|i^| ruiJ [ Tirflfr5i]|TLfilFruTJni^ lU u i i THE LIBRARIES COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY m m m i 1 1 i [a General Library ^ i |g| finJfruiQf rirg f rirDfiifi^ IN CONVERSATION WITH KAID LHARBI The scene is a room' in the ''palace" assigned us as temporary residence by His Holiness, the Shareef of Wazzan, in the Sacred City of i\^azzan. The conversation is in Spanish — halting Spanish on the part of both the Moorish soldier and the Ameri- can traveler. The subject discussed is the relative breadth of the territory of the Empire of Morocco and that of the United States. The Moor maintains that his coun- try is ten times broader than the United States because it takes forty days to traverse it — by caravan! aiA3 HTIW M0ITA8^aVM03 KI la^AHJ '^33£l£q^* odi ni "mooi b ai snaoa srIT siH YcT aonabigai xi-sioqjnnsl as au bsngiaaB ddi ni ^n^ss^V/ io iaaiBrlS edi ^aaariiloH nohBa'iavnoD silT .n^ss^Vi ^o xi'O baiDBS iiBq siil no dainaqS §nbl£3 — ifainBqS ni ai -hamA arfi bnB isibloa ilahooM sifi jrilod io ddi ai bsaauDaib :Jo3[djja sifT .labvBil n&o edi lo xioihi^i sdi \o dibLsid evliEhi hsi'iaU edi \o i&di bus odooioM \o siiqma -nuoD eirl isdi aniBlniBm loolA odT .zdi&iS b9:tinU aiil nBifJ labBoid asmil asi ai "^J saisvBiJ oJ a^Bb \ii6i zsA&i ii. ezuEoed a9iB:t8 InBVBiBD xd — ii BuKCm HoLM^ ^*^^ ■■!■! ^. mAor VOLUME ONE 1919 The Tr^vIelogue BungAu CaHCAGO NEW YORK Copyright, 1908, by E. Burton Holmes Copyright, 1914, by E. Burton Holmes Copyright, 1917, by E. Burton Holmes Copyright, 1919, by E. Burton Holmes All rights reserved St ,4- BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Mr. Holmes has been asked to supply data for a biographical sketch. He replies that his biography will be found in his Travelogues, each being a chapter from his life of travel. Elias Burton Holmes was born in January, 1870, in Chicago. In 1883 he became interested in photography, devoting much time to picture- making in the course of his earlier travels in the United States, Cuba, and Mexico. In 1886 he made his first European tour. In 1890 a second and longer tour of England and the Continent gave him the material for his first lecture, "Through Europe with a Camera," which he presented, as an amateur, before the members of the Chicago Camera Club. In 1893 he made his first professional appearance, presenting "Japan — The Country," and "Japan — The Cities," at the Recital Hall of the Aviditorium, Chicago, then introducing illustrations all in color for the first time in connection with travel lectures. During the five following years the Burton Holmes lectures won in- creasing recognition in the cities of the Middle West. In 1897-98 Mr. Holmes established courses in the larger Eastern cities, then introducing Motion Pictures for the first time. In 1904 he appeared in England, lecturing on American scenic subjects at Queen's Hall, in London, then using the word '"Travelogues" to describe his entertainments. He now appears annually in New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Washing- ton. Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Louis, and San Francisco, giving from ten to twenty performances in each city, presenting five new subjects every season. In spite of the increasing demands upon his time for platform work, Mr. Holmes continues to devote from five to eight months of the year to travel and the preparation of his Travelogues. €2y- TO MY THREE FOREWORD "7(9 Travel is to Possess the World" In the foreword to the First Edition of the Travelogues I took occasion to express my gratitude to the lecture-going public who. by their generous support given to the platform presentations of the Travelogues, made possible for me the journeys described in these ten volumes. I have now a new public to thank — the reading public — and. to my readers I wish now to express my sincere gratitude for the favor with which they have received the Travelogues as they appear between the covers of these books. It is difficult for one who, for nearly twenty years, has been traveling as a "deputy sightseer" for so many auditors and readers, not to feel that throughout all these long, busy, interesting years, he has had the best of the bargain. But I am encouraged to believe that the return I bring is fair and just exchange for the wander-privilege that I enjoy, and to believe as well, that not a little of the pleasure that I find in travel is shared by those for whom and by whose favor I travel and thereby "possess the world." I ask nothing better than to be permitted to continue the work which, begun as a labor of love, has now become both a vocation and an avocation. I wish again to acknowledge the del)t of gratitude I owe to my fellow- workers, whose efforts have contributed in so large a measure to the success of the Travelogues : To Katherine Gordon Breed, who was the first to realize the possibilities of the art of coloring lantern slides ; to Helen E. Stevenson, to whose exquisite skill and artistic discrimination are due the color-beauty and the convincing truthfulness of the illustra- tions of all the later Travelogues ; to Oscar Bennett Depue, who, since our first lecture, in 1890, has operated the projecting instruments with imfailing accurac}- and skill — who since the introduction of ^vlolion Pictures, in 1897, has devoted himself to the perfecting of the art of Cinematography, and who has been for many years and in many lands the ever helpful comiianion of my tra\els, and to Louis Francis Brown, who, with business aljility and tact, has directed the public presentations of the Travelogues. E. Burton Holmes. Honolulu, March 4, 1908. INTO MOROCCO J^,.lfm*, 'f^"^il ,^k ^'^t !r^'' ''!S?L.'.. NTO MOROCCO THE transatlantic steamers, that every season bear so many of our fellow-countrymen from our own shores directly to the ports of Italy, pass, as all travelers know, through the Gibraltar Straits. Those who have sailed this course undoubtedly recall with a thrill of pleasure the morning when, after eight days upon the broad Atlantic, they waked to find on either hand the shores of a great continent, — the hills of Spain upon the north, and op- posite, the grim forbidding mountains of Morocco. They will recall, as well, those two gigantic rocky promontories which guard the western entrance to the Mediterranean, — those historic Pillars of Hercules called by the ancients Calpe GIBRALTAR 14 INTO MOROCCO and Abyla, — the rocks that for the men of that time marked the extreme western boundary of the known world. For centuries Calpe and Abyla, sea-girt mountains torn asunder by some god of might, were looked upon as the very ends of the earth. Beyond them no man dared venture. Calpe is now the famous fortress of Gibraltar, a bit of Spain held by the British Empire. Abyla, upon the shore of Africa, is now the penal colony Ceuta, a piece of Moorish territory, con- quered and held by force of Spanish a r m s . At the bases of these two mighty cliffs the waters of two oceans mingle ; for there the wide Atlantic, the waterway of the new world, touches the historic inland ocean, around the shores of which are grouped the nations that have ruled the world in ages past. The narrow channel that links the seas together serves also to separate two lands so widely dissimilar that nowhere in the world may the traveler, with so little effort, enjoy a greater shock of contrast than by crossing the Gibraltar Strait from Southern Spain to Tangier, in Morocco. In the space of a few short hours he may there go back a thousand years ; pass from to-day to a mysterious yesterday, strangely remote from us in life and thought. Within sight of the shores of Europe, within sight of the Spanish railway stations, within sound of the cannon of Gibraltar, he will find a land in which there are no roads of any sort, a people who still use in war the picturesque Arabian flintlock and the clumsy yataghan ; he will find a remnant of the Middle Ages, so perfectly preserved by the peculiar embalming influ- ence of the Mohammedan religion that the Morocco of to- day differs little from the Morocco of the year one thousand. CAPE SPARTEL LIGHT INTO MOROCCO 17 One of the most keenly relished moments of my life was the moment when that tiny patch of white, at first so like a drift of snow on the distant Moorish hills, finally resolved itself into a city of strange African aspect, and our ship dropped anchor in what the Moors are pleased to call the harbor of Tangier. At last we are about to touch the shore of the strangest, most inaccessible, and most mysterious land A CITY LIKE A DRIFT OF SNOW that borders on the Mediterranean. Algeria and Tunis have been modernized by France ; railways transport pilgrims to and from the Holy Sepulcher in Palestine ; Egypt is but an Anglo-Saxon playground ; Greece also has her roads of steel, her daily papers, and her parliament. But Morocco remains unique. Isolated from the world of to-day, and — -thanks to that isolation — -completely independent, the Empire of the Moorish Sultan has preserved the customs and traditions INTO MOROCCO of its past, untouched by modern civilization, unchanged by Euro- pean influence. The land is to-day as it was, and as it shall be — at least until it be conquered by the in- fidel, and the throne of the descendants of the Prophet be overthrown by the enemies of Allah. Meantime, the con- temporary devotees of Allah have taken cog- nizance of our arrival. Lighters are quickly manned, and we are treated to an excellent representation of the manner in which Christian ships were boc-rded and BOARDING THE SHIP INTO MOROCCO 19 pillaged by Barbary pirates, in the day when the Corsairs ruled the sea, and all Christendom paid forced tribute to the Sultans, Deys, and Bashas of the Barbary States. A horde of turbaned porters and guides overrun the decks, seize indis- criminately all visible handbags, bundles, and boxes, and toss them, yelling madly all the while, into the boats which rise and fall alongside as the huge swells from the Atlantic glide swiftly under- neath our ship. Emulating wise and pious Moslems, we decide to trust in Allah for the recovery of our belongings in due time ; and, while the battle of the baggage rages, we turn our attention to a neighboring cattle-ship, where the embarkation of its bovine passengers is proceeding with much celerity and con- siderable discomfort to the unhappy creatures. The horns of each steer are bound with rope ; a hook descends, is engaged in the loops ; the donkey-engine snorts, and skyward go the astonished steers, two at a time, in attitudes painfully undig- nified. But painful as is this rise in beef, the worst is still 20 INTO MOROCCO to come. To land the animal in the proper place upon the deck, fearless Arabs seize his tail, and by a series of vigorous yanks and twists cause the suffering creat- ure to alight with his nose pointed toward the pen in which he may leisurely re- adjust his elongated carcass, recover from his undisguised indignation, and console himself by watching the pre- cipitate arrival of some other steer with whom he may have had unfriendly rela- tions on the Moorish plains. Thus it is that hundreds of head of Moorish cattle begin their fatal voyage across the strait ; for vast quantities of Moroccan beef go to feed the lean and hungry Spaniard, or to supply the brawn and muscle of Gibraltar's sturdy English garrison. Having witnessed the acme of this cruelty, we observe with comparative unconcern the unceremonious manner in A l.ill. OK WOK PERSUASIVE METHODS INTO MOROCCO 21 which the animals are persuaded to enter the Hghters. A yelHng band of Arabs and negroes boost and shove the resist- ing brute up the gangplank and tumble him head foremost into an already crowded boat, where he regains his feet as best he may. The thuds of falling bodies, the wild cries of the savage workers, continue until, the cargo complete, the craft puts off. THE BEACH Looking around we find that we have neared the beach, above which rise the frowning walls of old Tangier. Formerly all passengers landed on the beach, and in rough weather the arrival of a tourist party was a diverting spec- tacle, the frightened passengers being carried from the toss- ing rowboats to the sandy beach upon the broad backs of native porters. These porters are invariably Jews, for we are given to understand that no self-respecting Moslem would bend his back to so vile a burden as the carcass of a "Chris- tian dog. ' ' We almost regret the tameness of our own 22 INTO MOROCCO arrival, for, thanks to a comparatively calm sea, our boats are able to approach the little pier, and to land us without danger or discomfort save that occasioned by the pressing curiosity of the crowd assembled to watch the coming of the money- spending infidel. The pier, by the way, represents the one harbor-improve- ment grudgingly executed by the Moors. The harbor of Tangier could be made most secure at small expense, but the Moors prefer not to tamper with it. ' ' God made it so, ' ' they tell us ; " we would not presume to alter the wise arrange- ments of the Almighty. ' ' They did not even attempt to repair the old breakwater built by the English years ago and blown up by them upon the close of the brief British occupa- tion. The mention of a British occupation recalls a bit of history. Tangier was taken by the Portuguese in 1471. By them it was held until a Portuguese princess, Catarina of Bra- ganza, went to England as the bride of Charles the Second. She brought to him a splendid dower, including two then THE PIER INTO MOROCCO 23 THE HARBOR DK TANGIICR unimportant pieces of real estate, — the island of Bombay in far-off India, and this city of Tangier at the Mediterranean's western gate. Strange indeed the fate of these two bits of real estate. Bombay, the hopeless, far-away possession, became in time the glorious Indian Empire. Tangier, with its unrivaled situation at one of the great doorways of the western world, was held for twenty years, and then, through sheer stupidity, abandoned to barbarism. It was returned by England to the Moors as a free gift ; a transaction almost unique in Britain s history. But we must not forget that Gibraltar was not yet a cushion for the British lion s paw ; had it been so, another paw would have rested firmly on this Moorish shore, insuring to England absolute control of the Gibraltar Strait. But if the Anglo-Saxon armies long since relinquished this invaluable prize, the Anglo-Saxon tourist has made Tangier his own. Having passed the solemn Moors who sit at the water-gate at receipt of custom, we find ourselves in a trough-like passage above which rises that stronghold of the 24 INTO MOROCCO globe-trotter, the Continental Hotel. It appears like a huge grin ujDon the frowning face of the walled cit)- ; and its hos- pitable and cheery aspect contradicts the hostile impression produced by the cannon on the ramparts and the scowling looks of some of the inhabitants. Let not the tourist be disappointed because a modern structure first obtrudes itself Tangier is not the real Morocco ; it is a Moslem seaport, defiled by con- tact with an in- fidel world. The late Sul- tan of Morocco disowned the city. When last he came and be- held the changes wrought by for- eigners, it is said that he exclaim- ed: "Allah con- found these greedy Chris- tians! — they have stolen from me my beautiful Tangier !" The crowd we see near yonder doorway is gath- ered by a distri- bution of pennies to the poor, — THE CONTINENTAL HOTEL INTO MOROCCO 27 an act of charity performed every week by the officials of the custoni-house. How superbly important seems the white robed Moor charged with the graceful task of pressing into every outstretched dirty palm a shining Spanish copper worth about two cents, while his assistant keeps his eyes well open to detect repeaters. Every now and then there is a lively row, resulting from the detection of some clever unfortunate. A CROWD 1.IF MENDICANTS who has changed rags with a fellow pauper, and has complacently applied for a second dose of governmental generosity. Utter poverty and black misery are depicted upon the rags and visages of the expectant throng — even the babies wear oldish, knowing expressions on their little faces. A strange feature is the curious little pigtail worn by the boys, — a pigtail growing all awry, sprout- ing, not from the crown, but from one side of the head. The pigtail is an agent of salvation ; on it depends the 28 INTO MOROCCO PENNIES FOR THE POOR hope of heaven; for we are told that at the day of judgment Allah is to lift the righteous faithful by their pigtails into paradise. Apro- pos of this state- ment and other statements heard in the course of our journey, it may be well to quote an Arab maxim: " Never believe all you hear; for he who believes all he hears often will believe that which is not. " Another maxim from the same source contains excellent advice for the traveler, and much comfort for the lazy: " Do not do all that you can; for he who does all he can, often will do that which he should not. " Another is a pearl of great price to the returned traveler especially: " Do not say all you know; for he who says all he knows often will say that which he knows not." There is yet a ' ' I^o not spend all you have; for he who spends all he hath, often will spend that which he hath not. " The arrival in Tangier is unlike that in any other city in the world. Every native face is a type, every group a \hTER picture. We begin to 1 ASTING GOVERNMENTAL lovc thc dirt, thc smclls GENEROSITY fourth gem of Arabian wisdom with a similar setting: INTO MOROCCO 29 (not all bad ones, by any means, merely strange foreign smells suggestive of what old and Oriental), and as we make way into the perplexing maze of Tangier's weird little alleys, we seem to have taken a journey backward through the ages. Our sensations might be those of one suddenly transported from this familiar earth to a strange planet ; and yet the hills of Spain are seen across the straits. A group of water-carriers earnestly discussing some important piece of news that probably will never be published to the Christian world, forms a picture almost Biblical in its antiquity. They are retailers of that prec- ious beverage, — the beverage of all the worshipers of Allah, — the true gift of God, pure water. We can forgive the Moslem many things, because he never has been, and, so long as he clings to the religion of his fathers, never will be, a drunkard. The water-bags are goat-skins, the long neck serving as a faucet ; but although we are as thirsty as the African sun itself, we do not patronize these itinerant fountains ; being newly come to Tangier, our squeamishness interferes with an indulgence in many little comforts ; but what a surprising revolution will be worked by an expedition into Morocco ! We shall return from the interior with adamantine sensibilities as regards such trifles. But to-day we are open to impressions of all kinds. So COMRADES IN POVERTY 30 INTO MOROCCO dazed are we by the strangeness of our surroundings that we have left no words with which to express our delight when, stepping out at last upon the balcony of our hotel, we look down upon Tangier, the ' ' White City of the Straits. ' ' Below us is the beach, dotted with the rude camps of pilgrims who are awaiting ships for Mecca; above it are tiers of batteries: beyond we see a mass of white cubes, the dwelling-houses of WATER CARRIERS the Moors. A dainty minaret, green-tiled and graceful, rises from this angular snow-bank; near it, the flags of foreign nations float above their respective consulates and legations. Strange indeed this mingling of the Occi- dental and the Oriental, beautiful indeed this city of Tangier, the sentinel city of Morocco, posted here at the corner of Africa to watch with jealous eyes for the coming of the inevitable conqueror who is to sally forth from the gates of Christendom, dimly discerned across the Gibraltar Channel. Of small account will be these batteries, furnished with anti- INTO MOROCCO 33 quated cannon. These crippled dogs of war rend nothing more tangible than air, and damage nothing but ear-drums. And frequently is the air rent, and the ear assaulted, for the arrival of every man-of-war is greeted with a ferocious salvo of artillery, at sound of which the Moors gaze proudly sea- ward, expand their chests, recall the days when Moorish corsairs ruled the seas, and dream of future victories for the armies of the Prophet. The sunshine in this land is wonderful ; at seven in the morning it is so brilliant that we cannot bear the reflection from the chalky housetops, and recover the use of our eye- sight only when in the dark and narrow corridors that serve the Tangerines in lieu of streets. The thoroughfare which every visitor must traverse when going from the hotel to the great or lesser market-places, is distinctly banal m aspect. It is the leading shopping street of the European resi- THE WHITE CITY OF THE STRAITS 34 INTO MOROCCO dents ; its shops are stuffed with canned provisions, patent- medicines, and playing-cards, while a saloon or two make known their presence, even to the blind, by strong gin-like aromas wafted thence. When lost in the laby- rinthine maze of Moorish Tan- gier, the foreigner has but to follow his nose to reach the place where rum and brandy are on sale, and European civilization Avell in evidence. Then he may emerge into the lesser market-place, or " Soko, " as it is called in local speech. Here he finds one tiny French cafe and the postal stations of England, Spain, and France ; for as Morocco's postal-service is on a par with its other govern- mental enterprises, these nations each maintain post-offices in Tangier and an elaborate courier service in the interior. European mails now penetrate to Fez, even to Mequinez and Morocco City, with tolerable dispatch and certainty. While we refresh ourselves at the cafe, we are amused by the ape-like antics of a negro from the far-away province of Suss. His wig of wool is hung with shells and teeth and nails, all of which clatter as he dances to the music of a f>air of iron castanets. THE STREET OF ErROPEAN SHOPS INTO MOROCCO 35 But he cannot compare in picturesqueness with this other visitor — a superb representative of the saintly beggar class. So imposing a revelation of dignity in rags it is not possible to find among men of any other race or creed. We learn that this haughty mendicant is crazy ; that in Morocco, insanity is the most valuable asset of those who desire to engage in what European residents irreverently term the "saint business. " The Moors are convinced that if the mind of a man inhabit not his body, it is because God, having discerned in that mind much beauty of holiness, retains it in paradise as a thing too precious to be sent with the man to earth. Therefore great consideration should be shown for the mortal coil pertaining to THE CAFE IN THE LITTLE SOKO 36 INTO MOROCCO that mind. Thus "crazy" has become a synonym for "sanctified, " and an insane man has but to mumble prayer^s, and watch his saner fellow-citizens vie with one another in propitiating him with gifts and offerings. But sometimes this insanity is only feigned, and some of these weird charac- ters are in reality agents of the militant Moslem brotherhoods of Tripoli and Tunis, charged with the spreading of a Mohammedan propaganda and the keeping alive of bitter anti-Christian agitation. If we follow this splendid miserable^ we shall pres- ently lose sight of him in the confusion of the be-draped, be-hooded crowd surging through the upper gate that opens toward the greater market-place, or " Soko, " on the high ground behind the city. The women are closely veiled and buried in the , ,. ;* " -Skcs. smothering folds of the white ^^P"^ '•*^ %^ woolen haik. ' ' ,^^. »^^ All rich M* ^ SINGING NEGRO FROM THE SUSS INTO MOROCCO 37 DIGNITY IN RAGS men wear the colored caftan, or the white burnoose, and some are draped in muslin veils ; the poor men wear the rough brown jelaba, a sack-like garment with a pointed hood. On feet that are not bare are yellow slippers ; on the heads, a red fez, a white turban, or a monkish-looking hood. The Soko on Thursday or on Sunday (local market-days) is a sight to be remembered. The market-place itself is, literally, out of sight ; during the night and early morning, living things, from men to mules, from women to camels, and things inanimate, from eggs to beef and mutton, from oats to olive oil, have been gathered together, spread out, heaped up, forming a mass that moves and gives forth cries and odors. Twice every week the sun looks down upon a scene like this. Here in the Soko is the true frontier between the Christian and the Moslem worlds. Here is the border- land of the real Africa ; here couriers from Fez and from the desert region farther south meet the postmen of the European 38 INTO MOROCCO services; here siirgfes the murky tide of African humanity ; here breaks th last sun-crested wave of continental civilization ; here top-hats and turban mingle ; here Europe ends and Africa begins. From the windows of the legation of a European nation which open upon the Soko, there are wafted lively measures of piano melody ; and these are al- most drowned by the prayers of beggars, the vociferations of the trading throng, and the incantations of half-crazy conjurors. Conquering our first emotion of aversion, almost of fear, we press through the ill- smelling, yelling crowd, and work our way to the front rank A SPLENDID THt: BE-DRAPED, BEHOODED CROWD INTO MOROCCO 39 THE BORDERLAND OF THE REAL AFRICA of a magician's audience. The conjuror welcomes us with curses, and refuses to continue his performance until our -■-^ THK SOKO ON SUNDAY 40 INTO MOROCCO :v RSING CONJUROR cameras have been lowered, and our offering of money has been cast into the ring of specta- tors. Then, muttering strange prayers, he gathers from the ground a handful of straw, calls on his god, and on the gen- erosity of the onlookers, and blowing upon the straw causes it miraculously to burst into flames, which instantly consume it. More offerings are then demanded, more prayers are said, and more unflattering remarks are made concerning us ; for to curse and to insult a Christian is a pious deed. Another trick is performed : A youth is (supposedly) hypnotized, and while he seems unconscious, a long bodkin is thrust through the flesh of his throat and the ends left protruding, while the old fakir takes up the most successful collection of the afternoon. Because we do not give more silver coins instead of Moorish coppers, the holy wonder-worker exhausts his stock of anti- Christian expletives, much to the edification of his sympa- thetic congregation. So great is the hatred of Christians on the part of the lower classes that even the beggars return £^'^ " ^^i ■^^.^^^' -^, "MAY ALLAH HHKX ^•()|■k G K AN I) M( )ri I I. K:'" INTO MOROCCO 43 HYPNOTIZED ! curses instead of thanks, atoning for the sin of receiving unclean Christian money by calling down the wrath of heaven, not only upon our heads, but also upon the heads of all who are dear to us, or related to us, even unto the fourth and fifth generation of those who have preceded us and are responsible for our existence. One simple and popular anathema is, " May Allah burn your grandmother ! " Another expresses the wish that the wife of your great-grandfather may enjoy perpetual torridity in the nether world. The blind mendicants beg in little companies of six or eight. One sightless horrible, standing, cries aloud for charity in the name of his companions. These are not 44 INTO MOROCCO pleasant sights, but no true impression of Tangier can be imparted if we leave out of the picture the rags, the beggars, and the dirt. One more sad spectacle must suffice — that of an old beggar, shriveled by age, baked by the cruel sun, bent beneath the burden of many hopeless years, not even clad in rags, but merely covered with a mat of straw — a superlative expression of Moroccan miser}'. Here we may recall the story of the English clergyman, who, touched at the sight of all this misery and ignorance, resolved to tell the gospel-story to the people of Tangier — to make a public exhortation in the market-place. With the greatest difficulty he secured a capable interpreter, for most of the hotel guides feared to assist him in his rash and dangerous crusade. When the pious preacher began his sermon in the market-place, he was not only surprised, but thoroughly delighted at the reverence with which his glowing • * words, translated by A PI'.TTV IKANSACTION INTO MOROCCO 45 MOROCCAN MISERY his guide, were received by the atten- tive throng of Moslems. When he had finished, he was even urged to speak again. Undoubtedly the good man car- ried away a soul filled with joy because of the good seed he had planted here. One English news- paper chronicled the marked interest shown by the heathen in the words of Christian truth ; but it is to be hoped that the good man will never learn that while he stood in the center of this meeting place and spoke, his diplomatic interpreter and guide not only held the respectful ears of the crowd, but possibly saved the missionary's life by cleverly turning the orthodox sermon into one of the favorite romances from the "Arabian Nights. " No, it is virtually impossible to turn the Moslem from the faith of his fathers. His religion forms tco intimate a part of 46 INTO MOROCCO his daily life ; his religious fasts and festivals are observed with a strictness that is absolute. We chanced to witness the celebration of the great feast called Aid-el-Kebir. The early morning finds us on a hillside near the market, where there is gathered a multitude of spectral forms. Here the slanting rays of the newly risen sun draw out all shadows to a grotesque length, while from the midst of the assemblage MOSLEM SALVATIONISTS there bursts a cloud of smoke which like a veil conceals the wild tribesmen who are there performing a fantastic powder-play with old-fashioned noisy flintlocks. An hour later the populace repairs to the high-walled garden of a suburban mosque to witness the sacrifice of a magnificent ram. The ram, however, is not allowed to die in peace, for according to an ancient custom its bleeding body must be borne swiftly down through the city streets to the great INTO MOROCCO 49 mo&que in the lower town, where, if it arrives living, the omen for the year is pronounced good; if dead, the wise men shake their heads and prophesy disaster. Hence are the swiftest runners employed to dash with the dying burden across the Soko, into the city gates, down abrupt alleys to the other sanctuary. Like a host of madmen they rush past us, the sheep slung in a basket dragged by four men. Thrice do the bearers stumble, thrice is the bleeding mass rolled in the dust, thrice is the mad race resumed, the people urging on the panting runners with cries, and sticks, and stones. The sacrificial ram is dead upon arriving at the mosque, yet it is given out by the authorities that it was still alive. The NEAR THIC .sUi:rKi;A.\ MOSQUE so INTO MOROCCO THE BASHA OF TANGIER disorderly mob disappears through the arched portals of the town, and a dignified procession crosses the Soko. The Basha, or Governor, of the province of Tangier, with his mounted escort, is returning from the recent ceremony. Although his salary is only seventy-five dollars a month, this wise official, by strict economy, has grown very rich. He, like all the swells, rides a handsome mule; for m Morocco mules enjoy much favor and are preferred to horses for long journeys and for city promenades; in fact, for everything, save battle. A feast is held in every house upon this sacred day, a sheep being sacrificed for each adult member of the family. INTO MOROCCO 51 :>*'■ M'.< THE SACRIFICIAL RAM We see many a woolly burden carried through the streets upon the shoulders of the purchaser. Other means also are employed for the successful home-bring- ing of the fatted creatures. One man will attempt to drag the balky ram by the horns; another, more clever, will seize the hind feet and shove the sheep along as one would push a wheelbarrow, the result being a wildly zigzag progress down the steep, narrow streets. Throughout the entire Moslem world this day of Aid-el-Kebir is celebrated. At Mecca, the fountain-head of the Moslem faith, a hundred and twenty thousand sheep are put to the knife at each recurrence of the festival. Even in Tangier the feast may be likened to an ovine Saint Bartholomew Massacre, a day as fatal to these woolly victims as is Thanksgiving day to the devoted gobblers of New England. The city becomes a mammoth butcher- shop; the gutters in the narrow streets run red with blood. To escape these little tragedies, we make our way up to the higher regions of the town, where the Palace of the Governor, the Treasury Building, and the Prison are found in close proximity to one another. \\'e find the palace inaccessible, the treasury empty, and the prison full. The prison externally is a blank, white structure, high and in sad want of repair. We enter a small vestibule, _f^ where several lazy guards are stationed; they indicate an opening in the wall, a window, protected by heavy bars and closed by a thick AN OVINE SAINT BARTHOLOMEW 52 INTO MOROCCO metal shutter. This, they say, is the unique means of ingress to the prison. No means of egress is required, for prisoners seldom come thence alive. A hasty glance through a round hole in the metal shutter reveals a filthy, spacious hall, crowded with animated mummies loosely wrapped in earth-colored tatters. We are told that no food is furnished to the prisoners save that which may be brought by pitying THE ONLY DOORWAY TO THE PRISON outsiders, friends of the unfortunates within. The govern- ment allows its victims the one privilege of reaching out through the little aperture for the bread of pity. Some of ths prisoners make colored baskets, like those which hang upon the wall, and eke out an existence by the sale of these. The presence of a traveler becoming known in the den, baskets by the dozen come tumbling out to tempt him in charity to buy. While it is difficult for a man to get out of the prison, it is absolutely impossible for a man to enter the harem of the INTO MOROCCO 55 THK KASHA S PALACE AND THE TREASURY neighboring palace of the Basha; but foreign women are sometimes presented to the Basha's wives. One feminine visitor reports that the mys- terious beauties examined carefully the details of her dress. " Oh, " said one to another, as she discovered that the white hands were gloved, " see! — the American lady has two skins upon her hands!" In reply to a question as to what little present might be welcome, one Oriental matron replied with much enthusiasm, "Ah, send us from your country some of those pretty little combs with the fine teeth — they are so much more useful than our coarse ones, and — we need them very much ! ' ' Leaving the inhospitable palace, we descend to the one building of all Tangier, in which we are certain to receive a cor- dial welcome. The shield of the United States Consulate-Gen- eral dispels the Moorish gloom of at least one dim thoroughfare. Here in this land of despotism and darkness it shines forth like a symbol of liberty and light. The Consul-General, Dr. 56 INTO MOROCCO J. J. Barclay, tells us with justifiable pride that "his grandfather, the Hon. Thos. Bar- clay, negotiated the first treaty between the United States and the Empire of Morocco. He shows us two interesting documents; one, the Consular Commis- sion signed by George Washington; the other, the Exe- quatur granted by the Sultan to the first Consul of the young American Republic. The fol- lowing is a transla- tion of the Exequa- tur, made by the offi- cial interpreter of the Consulate - General: "In the name of God, the Clement and Merciful. There is no strength or force but in God, the High and Eternal. From Abdallah Mohammed, Ben Abdallah, in whom the Almighty deposited his confidence. AT tup: n. s. consi'laii: IMPERIAL SEAL "To the great President of the American States: I salute you with empressment, and hope in God you are well. The Ambassador, Thomas Barclay, has come to us bearing a prec- ious letter from the Spaniard Charles. We have read it, and INTO MOROCCO 57 we understand all its contents in which you asked us peace with you like the other Christian nations with whom you have made peace. We accept your demand, and peace be between us on land and sea, and according to the Treaties you demanded from us. We have written this in our letter to you, to which I affixed my Sheriffian seal, and we have ordered all our em- ployees in my seaports to do with your vessels and merchandise that go to my seaports, as they do with those of the Spaniards, and your vessels can enter, and anchor with safety in any of my seaports you choose, from Tetuan to Wadnoon; they can also buy and sell, and do business for themselves, and they can depart. We have answered just like this to the great Spaniard Charles, who wrote me a letter on your behalf. I join with you in perfect peace and friendship. In peace. "This is written the tirst day of the blessed month of Ramadan 1200(1785-1786)." THE HOME OF MR. PERDICARIS 58 INTO MOROCCO To Dr. Barclay we confided our cherished plans for a journey into Morocco, and asked him to advise, assist, and guide us. He became most zealous in our cause; made light of the difficulty and danger said to attend the journey, spoke in glowing terms of the pleasures and surprises in store for us. Within the week all the formalities incident to our departure are complied with. The Moorish Minister of For- eign Affairs has graciously granted us permission to traverse the Empire of his Master, the Sultan of Morocco, and he has provided us with letters to many provincial chiefs, and to the Governor of Fez, the capital. He has promised us a military escort equal to our needs, and has called down blessings upon us, and has accepted the usual little token of our high esteem in the form of a pile of Spanish dollars. All this we owed to the good offices of Dr. Barclay, to whom also we owed U„y .,«./ „.„y,..,.,„.-.,., . W.-/ ,-. „///,..„„, 1,,,^ '-../i,,/. ■A:.. - ■' ' '•■/"■'-'■ "- COMMISSION OK CONSLX THOMAS BAKCI,A^■ SKiXED B^■ GEORGE WASHINGTON INTO MOROCCO 59 ::^%- J ^;^ I f — rb ^^U-g^ Ju^I^jCm EXEQUATUR OF THE FIRST L'. S. CONSUL TO TANGIER a delightful glimpse of the gay social life led by the foreign residents and diplomats in old Tangier. The hillsides round about the city are dotted with luxurious, palatial villas, in the drawing- rooms of which cosmopolitan gatherings d i s - cuss the latest continental news in half a dozen languages. Ac- cord i n g to an English dictum, ' ' Society in Tan- gier is split into three factions, — those who will know one another, those who won 't know one another, and those who must know one another, but don't like to." There are artists, musicians, and diplomats, millionaires and globe-trotters, and ex-consuls and ex-ministers by the dozen ; for they say that when one has lived in Tangier, it is not pos- sible to be contented elsewhere. Therefore many men who come hither for a few years of diplomatic service, end by purchasing hillside villas and becoming permanent residents. 6o INTO MOROCCO A LAST LOOK AT TANGIER Tangerine hospitality is famous for its freedom, but we have little time for social dissipations. Every moment is occupied in preparations for departure. A few days more and we are to leave this most attractive corner of Cosmopolis, bid farewell to friends, to comfort, and to civilization. The hotel will give place to the tent, the daily pony-canter on the beach to the long weary marches of our caravan over hills and mountains, in the region where there are no roads, where to-day is the same as yesterday. We are to voyage forth upon a strange expanse, where the ship of Moorish civiliza- tion, stranded upon the shoals of the religion of immutability, has lain rotting since the conquest of Granada. It is but right that you should know something about the men upon whom our future comfort, welfare, and safety entirely depend. Let me introduce, first of all, the most faithful of guides, the most honest of dragomans, the cheeriest of companions, the cleverest of pathfinders, the best of cooks, and — the most amusing prevaricator I have ever known. His name is like all Moorish names, a mouthful, " Haj Abd- er-Rahman Salama. " We see him first at the door of his INTO MOROCCO 61 dwelling, a bright young Salama at his side. We speak with him in French and Spanish, for his much-advertised command of English is monumentally inadequate. More- over in French he speaks like a gentleman, in English like a blackguard; one language having been learned in Algiers and in Paris, the other picked up from profane sportsmen, while serving as dragoman for pig-sticking expeditions. As for his name, we forget it altogether, and address him simply as Haj, the word ' ' Haj ' ' being a sort of honorific prefix, mean- ing Pilgrim, in other words, a righteous Moslem who has made the Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca. When it was noised abroad that we were thinking of a trip to Fez, the profes- sional guides of Tangier looked on us as lawful, tempting prey. One Jewish pathfinder proffered his services and outfit for seven English pounds a day. Then others came with other propositions, and there ensued a veritable rate-war in which tents figure in place of Pullman cars, and, in place of sixty-miles-an-hour locomotives, mules that travel only sixteen miles a day. And Haj triumphed over all competitors, not because he made the lowest bid, but because we saw in him a useful, clever man, full of re- source, one of the few Moorish minds able to respond to Anglo- Saxon sympathies. He is one who has bridged the gulf be- tween the Moslem and the Christian races, at the cost, possibly, of his orthodoxy and his hopes of heaven. In violent contrast to him in these respects, is our mili- tary escort: our fighting-force, assigned us by the government and consisting of one personal } W^ THE BEST OF GUIDES, HA] ABD-ER-RAHMAN SAI-AMA 62 INTO MOROCCO KAIU LHAKBI, Ol'R MILITARY ESCORT unit — with dig- nity and bigotry and decorative picturesqueness enough for half a regiment. K a i d I Lharbi, for such are his title and name, belongs to t h e Mak- h a z n i , or corps of ir- regular cavalry, the most orna- mental branch of the Moorish Sultan's army. No traveler is permitted to go into Morocco unless chaperoned by a Makhazni. Kaid Lharbi will be for us a sort of living passport, his pres- ence at the head of our caravan assuring all persons that we are traveling under the protection of the Moorish govern- ment, and that offenses against us will be severely punished. Without this living token of governmental sanction for our expedition, it would be within the power of any local chief to arrest our progress, sending us back in ignominious captiv- ity to Tangier ; or, if he preferred, he could rob us with impunity. Kaid Lharbi is therefore a valuable acquisition from the standpoints both of safety and of picturesqueness. He is Moorish in the fullest sense; he thinks such thoughts and dreams such dreams as did his fathers half a thousand years ago. He carries a tlmtlock made in Tetuan, and is supplied with a lump of lead and a small bullet-mold, that in case of attack he may be able to cast the necessary bullets. The sixth day of May is appointed for the departure of our caravan. It is a memorable day for us, because it marks INTO MOROCCO 63 the close of a long period of doubt and uncertainty as to the possibility of undertaking the expedition, and because it marks the beginning of a new life — the entry into a new world, which is yet immeasurably old. The pack-mules in charge of the three servants have been sent on ahead to await us in the suburbs. Raid Lharbi, muffled in his blue burnoose, has been stationed like an equestrian statue at the door of the hotel since early morning. Haj, the guide, is here, there, and everywhere, attending to the thousand and one little details and difficulties that always arise at the last moment. We bid adieu to our acquaintances at the hotel door. At last the start is made, we file through narrow streets, cross the crowded market-place, and on its outskirts overtake the pack-mules and the muleteers. A few necessary articles, brought at the last moment by our thoughtful Haj, who would have felt himself disgraced had he forgotten anything, are added to the already heavy burdens of the mules. THE DEPARTURE 64 INTO MOROCCO Then at a signal, our men, the skeptic Haj, and all the rest reverently turn their faces toward the East, toward Holy Mecca, - — -- -— -^ while Raid Lharbi, his ADDING THE LAST ITEM TO THE PACKS head bent low over his horse's neck, intones an impressive prayer for the successful and happy termination of our journey. This pious duty done, the order for a forward march is given, and in single file our little train of men, horses, mules, and donkeys winds its way out of Tangier, every hoof-beat of the animals taking us nearer to the Middle Ages. Gradually the suburban street becomes a lane, gradually the lane fades away, becoming a mere trail, and finally the trail itself, crossing a ruined bridge, loses itself in the roadless vastness of the Moorish Empire. Never in all my travels have I more keenly felt that oppressive sense of separation from things known and famil- iar than at this moment. No previous departure by train or INTO MOROCCO 65 steamer had ever seemed so definitely to break the link that binds us to our own age and our own civilization. Here, at the bridge that spans a dry and thirsty river-bed, all sem- blance of civilization abruptly terminates ; before us lies a land without railways, without roads, without fences, hedges, trees — without dividing lines of any kind, save long low ranges of barren hills and, in the eastern distance, the crests of savage mountains. Across this roadless empire we are now to travel for many days ; overhead there will hang at times a scorching sun, at times dark storm-clouds are to form our canopy ; around us is to stretch a savage, silent land. Before us lies a scarcely distinguishable track, worn by the hoofs of countless ' *6i»»-.^ caravans in years that are un- counted. But for me, in , ^ , - - 1M 1111111110 THE EDGE OF CIVILIZATION the foreground ^~~^— of every Moorish landscape looms the figure of Raid Lharbi. All day I looked over my horse 's ears upon Raid Lharbi 's back, his horse's tail, and his cloak of blue, his broad-brimmed 66 INTO MOROCCO hat, such as are made and worn by the women of Tetuan, its brim so broad that colored cords are required as guy ropes to sustain it. That famous hat served both as a parasol and umbrella ; the image of its ex- pansive brim, flapping gaily in the breeze, or drooping gloomily beneath an avalanche of water from the skies, will never be effaced from memory. All day I looked upon that hat ; at ACROSS THE ROADLESS PLAIN' "TWO HARD-WORKING HUMBLE SOULS night I saw it in my dreams ; and, at the journey's end, I acquired it by purchase, and it now hangs upon my wall, — a mute reminder of a memor- able ride. Less picturesquely mounted, less self-important than Kaid Lharbi but far more useful, diligent, and kindly were the two hard-working humble souls who rode on little burros in " BOKHURMUR ' INTO MOROCCO 67 THE FIRST HALTING PLACE the rear of the procession. On them devolved the hardest labors of the journey — to load the mules ; to drive or guide them all day long, frequently running along for miles on foot ; to help or urge the struggling, overburdened animals through the muddy ditches ; to unpack everything at night, set up the tents, build fires, tether and find forage for nine animals, including their own patient little donkeys — this formed their regular daily routine. Yet they are cheerful with it all, although sun and rain, health and sickness, must mean the same to them ; they must not rest on pain of being left behind. Their names, as near as it was possible for us to grasp them, were respectively, Bokhurmur and Abuktayer, but which was " Abuktayer, " and which " Bokhurmur " is a point upon which my friend and I could never quite agree. DEVELOPING OUR CANVAS VILLAGh 68 INTO MOROCCO At a command from Haj, the caravan has halted. " We have arrived," adds Haj; "unload! pitch camp ! We are where we should be at five o'clock." Here, then, is to be our first camping-ground, here for the first time we are to see our outfit set up in its entirety ; here we are, for the first time, to sleep in tents like the Bedouins ; THE FIRST CAMP to begin the new life that promises to be so strange and fasci- nating. With keenest interest we watch our little canvas village develop. At first we attempt to aid the men, but Haj sternly prohibits all effort on our part. It is not consistent with our dignity as great American sci§'}/ciirs to stoop to labor. A mattress is hastily unpacked and spread upon the ground, and on it we repose in lordly laziness. Had we driven a single tent-peg, we should have lost completely the respect of our Oriental hirelings. Three tents compose the camp : one large green tent of English manufacture for the grand scig-jicurs, two Moorish tents, for the accommodation of the faithful suite. One by one the canvas houses rise. The animals are tethered close INTO MOROCCO 69 at hand. From the neighboring village, ragged men bring fodder for the animals, eggs and chickens for the foreign lords. These things, of course, are paid for, because, our expedition not being of a diplomatic or official nature, we do not enjoy the right to be served with the traditional "Mouna, " that is, we cannot levy contributions upon the tribes. Our letters of recommendation demand for us merely the protection of the village chiefs. When a great man, be he a native potentate or the ambassador of a foreign nation, passes through the land in state, all things are by the Sultan's command furnished him gratis by the people of each bashalik, or province. As the villagers gather in a silent, curious pyramid, to watch with deepest interest everything we do, to examine with uncomprehending eyes our mysterious camp- A SILENT, CURIOUS PYRAMID 70 INTO MOROCCO beds, our folding chairs and tables, let me describe another custom that is observed during the progress of an official expedition. When the people of a village have a boon to ask or a favor to entreat from the Sultan at Fez, such as the release from prison of some fellow tribesman, or the recall of some too cruel tax-extortioner, a deputation of villagers comes in procession to the tent of the great man, and before the entrance sacrifices a heifer or a sheep. If the chief or the ambassador is inclined to grant the petition, or to further the purposes of the suppliants, he accepts the gift of meat and it is eaten by his escort. If he denies their request, he averts his face ; no man is permitted to touch the sacrifice, and it is left as food for birds of, prey. The camp arrangements being complete, and all things made ready for our reception, Haj proudly but anxiously invites our inspection of the interior arrangements of our canvas home. " Well done, Haj Abd-er-Rahman Salama ! we exclaim, as a vision of coziness and comfort is revealed to us. Well done, indeed ! No wanderer in a barbarous land could ask for more. We behold soft beds with fresh white sheets and pillow- cases, bright rugs upon - »-• I wi ni UNCOMPREHENDING EYEs' INTO MOROCCO 73 the turf, a table large enough for two, well spread with tempting food, and all this is wholly protected from the heat and cold and rain and wind by a tine triple tent, green without and pink-lined within, just like a luxurious boudoir. And now this is to be our home for forty long delightful days and as many nights. No matter where our camp may happen to lie, on the barren hillside, in the fertile plain, or on the outskirts of a dirty town, this cozy corner will be always the same. No matter how wild and hostile are the surrounding scenes, we have but to draw the tent-flaps close "HAj" IN JOY to find ourselves delightfully chez 7201CS. And furthermore, we are just as well served as in an excellent hotel, for although we lack the convenient electric-button, yet we have a perfect substitute in the person of Achmedo al Hishu, our valet, groom, and butler. Achmedo is not handsome, but he is indispens- able ; he is always at hand, answering a call before it is made, satisfying a want as soon as it is felt. He speaks a kind of Tangerine servant language ; a mixture of Spanish, French, and English, startling at times, but always comprehensible. His one fault is a fondness for the pipe, in which he smokes — not comparatively innocent ACHMEDO 74 INTO MOROCCO tobacco — but the nerve-deadening weed^ called ' ' keef . Moreover, we observe him to be a great imbiber. As he rides across the plain, proudly seated on the summit of a baggage-pack (beneath which the poor mule is scarcely visible), Achmedo may be seen to lift a bottle reverently to his lips, three times to every mile. We marveled that he could preserve his equilibrium day after day, until we dis- covered the nature of the contents of that bottle — cold tea, flavored with mint and sugar. A word more about our invaluable Haj Abd-er-Rahman Salama, whose dusky face reflects the anxiety that fills his soul as he awaits our verdict upon the first meal prepared by him. He claimed to be himself a skillful chef, and insisted that he be allowed to manage the commissary department without interference. We reluctantly intrusted our gastronomic welfare to this homely heathen, and through- out the day visions of hard-tack and rancid bacon haunted our hungry souls. We scarcely dared to hope for better fare, furnished, as it was to be, by this cunning caterer, who has us completely in his power. He is free to starve or stuff us ; no power can touch him now. If he prove faithless, we must suffer ; we are his slaves for forty days ; he is our INTO MOROCCO 75 master, we must go whither he leads, for we are in an unknown country ; we must eat that which he provides, for we are in an empty land. But when dinner is served, we enthusiastically declare that Haj is the best cook south of Paris ; and at this his handsome features are convulsed into a smile of proud and happy satisfaction. The dinner served on that first evening in our camp was a culinary triumph ; a perfect little table d' bote : consomme' ; fish, fresh from the basket of a Tangier fisherman ; sweetbread croquettes ; broiled chicken ; salad ; blancmange, cooled in a neighboring stream ; a sip of Turkish coffee, a little glass of benedictine, and then a cigarette. All this prepared and served in a little tent pitched far from town or city in the midst of the somber Moorish plain. How it was possible for Haj to turn out from his tiny canvas kitchen, and with his crude utensils, dishes so varied and delicious, was an enduring mystery to us, but we fared sump- tuously throughout the journey. We lived in greater com- fort and were better served than in the French hotels of Algeria or the big hotels of Spain, and we dined as well as JVER IHE RKD HILL J6 INTO MOROCCO on the Paris boulevards ; and for all this, we paid a price ridiculously low. Haj provided the entire outfit, — two horses, five mules, two donkeys, and three tents ; paid wages to three servants, baksheesh to the military escort, furnished all provisions, cooked for us, schemed for us, guided us, — all for twelve dollars daily and a present at the journey's end. Beyond this small sum we spent not a penny, save for the purchase of some little souvenirs. On the second morning, dark, lowering clouds obscure the heavens ; yet, despite the threat of a stormy day we break camp, a task requiring about two hours of hard labor for our men. Our animals are loosed and roam at will, browsing upon the fresh sweet clover. The men of the neighboring village, who have been guarding the camp since evening, return to their huts at daybreak ; all night they sat in groups around our tents, chanting or mumbling prayers to keep themselves awake. We reward them with a present of silver coins, which they accept with greedy eyes. At last, the countless things pertaining to the camp being all stowed securely in the broad packs, we bid farewell to our first Morocco halting-place and begin what, we have been told, will prove the most disagreeable stage of the entire journey — the crossing of the Red Hill ; an experience dreaded by all caravans, especially in rainy weather. And rightly unpopular is it, this trail of NEVER MOKE THAN TWENTY MILES A DAY" INTO MOROCCO 17 THE CAMP OF THE GOVERNOR broken rock and slimy reddish clay, where at every step our horses stumble or slip, where every now and then a pack mule, fixing the forefeet firmly, goes glissading swiftly down the hill, until, over-balanced by its enormous burden, it literally capsizes, and lies helpless in the mire while the crew jettisons the cargo, rights the poor hulk, re-ballasts it, and steers it down the dangerous channel, using the tail as rudder and sharp- ened sticks as inspiration. Frequent heavy downpours of rain add to our discomfort, drenching us to the skin and threatening to shipwreck our hopes of reaching camp with tents and baggage dry. But suddenly, an hour after we reach the plain, the sky is cleared and swept com- pletely clean, as if a great sponge had wiped away the rain clouds ; and then a beaming sun quickly dries men and ani- mals and burdens, causing us to give off clouds of vapor until we can scarcely distinguish one another. And thus we jour- ney on, never faster than at a rapid walk, with frequent delays caused by the breaking of a strap, the balky temper of a mule, or by a deep ditch difficult to ford. We cover never more than twenty miles a day. At midday we come upon the camp of the Basha of Tangier, and near it we make a halt 78 INTO MOROCCO SUBJECTS OF THK SKLTAN for luncheon. Haj informs us that the Governor has come up country to arrange a few official robberies, and to ad- % minister a little Moor- ish justice — a peculiar quality of justice. The collection of taxes is, however, the Basha 's most impor- tant business. The taxpayers are assem- bled around his tent, and pay in money, in produce, and in cattle. The assessment varies according to the visible possessions and apparent prosperity of the victim. No wise subject of the Moorish Sultan ever boasts of his possessions. All feign poverty ; for every man is allowed to rob the man who is next in rank below him. The poor man who can find no poorer man to rob that he may pay his due, is the one who suffers most. We saw a dozen such in the tent at the Basha 's camp, chained together, the neck of each locked in a metal collar ; the whole pro- cession was to be marched with the music of that clank- ing chain to the prison at Tangier, many miles away. There is no justice in Morocco. The head- man of a village squeezes all he can out of the nothing that his people have ; the chief man of the district levies on the village headman ; the chief pays tribute to the PRISONERS INTO MOROCCO 79 Governor ; the Governor cannot expect to hold his office unless magnificent presents are annually sent to some grand vizier of the court at Fez ; and every now and then we hear of the downfall of a grand vizier, who has waxed wealthy, boasted of his possessions, excited the cupidity of his sacred Sultan and paid the penalty, either by suffering the confisca- tion of his fortune and then exile, or perhaps by drinking, at the command of the all-holy Emperor, a little glass of poiso::cd tea. ALCAZAR-EL-KEBIR We one day tendered in payment for provisions a Spanish dollar somewhat dim and dark. It was refused. "Give me bright shining money, ' ' said the man who had supplied us with eggs and milk. "That dark coin looks as if it had been buried ; if I attempt to pass it, the chief will send his men to dig around and underneath my house, to see if I have more concealed beneath the floors or in the ground outside. " Next day after our meeting with the Basha, we reach the first interior city of any considerable size, Alcazar-el-Kebir. 8o INTO MOROCCO "Alcazar the Great," its inhabitants proudly entitle it, and in its time it has been great. Here there were fitted out, in the eighth century, the expeditions that went forth to con- quer Spain and Europe. Later it was taken and held by the Portuguese until that fatal day in 1578, when, on the battle- field not far from the city gates, the very flower of the chivalry of Portugal fell before the fearful onslaught of the Moorish foe. At Alcazar, Portugal received the death-blow of her greatness. Before the loss of Alcazar Portugal was one of the world 's great powers. This terrible defeat was the beginning of the end. The city is unlike all other cities of the interior, for it was built by the Portuguese. It is not white, as are the Moorish cities, but all in dull greys, browns, and soiled and dingy yel- lows. In the bazaar we purchase more Moorish clothing — - long white garments, far cooler than our riding-suits, and upon returning in our new attire to the camp, we are greeted effusively by a dusky gentleman who introduces himself as the Consular Agent of the United States. Unfortunately his A THOROUGHFARE THE SULTAN MULAI EL-HASAN IN TANGIER INTO MOROCCO 83 \VH PTRCHASK MORE MOORISH CLOTHING kindly words are all Arabic, of which we do not understand a word. Nevertheless Mr. Ham- man Slawi convinces us of his good-will by presenting us with a pair of yellow slippers, and manifests his ad- miration by sitting in our tent and looking at us intently for just two hours and a half. Long calls are the custom in Morocco, and when Mr. Slawi finally departed, he left his son, a (at little chap, to continue staring at us so that we might not feel neg- lected. And when the boy was finally in- duced to go, the father sent the local s y m p h o n y orchestra to serenade u s in the gloam- ing, with two insistent drums and an exasperating fiute. W e are compelled to give these MR. HAMMAN SLAWI, U. S. CONSULAR AGENT 84 INTO MOROCCO cacophonic tormentors a present to bring the concert to an end. A present, by the way, is an important element in every Moorish proposition. Presents are the lubricating medium used in the social and political machinery of this ancient empire. Acting upon the advice of former travelers, we have brought with us many gifts for the kaids or sheiks or bashas who show us kindness, or from whom we may S"' desire to obtain favors. A dozen Waterbury watches are reserved for the men who are very great ; for lesser nota- bilities we carry other presents, among them, strange to say, all sorts of little toys, like jumping jacks, kaleidoscopes, and automatic animals. These are not intended for the children, but for full-grown men, hoary-headed chieftains who have a passion for such novelties. The Moors are at heart big children, with all the simplicity, deceitfulness, and passion of real children. INTO MOROCCO >S And, like unfeeling children, these people are often thoughtlessly cruel. They appear not to notice the wounds caused by the heavy, ill-adjusted harness of the pack mules, or the ugly cut made by the brutal bit in the mouth of Kaid Lharbi's faithful horse. When we remonstrated w-ith our men about this useless cruelty, they answered that the ani- mals are ' ' used to it ; " that it is the custom of the country for mules to have raw^ backs and horses bleeding jaws. The Moslem firmly believes that "whatever is, is right ; " and we console ourselves with the assurance of the classic author who asserts that " ' the souls of usurers are metempsy- chosed, or translated, into the bodies of asses, and there remain certain years for poor men to take their pennyworth out of their bones." Later in the day we met with a curious experience. As we began the descent into a broad valley, we saw approaching TRAVELING THIS KIGHT HOIKS KVKRV PAY 86 INTO MOROCCO us another caravan. \\'hen it drew near, we discovered, with pleased surprise, that the man who rode in front was clothed in coat and trousers, evidently a European, a man from our own world, perhaps the only other white-skinned trav- eler in the land. We shook off the lethargy that results from a long morning in the saddle, and prepared to greet the stranger with smiles and questions, eager to give news of the living world to one who must have been buried for at least many days in this roadless land, eager to send back by him messages to the consul in Tangier. Nearer he comes and nearer, but as yet he makes no sign. Imagine, then, our blank dismay when the caravans pass one another on this narrow trail amid the yellow grain, and the stranger - — a German merchant, as we learned afterward — rides past with his Teutonic nose high in air, without a side glance or a nod, without the slightest sign of recognition in answer to INTO MOROCCO 87 our smiles ; for so astonished were we that we could not speak. This exhibition of boorishness, I fear, gave our Moslem fol- lowers a sad notion of the love and good-fellowship existing between man and man in the world of unbelievers. After receiving this cut-direct, we ride on across the grand free landscape, its lines unbroken by trees or houses, where grain grows wild and rots unharvested. In Roman times Morocco was the granary of Europe ; to-day the Moorish authorities prohibit the exportation of all grain. "It is not meet, " they say, "that the unbeliever should be nourished by the labor of the faithful." Thus our days pass until, on the lifth morning of the journey, we halt in a delightful garden on the outskirts of the city of Wazzan. The word " Wazzan " perhaps means nothing to a stranger, but to a Moorish Moslem it is second INTO MOROCCO only to Mecca in sacred significance ; for as Mecca was the home of Mohammed, the great prophet, so Wazzan is the home of the grand Shareef, the most direct descendant of Mo- hammed, the most revered personage in all Morocco. A connection, however re- mote, with the prophet s line is a relationship that insures the respectful consideration of every Mohammedan. To be the most direct descendant, the grandson-many-times- removed of Fatima, the prophet's daughter and Ali, his favorite disciple, is to take precedence over Emperors and Sultans in the sight of every true believer. And thus the Shareef of Wazzan, upon whose holy city we now cast our profane glance, is a greater, holier man than either the Sultan of Turkey or the Sultan of Morocco. True, these two emperors trace their ancestry back to the same sacred source ; but many true believers call his Turkish DRUDGERY A WEI I IN THE GARDEN NEAR WAZZAN INTO MOROCCO 89 majesty a renegade and backslider, while the family-tree of the Moorish Sultan has been so bent and twisted, and its branches have been so rudely hacked and broken by revolu- tions, wars, and crimes that a majority of his subjects look askance upon his pretensions as Commander of the Faithful. Many of them secretly, some openly, acknowledge the Shareef of Wazzan not only as the spiritual head of the Empire, ^^ — — — — " — ,.^ but als THE SACRED CITY OF WAZZA> its rightful temporal lord. Fortunately for the internal peace of the land the Shareefs have been content to exercise imperial power by suggestion, to receive tithes in lieu of taxes, and to leave to the Sultan and his ministers at Fez the vexatious details of the government and the semblance of absolute authority. So sacred is this city of Wazzan, so fanatical are its inhabitants, that we dared not enter its gates until a military escort sent by the Shareef came to conduct us to the home assigned us as a residence by that sainted potentate. 90 INTO MOROCCO It cost our servants several hours' labor to clean the mansion and make it habitable. In the meantime, with Haj as interpreter and Kaid Lharbi to lend dignity to our party, we were escorted by a half-dozen ragged soldiers to the Shareef's palace, which gleams white in the midst of green gardens. There we were received with high-bred dignity and more than ordi- nary cordiality by the man as has been said, is THE MARKET-PLACE revered, from Morocco to Madras, as the holiest and greatest representative of Islamism. We found the Shareef seated on soft cushions beneath a white pavilion in the midst of a luxuriant garden. Around him courtiers were grouped ; old men with long, white beards, young men with fierce, hard faces — chiefs of the neighboring tribes. The Shareef, a handsome man, black- bearded and completely robed in simple veils of white, bore his thirty-five years with dignity, despite a suggestion of indolence, almost of letharg}^ in his manner. Haj approached on hands and knees and kissed the Shareef's garments. We bowed and took the chairs which had been placed for our INTO MOROCCO 91 comfort just outside the pavil ion. The dialogue ensuing between our host and guide was deliberate, cordial, and much em- broidered with compli- ments, as is the custom here in good society. We, through our spokesman, thanked his holiness for his hospitality. He apologizes for the condition of our house. Haj is instructed to ex- press our complete satisfac- t i o n . He translates our crude reply with Moorish tact and delicacy : ' ' My masters, O Shareef , " he says, "bid me declare that OUR PALACE IN WAZZAN Fa=c= 'the shareef's palace, white in the .midst of green gardens' 92 INTO MOROCCO to see thy face is so great joy that they have no thought of minor things ; illuminated by the light of thy face, the house becomes a palace, grand- er than their own palaces in foreign lands. " And this sort of thing is actu- ally taken seriously in Morocco! Then, re- membering that the pre- sentation of gifts is now in order, Haj continues : "O Shareef, so grateful are my masters for thy kindness that they beg thee to accept a humble present. The youth ^\•ho wears no beard gladly parts with his precious timepiece, the gift of his father, much prized by him, but still scarcely worthy thine acceptance." Whereupon my friend, with feigned reluctance, detaches from his watch-chain one of our stock of \\'aterburys, and, as if it had been a gold chron- ometer, an heirloom in the family, lays it at the feet of Holi- ness. Holiness graciously accepts the gift, and although he remarks upon the absence of a chain, is apparently well pleased. We are glad that he does not know that we have still nine " Waterbury heirlooms" left in stock. The interview being over, we return to our residence to find our men indulging in their daily tipple — tea. Kaid Lharbi, sitting aloof as befits his higher rank, brews the tea, AT HOME IN THE SHAREEF'S CITY INTO MOROCCO 95 and serves it with much ceremony to the rest. Meantime Haj gives us some information regarding" the Shareefs of Wazzan. The present saint is, he assures us, a very proper personage, but his late father who owed his title to a clever ruse, was a scandal to the holy name. When his immediate predecessor was upon his deathbed, his ministers implored him to designate which of his many children should succeed him. The old man answered: "In the garden you will find a child playing with my staff. Him shall ye consider the one chosen of God to become Shareef . ' ' At this, one of the negresses, a slave, slipped secretly from the room, and find- ing in the garden the favorite white child of the djdng saint, snatched away from the little one the staff, and placed it in the hands of her own little boy, a jet-black imp, who also had the right to call the Shareef father. When the ministers appeared, they bowed low before the negro child, and upon him the mantel of impeccability descended; but whoever has gazed upon him as he appeared in later years will not wonder that the mantle of impeccability was not worn gracefully, and that it frequently slipped off. The charm of European life appealed too strongly to him. He forsook Waz- zan, and built for him- self a palace in Tangier, where he wined and THKIR DAILY TIPPLE- 96 INTO MOROCCO dk THE I. ATE LAMENTED SHAREEF OK WAZZAN dined the foreign diplomats, and ended by falling in love with an English governess. As to his liking for liquor, that sin was for- given him, since wine cannot enter the mouth of a Shareef — it turns to water at the merest touch of saintly lips. As to his love-affair, that was more serious ; for he married his English sweetheart, to the horror of his people and despite the pro- tests of the woman 's friends. The mar- riage was not performed, however, until he had been forced to sign a contract, abolishing his harem, and making her his wife in a Christian sense. Moreover, one clause pro- vided that should he, " the party of the first part, " in spite of all take to himself other wives in the future, a forfeit of twenty thousand dollars should be paid, per wife, to ' ' the party of the second part." Alas, how many thousands of his great income went to balance this account, so rashly opened with his Christian spouse! After a brief spell of good behavior, the husband fell back into his old ways ; marriages occur- red with startling fre- quency, and, finally worn out by his excesses, the " holiest man in all Mo- rocco, " revered by Mos- lems from the east to IN CONVERSATION WITH KAID LHARBI INTO MOROCCO 97 the west of Islam, died from the effects of too frequently performing his favorite miracle — that of changing cham- pagne and brandy into water by pouring them between his sacred lips. The English wife of the wicked old Shareef bore him two sons, now young men. They have been educated abroad, speak English well, and are distinctly up to date. Yet when they travel in Mo- ^, - '^'"" '"" rocco they wear the native .„,-' ' -- ^ (I r e s s , a n d their jour- y-^ ''v ney is like phal pro- all the people them. I large crowds worship have seen in Tangier fighting only for ^^^■Wl^^**^ the opportunity to kiss their gar- " rids us brgonk" ments as they rode through the market-place. Neither, however, became grand Shareef on their father's death, for he appointed Sidi Mohammed, his son by a Moorish wife, the man to whom we gave the Waterbury watch. The English widow lives a very secluded life near Oran, in Algeria, but she is loved and revered by the Moors ; for while her in- fluence endured, she went about doing good, relieving dis- tress, bringing a little Anglo-Saxon light into the dark lives of her people. 98 INTO MOROCCO And dark indeed must be the lives of the people in the villages near which we pitch our camp. Perhaps a woman would, with great vehemence, bid us begone, lamenting the desolation that will surely come to her village if the strangers camp under the protection of its chief. Her reason is that should we meet with loss from the attack of some wandering band of marauders, this village will be held responsible, and Nd iL ^,., F*^^ vi [II L ' %l '^ jf^^ H B bvs i Hi I "YET FLOWERS AND BABIES GROW IN THESE MOORISH VILLAGES" punishment for offenses committed against us will be visited upon those who, by the sacred laws of hospitality, are bound to protect us. But disregarding prayers and threats we make ourselves at home ; and finally the women, reconciled, come with their babies to beg for aid and medical advice. Every white man is supposed to possess the power to cure disease, and many were the pitiful appeals made to us for relief and help. We INTO MOROCCO 99 ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ADVKNTURE were asked to treat all kinds of maladies, but we discovered one unique and hitherto unknown ailment : ' ' What is your trouble ? ' ' was asked of a man who came with sad- ness written on his face. "Oh! " he replied, " I cannot eat as much as I should like to. " Poverty and ignorance are the common lot, yet fiowers and babies grow in these Moorish villages. We have now approached a por- tion of the Beni Hasan territory, a region inhabited by a tribe whose chief pursuit is robbery, whose supreme joy is murder ; and the placing of a guard around the tent is no longer a mere formality. As yet, however, we have seen no roving bands ; but next day as we file across the flower-spotted plain, we observe on the horizon a number of moving patches of bright color. With lightning- like rapidity, these flashes of color sweep toward us, each one resolving itself into a Moorish cavalier, well mounted, fully armed, and seemingly upon the lookout for adven- ture. These, then, are Beni Hasan men ! What will they do to us and how shall we greet them ? is our anxious thought, as they draw nearer, brandishing their rifles, shout- ing as they ride. The first brief moment of alarm is, how- ever, quickly ended. The chief salutes us cordially ; asks Haj whence we come, whither we are going ; and then, desirous of showing honor to us ( for foreign travelers are always looked upon as men of great distinction), he offers to perform for us a fantasia. The fantasia is an exhibition of Arabian horsemanship, a sort of glorified cavalry-charge, a spectacular manceuver, the favorite amusement of the Moor- ish cavalier, the exercise in which he takes most pleasure and most pride. It is called by him lab-al-baroud, *' the powder A SON OP" HASAN loo INTO MOROCCO play. ' A dozen cavaliers, each one a savage, long-haired son of Hasan, advance across the plain, their horses alined, breast with breast. They twirl aloft their richly inlaid guns; then, putting their chargers to their fullest speed, the riders rise in the stirrups, seize the reins between their teeth, and sweep toward us in swift majesty. On go the horses at full gallop, still accurately in line. Faster and faster spin the guns above the riders' heads ; now muskets are tossed high in air, and descending are caught by strong bronzed hands that never fail. On go the horses ; then the men, still standing in the stirrups, their loose garments enveloping them like rapid-flying clouds, at a signal discharge a rousing volley, and under cover of the smoke, check — almost instantaneously with the cruel bits — their panting horses, bloody-mouthed and deeply scarred and wounded by the spurs. This intensely thrilling and pictur- esque performance is rehearsed before us several times, the chief being proud of his little band of "rough riders." The men disdainfully examine our English saddles, our horses with docked tails, and laugh at our tiny spurs, for their spurs are sharp spikes three or four inches long. They mock- ingly challenge us to join them in another fantasia, and to the amazement of the chief my friend accepts the challenge. The long muzzle-loading rifles are charged again, and the entire troop, with an American in its midst, slowly canters away. Facing about, the horsemen form in line and begin to twirl their guns on high. Having no rifle, the stranger draws and flourishes an American revolver. Then, suddenly, the horses INTO MOROCCO lOI 3eap away, and like a whirlwind the fantasia is upon us. The muskets are discharged; the revolver pops away, and then a mad race begins. Strange to say, the Tangier horse outruns the chargers of the plains, and we see the white helmet of the American flash past, one length in advance of the line of frenzied horsemen! Chagrined at this defeat, the chief attempts to unseat the victor, charging directly at my friend, who, by a skillful move- ment, avoids a dangerous collision. Then, spurring after that boasting Beni Hasan tribesman, the American overtakes him, and throws an arm around his neck; and, as they dash on, locked in this embrace, my friend, with a voice that was trained in the Athletic Field at New Haven, shouts a rousing "Rah, Rah, Rah ! — Yale ! ' into the ear of the astonished savage, and thus ends our adventure with the wild Beni Hasan band. A NOONDAY RESTING-PLACL I02 INTO MOROCCO Reassured by the amusing outcome of this iirst encounter, we ride on toward our noonday halting-place. Our marches are so timed that at midday we may iind ourselves near some patch of shade. Shade in Morocco is rare indeed, but as every tree and bush between Tangier and Fez is marked on Haj's mental map, we are usually assured of leafy shelter during: our noondav rest. Throug:hout the burning: hours from t^Sf- > './ f / HAPPY MOMENTS FOR THE MULES noon till three or four o'clock, we lie at full length amid the flowers, carefully following the shadows as they slowly creep around the trees. The animals, relieved of pack, though not of saddle, browse dreamily, or roll in ecstasy amid the fragant grasses. Our men with Oriental resignation lunch frugally, sit and smoke in silence, or indulge in semi-slumber, with one eye open lest the mules escape. Then, after the sun's rays have lost a little of their torrid sting, we jog on once more in the com- parative coolness of the afternoon across the Moorish prairies. INTO MOROCCO 105 Space in Morocco is still a stern reality. The city Fez, to reach which we must travel thus during eleven days, could be reached by rail (were there a railway leading thither) in a half-dozen hours! Apropos of this, let me repeat a scrap of wayside conversation. "Morocco is indeed a spacious country, " said I one day to dignified Kaid Lharbi. "It is the biggest country in the world," gravely replied the Kaid. Then gently I endeavored to disabuse his mind of this impression by telling of the vastness of the territory of the United States. "But how long does it take to cross your country.'" he inquired. ' ' We travel four days in fast trains to go from San Fran- cisco to New York, " I answered. " Bah! that is nothing, " rejoined our military escort with a sneer of triumph. "To go from Taiilet in the south to Tangier in the north, the fastest caravan must travel forty days. You see Morocco is the biggest country in the world ! Nor can we blame him for his opinion, for the land looks boundless. The grand, free lines of the Moorish landscape are unbroken ; no trees, no houses, no hedges, and no high- ways are there to spoil the composition of the picture drawn and painted by the master artist, Nature. The country, although fertile, is uncultivated. The horizon seems wider than in other lands. Apparently there is no end, no limit to the landscape. We know that beyond each range of hills there will be revealed a replica of this primeval picture. One scene like this will sue- io6 INTO MOROCCO " SPACE, IN IS STILL A STERN REALITY" ceed another with scarce an interruption until the minarets of Fez shall cut their square majestic outlines against the southern sky. Who can describe the floral beauty of these boundless prairies ? — who except Pierre Loti ? It was his dainty vol- ume, " Au Maroc, " that inspired me with a desire to follow him into Morocco. When I was reading his beautiful de- scriptions of the floral mosaic that covers both the plains and hillsides of the land, I could not easily accept as true the seemingly exaggerated assertions of the author ; his glowing word-pictures of an " empire carpeted with flowers. " Yet he spoke truly, and as I rode across these broad stretches of pure white, where marguerites in all their modest loveliness lie thick upon the greensward, I knew that I had seen it all before — seen it upon his printed page, as real, as beautifully vivid as it is to me to-day. To visit Morocco after reading INTO MOROCCO 107 Pierre Loti is like returning to a land that is familiar, to a land already seen, to a land the charm of which has been revealed in the magic pages of his poetic prose: "For miles and miles this bundle of narrow intersecting trails, the only Imperial Highway of the Sultan of Morocco, leads us on through a veritable garden — between intermin- able flower-beds. Our foreground is at times pure white, at others purple with a sea of iris flowers, at others scarlet with the blood of anemones, at others yellow with the golden glory of the buttercups and daisies. The mountain slopes and hillsides meanwhile reflect the many colors of the spec- trum. It is as if some gorgeous rainbow, shattered in the Moorish heaven, had fallen upon the deserted hills and val- leys of this savage, silent land. It is as if the divine Artist had resolved to make this wilderness the palette from which to take the colors for all future landscapes. It is ir. vlOKLD " io8 INTO MOROCCO as if the sunset of the day before was lingering here to meet the sunset of the morrow. It is as if Almighty Allah had selected the Empire of Moghreb for his sanctuary, and had spread out upon its sacred l^oor a prayer-rug of unutterable beauty, woven by the divine looms — a carpet of heavenly design to inspire man to fall upon his knees and pray." This is our life during ten delightful, never-to-be-forgotten days. All day we journey southward, pausing at noon " mid- way 'twixt here and there ; " at night we arrive, as my friend expressed it, at ' ' nowhere in particular, ' ' and in the glow of the sunset we pitch our little camp. Then, when the even- ing fire is lighted, the encircling night grows blacker, AN EMPIRE CARPETED WITH FLOWERS INTO MOROCCO 109 the sur- rounding d a r k n e s ; become protecting wall, and we feel almost secure. Our animals are hobbled in a row before the tent, each with a heap of fresh green grass or clover. They munch all night ; and when we wake, startled by the cry of a jackal, or by a shout from one of the 'nowhere in particular" no INTO MOROCCO "a semblance of a hii;h\vav " men on guard, we are sure to hear that music of nine munching mouths. It is our lullab}^ and we fall asleep again to dream of Fez, the mysterious city which we shall enter on the morrow. INTO MOROCCO I II On the eleventh morning of our journey the semblance of a highway comes straggling from the south to meet us. The countless caravans, crawling toward the holy city, have cre- ated this illusion of a road, — a road that will lead us in a few short hours to the gates of a great city, the fascination of which, for him who has the slightest love of romance in his soul, is irresistible. Fez is no banal, modernized, or tourist- *' MIDWAY 'tWIXT HERE AND THERE" ridden city, nor is it a mere heap of ugliness and ruin of which the only charm is a remoteness from the living world. Fez is a city that has been in its time one of the proudest and most splendid cities of the Moslem world. Its fall has been so gradual that there has been no change, nothing but a slow decay, so gentle that it has not scarred old Fez, but beautified it. Fez, like Venice, requires but a touch of the imagination, aided by the long shadows of the early morning, I 12 INTO MOROCCO the mystery of twilight, or the silvery magic of the moonlight, to restore it to us as it stood in all its somber beauty eight hundred years ago. Therefore do we most eagerly await the moment that will reveal to us this crumbling stronghold of a dying race, this beautiful but fragile shell of Moorish civilization, — a civiliza- tion that long ago ceased to progress, and, ceasing to pro- gress, has thereby ceased to live. ■^'i^ik, THE GATE OF A FONDAK IN FEZ A glimpse of the decaying splendor of a city which reveals to modern eyes a vivid though faded picture of what the Moorish city of Granada in Spain must have been in the days of her glo^-^y It is said that many a Moor of Morocco holds today the keys of the palaces and fondaks that his ancestors once owned in the Granada of Boabdil and in other Moslem cities of Saracenic Spain. To visit Fez today is like journeying back- ward along Time's highway to the age when Moslem Spain was the most civilized and most highly cultured nation of continental Europe. S3^ PH^AaMO"! A 10 3TAD '^HT t £ 'io -lobn^iqa §nr{£D3b sift lo o ■■ . ■ >:•,• * ■■. ,•;■■ :■%■■' -jjf-sfii Y-sboJ ablod opooiol bn£ libdfibS Io jeb^nBiO aril m t '^i"" bssilr/b 2qoii/3 jiaxv oT ^1^ FEZ THE METROPOLIS OF THE MOORS 'O modern minds the word "metropo- lis ' ' suggests a city, great in extent, in the heart of a thickly populated country ; a place of marvels and of wonderful con- trivances ; a place w^here commerce has worn mighty canons between huge cliffs of masonry ; a place toward which all roads converge ; a place whence radiate interminable rails of steel, along which speed steaming monsters, annihilating space and bringing vast regions under the spell of urban supremacy ; or else the suggestion is of a mighty seaport, to which the great ships of the deep bring men from far-off lands and cargoes from the far ends of the earth. Metropolis, moreover, means a place where burn the bea- con-lights of intelligence and culture ; where the latest word Ii6 FEZ THI-; .MKIROPOLIS OK THH MOORS of science is spoken ; where every day a superstition dies ; where seekers after truth come nearest to their goal. A metropolis is the essence of our New Century civilization, — the creation of an irresistible modern impulse, an entity that challenges our admiration and inspires us with awe. But there is in this world a great city, the metropolis of a nation, which is not like the cities that we know. APPROACHING FEZ FEZ 117 In the midst of a fertile, smiling wilderness, it is a stranger to all things that are new ; its commerce ebbs and flows through channels unknown to the world. At its gates are no railways and no carriage-roads, but it holds infrequent com- munication with a distant port by means of caravans of mules and camels, and of messengers who run on foot. Its culture is the culture of the ^^^t-^ Fifteenth Century, its science ' . of still earlier " IN lUK .MIUST Ot . il.LiEKNEbb " date ; and truth there is yet hid by clouds of superstition. This city is the essence of the Middle Ages ; it is the heart of a nation that was mummified eight hundred years ago by the religion of Mohammed. This city is called Fez ; the land of which it is the capital is Morocco. The first glimpse of Fez is an event in the life of a traveler. Then, if ever, will be experienced one of those delicious little thrills that make their way down the spinal column of a man when he realizes that he has accomplished something of which ii8 FEZ he has long been dreaming. And when we, who have long been dreaming of a visit to the Moor's metropolis, actually behold it, though it first appears as only a faint line of walls and towers, almost undiscernible through the rough sea of heated air-waves that surge between us and the city, now that Fez at last has risen from this endless plain over which we have been toiling southward for eleven days, we feel that we must draw rein, and for a few minutes indulge in the enjoyment of that creeping thrill. There are so few of them in life ; the traveler who can remember twenty of these deli- cious moments in as many years is fortunate above his kind ! Happy in the assurance that a new and thoroughly un- common experience is opening before us, we ride rapidly on. Leaving our baggage caravan far in the rear, and halting at a respectful distance from the walls, we snatch a hasty A FAINT LINE OF WALLS AND TOWERS " FEZ 121 luncheon before entering the gates of Fez ; and this luncheon is the last incident of our delightful journey into Morocco. We have been eleven long days in the saddle. We recall the de- parture from Tangier, the nights in camp near Berber villages, the passing glimpse of the city of zVlcazar-el-Kebir, and the visit to Morocco's greatest saint, the Shareef of Wazzan ; nor can we forget the great sun-flooded land, bright with the colors of a million-million flowers, across which our little caravan has struggled at a snail-like pace, crawling scarce twenty miles between the rising and the setting of the sun. "the sun-flooded land" 122 FEZ WHO CAN FORGET THE SMILING FACE OF HAJ?" Still with us are the Faithful Five — the five men who formed our escort, the men to whom we looked for comfort, willing service, and pro- tection. There is Kaid Lharbi, the military guard, under his broad-brimmed hat ; and as for the dragoman-in-chief, who can forget the smiling face of Haj Abd- er-Rahman ? A marvel of tact and cleverness was " Haj, " but though he has successfully piloted our fleet of mules and horses, with their cargoes of tents, furniture, provisions, cameras, and presents, across trackless expanses where the only law is the Law of Might, he may well assume an anxious expression as we approach the gates of Fez ; for there his task will be even more difficult. Instead of the lawless, but simple-minded, easily-won people of the plains, he will now have to deal with city men, men of strong anti-Christian prejudices, with the proud, ignorant, fanatical, and cunning population of this untaken stronghold of Mohammed's faith. We shall be met at every turn by a polite resistance, and although our letters, obtained in Tangier from the Moorish Minister of Foreign Affairs, assure us official protection, we shall be given to understand that we are not wel- come visitors, and that our sojourn must be made as short as possible. The surroundings are so smiling and peaceful that we can scarcely realize that yonder city is one of the most fanatical, one of the most rigidly KAID LHARBI FEZ 123 IHE CRU.MBLING WALLS opposed to foreign intrusion of any in the world. Our lirst impression is that Fez lies on a level plain ; but we find this is not true, for it is spread out on the slopes of an irregular valley. Another view than our first will tell us more of the situation of the place. I must confess, however, that although my bump of locality is fairly well developed, I found the situa- tion of Fez most difficult clearly to understand, and it was THE WESTERNMOST STRONGHOLD OF MOHA^^MED'S FAITH 124 FEZ only after repeated excursions to the surrounding eminences that I was able to map out mentally the various quarters of the town. That there are two great divisions, each almost independent of the other, we very soon discover. First, there is the Imperial and official quarter, where the palaces and gardens of the Sultan and the buildings of the government are scattered over uncounted acres of high- FASS-EL-DJEDID ' walled areas. In native speech, this quarter is called Fass- el-Djedid ; that is, " Fez, the new, " for it is new when meas- ured by the age of Fass-Bali, or Old Fez, which soon reveals itself to us, lying in a hollow to the left of Fass-el-Djedid. This is the lucdina, or city proper, wherein are situated the most sacred mosques, the busiest bazaars, the dwellings of the poorer classes, and the modest Vice-Consulates of only two or three European nations. Between the animated Medina, — a mass of closely packed cubes of white, appearing FEZ 125 when viewed from a distance like a saucer filled with sugar lumps, — and the spacious, stately governmental quarter, lies what is called the garden region. This portion of the city in part resembles a well-cultivated farming region, open and free of access ; in part it is like a labyrinth of narrow high-walled alleys, dividing, with their double barriers of stone and plaster, one mysterious garden from another, isolating the secret retreat of one aristocratic Moor from the perfumed inclosure in which the harem of another is confined. A veritable abode of mystery and beauty is that distant portion of the garden region, a paradise to which the stranger is not welcomed. Nor will the stranger be f>c}-so}ia grata in any part of Fez if the reports of other travelers are true. Surely, it will be a luxury to be despised by an entire population, and despised because we are that which we are most proud to be, champions of progress, lovers of civilization. And ready to meet the contempt of Allah's ' FASS-BALI " 126 FEZ THE GATK OF NEW FEZ people, we approach this city. Near the ruined walls we see a multitude of whitish forms, now immobile, now swayed as by emotion. It is an audience composed of men of Fez, gathered in a sort of natural theater to listen to the dramatic tale of a famous story-teller. In ages that are past the white-robed Greeks came forth from Athens and sat thus in the shadow of the old Acropolis to listen to the stories of dramatists and poets whose fame the whole world now knows. And because of its suggestion of those ancient gatherings, this assembly takes on a dignity and an importance in our eyes. Our coming causes a diversion ; spectators drop the thread of the speaker's dis- course, and turn toward us with a scowling curiosity. There are no greetings, not a smile, but we are not conscious of any open rudeness, save that now and then as we ride through the crowd, we notice that men clear their throats and spit ; this, however, we expected, for we knew that the presence of a FEZ 129 Christian so defiles the atmos- phere that good Mohammedans must needs cleanse their mouths and nostrils after he has passed. And now one of the great gates of New Fez looms before us. We enter. For a moment a dampness like that of a tunnel wraps its cool refreshing blackness about us, and then we emerge into a spacious age-worn court, which shows us that the adjective "new" applied to this strange, almost deserted quarter has only a comparative significance. There is in the entire city nothing that is really new. And yet this is not strictly true, for on our right we see a gateway freshly plastered, freshly painted in pale blue, with piles of cannon balls upon the top of its pilasters. It is the recently estab- lished arsenal of the Sultan. For the Sultan, though averse to progress and to civilization, has not hesitated to adopt that I30 FEZ which is most barbarous in our science, — the modern methods of destruction ; and here he manufactures death-deahng in- struments like those invented by the Christians. We traverse the long, cheerless, almost deserted square, and cross "fez — IN ALL ITS DILAPIDATED REALITY" the threshold of another gate. We find ourselves in a tortu- ous, vaulted corridor, divided into gloomy sections by huge horseshoe arches. These gates of Fez are surely not de- signed to facilitate urban circulation, rather are they designed, in case of need, to prevent or at least to impede the rapid gathering of crowds in the great areas around the imperial palace — to isolate the various precincts of the city in case of revolution. As we pass onward, veiled women observe us with a silent wonder, a few men pause to clear their throats or sneer, a holy beggar crouching in an angle howls after us his incoherent FEZ 131 curse. While my horse passes close to one of these ruined pillars, I involuntarily extend my hand and touch the crum- bling brick, as if to be assured that all this is not an illusion; that Fez, the city of our dream, does actually exist in all its dilapidated reality ; that at last the object of our journey into Morocco has been attained ; that our arrival in the Sultan 's city is an accomplished fact. Then, followed by our caravan, we pass from under these ponderous arches and enter another court, smaller but not less strange than the first. Here, moving to and fro are a few white-robed beings ; but so silently do they stalk along, seemingly unconscious of our presence, that we feel as if we hid entered a city of the dead, inhabited only by sheeted ghosts. Already we feel as if the shroud of Islam were being slowly wrapped about us. To the left rise the walls which hide from view the seraglios and palaces of Mulai Al-Hasan III, the Sultan ; to the right are other walls, conceal- ing we know not what mysterious buildings — vast abandoned structures which the stranger never sees. The Sultans have been reckless builders. We are told that the father of Mulai Al- Hasan began, long years ago, a palace which was designed to be the largest in the world. The walls of one room only were erected, and this room was never even cov- in THE GATES 132 FEZ A STOLEN GLIMPSE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE ered by a roof. It forms to-day one of the most extensive pub- lic squares of Fez, measuring three hundred by nine hundred feet. How the old architects would have solved the problem of arching- this huge empty space, it is impossible to guess. This is but one of the long series of abandoned squares and public places across which our es- cort conducts us, each separated from another by c r u m - bling walls, pierced by artistic Moorish archways. Before reaching the city proper, we pass through a dozen or more of these arched portals, so ruinous, many of them, that they appear about to fall and crush us be- " THE EMPTY SPACIOUSNESS OF NEW FEZ " nCath tOnS OI CBUt- FEZ 133 ury-old masonry. I should but weary you were I to de- scribe our progress in detail ; suffice it to repeat that before we reach Old Fez we pass through many gates and traverse interminable, broad, deserted alleys leading between high, crumbling, battlemented walls, where we are stared at, muttered at, scowled at, by the shaven-pated youth of Fez, while more mature citi- zens exhibit their con- tempt by striding past without so much as a A PL'BLIC SQUARE look. It argues an immense amount of self-control to refrain from gazing on such an unusual spec- tacle as our caravan presented, simply because we were not true believers. Nevertheless, there were few among the better dressed men whom we met, who did not march severely by, nose in air, eyes front, denying themselves the satisfaction of an interested stare, because an initial glance had assured them that we were ' ' unclean Christians. Though I confess that this reproach, owing to our ten days' travel overland, and to the scarcity of water in Morocco, was 134 FEZ only too well founded, yet we found it consoling to notice convincing proofs that many of the true believers were also without the virtue that is next to godliness. Moreover, we intended to reform as soon as we could lind a home, while no such admirable intentions can be credited to those who reviled us. But as for the ladies we encountered — bless their feminine souls! — with them, womanly curiosity proved stronger than religious prejudice. They frankly halted, turned their pretty faces toward us and gazed up smilingly at the arriving travelers. We must admit, however, that they had the advantage of us ; we were compelled to take for granted both the prettiness and smiles, and it w^as pleasanter to do so ; moreover, there v/as nothing else to do. Still, the features of her who paused on the left, as vaguely molded by the masking haik, were not of "stared at, muttered at, scowled at' FEZ 135 "womanly curiosity stronger than religious prejudice" Grecian purity. She have charmed us more she not drawn her veil so tight. On the right an older woman was more discreet ; like the wise Katisha she believed that it is not alone in the face that beauty is to be sought, so she sparingly dis- played her charms, reveal- ing only a left heel which peo- ple may have come many miles to see. The fair one in the middle bares her face in most immodest fashion : through an opening at least three quarters of an inch in width two pretty eyes of black are flaming ; and, indeed, it may be set down as an almost invariable rule that the wider the opening 'twixt veil and haik, the prettier the eyes that flash between. With maledictions on the prevailing style of dress for Moorish beauties, we ride on, passing finally from the empty spaciousness of New Fez into the crowded compactness of the old Medina. Here our pace, always slow, must be made even slower ; our caravan winds at a careful walk into a labyrinth of narrow ways, so dark, so crowded, so redolent of Oriental life, so saturated with the atmosphere of Islam and the East, that we are thrilled with pleasure at the thought that we are for a space to become dwellers in this strange metropolis and to live its life — a life so utterly unrelated to that of the cities whence we come. 136 FEZ " THE CROWDED COMPACTNESS OF THE OLD MEDINA" First we must secure an abiding-place, for there are no hotels in Fez — at least none in which foreigners could live and remain in possession of their self-respect and sanity. The only places of pul^lic entertainment are the Fondaks, where men and mules are lodged and fed. A glance through the door of the Fondak, where our own faithful animals were later in the day entered as boarders for an indefinite period, proved how utterly preposterous it would be for us to depend upon the hotel resources of the capital. Although the packs have been removed, the pack-saddles, each a burden in itself, have not been taken off nor will they be until to-morrow for fear the animals uncovered while heated from exertion might catch cold, fall sick, and die. In fact, the mules have not been free from these cruel weights at any time during the journey of eleven days. Why the idea of suicide does not appeal to the Morocco mule is but another of the unaccount- able problems of the land. Convinced that hotel-life in Fez has no attraction for us, we follow Haj toward the palace of the Governor, where, FEZ 137 thanks to our official letters, we expect to find that ample pro- visions for our com- fort have been made. & We halt at last before ^ • an unpromising door, in a deep and narrow street. The palace of the Basha is not extremely imposing in , , its exterior, but we || know that in Morocco bare outer walls often hide undreamed - of splendor, and that dirty, dingy streets may surround pavil- ions and gardens of unsuspected beauty. Therefore it is with A LAPAKINTH OK NARROW WAYS" coulidence that we in- trust our letters, long, beautifully written documents in Arabic, to the attendant at the door. He disap- pears ; we wait ; he remains out of sight; we con- tinue to wait. For three long, mortal hours this THE BEST " HOTEL " IN FEZ ( 138 FEZ endures. Evidently the Basha is deliberating deeply upon the proper disposition of his unwelcome visitors. Now and then an official comes out to look us over, but nothing is done. Soldiers and servants are sent away on errands, and seem never to return. We sit, meanwhile, mute protests at file door. Knowing our helplessness, we curb our anger and impatience, and endeavor to conceal our weariness from the scornful citizens who pass with haughty sneers, happy to see two Christians awaiting the Basha 's pleasure. At last a servant comes with a reply. On receiving it, Haj files into a passion, and orders the caravan to follow him, and away we file through the crowded streets, Haj gesticu- lating wildly and shouting loud enough for all to hear that the Basha has attempted to extort money from the foreign visitors, who are great lords, whereas he is bound by instruc- tions from the Minister at Tangier to lodge them at the expense of the city. And this is true ; it is the policy of the government to provide gratis a house for foreign visi- FEZ 141 tors to Fez. This policy is prompted not by a generous spirit of hospitality, but by a desire to control the move- ments of the strangers. It is feared that if the foreigner is permitted to pay rental for his house, he may in some way establish a vague right to occupy it longer than is con- sistent with the desires of the governmento This might prove awkward and lead to complications. It is much simpler to make the foreigner a guest, who cannot refuse to move on when politely notified that his abode is needed for another visitor. In our case, however, the Basha has demanded payment for the house, and Haj, knowing well how to deal with this emergency, is leading us with ostentatious indignation toward the city gates, breathing as he rides loud threats that he will report our treatment to our friend, the Moorish Minister of Foreign Affairs, and declaring that we will, meantime, pitch our camp outside the walls, and hold the Governor respons- ible for any injury suffered at the hands of prowling robbers. His shrewd tactics prove ef- fectual ; for as we are passing 142 FEZ through one of the pretty alleys of the Garden Region, we are overtaken by servants of the Governor. Re- pentant, he has sent them with the keys of a villa that he has as- signed to us. We fol- low the Governor s retainers toward the heart of the aristo- cratic quarter, through a perplexing labyrinth of sun-fllooded alleys, where the redundant vegetation of the silent, surrounding gar- dens overflows the sky- line, or bursts through cracks in the old masonry. We know not whither we are being led ; we scarcely dare hope that we shall be per- mitted to abide in this delightful residential region, and we fear that some abandoned house will be made to serve us as a semi-prison. And soon it seems that our worst fears are to be realized, for although the caravan is halted in the garden region, it is in the dingiest and narrowest of its streets, before the lowest and the darkest of its doors. When Pierre Loti came to Fez and saw for the first time the entrance to his house, he immediately exclaimed : ' ' But this is not a human habitation ! One might be par- doned for thinking it the entrance to a rabbit hutch ; and even then they must be very poor rabbits to live in such a place." THK SVNNV ALLEYS OF THK (iARDEN RKGIOX FEZ 143 A The door of our promised abode looks like the outlet of a sewer or the entrance to a pig-sty. And Haj, who has buoyed up our hopes with descriptions of the palace we were soon to occupy in Fez, receives reproachful glances. We fear his " palaces ' ' no more deserve their name than did his "forests " and his "lakes ' ' and "riv- ers, ' ' for to him a clump of half a dozen trees was a " IN THE NARROWEST AND DINGIEST STREET " ' 'foret mag'iiijiqile / " a muddy pool " u?i lac su- perbe,''' and a slimy streamlet, " ii?i c riviere claire et bel- le. ' ' And now his *^ p a I a i s sf) I e nd ide " bids fair to be — a dirty prison. But the ar- rival of our pack-mules leaves us no 144 FEZ time for reproaches or complaints. The caravan completely blocks the circulation of the neighborhood. The pack-mules, too broadly loaded, get stuck fast in the narrow street, and we are compelled to back them out and discharge the cargoes at a neighboring street-intersection. Our folding beds and chairs, our gaily-colored rugs and cushions, our kitchen out- fit, and our photographic kit are heaped up in the public HKTWKEN SILENT GARDENS thoroughfare, pending the disappearance of the animals. But happily, owing to the blockade, there are no passers-by ; else the major portion of our goods might also disappear. A sound of rushing water fills the air, for one of the rapid canals that irrigate the gardens and turn the flour- mills of Fez, here flows beneath the street. It makes a music very grateful to the ears of those who are new come from the torrid prairies of the provinces. Truly, it will be pleasant to rest for a few days and listen to that music, no matter how FEZ 145 distasteful our abode may prove to be. Let us, then, with resignation crawl through our dingy door and make ourselves at home. Accordingly, we stoopingly grope through a low dark passage, then — stand erect and gasp with pleasure ! Aladdin, when for the first time he rubbed the magic lamp, could not have been more thoroughly delighted or surprised. Before " DISCHARGING CARGO " us is a dainty villa, snowy white ; around it a delicious garden, more than an acre in extent. The fact that everything is purely Moorish, that no hint of European occupation can be seen, and the conviction that our home differs in no important detail from the dwellings of our aristocratic neighbors, gives added charm to our abode, added delight to the thought of sojourn here in this exotic atmosphere. It is resolved that we shall occupy the upper story, that our men shall find lodgings in the lower rooms, while for the noonday nap, the 10 146 FEZ promenade, or a quiet hour with a book, our pretty garden offers us its shady depths. It is redolent with the perfume of or- ange-blossoms and jasmine. Beneath the leafy branches of the lemon and pomegranate, fig- a n d olive - trees, there is even at noon a coolness as of evening. The hum of in- sects, the subdued roar of tumbling waters in the ad- jacent garden, and the trickling mur- mur of tiny canals fill the air with a restful symphony. FRONT DOOR OUR VILLA FEZ 149 OUR MOORISH r.ARDKN We have forgotten the rudeness of our welcome ; we have shut out the grim, hostile city ; we are at last at home in Fez. We are as safe as if shut up in jail. In fact, like all for- eign visitors, we, too, must record among our sensations that of being prisoners w h i 1 e within the walls of Fez ; but we are very willing prisoners, and when the hour of dinner is AT HO.MK IN FRZ I50 FEZ announced, we cheerfully climb the tiny spiral stairway to our roomy cell, and with this first meal begin the routine of our daily home life in the Sultan's city. We have simply pitched camp in the great upper chamber of the house, spread out the rugs, set up the beds, the chairs, and tables, and made ourselves as comfortable as possible. The windows are merely huge openings in the wall, unglazed, with metal bars and heavy wooden shutters. The floor is neatly tiled, the walls are whitewashed, and the ceiling is of WILLING PRISONERS FEZ 15T wood. Our five attendants have taken possession of the lower floor. There p also Haj has installed his 'I little cuisine, and is indus- triously encour- aging a tiny haj's cuisine charcoal fire with a fan. Sitting near, intently observing his culinary operations, is a young Jewish woman, who brought a recommendation from the British Vice-Consul, and was engaged to act as maid-of-all-work, to help five helpless men to bring order and com- fort out of the chaos that reigns here on the day of our arrival. That she does not lack for occupa- tion is proved by the as- pect presented by our courtyard dur- ing the painful period of in- stallation in our e X q u i s - i t e Moorish home. Pack- baskets, bed- THE JEWISH MATD-OF-AI.I.-WOKK 152 FEZ ding, blankets, furniture, and dishes had been dumped there in confusion ; but through the efforts of our Hebrew house- keeper, all things are quickly put to rights, the court resumes its wonted air of Oriental languor, the little fountain sings on its uninterrupted song, and the atmosphere of romance once more envelopes house and court and garden. To fill our cup of happiness, a messenger arrived, bringing a bulky CHAOS IN THE COURTYARD packet of letters from America ; for a courier of the British consul, who left Tangier one week after our departure, has arrived in Fez the day of our arrival, having run on foot the entire vv^ay, one hundred and seventy miles in four days ' time ; while we, encumbered with a baggage caravan, have been eleven days upon the way. We remain a day and night in our new abode before ven- turing out into the streets. We shall now cautiously com- mence a series of expeditions — one cannot call them strolls or promenades — across and round about the town. The objec- FEZ 153 tive-point of our first ex- pedition is the office of our banker. We de- scend from the high- lying Garden Region , and enter the ruinous streets of the Medina. We are accompanied by Haj, for without a guide we should soon go astray. We are followed by K a i d Lharbi, our military es- cort, it being most imprudent for the foreigner to walk abroad unaccompanied by a guard. To photograph in the streets of Fez is difficult to the verge of impossibility. First, there is the Mohamme- dan prejudice against picture-making, the reproduction of the likeness of living things being prohibited by the Koran, which says : " Every painter is in hell-fire, and i\llah will appoint a person at the day of resurrection for every picture he shall have drawn, to punish him ; and they will punish him in hell. Then, if you must have pictures, make them of trees and things without souls." Had the photographer existed in Mohammed's day, he would undoubtedly have had a special verse in Scripture devoted to his case ; as it is, the faith- ful call the camera a "painting-machine," and class its STREETS LIKE VAULTED TINNELS 154 FEZ TRELLISED THOROUGHFARES ance of interminable arbors, through of light flitter and fall unpaved ground ; still are so narrow and cut between such tall dark walls, that nev- er by any chance do rays of sun- shine illuminate their depths. Street life in Fez is vividly sugges- tive of subterranean existence. There is a dark-cellar-like cool " AMONG RESUSCITATED MEN IN THEIR SHROUDS " manipulator with the impious artists whose instruments of crime are brushes. Even though this difficulty may be overcome by cunning, the very streets and structures conspire with the people to foil the eager c a m e r i s t . Many of these streets are vaulted tunnels, illuminated only here and there by bands of light ; others are roofed by vine-cov- e r e d trellises, that give them the appear- which faint squares FEZ 155 ness, which, combined with the ghostly stride and costume of the inhabitants, gives us the impression of being in the cata- combs among resuscitated men in their shrouds. Ghostly in- deed is the dress of the rich old men in Fez, — a dress that gives its wearers the dignity of Roman senators. What a su- perb figure for the ghost of Hamlet's father one well-remem- bered old gentleman would make ! He is, however, Haj 's uncle, and greets our guide, his nephew, very cordially. Haj, rascal that he is, knowing that we care more for snap-shots than for introductions, always arranges when he meets a friend or relative to detain him in conversation, in the best illumi- nated portion of the street, thus giving us invaluable oppor- tunities for secret portraiture. Then, after he has heard the "click!" that comes from what appears to be an innocent brow n paper parcel under my right arm, Haj. with many com- plimentary phras- es, presents us to our visitor, intro- ducing us as men of great distinction from America. Presently we emerge from the dim bazaars, and find ourselves in a small, deep, pub- lic square. O n one side is a semi- ruinous water AN EXCHANGE 156 FEZ HAJ GREETS A GENTLEMAN OF FEZ fountain, roofed with tiles and decorated with mosaics. Before us is a stately portal, the entrance to a commer- cial exchange, a headquart- ers for the better class of merchants. It dates from the time when Fez was the commercial center of a rich and very prosperous empire, when the merchandise of the world found here a profitable market. The building now is sadly out of repair, like almost every other building in the city. To make repairs in Fez is sacrilegious. If a structure crumbles and decays, the owner with resigna- tion folds his hands and murmurs, '* It is the will of Allah ; it is written, ' ' and forthwith, grateful for this mark of di- vine favor, hies him to the mosque and prays. The Mohamme- dan strictly fulfils his religious observ- ances. During the hour of prayer the "repairs are seldom made in fez" quarter is aeserieQ , 1 RADI'.KS "ON THE CURB" FEZ 159 an hour later business is resumed, and the wheels of metro- politan commerce, released for a short space from the religious brake, again revolve with many a squeak and crunch, clogged as they are by superstition and neglect. Yet for the artist or lover of the picturesque, it would be difficult to find a more attractive crowd of business men. And these Moorish arch- ways, fountains, tiled roofs, and age-eaten arabesques are still most beautiful, even in dilapidation more beautiful, iajfiMiiilMII THE OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN CONSULAR AGENT perhaps, than when in all their freshness they were the pride and admiration of generations of Fassis, long since gathered into Paradise. We are informed that our banker, who is also the consular agent for the United States, has offices within a certain medieval business block ; and as we are in need of funds, and also desirous of meeting our representa- tive, we push through the trading throng and enter the patio, a spacious inner court four stories deep. Four tiers of galleries rise about us, all richly finished in old woodwork, i6o FEZ elaborately carved, but sharing in the slow decay of the entire building. Our consular agent, whose office door stands open on the left, is ( as we have been told ) a native Jew, by name, Benlezrah ; by occupation, a merchant, broker, and money lender; and by nationality, thanks to the "protection" system prevalent in Morocco, an American citizen. Benlez- rah admits that his consular duties are not engrossing, nor are they profitable ; for he receives no pay except in the form of infrequent fees ; but he holds to his office most tenaciously because the United States has power to naturalize all its servants in Morocco, and to grant them what are called " protection papers. " Were he not thus protected by some foreign power, the Sultan's assessor would, he assures us, soon strip him of his comfortable fortune gained in com- merce. A few days later we visited Mr. Benlezrah at his home in the Jewish quarter, where we find him surrounded by his family. A high sepulchral bed, something between an Oriental shrine and the proscenium of a Punch and Judy theater, is the dominating feature of his drawing-room. During our call our host tells us more about the protection ''''^#%,:^"- FEZ i6i system. It ap- pears that all rich men in Morocco are subject to the most barefaced robbery by the Sultan and his ministers. When in need of funds, the government notifies its chosen victim that a large contribution for the coffers of the sacred Sultan will assure the giver of the imperial favor, and that a refusal to obey the hint will be followed by im- prisonment or confiscation, or both. But men protected by foreign powers cannot be imprisoned or punished until tried for their offenses before the consular court in Tangier, and are there- fore practically insured against "" the cupidity of corrupt imperial officials. Thus every Moor or Jew, possessed of wealth, 11 MK. BhNLEZRAH AT HOME i62 FEZ « TWO OF THE SULTAN S CABINET desires the protection of a foreign nation. Protec- tion being such a boon, abuses have naturally at- tached themselves to the granting of it. . f , The Moorish govern- «^ . V\ ': J ment has complained that gi», WW consuls of the European nations, yes, even of the United States, have been guilty of selling for cash the protection of their re- spective flags to wealthy Moors and Jews. To the Jew, protection is indeed a special blessing, since it gives him the right to ride on horseback or muleback through these streets, where other Jews must walk. It permits him to pass the doorways of the mosques without stopping to remove his shoes, while other Jews must bare their feet each time they near the sacred gates. It must be remembered that the current calendar in Fez is not that of A. D. 1907 ; but it is for the year 1325,* after the Hegira of Mohammed, and the Moors are about six cen- turies behind the times ! These Mohammedans of Fez not only do not permit the Jew to pass the mosque with shoes upon his feet, but they do not permit any infidel to enter their sacred places ; they do not permit Jew or Christian to pause to look in at the doors, and there is one mosque, the Shrine of Mulai Idrees, the founder of Fez, so holy that no unbeliever is permitted even to approach it. Across the streets leading thither barriers are placed ; the Moors stoop and pass under them ; the Christian * The Mohammedan lunar year being several days shorter than our solar year, makes the Moslem New Year's Day a movable feast, which in the course of centuries works its way through all the seasons. The year 1325, after the Hejira of Mohammed, began on February 14th, Anno Domini, 1907. FEZ 165 and the Jew, on pain of death, must go no farther. Then across other streets bars are placed to mark the point beyond which men are not allowed to pass at cer- tain hours. One portion of the cool cellar-like bazaar is sacred to the women, who, tem- porarily embarrassed, bring hither objects that they wish to sell. Apparently they are not eager to attract pur- chasers, for they hide what- ever they may have beneath their haiks ; but now and then a man approaches, and an embroidered vest, a piece of silk, a jewel or a ring is reluctantly brought forth and passed across the barrier in exchange for silver coins ; then one white, shrouded figure rises and fades away amid the ghostly throng. To us, new- comers to this land of mystery, it is as disconcerting to face a crowd of these women, as for the soldier to stand unmoved before masked batteries. We are conscious that two score of bright, black eyes are leveled at us, but we cannot read the message they project — the faces that would make the message legible are veiled. Are the lips curled in scorn of the infidel ? Are smiles of ridicule excited by his strange foreign dress, so pitifully convenient and unpicturesque, so tight, so graceless, when compared to the splendid sweep of the Moorish costume ? Or, in some faces, is there written a NEARING A PORTAL OF THE KARUEEIN 1 66 FEZ deep, bitter yearning for knowledge of the outside living world, — the world of to-day, of which we stray moderns come here as reminders ? But as we wander ever through the bazaars, meeting everywhere the same impassive, un- curious expressions on the uncovered faces of the men, we are inclined to believe that to the Moor, Morocco is the world, — that for him, outside its borders, geographically or intellectually, there is nothing worthy his consideration. A few progressive Moors, so we were told, evince a shadowy interest in the universe at large by subscribing for a daily paper. This paper is not printed in Fez, where journalism is unknown, it comes from far-off Cairo on the Nile, and reaches its eager Moorish readers after a voyage of seven days by sea and eight by land. Remembering these things, it is difficult to believe that Fez is, in the eyes of the Mohammedans, an important seat of learning, but so it is ; for does not the famous university and mosque, known as the Kariieem stand in the very heart of Fez.'* The Karueein, a sort of inner " holy city " is, next to the mosque of M u 1 a i Idrees, the most sacred inclos- ure in Fez : As we approach it, we are warned by Haj that Christians are not permitted even to pause and glance into its courts when passing any of its many portals. The imperfect pictures that will reveal to A COURTYARD OF THE INVIOLABLE KARUEEIN you vague gUmpses FEZ 167 of its dark corridors and sunlit patios are the result of oft-re- peated efforts, risks, and subterfuges. The entrances are jealously guarded by the faithful ; the Jew or Christian who lingers on the thresh- old is rudely jostled by the passers-by, and if he does not take the hint, a sud- den surging of the crowd sweeps h i m away. Three morn- ings were devoted to vain attempts to bring the camera to bear upon those gates. But finally a fourth attempt, aided by strategy, met with success. Opposite every gate are groups of beggars, crouching in the narrow street. Strolling with ostentatious carelessness, the camera, wrapped like a paper parcel, under my arm, I pause before the beggars, my back turned to the sacred entrances, and fumble in my pocket for stray coppers. No one sees any reason for interfering with the charitable stranger ; but, mingled with the chink of the coins dropped into the out- stretched palms, there might have been heard the clicks of a photographic shutter, fired almost at random, and these pictures here shown are the rewards of my charity, so hypo- critically bestowed, I had had faith in my ability finally to A KIOSK OF THE KARUEeFn i68 FEZ accomplish my sinful task ; I had been buoyed up by the hope of success, but while I had not charity, my efforts did not profit me. The Karueein is the greatest educational institution of western Barbary. Nor must we smile to hear it called by so proud a name. Its past entitles it to the respect of the world. It ranked with the great colleges of Moorish Spain — with Cordova itself — as a seat of learning, and hither came not only Moslems, from all corners of Islam, but also noble gentlemen from England, France, and Spain, to complete their educations. Yes, as we glance into another patio, where a green tiled kiosk recalls the Court of the Lions of the Alhambra, we must not forget that here philosophy once flourished, here as- tronomy, mathemat- ics, and medicine once were more fully developed than at any other place in the contemporary world. In the inac- cessible library of the Kariieein, the lost books of Euclid are said to be molder- ing, also many clas- sics, fragments for which scholars have been seeking. But these things will not be brought to light WHERE MEN ARE TAUGHT v\ " IN I Kill c I lAi, Mr.M.Miis" uutil the death •knell FEZ 169 of Morocco 's independence shall have sounded. The Karfieein to-day stands here in the heart of Fez, as the center of resist- ance to all progress, as the embodiment of slumber ; yet here are gathered even in our day more than a thousand students, four hundred of them supported by an endowment fund dating from the twelfth century. That is, their food is THE WEST iFyi£oirfif/>AN[AMi THE EAST /^founfji^s MAP OF THE WORLD A5 U5ED BY mi univeR5ITY OF fEZ A.D. 183?. provided for them gratis, their lodging costs them nothing, for they sleep under the arcades of the Mosque or in its spacious courts. They are taught by wise men — ' ' Taleebs ' ' — men who are intellectual mummies. They learn to repeat the Koran word for word ; they learn to hate the unbeliever, to scorn his science and inventions, to turn their backs upon all things that are new ; they are encouraged to cling to the old dream of Islam, and to worship the God of their fathers in this holy mosque. They are taught the forms and simple ceremonials of the Moslem faith ; to wash the feet at the fountain before entering the sanctuary ; to leave their yellow, heel-less slippers in the court ; to kneel, or rise, or prostrate themselves at proper intervals ; to pray five times each day ; to turn their faces while they pray toward the sacred city I/O FEZ Mecca in the East ; to drink no wine, to eat no pork, to keep with cruel rigor the long fast of the Ramadan, when for forty days they may not touch food, drink, or tobacco between the rising of the sun and the going down of the same. As for their secular teaching, it is refreshingly original. A map of the world, the use of which is sanctioned by the faculty, throws much interesting light upon the Moorish geographic point of view. An examination of the " AIR OF desolation" map shows that Tangier, although a Moorish port, is placed on the north side of the Mediterranean, while Spain, apparently, is next door to Morocco, on the coast of Africa. The results of Stanley's explorations are outlined with remarkable angu- larity and distinctness around the sources of the Nile and the Mountains of the Moon. England, though not named, is represented by one of the islands just north of India and Thibet ; moreover, the latest Moorish expedition to the north pole has evidently reported that Gog and Magog abide amid the frozen seas, for they figure on the map. FEZ 171 "first comes a squad of soldiers" i^. Every spring the students i^' of the Karfieem, who are called "Tholbas, " go forth from Fez, and pitch a great camp in the plain. They elect one of their number "Sultan of the Tholbas," and to him all must pay reverence. Even the veritable Sultan himself must ride out in state and call upon Student Sultan in the THE THOLBA CAMP (72 FEZ 1 MODERN MOORISH SOLDIERY Tholbas' camp, treating him as an Imperial brother. The expenses of this scholastic picnic are paid by contribu- tions exacted by the Tholbas from the citizens of Fez. Returning from our visit to this camp, we make our way once more into the official quarter of New Fez, through which we passed so hurriedly the day of our arrival. The same grim walls are there, the frowning towers, and the air of desolation. To our great regret we have learned that the Imperial Master, Mulai El-Hasan, Sultan of Morocco, will not return to Fez until long after our departure. He is at present on the march across the southern deserts, returning from a journey of eigh- teen months' duration to the rebellious province of Tafilet, on the border of the Great Sahara. Small wonder that the New Fez appears deserted ; for when his Imperial Majesty goes upon a journey, he is followed by no less than a quarter FEZ 173 of the population of Fez, 30,000 people, — ofBcials, soldiers, servants, and wives and slaves. But we are, nevertheless, to see a remnant of his retinue, for suddenly a crowd appears as if by magic, and the square takes on an air of life and animation. First comes a squad of soldiers, marching to the beating of a drum. They wear the hideous modern uniform of the new Moorish army — an army that has been created within the past few years by a foreign officer on the Imperial staff, a Scotchman, Kaid Maclean, who has transformed the ragged unkempt hordes of his Imperial Master into an army with some pretensions to discipline and equipment, although to us it THE GATHERING AT THE GATE OF JUSTICE 1/4 FEZ WITH THE BRITISH VICE-CONSUL appears almost grotesque. The uniform chosen gives the private soldier the aspect of a simian pet of an organ-grinder, a little overgrown. Judging by their appearance we are pre- pared to see these w^ar- riors doff their caps and pass them around for coppers ; but this is less the fault of the soldiers than of the military tailor ; the same men robed in long flowing garments would, in all probability, appear as dignified as the civili- ans. We had the curi- osity to examine their weapons, and we were rewarded by discover- CAPTURING A FORT WITH CAMERAS FEZ 175 ing several muzzle-loading rifles, bearing the inscription, "Springfield, Massachusetts, 1865." The first awkward squad is followed by another and another, until the great square, bisected by a long procession of those red-coated fighters, appears like a ravine through which there flows a river of blood. Meantime, from the por- tal of the palace there emerges with solemnity and slowness a stately company of white-robed Moors, some mounted upon superbly harnessed mules, followed by spotlessly arrayed dig- nitaries and courtiers on foot ; and in the midst of these rides the Viceroy of Fez. We dared not raise our cameras as he passed, for the crowds regarded us with hostility, and the picture we secured shows only his retreating form, towering above the heads of his attendants. " THERE ARE GARDENS AND ORCHARDS ' 176 FEZ A r.IPIXiMATI The procession enters the huge " Gate of Justice." On the left we discern a hne of crouching figures, those who have come to make or answer charges before the autocratic tribunal. There is no appeal from the instantaneous decisions given by the old Vizier of Justice. Happy the citizen who, thanks to the protection afforded him by a foreign consul, is exempt from being dragged to this bar of so-called justice ! "TRAILS THAT ARE ALMOST ROADS FEZ 177 The only Anglo- Saxon representative in Fez is His Bri- tannic Majesty ' s Vice-Consul, Mr. Mac Iver Mac Leod. For downright per- tinacity commend me to this man, who, in the face of an en- tire nation's opposi- tion, planted himself in Fez, established a vice-consulate, and stuck to his post un- til the Moors gave up the fight and resolved to tolerate his per- manent presence in their holy city. With Mr. Mac Leod we enjoy frequent ex- cursions roundabout the city, to the nearer mountain crests, and to the abandoned forts upon the hill-tops, whence splendid views of Fez are to be had. One day, finding no practicable doorway to one of those deserted strongholds, we entered boldly through the embrasure where years ago the noses of old cannon had breathed threatenings above the once-rebellious city. Affrighted at our daring, my youthful camera-bearer dropped the case and fled. There are orchards and gardens in the environs of Fez, and there are trails that are almost roads, radiating in all directions. We are invariably accompanied by an escort when we ride forth from Fez ; the country roundabout is not safe. The British Vice-Consul always brings his followers, and insists that we shall order out Kaid Lharbi, our pictur- 12 llIK \IC£:-CONSrLAR VILLA 178 FEZ BRITISH SOCIETY IN FEZ esque old soldier-chaperon, every time we venture beyond the crumbling walls. The Vice-Consulate is in the old Medina, in the heart of Fez ; but Mr. MacLeod lives in the garden region. A pretty Moorish villa has been transformed into an English home, presided over by the Vice-Consul's mother, who has exiled herself from England to spend her days with her courageous son in Fez. ' ' But I am not the only Christian woman in Fez, ' ' Mrs. MacLeod assures us, in reply to our remark that she must sorely miss the companionship of people of her own race and religion. " If 3'ou will dine with us on Sunday, you will meet the five Tabeebas. " We accepted the invitation, and met the "five Tabeebas, " each one a study for a statue of Lot's wife after she had so unwisely looked over her left shoulder. Pillars of salt they look, and in truth they are the salt of this cruel Moorish land. They are Christian women, angels of mercy, missionaries, — but not ordinary missionaries, — -theirs is a medical mission, — a mission through which no energy is wasted, against which no criticism can be urged. FEZ 1/9 Among them are three English women, one Irishwoman, and one Scotch lassie. Their work is, of necessity, chiefly with the bodies rather than with the souls of those they seek to aid ; for they realize, as every sane-minded Christian must, that to Christianize Moorish Mohammedans is an impossibility unless the missionary first wins the confidence and love of the people through many palpable and self-evident deeds of benevolence. The dress of these women is but another expression of their innate tact. If they insisted upon going abroad in the streets with uncovered faces, they would immediately lose the respect and confidence of the people who have learned to love them for their numberless good works. They occupy a large house in the densely populated quarter, a home which is by turns a school or a hospital. Here they teach Moorish girls manv useful things ; here every day they receive and treat. THE TABEEBAS 180 FEZ 1 |n M| m iii ^ ^ 1 ii ^^B^HHP tj ■ :-::i^. .'^ » . 1 J 1 linn 1 j_l ' 1 IP i-i 1^ Ik^ PPi J ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H "' ' ' ^■X^ . 1 »,««*•. * ^'-^ f '"" - ^ % ll»5 1^ «i-«'-«P4r f JS^^ ^^ J\mmr/ ' Ikl^L^ 1 tM^ ^1^- THE TA';ni;nAs teaching free of charge, as many patients as present themselves. One afternocn while we were taking tea with the Tabeebas, they were repeatedly called from the room to dress a v/ound, apply an ointment, or give advice to some poor sufferer. Of course we were not permitted to see the Moorish girls who come to the Tabeebas ' school. To secure a photograph of them my camera was lent to one of the Tabeebas, who secretly made an exposure from behind a door that stood ajar. Did the parents of these young girls know of the making of the pic- ture, there would be no pupils here upon the morrow. The faces in the group are faces on which no man may look, unless he be the father, brother, or husband. Let us steal away through the mysterious, fascinating streets and byways that lead us, with a hundred puzzling turns, back to our peaceful villa. It is needless to say that our neighbors have not called upon us, nor indicated by any sign that they are conscious of FEZ iSi our presence in this aristocratic precinct. Walls from fifteen to twenty feet in height surround our garden, cutting us off completely from the public streets and from the garden of our next-door neighbors. Our curiosity concerning that adjoin- ing garden and the family that dwelt therein increased from day to day. Apparently an interminable picnic is in progress there ; for three days past we have been hearing the shouts of children at play and the strange shrill cry peculiar to Moorish women, a piercing tremolo, to which they give utterance in token of joyfulness. It might be called the ' ' college yell ' ' of these Oriental wives — pupils in the school of submission. Finally we can resist no longer ; we must learn what is passing there on the other side of that high wall. But how ^ OUR VILLA FROM THE STRKET I82 FEZ W\ ^^I^B^ ^^bb^ |H K^ ■ ^^4fBHI^v^ ^1 H^ f^^^^^^i ^^^^B '^1 ^^^^^HI^Cv^ ^'IPa^w -^ flt s 1 ^^^S9^^2.iKii ■ ^1 A STOLEN PEEP OVER GARDEN WALL We dare not show our heads for fear some jealous Moor may smash them. We resolve to make a cat's-paw of the faithful camera to snatch curiosity -satisfying chestnuts out of the fire of Moslem exclusiveness. We climb a ladder, lift the camera, upside-down, above the wall, take aim by looking up into the inverted finder, fire, and withdraw precipitately. The result was worth the risk and effort. The plate revealed a scene from private family life in Fez, — the picture of a rich Moor's wives and children attended by black slaves, taking their ease in the absolute seclusion of their garden, brewing and drinking Moorish tea, as they sit on a tiled platform that surrounds a bathing tank. The foreshortening of the figures may be at first a trifle puzzling ; remember we are looking, or, rather, the camera is looking down upon the group from over a garden-wall that is not less than twenty feet in height. Fortunately, the attention of the family had been attracted by something occurring just out of our range of vision, though ^fl^^^^^^^H^H ^H r At Mm f 't 1 H| i.. ^1 ^H Ki [m ^^^^^H Ir'Hi JH^^^^^H w ^^^^^^^H[«'^ ^^^^^^H"^' H^^^^^H Wr ^< - l^^Mk^' ""^ ^ '^HjH ^^^^HflME^^^^^ ^v^'V' -v '^li^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H discovered: FEZ 185 we knew nothing of this at the time. The negative was not developed till we reached America, so the camera recorded a scene which we ourselves have never looked upon. Encour- aged by the silence following our first attempt, we chose another section of the wall and repeated our manceuver. Un- fortunately a preliminary click was heard by our sitters, whose startled expressions, faithfully registered, prove that they have seen the guilty lens and shutter winking at them from the summit of the wall. Some have already hid their faces, others are apparently crying out in protest ; even the dog, like a good Mohammedan, turns his back to the "painting ma- chine. " The unique picture tells us what manner of women is concealed by the shroudlike garments, which are worn in the streets and which make women, be they young, old, rich, poor, beautiful, or ugly, appear as like, one to another, as are bales of woolen cloth. Street life in Fez is for women a per- petual masquerade, a lifelong domino party. But in these high- walled gardens all the participants unmask, throw off their haiks, and during the home hours regain an individuality of visage, form, and dress. This revelation of the inner life of Fez makes the city seem more human to us, less like a city of spec- ters, ghosts, and animated mummies. Nevertheless these people seem not quite real to us, for we did not actually |^-^.. ■...- - - see them, nor did they see us, face to face. Next day two huge black men-slaves came to notify us that if any more mysterious boxes appeared over the garden-wall their master, now absent, should be informed, and our departure hastened. GREETS US WITH LOUD howls" 1 86 FEZ NEIGHBORS We had one neighbor, however, who was more sociable ; in fact, he became painfully familiar. He lived at a street corner where he enjoyed a squatter-right, for he had been squatting there without intermission for five years or more. The man is crazy. He invariably greets us with loud howls, and insists upon it that we are "his mothers ! " Then, like a whining child, he teases for matches with which to light a fire. He has a mania for collecting brushwood, building fires, and then extinguishing them by calmly sitting down upon the flames, much to the detriment of his cuticle and raiment. When his clothes are burned completely off, he counts upon his prudish neighbors for a new garb. Altogether, he is decidedly eccentric even for a madman ; and he must be very FEZ 187 mad, for he either refuses money, or, when it is thrust upon him, tosses it away to other beggars who are always crouch- ing near. Toward the close of our visit we managed to scrape acquaintance with the servants of another neighbor. One was a veiled woman, who would smile at us through her mask, and another a fat negress slave, as unctuous and good- natured as any Mississippi mammy. "And are there really slaves in Fez .'' ' ' some one may ask. There are ; and every day in a certain remote and cheerless market-place young negresses are sold at auction. Seldom, however, does a stranger witness this trafficking in human flesh. At his approach, buyers and sellers, slaves and auctioneers, mys- teriously vanish. Thrice we found the market-place deserted. Twice, owing to the skillful manceuvering of our guide, we sur- prised the market in full swing, and saw six little negro girls, THE PALACE OF A RICH OFFICIAL i88 FEZ AROUND THK MOORISH MAHOGANY fresh from the barbarous regions of the south, purchased by solemn white-robed citizens at prices varying from eighty to two hundred dollars. But do not think because our neighbors do not call upon us that we receive no social courtesies whatever. On the contrary, the Minister of Finance, the Moorish Secretary of the Treasury, one of the highest and by a curious coincidence one of the richest dignitaries in Morocco, one day, invited us to dinner. The invitation was delivered through the British vice-consul, who promised to accompany us and to see that we made no faux pas. We were not rude enough to take a camera with us, knowing the prejudices of the Moors, and therefore I have no picture of the gorgeous palace into the courtyard of which we were ushered by a group of slaves. Our host resembled the rich men we see daily in the streets. FEZ 189 being princely in bearing, haughty and reserved. Contrary to Moorisli custom, we sat at a table and on chairs, instead of on the floor. There were no other guests. As soon as we were seated, Mr. MacLeod took from his pocket a paper parcel and opened it, displaying three pairs of knives and forks. "I always carry these when I dine out with the Moorish swells; they don't have any," he explained; "and they like to haA'e me bring them when they are entertaining foreign guests." "But how do they eat.?" we asked. "Watch his excellency, and you'll soon understand." At this moment there appeared a huge round platter, three feet in diameter, on which has been erected a pyramid of chickens. To each of us an entire bird was given. Then our CARRYING BAKED MEATS TO A FEAST I90 FEZ host, with deft fingers, tore his portion very neatly into shreds, picked out the choicest morsels of the chicken and passed them to us. Then followed pyramids of pigeons, then huge chunks of mutton, then sausages on spits ; and that those sausages were not less than two inches thick and one foot long I am positively certain, because we each were compelled to take a whole one, and I remember my vain efforts to get it all upon my plate, three inches of protruding sausage threatening the table-cloth on each side. And every course was carved by our host, who used nothing sharper than his finger-nails, and every time he came upon a morsel of espe- cial daintiness, he courteously offered it to one of us. We were almost stuffed to death, for the consul warned us that to refuse the proffered tidbits would be a great affront. There were no sauces, no vegetables, nothing but meats roasted underground by slow fires that had burned all night. We had noth- ing with which to wash down this ' ' all too solid food except sick- ly lukewarm rose- water. And not content with stuff- ing us and forc- ing us to drink that perfumed liquid, our host would every now and then give a signal, where- upon the servants "LET ME UE AN AMERICAN FOR A MINUTE!" FEZ 191 THE " MELLAH " OR " GHETTO " OF FEZ would spray stronger rosewater down our backs and in our ears. Never was anything more welcome than the tiny cups of Turkish coffee that at last were brought to end our tort- ures. I could not blame my friend, when, on our return to our own house, he declared that he had had enough of Oriental luxury, exclaiming as Haj brought the "antidotes," * ' Let me be an American for a minute ! ' ' The table was served by two slaves, and by a young man whose bearing told us that he was no servant. He was, in fact, the eldest son of our host. Custom commands that the. son should wait upon the father's guests. Imagine this cus- tom introduced at Washington, and picture the sons of a cabinet-official passing huge finger-bowls around the banquet table ! As for our conversation, it turned first upon the only mod- ern institution in the city, the Arsenal and Rifle Factory of the Sultan. The secretary spoke of course in Arabic, the 192 FEZ Tice-consul acting as interpreter. Then we were questioned regarding the city whence we come, Chicago ; and, being native-born Chicagoans, no urging was required to wring from us the story of the great phoenix city on the shore of the American inland sea. We described " skyscrapers, " elevat- ors, cable-cars, and trolleys. Then we told of the World's Fair, visited in one day by seven times more people than "A PLACE OF WHITED SEPULCHERS ' reside in Fez, and then with a keener interest the secretary listened to the incredible figures relating to the movements of wheat and corn and to the shipments of beef and mutton. Next, as a climax, we launched enthusiastically into pork statistics, but our spokesman checks us with the caution : "Hush! Don't shock his Excellency; remember his relig- ious prejudices. Don't say a word about the pigs. You know the Moslem eats no pork." Therefore we leave our host unenlightened regarding the pet industry of our western metropolis. FEZ 195 The next day we devote to the Jewish quarter, a distinct and separate city, called the " Mellah. " We approach it through the Hebrews' burial ground, a place of whited sepul- chers, dwellings for the dead, and dingy huts, temporary abodes for living men and women ; for there are two popula- tions in the Jewish cemetery, a fixed population of the wealthy dead, a passing population of the living poor. You must remember that in these Moorish cities the Jews are still com- pelled to dwell apart from true believers. Their houses are confined in the restricted Mellah, where no provision was originally made for an increase of population. Therefore the poorer and the weaker Jews have been squeezed out of its gates and have found refuge here in the city of the dead, where they have built crude huts and begun life anew. The streets or passageways are, however, far cleaner than those of the in- ner M e 1 a h , and we cannot but agree that resi- dence in POOR NEIGHBORS OF THE WEALTHY DEAD 196 FEZ the freer atmosphere of this city of the dead is preferable to living on the other side of yonder walls, vvhere every inch of space is occupied, where the atmosphere is heavy with bad odors, and where sunshine and fresh air are things almost unknown. A poor old Jew, a man with a large dependent family, serves as our guide. He tells of the misery of his people, begs me to repeat in my own land the story of their woe. It A HOME IN THE CEMETERY FEZ 197 is not the Sultan, he says, who is most cruel to them ; it is the rich men, the elders and the rabbis of his own tribe whom he accuses of injustice. The right to build these shelters in the cemetery was grant- ed by the Sultan to the poor, when the overcrowding of the Mellah proper be- came a menace to the public health. Nevertheless, no poor man is permit- \, ted to take up his abode among these cast-out members of the tribe until he has paid certain fees to the headmen of the quarter. He says that the op- pression of Jew by Jew is harder to bear than the much- talked-of oppression to which the children of Israel have been subjected by the Sons of Ishmael. The statements of our pauper guide surprised us, but what he said was con- firmed by every poor Jew with whom we talked. They all declared that the rich elders and the rabbis of their own tribe were their hardest masters. A wealthy man, with whom we discussed the question later, assured us that his class had almost impoverished itself with charities, that the cause of all the evil lay in the decrease of commerce and the rapid increase of the Jewish population. The poor, undoubtedly, THE WALLS OK THE 198 FEZ are very poor ; and though the rich live in apparent luxury and comfort, it cannot be true that Fez is the only city in the world where the rich Jews abandon their own people to starvation and distress. The noble Jewish charities throughout the world argue the contrary, and even in Fez the philanthropy of European Jews is manifest in the excellent school established here in this very Mellah by the French branch of the Israelite Alliance. We can assure all those who have given pecuniary support to the Alliance that the money is here spent conscientiously, and that the work now doing among the Moor- ish Jews is nobly done and worthy the sym- pathy and encouragement of every lover of humanity. But in spite of the educational and civilizing A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD MOTHER IN THE MAZE OF REEKING ALLEYS FEZ 199 influences of the school, many reforms in customs remain to be effected, and it is to be hoped that in the future, a daughter of the Mellah will not be given in marriage at the age of ten and, like one girl we saw, be mother of a family at fourteen years of age, and become at twenty-five a hideous old woman. Let us hope that in another genera- tion girl-children who at fourteen are still unmarried will not be regarded, as they are to-day, in the light of hopeless spinsters. As for the sanitary reforms demanded in the Mellah, you have but to enter the crowded streets to be convinced that they are numberless. Here Jews are packed like live sar- dines in greasy boxes. Pierre Loti describes the Mellah as ' ' an airless huddle of houses squeezed together as if screwed in a compress, and emitting all sorts of stifling odors. JEWISH COBBLERS 200 FEZ "old men who look the part of shvlock Again he tells of finding here ' ' moldy smells in varieties that are not known elsewhere, cleanliness on the part of people who are denied a sufficiency of space and air and light and water, who are not permitted to remove the refuse from their streets, lest the But how is it possible to expect AN HNGLISH HOME IN FEZ IN THE MIDST OF THE " MELLAH FEZ 203 THE FAMILY OF BENSIMON Moorish scavenger should lose his fee ; people who are de- spised by their Moslem fellow-citizens, called "dogs," and forced to walk barefooted through the streets of Moorish Fez ? As a crowning indignity, the Moors have decreed that the place of deposit for dead animals, from cats to camels, shall be at the gate of the Mellah ; and every night the jackals feast and sing their death chants beneath the walls of this ilN'i .-^HiJi': jLU- and blL\ fc.R-SMU us 204 FEZ unhappy Jewish city. We are surprised, however, to find here and there a touch of color in the dress of these unfortu- nate inhabitants, for black has always been the uniform imposed upon the Jew. Black is to Moorish minds the color of disgrace ; hence were the Jews compelled to wear black caps and gaberdines. To-day, however, this regulation is not so rigidly enforced, although the general tone of the men's dress is very somber. In every street we see old men, who could, without a change of raiment, step on the theatrical stage and look the part of Shylock to the life. In tiny shops, like niches bordering these streets, sit the gold- and silver-smiths, the lawyers, scribes, and money-changers ; there are few idlers here. Jewish industry and thrift here rise superior to the discouraging surroundings. A few shops boast a supply of foreign merchandise. The merchants greet us with a polite buoios d/as ," and converse in i^uent Span- ish ; for besides Hebrew and Arabic, these people speak the language of the and from which their fathers were cruelly cast out by Spanish kings. FIVE o'clock tea IN A HKHRliW HOUSKHOLD FEZ 205 The com- merce of the land is largely in the hands of Moorish Jews, who are forbid- den by law to leave the coun- try, lest a gen- eral exodus occur, and the trade of the en- tire empire, de- prived of their fostering care, languish and ultimately die. Many large for- tunes have been accumulated here, by usury and commerce. We made a formal call one Sabbath afternoon at the home of one of the richest Jews in Fez, old Mr. Bensimon. Magnificent, indeed, is the interior of the house, with its carved, painted doors, its stucco arabesques, immaculate tiled floors, and richly furnished rooms. The Bensimons are of the old conserva- tives. They speak no Spanish and have no knowledge of anything away from their immediate surroundings. The Mellah is their world ; their house is one of the rare oases of elegance in the midst of a wilderness of squalor. But they are all very gracious to us ; of the two pretty little girls, eleven and thirteen years of age, respectively, the elder is already married, the younger is a fiance'e. A curious incident gave us an insight into the reality of their religion. To amuse our host we performed some tricks A HEBREW HOME 2o6 FEZ 1 IHH WeiStt jfij^gri|it^ J^W"^ ^fe'^L '*- ^r^ ^^jrikm^^^m AT THE SCHOOL OF THE ISRAELITE ALLIANCE of sleight-of-hand. Producing a silver dollar, I asked the aged father to assure himself that it was a real dollar, not tampered with in any way. He seemed reluctant to pick up the coin. "You must not urge him," said our guide. " It is the Jewish Sabbath ; a Jew may not touch filthy lucre on the holy day. Before departing we were asked to take tea with the family, and were forthwith ushered into an apartment, fur- nished with that crude gaudiness that is the result of Oriental imitation of Occidental fashions. Of their "European Room " they are as proud as we are of our so-called "Oriental dens." The mirrors, clocks, sofas, and chande- liers, imported from the continent, are the envy of their neighbors. Tea-drinking in Morocco is a solemn ceremony, to the stranger almost a sickening one. A handful of tea is put in the teapot, and the pot is filled to the very top with sugar, broken from a huge cone loaf ; then boiling water is poured FEZ 207 on. Then a bouquet of mint is thrust into this saturated solution of sugar and tea. Next, half a glassful is thrown away to exorcise evil spirits, and then one glassful is boldly swallowed by the host to reassure the guests by proving that there is no intent to poison them. Extravagant as this may sound, it is a necessary bit of etiquette in a land where tea- parties are so often fatal to a rich man's enemies. Finally, little painted glasses full of mint tea are served to all, and the traditional three rounds of this abominable concoction — a sort of warm and flat mint-julep, with the true soul of a mint-julep lacking — must be drunk on pain of being thought ill-bred. If the glasses are not completely emptied every time, the residue is complacently turned back into the teapot, to which more mint and water have meantime been added; and the greater noise we make in drinking the tea, the better are our manners thought to be. The re- sulting sounds at a really fashion- able tea-party suggest the re- leasing of the air- brakes on a rail- way train. During the function, sticky sweetmeats and preserved fruits, that are as revolt- ing as they are adhesive, are "kindly faces smiling down" 208 FEZ passed repeatedly, and every time we are expected to accept and eat. I nearly ruined my digestion in an attempt to be polite. My friend, more happily situated, is able to pour most of his tea out of the window, and deftly to drop the sticky abominations out upon the heads of the passers-by. Escaping linally, we make another call, this time upon the little colony connected with the mission school of the French Israelite Alliance. We find it most refreshing to meet a group of educated people, with whom to talk of all the strange things we have seen. Among them are the teachers, sent from France, their wives and families, and also a number of the most progressive Jews in Fez. The boys are students of the school, and a fat one is presented as the prize pupil of the institution, the pride and admiration of his teachers who put him through his paces at a blackboard :* biciiij THROUGH THE HEART OF THE MOORISH EMPIRE v*X^ -x;^ ^ ^ HROUGH THE HEART OF THE MOORISH EMPIRE THE spell of mystery is still upon Morocco. The Moors are still the people of romance. Of the land we know comparatively little ; of the race as it exists to-day we know still less. Christendom assumes that the Moorish Empire expired with the last sigh of Boabdil, leaving the Alhambra as its only legacy. Almost novel is the thought that the Moors still live as a nation ; that Morocco is to-day what Spain would have become had the forces of the Prophet prevailed in the Penin- sula. Who would not welcome as a precious privilege the possibility of turning back the pages of history in Spain, to revel in the actual Moorish life as it was lived before the Christian victories of 1492 ? Who would not gladly leave, at least for a short space, the familiar round of present-day 228 THE MOORISH EMPIRE existence and the hackneyed paths of travel, to plunge into a past so picturesque, to see a civilization so refined and yet so utterly unlike our ovv^n ? No reader of Washington Irving but has longed to people with white-clad cavaliers the courts on the Alhambra Hill, to hear the Arab accents in the streets of old Granada, or the murmuring of the Moslem prayers in the old mosques. But why persist in holding Spain to be the sole stage on which the Moors appropriately can play their parts ? Morocco was their home ere Spain was conquered for them. When Andalusia ungratefully cast out the race that brought it light and knowledge at a time when Europe groped in the blackness of deep ignorance, back to Morocco went the Empire of the Moors. Empires rise and fall. The Moorish Empire rose but did not fall ; it was shaken but not shattered ; it is still erect. It stands a living skeleton wrapt in the shroud of Islam, its hollowness concealed by the vague folds of ceremonial observances ; its government a pompous sham ; its cities empty imposing shells of former great- ness ; its boundless plains the haunts of savage Berber tribes to whom the Emperor is but a name, the Empire a free space in which to ride broad-chest- ed chargers and do battle with heredi- tary enemies. In two preceding lectures I have told the story of a jour- ney into Morocco, and of a sojourn in TO MEQuiNEz Fcz, the metropoHs ON THE ROAD THE MOORISH EMPIRE 231 of the Moors. There yet remains to tell a third, conclud- ing chapter of the tale — -the narrative of the return from Fez to the sea, from a remote yesterday back to the world of to-day. " Out of Morocco " would serve as an appropriate heading for this chapter, — a chapter rich in adventure and in picturesque experiences. For ten days we have dwelt in BRIDGES COMPETE UNSUCCESSFULLY WITH FORDS medieval Moslem Fez — unwelcome visitors, objects of sus- picion to the jealous Moors. Two routes are open to us — the direct road to Tangier and the less-frequented road to Rabat on the Atlantic Coast. Despite the protest of the authorities, who warn us of many dangers, we chose the road that leads westward to Mequinez, the Beni-Hasan Plain, and the Atlantic. But the word "road " must be regarded only in its Moroccan sense. As 232 THE MOORISH EMPIRE has been said already, there are no roads in this wild land ; the slow caravans and the swift troops of Moorish horsemen have followed the hoofmarks left by the caravans or troops MIDWAY BETWEEN FEZ AND MEQUINEZ which have preceded them, until a system of narrow trails meandering in uncertain parallels has been created between the inland cities and the sea. These Moorish highways were never surveyed and never tended ; like Topsy — who, also, by the way, was an African product — they were never born, " they just growed ; " and like Topsy they are wilfully unreasonable ; they exasperate us by their defiance of conventionality ; amuse us with their peculiar antics, and delight us with preposterous surprises. As an example, take the highway that leads from Fez to the neighboring city of Mequinez. As we approach a river, THE MOORISH EMPIRE 233 the wandering trails converge and form a beaten track that grows more and more like a real road as it winds down toward a substantial bridge. But just as we are about to compliment the road on its reform, it suddenly grows weary of good behavior, becomes rebellious, and, like a balky mule, refuses to cross the bridge. Incredible as it may seem to those who do not know this land of contradictions, Moorish roads will not cross Moorish rivers by means of Moorish bridges. The old way is preferred. Fording was good enough in the old days, and it is good enough to-day. The roads turn sharply from the bridge abutments, scramble down the muddy banks, and plunge into the yellow rivers to emerge slimy and dripping on the opposite shore. The bridges, pon- derously useless, studiously neglected, are falling into decay, and have become almost impassable. We pitch our camp not far from one of those disdained reminders of an attempt at progress. We are midway between Fez and Mequinez in a region notorious because of the thieving bands with which it is infested. It appears MIDDAY REPOSE 234 THE MOORISH EMPIRE wholly unpeopled ; yet we are not without misgivings, for, of our caravan, four mules and two men have gone astray. With us are Haj, the dragom.an, Achmedo, the valet, and the muleteers, Abuktayer and Bokhurmur. The missing are Kaid Lharbi, the military escort, and the new packer who joined our force in Fez. We have our tent and Haj's kitchen ; the other tents and all the supplies and furniture are in the packs of the missing mules somewhere on this gloomy plain, possibly already become the loot of some law- less sheik, or, as we hope, merely delayed because of broken harness, or gone astray because of a mistaken trail. Our groundless fears are set at rest an hour later by the safe arrival of the precious convoy, and once more our palates are delighted by the delicious dinner cooked by Haj, our thirst quenched by cooled oranges, and our weary bodies laid to rest upon our comfortable camp-cots. WIFE, CHILD, AND SLAVE THE MOORISH EMPIRE 235 After the con- finement incident to our residence in city quarters, the free life of the | plains is doubly exhilarating, and we find intense pleasure in the r satisfaction of the simple, keen desires to eat, drink, and sleep. All food is good, all drink is bet- ter, sleep the sweetest gift of the gods. The morning " vo soy chino, senor" finds us early in the saddle ; four hours' westward prog- ress brings us at noon to one of those rare oases of shadow in this bare land of sunshine. Here hunger, thirst, and weariness are again assuaged by food and drink and sleep. Sharp darts of brilliant, blinding sunshine burn through the leafy masses of the two fig-trees, and with almost malicious persistence pursue the would-be slumberer, who, to avoid this, must every now and then crawl after the receding shadows. But we are not the only travelers who have sought mid- day shelter in this forest. On our approach we were greeted by a family group, — a man and woman with a little child, and a black slave. To our surprise the man addressed us in Spanish : — " Buenos dias, Senor, hub la listed Esf>anol f 236 THE MOORISH EMPIRE ''St, Senor, iiu poco/' we reply, and then begins an interesting conversation. "Where are your animals?" we ask. "Stolen with all my goods, last night," he answers. "We must now go on foot to Fez to report our loss to the authorities. " We learn that our unfortunate friend is a maker of sausage cases, that he lives in Mequinez, and that he is hospitably inclined ; for in return for our sympathy, he begs us to make use of his house in ,^(gl0fl^^ty,^ Mequinez, where an- other of his wives m^ ^^ ^^'^^^ welcome us and give us food and m 4, lodging:. OUR DUSKY CHARGE This strange offer of hospitality, coupled with a some- thing in the man's expression leads me to say, " But, Sefior, you are not like a Moor." " Why should I be .^ " he smiHngly asks. " To, yo soy Chiuo.'''' "I, I am a Chinese." THE MOORISH EMPIRE 239 He is the happy father of a dainty little girl, a type of Chinese beauty, and two lusty boys, who bear upon their faces maps of Peking and Canton. The negress, his slave, he is sending back to Mequinez with tidings of his loss. Haj, MULAI ISMAIL S WALL with Occidental gallantry, offers the dusky damsel his place on a pack-mule, and after the exchange of many kindnesses our little company, made up of individuals so diverse in race, in language, and in thought, breaks up. Our Chinese Moor with wife and child go trudging off toward Fez, while the American caravan with its Arab escort and African passenger moves toward the other great interior city, Mequinez. Long before we come in sight of Mequinez, we find our progress barred by a huge wall forty feet or more in height, stretching away in two directions as far as the eye 240 THE MOORISH EMPIRE WANDERING WALLS can reach. But there are ogive archways, through which our caravan passes as freely as the sunshine or the breeze. There are no gates, no guards, to hinder us. On we file across vacant fields until we reach a second wall as forbidding as the first and apparently as interminable. "What are these walls .^ " we ask. " Why were they built .'' what purpose can they serve ? ' ' And Haj tells us that they were reared to protect the city from the turbulent surrounding tribes, to cut off, if need be, the approach of hostile bands. A third wall, wide and high, beginning at the city gate wanders away toward the south, its utility not easily divined. As we trace its curving course over a distant ridge, we think of the Roman aqueducts in the Campagna, and of the great wall of China, for this unknown Moorish work vies with those famous masses of masonry in impressiveness of aspect if not in hugeness and in length of years. It was the creation of the crazy Sultan, Mulai Ismail, a contemporary of Louis XIV, of France, a Moorish emperor who suffered from a mania for masonry, and made his people suffer that he might satisfy his madness for works of colossal inutility. THE MOORISH EMPIRE 241 One of his wildest projects was the building of an ele- vated boulevard, two hundred miles in length, along which he could ride from Mequinez to Morocco City, safe from the attack of the rebellious tribesmen who hold the intervening provinces. The huge north gate of this his favored city appears to us as we approach late in the afternoon like the entrance to some " mysterious nowhere. " It seems to be a portal to the empty sky, a door through which the traveler might pass into the infinity of space. It is, in fact, the gate of an almost deserted metropolis, a city that was built for a population of one hundred thousand and contains to-day less than six thousand souls. Small wonder that we find it empty and forsaken in aspect as we pass from court to court and through gate after gate. There are in Mequinez more houses vacant than occupied, more roofs fallen than intact, more palaces in ruins than huts in good repair. The Sultan is forced to maintain a palace here, for Mequinez ranks with LIKE THE PORTAL TO A "MYSTERIOUS NOWHERE" 16 242 THE MOORISH EMPIRE THE SULTAN S PALACE — MEQUINEZ Fez and Morocco City as one of the three capitals of the Moorish Empire, each city jealous of its dignity as the abode of the Imperial master. The Sultan always dwells amid the wreck of ages. The snow-white palace of the actual sovereign may be seen rising above the crumbling walls of the Imperial Garden. Around " THROLGH GATE AFTER GATE" THE MOORISH EMPIRE 243 "BORN OF AN IMPERIAL MANIA FOR MASONRY' it are vague piles of age-worn masonry, the abandoned pal- aces of emperors who ruled here in the past. Custom demands that on the death of a Sultan his palace be aban- doned and a new one built for his successor. It is regarded as a sacrilege for any one to occupy the abode of a departed emperor. Thus, during the centuries, these imperial inclos- 244 THE MOORISH EMPIRE ures in all the Moorish cities have become encumbered with acres of decaying palaces in which bats and owls hold carnival. In Mequinez everything speaks of Mulai Ismail, the tyrant Sultan of the seventeenth century, that imperial monster whose deeds surpass in horror those of Nero or Caligula, the ruins AN ARTIFICAL LAKE of whose palaces and public works rival in magnitude the Roman mountains of brick and stone upon the Palatine or in the broad Campagna. Mulai Ismail built three miles of stables for his twelve thousand horses. We see, to-day, the endless aisles of arches where his chargers were lodged in splendor, every ten horses tended by a negro slave. As a horseman, he was superb. It is said that he was able, in one graceful movement, to ENDLESS AISLES OF ARCHES THE MOORISH EMPIRE 247 mount his steed, draw his sword, and neatly decapitate the slave who held his stirrup. He held that to die by his imper- ial hand insured immediate entry into paradise, and through- out the latter part of his life of eighty-one vigorous years he went about his land dispensing, with his scimitar, passports to a beatitudinous eternity. Twenty thousand of his subjects were thus favored, Friday being the day chosen by the imper- ial murderer for these execution- cises. His ary exer pet lions were fed OUR CAMP IN THE KASBAH flesh of forty cats better than his one disobedient Workmen caught upon the slaves ; his were treated children, though cat was formally executed by his order idling on the walls, at which his myriad slaves and prisoners were unceasingly engaged, were tumbled into the molds and rammed down into the concrete. An incredibly atrocious deed crowned his career of crime. A wife suspected of infidelity was filled with powder and blown to pieces. The mere drowning of a wife in the small artificial lake was but a gentle pastime. He had two 248 THE MOORISH EMPIRE thousand wives. As to the number of his children we must accept the word of an ambassador of Louis XIV, who visited the court of Mulai Ismail in 1703. He asked the favorite son how many brothers and sisters he possessed. After two days spent in compiling a catalogue, the Prince submitted the names of five hundred and twenty-five brothers and three hundred and forty-two sisters. Later reports give the num- ber of sons who lived to mount horse the astounding total of seven hundred. To create palaces and to people them was the life-work of Mulai Ismail. One incident that makes this impossible man seem real to us is this : He actually sent ambassadors to France to demand of Louis XIV the hand of Mile, de Blois, the natural daugh- ter of the King and Louise de la Valliere ! The honor was declined in polite terms by the Grand Monarque. THE GATE OF KASBAH • - MEQUINEZ THE MOORISH EMPIRE 249 STUDYING THK STRANGERS In Mulai's day Europeans were not strangers to Morocco ; but they came — not as we come to-day, as travelers with tents and guides to camp freely for a few sunny days under the imperial walls — they came as slaves and captives taken from merchant-ships by pirates ; they came with chains and manacles, to toil for dark, hopeless 3^ears in building these same walls, in piling up these useless miles of mud, brick, and cement. The thought of the sufferings endured by them makes doubly strange our actual comfort ; the dangers of the living past throw into striking con- trast the security of the dead pres- ent. We are not even annoyed by crowds. Perhaps there are no crowds in Mequinez to-day. The only citizen who deigns to take an interest in us is an old man who rides up on a tiny donkey and sits studying the strangers with a plainly puzzled look upon his wrinkled face. That he may not depart without some mark of our apprecia- tion of his call, we display our modern arsenal, a shotgun and a rifle, testing the latter by firing at an eagle that is soaring overhead. By chance the shot is a successful one. Down comes the big bird like a meteorite, grazing the donkey's ear, and falling with a thud at his astonished nose ; whereupon our visitor having seen enough rides off in silence to tell of our prowess in the half-deserted bazaars. From Mequinez we carry away impressions as enduring as its walls and gates. We know that we shall never forget the sadness of this empty city, its silence, and its forlorn magnifi- cence. In all Morocco there is no more artistic structure than the Kasbah Gate of Mequinez. It is as it was ; no 250 THE MOORISH EMPIRE restoration has marred it. Time has but softened it, made it more beautiful. Corinthian pillars, brought from the ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis, add to its dignity and tell of a civilization that long antedates that of the Arab conquerors. It, too, like every gate and every palace in the city of Mulai Ismail recounts its tragedy. The man whose mind conceived GOOD SHOOTING IN THE HEART OF THE CITY its form, its intricate designs, its unsymmetrical perfections, fell victim to his artist-pride. For, when the Sultan com- plimented him on his achievements, he declared that he could build a gate more beautiful, more imposing, did the imperial master so desire ; and this boast cost the architect his eyes, for the Sultan was resolved that this, his favorite gate, should have no rival and no peer. Less beautiful, but more impos- ing is the great North Gate by which we enter and through which we ride out into the black, treacherous country. Our THE MOORISH EMPIRE 253 THI-: EKNI-HASAN ri-AlX muleteers have halted at a fountain to drink and pray ; for the fountain marks the burial-place of a great Moslem saint, the founder of the fraternity of the Hamdouchi, a kindred society to that of the fanatical Aissaoua, a sect of self-tor- turers and religious maniacs. votions ended, the caravan reforms, and we find our- selves trailing across an empty land, which we \ have been warned on no account to enter. Two days of un- eventful travel over the hills of a rolling region brings us to the brink of the in- terior highland, from "' which we look down -" upon the level plain that stretches westward to the wide THE NORTH GATE OF MEQUINEZ 254 THE MOORISH EMPIRE A S0l:O IN THK WILDKRNESS Atlantic, many miles away. Below us lies the country of the famous Beni-Hasan tribe. The "Sons of Hasan" are fa- mous as horsemen, warriors, and pirates of the plain. Our route lies w^estward across their territory to the seaport city called Rabat, where we hope to embark in due time on one of the infrequent coasting-steamers that ply up and down the western coast of Africa. As we descend the steep trail winding down from the hill region, we look in vain for any sign of town or village. A few clumps of dark green trees and yellow streams are all that break the dull monotony of the wide vista, — all, save a patch of gray, which looks at first like a heap of rags spread out for an airing and a sunning. But as we draw nearer to it, w^e observe that the rag-pile is alive, that it swarms and moves in slow confusion. Each rag enwraps a human-being ; there are at least a thousand of them come together THE MOORISH EMPIRE 255 in this desert-place to buy and barter food and drink and raiment. A curious feature of commerce in Morocco are these fairs held periodically in-^hosen localities, far from -any settlement or village. A few days later this spot, now the scene of pic- turesque activity, will be brooded over by the silence and desolation of the surrounding plain. It will remain unvisited until, at the advent of another fair, the people of the broad region roundabout will come again to this townless market- place, with cattle, fruits and vegetables, woolen goods and Manchester cotton, old flintlock muskets and inlaid Moorish daggers, to meet their fellow-merchants, to haggle with crafty customers, and to indulge that desire for social intercourse, innate even in the forgotten people of this empty, lonely land. We spend an hour or two at this Soko in the wilderness, watching the ant-hill-like activity of the gray-clad sons of Hasaji. The water-sellers do a thriving business, for the sun beats down relentlessly on this unsheltered mart. From tented restaurants are wafted odors which may be appetizing to the native epicure. The butchers are at their work out in A TOWNI.KSS MARKET 256 THE MOORISH EMPIRE . .'^^l the full glare of the midday sun. There is ^^^.^ but little delay between the abattoir and the pot or frying-pan. In fact, the fresh meat might almost be broiled without the aid of any fire whatever when the sun is high and hot. It is but natural that we should be objects of curiosity, but so reserved and proud are the Moslems that even in this remote place they refrain from paying us the compliment of popular attention. We are neither courted nor insulted. Indifferent glances are all that they vouchsafe us. Whatever of hostility they feel toward the ' ' dog of a Christian ' ' is vented upon our servants. A man attempted to steal a knife from Haj. Haj strikes at him, the crowd sides with the would-be thief, and begins to ;^ rain blows upon our guide and muleteers, but ' they defend themselves until lazy Kaid Lharbi JuJ"*^ can be induced to make haste slowly to the rescue. The appearance of our soldier quells the tumult. The dispute is referred to a young sheik of the tribe, who, as one in authority, listens to our story and to the clamor of the crowd, and like a righteous judge, orders Haj's assailant put in chains. Before leaving, in order to propitiate the crowd, we beg the sheik to release the culprit. This done, we depart amid approving murmurs. Just before sunset we reach a narrow, turbid river. There is no bridge. Our pack-mules glissade down the slippery bank and trudge unhesitatingly across the shallow ford. For- tunately, we have crossed the many rivers without inconven- ience ; but had we entered Morocco a month earlier, while the rivers are swollen by the April rain, we should have "AS ONE IX AUTHORITY THE MOORISH EMPIRE 259 suffered tedious and dangerous delays at every ford. The yel- low flood respects not even the caravans of ambassadors and ministers. Official pack-mules have been swept away, offi- cial bedding soaked in Moorish rivers, and many a diplomat traveling in state to Fez on some important mission has been compelled to doff his uniform and dignity, and to breast the turgid waters of the River Sebu or the Wad Makhazan. Half regretting that we are deprived of similar experiences, we ride on till we reach a place called Bogari, where we apply for the protection of the kaid of the village. The traveler should lose no time in taking advantage of the laws of hospitality. In them he finds his surest safeguard. The person and property of a guest are sacred. A robber Kaid becomes an ideal host, answering for your safety with his life, APPETIZING ODORS zSo THE MOORISH EMPIRE FRESH MEAT guarding your property better than he guards his own. But the very man who shelters you one night may, on the mor- row, after you have passed beyond the territory for the peace of which he is held responsible, swoop down upon your cara- van with a cloud of gaily arrayed followers and seize such of your possessions as may have attracted his fancy while you were enjoying his protection. By so doing he also gets the neighboring chieftain into hot water, for failing to protect you. Our official letters from the Moorish authorities at Tangier command all Raids and Bashas to give us hospitality and protection and, when necessary, to provide an escort for our safe-conduct across their respective territories. Raid Absalam of Bogari is pleased to order our camp pitched in his front-yard. We should have preferred an iso- lated site beyond the village amid the freshness and the flow- ers of the plain, but we feel more secure under the eaves of the official residence, a mud-brick hut, with disheveled thatch. THE MOORISH EMPIRE 261 Kaid Absalam grants us the use of his front-yard, includ- ing the dirt, dust, and flies, imposing only one condition upon us. He has been informed by men familiar with the ways of Christians that they invariably travel with ' ' picture-making boxes," or "painting machines," with which they do sin- fully and wilfully break the Mosaic commandment, ' ' Thou shalt not make unto thyself the likeness of any living thing. The Raid's will is that if we possess such inventions of the devil, we shall religiously refrain from using them in his domain. In this emergency we turn to Haj Abd-er-Rahman Salama, for we know him to be the most artistic prevaricator in Morocco. He rises to the occasion. Never was a village more thoroughly photographed than Bogari, never were a Kaid and a community more blissfully unconscious that crime was rampant under their very noses. Haj presents us formally as two great American astronomers traveling in Morocco on a scientific mission. The Moors of old prided themselves upon their knowledge of the heavens. Astronomy is still in high esteem. The Kaid begs us to display our astronomical instru- ments. We promptly unpack and set up two photographic- cameras, and arm ourselves with kodaks. One by one, or NEARING THE LAND OF THE BENI-HASAN 262 THE MOORISH EMPIRE rather three by three, the dignified villagers put their heads beneath the focusing cloth, from the black folds of which come smothered exclamations of delight as they behold upon the glass inverted images of familiar forms and faces. Meantime we are "taking the altitude of the sun " with kodaks. The result of our first attempt shows an African IN THE SHE;IK'S " FRONT YARD " "son " black as an eclipse ; there are wooly prominences on the disk, and several satellites are visible. A second experiment reveals a young Phoebus Apollo, dark as Pluto, and almost as naked as Eros. Later observations show the constellation of Venus shedding the light of smiles upon this land of darkness. Meantime my friend wins popularity with the ladies of the galaxy by performing a series of simple tricks of sleight- THE MOORISH EMPIRE 263 " A PLACE CALLED BOGARI " of-hand. He catches money in the air, pr pretends to find it in their veils or sleeves. ■i<: •, - -- -Sy^Ti ON THE BEACH AT SALLI smugglers in the performance of his official duties. Learn- ing that we are Americans and therefore compatriots of his new gun, he deigns to look with favor upon us and invites us to his dwelling. There he prepares to astonish us with his marksmanship. An egg is placed upon a wall fifty feet dis- tant. The Kaid seats himself comfortably on a ledge, takes leisurely aim, amid the respectful silence of his followers, and then bangs away. The plaster on the wall was badly damaged, but after the smoke had cleared away, the egg, intact, looked down upon the humbled Moor, who proceeded to examine and criticise the sights of the Winchester. 298 THE MOORISH EMPIRE THK RIVER BU RAGRE( My friend, when his turn came to try the gun, was not considerate enough to spare the egg. His pride in his marks- manship overcame his politeness, as a yellow blotch on that old wall may still attest. From Mehedia it is one day's ride southward to the sis- ter-cities of Salli and Rabat, sister-cities which have never been on the best of terms with one another. We follow a. sandy trail along the coast— the monotony of the journey broken by but a single incident, an encounter with a gaily furnished caravan. Six Moorish women robed in white, with covered faces, attended by a dozen guards and servants, come slowly along the dusty track. At their approach Raid Lharbi, evincing a sudden bashfulness, dashes off to the right, points his horse 's head toward the sea, and sits there with his back turned to the veiled beauties until the gay parade has passed. The other men of our escort follow his example, galloping off to one side or the other, planting their steeds with tails toward the trail, not venturing to look around until the dust raised by the passing caravan has settled. We naturally seize our cameras to record this strange proceeding, THE MOORISH EMPIRE 299 whereupon they shout imperatively, "Turn your backs quickly! These are the Sultan's wives. No man may look upon them!" Accordingly we, too, conform to a custom which seems to us rude rather than courteous and turn our backs upon the mysterious beauties, a contingent of Imperial wives whom Mulai El-Hasan is shipping in advance to await his arrival at Mehedia or Mequinez. A few hours later we pass beneath the aqueduct of Salli, which serves also as an outer city-wall. Then, after water- ing our animals, we ride on across vast vacant spaces until the gates of Salli admit us to the famous city of the old-time " Salli Rovers. " So hostile is the populace that every attempt at picture- making brings a volley of stones from howling urchins and threatening murmurs from savage-looking citizens. All that we remember of our visit to Salli is a rapid dash through narrow thoroughfares amid a sprinkling of missiles and male- dictions. It is with a sense of relief that we find ourselves on the broad sandy beach that stretches from the southern SWITCHING THE " UAllGAGK-CAR AT THE FERRY 30O THE MOORISH EMPIRE THE SALLI-RABAT FERRY walls down to the River Bu Ragreg, on the opposite shore of which rises the city of Rabat, our destination. As we look back toward the white line traced by Salli's gleaming house- tops, our thoughts go back to the hero of our childhood, Robinson Crusoe who, taken by the Salli Rovers, was there held in slavery for many months, finally escaping in a small boat belonging to his Moorish master. Another famous char- acter, Captain John Smith, came to Salli in 1604 ; but why he came and what he did there we do not definitely know. For years the Corsairs of this port were the scourge of Chris- tian merchant-ships. Piracy was then a recognized profes- sion, the title "pirate" an honorable one, in fact, the highest naval title of to-day is but a corruption of that assumed by the old pirate chiefs: "Lord of the Sea," " Ameer-el-Bahr, ' ' — Admiral ! Salli and Rabat, although within gunshot of one another, differ widely in character. Salli is rabidly anti-foreign. THE MOORISH EMPIRE 301 Rabat is commercial and comparatively cordial to Chris- tians, sheltering a little colony of European merchants and vice-consuls. Between the cities flows the Bu Ragreg, " Father of Glit- tering, ' ' across which we must be ferried in crude flat-bot- tomed barges. To switch our baggage-train on to the ferry-boat is a task that calls for much hard work and not a little Arabic profanity. We must wait our turn ; for there are other caravans, with camels, mules, and horses massed upon the sands. At last our animals are all embarked with the exception of Bokhur- mur's burro, who, accustomed only to fording, requires much persuasion before he will trust himself to this new-fangled contrivance. During the brief period of calm that inter- venes between the embarkation and subsequent landing on the Rabat beach, we look in admiration at the scene about us. Above the palisade on the south bank rises a noble half- completed tower. We have long since heard reports of it. HIS lIKSr K.MHARKATION 302 THE MOORISH EMPIRE RABAT — THE CITV AND IHk CilAUKL It is the unfinished Hasan Tower, a sister to the famed Giralda of Seville and to the Kutubiya of Morocco City. The same Sultan, Yakub el Mansur, the great builder, reared this trinity of towers about eight hundred years ago. To- day they prove the vast extent of his dominion ; to him owed allegiance all the lands which lie between Andalusia in the south of Spain, and Marrakesh, on the borders of the Great Sahara. But this tower at Rabat was never finished. It stands to-day as the workmen left it in the year 1200. Rabat owes its existence to the builder of the tower, who late in the twelfth century founded on this promontory his ' ' Camp of Victory, " " Rabat el Fatih. ' ' The frowning cita- del sits darkly on the crest between the harbor and the sea, the smiling city lies gleaming just below\ We follow the broad, animated beach, enter at the w^ater-gate, present our credentials to the governor, and after some delay a camping- ground is assigned us on the crest within the shadow of the THE MOORISH EMPIRE 303 citadel, under the very walls of the powder magazine. It is not until our outfit is here unpacked, that we remark the fact that we are pitching our tents in a graveyard. All round- about us are neglected graves, tombstones inclined at most distressing angles, with hollows where there should be mounds, and weeds and rubbish in place of grass and flowers. Poor Abuktayer, sick from fatigue and bad water drunk on the journey, is excused from work, and sits amid the mossy mortuary tablets, a picture of weariness and woe, watching the other servants as they wedge tent-pegs into the cracks of tombstones. Grewsome indeed our camping-ground, but good enough for Christian dogs, the amiable Basha thinks, and the Chris- tian dogs have ceased to be fastidious. All that we ask is that the sleeping Moors, buried only two feet underground, will manifest toward us the same aloof- ness as is shown by their living co-religionists. But although OCR CAMP AT THE RABAT POWDER HOUSE 304 THE MOORISH EMPIRE our foreground is not cheerful to contemplate, the views in two directions are superb. Looking eastward we see the snow- white city with its "saint-houses " and minarets, and in the distance the square, commanding tower, high above the wind- ing river. The seaward vista is not less attractive. The wide ocean stretches peacefully westward to the new world ; at our feet the warlike pomp of the old world is displayed in the six ABUKTAVER stately camps of Bashas from the interior provinces. These Bashas have come to Rabat to greet the Sultan who, with his mighty caravan, is expected within a fortnight. Four thou- sand horsemen are assembled at Rabat to escort the Imperial train from Rabat to Fez. Every evening, just before sun- set, fine old gentlemen in spotless robes of white toil up to our hill-top, and, passing our camp without a side glance or a salutation, spread small red rugs upon the tombs, seat themselves thereon, and watch the slow sun sink into the progressive west. Then in the twilight they rise, fold up THE HASAN TOWER- RABAT THE MOORISH EMPIRE 307 their rugs, and with a measured tread return to the white city whence they came. Seven times we saw the same old worthies come, watch, and depart, but never was there a glance of recognition, never a sign they are conscious of our presence amid the resting-places of their dead. Therefore we were surprised, one evening, when three dignified person- ages halted before our tents, spoke a few words to Haj, and J^\!w'^Sm ■*BSfiBil*.. , - • y -»* ^ THE CA.MI- i\ KRNORS then sat down on tombstones and began a serenade with a violin, a tambourine, and a peculiar form of Oriental guitar. A glance at their dress tells us that these men are Jews ; a word of explanation from Haj tells us that they are sent to play for us by the local Consular-Agent of the United States, a native Jew, upon whom we had called the day before. Among the European residents of this remote port is an eccentric Englishman from Gibraltar who has built for him- self in Rabat the tallest dwelling in Morocco, a house of four stories, its facade conspicuous because of its unusual height 3o8 THE MOORISH EMPIRE and its coat of bright blue paint. On several occasions the owner of this unique Moorish skyscraper entertained us at dinner, and insisted that we should lodge under his aspiring roof on stormy nights, when our camp was drenched with rain. In view of this cordial treatment extended to entire strangers, we are surprised to learn that our host is MINSTRELS OF ISRAKL not on speaking terms with other members of the foreign colony. That he lives practically alone, attended by an old Spanish housekeeper. In every corner of the world the trav- eler is sure to find the solitary Englishman dwelling in Anglo- Saxon seclusion and independence amid strange peoples, sufBcient unto himself, his house his castle, his excuse for self-banishment the remark, "Oh, I rather like the place, you know; good air, fine climate." Rabat is primarily a place of business ; the markets and bazaars are always thronged. Rug-making is the industry for which the port is noted, and every day we see itinerant auctioneers, weighted down with brilliant carpets trudging THE MOORISH EMPIRE 309 through the streets, calHng the latest bid, and offering the fabric for the examination of would-be purchasers. Unfor- tunately, modern Rabat carpets, like Navajo blankets, have suffered from the introduction of aniline dyes. The colors are crude, the designs less artistic than in earlier times. The local industry, once carried to perfection, is fast degen- erating, and Rabat rugs are no longer things of worth and beauty. In all things the Moors have continually retrograded since the conquest of Granada. From one of the foremost, they — I have become almost the last of nations ; their arts, their sciences, their indus- tries forgotten, nothing remains to them save their skill in horseman- ship, their bravery in battle, and their fixed belief in the predestination of all things, good or evil. A crazy saint replied when we re-^ proached him for be- ing drunk with rum, " It is no sin. It is written." Those fatalistic words, " It is written — God has willed it, ' ' have been the cause of Moorish retrogression. They have robbed the peo- ple of ambition and energy ; the Moor, in time of disaster, shifts the responsi- bility upon Allah, and murmurs resignedly, THE TALLEST HOl'SE IN MOROCCO 3IO THE MOORISH EMPIRE BUSINESS IN RABAT " It is written. " This philosophy helps him to bear the ills of life, great and small. For example, if a Moor chances to seat himself upon a tack, he does not curse nor swear nor rail at fate, nor does he wince as he withdraws the offending point. Far be it from him to protest. He simply murmurs, "It is written," and carefully replaces the tack for some other Moor to sit upon. On the fifth morning of our sojourn in Rabat, we note a mighty stir m all the military camps within and roundabout the city. Mysterious moving statues appear upon the house- THE MOORISH EMPIRE 311 tops to watch the passing of armed men through the streets. Troops of gorgeously arrayed horsemen gallop across the town, filling the narrow lanes and covered bazaars with clat- ter and confusion. We ask the cause of all this sudden ani- mation. The answer is, "The Prince arrives to-day. Our future Sultan, Abd-el-Aziz, is approaching from the south to herald the advance of his imperial father, Mulai El-Hasan III, who returns victorious from Tafilet and Tadla where he has chastised the revolted tribes and ' eaten up ' rebellious prov- inces. ' ' The Sultan had written to the waiting Bashas in words like these : ' ' To you do I confide my best beloved son, my Mulai Abd-el-Aziz. Receive, protect, and honor him as if he were myself and something more." That ' ' something more ' ' bore a deep meaning, which was to be revealed within six days. Rabat turns itself wrong-side-out to welcome the young prince. The Bashas and Kaids, who, with their retinues, have been awaiting Imperial orders, now sally out from the south BP^^ ■■H ■^i ■P^ ^^^s^^E K^ '^^^^^1 ^3! inp Rj[ IF^\ H^» jC C^ l£. Htm iMi\t^ ^ ^^L. ^^^■r fLi i j^