life and fortune in the Morocco trade; the men
+who have toiled for years against the discouraging odds involved, who
+have wondered whether Moorish corruption or British apathy were their
+worst foe, in whom such feeling is not only natural but excusable.
+Only those who have experienced it know what it means to be defrauded
+by complacent Orientals, and to be refused the redress they see
+officials of other nations obtaining for rivals. Yet now they find all
+capped by the instructions given to our consuls not to act without
+conferring with the local representatives of France, which leads
+to the taunt that Great Britain has not only sold her interests in
+Morocco to the French, but also her subjects!
+
+The British policy has all along been to maintain the _status quo_ in
+spite of individual interests, deprecating interference which might
+seem high-handed, or create a precedent from which retraction would be
+difficult. In the collection of debts, in enforcing the performance of
+contracts, or in securing justice of any kind where the policy is to
+promise all and evade all till pressure is brought to bear, British
+subjects in Morocco have therefore always found themselves at a
+disadvantage in competition with others whose Governments openly
+supported them. The hope that buoyed them up was that one day the tide
+might turn, and that Great Britain might feel it incumbent on her to
+"protect" Morocco against all comers. Now hope has fled. What avails
+it that grace of a generation's span is allowed them, that they may
+not individually suffer from the change? It is the dream of years that
+lies shattered.
+
+Here are the provisions for their protection:
+
+    Art. IV. "The two Governments, equally attached to the principle
+    of commercial liberty, both in Egypt and Morocco, declare that
+    they will not lend themselves to any inequality either in the
+    establishment of customs rights or other taxes, or in the
+    establishment of tariffs for transport on the railways.... This
+    mutual agreement is valid for a period of thirty years" (subject
+    to extensions of five years).
+
+    Art. V. secures the maintenance in their posts of British
+    officials in the Moorish service, but while it is specially
+    stipulated that French missionaries and schools in Egypt shall not
+    be molested, British missionaries in Morocco are committed to the
+    tender mercies of the French.
+
+Thus there can be no immediate exhibition of favouritism beyond the
+inevitable placing of all concessions in French hands, and there is
+really not much ground of complaint, while there is a hope of cause
+for thankfulness. Released from its former bugbears, no longer open to
+suspicion of secret designs, our Foreign Office can afford to impart a
+little more backbone into its dealings with Moorish officials; a much
+more acceptable policy should, therefore, be forthwith inaugurated,
+that the Morocco traders may see that what they have lost in
+possibilities they have gained in actualities. Still more! the French,
+now that their hands are free, are in a position to "advise" reforms
+which will benefit all. Thus out of the ashes of one hope another
+rises.
+
+
+
+
+PART III
+
+
+XXXII
+
+ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO
+
+  "One does not become a horseman till one has fallen."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+A journey through Algeria shows what a stable and enlightened
+Government has been able to do in a land by no means so highly
+favoured by Nature as Morocco, and peopled by races on the whole
+inferior. The far greater proportion of land there under cultivation
+emphasizes the backward state of Morocco, although much of it still
+remains untouched; while the superior quality of the produce,
+especially of the fruits, shows what might be accomplished in the
+adjoining country were its condition improved. The hillsides of
+Algeria are in many districts clothed with vines which prosper
+exceedingly, often almost superseding cereals as objects of
+cultivation by Europeans.
+
+The European colonists are of all nationalities, and the proportion
+which is not French is astonishingly large, but every inducement is
+held out for naturalization as Algerians, and all legitimate obstacles
+are thrown in the way of those who maintain fidelity to their
+fatherlands. Every effort is made to render Algeria virtually part of
+France, as politically it is already considered to be. It is the case
+of the old days of slavery revived under a new form, when the renegade
+was received with open arms, and the man who remained steadfast was
+seldom released from slavery. Of course, in these days there is
+nothing approaching such treatment, and it is only the natives who
+suffer to any extent.
+
+These are despised, if not hated, and despise and hate in return. The
+conquerors have repeated in Algeria the old mistake which has brought
+about such dire results in other lands, of always retaining the
+position of conquerors, and never unbending to the conquered, or
+encouraging friendship with them. This attitude nullifies whatever
+good may result from the mixed schools in which Muslim, Jew, and
+European are brought in contact, in the hope of turning out a sort of
+social amalgam. Most of the French settlers are too conceited and too
+ignorant to learn Arabic, though this is by no means the fault of the
+Government, which provides free public classes for instruction in that
+language in the chief towns of Algeria and Tunisia. The result is
+that the natives who meet most with foreigners have, without the most
+ordinary facilities enjoyed by the Europeans, to pick up a jargon
+which often does much more credit to them than the usual light
+acquaintance of the foreigner with Arabic does to him. Those who make
+any pretence at it, usually speak it with an accent, a pronunciation
+and a nonchalance which show that they have taken no pains whatever to
+acquire it. Evidently it pays better to spend money educating natives
+in French than Frenchmen in Arabic. It is an amusing fact that most of
+the teachers have produced their own text-books, few of which possess
+special merit.
+
+As a colony Algeria has proved a failure. Foreign settlers hold most
+of the desirable land, and till it with native labour. The native may
+have safety and justice now, but he has suffered terribly in the past,
+as the reports of the Bureau Arabe, established for his protection,
+abundantly prove, and bitterly he resents his fate. No love is lost
+between French and natives in Tunisia, but there is actual hatred in
+Algeria, fostered by the foreigner far more than by the smouldering
+bigotry of Islam. They do not seem to intermingle even as oil and
+water, but to follow each a separate, independent course.
+
+Among the foreign colonists it is a noteworthy fact that the most
+successful are not the French, who want too much comfort, but almost
+any of the nationalities settled there, chiefly Spaniards and
+Italians. The former are to be found principally in the neighbourhood
+of Oran, and the latter further east; they abound in Tunisia.
+Englishmen and others of more independent nature have not been made
+welcome in either country, and year by year their interests have
+dwindled. Even in Tunisia, under a different system, the same result
+has been achieved, and every restriction reconcilable with paper
+rights has been placed on other than French imports. There may be an
+"open door," but it is too closely guarded for us. The English houses
+that once existed have disappeared, and what business is done with
+this country has had to take refuge with agents, for the most part
+Jews.
+
+In studying the life of Algerian towns, the almost entire absence of
+well-to-do Arabs or Berbers is striking. I never came across one who
+might be judged from his appearance to be a man of means or position,
+unless in military or official garb, though there are doubtless many
+independent natives among the Berber and Arab tribes. The few whom I
+encountered making any pretence of dressing well were evidently of no
+social rank, and the complaint on every hand is that the natives are
+being gradually ousted from what little is left to them.
+
+As for European law, they consider this to have no connection
+with justice, and think themselves very heavily taxed to support
+innovations with which they have no concern, and which they would
+rather dispense with. One can, indeed, feel for them, though there
+is no doubt much to be said on both sides, especially when it is the
+other side which boasts the power, if not the superior intelligence.
+The Jews, however, thrive, and in many ways have the upper hand,
+especially so since the wise move which accorded them the rights
+of French citizenship. It is remarkable, however, how much less
+conspicuous they are in the groups about the streets than in Morocco,
+notwithstanding that their dress is quite as distinctive as there,
+though different.
+
+The new-comer who arrives at the fine port of Algiers finds it
+as greatly transformed as its name has been from the town which
+originally bore it, El Jazirah. The fine appearance of the rising
+tiers of houses gives an impression of a still larger city than it
+really is, for very little is hidden from view except the suburbs.
+From a short way out to sea the panorama is grand, but it cannot be
+as chaste as when the native city clustered in the hollow with its
+whitewashed houses and its many minarets, completely surrounded by
+green which has long since disappeared under the advancing tide of
+bricks and mortar. One can hardly realize that this fine French city
+has replaced the den of pirates of such fearful histories. Yet there
+is the original light-house, the depot for European slaves, and away
+on the top of yonder hill are remains of the ancient citadel. It was
+there, indeed, that those dreadful cruelties were perpetrated, where
+so many Christians suffered martyrdom. Yes, this is where once stood
+the "famous and war-like city, El Jazirah," which was in its time "the
+scourge of Christendom."
+
+Whether the visitor be pleased or disappointed with the modern city
+depends entirely on what he seeks. If he seeks Europe in Africa, with
+perhaps just a dash of something oriental, he will be amply satisfied
+with Algiers, which is no longer a native city at all. It is as French
+as if it had risen from the soil entirely under French hands, and only
+the slums of the Arab town remain. The seeker after native life will
+therefore meet with complete disappointment, unless he comes straight
+from Europe, with no idea what he ought to expect. All the best parts
+of the town, the commercial and the residential quarters, have long
+since been replaced by European substitutes, leaving hardly a trace of
+the picturesque originals, while every day sees a further encroachment
+on the erstwhile African portion, the interest of which is almost
+entirely removed by the presence of crowds of poor Europeans and
+European-dressed Jews. The visitor to Algiers would therefore do well
+to avoid everything native, unless he has some opportunity of also
+seeing something genuine elsewhere. The only specimens he meets in
+the towns are miserable half-caste fellows--by habit, if not by
+birth,--for their dress, their speech, their manners, their homes,
+their customs, their religion--or rather their lack of religion,--have
+all suffered from contact with Europeans. But even before the
+Frenchmen came, it is notorious how the Algerines had sunk under the
+bane of Turkish rule, as is well illustrated by their own saying, that
+where the foot of the Turk had trod, grass refused to grow. Of all the
+Barbary States, perhaps none has suffered more from successive outside
+influences than the people of Algeria.
+
+The porter who seizes one's luggage does not know when he is using
+French words or Arabic, or when he introduces Italian, Turkish, or
+Spanish, and cannot be induced to make an attempt at Arabic to a
+European unless the latter absolutely refuses to reply to his jargon.
+Then comes a hideous corruption of his mother tongue, in which the
+foreign expressions are adorned with native inflexions in the most
+comical way. His dress is barbarous, an ancient and badly fitting pair
+of trousers, and stockingless feet in untidy boots, on the heels of
+which he stamps along the streets with a most unpleasant noise. The
+collection of garments which complete his attire are mostly European,
+though the "Fez" cap remains the distinctive feature of the Muslim's
+dress, and a selham--that cloak of cloaks, there called a "burnus"--is
+slung across his shoulder. Some few countrymen are to be seen who
+still retain the more graceful native costume, with the typical
+camel-hair or cotton cord bound round the head-dress, but the old
+inhabitants are being steadily driven out of town.
+
+[Illustration: TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEIKH.]
+
+The characteristic feature of Algerian costumes is the head-cord
+referred to, which pervades a great part of Arabdom, in Syria and
+Arabia being composed of two twists of black camel hair perhaps an
+inch thick. In Algeria it is about an eighth of an inch thick, and
+brown. The slippers are also characteristic, but ugly, being of black
+leather, excellently made, and cut very far open, till it becomes an
+art to keep them on, and the heels have to be worn up. The use of the
+white selham is almost universal, unhemmed at the edges, as in Tunis
+also; and over it is loosely tied a short haik fastened on the head by
+the cord.
+
+There is, however, even in Algiers itself, one class of men who remain
+unaffected by their European surroundings, passive amid much change,
+a model for their neighbours. These are the Beni M'zab, a tribe of
+Mohammedan Protestants from southern Algeria, where they settled long
+ago, as the Puritans did in New England, that they might there worship
+God in freedom. They were the Abadiya, gathered from many districts,
+who have taken their modern name from the tribe whose country they now
+inhabit. They speak a dialect of Berber, and dress in a manner which
+is as distinctive as their short stature, small, dark, oily features,
+jet-black twinkling eyes, and scanty beard. They come to the towns to
+make money, and return home to spend it, after a few years of busy
+shop-keeping. A butcher whom I met said that he and a friend had the
+business year and year about, so as not to be too long away from home
+at a time. They are very hard-working, and have a great reputation for
+honesty; they keep their shops open from about five in the morning
+till nine at night. As the Beni M'zab do not bring their wives with
+them, they usually live together in a large house, and have their
+own mosque, where they worship alone, resenting the visits of all
+outsiders, even of other Muslims. Admission to their mosque is
+therefore practically refused to Europeans, but in Moorish dress I was
+made welcome as some distinguished visitor from saintly Fez, and found
+it very plain, more like the kubbah of a saint-house than an ordinary
+mosque.
+
+There are also many Moors in Algeria, especially towards the west.
+These, being better workmen than the Algerines, find ready employment
+as labourers on the railways. Great numbers also annually visit Oran
+and the neighbourhood to assist at harvest time. Those Moors who live
+there usually disport themselves in trousers, strange to stay, and,
+when they can afford it, carry umbrellas. They still adhere to the
+turban, however, instead of adopting the head cord. At Blidah I found
+that all the sellers of sfinges--yeast fritters--were Moors, and those
+whom I came across were enthusiastic to find one who knew and liked
+their country. The Algerines affect to despise them and their home,
+which they declare is too poor to support them, thus accounting for
+their coming over to work.
+
+The specimens of native architecture to be met with in Algeria are
+seldom, if ever, pure in style, and are generally extremely corrupt.
+The country never knew prosperity as an independent kingdom, such as
+Morocco did, and it is only in Tlemcen, on the borders of that Empire,
+that real architectural wealth is found, but then this was once the
+capital of an independent kingdom. The palace at Constantine is not
+Moorish at all, except in plan, being adorned with a hap-hazard
+collection of odds and ends from all parts. It is worse than even the
+Bardo at Tunis, where there is some good plaster carving--naksh el
+hadeed--done by Moorish or Andalucian workmen. In the palaces of the
+Governor and the Archbishop of Algiers, which are also very composite,
+though not without taste, there is more of this work, some of it very
+fine, though much of it is merely modern moulded imitation.
+
+Of more than a hundred mosques and shrines found in Algiers when it
+was taken by the French, only four of the former and a small number
+of the latter remain, the rest having been ruthlessly turned into
+churches. The Mosque of Hasan, built just over a century ago, is now
+the cathedral, though for this transformation it has been considerably
+distorted, and a mock-Moorish facade erected in the very worst taste.
+Inside things are better, having been less interfered with, but what
+is now a church was never a good specimen of a mosque, having been
+originally partly European in design, the work of renegades. The same
+may be said of the Mosque of the Fisheries, a couple of centuries old,
+built in the form of a Greek cross! One can well understand how
+the Dey, according to the story, had the architect put to death on
+discovering this anomaly. These incongruities mar all that is supposed
+in Algeria to be Arabesque. The Great Mosque, nevertheless, is more
+ancient and in better style, more simple, more chaste, and more
+awe-inspiring. The Zawiah of Sidi Abd er-Rahman, outside the walls,
+is as well worth a visit as anything in Algiers, being purely and
+typically native. It is for the opportunities given for such peeps
+as this that one is glad to wander in Algeria after tasting the real
+thing in Morocco, where places of worship and baths are closed to
+Europeans. These latter I found all along North Africa to be much what
+they are in Morocco, excepting only the presence of the foreigners.
+
+The tile work of Algeria is ugly, but many of the older Italian and
+other foreign specimens are exceptionally good, both in design and
+colour. Some of the Tunisian tiles are also noteworthy, but it is
+probable that none of any real artistic value were ever produced in
+what is now conveniently called Algeria. There is nothing whatever in
+either country to compare with the exquisite Fez work found in the
+Alhambra, hardly to rival the inferior productions of Tetuan. A
+curious custom in Algeria is to use all descriptions of patterns
+together "higgledy-piggledy," upside down or side-ways, as though
+the idea were to cover so much surface with tiling, irrespective of
+design. Of course this is comparatively modern, and marks a period
+since what art Algeria ever knew had died out. It is noticeable, too,
+how poor the native manufacturers are compared with those of Morocco,
+themselves of small account beside those of the East. The wave of
+civilization which swept over North Africa in the Middle Ages failed
+to produce much effect till it recoiled upon itself in the far, far
+west, and then turned northward into Spain.
+
+Notwithstanding all this, Algeria affords an ample field for study for
+the scientist, especially the mountain regions to the south, where
+Berber clans and desert tribes may be reached in a manner impossible
+yet in Morocco, but the student of oriental life should not visit them
+till he has learnt to distinguish true from false among the still
+behind-hand Moors.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIII
+
+TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO
+
+  "The slave toils, but the Lord completes."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+Fortunately for the French, the lesson learned in Algeria was not
+neglected when the time came for their "pacific penetration" of
+Tunisia. Their first experience had been as conquerors of anything but
+pacific intent, and for a generation they waged war with the Berber
+tribes. Everywhere, even on the plains, where conquest was easy, the
+native was dispossessed. The land was allotted to Frenchmen or to
+natives who took the oath of allegiance to France, and became French
+subjects. Those who fought for their fatherland were driven off, the
+villages depopulated, and the country laid waste. In the cities the
+mosques were desecrated or appropriated to what the native considered
+idolatrous worship. They have never been restored to their owners.
+Those Algerines only have flourished who entered the French army or
+Government service, and affected manners which all but cut them off
+from their fellow-countrymen.
+
+In Tunisia the French succeeded, under cover of specious assurances to
+the contrary, in overthrowing the Turkish beys, rehabilitating them in
+name as their puppets, with hardly more opposition than the British
+met with in Burma. The result is a nominally native administration
+which takes the blame for failures, and French direction which takes
+the credit for successes. All that was best in Algeria has been
+repeated, but native rights have been respected, and the cities, with
+their mosques and shrines, left undisturbed as far as possible. The
+desecration of the sacred mosque of Kairwan as a stable was a notable
+exception.
+
+The difference between the administration of Algeria and that of
+Tunisia makes itself felt at every step. In the one country it is the
+ruling of a conquered people for the good of the conquerors alone, and
+in the other it is the ruling of an unconquered people by bolstering
+up and improving their own institutions under the pretence of seeking
+their welfare. The immense advantage of the Tunisian system is
+apparent on all sides. The expense is less, the excuses for
+irregularities are greater, and the natives still remain a nominal
+power in the land, instead of being considered as near serfs as is
+permissible in this twentieth century.
+
+The results of the French occupation were summed up to me by a
+Tunisian as the making of roads, the introduction of more money and
+much drunkenness, and the institution of laws which no native could
+ever hope to understand. But France has done more than that in Tunis,
+even for the native. He has the benefit of protection for life and
+property, with means of education and facilities for travel, and an
+outlet for his produce. He might do well--and there are many instances
+of commercial success--but while he is jibbing against the foreign
+yoke, the expatriated Jews, whom he treated so badly when he had the
+upper hand, are outstripping him every day. The net result of the
+foreigners' presence is good for him, but it would be much better had
+he the sense to take advantage of his chances as the Jew does. Many of
+the younger generation, indeed, learn French, and enter the great army
+of functionaries, but they are rigidly restricted to the lowest posts,
+and here again the Jew stands first.
+
+In business or agriculture there is sure to come a time when cash is
+needed, so that French and Jewish money-lenders flourish, and when the
+Tunisian cannot pay, the merciless hand of foreign law irresistibly
+sells him up. In the courts the complicated procedure, the intricate
+code, and the swarm of lawyers, bewilder him, and he sighs for the
+time when a bribe would have settled the question, and one did at
+least know beforehand which would win--the one with the longer purse.
+Now, who knows? But the Tunisian's principal occasions for discontent
+are the compulsory military service, and the multiplication and weight
+of the taxes. From the former only those are exempt who can pass
+certain examinations in French, and stiff ones at that, so that Arabic
+studies are elbowed out; the unremitted military duties during the
+Ramadan fast are regarded as a peculiar hardship. To the taxes there
+seems no end, and from them no way of escape. Even the milkman
+complains, for example, that though his goats themselves are taxed,
+he cannot bring their food into town from his garden without an
+additional charge being paid!
+
+With the superficial differences to be accounted for by this new state
+of things, there still remains much more in Tunisia to remind one of
+Morocco than in Algeria. What deeper distinctions there are result in
+both countries from Turkish influence, and Turkish blood introduced in
+the past, but even these do not go very deep. Beneath it all there are
+the foundations of race and creed common to all, and the untouched
+countryman of Tunisia is closely akin to his fellow of Morocco. Even
+in the towns the underlying likeness is strong.
+
+The old city of Tunis is wonderfully like that of Fez; the streets,
+the shops, the paving, being identical; but in the former a
+picturesque feature is sometimes introduced, stone columns forming
+arcades in front of the shops, painted in spiral bands of green and
+red, separated by a band of white. The various trades are grouped
+there as further west, and the streets are named after them. The
+Mellah, or Jewish Quarter, has lost its boundary, as at Tangier, and
+the gates dividing the various wards have disappeared too. Hardly
+anything remains of the city walls, new ones having arisen to enclose
+the one European and two native suburbs. But under a modern arcade in
+the main street, the Avenue de France, there is between the shops the
+barred gate leading to a mosque behind, which does not look as if it
+were often opened.
+
+Tramways run round the line of the old walls, and it is strange to see
+the natives jumping on and off without stopping the car, in the most
+approved western style. There, as in the trains, European and African
+sit side by side, though it is to be observed that as a rule, should
+another seat be free, neither gets in where the other is. As for hopes
+of encouraging any degree of amalgamation, these are vain indeed.
+A mechanical mixture is all that can be hoped for: nothing more is
+possible. A few French people have embraced Islam for worldly aims,
+and it is popularly believed by the natives that in England thousands
+are accepting Mohammed.
+
+The mosques of Tunis are less numerous than those of Fez, but do
+not differ greatly from them except in the inferior quality of the
+tile-work, and in the greater use of stone for the arches and towers.
+The latter are of the Moorish square shape, but some, if not all, are
+ascended by steps, instead of by inclined planes. The mosques, with
+the exception of that at Kairwan--the most holy, strange to say--are
+as strictly forbidden to Europeans and Jews as in Morocco, and screens
+are put up before the doors as in Tangier.
+
+The Moors are very well known in Tunis, so many of them, passing
+through from Mekka on the Hajj, have been prevented from getting
+home by quarantine or lack of funds. Clad as a Moor myself, I was
+everywhere recognized as from that country, and was treated with every
+respect, being addressed as "Amm el Haj" ("Uncle Pilgrim"), having
+my shoulders and hands kissed in orthodox fashion. There are several
+_cafes_ where Morocco men are to be met with by the score. One feature
+of this cosmopolitan city is that there are distinct _cafes_ for
+almost every nation represented here except the English.
+
+The Arabs of Morocco are looked upon as great thieves, but the
+Susis have the highest reputation for honesty. Not only are all the
+gate-keepers of the city from that distant province, but also those
+of the most important stores and houses, as well as of the
+railway-stations, and many are residents in the town. The chief
+snake-charmers and story-tellers also hail from Sus.
+
+The veneration for Mulai Taib of Wazzan, from whom the shareefs of
+that place are descended, is great, and the Aisawa, hailing from
+Mequinez, are to be met with all along this coast; they are especially
+strong at Kairwan. In Tunis, as also in Algeria and Tripoli, the
+comparative absence of any objection to having pictures taken of human
+beings, which is an almost insurmountable hindrance in Morocco, again
+allowed me to use my kodak frequently, but I found that the Jews had a
+strong prejudice against portraits.
+
+The points in which the domestic usages of Tunisia differ from those
+of Morocco are the more striking on account of the remarkably minute
+resemblance, if not absolute identity, of so very many others, and as
+the novelty of the innovations wears off, it is hard to realize that
+one is not still in the "Far West."
+
+In a native household of which I found myself temporarily a member,
+it was the wholesale assimilation of comparatively trivial foreign
+matters which struck me. Thus, for instance, as one of the sons of
+my host remarked--though he was dressed in a manner which to most
+travellers would have appeared exclusively oriental--there was not a
+thing upon him which was not French. Doubtless a closer examination of
+his costume would have shown that some of the articles only reached
+him through French hands, but the broad fact remained that they were
+all foreign. It is in this way that the more civilized countries
+show a strong and increasing tendency to develop into nations of
+manufacturers, with their gigantic workshops forcing the more
+backward, _nolens volens_, to relapse to the more primitive condition
+of producers of raw material only.
+
+There was, of course, a time when every garment such a man would have
+worn would have been of native manufacture, without having been in
+any feature less complete, less convenient, or less artistic than his
+present dress. In many points, indeed, there is a distinct loss in the
+more modern style, especially in the blending of colours, while it is
+certain that in no point has improvement been made. My friend, for
+instance, had the addition, common there, of a pair of striped merino
+socks, thrust into a pair of rubber-soled tennis shoes. Underneath he
+wore a second pair of socks, and said that in winter he added a third.
+Above them was not much bare leg, for the pantaloons are cut there so
+as often to reach right down to the ankles. This is necessitated by
+the custom of raising the mattresses used for seats on divans, and
+by sitting at table on European chairs with the legs dangling in
+the cold. The turban has nothing of the gracefulness of its Moorish
+counterpart, being often of a dirty-green silk twisted into a rope,
+and then bound round the head in the most inelegant fashion, sometimes
+showing the head between the coils; they are not folds. Heads are by
+no means kept so carefully shaved as in Morocco, and I have seen hair
+which looked as though only treated with scissors, and that rarely.
+
+The fashion for all connected with the Government to wear European
+dress, supplemented by the "Fez" (fortunately not the Turkish style),
+brings about most absurd anomalies. This is especially observable in
+the case of the many very stout individuals who waddle about like
+ducks in their ungainly breeches. I was glad to find on visiting the
+brother of the late Bey that he retained the correct costume, though
+the younger members of his family and all his attendants were in
+foreign guise. The Bey himself received me in the frock-coat with
+pleated skirt, favoured by his countrymen the Turks.
+
+[Illustration: _Albert, Photo., Tunis._
+
+A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS.]
+
+The Mohammedan women seen in the streets generally wear an elegant
+fine silk and wool haik over a costume culminating in a peaked cap,
+the face being covered--all but the eyes--by two black handkerchiefs,
+awful to behold, like the mask of a stage villain. More stylish women
+wear a larger veil, which they stretch out on either side in front
+of them with their hands. They seem to think nothing of sitting in a
+railway carriage opposite a man and chatting gaily with him. I learn
+from an English lady resident in Tunis that the indoor costume of the
+women is much that of the Jewesses out of doors--extraordinary indeed.
+It is not every day that one meets ladies in the street in long white
+drawers, often tight, and short jackets, black or white, but this is
+the actual walking dress of the Jewish ladies of Tunis.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIV
+
+TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO
+
+  "Every sheep hangs by her own legs."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+When, after an absence of twenty months, I found myself in Tripoli,
+although far enough from Morocco, I was still amid familiar sights and
+sounds which made it hard to realize that I was not in some hitherto
+unvisited town of that Empire. The petty differences sank to naught
+amid the wonderful resemblances. It was the Turkish element alone
+which was novel, and that seemed altogether out of place, foreign as
+it is to Africa. There was something quite incongruous in the sight of
+those ungainly figures in their badly fitting, quasi-European black
+coats and breeches, crowned with tall and still more ungainly red
+caps. The Turks are such an inferior race to the Berbers and Arabs
+that it is no wonder that they are despised by the natives. They
+appear much more out of place than do the Europeans, who remain, as
+in Morocco, a class by themselves. To see a Turk side by side with a
+white-robed native at prayer in a mosque is too ridiculous, and to see
+him eating like a wild man of the woods! Even the governor, a benign
+old gentleman, looked very undignified in his shabby European
+surroundings, after the important appearance of the Moorish
+functionaries in their flowing robes. The sentinels at the door seemed
+to have been taught to imitate the wooden salute of the Germans, which
+removes any particle of grace which might have remained in spite of
+their clumsy dress. It is a strange sight to see them selling their
+rations of uninviting bread in the market to buy something more
+stimulating. They squat behind a sack on the ground as the old women
+do in Tangier. These are the little things reminding one that Tripoli
+is but a Turkish dependency.
+
+We may complain of the Moorish customs arrangements, but from my own
+experience, and from what others tell me, I should say that here is
+worse still. Not only were our things carefully overhauled, but the
+books had to be examined, as a result of which process Arabic works
+are often confiscated, either going in or out. The confusing lack of
+a monetary system equals anything even in southern Morocco, between
+which and this place the poor despised "gursh" turns up as a familiar
+link, not to be met with between Casablanca and Tripoli.
+
+Perhaps the best idea of the town for those readers acquainted with
+Morocco will be to call it a large edition of Casablanca. The country
+round is flat, the streets are on the whole fairly regular, and wider
+than the average in this part of the world. Indeed, carriages are
+possible, though not throughout the town. A great many more flying
+arches are thrown across the streets than we are accustomed to further
+west, but upper storeys are rare. The paving is of the orthodox
+Barbary style.
+
+The Tripolitan mosques are of a very different style from those of
+Morocco, the people belonging to a different sect--the Hanafis--Moors,
+Algerines and Tunisians being of the more rigorous Malikis. Instead
+of the open courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, here they have a
+perfectly closed interior roofed with little domes, and lighted by
+barred windows. The walls are adorned with inferior tiles, mostly
+European, and the floors are carpeted. Round the walls hang cheap
+glazed texts from the Koran, and there is a general appearance of
+tawdry display which is disappointing after the chaste adornment of
+the finer Moorish mosques, or even the rude simplicity of the poorer
+ones. Orders may be obtained to view these buildings, of which it is
+hardly necessary to say I availed myself, in one case ascending also
+the minaret. These minarets are much less substantial than those
+of Morocco, being octangular, with protruding stone balconies in
+something of the Florentine style, reached by winding stairs. The
+exteriors are whitewashed, the balconies being tiled, and the cupolas
+painted green. Lamps are hung out at certain feasts. As for the voice
+of the muedhdhin, it must be fairly faint, since during the week I
+was there I never heard it. In Morocco this would have been an
+impossibility.
+
+The language, though differing in many minor details from that
+employed in Morocco, presents no difficulty to conversation, but it
+was sometimes necessary to try a second word to explain myself. The
+differences are chiefly in the names of common things in daily use,
+and in common adjectives. The music was identical with what we know in
+the "Far West." Religious strictness is much less than in Morocco,
+the use of intoxicants being fairly general in the town, the hours
+of prayer less strictly kept, and the objection to portraits having
+vanished. There seemed fewer women in the streets than in Morocco, but
+those who did appear were for the most part less covered up; there
+was nothing new in the way the native women were veiled, only one eye
+being shown--I do not now take the foreign Turks into account.
+
+In the streets the absence of the better-class natives is most
+noticeable; one sees at once that Tripoli is not an aristocratic town
+like Fez, Tetuan, or Rabat. The differences which exist between the
+costumes observed and those of Morocco are almost entirely confined
+to the upper classes. The poor and the country people would be
+undistinguishable in a Moorish crowd. Among the townsfolk stockings
+and European shoes are common, but there are no native slippers to
+equal those of Morocco, and yellow ones are rare. I saw no natives
+riding in the town; though in the country it must be more common.
+The scarcity of four-footed beasts of burden is noticeable after the
+crowded Moorish thoroughfares.
+
+On the whole there is a great lack of the picturesque in the Tripoli
+streets, and also of noise. The street cries are poor, being chiefly
+those of vegetable hawkers, and one misses the striking figure of the
+water-seller, with his tinkling bell and his cry.
+
+The houses and shops are much like those of Morocco, so far as
+exteriors go, and so are the interiors of houses occupied by
+Europeans. The only native house to which I was able to gain access
+was furnished in the worst possible mixture of European and native
+styles to be found in many Jewish houses in Morocco, but from what I
+gleaned from others this was no exception to the rule.
+
+Unfortunately the number of grog-shops is unduly large, with all
+their attendant evils. The wheeled vehicles being foreign, claim
+no description, though the quaintness of the public ones is great.
+Palmetto being unknown, the all-pervading halfah fibre takes its place
+for baskets, ropes, etc. The public ovens are very numerous, and do
+not differ greatly from the Moorish, except in being more open to the
+street. The bread is much less tempting; baked in small round cakes,
+varnished, made yellow with saffron, and sprinkled with gingelly seed.
+Most of the beef going alive to Malta, mutton is the staple animal
+food; vegetables are much the same as in Morocco.
+
+The great drawback to Tripoli is its proximity to the desert, which,
+after walking through a belt of palms on the land side of the
+town--itself built on a peninsula--one may see rolling away to the
+horizon. The gardens and palm groves are watered by a peculiar system,
+the precious liquid being drawn up from the wells by ropes over
+pulleys, in huge leather funnels of which the lower orifice is slung
+on a level with the upper, thus forming a bag. The discharge is
+ingeniously accomplished automatically by a second rope over a lower
+pulley, the two being pulled by a bullock walking down an incline. The
+lower lip being drawn over the lower pulley, releases the water when
+the funnel reaches the top.
+
+The weekly market, Sok et-Thlathah, held on the sands, is much as it
+would be in the Gharb el Jawani, as Morocco is called in Tripoli. The
+greater number of Blacks is only natural, especially when it is noted
+that hard by they have a large settlement.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by G. Michell, Esq._
+
+OUTSIDE TRIPOLI.]
+
+It would, of course, be possible to enter into a much more minute
+comparison, but sufficient has been said to give a general idea of
+Tripoli to those who know something of Morocco, without having entered
+upon a general description of the place. From what I saw of the
+country people, I have no doubt that further afield the similarity
+between them and the people of central and southern Morocco, to whom
+they are most akin, would even be increased.
+
+
+
+
+XXXV
+
+FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN
+
+  "Every one buries his mother as he likes."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+  I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
+
+Much as I had been prepared by the accounts of others to observe the
+prevalence of Moorish remains in the Peninsula, I was still forcibly
+struck at every turn by traces of their influence upon the country,
+especially in what was their chief home there, Andalucia. Though
+unconnected with these traces, an important item in strengthening this
+impression is the remarkable similarity between the natural features
+of the two countries. The general contour of the surface is the same
+on either side of the straits for a couple of hundred miles; the
+same broad plains, separated by low ranges of hills, and crossed by
+sluggish, winding streams, fed from distant snow-capped mountains, and
+subject to sudden floods. The very colours of the earth are the same
+in several regions, the soil being of that peculiar red which gives
+its name to the Blad Hamra ("Red Country") near Marrakesh. This is
+especially observable in the vicinity of Jerez, and again at Granada,
+where one feels almost in Morocco again. Even the colour of the rugged
+hills and rocks is the same, but more of the soil is cultivated than
+in any save the grain districts of Morocco.
+
+The vegetation is strikingly similar, the aloe and the prickly pear,
+the olive and the myrtle abounding, while from the slight glimpses
+I was able to obtain of the flora, the identity seems also to be
+continued there. Yet all this, though interesting to the observer, is
+not to be wondered at. It is our habit of considering the two lands as
+if far apart, because belonging to separate continents, which leads us
+to expect a difference between countries divided only by a narrow gap
+of fourteen miles or less, but one from whose formation have resulted
+most important factors in the world's history.
+
+The first striking reminders of the Moorish dominion are the names of
+Arabic origin. Some of the most noteworthy are Granada (Gharnatah),
+Alcazar (El Kasar), Arjona (R'honah), Gibraltar (Gibel Tarik),
+Trafalgar (Tarf el Gharb, "West Point"), Medinah (Madinah, "Town"),
+Algeciras (El Jazirah, "The Island"), Guadalquivir (Wad el Kebeer--so
+pronounced in Spain--"The Great River"), Mulahacen (Mulai el Hasan),
+Alhama (El Hama, "The Hot Springs"), and numberless others which might
+be mentioned, including almost every name beginning with "Al."
+
+The rendering of these old Arabic words into Spanish presents a
+curious proof of the changes which the pronunciation of the Spanish
+alphabet has undergone during the last four centuries. To obtain
+anything like the Arabic sound it is necessary to give the letters
+precisely the same value as in English, with the exception of
+pronouncing "x" as "sh." Thus the word "alhaja," in everyday
+use--though unrecognizable as heard from the lips of the modern
+Castilian, "alaha,"--is nothing but the Arabic "el hajah," with
+practically the same meaning in the plural, "things" or "goods." To
+cite more is unnecessary. The genuine pronunciation is still often
+met with among Jews of Morocco who have come little in contact with
+Spaniards, and retain the language of their ancestors when expelled
+from the Peninsula, as also in Spanish America.
+
+The Spanish language is saturated with corrupted Arabic, at all
+events so far as nouns are concerned. The names of families also
+are frequently of Arabic origin, as, for instance, Alarcos
+(Er-Rakkas--"the courier"), Alhama, etc., most of which are to be met
+with more in the country than in the towns, while very many others,
+little suspected as such, are Jewish. Although when the most
+remarkable of nations was persecuted and finally expelled from Spain,
+a far larger proportion nobly sacrificed their all rather than accept
+the bauble religion offered them by "The Catholic Kings" (King and
+Queen), they also have left their mark, and many a noble family could,
+if it would, trace its descent from the Jews. Some of their synagogues
+are yet standing, notably at Toledo--whence the many Toledanos,--built
+by Samuel Levy, who was secretary to Don Pedro the Cruel. This was in
+1336, a century and a half before the Moors were even conquered, much
+less expelled, and if the sons of Ishmael have left their mark
+upon that sunny land, so have the sons of Israel, though in a
+far different manner. Morocco has ever since been the home of the
+descendants of a large proportion of the exiles.
+
+The Spanish physiognomy, not so much of the lower as of the upper
+classes, is strikingly similar to that of the mountaineers of Morocco,
+and these include some of the finest specimens. The Moors of to-day
+are of too mingled a descent to present any one distinct type of
+countenance, and it is the same with the Spaniards. So much of the
+blood of each flows in the veins of the other, that comparison is
+rendered more difficult. It is a well-known fact that several of the
+most ancient families in the kingdom can trace their descent from
+Mohammedans. A leading instance of this is the house of Mondejar,
+lords of Granada from the time of its conquest, as the then head of
+the house, Sidi Yahia, otherwise Don Pedro de Granada, had become a
+Christian. In the Generalife at that town, still in the custody of the
+same family, is a genealogical tree tracing its origin right back to
+the Goths![26]
+
+  [26: Andalucia is but a corruption of Vandalucia.]
+
+Next to physiognomy come habits and customs, and of these there are
+many which have been borrowed, or rather retained, from the Moors,
+especially in the country. The ploughs, the water-mills, the
+water-wheels, the irrigation, the treading out of the corn, the
+weaving of coarse cloth, and many other daily sights, from their
+almost complete similarity, remind one of Morocco. The bread-shops
+they call "tahonas," unaware that this is the Arabic for a flour-mill;
+their water-wheels they still call by their Arabic name, "naorahs,"
+and it is the same with their pack-saddles, "albardas" (bardah). The
+list might be extended indefinitely, even from such common names as
+these.
+
+The salutations of the people seem literal translations of those
+imported from the Orient, such as I am not aware of among other
+Europeans. What, for instance, is "Dios guarda Vd." ("God keep you"),
+said at parting, but the "Allah ihannak" of Morocco, or "se lo passe
+bien," but "B'is-salamah" ("in peace!"). More might be cited, but to
+those unacquainted with Arabic they would be of little interest.
+
+Then, again, the singing of the country-folk in southern Spain has
+little to distinguish it from that indulged in by most Orientals.
+The same sing-song drawl with numerous variations is noticeable
+throughout. Once a more civilized tune gets among these people for
+a few months, its very composer would be unlikely to recognize its
+prolongations and lazy twists.
+
+The narrow, tortuous streets of the old towns once occupied by the
+invaders take one back across the straits, and the whole country
+is covered with spots which, apart from any remains of note, are
+associated by record or legend with anecdotes from that page of
+Spanish history. Here it is the "Sigh of the Moor," the spot from
+which the last Ameer of Andalucia gazed in sorrow on the capital that
+he had lost; there it is a cave (at Criptana) where the Moors found
+refuge when their power in Castile was broken; elsewhere are the
+chains (in Toledo) with which the devotees of Islam chained their
+Christian captives.
+
+In addition to this, the hills of a great part of Spain are dotted
+with fortresses of "tabia" (rammed earth concrete) precisely such as
+are occupied still by the country kaids of Morocco; and by the wayside
+are traces of the skill exercised in bringing water underground from
+the hills beyond Marrakesh. How many church towers in Spain were
+built for the call of the muedhdhin, and how many houses had their
+foundations laid for hareems! In the south especially such are
+conspicuous from their design. To crown all stand the palaces and
+mosques of Cordova, Seville, and Granada, not to mention minor
+specimens.
+
+When we talk of the Moors in Spain, we often forget how nearly we were
+enabled to speak also of the Moors in France. Their brave attempts to
+pass that natural barrier, the Pyrenees, find a suitable monument
+in the perpetual independence of the wee republic of Andorra, whose
+inhabitants so successfully stemmed the tide of invasion. The story of
+Charles Martel, too, the "Hammer" who broke the Muslim power in that
+direction, is one of the most important in the history of Europe.
+What if the people who were already levying taxes in the districts of
+Narbonne and Nimes had found as easy a victory over the vineyards of
+southern France, as they had over those of Spain? Where would they
+have stopped? Would they ever have been driven out, or would St.
+Paul's have been a second Kutubiya, and Westminster a Karueein? God
+knows!
+
+
+  II. CORDOVA
+
+The earliest notable monument of Moorish dominion in Andalucia
+still existing is the famous mosque of Cordova, now deformed into a
+cathedral. Its erection occupied the period from 786 to 796 of the
+Christian era, and it is said that it stands on the site of a Gothic
+church erected on the ruins of a still earlier temple dedicated
+to Janus. Portions, however, have been added since that date, as
+inscriptions on the walls record, and the European additions date from
+1521, when, notwithstanding the protests of the people of Cordova,
+the bishops obtained permission from Charles V. to rear the present
+quasi-Gothic structure in its central court. The disgust and anger
+which the lover of Moorish architecture--or art of any sort--feels
+for the name of "_Carlos quinto_," as at point after point hideous
+additions to the Moorish remains are ascribed to that conceited
+monarch, are somewhat tempered for once by the record that even he
+repented when he saw the result of his permission in this instance.
+"You have built here," he said, "what you might have built anywhere,
+and in doing so you have spoiled what was unique in the world!" In
+each of the three great centres of Moorish rule, Seville, Granada and
+Cordova, the same hand is responsible for outrageous modern erections
+in the midst of hoary monuments of eastern art, carefully inscribed
+with their author's name, as "Caesar the Emperor, Charles the Fifth."
+
+The Cordova Mosque, antedated only by those of Old Cairo and Kairwan,
+is a forest of marble pillars, with a fine court to the west,
+surrounded by an arcade, and planted with orange trees and palms,
+interspersed with fountains. Nothing in Morocco can compare with it
+save the Karueein mosque at Fez, built a century later, but that
+building is too low, and the pillars are for the most part mere brick
+erections, too short to afford the elegance which here delights. This
+is grand in its simplicity; nineteen aisles of slightly tapering
+columns of beautiful marbles, jasper or porphyry, about nine feet in
+height, supporting long vistas of flying horse-shoe arches, of which
+the stones are now coloured alternately yellow and red, though
+probably intended to be all pure white. Other still more elegant
+scolloped arches, exquisitely decorated by carving the plaster, spring
+between alternate pillars, and from arch to arch, presumably more
+modern work.
+
+The aisles are rather over twenty feet in width, and the thirty-three
+cross vaultings about half as much, while the height of the roof is
+from thirty to forty feet. In all, the pillars number about 500,
+though frequently stated to total 850 out of an original 1419, but it
+is difficult to say where all these can be, since the sum of 33 by 19
+is only 627, and a deduction has to be made for the central court,
+in which stands the church or choir. Since these notes were
+first published, in 1890, I have seen it disputed between modern
+impressionist writers which of them first described the wonderful
+scene as a palm grove, a comparison of which I had never heard when
+I wrote, but the wonder to me would be if any one could attempt to
+picture the scene without making use of it.
+
+Who but a nation of nomads, accustomed to obey the call to prayer
+beneath the waving branches of African and Arabian palm-groves, would
+have dreamed of raising such a House of God? Unless for the purpose of
+supporting a wide and solid roof, or of dividing the centre into the
+form of a cross, what other ecclesiastical architects would have
+conceived the idea of filling a place of worship with pillars or
+columns? No one who has walked in a palm-grove can fail to be struck
+by the resemblance to it of this remarkable mosque. The very tufted
+heads with their out-curving leaves are here reproduced in the
+interlacing arches, and with the light originally admitted by the
+central court and the great doors, the present somewhat gloomy area
+would have been bright and pleasant as a real grove, with its bubbling
+fountains, and the soothing sound of trickling streams. I take the
+present skylights to be of modern construction, as I never saw such a
+device in a Moorish building.
+
+Most of the marble columns are the remains of earlier erections,
+chiefly Roman, like the bridge over the Guadalquivir close by,
+restored by the builder of the mosque. Some, indeed, came from
+Constantinople, and others were brought from the south of France. They
+are neither uniform in height nor girth--some having been pieced at
+the bottom, and others partly buried;--so also with the capitals,
+certain of which are evidently from the same source as the pillars,
+while the remainder are but rude imitations, mostly Corinthian in
+style. The original expenses of the building were furnished by a fifth
+of the booty taken from the Spaniards, with the subsidies raised in
+Catalonia and Narbonne. The Moors supplied voluntary, and European
+captives forced labour.
+
+[Illustration: A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE.]
+
+On Fridays, when the Faithful met in thousands for the noon-day
+prayer, what a sight and what a melody! The deep, rich tones of the
+organ may add impressiveness to a service of worship, but there is
+nothing in the world so grand, so awe-inspiring as the human voice.
+When a vast body of males repeats the formulae of praise, together, but
+just slightly out of time, the effect once heard is never forgotten. I
+have heard it often, and as I walk these aisles I hear it ringing in
+my ears, and can picture to myself a close-packed row of white-robed
+figures between each pillar, and rows from end to end between, all
+standing, stooping, or forehead on earth, as they follow the motions
+of the leader before them. A grand sight it is, whatever may be one's
+opinion of their religion. In the manner they sit on the matted floors
+of their mosques there would be room here for thirteen thousand
+without using the Orange Court, and there is little doubt that on days
+when the Court attended it used to be filled to its utmost.
+
+To the south end of the cathedral the floor of two wide aisles is
+raised on arches, exactly opposite the niche which marks the direction
+of Mekka, and the space above is more richly decorated than any other
+portion of the edifice except the niche itself. This doubtless formed
+the spot reserved for the Ameer and his Court, screened off on three
+sides to prevent the curiosity of the worshippers overcoming their
+devotion, as is still arranged in the mosques which the Sultan of
+Morocco attends in his capitals. Until a few years ago this rich work
+in arabesque and tiles was hidden by plaster.
+
+The kiblah niche is a gem of its kind. It consists of a horse-shoe
+arch, the face of which is ornamented with gilded glass mosaic,
+forming the entrance to a semi-circular recess beautifully adorned
+with arabesques and inscriptions, the top of the dome being a large
+white marble slab hollowed out in the form of a pecten shell. The wall
+over the entrance is covered with texts from the Koran, forming an
+elegant design, and on either side are niches of lesser merit, but
+serving to set off the central one which formed the kiblah. Eleven
+centuries have elapsed since the hands of the workmen left it, and
+still it stands a witness of the pitch of art attained by the Berbers
+in Spain.
+
+It is said that here was deposited a copy of the Koran written by
+Othman himself, and stained with his blood, of such a size that two
+men could hardly lift it. When, for a brief period, the town fell into
+the hands of Alfonso VII., his soldiers used the mosque as a stable,
+and tore up this valuable manuscript. When a Moorish Embassy was sent
+to Madrid some years ago, the members paid a visit to this relic of
+the greatness of their forefathers, and to the astonishment of the
+custodians, having returned to the court-yard to perform the required
+ablutions, re-entered, slippers in hand, to go through the acts
+of worship as naturally as if at home. What a strange sight for a
+Christian cathedral! Right in front of the niche is a plain marble
+tomb with no sign but a plain bar dexter. Evidently supposing this to
+be the resting-place of some saint of their own persuasion, they made
+the customary number of revolutions around it. It would be interesting
+to learn from their lips what their impressions were.
+
+Of the tower which once added to the imposing appearance of the
+building, it is recorded that it had no rival in height known to the
+builders. It was of stone, and, like one still standing in Baghdad
+from the days of Harun el Rasheed, had two ways to the top, winding
+one above the other, so that those who ascended by the one never met
+those descending by the other. According to custom it was crowned
+by three gilded balls, and it had fourteen windows. This was of
+considerably later date than the mosque itself, but has long been a
+thing of the past.
+
+The European additions to the Cordova mosque are the choir, high
+altar, etc., which by themselves would make a fine church, occupying
+what must have been originally a charming court, paved with white
+marble and enlivened by fountains; the tower, built over the main
+entrance, opening into the Court of Oranges; and a score or two of
+shrines with iron railings in front round the sides, containing
+altars, images, and other fantastic baubles to awe the ignorant. An
+inscription in the tower records that it was nearly destroyed by
+the earth-quake of 1755, and though it is the least objectionable
+addition, it is a pity that it did not fall on that or some subsequent
+occasion. It was raised on the ruins of its Moorish predecessor in
+1593. The chief entrance, like that of Seville, is a curious attempt
+to blend Roman architecture with Mauresque, having been restored in
+1377, but the result is not bad. Recent "restorations" are observable
+in some parts of the mosque, hideous with colour, but a few of the
+original beams are still visible. I am inclined to consider the
+greater part of the roof modern, but could not inspect it closely
+enough to be certain. Though vaulted inside, it is tiled in ridges in
+the usual Moorish style, but very few green tiles are to be seen.
+
+From the tower the view reminds one strongly of Morocco. The hills to
+the north and south, with the river winding close to the town across
+the fertile plain, give the scene a striking resemblance to that from
+the tower of the Spanish consulate at Tetuan. All around are the still
+tortuous streets of a Moorish town, though the roofs of the houses
+are tiled in ridges of Moorish pattern, as those of Tangier were when
+occupied by the English two hundred years ago, and as those of El
+K'sar are now.
+
+The otherwise Moorish-looking building at one's feet is marred by the
+unsightly erection in the centre, and its court-yard seems to have
+degenerated into a play-ground, where the neighbours saunter or fill
+pitchers from the fountains.
+
+After enduring the apparently unceasing din of the bells in those
+erstwhile stations of the muedhdhin, one ceases to wonder that the
+lazy Moors have such a detestation for them, and make use instead of
+the stirring tones of the human voice. Rest and quiet seem impossible
+in their vicinity, for their jarring is simply head-splitting. And as
+if they were not excruciating enough, during "Holy Week" they conspire
+against the ear-drums of their victims by revolving a sort of infernal
+machine made of wood in the form of a hollow cross, with four swinging
+hammers on each arm which strike against iron plates as the thing goes
+round. The keeper's remark that the noise was awful was superfluous.
+
+The history of the town of Cordova has been as chequered as that of
+most Andalucian cities. Its foundation is shrouded in obscurity. The
+Romans and Vandals had in turn been its masters before the Moors
+wrested it from the Spaniards in the year 710 A.D. Though the
+Spaniards regained possession of it in 1075, it was not for long, as
+it soon fell into the hands of the invaders once more. The Spanish
+victors only left a Moorish viceroy in charge, who proved too true a
+Berber to serve against his countrymen, so he betrayed his trust. In
+1236 it was finally recovered by the Spaniards, after five hundred and
+twenty-four years of Moorish rule. Since that time the traces of that
+epoch of its history have been gradually disappearing, till there only
+remain the mutilated mosque, and portions of the ancient palace, or of
+saint-houses (as the side-chapel of the Church of St. Miguel), and of
+a few dwellings. Since the first train steamed to this ancient city,
+in 1859, the railway has probably brought as many pilgrims to the
+mosque as ever visited it from other motives in its greatest days.
+
+The industry founded here by the Moors--that of tanning--which has
+given its name to a trade in several countries,[27] seems to have gone
+with them to Morocco, for though many of the old tan-pits still exist
+by the river side, no leather of any repute is now produced here. The
+Moorish water-mills are yet at work though, having been repaired and
+renewed on the original model. These, as at Granada and other places,
+are horizontal wheels worked from a small spout above, directly under
+the mill-stone, such as is met with in Fez and Tetuan.
+
+  [27: Sp. _cordovan_, Fr. _cordonnier_, Eng. _cordwainer_, etc.]
+
+
+  III. SEVILLE
+
+In the Giralda tower of Seville I expected to find a veritable
+Moorish trophy in the best state of preservation, open to that minute
+inspection which was impossible in the only complete specimen of such
+a tower, the Kutubiya, part of a mosque still in use. Imagine, then,
+my regret on arriving at the foot of that venerable monument, to find
+it "spick and span," as if just completed, looking new and tawdry
+by the side of the cathedral which has replaced the mosque it once
+adorned. Instead of the hoary antiquity to which the rich deep colour
+of the stone of the sister towers in Morocco bears witness in their
+weather-beaten glory, this one, built, above the first few stone
+courses, of inch pan-tiles, separated by a like thickness of mortar,
+has the appearance of having been newly pointed and rubbed down, while
+faded frescoes on the walls testify to the barbarity of the conquerors
+of the "barbarians."
+
+The delicate tracery in hewn stone which adds so greatly to the beauty
+of the Morocco and Tlemcen examples, is almost entirely lacking, while
+the once tasteful horse-shoe windows are now pricked out in red and
+yellow, with a hideous modern balcony of white stone before each. The
+quasi-Moorish belfry is the most pardonable addition, but to crown
+all is an exhibition of incongruity which has no excuse. The original
+tile-faced turret of the Moors, with its gilded balls, has actually
+been replaced by a structure of several storeys, the first of which
+is Doric, the second Ionic, and the third Corinthian. Imagine this
+crowning the comely severity of the solid Moorish structure without a
+projecting ornament! But this is not all. Swinging in gaunt uneasiness
+over the whole, stands a huge revolving statue, supposed to represent
+Faith, holding out in one hand a shield which catches the wind, and
+causes it to act as a weather-vane.
+
+Such is the Giralda of the twentieth century, and the guide-books are
+full of praises for the restorer, who doubtless deserves great credit
+for his skill in repairing the tower after it had suffered severely
+from lightning, but who might have done more towards restoring the
+original design, at all events in the original portion. We read in
+"Raod el Kartas" that the mosque was finished and the tower commenced
+in 1197, during the reign of Mulai Yakub el Mansur, who commenced its
+sisters at Marrakesh and Rabat in the same year. One architect is
+recorded to have designed all three--indeed, they have little uncommon
+in their design, and have been once almost alike. Some assert that
+this man was a Christian, but there is nothing in the style of
+building to favour such a supposition.
+
+The plan is that of all the mosque towers of Morocco, and the only
+tower of a mosque in actual use which I have ascended in that
+country--one at Mogador--was just a miniature of this. It is,
+therefore, in little else than point of size that these three are
+remarkable. The similarity between these and the recently fallen tower
+of St. Mark's at Venice is most striking, both in design and in the
+method of ascent by an inclined plane; while around the Italian lakes
+are to be seen others of less size, but strongly resembling these.
+
+All three are square, and consist of six to eight storeys in the
+centre, with thick walls and vaulted roof, surrounded by an inclined
+plane from base to summit, at an angle which makes it easy walking,
+and horses have been ridden up. The unfinished Hassan Tower at Rabat
+having at one time become a place of evil resort, the reigning ameer
+ordered the way up to be destroyed, but it was found so hard that only
+the first round was cut away, and the door bricked up. Each ramp of
+the Giralda, if I remember rightly, has its window, but in the Hassan
+many are without light, though at least every alternate one has a
+window, some of these being placed at the corner to serve for two,
+while here they are always in the centre. The Giralda proper contains
+seven of these storeys, with thirty-five ramps. To the top of the
+eighth storey, which is the first addition, dating from the sixteenth
+century, now used as a belfry, the height is about 220 feet. The
+present total height is a little over 300 feet.
+
+The original turret of the Giralda, similar to that at Marrakesh, was
+destroyed in 1396 by a hurricane. The additions were finished in
+1598. An old view, still in existence, and dating from the
+thirteenth century, shows it in its pristine glory, and there is
+another--Moorish--as old as the tower itself.
+
+After all that I had read and heard of the palace at Seville, I was
+more disappointed than even in the case of the Giralda. Not only does
+it present nothing imposing in the way of Moorish architecture, but it
+has evidently been so much altered by subsequent occupants as to have
+lost much of its original charm. To begin with the outside, instead
+of wearing the fine crumbling appearance of the palaces of Morocco or
+Granada, this also had been all newly plastered till it looks like a
+work of yesterday, and coloured a not unbecoming red. Even the main
+entrance has a Gothic inscription half way up, and though its general
+aspect is that of Moorish work, on a closer inspection, the lower part
+at least is seen to be an imitation, as in many ways the unwritten
+laws of that style have been widely departed from. The Gothic
+inscription states that Don Pedro I. built it in 1364.
+
+Inside, the general ground plan remains much as built, but connecting
+doorways have been opened where Moors never put them, and with the
+exception of the big raised tank in the corner, there is nothing
+African about the garden. Even the plan has been in places destroyed
+to obtain rooms of a more suitable width for the conveniences of
+European life. The property is a portion of the Royal patrimony, and
+is from time to time occupied by the reigning sovereign when visiting
+Seville. A marble tablet in one of these rooms tells of a queen having
+been born there during the last century.
+
+Much of the ornamentation on the walls is of course original, as well
+as some of the ceilings and doors, but the "restorations" effected at
+various epochs have greatly altered the face of things. Gaudy colours
+show up both walls and ceilings, but at the same time greatly detract
+from their value, besides which there are coarse imitations of the
+genuine tile-work, made in squares, with lines in relief to represent
+the joints, as well as patterns painted on the plaster to fill up
+gaps in the designs. Then, too, the most prominent parts of the
+ornamentation have been disfigured by the interposition of Spanish
+shields and coats-of-arms on tiles. The border round the top of the
+dado is alternated with these all the way round some of the rooms.
+To crown all, certain of the fine old doors, resembling a wooden
+patchwork, have been "restored" with plaster-of-Paris. Some of the
+arabesques which now figure on these walls were actually pillaged from
+the Alhambra.
+
+Many of the Arabic inscriptions have been pieced so as to render them
+illegible, and some have been replaced upside down, while others
+tell their own tale, for they ascribe glory and might to a Spanish
+sovereign, Don Pedro the Cruel, instead of to a "Leader of the
+Faithful." A reference to the history of the country tells us that
+this ruler "reconstructed" the palace of the Moors, while later it was
+repaired by Don Juan II., before Ferdinand and Isabella built their
+oratories within its precincts, or Charles V., with his mania for
+"improving" these monuments of a foreign dominion, doubled it in
+size. For six centuries this work, literally of spoliation, has been
+proceeding in the hands of successive owners; what other result than
+that arrived at, could be hoped for?
+
+When this is realized, the greater portion of the historic value of
+this palace vanishes, and its original character as a Moorish palace
+is seen to have almost disappeared. There still, however, remains the
+indisputable fact, apparent from what does remain of the work of its
+builders, that it was always a work of art and a trophy of the skill
+of its designers, those who have interfered with it subsequently
+having far from improved it.
+
+According to Arab historians, the foundations of this palace were laid
+in 1171 A.D. and it was reconstructed between 1353 and 1364. In 1762
+a fire did considerable damage, which was not repaired till 1805. The
+inscriptions are of no great historical interest. "Wa la ghalib ila
+Allah"--"there is none victorious but God"--abounds here, as at
+the Alhambra, and there are some very neat specimens of the Kufic
+character.
+
+Of Moorish Seville, apart from the Giralda and the Palace--El Kasar,
+corrupted into Alcazar--the only remains of importance are the Torre
+del Oro--Borj ed-Daheb--built in 1220 at the riverside, close to where
+the Moors had their bridge of boats, and the towers of the churches
+of SS. Marcos and Marina. Others there are, built in imitation of the
+older erections, often by Moorish architects, as those of the churches
+of Omnium Sanctorum, San Nicolas, Ermita de la Virgen, and Santa
+Catalina. Many private houses contain arches, pillars, and other
+portions of Moorish buildings which have preceded them, such as are
+also to be found in almost every town of southern Spain. As late as
+1565 the town had thirteen gates more or less of Moorish origin, but
+these have all long since disappeared.
+
+Seville was one of the first cities to surrender to the Moors after
+the battle of Guadalete, A.D. 711, and remained in their hands till
+taken by St. Ferdinand after fifteen months' siege in 1248, six years
+after its inhabitants had thrown off their allegiance to the Emperor
+of Morocco, and formed themselves into a sort of republic, and ten
+years after the Moorish Kingdom of Granada was founded. It then became
+the capital of Spain till Charles V. removed the Court to Valladolid.
+
+
+  IV. GRANADA
+
+"O Palace Red! From distant lands I have come to see thee, believing
+thee to be a garden in spring, but I have found thee as a tree in
+autumn. I thought to see thee with my heart full of joy, but instead
+my eyes have filled with tears."
+
+So wrote in the visitors' album of the Alhambra, in 1876, an Arab poet
+in his native tongue, and another inscription in the same volume,
+written by a Moor some years before, remarks, "Peace be on thee, O
+Granada! We have seen thee and admired thee, and have said, 'Praised
+be he who constructed thee, and may they who destroyed thee receive
+mercy.'"
+
+As the sentiments of members of the race of its builders, these
+expressions are especially interesting; but they can hardly fail to
+be shared to some extent by visitors from eastern lands, of whatever
+nationality. Although the loveliest monument of Moorish art in Spain,
+and a specimen of their highest architectural skill, destructions,
+mutilations, and restorations have wrought so much damage to it that
+it now stands, indeed, "as a tree in autumn." It was not those
+who conquered the Moors on whom mercy was implored by the writer
+quoted--for they, Ferdinand and Isabella, did their best to preserve
+their trophy--but on such of their successors as Charles V., who
+actually planted a still unfinished palace right among the buildings
+of this venerable spot, adjoining the remains of the Alhambra, part of
+which it has doubtless replaced.
+
+This unartistic Austrian styled these remains "the ugly abominations
+of the Moors," and forthwith proceeded to erect really ugly
+structures. But the most unpardonable destroyers of all that the Moors
+left beautiful were, perhaps, the French, who in 1810 entered Granada
+with hardly a blow, and under Sebastian practically desolated the
+palace. They turned it into barracks and storehouses, as inscriptions
+on its walls still testify--notably on the sills of the "Miranda de
+la Reina." Ere they left in 1812, they even went so far as to blow
+up eight of the towers, the remainder only escaping through the
+negligence of an employee, and the fuses were put out by an old
+Spanish soldier.
+
+The Spaniards having thus regained possession, the commissioners
+appointed to look after it "sold everything for themselves, and then,
+like good patriots, reported that the invaders had left nothing."
+After a brief respite in the care of an old woman, who exhibited more
+sense in the matter than all the generals who had perpetrated such
+outrages upon it, the Alhambra was again desecrated by a new Governor,
+who used it as a store of salt fish for the galley slaves.
+
+While the old woman--Washington Irving's "Tia Antonia"--was in
+possession, that famous writer did more than any one to restore the
+ancient fame of the palace by coming to stay there, and writing
+his well-known account of his visit. Mr. Forde, and his friend Mr.
+Addington, the British Ambassador, helped to remind people of its
+existence, and saved what was left. Subsequent civil wars have,
+however, afforded fresh opportunities of injury to its hoary walls,
+and to-day it stands a mere wreck of what it once was.
+
+The name by which these buildings are now known is but the adjective
+by which the Arabs described it, "El Hamra," meaning "The Red,"
+because of its colour outside. When occupied it was known only as
+either "The Palace of Granada," or "The Red Palace." The colour of the
+earth here is precisely that of the plains of Dukala and Marrakesh,
+and the buildings, being all constructed of tabia, are naturally of
+that colour. In no part of Spain could one so readily imagine one's
+self in Morocco; indeed, it is hard to realize that one is not there
+till the new European streets are reached. In the palace grounds,
+apart from the fine carriage-drive, with its seats and lamp-posts,
+when out of sight of the big hotels and other modern erections, the
+delusion is complete. Even in the town the running water and the
+wayside fountains take one back to Fez; and the channels underneath
+the pavements with their plugs at intervals are only Moorish ones
+repaired. On walking the crooked streets of the part which formed the
+town of four centuries ago, on every hand the names are Moorish. Here
+is the Kaisariya, restored after a fire in 1843; there is the street
+of the grain fandaks, and beyond is a hammam, now a dwelling-house.
+
+The site of the chief mosque is now the cathedral, in the chief chapel
+of which are buried the conquerors of Granada. There lie Ferdinand
+and Isabella in plain iron-bound leaden coffins--far from the least
+interesting sights of the place--in a spot full of memories of that
+contest which they considered the event of their lives, and which was
+indeed of such vital importance to the country. The inscription on
+their marble tomb in the church above tells how that the Moors having
+been conquered and heresy stamped out (?), that worthy couple took
+their rest. The very atmosphere of the place seems charged with
+reminiscences of the Moors and their successful foes, and here the
+spirits of Prescott and Gayangos, the historians, seem to linger
+still.
+
+On either side of the high altar are extremely interesting painted
+carvings. On one is figured the delivering up of the Alhambra.
+Ferdinand, Isabella and Mendoza ride in a line, and the latter
+receives the key in his gloved hand as the conquered king offers him
+the ring end, followed by a long row of captives. Behind the victors
+ride their knights and dames. On the other the Moors and Mooresses are
+seen being christened wholesale by the monks, their dresses being in
+some respects remarkably correct in detail, but with glaring defects
+in others, just what might be expected from one whose acquaintance
+with them was recent but brief.
+
+Before these carvings kneel real likenesses of the royal couple
+in wood, and on the massive square tomb in front they repose in
+alabaster. A fellow-tomb by their side has been raised to the memory
+of their immediate successors. In the sacristry are to be seen the
+very robes of Cardinal Mendoza, and his missal, with the sceptre and
+jewel-case of Isabella, and the sword of Ferdinand, while that of
+the conquered Bu Abd Allah is on view elsewhere. Here, too, are the
+standards unfurled on the day of the recapture, January 2, 1492, and
+a picture full of interest, recording the adieux of "Boabdil" and
+Ferdinand, who, after their bitter contest, have shaken hands and are
+here falling on each other's necks.
+
+As a model of Moorish art, the palace of Granada, commenced in 1248,
+is a monument of its latest and most refined period. The heavy and
+comparatively simple styles of Cordova and Seville are here amplified
+and refined, the result being the acme of elegance and oriental taste.
+This I say from personal acquaintance with the temples of the far
+East, although those present a much more gorgeous appearance, and are
+much more costly erections, evincing a degree of architectural ability
+and the possession of hoards of wealth beside which what the builders
+of the Alhambra could boast of was insignificant; nor do I attempt to
+compare these interesting relics with the equally familiar immensity
+of ancient masonry, or with the magnificent work of the Middle Ages
+still existing in Europe. These monuments hold a place of their own,
+unique and unassailable. They are the mementoes of an era in the
+history of Europe, not only of the Peninsula, and the interest which
+attaches itself to them even on this score alone is very great. As
+relics on a foreign soil, they have stood the storms of five centuries
+under the most trying circumstances, and the simplicity of their
+components lends an additional charm to the fabric. They are to
+a great extent composed of what are apparently the weakest
+materials--mud, gypsum, and wood; the marble and tiles are but
+adornments.
+
+From without the appearance of the palace has been well described as
+that of "reddish cork models rising out of a girdle of trees." On
+a closer inspection the "cork" appears like red sandstone, and one
+wonders how it has stood even one good storm. There is none of that
+facing of stone which gives most other styles of architecture an
+appearance of durability, and whatever facing of plaster it may
+once have possessed has long since disappeared. But inside all is
+different. Instead of crumbling red walls, the courts and apartments
+are highly ornamented with what we now call plaster-of-Paris, but
+which the Moors have long prepared by roasting the gypsum in rude
+kilns, calling it "gibs."
+
+A full description of each room or court-yard would better become a
+guide-book, and to those who have the opportunity of visiting the
+spot, I would recommend Ford's incomparable "Handbook to Spain,"
+published by Murray, the older the edition the better. To those who
+can read Spanish, the "Estudio descriptivo de los Monumentos arabes,"
+by the late Sr. Contreras (Government restorer of the Moorish remains
+in Spain), to be obtained in Granada, is well worth reading.
+Such information as a visitor would need to correct the mistaken
+impressions of these and other writers ignorant of Moorish usages as
+to the original purpose of the various apartments, I have embodied in
+Macmillan's "Guide to the Western Mediterranean."
+
+Certain points, however, either for their architectural merit or
+historic interest, cannot be passed over. Such is the Court of the
+Lions, of part of which a model disfigured by garish painting may be
+seen at the Crystal Palace. In some points it is resembled by the
+chief court of the mosque of the Karueein at Fez. In the centre is
+that strange departure from the injunctions of the Koran which has
+given its name to the spot, the alabaster fountain resting on the
+loins of twelve beasts, called, by courtesy, "lions." They remind one
+rather of cats. "Their faces barbecued, and their manes cut like the
+scales of a griffin, and the legs like bed-posts; a water-pipe stuck
+in their mouths does not add to their dignity." In the inscription
+round the basin above, among flowery phrases belauding the fountain,
+and suggesting that the work is so fine that it is difficult to
+distinguish the water from the alabaster, the spectator is comforted
+with the assurance that they cannot bite!
+
+The court is surrounded by the usual tiled verandah, supported by one
+hundred and twenty-two light and elegant white marble pillars, the
+arches between which show some eleven different forms. At each end is
+a portico jutting out from the verandahs, and four cupolas add to the
+appearance of the roofs. The length of the court is twice its width,
+which is sixty feet, and on each side lies a beautiful decorated
+apartment with the unusual additions of jets of water from the floor
+in the centre of each, as also before each of the three doors apiece
+of the long narrow Moorish rooms, and under the two porticoes. The
+overflows, instead of being hidden pipes, are channels in the marble
+pavement, for the Moors were too great lovers of rippling water to
+lose the opportunity as we cold-blooded northerners would.
+
+To fully realize the delights of such a place one must imagine it
+carpeted with the products of Rabat, surrounded by soft mattresses
+piled with cushions, and with its walls hung with a dado of
+dark-coloured felt cloths of various colours, interworked to represent
+pillars and arches such as surround the gallery, and showing up the
+beautiful white of the marble by contrast. Thus furnished--in true
+Moorish style--the place should be visited on a hot summer's day,
+after a wearisome toil up the hill from the town. Then, lolling among
+the cushions, and listening to the splashing water, if strong sympathy
+is not felt with the builders of the palace, who thought it a
+paradise, the visitor ought never to have left his armchair by the
+fire-side at home.
+
+If, instead of wasting money on re-plastering the walls until they
+look ready for papering, and then scratching geometrical designs upon
+them in a style no Moor ever dreamed of, the Spanish Government would
+entrust a Moor of taste to decorate it in his own native style,
+without the modern European additions, they would do far better and
+spend less. One step further, and the introduction of Moorish guides
+and caretakers who spoke Spanish--easy to obtain--would add fifty
+per cent. to the interest of the place. Then fancy the Christian and
+Muslim knights meeting in single combat on the plains beneath those
+walls. People once more the knolls and pastures with the turban and
+the helm, fill in the colours of robe and plume; oh, what a picture it
+would make!
+
+Doubtless similar apartments for the hareem exist in the recesses of
+the palaces of Fez, Mequinez, Marrakesh and Rabat. Some very fine work
+is to be seen in the comparatively public parts, in many respects
+equalling this, and certainly better than that of the palace of
+Seville. Various alterations and "restorations" have been effected
+from time to time in this as in other parts of the palace, notably in
+the fountain, the top part of which is modern. It is probable that
+originally there was only one basin, resting immediately on the
+"lions" below. Its date is given as 1477 A.D.
+
+The room known for disputed reasons as the Hall of the Two Sisters was
+originally a bedroom. The entrance is one of the most elaborate in the
+palace, and its wooden ceiling, pieced to resemble stalactites, is a
+charming piece of work, as also are those of the other important rooms
+of the palace.
+
+Another apartment opening out of the Court of Lions, known as the Hall
+of Justice--most likely in error--contains one of the most curious
+remains in the palace, another departure from the precepts of the
+religion professed by its builders. This is no less than a series of
+pictures painted on skins sewn together, glued and fastened to the
+wooden dome with tinned tacks, and covered with a fine coating of
+gypsum, the gilt parts being in relief. Though the date of their
+execution must have been in the fourteenth century, the colours are
+still clear and fresh. The picture in the centre of the three domes is
+supposed by some to represent ten Moorish kings of Granada, though it
+is more likely meant for ten wise men in council. On the other two
+ceilings are pictures, one of a lady holding a chained lion, on the
+point of being delivered from a man in skins by a European, who is
+afterwards slain by a mounted Moor. The other is of a boar-hunt and
+people drinking at a fountain, with a man up a tree in a dress which
+looks remarkably like that of the eighteenth century in England, wig
+and all. This work must have been that of some Christian renegade,
+though considerable discussion has taken place over the authorship.
+It is most likely that the lions are of similar origin, sculptured by
+some one who had but a remote idea of the king of the forest.
+
+After the group of apartments surrounding the Court of the Lions, the
+most valuable specimen of Moorish architecture is that known as the
+Hall of the Ambassadors, probably once devoted to official interviews,
+as its name denotes. This is the largest room in the palace, occupying
+the upper floor in one of the massive towers which defended the
+citadel, overlooking the Vega and the remains of the camp-town
+of Santa Fe, built during the siege by the "Catholic Kings." The
+thickness of its walls is therefore immense, and the windows look like
+little tunnels; under it are dungeons. The hall is thirty-seven feet
+square, and no less than seventy-five feet high in the centre of the
+roof, which is not the original one. Some of the finest stucco wall
+decoration in the place is to be seen here, with elegant Arabic
+inscriptions, in the ancient style of ornamental writing known as
+Kufic, most of the instances of the latter meaning, "O God, to Thee be
+endless praise, and thanks ascending." Over the windows are lines in
+cursive Arabic, ascribing victory and glory to the "leader of the
+resigned, our lord the father of the pilgrims" (Yusef I.), with a
+prayer for his welfare, while everywhere is to be seen here, as in
+other parts, the motto, "and there is none victorious but God."
+
+Between the two blocks already described lie the baths, the
+undressing-room of which has been very creditably restored by the late
+Sr. Contreras, and looks splendid. It is, in fact, a covered patio
+with the gallery of the next floor running round, and as no cloth
+hangings or carpets could be used here, the walls and floor are fully
+decorated with stucco and tiles. The inner rooms are now in fair
+condition, and are fitted with marble, though the boiler and pipes
+were sold long ago by a former "keeper" of the palace. The general
+arrangement is just the same as that of the baths in Morocco.
+
+One room of the palace was fitted up by Ferdinand and Isabella as a
+chapel, the gilt ornaments of which look very gaudy by the side of
+the original Moorish work. Opening out of this is a little gem of a
+mosque, doubtless intended for the royal devotions alone, as it is too
+small for a company.
+
+Surrounding the palace proper are several other buildings forming part
+of the Alhambra, which must not be overlooked. Among them are the two
+towers of the Princesses and the Captives, both of which have been
+ably repaired. In the latter are to be seen tiles of a peculiar
+rosy tint, not met with elsewhere. In the Dar Aishah ("Gabinete de
+Lindaraxa"--"x" pronounced as "sh") are excellent specimens of
+those with a metallic hue, resembling the colours on the surface of
+tar-water. Ford points out that it was only in these tiles that the
+Moors employed any but the primary colours, with gold for yellow. This
+is evident, and holds good to the present day. Both these towers give
+a perfect idea of a Moorish house of the better class in miniature.
+Outside the walls are of the rough red of the mud concrete, while
+inside they are nearly all white, and beautifully decorated. The
+thickness of the walls keeps them delightfully cool, and the crooked
+passages render the courts in the centre quite private.
+
+Of the other towers and gates, the only notable one is that of
+Justice, a genuine Moorish erection with a turning under it to stay
+the onrush of an enemy, and render it easier of defence. The hand
+carved on the outer arch and the key on the inner one have given rise
+to many explanations, but their only significance was probably that
+this gate was the key of the castle, while the hand was to protect
+the key from the effects of the evil eye. This superstition is still
+popular, and its practice is to be seen to-day on thousands of doors
+in Morocco, in rudely painted hands on the doorposts.
+
+The Watch Tower (de la Vela) is chiefly noteworthy as one of the
+points from which the Spanish flag was unfurled on the memorable day
+of the entry into Granada. The anniversary of that date, January 2nd,
+is a high time for the young ladies, who flock here to toll the bell
+in the hopes of being provided with a husband during the new-begun
+year.
+
+At a short distance from the Alhambra itself is a group known as the
+Torres Bermejas (Vermilion Towers), probably the most ancient of the
+Moorish reign, if part did not exist before their settlement here, but
+they present no remarkable architectural features.
+
+Across a little valley is the Generalife, a charming summer residence
+built about 1320, styled by its builder the "Paradise of the
+Wise,"--Jinah el Arif--which the Spaniards have corrupted to its
+present designation, pronouncing it Kheneraliffy. Truly this is a spot
+after the Moor's own heart: a luxuriant garden with plenty of dark
+greens against white walls and pale-blue trellis-work, harmonious
+at every turn with the rippling and splashing of nature's choicest
+liquid. Of architectural beauty the buildings in this garden have but
+little, yet as specimens of Moorish style--though they have suffered
+with the rest--they form a complement to the Alhambra. That is the
+typical fortress-palace, the abode of a martial Court; this is the
+pleasant resting-place, the cool retreat for love and luxury. Nature
+is here predominant, and Art has but a secondary place, for once
+retaining her true position as great Nature's handmaid. Light arched
+porticoes and rooms behind serve but as shelter from the noonday
+glare, while roomy turrets treat the occupier to delightful views.
+Superfluous ornament within is not allowed to interfere with the
+contemplation of beauty without.
+
+Between the lower and upper terrace is a remarkable arrangement of
+steps, a Moorish ideal, for at equal distances from top to bottom,
+between each flight, are fountains playing in the centre, round which
+one must walk, while a stream runs down the top of each side wall in
+a channel made of tiles. What a pleasant sight and sound to those
+to whom stair climbing in a broiling sun is too much exercise! The
+cypresses in the garden are very fine, but they give none too much
+shade. The present owner's agent has Bu Abd Allah's sword on view at
+his house in the town, and this is a gem worth asking to see when a
+ticket is obtained for the Generalife. It is of a totally different
+pattern and style of ornament from the modern Moorish weapons, being
+inlaid in a very clever and tasteful manner.
+
+To the antiquary the most interesting part of Granada is the Albaycin,
+the quarter lying highest up the valley of the Darro, originally
+peopled by refugees from the town of Baeza--away to the north, beyond
+Jaen--the Baiseein. As the last stronghold of Moorish rule in the
+Peninsula, when one by one the other cities, once its rivals, fell
+into the hands of the Christians again, Granada became a centre
+of refuge from all parts, and to this owed much of its ultimate
+importance.
+
+Unfortunately no attempt has been made to preserve the many relics of
+that time which still exist in this quarter, probably the worst in the
+town. Many owners of property in the neighbourhood can still display
+the original Arabic title deeds, their estates having been purchased
+by Spanish grandees from the expelled Moors, or later from the
+expelled Jews. A morning's tour will reveal much of interest in back
+alleys and ruined courts. One visitor alone is hardly safe among the
+wild half-gipsy lot who dwell there now, but a few copper coins are
+all the keys needed to gain admission to some fine old patios with
+marble columns, crumbling fandaks, and ruined baths. By the roadside
+may be seen the identical style of water-mill still used in Morocco,
+and the presence of the Spaniard seems a dream.
+
+
+  V. HITHER AND THITHER
+
+Having now made pilgrimages to the more famous homes of the Moor in
+Europe, let us in fancy take an aerial flight over sunny Spain, and
+glance here and there at the scattered traces of Muslim rule in less
+noted quarters. Everything we cannot hope to spy, but we may still
+surprise ourselves and others by the number of our finds. Even this
+task accomplished, a volume on the subject might well be written by a
+second Borrow or a Ford, whose residence among the modern Moors had
+sharpened his scent for relics of that ilk.[28] Let not the reader
+think that with these wayside jottings all has been disclosed, for the
+Moor yet lives in Spain, and there is far more truth in the saying
+that "Barbary begins at the Pyrenees" than is generally imagined.
+
+  [28: To the latter I am indebted for particulars regarding the many
+       places mentioned in this final survey which it was impossible
+       for me to visit.]
+
+We will start from Tarifa, perhaps the most ancient town of Andalucia.
+The Moors named this ancient Punic city after T'arif ibn Malek ("The
+Wise, son of King"), a Berber chief. They beleaguered it about 1292,
+and it is still enclosed by Moorish walls. The citadel, a genuine
+Moorish castle, lies just within these walls, and was not so long
+ago the abode of galley-slaves. Close to Seville, where the river
+Guadalquivir branches off, it forms two islands--Islas Mayor y Menor.
+The former was the Kaptal of the Moors. At Coria the river winds under
+the Moorish "Castle of the Cleft" (El Faraj), now called St. Juan
+de Alfarache, and passes near the Torre del Oro, a monument of
+the invader already referred to. Old Xeres, of sherry fame, is a
+straggling, ill-built, ill-drained Moorish city. It was taken from the
+Moors in 1264. Part of the original walls and gates remain in the
+old town. The Moorish citadel is well preserved, and offers a good
+specimen of those turreted and walled palatial fortresses.
+
+But it is not till we reach Seville that we come to a museum of
+Moorish antiquities. Here we see Arabesque ceilings, marqueterie
+woodwork, stucco panelling, and the elegant horse-shoe arches. There
+are beautiful specimens in the citadel, in Calle Pajaritos No. 15, in
+the Casa Prieto and elsewhere. The Moors possessed the city for five
+hundred years, during which time they entirely rebuilt it, using the
+Roman buildings as materials. Many Moorish houses still exist, the
+windows of which are barricaded with iron gratings. On each side of
+the patios, or courts, are corridors supported by marble pillars,
+whilst a fountain plays in the centre. These houses are rich
+in Moorish porcelain tilings, called azulejos--from the Arabic
+ez-zulaij--but the best of these are in the patio of the citadel.
+Carmona is not far off, with its oriental walls and castle, famous as
+ever for its grateful springs. The tower of San Pedro transports us
+again to Tangier, as do the massy walls and arched gate.
+
+Some eight leagues on the way to Badajos from Seville rises a Moorish
+tower, giving to the adjoining village the name of Castillo de las
+Guardias. Five leagues beyond are the mines of the "Inky River"--Rio
+Tinto--a name sufficiently expressive and appropriate, for it issues
+from the mountain-side impregnated with copper, and is consequently
+corrosive. The Moors seem to have followed the Romans in their
+workings on the north side of the hill. Further on are more mines,
+still proclaiming the use the Moors made of them by their present name
+Almadin--"the Mine"--a name which has almost become Spanish; it is
+still so generally used. Five leagues from Rio Tinto, at Aracena, is
+another Moorish castle, commanding a fine panorama, and the belfry of
+the church hard by is Arabesque.
+
+Many more of these ruined kasbahs are to be seen upon the heights
+of Andalucia, and even much further north; but the majority must go
+unmentioned. One, in an equally fine position, is to be seen eleven
+leagues along the road from Seville to Badajos, above Santa Olalla--a
+name essentially Moorish, denoting the resting-place of some female
+Mohammedan saint, whose name has been lost sight of. (Lallah, or
+"Lady," is the term always prefixed to the names of canonized ladies
+in Morocco.) Three leagues from Seville on the Granada road, at
+Gandul, lies another of these castles, picturesquely situated amid
+palms and orange groves; four leagues beyond, the name Arahal
+(er-rahalah--"the day's journey") reminds the Arabicist that it is
+time to encamp; a dozen leagues further on the name of Roda recalls
+its origin, raodah, "the cemetery." Riding into Jaen on the top of the
+diligence from Granada, I was struck with the familiar appearance of
+two brown tabia fortresses above the town, giving the hillside the
+appearance of one of the lower slopes of the Atlas. This was a place
+after the Moors' own heart, for abundant springs gush everywhere
+from the rocks. In their days it was for a time the capital of an
+independent kingdom.
+
+At Ronda, a town originally built by the Moors--for Old Ronda is two
+leagues away to the north,--their once extensive remains have been all
+but destroyed. Its tortuous streets and small houses, however, testify
+as to its origin, and its Moorish castle still appears to guard the
+narrow ascent by which alone it can be reached from the land, for it
+crowns a river-girt rock. Down below, this river, the Guadalvin, still
+turns the same rude class of corn-mills that we have seen at Fez and
+Granada. Other remnants are another Moorish tower in the Calle del
+Puente Viejo, and the "House of the Moorish King" in Calle San Pedro,
+dating from about 1042. Descending to the river's edge by a flight
+of stairs cut in the solid rock, there is a grotto dug by Christian
+slaves three centuries later. Some five leagues on the road thence to
+Granada are the remains of the ancient Teba, at the siege of which in
+1328, when it was taken from the Moors, Lord James Douglas fought in
+obedience to the dying wish of the Bruce his master, whose heart he
+wore in a silver case hung from his neck, throwing it among the enemy
+as he rushed in and fell.
+
+On the way from Ronda to Gibraltar are a number of villages whose Arab
+names are startling even in this land of Ishmaelitish memories. Among
+these are Atajate, Gaucin, Benahali, Benarraba, Benadalid, Benalaurin.
+At Gaucin an excellent view of Gibraltar and Jibel Musa is obtainable
+from its Moorish citadel. This brings us to old "Gib," whose relics of
+Tarik and his successors are much better known to travellers than most
+of those minor remains. An inscription over the gate of the castle,
+now a prison, tells of its erection over eleven centuries ago, for
+this was naturally one of the early captures of the invaders. Yet the
+mud-concrete walls stand firm and sound, though scarred by many a
+shot. Algeciras--El Jazirah--"the Island" has passed through too many
+vicissitudes to have much more than the name left.
+
+Malaga, though seldom heard of in connection with the history of
+Mohammedan rule in the Peninsula, played a considerable part in that
+drama. It and Cadiz date far back to the time of the Carthaginians,
+so that, after all, their origin is African. If its name is not of an
+earlier origin, it may be from Malekah, "the Queen." Every year on
+August 18, at 3 p.m. the great bell of the cathedral is struck thrice,
+for that is the anniversary of its recovery from the Aliens in 1487.
+The flag of Ferdinand then hoisted is (or was recently) still to be
+seen, together with a Moorish one, probably that of the vanquished
+city, over the tomb of the Conde de Buena Vista in the convent of La
+Victoria. Though odd bits of Moorish architecture may still be met
+with in places, the only remains of note are the castle, built in
+1279, with its fine horse-shoe gate--sadly disfigured by modern
+barbarism--and what was the dockyard of the Moors, now left high and
+dry by the receding sea.
+
+The name Alhama, met with in several parts of Spain, merely denotes
+"the hot," alluding to springs of that character which are in most
+instances still active. This is the case at the Alhama between Malaga
+and Granada, where the baths are worth a visit. The Moorish bath is
+called the strong one, being nearer the spring.
+
+At Antequera the castle is Moorish, though built on Roman foundations,
+and it is only of recent years that the mosque has disappeared under
+the "protection" of an impecunious governor.
+
+Leaving the much-sung Andalus, the first name striking us in Murcia is
+that of Guadix (pronounced Wadish), a corruption of Wad Aish, "River
+of Life." Its Moorish castle still stands. Some ten leagues further
+on, at Cullar de Baza is another Moorish ruin, and the next of note, a
+fine specimen, is fifteen leagues away at Lorca, whose streets are in
+the genuine intricate style. The city of Murcia, though founded by the
+Moors, contains little calling them to remembrance. In the post-office
+and prison, however, and in the public granary, mementoes are to be
+found.
+
+Orihuela, on the road from Carthagena to Alicante, still looks
+oriental with its palm-trees, square towers and domes, and Elche is
+just another such, with flat roofs and the orthodox kasbah, now a
+prison. The enormous number of palms which surround the town recall
+Marrakesh, but they are sadly neglected. Monte Alegre is a small place
+with a ruined Moorish castle, about fifteen leagues from Elche on the
+road to Madrid. Between Alicante and Xativa is the Moorish castle of
+Tibi, close to a large reservoir, and there is a square Moorish tower
+at Concentaina. Xativa has a hermitage, San Felin, adorned with
+horse-shoe arches, having a Moorish cistern hard by.
+
+Valencia the Moors considered a Paradise, and their skill in
+irrigation has been retained, so that of the Guadalaviar (Wad el
+Abiad--"River of the Whites") the fullest use is made in agriculture,
+and the familiar water-wheels and conduits go by the corruptions of
+their Arabic names, naorahs and sakkaiahs. The city itself is very
+Moorish in appearance, with its narrow tortuous streets and gloomy
+buildings, but I know of no remarkable legacy of the Moors there.
+There are the remains of a Moorish aqueduct at Chestalgar--a very
+Arabic sounding name, of which the last two syllables are corrupted
+from El Gharb ("the West") as in the case of Trafalgar (Terf el
+Gharb--"West Point"). All this district was inhabited by the Moriscos
+or Christianized Moors as late as the beginning of the seventeenth
+century, and there must their descendants live still, although no
+longer distinguished from true sons of the soil.
+
+Whatever may remain of the ancient Saguntum, what is visible is mostly
+Moorish, as, for instance, cisterns on the site of a Roman temple. Not
+far from Valencia is Burjasot, where are yet to be seen specimens of
+matmorahs or underground granaries. Morella is a scrambling town with
+Moorish walls and towers, coroneted by a castle.
+
+Entering Catalonia, Tortosa, at the mouth of the Ebro, is reached,
+once a stronghold of the Moors, and a nest of pirates till recovered
+by Templars, Pisans and Genoese together. It was only withheld from
+the Moors next year by the valour of the women besieged. The tower of
+the cathedral still bears the title of Almudena, a reminder of the
+muedhdhin who once summoned Muslims to prayer from its summit.
+Here, too, are sundry remnants of Moorish masonry, and some ancient
+matmorahs.
+
+Tarragona and Barcelona, if containing no Moorish ruins of note, have
+all, in common with other neighbouring places, retained the Arabic
+name Rambla (rimlah, "sand") for the quondam sandy river beds which of
+late years have been transformed into fashionable promenades. In the
+cathedral of Tarragona an elegant Moorish arch is noticeable, with a
+Kufic inscription giving the date as 960 A.D. For four centuries after
+this city was destroyed by Tarif it remained unoccupied, so that
+much cannot be expected to call to mind his dynasty. Of a bridge at
+Martorell over the Llobregat, Ford says it is "attributed to Hannibal
+by the learned, and to the devil, as usual, by the vulgar. The pointed
+centre arch, which is very steep and narrow to pass, is 133 feet wide
+in the span, and is unquestionably a work of the Moors." Not far away
+is a place whose name, Mequineza, is strongly suggestive of Moorish
+origin, but I know nothing further about it.
+
+Now let us retrace our flight, and wing our way once more to the north
+of Seville, to the inland province of Estremadura. Here we start from
+Merida, where the Roman-Moorish "alcazar" towers proudly yet. The
+Moors repaired the old Roman bridge over the Guadiana, and the gateway
+near the river has a marble tablet with an Arabic inscription. The
+Muslims observed towards the people of this place good faith such as
+was never shown to them in return, inasmuch as they allowed them to
+retain their temples, creed, and bishops. They built the citadel in
+835, and the city dates its decline from the time that Alonzo el Sabio
+took it from them in 1229. Zamora is another ancient place. It was
+taken from the Moors in 939, when 40,000 of them are said to have been
+killed. The Moorish designs in the remarkable circular arches of La
+Magdalena are worthy of note.
+
+In Toledo the church of Santo Tome has a brick tower of Moorish
+character; near it is the Moorish bridge of San Martin, and in the
+neighbourhood, by a stream leading to the Tagus, Moorish mills and the
+ruins of a villa with Moorish arches, now a farm hovel, may still
+be seen. The ceiling of the chapel of the church of San Juan de la
+Penetencia is in the Moorish style, much dilapidated (1511 A.D.). The
+Toledan Moors were first-rate hydraulists. One of their kings had a
+lake in his palace, and in the middle a kiosk, whence water descended
+on each side, thus enclosing him in the coolest of summer-houses.
+It was in Toledo that Ez-Zarkal made water-clocks for astronomical
+calculations, but now this city obtains its water only by the
+primitive machinery of donkeys, which are driven up and down by
+water-carriers as in Barbary itself. The citadel was once the kasbah
+of the Moors.
+
+The Cathedral of Toledo is one of the most remarkable in Spain. The
+arches of the transept are semi-Moorish, Xamete, who wrought it
+in Arcos stone in 1546-50, having been a Moor. The very ancient
+manufactory of arms for which Toledo has a world-wide fame dates from
+the time of the Goths; into this the Moors introduced their Damascene
+system of ornamenting and tempering, and as early as 852 this
+identical "fabrica" was at work under Abd er-Rahman ibn El Hakim. The
+Moors treasured and named their swords like children. These were the
+weapons which Othello, the Moor, "kept in his chamber."
+
+[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
+
+THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN.]
+
+At Alcazar de San Juan, in La Mancha, I found a few remnants of the
+Moorish town, as in the church tower, but the name is now almost the
+only Moorish thing about it. Hence we pass to Alarcon, a truly Moorish
+city, built like a miniature Toledo, on a craggy peninsula hemmed in
+by the river Jucar. The land approach is still guarded by Moorish
+towers and citadel.
+
+In Zocodovar--which takes its name from the word sok,
+"market-place"--we find a very Moorish "plaza," with its irregular
+windows and balconies, and in San Eugenio are some remains of an
+old mosque with Kufic inscriptions, as well as an arch and tomb of
+elaborate design. In the Calle de las Tornarias there used to be a
+dilapidated Moorish house with one still handsome room, but it is
+doubtful whether this now survives the wreck of time. It was called El
+Taller del Moro, because Ambron, the Moorish governor of Huesca, is
+said to have invited four hundred of the refractory chiefs of Toledo
+to dine here, and to have cut off the head of each as he arrived.
+There is a curious mosque in the Calle del Cristo de la Luz, the roof
+is supported by four low square pillars, each having a different
+capital, from which spring double arches like those at Cordova. The
+ceiling is divided into nine compartments with domes.
+
+Madrid has passed through such various fortunes, and has been so much
+re-built, that it now contains few traces of the Moors. The only relic
+which I saw in 1890 was a large piece of tabia, forming a substantial
+wall near to the new cathedral, which might have belonged to the city
+wall or only to a fortress. The Museum of the Capital contains a good
+collection of Moorish coins. In the Armoury are Moorish guns, swords,
+saddles, and leather shields, the last named made of two hides
+cemented with a mortar composed of herbs and camel-hair.
+
+In Old Castile the footprints grow rare and faint, although the
+name of Valladolid--Blad Walid, "Town of Walid," a Moorish
+ameer--sufficiently proclaims its origin, but I am not aware of any
+Moorish remains there. In Burgos one old gate near the triumphal arch,
+erected by Philip II., still retains its Moorish opening, and on the
+opposite hill stands the castle in which was celebrated the bridal
+of our Edward I. with Eleanor of Castile. It was then a true Moorish
+kasar, but part has since been destroyed by fire. On the road from
+Burgos to Vittoria we pass between the mountains of Oca and the
+Pyrenean spurs, in which narrow defile the old Spaniards defied the
+advancing Moors. Moorish caverns or cisterns are still to be seen.
+
+Turning southward again, we come to Medinaceli, or "the city of
+Selim," once the strong frontier hold of a Moor of that name, the
+scene of many conflicts among the Moors themselves, and against
+the Christians. Here, on August 7, 1002, died the celebrated El
+Mansur--"The Victorious"--the "Cid" (Seyyid) of the Moors, and the
+most terrible enemy of the Christians. He was born in 938 near
+Algeciras, and by a series of intrigues, treacheries and murders, rose
+in importance till he became in reality master of the puppet ameer. He
+proclaimed a holy crusade against the Christians each year, and was
+buried in the dust of fifty campaigns, for after every battle he used
+to shake off the soil from his garments into a chest which he carried
+about with him for that purpose.
+
+In Aragon the situation of Daroca, in the fertile basin of the Jiloca,
+is very picturesque. The little town lies in a hill-girt valley around
+which rise eminences defended by Moorish walls and towers, which,
+following the irregular declivities, command charming views from
+above. The palace of the Mendozas at Guadalajara, in the same
+district, boasts of an elegant row of Moorish windows, though these
+appear to have been constructed after Guadalajara was reconquered
+from the Moors by the Spaniards. Near this place is a Moorish brick
+building, turned into a battery by the invaders, and afterwards used
+as a prison. Before leaving this town it will be worth while to visit
+San Miguel, once a mosque, with its colonnaded entrance, horse-shoe
+arches, machiolations, and herring-bone patterns under the roof.
+
+Calatayud, the second town of Aragon, is of Moorish origin. Its
+Moorish name means the "Castle of Ayub"--or Job--the nephew of Musa,
+who used the ancient Bilbilis as a quarry whence to obtain stones for
+its construction. The Dominican convent of Calatayud has a glorious
+patio with three galleries rising one above another, and a portion of
+the exterior is enriched with pseudo-Moorish work like the prisons at
+Guadalajara.
+
+Saragossa gave me more the impression of Moorish origin than any
+town I saw in Spain, except Seville and Cordova. The streets of the
+original settlement are just those of Mequinez on a small scale. The
+only object of genuinely Moorish origin that I could find, however,
+was the Aljaferia, once a palace-citadel, now a barrack, so named
+after Jafer, a Muslim king of this province. Since his times Ferdinand
+and Isabella used it, and then handed it over to the Inquisition. Some
+of the rooms still retain Moorish decorations, but most of the latter
+are of the period of their conquerors. On one ceiling is pointed out
+the first gold brought from the New World. The only genuine Moorish
+remnant is the private mosque, with beautiful inscriptions. The
+building has been incorporated in a huge fort-like modern brick
+structure, which would lead no one to seek inside for Arab traces.
+
+Passing from Saragossa northwards, we arrive at Jaca, the railway
+terminus, which to this day quarters on her shield the heads of four
+sheikhs who were left behind when their fellow-countrymen fled from
+the city in 795, after a desperate battle in which the Spanish women
+fought like men. The site of the battle, called Las Tiendas, is still
+visited on the first Friday in May, when the daughters of these
+Amazons go gloriously "a-shopping." The municipal charter of Jaca
+dates from the Moorish expulsion, and is reckoned among the earliest
+in Spain.
+
+Gerona, almost within sight of France, played an important part, too,
+in those days, siding alternately with that country and with Spain
+when in the possession of the Moors. The Ameer Sulaiman, in 759 A.D.,
+entered into an alliance with Pepin, and in 785 Charlemagne took the
+town, which the Moors re-captured ten years later. It became their
+headquarters for raids upon Narbonne and Nismes. Castellon de
+Ampurias, once on the coast, which has receded, was strong enough to
+resist the Moors for a time, but after they had dismantled it, the
+Normans appeared and finally destroyed it. Now it is but a hamlet.
+
+We are now in the extreme north-west of the Peninsula, where the
+relics we seek grow scanty, and, in consequence, of more importance.
+Instead of buildings in stone or concrete, we find here a monument of
+independence, perhaps more interesting in its way than any other. When
+the Pyrenees and their hardy mountaineers checked the onward rush of
+Islam, several independent states arose, recognized by both France and
+Spain on account of their bravery in opposing a common foe. The only
+one of these retaining a semi-independence is the republic of
+Andorra, a name corrupted from the Arabic el (al) darra, "a plenteous
+rainfall," showing how the Moors appreciated this feature of so well
+wooded and hilly a district after the arid plains of the south. The
+old Moorish castle of the chief town bears the name of Carol, derived
+from that of Charlemagne, who granted it the privileges it still
+enjoys, so that it is a memento of the meeting of Arab and Teuton.
+At Planes is a church said to be of Moorish origin, and earlier than
+Charlemagne; it certainly dates from no later than the tenth century.
+These "foot-prints" show that the Moor got a fairly good footing here,
+before he was driven back, and his progress stayed.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+"MOROCCO NEWS"
+
+  "A lie is not worth the lying, nor is truth worth repeating."
+
+  _Moorish Proverb._
+
+
+So unanimous have been the uninformed reiteration of the Press in
+contravention of much that has been stated in the foregoing pages,
+that it will not be out of place to quote a few extracts from men on
+the spot who do know the facts. The first three are from leaders in
+_Al-moghreb Al-aksa_, the present English paper in Morocco, which
+accurately voices the opinion of the British Colony in that
+country, opinions shared by most disinterested residents of other
+nationalities.
+
+    "However we look upon the situation as it stands to-day, and
+    wherever our sympathies may lie, it is impossible to over-estimate
+    the danger attending the unfortunate Anglo-French Agreement. We
+    have always--as our readers will acknowledge--advocated the simple
+    doctrine of the _status quo_, and in this have received the
+    support of every disinterested person in and out of Morocco. Our
+    policy has at times thrown us into antagonism with the exponents
+    of the French colonial schemes; but we at least have the
+    satisfaction of knowing that, however we may have fallen short of
+    our duty, it has been one which we have persevered in, prompted by
+    earnest conviction, by love of the country and its people, and by
+    admiration for its Sultan. The simplicity of our aim has helped us
+    in our uphill fight, and will, no doubt, continue to do so in the
+    future.
+
+    "Needless to say we look forward with no little anxiety to the
+    result of the conference. This needs no explanation. In the
+    discussion of such a question it is absolutely imperative that the
+    individual members of the conference should be selected from those
+    who know their Morocco, and who are acquainted with the causes
+    which led up to the present dead-lock. Only the keenest, shrewdest
+    men should be selected, for it must be borne in mind that France
+    will spare no pains to uphold the recent Anglo-French Convention.
+    Her most astute diplomats will figure largely, for her dignity is
+    at stake. Indeed, her very position, diplomatic and political, is
+    in effect challenged. Taking this into consideration, it is more
+    than necessary to see that the representatives of Great Britain
+    are not chosen for their family influence or for the perfection
+    they may have attained in the French language.
+
+    "The task is hard and perilous. England is waking to the fact that
+    she has blundered, and, as usual, she is unwilling to admit the
+    fact. Circumstances, however, will sooner or later force her to
+    modify her terms. Germany, Spain, the United States, and other
+    nations, to say nothing of Morocco, must point out the absurdity
+    of the situation. If the agreement is inoperative with regard to
+    Morocco, it may as well be openly admitted to be useless. This is
+    not all. Should English statesmanship direct that this injudicious
+    arrangement be adhered to, France and Great Britain will stand as
+    self-confessed violators of the Convention of Madrid.
+
+    "Fortunately the Moorish cause has some excellent champions. For
+    many years she has been dumb. Now, however, that she is assailed,
+    we find a small but influential band of writers coming forward
+    with their pens to do battle for her.
+
+    "This is the great consolation we have. Moorish interests will no
+    longer be the sport of European political expediency. These men
+    will, no doubt, protest against the land-grabbing propensities of
+    the French colonial party, and they may find time to point out
+    that after a thousand years of not ignoble independence, the
+    Moorish race deserves a little more consideration than has
+    hitherto been granted.
+
+    "Even those people who are responsible for this deplorable state
+    of affairs must now stand more or less amazed at their handiwork.
+    No diplomatic subterfuge can efface the humiliation that underlies
+    the situation; and no one can possibly exaggerate the danger that
+    lies ahead of us."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Two centuries ago Great Britain abandoned Tangier, and it is
+    only the present generation that has realized the huge mistake. A
+    maudlin sentimentalism, to avoid displeasing the French King,
+    prevented us from handing the city back to Portugal; an act which
+    would have been wise, either strategically, commercially, or with
+    a view to the suppression of the famous Salee rovers, who were
+    for long a scourge to ships entering the Straits. A Commission of
+    experts was appointed to consider the question of the abandonment,
+    one of them being Mr. Pepys....
+
+    "Whatever the opinion may have been of the experts consulted
+    by the Government on the present agreement with France, we are
+    strongly disposed to believe that if they have been endowed with
+    greater sense than those of 1683, there is probably more, as we
+    must hope there is, in favour of British interests, than appears
+    to the public eye. Time alone will tell what reservation, mental
+    or otherwise, may be locked up in the British Foreign Office. It
+    is difficult to believe that any British statesman would wantonly
+    give away any national interest, but too lofty a policy has often
+    been wanting in practical sense which, had that policy descended
+    from principles to facts, would have saved the nation thousands of
+    lives, millions of money, and sacrifices of its best interests."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "The events that have been fully before the eyes of British
+    subjects in Morocco in the abnormal condition of the country
+    during the past two years, seem to have been ignored by our
+    Foreign Office. In short, it fully appears that our Foreign
+    Office policy has been designed to lead the Sultan to political
+    destruction, and to sacrifice every British interest.
+
+    "About two years ago our Foreign Office began well in starting the
+    Sultan on the path of progress: in carrying out its aims it
+    has done nothing but blunders. Had it but acted with a little
+    firmness, the opening up of this country would have already begun,
+    and there would have been no 'Declaration' which will assuredly
+    give future Foreign Secretaries matter for some anxiety. The
+    declaration is only a display of political fireworks that will
+    dazzle the eyes of the British public for a while, delighting our
+    Little Englanders, but only making the future hazy and possibly
+    more dangerous to deal with. It seems only a way of putting off
+    the real settlement, which may not wait for thirty years to be
+    dealt with, on the points still at issue, and for which a splendid
+    opportunity has been thrown away at Downing Street, and could
+    have been availed of to maintain British interests, prestige, and
+    influence in this country. Briefly, we fear that the attainment of
+    the end in view may yet cost millions to the British nation.
+
+    "That Morocco will progress under French guidance there can be
+    no question, and France may be congratulated on her superior
+    diplomacy and the working of her Foreign Office system."
+
+With regard to the Moorish position, a contributor observes in a later
+issue--
+
+    "The attitude of the Sultan and his Cabinet may be summed up in
+    a few words. 'You nations have made your agreements about our
+    country without consulting us. We owe you nothing that we are
+    unable to pay on the conditions arranged between us. We did not
+    ask your subjects to reside and trade on Moorish soil. In fact,
+    we have invariably discouraged their so doing. Troubles exist in
+    Morocco, it is true, but we are far greater sufferers than
+    you--our unbidden guests. And but for the wholesale smuggling of
+    repeating rifles by _your_ people, our tribes would not be able to
+    cause the disorders of which you complain. As to your intention to
+    intervene in our affairs, we agree to no interference. If you are
+    resolved to try force, we believe that the Faith of the Prophet
+    will conquer. We still believe there is a God stronger than man.
+    And should the fight go against us, we believe that it is better
+    to earn Paradise in a holy war for the defence of our soil, than
+    to submit tamely to Christian rule.'
+
+    "The position, however lamentable, is intelligible; but on the
+    other hand it is incredible that France--her mind made up long ago
+    that she is to inherit the Promised Land of Sunset--will sit down
+    meekly and allow herself to be flouted by the monarch and people
+    of a crumbling power like Morocco. And this is what she has to
+    face. Not indeed a nation, as we understand the term, but a
+    gathering of units differing widely in character and race--Arabs,
+    Berbers, mulattoes, and negroes--unable to agree together on any
+    subject under the sun but one, and that one the defence of Islam
+    from foreign intervention. Under the standard of the invincible
+    Prophet they will join shoulder to shoulder. And hopeless and
+    pathetic as it may seem, they will defy the disciplined ranks and
+    magazine guns of Europe. Thus, wherever our sympathies may lie,
+    the possibilities of a peaceful settlement of the Morocco question
+    appear to be dwindling day by day. The anarchy paramount in
+    three-quarters of the sultanate is not only an ever-increasing
+    peril to European lives and property, but a direct encouragement
+    to intervention. Of one thing we in Morocco have no kind of doubt.
+    The landing of foreign troops, even for protective service, in any
+    one part of the coast would infallibly be the signal for a general
+    rising in every part of the Empire. No sea-port would be safe for
+    foreigners or for friendly natives until protected by a strong
+    European force. And, once begun, the task of 'pacifying' the
+    interior must entail an expenditure of lives and treasure which
+    will amply satisfy French demands for colonial extension for many
+    a year to come."
+
+One more quotation from an editorial--
+
+    "And so it would appear, that, with the smiling approval of the
+    world's Press, the wolf is to take over the affairs of the lamb.
+    We use the phrase advisedly. We have never hesitated to criticize
+    the action, and to condemn the errors, of the Makhzen where such a
+    course has been needful in the public interest. We can, therefore,
+    with all the more justice, call attention to the real issues of
+    the compact embodied in the Morocco clauses of the Anglo-French
+    Agreement of April, 1904. How long the leading journals of England
+    may continue to ignore the facts of the case it is impossible
+    to say; but that there will come a startling awakening seems
+    inevitable. Every merely casual observer on this side of the
+    Mediterranean knows only too well that the most trifling pretext
+    may be at any hour seized for the next move in the development
+    of French intervention. Evidence is piling up to show that the
+    forward party in France, and still more in Algeria, is burning to
+    strike while yet the frantic enthusiasm of the Entente lasts, and
+    while they can rely upon the support--we had almost written, the
+    moral support--of Great Britain. Can we shut our eyes to the
+    deliberate provocations they are giving the Makhzen in almost
+    every part of the sultanate?
+
+    "These things are not reported to Europe, naturally. In spite of
+    all our comfortable cant about justice to less powerful races, who
+    in England cares about justice to Morocco and her Sultan? We owe
+    it to Germany that the thing was not rushed through a few months
+    ago. Who has heard, who wants to hear, the Moorish side of the
+    question? Morocco is mute. The Sultan pulls no journalistic wires.
+    He has no advocate in the Press, or in Parliament, or in Society.
+    Hardly a public man opens his mouth in England to refer to
+    Morocco, without talking absolute twaddle. The only member of
+    either House of Parliament who has shown a real grasp of the
+    tremendous issues of the question is Lord Rosebery, in the
+    memorable words--
+
+    "'No more one-sided agreement was ever concluded between two
+    Powers at peace with each other. I hope and trust, but I hope and
+    trust rather than believe, that the Power which holds Gibraltar
+    may never have cause to regret having handed Morocco over to a
+    great military Power.'
+
+    "Had that true statesman, and true Englishman, been in power
+    eighteen months ago, England would never have been pledged to
+    sacrifice her commercial interests in Morocco, to abandon her
+    wholesome, traditional policy in the Mediterranean, and to revoke
+    her solemn engagement to uphold the integrity of the Sultan's
+    dominions."
+
+An excellent idea of the discrepancies between the alarmist reports
+with which the Press is from time to time deluged, and the facts
+as known on the spot, is afforded by the following extracts from
+_Al-moghreb Al-aksa_ of January 7, 1905, when the London papers
+had been almost daily victimized by their correspondents regarding
+Morocco:--
+
+    "The dismissal of the military _attaches_ at the Moorish Court
+    threatened to raise a terrible conflagration in Europe, and great
+    indignation among foreign residents in this country--according to
+    certain Press reports. This fiery disposition of some offered a
+    remarkable contrast with the coolness of the others. For instance,
+    the British took almost no interest in the matter, for the simple
+    reason that there has never been any British official military
+    mission in the Moorish Court. It is true there are a few British
+    subjects in Moorish military service, but they are privately
+    employed by the Sultan's Government, and their service is simply
+    voluntary. Even personally, they actually show no great concern in
+    remaining here or not.
+
+    "The Italian military mission is composed of very few persons. The
+    chief, Col. Ferrara, is on leave in Italy, and the Mission is now
+    represented by Captain Campini, who lives at Fez with his family.
+    They report having received all kind attentions from the Sultan
+    quite recently, and that they know nothing about the dismissal
+    which has so noisily sounded in Europe. According to the same
+    Press reports, great fears were entertained of a general rising
+    against the foreign residents in Fez and other places in the
+    interior, and while it is reported that the military _attaches_,
+    consular officers and residents of all nations were notified to
+    leave Fez and come to Tangier or the coast ports as a matter of
+    precaution, we find that nobody moves from the Court, because,
+    they say, they have seen nothing to induce them to leave that
+    residence. And what has Mulai Abd El Aziz replied to French
+    complaints and demands respecting the now historical dismissal of
+    the military _attaches_? A very simple thing--that H.S.M. did
+    not think that the dismissal could resent any of the civilized
+    nations, because it was decided as an economic measure, there
+    being no money to pay even other more pressing liabilities.
+    However, the Sultan, wishing to be on friendly terms with France
+    and all other nations, immediately withdrew the dismissal and
+    promised to pay the _attaches_ as long as it is possible to do so.
+    The missions, consuls, etc., have now no need to leave Fez, and
+    everything remains stationary as before. The only thing steadily
+    progressing is the insecurity of life and property in the
+    outskirts and district of Tangier, where murders and robberies
+    proceed unabated, and this state of affairs has caused the British
+    and German residents in this town to send petitions to their
+    respective Governments, through their legations, soliciting that
+    some measure may be adopted to do away with the present state
+    of insecurity which has already paralysed all overland traffic
+    between this city and the neighbouring towns.
+
+    "The contrasts of the situation are as remarkable as they are
+    comic, and while the whole country is perfectly quiet, those
+    places more in contact with the civilized world, like Tangier and
+    the Algerian frontier, are the only spots which are seriously
+    troubled with disturbances."
+
+So much for northern Morocco. The same issue contains the following
+report from its Mogador correspondent regarding the "disturbed state"
+of southern Morocco.
+
+    "It would puzzle even the trained imagination of certain
+    journalists we wot of to evolve anything alarmist out of the
+    condition of the great tribes between Mogador and the Atlas.
+    During the recent tribal differences not one single highway
+    robbery, even of a native, was, I believe, committed. The roads
+    are open everywhere; the rival chieftains have, figuratively,
+    exchanged the kiss of peace, and the tribes have confessed that it
+    was a mistake to leave their farms and farm-work simply to please
+    an ambitious and utterly thankless governor.
+
+    "As for Europeans, they have been rambling all over the country
+    with their wonted freedom from interference. A Frenchman,
+    travelling almost alone, has just returned from Imintanoot.
+    Another has twice crossed the Atlas. Needless to say the route to
+    Marrakesh is almost as devoid of other than pleasurable novelty as
+    a stroll on the Embankment or down the shady side of Pall Mall.
+    When, indeed, will folks at home grasp the fact that the Berber
+    clans of southern Morocco belong to a race differing utterly in
+    character and largely in customs from the ruffians infesting the
+    northern half of the sultanate?
+
+    "'Nothing but the unpleasant prospect of being held up by
+    brigands,' writes a friend, 'prevents me from revisiting your
+    beautiful country.' How convince such people that brigandage is an
+    art unknown south of the Oom Rabya? That the prayer of the Shluh,
+    when a Nazarene visits their land, is that nothing may happen to
+    bring trouble on the clan? They may inwardly hate the _Rumi_, or
+    they may regard him merely as an uncouth blot on the scenery; but
+    should actual unpleasantness arise, he will, in almost every case,
+    have himself to thank for it. (London papers please copy!)"
+
+This letter was dated two days after the Paris correspondent of the
+_Times_ had telegraphed--
+
+    "Events would seem likely to be coming to a head in consequence of
+    the anarchy prevailing in the Shereefian Empire. The Pretender is
+    just now concentrating his troops in the plain of Angad, and is
+    preparing to take an energetic offensive against Ujda. The camp of
+    the Pretender is imposing in its warlike display. All the caids
+    and the sons of Bu Amema surround Mulai Mahomed. The men are armed
+    with French _chassepots_, and are well dressed in new uniforms
+    supplied by an Oran firm. All the war material was embarked on
+    board the French yacht _Zut_, which landed it last month on
+    the shores of Rastenga between Cape Eau and Melilla under the
+    direction of the Pretender's troops."
+
+Towards Christmas, 1902, circumstantial reports began to appear in the
+newspapers of an overwhelming defeat of the imperial army by rebels
+who were marching on Fez, who had besieged it, and had cut off the
+aqueduct bringing its water, the Sultan retreating to the palace,
+Europeans being ordered to the coast, etc., etc. These statements
+I promptly and categorically denied in an interview for the London
+_Echo_; there was no real "pretender," only a religious fanatic
+supported by two disaffected tribes, the imperial army had not been
+defeated, as only a small body had been despatched to quell the
+disturbance; the "rebels" were not besieging Fez, as they had no army,
+and only the guns captured by the clever midnight surprise of sleeping
+troops, of which the "battle"--really a panic--consisted; they had not
+cut the "aqueduct," as Fez is built on the banks of a river from which
+it drinks; the Sultan's palace was his normal abode; the Europeans
+had not fled, seeing no danger, but that _on account of the alarming
+telegrams from Europe_, their Ministers in Tangier had advised them to
+withdraw, much against their will.
+
+So sweeping a contradiction of statements receiving daily confirmation
+from Tangier, heightened colour from Oran, and intensification from
+Madrid, must have been regarded as the ravings of a madman, for
+the interview was held over for a week for confirmation. Had not
+thirty-four correspondents descended on Tangier alone, each with
+expenses to meet? Something had to be said, though the correspondent
+nearest to the scene, in Fez, was two days' journey from it, and six
+from Tangier, the nearest telegraph station. It is true that some
+years ago an American boldly did the journey "From Fez to Fleet Street
+in Eight Days," by forgetting most of the journey to Tangier, but this
+was quite out-done now. Meanwhile every rumour was remodelled in Oran
+or Madrid, and served up afresh with confirmatory _sauce piquante_, _a
+la francaise_ or _a l'espagnol_, as the case might be. It was not till
+Reuter had obtained an independent, common-sense report, that the
+interview was published, my statements having been all confirmed,
+but by that time interest had flagged, and the British public still
+believes that a tremendous upheaval took place in Morocco just then.
+
+Yet, notwithstanding the detailed accounts of battles and reverses--a
+collation of which shows the "Father of the She-ass" fighting in
+several places at once, captured or slain to-day and fighting
+to-morrow, and so on--the Government of Morocco was never in real
+danger from the "Rogi's" rising, and the ultimate issue was never in
+doubt. The late Sultan, El Hasan, more than once suffered in person
+at the hands of the same tribes, defeats more serious than those
+experienced by the inadequate forces sent by his son.
+
+The moral of all this is that any news from Morocco, save that
+concerning Europeans or events on the coast, must be received with
+caution, and confirmation awaited. The most reliable accounts at
+present available are those of the _Times_ correspondent at Tangier,
+while the _Manchester Guardian_ is well informed from Mogador.
+Whatever emanates from Paris or Algeria, not referring directly to
+frontier events; or from Madrid, not referring to events near the
+Spanish "presidios," should be refused altogether, as at best it is
+second-hand, more often fabricated. How the London Press can seriously
+publish telegrams about Morocco from New York and Washington passes
+comprehension. The low ebb reached by American journals with one or
+two notable exceptions in their competitive sensationalism would of
+itself suffice to discredit much that appears, even were the countries
+in touch with each other.
+
+The fact is that very few men in Morocco itself are in a position
+to form adequate judgements on current affairs, or even to collect
+reliable news from all parts. So few have direct relations with the
+authorities, native and foreign; so many can only rely on and amplify
+rumour or information from interested sources. So many, too, of the
+latter _must_ make money somehow! The soundest judgements are to be
+formed by those who, being well-informed as to the conditions and
+persons concerned, and Moorish affairs in general, are best acquainted
+with the origin of the reports collected by others, and can therefore
+rightly appraise them.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Abbas, Shah of Persia, 280 _note_
+
+Abd Allah bin Boo Shaib es-Salih,
+  story of: protection system, 247-251
+
+Abd Allah Ghailan, former rebel leader, 274
+
+Abd el Hakk and the Widow Zaidah, story of the, 164, 165
+
+Addington, Mr., British Ambassador at Granada, 354
+
+Aghmat, capital of Southern Morocco, 5
+
+Ahmad II., "the Golden," addressed by Queen Elizabeth, 9
+
+Algeria, 281;
+  the French in, 294-296, 299;
+  viewed from Morocco, 307-317;
+  under French rule, 308-315;
+  failure as a colony, 309;
+  Arabs in, 313;
+  Moors in, 314;
+  mosques, 315;
+  tilework, 316;
+  field for scientist, 317
+
+Algiers (El Jazirah), the city and people, 310-316
+
+Alhambra, the, at Granada (_q.v._)
+
+_Al-moghreb Al-aksa_ on the political situation, 381-394
+
+Andorra, the Pyrenean republic of, 7, 337, 379;
+  its privileges granted by Charlemagne, 379
+
+Anglo-French Agreement, 276, 279, 301, 304, 381;
+  clauses in, 283, 293
+
+Anne, Queen, 9
+
+Arabs, the wandering, 57-62;
+  tent-life, 57-62;
+  food, 59;
+  hospitality, 60;
+  in Algeria, 313;
+  in Tunisia, 322
+
+
+B
+
+Beggars, native, 115, 116
+
+Berber race, 3, 6, 47-56;
+  pirates, 3;
+  men brave and warlike, 48, 49;
+  Reefian, 48, 50;
+  women often very intelligent, 51;
+  they, not Saracens or Arabs, real conquerors of Spain, 6, 54;
+  origin still a problem, 55;
+  Ghaiata Berbers in revolt, 271-273
+
+Boabdil, 356, 365
+
+Boo Ziaro Miliani, arrest and release of, 34
+
+
+C
+
+Cafe, Moorish, 159-165
+
+Carthage, 53;
+  Christian and Mohammedan, 53
+
+Charlemagne, 379
+
+Charles Martel, the "Hammer," 337
+
+Charles V., "improver" of Spanish monuments of Moorish art, 338,
+      350, 353
+
+Chess, 133, 144;
+  an Arab game, 134
+
+Child-life, Moorish, 94-101;
+  infancy, 95;
+  school days, 97;
+  youth, 99;
+  early vices, 101
+
+"Cid," the, El Mansur, 376
+
+City life in Morocco, 63-70
+
+Civil war in Morocco: Asni and the Ait Mizan, 261-266
+
+Coinage, Moorish, 23-25, 125
+
+Cordova, 337, 338-346, 375;
+  its famous mosque (cathedral), 338-345;
+  aisles, columns, arches, 339, 340;
+  the kiblah niche, 342;
+  Moorish worshippers in, 342;
+  European additions to, 343-345;
+  history of the town, 345
+
+Corrosive sublimate tea--for disgraced officials, 28
+
+
+D
+
+Debts in Morocco, how settled, 30-34
+
+Delbrel, M., leader of the "Rogi's" forces, 273
+
+Dining out in Morocco, 102-106
+
+Diplomacy in Morocco. _See_ Embassy
+
+Draughts, game of, 162
+
+
+E
+
+Edward I. and Eleanor of Castile, 376
+
+Edward VII. in Algeria, 281
+
+Elizabeth, Queen, 9
+
+El K'sar es-Sagheer, 6
+
+El Menebhi, ambassador to London and Minister of War, 268
+
+El Moghreb el Aksa, native name of Morocco, 14
+
+El Yazeed, Sultan in 1790, declares war on all Christendom, 10
+
+Embassy to court of Sultan, a typical, 206-232;
+  requisitioning provisions, 206, 207;
+  _personnel_ and _attaches_, 208, 209;
+  native agent, 209;
+  arrival at Marrakesh, 210;
+  reception, 212, 213;
+  the diplomatic interview:
+    ambassador, interpreter, and Sultan, 214-222;
+  the result:
+    as it appeared in the Press, 223;
+    as it was in reality, 224, 225;
+  diamond cut diamond, 226-230;
+  failure, and its causes, 227-230
+
+England and Morocco, 276, 293, 294, 381-394;
+  British trade, 280;
+  British policy in, 301-304;
+  Anglo-French Agreement (_q.v._);
+  "Morocco news," 381-394
+
+
+F
+
+Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 3, 334, 350, 353, 362, 378;
+  their nuptials the death-knell of Moorish rule in Europe, 7;
+  tomb of, 355
+
+Fez, founded by son of Mulai Idrees, 5;
+  Karueein mosque at, 44, 337, 339, 358
+
+Football, Moorish, 97, 137
+
+Ford's "Handbook to Spain," 357, 366, 373
+
+France in Morocco, 288, 292-305;
+  "policing" the frontier, 288;
+  her rule inevitable and desirable, 294-300;
+  hope for the Moors, 301, 305, 385;
+  Anglo-French Agreement (_q.v._);
+  in Algeria, 308-315;
+  in Tunisia, 318-320;
+  _see_ Political situation, the, and Appendix, 381-394
+
+
+G
+
+German interests in Morocco, 279-282
+
+Gerona: Sulaiman, Pepin, and Charlemagne, 378, 379
+
+Gibraltar, Moorish castle, 370
+
+Granada, 337, 352-365;
+  the Alhambra Palace, loveliest monument of Moorish art in Spain,
+      352-354, 356-362;
+  despoiled by Charles V. and the French, 353;
+  "Tia Antonia," 353, 354;
+  Morocco-like surroundings, 354;
+  mosques, 355;
+  tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella, 355;
+  remains of Cardinal Mendoza, 356, 377;
+  Bu Abd Allah's sword, 356, 365;
+  courts and halls of the Alhambra, 358-362;
+  other Moorish remains, 362-365
+
+
+H
+
+Hamed Zirari, story of: protection system, 242-246
+
+Hareems, royal, 73-75;
+  and other, 82-87
+
+Hasheesh, opium of Morocco, 130
+
+Hay, Sir John Drummond, 294
+
+Herbs, fragrant, use of, 86, 108, 122
+
+
+I
+
+Infant mortality in Morocco high, 96
+
+Irving, Washington, at Granada, 354;
+  his "Tia Antonia," 354
+
+Ismail the Bloodthirsty exchanges compliments with Queen Anne, 9
+
+
+J
+
+Jaca, site of desperate battle between Spaniards and Moors, 378
+
+Jelalli Zarhoni, the "Rogi," head of the revolt of the Ghaiata Berbers,
+    271-273
+
+Jewish interpreter, astute, 214-222
+
+Jews in Morocco, 16-17;
+  justice for, 252-260;
+  in Spain, traces of, 334
+
+
+K
+
+Kabyles, 54
+
+Kaid, the, and his court, 252-259
+
+Kesk'soo, the national dish, 59, 105, 121, 198, 266
+
+Khalia, staple article of winter diet, 197
+
+Koran, the, at schools, 97;
+  the standard work at colleges, 98
+
+Kufic inscriptions, 351, 361, 373, 375
+
+
+L
+
+_L'Aigle_ at Mogador and Agadir, 35
+
+"Land of the Moors, The," 292
+
+_Lex talionis_, 48
+
+
+M
+
+Machiavellian arts, Moors excel in, 38
+
+Madrid Convention of 1880 ... 282, 382;
+  essential features of, 289, 290
+
+Madrid, Moorish remains in, 376
+
+Malaga, Moorish dockyard, 370
+
+Market-place, Moorish, 107-110, 121-123, 125-132;
+  and marketing, 109, 113-115, 118-124
+
+Marrakesh, founded in the middle of the 11th century, 5;
+  kingdom of, 5, 14;
+  the Kutubiya at, 44, 337, 346
+
+Marriage in Morocco, 75, 77;
+  country wedding, 88-93;
+  feastings, presents, and rejoicings, 88-91
+
+Mauretania Tingitana, titular North African bishopric still, 3
+
+Mavrogordato, Kyrios Dimitri: typical embassy, 206-232
+
+Medicine-men, 166-178;
+  cupping, 167-169, 197;
+  exorcising, 169, 171;
+  cauterizing, 170;
+  charms, 172;
+  curious remedies, 174-177;
+  philtres and poisons, 177
+
+Mekka, pilgrimage to. _See_ Pilgrimage
+
+Mendoza, Cardinal, 355, 356;
+  remains of the Mendozas, 377
+
+Merchants, Moorish, 109, 113-115
+
+Merida, Muslim toleration at, 373
+
+Mokhtar and Zoharah, wedding of, 88-93
+
+Monk, General, 9
+
+Moors in Spain, traces of. _See_ Spain
+
+Morals, Moorish, lax, 39-44, 101
+
+Morocco: retrospect, 1-13;
+  of present day, 14-65;
+  races: Berbers, Arabs, Moors, 15-17, 47-62;
+  life of the people--society, business, pastime, religion, 63-204;
+  diplomacy (_q.v._);
+  law and justice, 233-260;
+  the political situation (_q.v._);
+  her neighbours, 307-331;
+  Moors in Spain (_q.v._);
+  "Morocco news," _Al-moghreb Al-aksa_, 381-394
+
+Morocco-Algerian frontier, France "policing" the, 288
+
+Mosques, French treatment of, 315, 319
+
+Mulai Abd Allah V., 1756, makes war upon Gibraltar, 11
+
+Mulai Abd el Aziz IV., present Sultan, 267-291
+
+Mulai Abd el Kader, a favourite saint, 115
+
+Mulai el Hasan III., late Sultan, 24, 40, 267
+
+Mulai Idrees, direct descendant of Mohammed, and early Arabian
+      missionary to Morocco, 4;
+  founded the Shurfa Idreeseein dynasty, 5
+
+Mulai Yakub el Mansur, builder of mosque towers at Seville, Marrakesh,
+      and Rabat, 347
+
+Musical instruments, 135, 139, 151, 160
+
+
+O
+
+Official rapacity, 28, 242-251, 252-260
+
+Orihuela, palms at, 371
+
+
+P
+
+Pawkers, Admiral, 11
+
+Pepys, Samuel, once on a Moorish Commission, 383
+
+Pilgrims to Mekka, 191-204;
+  sea-route preferred to-day, 191;
+  camp at Tangier, 192-200;
+  comforts and discomforts, 192-200;
+  a novel tent, 193-195;
+  food, 197-199;
+  returning home, 201-204
+
+Piracy of Moors, 7-9;
+  tribute extorted from European Powers, 9, 10, 12;
+  abandoned by Algiers, 12;
+  not wholly unknown to-day, 13
+
+Political situation, the, 267-291;
+  the Sultan and reforms, 268-270;
+  unsettled state of the empire, 270-275;
+  a change welcome, 276;
+  agreement among the three great Powers remote, 276;
+  Anglo-French Agreement (_q.v._);
+  famine and unrest, 277;
+  German interests, 280;
+  Spanish interests, 283;
+  conference proposed, 282, 284;
+  points for discussion, 285-288;
+  "Morocco news" must be received with caution, 381-394
+
+Postal reform needed, 286
+
+Powder play, 91, 94, 121, 135
+
+Prayer, Moslem, 69, 142, 152;
+  call to, 69, 70
+
+Prisons and prisoners, miserable, 233-241;
+  long terms, 234-237;
+  the lash, 238, 246;
+  the bastinado, 255;
+  Jews in, 260
+
+Protection system, the, 29, 242-251;
+  the need: story of Hamed Zirari, 242-246;
+  the search: story of Abd Allah bin Boo Shaib es-Salih, 247-251;
+  patent of, 251;
+  "farming," 251 _note_
+
+
+R
+
+Rabat, Hassan tower at, 347, 348
+
+Railways would be welcomed by the Sultan, 297
+
+Raisuli, rebel leader in the disaffected north, 273-275
+
+Rio Tinto copper-mines, 368
+
+Ronda, corn-mills at, 369
+
+Rosebery, Lord, on Morocco, 387
+
+Rudolf II., 1604: his active policy respecting Moroccan affairs, 280 _note_
+
+
+S
+
+Saragossa, the Aljaferia at, 378
+
+School, Moorish, 97, 98
+
+Seville, 337, 346-352, 367;
+  Giralda tower, 346-348;
+  palace, El Kasar, 349-351;
+  royal "improvers" of Moorish work, 350;
+  capital of Charles V., 352;
+  Moorish remains at, 367
+
+Sherley, Sir Anthony, 1604, adventurer and diplomatist, 280 _note_
+
+Shurfa Idreeseein dynasty founded by Mulai Idrees, 5
+
+Sidi Mohammed, son of Mulai Abd Allah V., 11
+
+Si Marzak and his fair Azizah, the loves of, 160-162
+
+Slave-markets, Marrakesh and Fez, 179-181
+
+Slavery in Morocco, 8, 17, _et passim_, 179-190;
+  sources of supply, 180;
+  girls for hareems, 181;
+  treatment fairly kind, 181, 182;
+  men have risen to high positions, 182;
+  use chiefly domestic, 183;
+  a slave-girl's cruel story, 185-190
+
+Smeerah, quaint incident at, 198
+
+Smin, use of, 112, 131
+
+Smith, Sir Chas. Euan, 206
+
+Snake-charming, 137, 151-158
+
+Social life, Moorish, 82-87
+
+Spain, Moorish empire in, founded by Berbers, 6, 54;
+  footprints of Moors in, 332-379;
+  place-names and words of Arabic origin, 333, 369;
+  physiognomy of the people, 335;
+  habits and customs, 335;
+  salutations, 336;
+  narrow streets, 336;
+  forts and mosques (churches), 337;
+  the mosque at Cordova (_q.v._);
+  Giralda and El Kasar at Seville (_q.v._);
+  the Alhambra at Granada (_q.v._);
+  other Moorish towns, villages, castles, and remains, 366-379;
+  women of, at the battle of Jaca, 378
+
+Sports and pastimes, Moorish:
+  active, 96, 133-137;
+  passive, 138-150, 151-158, 159-165
+
+Stamps and stamp-dealers, 287
+
+Story-teller, the, 122, 137, 138-150;
+  Mulai Abd el Kader and the Monk of Monks, 141-148
+
+
+T
+
+Tafilalt, home for discarded Sultanas, 73
+
+Tangier, English cede possession of, 9, 383;
+  drunkenness and vice, 41;
+  North African Mission, 42;
+  shopping in, 118-124;
+  market-place, 121-123;
+  Sunday market, 125-132;
+  salt-pans, 129;
+  English Church at, 132;
+  starting-place for Mekka pilgrims, 192, 196;
+  residence of ambassadors, 205;
+  gaol at, 233;
+  many Frenchmen at, 300
+
+Tarifa, Moorish remains at, 366
+
+Tarragona, cathedral of, 373
+
+Tea, making, 86, 103
+
+Tilework of Algeria, 316
+
+Toledo, 336, 373;
+  Moorish hydraulists, 374;
+  Ez-Zarkal's water-clocks, 374;
+  cathedral, 374;
+  sword-manufacture, 375
+
+Tortosa, ancient pirate stronghold, 372
+
+Tripoli, city and people, 326-331;
+  the Turkish element in, 326;
+  viewed from Morocco, 326-331;
+  mosques, 328;
+  irrigation, 330
+
+Tunis, city, 321, 322
+
+Tunisia, 299, 308;
+  viewed from Morocco, 318-325;
+  under French rule, 318-320;
+  Jews in, 319;
+  Arabs in, 322;
+  Moors in, 322;
+  women in, 325
+
+
+V
+
+Valencia, ancient Moorish paradise, 372
+
+
+W
+
+Water-carriers, Moorish, 132, 149
+
+Water-clocks, Ez-Zarkal's, 374
+
+Wazzan, Shareef of, present representative of Shurfa Idreeseein dynasty,
+        5, 296
+
+Wilhelm II. in Tangier Bay, 281
+
+Women of Morocco, occupations, 58, 62, 77, 111, 134;
+  seclusion, 64, 77, 83, 103, 107;
+  subservient position, 71-81, 107;
+  possibilities of influence, 73;
+  marriages, 75, 77, 88-93;
+  divorce, 76;
+  social visits, 82-87;
+  wearing apparel, 84;
+  excellent cooks, 85, 105, 111, 112;
+  slaves, 181, 183, 185, 190;
+  women in Tunisia, 325;
+  in Tripoli, 329
+
+
+X
+
+Xeres, Old, Moorish citadel, 367
+
+
+Z
+
+Zarhon, most sacred town, 5
+
+Zawiah of Sidi Abd er-Rahman, 316
+
+Zummeetah, "mixed," quaint story of, 198
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Page 6:   Missing accent added to Seville (Seville).
+Page 36:  corrected mis-matched quotes.
+Page 44:  restored missing ^ accent to Karueein
+Page 104: 'whch' corrected to 'which'.
+Page 128: 'beats' changed to 'beasts', to fit context.
+Page 130: 'flead' [sic]
+Page 153: corrected mis-matched quotes. ("And when at home? ')
+Page 185: 'Rabhah' is spelled 'Rabbah' in previous illustration.
+Page 198: sic: carraway/caraway
+Page 263: changed comma for period at sentence end. (sighted, This)
+Page 273: 'through' changed to 'though', to fit context.
+Page 274: 'accetpance' changed to 'acceptance'.
+Page 284: 'territoral' changed to 'territorial'.
+Page 289: carcase/carcass, both are correct: Oxford Dictionary.
+Page 299: sic: instal/install.
+Page 346: added missing accent to III SEVILLE (SEVILLE), for conformity.
+           (II CORDOVA is accented).
+Page 349: added missing accent to Giralda (Giralda), for conformity.
+Page 353: corrected 'architectual' to 'architectural'.
+Page 372: comma corrected to period. (a Moorish cistern hard by.)
+Page 296: colon corrected to semicolon. (Moorish worshippers in, 342;).
+Page 296: added comma (Debts in Morocco, how settled, 30-34).
+Page 377: added closing quote to "Castle of Ayub.
+Page 395: 'Bobadil' changed to 'Boabdil'.
+Page 395: removed extraneous '378' reference for Charlemagne.
+Page 396: removed extraneous '3' reference for Ferdinand and Isabella.
+Page 397: removed extraneous entry (368) for 'kufic inscriptions';
+          changed '575' to '375'.
+Page 398,399: Missing accent added to Seville (Seville).
+Page 399: missing accent added to Cordova (Cordova).
+Page 399: comma added after 'remains' (other Moorish towns, villages,
+          castles, and remains, 366-379;).
+Page 400: comma added after 'occupations' (Women of Morocco,
+          occupations, 58, 62, 77, 111, 134;).
+
+oe ligatures are indicated with [oe]
+
+I also removed the partial square brackets before or after the
+photographer's names accompanying Illustration titles.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond, by
+Budgett Meakin
+
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