|
LIFE IN MOROCCO
AND GLIMPSES BEYOND
BY
BUDGETT MEAKIN
AUTHOR OF
"THE MOORS," "THE LAND OF THE MOORS," "THE MOORISH EMPIRE,"
"MODEL FACTORIES AND VILLAGES," ETC.
[Illustration]
WITH TWENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1905
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BECCLES.
=FOREWORD=
Which of us has yet forgotten that first day when we set foot in
Barbary? Those first impressions, as the gorgeous East with all its
countless sounds and colours, forms and odours, burst upon us; mingled
pleasures and disgusts, all new, undreamed-of, or our wildest dreams
enhanced! Those yelling, struggling crowds of boatmen, porters,
donkey-boys; guides, thieves, and busy-bodies; clad in mingled finery
and tatters; European, native, nondescript; a weird, incongruous
medley--such as is always produced when East meets West--how they did
astonish and amuse us! How we laughed (some trembling inwardly) and
then, what letters we wrote home!
One-and-twenty years have passed since that experience entranced the
present writer, and although he has repeated it as far as possible in
practically every other oriental country, each fresh visit to Morocco
brings back somewhat of the glamour of that maiden plunge, and
somewhat of that youthful ardour, as the old associations are renewed.
Nothing he has seen elsewhere excels Morocco in point of life and
colour save Bokhara; and only in certain parts of India or in China is
it rivalled. Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli have lost much of that charm
under Turkish or western rule; Egypt still more markedly so, while
Palestine is of a population altogether mixed and heterogeneous. The
bazaars of Damascus, even, and Constantinople, have given way to
plate-glass, and nothing remains in the nearer East to rival Morocco.
Notwithstanding the disturbed condition of much of the country,
nothing has occurred to interfere with the pleasure certain to be
afforded by a visit to Morocco at any time, and all who can do so
are strongly recommended to include it in an early holiday. The best
months are from September to May, though the heat on the coast
is never too great for an enjoyable trip. The simplest way of
accomplishing this is by one of Messrs. Forwood's regular steamers
from London, calling at most of the Morocco ports and returning by the
Canaries, the tour occupying about a month, though it may be broken
and resumed at any point. Tangier may be reached direct from Liverpool
by the Papayanni Line, or indirectly _via_ Gibraltar, subsequent
movements being decided by weather and local sailings. British
consular officials, missionaries, and merchants will be found at the
various ports, who always welcome considerate strangers.
Comparatively few, even of the ever-increasing number of visitors who
year after year bring this only remaining independent Barbary State
within the scope of their pilgrimage, are aware of the interest with
which it teems for the scientist, the explorer, the historian, and
students of human nature in general. One needs to dive beneath the
surface, to live on the spot in touch with the people, to fathom the
real Morocco, and in this it is doubtful whether any foreigners not
connected by ties of creed or marriage ever completely succeed. What
can be done short of this the writer attempted to do, mingling with
the people as one of themselves whenever this was possible. Inspired
by the example of Lane in his description of the "Modern Egyptians,"
he essayed to do as much for the Moors, and during eighteen years he
laboured to that end.
The present volume gathers together from many quarters sketches drawn
under those circumstances, supplemented by a _resume_ of recent events
and the political outlook, together with three chapters--viii., xi.,
and xiv.--contributed by his wife, whose assistance throughout its
preparation he has once more to acknowledge with pleasure. To many
correspondents in Morocco he is also indebted for much valuable
up-to-date information on current affairs, but as most for various
reasons prefer to remain unmentioned, it would be invidious to name
any. For most of the illustrations, too, he desires to express his
hearty thanks to the gentlemen who have permitted him to reproduce
their photographs.
Much of the material used has already appeared in more fugitive form
in the _Times of Morocco_, the _London Quarterly Review_, the _Forum_,
the _Westminster Review_, _Harper's Magazine_, the _Humanitarian_,
the _Gentleman's Magazine_, the _Independent_ (New York), the
_Modern Church_, the _Jewish Chronicle_, _Good Health_, the _Medical
Missionary_, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, the _Westminster Gazette_, the
_Outlook_, etc., while Chapters ix., xix., and xxv. to xxix. have been
extracted from a still unpublished picture of Moorish country life,
"Sons of Ishmael."
B.M.
HAMPSTEAD,
_November 1905._
CONTENTS
PART I
CHAPTER PAGE
I. RETROSPECTIVE 1
II. THE PRESENT DAY 14
III. BEHIND THE SCENES 36
IV. THE BERBER RACE 47
V. THE WANDERING ARAB 57
VI. CITY LIFE 63
VII. THE WOMEN-FOLK 71
VIII. SOCIAL VISITS 82
IX. A COUNTRY WEDDING 88
X. THE BAIRNS 94
XI. "DINING OUT" 102
XII. DOMESTIC ECONOMY 107
XIII. THE NATIVE "MERCHANT" 113
XIV. SHOPPING 118
XV. A SUNDAY MARKET 125
XVI. PLAY-TIME 133
XVII. THE STORY-TELLER 138
XVIII. SNAKE-CHARMING 151
XIX. IN A MOORISH CAFE 159
XX. THE MEDICINE-MAN 166
XXI. THE HUMAN MART 179
XXII. A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY 185
XXIII. THE PILGRIM CAMP 191
XXIV. RETURNING HOME 201
PART II
XXV. DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 205
XXVI. PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES 233
XXVII. THE PROTECTION SYSTEM 242
XXVIII. JUSTICE FOR THE JEW 252
XXIX. CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO 261
XXX. THE POLITICAL SITUATION 267
XXXI. FRANCE IN MOROCCO 292
PART III
XXXII. ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 307
XXXIII. TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 318
XXXIV. TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 326
XXXV. FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN 332
APPENDIX
"MOROCCO NEWS" 381
INDEX 395
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TO FACE PAGE
A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE _Frontispiece_
GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI 1
CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER 26
A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS 47
AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO 57
ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE 71
A MOORISH CARAVAN 91
FRUIT-SELLERS 107
A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER 118
THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER 128
GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARRAKESH 141
A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI) 159
RABHAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY 185
WAITING FOR THE STEAMER 201
A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO 211
CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD 242
JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS 256
A MOORISH KAID AND ATTENDANTS 275
TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH--AN EXECUTION 299
TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEIKH 313
A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS 325
OUTSIDE TRIPOLI 330
A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE 340
THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN 375
NOTE.--_The system of transliterating Arabic adopted by the Author
in his previous works has here been followed only so far as it is
likely to be adopted by others than specialists, all signs being
omitted which are not essential to approximate pronunciation._
=LIFE IN MOROCCO=
PART I
I
RETROSPECTIVE
"The firmament turns, and times are changing."
_Moorish Proverb._
By the western gate of the Mediterranean, where the narrowed sea has
so often tempted invaders, the decrepit Moorish Empire has become
itself a bait for those who once feared it. Yet so far Morocco remains
untouched, save where a fringe of Europeans on the coast purvey the
luxuries from other lands that Moorish tastes demand, and in exchange
take produce that would otherwise be hardly worth the raising. Even
here the foreign influence is purely superficial, failing to affect
the lives of the people; while the towns in which Europeans reside are
so few in number that whatever influence they do possess is limited
in area. Moreover, Morocco has never known foreign dominion, not even
that of the Turks, who have left their impress on the neighbouring
Algeria and Tunisia. None but the Arabs have succeeded in obtaining a
foothold among its Berbers, and they, restricted to the plains, have
long become part of the nation. Thus Morocco, of all the North African
kingdoms, has always maintained its independence, and in spite of
changes all round, continues to live its own picturesque life.
Picturesque it certainly is, with its flowing costumes and primitive
homes, both of which vary in style from district to district, but all
of which seem as though they must have been unchanged for thousands
of years. Without security for life or property, the mountaineers go
armed, they dwell in fortresses or walled-in villages, and are at
constant war with one another. On the plains, except in the vicinity
of towns, the country people group their huts around the fortress of
their governor, within which they can shelter themselves and their
possessions in time of war. No other permanent erection is to be seen
on the plains, unless it be some wayside shrine which has outlived
the ruin fallen on the settlement to which it once belonged, and is
respected by the conquerors as holy ground. Here and there gaunt
ruins rise, vast crumbling walls of concrete which have once been
fortresses, lending an air of desolation to the scene, but offering no
attraction to historian or antiquary. No one even knows their names,
and they contain no monuments. If ever more solid remains are
encountered, they are invariably set down as the work of the Romans.
[Illustration: _Cavilla, Photo., Tangier._
GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI.]
Yet Morocco has a history, an interesting history indeed, one
linked with ours in many curious ways, as is recorded in scores of
little-known volumes. It has a literature amazingly voluminous, but
there were days when the relations with other lands were much closer,
if less cordial, the days of the crusades and the Barbary pirates,
the days of European tribute to the Moors, and the days of Christian
slavery in Morocco. Constantly appearing brochures in many tongues
made Europe of those days acquainted with the horrors of that dreadful
land. All these only served to augment the fear in which its people
were held, and to deter the victimized nations from taking action
which would speedily have put an end to it all, by demonstrating the
inherent weakness of the Moorish Empire.
But for those whose study is only the Moors as they exist to-day, the
story of Morocco stretches back only a thousand years, as until then
its scattered tribes of Berber mountaineers had acknowledged no head,
and knew no common interests; they were not a nation. War was their
pastime; it is so now to a great extent. Every man for himself, every
tribe for itself. Idolatry, of which abundant traces still remain,
had in places been tinged with the name and some of the forms of
Christianity, but to what extent it is now impossible to discover. In
the Roman Church there still exist titular bishops of North Africa,
one, in particular, derives his title from the district of Morocco of
which Fez is now the capital, Mauretania Tingitana.
It was among these tribes that a pioneer mission of Islam penetrated
in the eighth of our centuries. Arabs were then greater strangers in
Barbary than we are now, but they were by no means the first strange
faces seen there. Ph[oe]nicians, Romans and Vandals had preceded them,
but none had stayed, none had succeeded in amalgamating with the
Berbers, among whom those individuals who did remain were absorbed.
These hardy clansmen, exhibiting the characteristics of hill-folk
the world round, still inhabited the uplands and retained their
independence. In this they have indeed succeeded to a great extent
until the present day, but between that time and this they have given
of their life-blood to build up by their side a less pure nation of
the plains, whose language as well as its creed is that of Arabia.
To imagine that Morocco was invaded by a Muslim host who carried
all before them is a great mistake, although a common one. Mulai
Idrees--"My Lord Enoch" in English--a direct descendant of Mohammed,
was among the first of the Arabian missionaries to arrive, with one or
two faithful adherents, exiles fleeing from the Khalifa of Mekka. So
soon as he had induced one tribe to accept his doctrines, he assisted
them with his advice and prestige in their combats with hereditary
enemies, to whom, however, the novel terms were offered of fraternal
union with the victors, if they would accept the creed of which they
had become the champions. Thus a new element was introduced into the
Berber polity, the element of combination, for the lack of which
they had always been weak before. Each additional ally meant an
augmentation of the strength of the new party out of all proportion to
the losses from occasional defeats.
In course of time the Mohammedan coalition became so strong that it
was in a position to dictate terms and to impose governors upon the
most obstinate of its neighbours. The effect of this was to divide the
allies into two important sections, the older of which founded Fez
in the days of the son of Idrees, accounted the second ameer of that
name, who there lies buried in the most important mosque of the
Empire, the very approaches of which are closed to the Jew and the
Nazarene. The only spot which excels it in sanctity is that at Zarhon,
a day's journey off, in which the first Idrees lies buried. There the
whole town is forbidden to the foreigner, and an attempt made by the
writer to gain admittance in disguise was frustrated by discovery
at the very gate, though later on he visited the shrine in Fez. The
dynasty thus formed, the Shurfa Idreeseein, is represented to-day by
the Shareef of Wazzan.
In southern Morocco, with its capital at Aghmat, on the Atlas slopes,
was formed what later grew to be the kingdom of Marrakesh, the city of
that name being founded in the middle of the eleventh century. Towards
the close of the thirteenth, the kingdoms of Fez and Marrakesh became
united under one ruler, whose successor, after numerous dynastic
changes, is the Sultan of Morocco now.[1]
[1: For a complete outline of Moorish history, see the writer's
"Moorish Empire."]
But from the time that the united Berbers had become a nation, to
prevent them falling out among themselves again it was necessary to
find some one else to fight, to occupy the martial instinct nursed in
fighting one another. So long as there were ancient scores to be wiped
out at home, so long as under cover of a missionary zeal they could
continue intertribal feuds, things went well for the victors; but as
soon as excuses for this grew scarce, it was needful to fare afield.
The pretty story--told, by the way, of other warriors as well--of the
Arab leader charging the Atlantic surf, and weeping that the world
should end there, and his conquests too, may be but fiction, but it
illustrates a fact. Had Europe lain further off, the very causes which
had conspired to raise a central power in Morocco would have sufficed
to split it up again. This, however, was not to be. In full view of
the most northern strip of Morocco, from Ceuta to Cape Spartel, the
north-west corner of Africa, stretches the coast of sunny Spain.
Between El K'sar es-Sagheer, "The Little Castle," and Tarifa Point is
only a distance of nine or ten miles, and in that southern atmosphere
the glinting houses may be seen across the straits.
History has it that internal dissensions at the Court of Spain led to
the Moors being actually invited over; but that inducement was hardly
needed. Here was a country of infidels yet to be conquered; here was
indeed a land of promise. Soon the Berbers swarmed across, and in
spite of reverses, carried all before them. Spain was then almost as
much divided into petty states as their land had been till the Arabs
taught them better, and little by little they made their way in
a country destined to be theirs for five hundred years. Cordova,
Seville, Granada, each in turn became their capital, and rivalled Fez
across the sea.
The successes they achieved attracted from the East adventurers and
merchants, while by wise administration literature and science were
encouraged, till the Berber Empire of Spain and Morocco took a
foremost rank among the nations of the day. Judged from the standpoint
of their time, they seem to us a prodigy; judged from our standpoint,
they were but little in advance of their descendants of the twentieth
century, who, after all, have by no means retrograded, as they are
supposed to have done, though they certainly came to a standstill,
and have suffered all the evils of four centuries of torpor and
stagnation. Civilization wrought on them the effects that it too often
produces, and with refinement came weakness. The sole remaining state
of those which the invaders, finding independent, conquered one by
one, is the little Pyrenean Republic of Andorra, still enjoying
privileges granted to it for its brave defence against the Moors,
which made it the high-water mark of their dominion. As peace once
more split up the Berbers, the subjected Spaniards became strong
by union, till at length the death-knell of Moorish rule in Europe
sounded at the nuptials of the famous Ferdinand and Isabella, linking
Aragon with proud Castile.
Expelled from Spain, the Moor long cherished plans for the recovery of
what had been lost, preparing fleets and armies for the purpose, but
in vain. Though nominally still united, his people lacked that zeal in
a common cause which had carried them across the straits before, and
by degrees the attempts to recover a kingdom dwindled into continued
attacks upon shipping and coast towns. Thus arose that piracy which
was for several centuries the scourge of Christendom. Further east a
distinct race of pirates flourished, including Turks and Greeks and
ruffians from every shore, but they were not Moors, of whom the Salli
rover was the type. Many thousands of Europeans were carried off by
Moorish corsairs into slavery, including not a few from England. Those
who renounced their own religion and nationality, accepting those of
their captors, became all but free, only being prevented from leaving
the country, and often rose to important positions. Those who had the
courage of their convictions suffered much, being treated like
cattle, or worse, but they could be ransomed when their price was
forthcoming--a privilege abandoned by the renegades--so that the
principal object of every European embassy in those days was the
redemption of captives. Now and then escapes would be accomplished,
but such strict watch was kept when foreign merchantmen were in
port, or when foreign ambassadors came and went, that few attempts
succeeded, though many were made.
Sympathies are stirred by pictures of the martyrdom of Englishmen and
Irishmen, Franciscan missionaries to the Moors; and side by side with
them the foreign mercenaries in the native service, Englishmen among
them, who would fight in any cause for pay and plunder, even though
their masters held their countrymen in thrall. And thrall it was, as
that of Israel in Egypt, when our sailors were chained to galley seats
beneath the lash of a Moor, or when they toiled beneath a broiling
sun erecting the grim palace walls of concrete which still stand as
witnesses of those fell days. Bought and sold in the market like
cattle, Europeans were more despised than Negroes, who at least
acknowledged Mohammed as their prophet, and accepted their lot without
attempt to escape.
Dark days were those for the honour of Europe, when the Moors inspired
terror from the Balearics to the Scilly Isles, and when their rovers
swept the seas with such effect that all the powers of Christendom
were fain to pay them tribute. Large sums of money, too, collected
at church doors and by the sale of indulgences, were conveyed by the
hands of intrepid friars, noble men who risked all to relieve those
slaves who had maintained their faith, having scorned to accept a
measure of freedom as the reward of apostasy. Thousands of English
and other European slaves were liberated through the assistance of
friendly letters from Royal hands, as when the proud Queen Bess
addressed Ahmad II., surnamed "the Golden," as "Our Brother after the
Law of Crown and Sceptre," or when Queen Anne exchanged compliments
with the bloodthirsty Ismail, who ventured to ask for the hand of a
daughter of Louis XIV.
In the midst of it all, when that wonderful man, with a household
exceeding Solomon's, and several hundred children, had reigned
forty-three of his fifty-five years, the English, in 1684, ceded to
him their possession of Tangier. For twenty-two years the "Castle in
the streights' mouth," as General Monk had described it, had been the
scene of as disastrous an attempt at colonization as we have ever
known: misunderstanding of the circumstances and mismanagement
throughout; oppression, peculation and terror within as well as
without; a constant warfare with incompetent or corrupt officials
within as with besieging Moors without; till at last the place had to
be abandoned in disgust, and the expensive mole and fortifications
were destroyed lest others might seize what we could not hold.
Such events could only lower the prestige of Europeans, if, indeed,
they possessed any, in the eyes of the Moors, and the slaves up
country received worse treatment than before. Even the ambassadors
and consuls of friendly powers were treated with indignities beyond
belief. Some were imprisoned on the flimsiest pretexts, all had to
appear before the monarch in the most abject manner, and many were
constrained to bribe the favourite wives of the ameers to secure their
requests. It is still the custom for the state reception to take place
in an open courtyard, the ambassador standing bareheaded before the
mounted Sultan under his Imperial parasol. As late as 1790 the brutal
Sultan El Yazeed, who emulated Ismail the Bloodthirsty, did not
hesitate to declare war on all Christendom except England, agreeing to
terms of peace on the basis of tribute. Cooperation between the Powers
was not then thought of, and one by one they struck their bargains as
they are doing again to-day.
Yet even at the most violent period of Moorish misrule it is a
remarkable fact that Europeans were allowed to settle and trade in the
Empire, in all probability as little molested there as they would
have been had they remained at home, by varying religious tests and
changing governments. It is almost impossible to conceive, without
a perusal of the literature of the period, the incongruity of the
position. Foreign slaves would be employed in gangs outside the
dwellings of free fellow-countrymen with whom they were forbidden to
communicate, while every returning pirate captain added to the number
of the captives, sometimes bringing friends and relatives of those
who lived in freedom as the Sultan's "guests," though he considered
himself "at war" with their Governments. So little did the Moors
understand the position of things abroad, that at one time they made
war upon Gibraltar, while expressing the warmest friendship for
England, who then possessed it. This was done by Mulai Abd Allah V.,
in 1756, because, he said, the Governor had helped his rebel uncle at
Arzila, so that the English, his so-called friends, did more harm than
his enemies--the Portuguese and Spaniards. "My father and I believe,"
wrote his son, Sidi Mohammed, to Admiral Pawkers, "that the king your
master has no knowledge of the behaviour towards us of the Governor of
Gibraltar, ... so Gibraltar shall be excluded from the peace to which
I am willing to consent between England and us, and with the aid of
the Almighty God, I will know how to avenge myself as I may on the
English of Gibraltar."
Previously Spain and Portugal had held the principal Moroccan
seaports, the twin towns of Rabat and Salli alone remaining always
Moorish, but these two in their turn set up a sort of independent
republic, nourished from the Berber tribes in the mountains to the
south of them. No Europeans live in Salli yet, for here the old
fanaticism slumbers still. So long as a port remained in foreign hands
it was completely cut off from the surrounding country, and played no
part in Moorish history, save as a base for periodical incursions.
One by one most of them fell again into the hands of their rightful
owners, till they had recovered all their Atlantic sea-board. On the
Mediterranean, Ceuta, which had belonged to Portugal, came under the
rule of Spain when those countries were united, and the Spaniards hold
it still, as they do less important positions further east.
The piracy days of the Moors have long passed, but they only ceased at
the last moment they could do so with grace, before the introduction
of steamships. There was not, at the best of times, much of the noble
or heroic in their raids, which generally took the nature of lying
in wait with well-armed, many-oared vessels, for unarmed, unwieldy
merchantmen which were becalmed, or were outpaced by sail and oar
together.
Early in the nineteenth century Algiers was forced to abandon piracy
before Lord Exmouth's guns, and soon after the Moors were given to
understand that it could no longer be permitted to them either, since
the Moorish "fleets"--if worthy the name--had grown so weak, and those
of the Nazarenes so strong, that the tables were turned. Yet for many
years more the nations of Europe continued the tribute wherewith the
rapacity of the Moors was appeased, and to the United States belongs
the honour of first refusing this disgraceful payment.
The manner in which the rovers of Salli and other ports were permitted
to flourish so long can be explained in no other way than by the
supposition that they were regarded as a sort of necessary nuisance,
just a hornet's-nest by the wayside, which it would be hopeless to
destroy, as they would merely swarm elsewhere. And then we must
remember that the Moors were not the only pirates of those days, and
that Europeans have to answer for the most terrible deeds of the
Mediterranean corsairs. News did not travel then as it does now.
Though students of Morocco history are amazed at the frequent captures
and the thousands of Christian slaves so imported, abroad it was only
here and there that one was heard of at a time.
To-day the plunder of an Italian sailing vessel aground on their
shore, or the fate of too-confident Spanish smugglers running close in
with arms, is heard of the world round. And in the majority of cases
there is at least a question: What were the victims doing there? Not
that this in any way excuses the so-called "piracy," but it must not
be forgotten in considering the question. Almost all these tribes
in the troublous districts carry European arms, instead of the more
picturesque native flint-lock: and as not a single gun is legally
permitted to pass the customs, there must be a considerable inlet
somewhere, for prices are not high.
II
THE PRESENT DAY
"What has passed has gone, and what is to come is distant;
Thou hast only the hour in which thou art."
_Moorish Proverb._
Far from being, as Hood described them, "poor rejected Moors who
raised our childish fears," the people of Morocco consist of fine,
open races, capable of anything, but literally rotting in one of the
finest countries of the world. The Moorish remains in Spain, as well
as the pages of history, testify to the manner in which they once
flourished, but to-day their appearance is that of a nation asleep.
Yet great strides towards reform have been made during the past
century, and each decade sees steps taken more important than the
last. For the present decade is promised complete transformation.
But how little do we know of this people! The very name "Moor" is
a European invention, unknown in Morocco, where no more precise
definition of the inhabitants can be given than that of
"Westerners"--Maghribin, while the land itself is known as "The
Further West"--El Moghreb el Aksa. The name we give to the country is
but a corruption of that of the southern capital, Marrakesh ("Morocco
City") through the Spanish version, Marueccos.
The genuine Moroccans are the Berbers among whom the Arabs introduced
Islam and its civilization, later bringing Negroes from their raids
across the Atlas to the Sudan and Guinea. The remaining important
section of the people are Jews of two classes--those settled in the
country from prehistoric times, and those driven to it when expelled
from Spain. With the exception of the Arabs and the Blacks, none of
these pull together, and in that case it is only because the latter
are either subservient to the former, or incorporated with them.
First in importance come the earliest known possessors of the land,
the Berbers. These are not confined to Morocco, but still hold the
rocky fastnesses which stretch from the Atlantic, opposite the
Canaries, to the borders of Egypt; from the sands of the Mediterranean
to those of the Sahara, that vast extent of territory to which we have
given their name, Barbary. Of these but a small proportion really
amalgamated with their Muslim victors, and it is only to this mixed
race which occupies the cities of Morocco that the name "Moor" is
strictly applicable.
On the plains are to be found the Arabs, their tents scattered in
every direction. From the Atlantic to the Atlas, from Tangier to
Mogador, and then away through the fertile province of Sus, one of
the chief features of Morocco is the series of wide alluvial treeless
plains, often apparently as flat as a table, but here and there cut up
by winding rivers and crossed by low ridges. The fertility of these
districts is remarkable; but owing to the misgovernment of the
country, which renders native property so insecure, only a small
portion is cultivated. The untilled slopes which border the plains
are generally selected by the Arabs for their encampments, circles or
ovals of low goat-hair tents, each covering a large area in proportion
to the number of its inhabitants.
The third section of the people of Morocco--by no means the least
important--has still to be glanced at; these are the ubiquitous,
persecuted and persecuting Jews. Everywhere that money changes hands
and there is business to be done they are to be found. In the towns
and among the thatched huts of the plains, even in the Berber villages
on the slopes of the Atlas, they have their colonies. With the
exception of a few ports wherein European rule in past centuries
has destroyed the boundaries, they are obliged to live in their own
restricted quarters, and in most instances are only permitted to cross
the town barefooted and on foot, never to ride a horse. In the Atlas
they live in separate villages adjoining or close to those belonging
to the Berbers, and sometimes even larger than they. Always clad
in black or dark-coloured cloaks, with hideous black skull-caps or
white-spotted blue kerchiefs on their heads, they are conspicuous
everywhere. They address the Moors with a villainous, cringing look
which makes the sons of Ishmael savage, for they know it is only
feigned. In return they are treated like dogs, and cordial hatred
exists on both sides. So they live, together yet divided; the Jew
despised but indispensable, bullied but thriving. He only wins at
law when richer than his opponent; against a Muslim he can bear no
testimony; there is scant pretence at justice. He dares not lift his
hand to strike a Moor, however ill-treated, but he finds revenge in
sucking his life's blood by usury. Receiving no mercy, he shows none,
and once in his clutches, his prey is fortunate to escape with his
life.
The happy influence of more enlightened European Jews is, however,
making itself felt in the chief towns, through excellent schools
supported from London and Paris, which are turning out a class
of highly respectable citizens. While the Moors fear the tide of
advancing westernization, the town Jews court it, and in them centres
one of the chief prospects of the country's welfare. Into their hands
has already been gathered much of the trade of Morocco, and there can
be little doubt that, by the end of the thirty years' grace afforded
to other merchants than the French, they will have practically
absorbed it all, even the Frenchmen trading through them. They have
at least the intimate knowledge of the people and local conditions to
which so few foreigners ever attain.
When the Moorish Empire comes to be pacifically penetrated and
systematically explored, it will probably be found that little more
is known of it than of China, notwithstanding its proximity, and
its comparatively insignificant size. A map honestly drawn, from
observations only, would astonish most people by its vast
blank spaces.[2] It would be noted that the limit of European
exploration--with the exception of the work of two or three hardy
travellers in disguise--is less than two hundred miles from the coast,
and that this limit is reached at two points only--south of Fez and
Marrakesh respectively,--which form the apices of two well-known
triangular districts, the contiguous bases of which form part of the
Atlantic coast line, under four hundred miles in length. Beyond these
limits all is practically unknown, the language, customs and beliefs
of the people providing abundant ground for speculation, and
permitting theorists free play. So much is this the case, that a few
years ago an enthusiastic "savant" was able to imagine that he had
discovered a hidden race of dwarfs beyond the Atlas, and to obtain
credence for his "find" among the best-informed students of Europe.
[2: An approximation to this is given in the writer's
"Land of the Moors."]
But there is also another point of view from which Morocco is unknown,
that of native thought and feeling, penetrated by extremely few
Europeans, even when they mingle freely with the people, and converse
with them in Arabic. The real Moor is little known by foreigners,
a very small number of whom mix with the better classes. Some, as
officials, meet officials, but get little below the official exterior.
Those who know most seldom speak, their positions or their occupations
preventing the expression of their opinions. Sweeping statements
about Morocco may therefore be received with reserve, and dogmatic
assertions with caution. This Empire is in no worse condition now than
it has been for centuries; indeed, it is much better off than ever
since its palmy days, and there is no occasion whatever to fear its
collapse.
Few facts are more striking in the study of Morocco than the absolute
stagnation of its people, except in so far as they have been to a very
limited extent affected by outside influences. Of what European--or
even oriental--land could descriptions of life and manners written in
the sixteenth century apply as fully in the twentieth as do those
of Morocco by Leo Africanus? Or even to come later, compare the
transitions England has undergone since Hoest and Jackson wrote a
hundred years ago, with the changes discoverable in Morocco since that
time. The people of Morocco remain the same, and their more primitive
customs are those of far earlier ages, of the time when their
ancestors lived upon the plain of Palestine and North Arabia, and when
"in the loins of Abraham" the now unfriendly Jew and Arab were yet
one. It is the position of Europeans among them which has changed.
In the time of Hoest and Jackson piracy was dying hard, restrained by
tribute from all the Powers of Europe. The foreign merchant was not
only tolerated, but was at times supplied with capital by the Moorish
sultans, to whom he was allowed to go deeply in debt for custom's
dues, and half a century later the British Consul at Mogador was not
permitted to embark to escape a bombardment of the town, because of
his debt to the Sultan. Many of the restrictions complained of to-day
are the outcome of the almost enslaved condition of the merchants of
those times in consequence of such customs. Indeed, the position of
the European in Morocco is still a series of anomalies, and so it is
likely to continue until it passes under foreign rule.
The same old spirit of independence reigns in the Berber breast to-day
as when he conquered Spain, and though he has forgotten his past and
cares naught for his future, he still considers himself a superior
being, and feels that no country can rival his home. In his eyes the
embassies from Europe and America come only to pay the tribute which
is the price of peace with his lord, and when he sees a foreign
minister in all his black and gold stand in the sun bareheaded to
address the mounted Sultan beneath his parasol, he feels more proud
than ever of his greatness, and is more decided to be pleasant to the
stranger, but to keep him out.
Instead of increased relations between Moors and foreigners tending to
friendship, the average foreign settler or tourist is far too bigoted
and narrow-minded to see any good in the native, much less to
acknowledge his superiority on certain points. Wherever the Sultan's
authority is recognized the European is free to travel and live,
though past experience has led officials not to welcome him. At the
same time, he remains entirely under the jurisdiction of his own
authorities, except in cases of murder or grave crime, when he must be
at once handed over to the nearest consul of his country. Not only are
he and his household thus protected, but also his native employees,
and, to a certain extent, his commercial and agricultural agents.
Thus foreigners in Morocco enjoy within the limits of the central
power the security of their own lands, and the justice of their own
laws. They do not even find in Morocco that immunity from justice
which some ignorant writers of fiction have supposed; for unless a
foreigner abandons his own nationality and creed, and buries himself
in the interior under a native name, he cannot escape the writs of
foreign courts. In any case, the Moorish authorities will arrest him
on demand, and hand him over to his consul to be dealt with according
to law. The colony of refugees which has been pictured by imaginative
raconteurs is therefore non-existent. Instead there are growing
colonies of business men, officials, missionaries, and a few retired
residents, quite above the average of such colonies in the Levant, for
instance.
For many years past, though the actual business done has shown a
fairly steady increase, the commercial outlook in Morocco has gone
from bad to worse. Yet more of its products are now exported, and
there are more European articles in demand, than were thought of
twenty years ago. This anomalous and almost paradoxical condition is
due to the increase of competition and the increasing weakness of the
Government. Men who had hope a few years ago, now struggle on because
they have staked too much to be able to leave for more promising
fields. This has been especially the case since the late Sultan's
death. The disturbances which followed that event impoverished many
tribes, and left behind a sense of uncertainty and dread. No European
Bourse is more readily or lastingly affected by local political
troubles than the general trade of a land like Morocco, in which men
live so much from hand to mouth.
It is a noteworthy feature of Moorish diplomatic history that to the
Moors' love of foreign trade we owe almost every step that has led to
our present relations with the Empire. Even while their rovers were
the terror of our merchantmen, as has been pointed out, foreign
traders were permitted to reside in their ports, the facilities
granted to them forming the basis of all subsequent negotiations. Now
that concession after concession has been wrung from their unwilling
Government, and in spite of freedom of residence, travel, and trade in
the most important parts of the Empire, it is disheartening to see the
foreign merchant in a worse condition than ever.
The previous generation, fewer in number, enjoying far less
privileges, and subjected to restrictions and indignities that would
not be suffered to-day, were able to make their fortunes and retire,
while their successors find it hard to hold their own. The "hundred
tonners" who, in the palmy days of Mogador, were wont to boast that
they shipped no smaller quantities at once, are a dream of the past.
The ostrich feathers and elephants' tusks no longer find their way out
by that port, and little gold now passes in or out. Merchant princes
will never be seen here again; commercial travellers from Germany are
found in the interior, and quality, as well as price, has been reduced
to its lowest ebb.
A crowd of petty trading agents has arisen with no capital to speak
of, yet claiming and abusing credit, of which a most ruinous system
prevails, and that in a land in which the collection of debts is
proverbially difficult, and oftentimes impossible. The native Jews,
who were interpreters and brokers years ago, have now learned the
business and entered the lists. These new competitors content
themselves with infinitesimal profits, or none at all in cases where
the desideratum is cash to lend out at so many hundreds per cent. per
annum. Indeed, it is no uncommon practice for goods bought on long
credit to be sold below cost price for this purpose. Against such
methods who can compete?
Yet this is a rich, undeveloped land--not exactly an El Dorado, though
certainly as full of promise as any so styled has proved to be when
reached--favoured physically and geographically, but politically
stagnant, cursed with an effete administration, fettered by a decrepit
creed. In view of this situation, it is no wonder that from time to
time specious schemes appear and disappear with clockwork regularity.
Now it is in England, now in France, that a gambling public is found
to hazard the cost of proving the impossibility of opening the country
with a rush, and the worthlessness of so-called concessions and
monopolies granted by sheikhs in the south, who, however they may
chafe under existing rule which forbids them ports of their own,
possess none of the powers required to treat with foreigners.
As normal trade has waned in Morocco, busy minds have not been slow in
devising illicit, or at least unusual, methods of making money,
even, one regrets to say, of making false money. Among the drawbacks
suffered by the commerce which pines under the shade of the shareefian
umbrella, one--and that far from the least--is the unsatisfactory
coinage, which till a few years ago was almost entirely foreign. To
have to depend in so important a matter on any mint abroad is bad
enough, but for that mint to be Spanish means much. Centuries ago
the Moors coined more, but with the exception of a horrible token of
infinitesimal value called "floos," the products of their extinct
mints are only to be found in the hands of collectors, in buried
hoards, or among the jewellery displayed at home by Mooresses and
Jewesses, whose fortunes, so invested, may not be seized for debt.
Some of the older issues are thin and square, with well-preserved
inscriptions, and of these a fine collection--mostly gold--may be seen
at the British Museum; but the majority, closely resembling those of
India and Persia, are rudely stamped and unmilled, not even round,
but thick, and of fairly good metal. The "floos" referred to (_sing._
"fils") are of three sizes, coarsely struck in zinc rendered hard and
yellow by the addition of a little copper. The smallest, now rarely
met with, runs about 19,500 to L1 when this is worth 32-1/2 Spanish
pesetas; the other two, still the only small change of the country,
are respectively double and quadruple its value. The next coin in
general circulation is worth 2_d._, so the inconvenience is great.
A few years ago, however, Europeans resident in Tangier resolutely
introduced among themselves the Spanish ten and five centimo pieces,
corresponding to our 1_d._ and 1/2_d._, which are now in free local
use, but are not accepted up-country.
What passes as Moorish money to-day has been coined in France for many
years, more recently also in Germany; the former is especially neat,
but the latter lacks style. The denominations coincide with those of
Spain, whose fluctuations in value they closely follow at a respectful
distance. This autumn the "Hasani" coin--that of Mulai el Hasan, the
late Sultan--has fallen to fifty per cent. discount on Spanish. With
the usual perversity also, the common standard "peseta," in which
small bargains are struck on the coast, was omitted, the nearest coin,
the quarter-dollar, being nominally worth ptas. 1.25. It was only
after a decade, too, that the Government put in circulation the
dollars struck in France, which had hitherto been laid up in the
treasury as a reserve. And side by side with the German issue came
abundant counterfeit coins, against which Government warnings were
published, to the serious disadvantage of the legal issue. Even the
Spanish copper has its rival, and a Frenchman was once detected trying
to bring in a nominal four hundred dollars' worth of an imitation,
which he promptly threw overboard when the port guards raised
objections to its quality.
The increasing need of silver currency inland, owing to its free use
in the manufacture of trinkets, necessitates a constant importation,
and till recently all sorts of coins, discarded elsewhere, were in
circulation. This was the case especially with French, Swiss, Belgian,
Italian, Greek, Roumanian, and other pieces of the value of twenty
centimos, known here by the Turkish name "gursh," which were accepted
freely in Central Morocco, but not in the north. Twenty years ago
Spanish Carolus, Isabella and Philippine shillings and kindred coins
were in use all over the country, and when they were withdrawn from
circulation in Spain they were freely shipped here, till the country
was flooded with them. When the merchants and customs at last refused
them, their astute importers took them back at a discount, putting
them into circulation later at what they could, only to repeat the
transaction. In Morocco everything a man can be induced to take is
legal tender, and for bribes and religious offerings all things pass,
this practice being an easier matter than at first sight appears; so
in the course of a few years one saw a whole series of coins in vogue,
one after the other, the main transactions taking place on the coast
with country Moors, than whom, though none more suspicious, none are
more easily gulled.
A much more serious obstacle to inland trade is the periodically
disturbed state of the country, not so much the local struggles and
uprisings which serve to free superfluous energy, as the regular
administrative expeditions of the Moorish Court, or of considerable
bodies of troops. These used to take place in some direction every
year, "the time when kings go forth to war" being early summer, just
when agricultural operations are in full swing, and every man is
needed on his fields. In one district the ranks of the workers are
depleted by a form of conscription or "harka," and in another these
unfortunates are employed preventing others doing what they should
be doing at home. Thus all suffer, and those who are not themselves
engaged in the campaign are forced to contribute cash, if only to find
substitutes to take their places in the ranks.
The movement of the Moorish Court means the transportation of a
numerous host at tremendous expense, which has eventually to be
recouped in the shape of regular contributions, arrears of taxes and
fines, collected _en route_, so the pace is abnormally slow. Not
only is there an absolute absence of roads, and, with one or two
exceptions, of bridges, but the Sultan himself, with all his army,
cannot take the direct route between his most important inland cities
without fighting his way. The configuration of the empire explains its
previous sub-division into the kingdoms of Fez, Marrakesh, Tafilalt
and Sus, and the Reef, for between the plains of each run mountain
ranges which have never known absolute "foreign" rulers.
[Illustration: CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER. _Molinari, Photo., Tangier._]
To European engineers the passes through these closed districts would
offer no great obstacles in the construction of roads such as thread
the Himalayas, but the Moors do not wish for the roads; for, while
what the Government fears to promote thereby is combination, the
actual occupants of the mountains, the native Berbers, desire not to
see the Arab tax-gatherers, only tolerating their presence as long as
they cannot help it, and then rising against them.
Often a tribe will be left for several years to enjoy independence,
while the slip-shod army of the Sultan is engaged elsewhere. When
its turn comes it holds out for terms, since it has no hope of
successfully confronting such an overwhelming force as is sooner
or later brought against it. The usual custom is to send small
detachments of soldiers to the support of the over-grasping
functionaries, and when they have been worsted, to send down an
army to "eat up" the province, burning villages, deporting cattle,
ill-treating the women, and often carrying home children as slaves.
The men of the district probably flee and leave their homes to be
ransacked. They content themselves with hiding behind crags which seem
to the plainsmen inaccessible, whence they can in safety harass the
troops on the march. After more or less protracted skirmishing, the
country having been devastated by the troops, who care only for the
booty, women will be sent into the camp to make terms, or one of the
shareefs or religious nobles who accompany the army is sent out to
treat with the rebels. The terms are usually hard--so much arrears
of tribute in cash and kind, so much as a fine for expenses, so many
hostages. Then hostages and prisoners are driven to the capital in
chains, and pickled heads are exposed on the gateways, imperial
letters being read in the chief mosques throughout the country,
telling of a glorious victory, and calling for rejoicings. To any
other people the short spell of freedom would have been too dearly
bought for the experiment to be repeated, but as soon as they begin to
chafe again beneath the lawless rule of Moorish officials, the Berbers
rebel once more. It has been going on thus for hundreds of years, and
will continue till put an end to by France.
In Morocco each official preys upon the one below him, and on all
others within his reach, till the poor oppressed and helpless villager
lives in terror of them all, not daring to display signs of prosperity
for fear of tempting plunder. Merit is no key to positions of trust
and authority, and few have such sufficient salary attached to render
them attractive to honest men. The holders are expected in most cases
to make a living out of the pickings, and are allowed an unquestioned
run of office till they are presumed to have amassed enough to make it
worth while treating them as they have treated others, when they are
called to account and relentlessly "squeezed." The only means of
staving off the fatal day is by frequent presents to those above them,
wrung from those below. A large proportion of Moorish officials end
their days in disgrace, if not in dungeons, and some meet their end
by being invited to corrosive sublimate tea, a favourite beverage in
Morocco--for others. Yet there is always a demand for office, and
large prices are paid for posts affording opportunities for plunder.
The Moorish financial system is of a piece with this method. When the
budget is made out, each tribe or district is assessed at the utmost
it is believed capable of yielding, and the candidate for its
governorship who undertakes to get most out of it probably has the
task allotted to him. His first duty is to repeat on a small scale
the operation of the Government, informing himself minutely as to the
resources under his jurisdiction, and assessing the sub-divisions
so as to bring in enough for himself, and to provide against
contingencies, in addition to the sum for which he is responsible. The
local sheikhs or head-men similarly apportion their demands among the
individuals entrusted to their tender mercy. A fool is said to have
once presented the Sultan with a bowl of skimmed and watered milk, and
on being remonstrated with, to have declared that His Majesty received
no more from any one, as his wazeers and governors ate half the
revenue cream each, and the sheikhs drank half the revenue milk. The
fool was right.
The richer a man is, the less proportion he will have to pay, for he
can make it so agreeable--or disagreeable--for those entrusted with a
little brief authority. It is the struggling poor who have to pay
or go to prison, even if to pay they have to sell their means of
subsistence. Three courses lie before this final victim--to obtain
the protection of some influential name, native or foreign, to buy a
"friend at court," or to enter Nazarene service. But native friends
are uncertain and hard to find, and, above all, they may be alienated
by a higher bid from a rival or from a rapacious official. Such
affairs are of common occurrence, and harrowing tales might be told of
homes broken up in this way, of tortures inflicted, and of lives
spent in dungeons because display has been indulged in, or because an
independent position has been assumed under cover of a protection that
has failed. But what can one expect with such a standard of honour?
Foreigners, on the other hand, seldom betray their
_proteges_--although, to their shame be it mentioned, some in high
places have done so,--wherefore their protection is in greater demand;
besides which it is more effectual, as coming from outside, while no
Moor, however well placed, is absolutely secure in his own position.
Thus it is that the down-trodden natives desire and are willing to pay
for protection in proportion to their means; and it is this power
of dispensing protection which, though often abused, does more than
anything else to raise the prestige of the foreigner, and in turn to
protect him.
The claims most frequently made against Moors by foreign countries are
for debt, claims which afford the greatest scope for controversy
and the widest loophole for abuse. Although, unfortunately, for the
greater part usurious, a fair proportion are for goods delivered, but
to evade the laws even loan receipts are made out as for goods to be
delivered, a form in which discrimination is extremely difficult. The
condition of the country, in which every man is liable to be arrested,
thrashed, imprisoned, if not tortured, to extort from him his wealth,
is such as furnishes the usurer with crowding clients; and the
condition of things among the Indian cultivators, bad as it is, since
they can at least turn to a fair-handed Government, is not to be
compared to that of the down-trodden Moorish farmer.
The assumption by the Government of responsibility for the debts of
its subjects, or at all events its undertaking to see that they pay,
is part of the patriarchal system in force, by which the family is
made responsible for individuals, the tribe for families, and so on.
No other system would bring offenders to justice without police; but
it transforms each man into his brother's keeper. This, however, does
not apply only to debts the collection of which is urged upon the
Government, for whom it is sufficient to produce the debtor and let
him prove absolute poverty for him to be released, with the claim
cancelled. This in theory: but in practice, to appease these claims,
however just, innocent men are often thrown into prison, and untold
horrors are suffered, in spite of all the efforts of foreign ministers
to counteract the injustice.
A mere recital of tales which have come under my own observation would
but harrow my readers' feelings to no purpose, and many would appear
incredible. With the harpies of the Government at their heels, men
borrow wildly for a month or two at cent. per cent., and as the
Moorish law prohibits interest, a document is sworn to before notaries
by which the borrower declares that he has that day taken in hard cash
the full amount to be repaid, the value of certain crops or produce of
which he undertakes delivery upon a certain date. Very seldom,
indeed, does it happen that by that date the money can be repaid, and
generally the only terms offered for an extension of time for another
three or six months are the addition of another fifty or one hundred
per cent. to the debt, always fully secured on property, or by the
bonds of property holders. Were not this thing of everyday occurrence
in Morocco, and had I not examined scores of such papers, the way in
which the ignorant Moors fall into such traps would seem incredible.
It is usual to blame the Jews for it all, and though the business lies
mostly in their hands, it must not be overlooked that many foreigners
engage in it, and, though indirectly, some Moors also.
But besides such claims, there is a large proportion of just business
debts which need to be enforced. It does not matter how fair a claim
may be, or how legitimate, it is very rarely that trouble is not
experienced in pressing it. The Moorish Courts are so venal, so
degraded, that it is more often the unscrupulous usurer who wins his
case and applies the screw, than the honest trader. Here lies the
rub. Another class of claims is for damage done, loss suffered, or
compensation for imaginary wrongs. All these together mount up, and a
newly appointed minister or consul-general is aghast at the list which
awaits him. He probably contents himself at first with asking for the
appointment of a commission to examine and report on the legality of
all these claims, and for the immediate settlement of those approved.
But he asks and is promised in vain, till at last he obtains the moral
support of war-ships, in view of which the Moorish Government most
likely pays much more than it would have got off with at first, and
then proceeds to victimize the debtors.
It is with expressed threats of bombardment that the ships come, but
experience has taught the Moorish Government that it is well not to
let things go that length, and they now invariably settle amicably. To
our western notions it may seem strange that whatever questions have
to be attended to should not be put out of hand without requiring
such a demonstration; but while there is sleep there is hope for an
Oriental, and the rulers of Morocco would hardly be Moors if they
resisted the temptation to procrastinate, for who knows what may
happen while they delay? And then there is always the chance of
driving a bargain, so dear to the Moorish heart, for the wazeer knows
full well that although the Nazarene may be prepared to bombard, as
he has done from time to time, he is no more desirous than the Sultan
that such an extreme measure should be necessary.
So, even when things come to the pinch, and the exasperated
representative of Christendom talks hotly of withdrawing, hauling down
his flag and giving hostile orders, there is time at least to make an
offer, or to promise everything in words. And when all is over, claims
paid, ships gone, compliments and presents passed, nothing really
serious has happened, just the everyday scene on the market applied to
the nation, while the Moorish Government has once more given proof of
worldly wisdom, and endorsed the proverb that discretion is the better
part of valour.
An illustration of the high-handed way in which things are done
in Morocco has but recently been afforded by the action of France
regarding an alleged Algerian subject arrested by the Moorish
authorities for conspiracy. The man, Boo Zian Miliani by name, was the
son of one of those Algerians who, when their country was conquered by
the French, preferred exile to submission, and migrated to Morocco,
where they became naturalized. He was charged with supporting the
so-called "pretender" in the Reef province, where he was arrested with
two others early in August last. His particular offence appears to
have been the reading of the "Rogi's" proclamations to the public, and
inciting them to rebel against the Sultan. But when brought a
prisoner to Tangier, and thence despatched to Fez, he claimed French
citizenship, and the Minister of France, then at Court, demanded his
release.
This being refused, a peremptory note followed, with a threat to break
off diplomatic negotiations if the demand were not forthwith complied
with. The usual _communiques_ were made to the Press, whereby a chorus
was produced setting forth the insult to France, the imminence of war,
and the general gravity of the situation. Many alarming head-lines
were provided for the evening papers, and extra copies were doubtless
sold. In Morocco, however, not only the English and Spanish papers,
but also the French one, admitted that the action of France was wrong,
though the ultimate issue was never in doubt, and the man's release
was a foregone conclusion. Elsewhere the rights of the matter would
have been sifted, and submitted at least to the law-courts, if not to
arbitration.
While the infliction of this indignity was stirring up northern
Morocco, the south was greatly exercised by the presence on the
coast of a French vessel, _L'Aigle_, officers from which proceeded
ostentatiously to survey the fortifications of Mogador and its island,
and then effected a landing on the latter by night. Naturally the
coastguards fired at them, fortunately without causing damage, but
had any been killed, Europe would have rung with the "outrage." From
Mogador the vessel proceeded after a stay of a month to Agadir, the
first port of Sus, closed to Europeans.
Here its landing-party was met on the beach by some hundreds of armed
men, whose commander resolutely forbade them to land, so they had to
retire. Had they not done so, who would answer for the consequences?
As it was, the natives, eager to attack the "invaders," were with
difficulty kept in hand, and one false step would undoubtedly have
led to serious bloodshed. Of course this was a dreadful rebuff for
"pacific penetration," but the matter was kept quiet as a little
premature, since in Europe the coast is not quite clear enough yet for
retributory measures. The effect, however, on the Moors, among whom
the affair grew more grave each time it was recited, was out of all
proportion to the real importance of the incident, which otherwise
might have passed unnoticed.
III
BEHIND THE SCENES
"He knows of every vice an ounce."
_Moorish Proverb._
Though most eastern lands may be described as slip-shod, with
reference both to the feet of their inhabitants and to the way in
which things are done, there can be no country in the world more aptly
described by that epithet than Morocco. One of the first things which
strikes the visitor to this country is the universality of the slipper
as foot-gear, at least, so far as the Moors are concerned. In the
majority of cases the men wear the heels of their slippers folded down
under the feet, only putting them up when necessity compels them to
run, which they take care shall not be too often, as they much prefer
a sort of ambling gait, best compared to that of their mules, or to
that of an English tramp.
Nothing delights them better as a means of agreeably spending an
hour or two, than squatting on their heels in the streets or on some
door-stoop, gazing at the passers-by, exchanging compliments with
their acquaintances. Native "swells" consequently promenade with a
piece of felt under their arms on which to sit when they wish, in
addition to its doing duty as a carpet for prayer. The most public
places, and usually the cool of the afternoon, are preferred for this
pastime.
The ladies of their Jewish neighbours also like to sit at their doors
in groups at the same hour, or in the doorways of main thoroughfares
on moonlight evenings, while the gentlemen, who prefer to do their
gossiping afoot, roam up and down. But this is somewhat apart from the
point of the lazy tendencies of the Moors. With them--since they have
no trains to catch, and disdain punctuality--all hurry is undignified,
and one could as easily imagine an elegantly dressed Moorish scribe
literally flying as running, even on the most urgent errand. "Why
run," they ask, "when you might just as well walk? Why walk, when
standing would do? Why stand, when sitting is so much less fatiguing?
Why sit, when lying down gives so much more rest? And why, lying down,
keep your eyes open?"
In truth, this is a country in which things are left pretty much to
look after themselves. Nothing is done that can be left undone, and
everything is postponed until "to-morrow." Slipper-slapper go the
people, and slipper-slapper goes their policy. If you can get through
a duty by only half doing it, by all means do so, is the generally
accepted rule of life. In anything you have done for you by a Moor,
you are almost sure to discover that he has "scamped" some part;
perhaps the most important. This, of course, means doing a good
deal yourself, if you like things done well, a maxim holding good
everywhere, indeed, but especially here.
The Moorish Government's way of doing things--or rather, of not doing
them if it can find an excuse--is eminently slip-shod. The only point
in which they show themselves astute is in seeing that their Rubicon
has a safe bridge by which they may retreat, if that suits their plans
after crossing it. To deceive the enemy they hide this as best
they can, for the most part successfully, causing the greatest
consternation in the opposite camp, which, at the moment when it
thinks it has driven them into a corner, sees their ranks gradually
thinning from behind, dribbling away by an outlet hitherto invisible.
Thus, in accepting a Moor's promise, one must always consider the
conditions or rider annexed.
This can be well illustrated by the reluctant permission to transport
grain from one Moorish port to another, granted from time to time,
but so hampered by restrictions as to be only available to a few, the
Moorish Government itself deriving the greatest advantage from it.
Then, too, there is the property clause in the Convention of Madrid,
which has been described as the sop by means of which the Powers were
induced to accept other less favourable stipulations. Instead of being
the step in advance which it appeared to be, it was, in reality, a
backward step, the conditions attached making matters worse than
before.
In this way only do the Moors shine as politicians, unless
prevarication and procrastination be included, Machiavellian arts in
which they easily excel. Otherwise they are content to jog along in
the same slip-shod manner as their fathers did centuries ago, as soon
as prosperity had removed the incentive to exert the energy they once
possessed. The same carelessness marks their conduct in everything,
and the same unsatisfactory results inevitably follow.
But to get at the root of the matter it is necessary to go a step
further. The absolute lack of morals among the people is the real
cause of the trouble. Morocco is so deeply sunk in the degradation of
vice, and so given up to lust, that it is impossible to lay bare its
deplorable condition. In most countries, with a fair proportion of
the pure and virtuous, some attempt is made to gloss over and conceal
one's failings; but in this country the only vice which public opinion
seriously condemns is drunkenness, and it is only before foreigners
that any sense of shame or desire for secrecy about others is
observable. The Moors have not yet attained to that state of
hypocritical sanctimoniousness in which modern society in civilized
lands delights to parade itself.
The taste for strong drink, though still indulged comparatively in
secret, is steadily increasing, the practice spreading from force
of example among the Moors themselves, as a result of the strenuous
efforts of foreigners to inculcate this vice. European consular
reports not infrequently note with congratulation the growing imports
of wines and liqueurs into Morocco, nominally for the sole use of
foreigners, although manifestly far in excess of their requirements.
As yet, it is chiefly among the higher and lower classes that the
victims are found, the former indulging in the privacy of their own
homes, and the latter at the low drinking-dens kept by the scum of
foreign settlers in the open ports. Among the country people of
the plains and lower hills there are hardly any who would touch
intoxicating liquor, though among the mountaineers the use of alcohol
has ever been more common.
Tobacco smoking is very general on the coast, owing to contact with
Europeans, but still comparatively rare in the interior, although the
native preparations of hemp (keef), and also to some extent opium,
have a large army of devotees, more or less victims. The latter,
however, being an expensive import, is less known in the interior.
Snuff-taking is fairly general among men and women, chiefly the
elderly. What they take is very strong, being a composition of
tobacco, walnut shells, and charcoal ash. The writer once saw a young
Englishman, who thought he could stand a good pinch of snuff, fairly
"knocked over" by a quarter as much as the owner of the nut from which
it came took with the utmost complacency.
The feeling of the Moorish Government about smoking has long been so
strong that in every treaty with Europe is inserted a clause reserving
the right of prohibiting the importation of all narcotics, or articles
used in their manufacture or consumption. Till a few years ago the
right to deal in these was granted yearly as a monopoly; but in 1887
the late Sultan, Mulai el Hasan, and his aolama, or councillors,
decided to abolish the business altogether, so, purchasing the
existing stocks at a valuation, they had the whole burned. But first
the foreign officials and then private foreigners demanded the right
to import whatever they needed "for their own consumption," and the
abuse of this courtesy has enabled several tobacco factories to spring
up in the country. The position with regard to the liquor traffic is
almost the same. If the Moors were free to legislate as they wished,
they would at once prohibit the importation of intoxicants.
Of late years, however, a great change has come over the Moors of the
ports, more especially so in Tangier, where the number of taverns and
_cafes_ has increased most rapidly. During many years' residence there
the cases of drunkenness met with could be counted on the fingers, and
were then confined to guides or servants of foreigners; on the last
visit paid to the country more were observed in a month than then in
years. In those days to be seen with a cigarette was almost a crime,
and those who indulged in a whiff at home took care to deodorize their
mouths with powdered coffee; now Moors sit with Europeans, smoking and
drinking, unabashed, at tables in the streets, but not those of the
better sort. Thus Morocco is becoming civilized!
However ashamed a Moor may be of drunkenness, no one thinks of making
a pretence of being chaste or moral. On the contrary, no worse is
thought of a man who is wholly given up to the pleasures of the flesh
than of one who is addicted to the most innocent amusements. If a
Moor is remonstrated with, he declares he is not half so bad as the
"Nazarenes" he has come across, who, in addition to practising most of
his vices, indulge in drunkenness. It is not surprising, therefore,
that the diseases which come as a penalty for these vices are
fearfully prevalent in Morocco. Everywhere one comes across the
ravages of such plagues, and is sickened at the sight of their
victims. Without going further into details, it will suffice to
mention that one out of every five patients (mostly males) who attend
at the dispensary of the North Africa Mission at Tangier are direct,
or indirect, sufferers from these complaints.
The Moors believe in "sowing wild oats" when young, till their energy
is extinguished, leaving them incapable of accomplishing anything.
Then they think the pardon of God worth invoking, if only in the vain
hope of having their youth renewed as the eagle's. Yet if this could
happen, they would be quite ready to commence a fresh series of
follies more outrageous than before. This is a sad picture, but
nevertheless true, and, far from being exaggerated, does not even hint
at much that exists in Morocco to-day.
The words of the Koran about such matters are never considered, though
nominally the sole guide for life. The fact that God is "the Pitying,
the Pitiful, King of the Day of Judgement," is considered sufficient
warrant for the devotees of Islam to lightly indulge in breaches of
laws which they hold to be His, confident that if they only perform
enough "vain repetitions," fast at the appointed times, and give alms,
visiting Mekka, if possible, or if not, making pilgrimages to shrines
of lesser note nearer home, God, in His infinite mercy, will overlook
all.
An anonymous writer has aptly remarked--"Every good Mohammedan has
a perpetual free pass over that line, which not only secures to him
personally a safe transportation to Paradise, but provides for him
upon his arrival there so luxuriously that he can leave all the
cumbersome baggage of his earthly harem behind him, and begin his
celestial house-keeping with an entirely new outfit."
Here lies the whole secret of Morocco's backward state. Her people,
having outstepped even the ample limits of licentiousness laid down in
the Koran, and having long ceased to be even true Mohammedans, by
the time they arrive at manhood have no energy left to promote her
welfare, and sink into an indolent, procrastinating race, capable of
little in the way of progress till a radical change takes place in
their morals.
Nothing betrays their moral condition more clearly than their
unrestrained conversation, a reeking vapour arising from a mass of
corruption. The foul ejaculations of an angry Moor are unreproducible,
only serving to show extreme familiarity with vice of every sort. The
tales to which they delight to listen, the monotonous chants rehearsed
by hired musicians at public feasts or private entertainments, and the
voluptuous dances they delight to have performed before them as they
lie sipping forbidden liquors, are all of one class, recounting and
suggesting evil deeds to hearers or observers.
The constant use made of the name of God, mostly in stock phrases
uttered without a thought as to their real meaning, is counterbalanced
in some measure by cursing of a most elaborate kind, and the frequent
mention of the "Father of Lies," called by them "The Liar" _par
excellence_. The term "elaborate" is the only one wherewith to
describe a curse so carefully worded that, if executed, it would
leave no hope of Paradise either for the unfortunate addressee or his
ancestors for several generations. On the slightest provocation,
or without that excuse, the Moor can roll forth the most intricate
genealogical objurgations, or rap out an oath. In ordinary cases of
displeasure he is satisfied with showering expletives on the parents
and grand-parents of the object of his wrath, with derogatory
allusions to the morals of those worthies' "better halves." "May God
have mercy on thy relatives, O my Lord," is a common way of addressing
a stranger respectfully, and the contrary expression is used to
produce a reverse effect.
I am often asked, "What would a Moor think of this?" Probably some
great invention will be referred to, or some manifest improvement in
our eyes over Moorish methods or manufactures. If it was something
he could see, unless above the average, he would look at it as a cow
looks at a new gate, without intelligence, realizing only the change,
not the cause or effect. By this time the Moors are becoming familiar,
at least by exaggerated descriptions, with most of the foreigner's
freaks, and are beginning to refuse to believe that the Devil assists
us, as they used to, taking it for granted that we should be more
ingenious, and they more wise! The few who think are apt to pity the
rush of our lives, and write us down, from what they have themselves
observed in Europe as in Morocco, as grossly immoral beside even their
acknowledged failings. The faults of our civilization they quickly
detect, the advantages are mostly beyond their comprehension.
Some years ago a friend of mine showed two Moors some of the sights
of London. When they saw St. Paul's they told of the glories of the
Karueein mosque at Fez; with the towers of Westminster before them
they sang the praises of the Kutubiya at Marrakesh. Whatever they saw
had its match in Morocco. But at last, as a huge dray-horse passed
along the highway with its heavy load, one grasped the other's arm
convulsively, exclaiming, "M'bark Allah! Aoud hadha!"--"Blessed be
God! That's a horse!" Here at least was something that did appeal to
the heart of the Arab. For once he saw a creature he could understand,
the like of which was never bred in Barbary, and his wonder knew no
bounds.
An equally good story is told of an Englishman who endeavoured to
convince a Moor at home of the size of these horses. With his stick he
drew on the ground one of their full-sized shoes. "But we have horses
beyond the mountains with shoes _this_ size," was the ready reply, as
the native drew another twice as big. Annoyed at not being able to
convince him, the Englishman sent home for a specimen shoe. When he
showed it to the Moor, the only remark he elicited was that a native
smith could make one twice the size. Exasperated now, and not to be
outdone, the Englishman sent home for a cart-horse skull. "Now you've
beaten me!" at last acknowledged the Moor. "You Christians can make
anything, but _we can't make bones!_"
Bigoted and fanatical as the Moors may show themselves at times,
they are generally willing enough to be friends with those who show
themselves friendly. And notwithstanding the way in which the strong
oppress the weak, as a nation they are by no means treacherous or
cruel; on the contrary, the average Moor is genial and hospitable,
does not forget a kindness, and is a man whom one can respect. Yet it
is strange how soon a little power, and the need for satisfying the
demands of his superiors, will corrupt the mildest of them; and the
worst are to be found among families which have inherited office. The
best officials are those chosen from among retired merchants whose
palms no longer itch, and who, by intercourse with Europeans, have had
their ideas of life broadened.
The greatest obstacle to progress in Morocco is the blind prejudice
of ignorance. It is hard for the Moors to realize that their presumed
hereditary foes can wish them well, and it is suspicion, rather than
hostility, which induces them to crawl within their shell and ask to
be left alone. Too often subsequent events have shown what good ground
they have had for suspicion. It is a pleasure for me to be able to
state that during all the years that I have lived among them, often in
the closest intercourse, I have never received the least insult, but
have been well repaid in my own coin. What more could be wished?
[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS]
IV
THE BERBER RACE
"Every lion in his own forest roars."
_Moorish Proverb._
Few who glibly use the word "Barbarian" pause to consider whether the
present meaning attached to the name is justified or not, or whether
the people of Barbary are indeed the uncivilized, uncouth, incapable
lot their name would seem to imply to-day. In fact, the popular
ignorance regarding the nearest point of Africa is even greater than
of the actually less known central portions, where the white man
penetrates with every risk. To declare that the inhabitants of the
four Barbary States--Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli--are not
"Blackamoors" at all, but white like ourselves, is to astonish most
folk at the outset.
Of course in lands where the enslavement of neighbouring negro races
has been an institution for a thousand years or more, there is a
goodly proportion of mulattoes; and among those whose lives have been
spent for generations in field work there are many whose skins are
bronzed and darkened, but they are white by nature, nevertheless, and
town life soon restores the original hue. The student class of Fez,
drawn from all sections of the population of Morocco, actually makes
a boast of the pale and pasty complexions attained by life amid the
shaded cloisters and covered streets of the intellectual capital. Then
again those who are sunburned and bronzed are more of the Arab stock
than of the Berber.
These Berbers, the original Barbarians, known to the Romans and Greeks
as such before the Arab was heard of outside Arabia, are at once the
greatest and the most interesting nation, or rather race, of the whole
of Africa. Had such a coalition as "the United States of North Africa"
been possible, Europe would long ago have learned to fear and respect
the title "Barbarian" too much to put it to its present use. But the
weak point of the Berber race has been its lack of homogeneity; it
has ever been split up into independent states and tribes, constantly
indulging in internecine warfare. This is a principle which has its
origin in the relations of the units whereof they are composed, of
whom it may be said as of the sons of Ishmael, that every man's hand
is against his neighbour. The vendetta, a result of the _lex talionis_
of "eye for eye and tooth for tooth," flourishes still. No youth is
supposed to have attained full manhood until he has slain his man, and
excuses are seldom lacking. The greatest insult that can be offered to
an enemy is to tell him that his father died in bed--even greater than
the imputation of evil character to his maternal relatives.
Some years ago I had in my service a lad of about thirteen, one
of several Reefians whom I had about me for the practice of their
language. Two or three years later, on returning to Morocco, I met him
one day on the market.
"I am so glad to see you," he said; "I want you to help me buy some
guns."
"What for?"
"Well, my father's dead; may God have mercy on him!"
"How did he die?"
"God knows."
"But what has that to do with the gun?"
"You see, we must kill my three uncles, I and my two brothers, and we
want three guns."
"What! Did they kill your father?"
"God knows."
"May He deliver you from such a deed. Come round to the house for some
food."
"But I've got married since you saw me, and expect an heir, yet they
chaff me and call me a boy because I have never yet killed a man."
I asked an old servant who had been to England, and seemed "almost
a Christian," to try and dissuade him, but only to meet with an
appreciative, "Well done! I always thought there was something in that
lad."
So I tried a second, but with worse results, for he patted the boy
on the back with an assurance that he could not dissuade him from so
sacred a duty; and at last I had to do what I could myself. I extorted
a promise that he would try and arrange to take blood-money, but as he
left the door his eye fell on a broken walking-stick.
"Oh, do give me that! It's no use to you, and it _would_ make such a
nice prop for my gun, as I am a very bad shot, and we mean to wait
outside for them in the dark."
The sequel I have never heard.
Up in those mountains every one lives in fortified dwellings--big men
in citadels, others in wall-girt villages, all from time to time
at war with one another, or with the dwellers in some neighbouring
valley. Fighting is their element; as soon as "the powder speaks"
there are plenty to answer, for every one carries his gun, and it is
wonderful how soon upon these barren hills an armed crowd can muster.
Their life is a hard fight with Nature; all they ask is to be left
alone to fight it out among themselves. Even on the plains among the
Arabs and the mixed tribes described as Moors, things are not much
better, for there, too, vendettas and cattle lifting keep them at
loggerheads, and there is nothing the clansmen like so well as a raid
on the Governor's kasbah or castle. These kasbahs are great walled
strongholds dotted about the country; in times of peace surrounded by
groups of huts and tents, whose inhabitants take refuge inside when
their neighbours appear. The high walls and towers are built of mud
concrete, often red like the Alhambra, the surface of which stands the
weather ill, but which, when kept in repair, lasts for centuries.
The Reefian Berbers are among the finest men in Morocco--warlike and
fierce, it is true, from long habit and training; but they have many
excellent qualities, in addition to stalwart frames. "If you don't
want to be robbed," say they, "don't come our way. We only care to see
men who can fight, with whom we may try our luck." They will come and
work for Europeans, forming friendships among them, and if it were
not for the suspicion of those who have not done so, who always fear
political agents and spies, they would often be willing to take
Europeans through their land. I have more than once been invited to
go as a Moor. But the ideas they get of Europeans in Tangier do not
predispose to friendship, and they will not allow them to enter their
territories if they can help it. Only those who are in subjection to
the Sultan permit them to do so freely.
The men are a hardy, sturdy race, wiry and lithe, inured to toil and
cold, fonder far of the gun and sword than of the ploughshare, and
steady riders of an equally wiry race of mountain ponies. Their
dwellings are of stone and mud, often of two floors, flat-topped, with
rugged, projecting eaves, the roofs being made of poles covered with
the same material as the walls, stamped and smoothed. These houses are
seldom whitewashed, and present a ruinous appearance. Their ovens are
domes about three feet or less in height outside; they are heated by
a fire inside, then emptied, and the bread put in. Similar ovens are
employed in camp to bake for the Court.
Instead of that forced seclusion and concealment of the features to
which the followers of Islam elsewhere doom their women, in these
mountain homes they enjoy almost as perfect liberty as their sisters
in Europe. I have been greatly struck with their intelligence and
generally superior appearance to such Arab women as I have by chance
been able to see. Once, when supping with the son of a powerful
governor from above Fez, his mother, wife, and wife's sister sat
composedly to eat with us, which could never have occurred in the
dwelling of a Moor. No attempt at covering their faces was made,
though male attendants were present at times, but the little daughter
shrieked at the sight of a Nazarene. The grandmother, a fine,
buxom dame, could read and write--which would be an astonishing
accomplishment for a Moorish woman--and she could converse better than
many men who would in this country pass for educated.
The Berber dress has either borrowed from or lent much to the Moor,
but a few articles stamp it wherever worn. One of these is a large
black cloak of goat's-hair, impervious to rain, made of one piece,
with no arm-holes. At the point of the cowl hangs a black tassel,
and right across the back, about the level of the knees, runs an
assagai-shaped patch, often with a centre of red. It has been opined
that this remarkable feature represents the All-seeing Eye, so often
used as a charm, but from the scanty information I could gather from
the people themselves, I believe that they have lost sight of the
original idea, though some have told me that variations in the
pattern mark clan distinctions. I have ridden--when in the guise of a
native--for days together in one of these cloaks, during pelting rain
which never penetrated it. In more remote districts, seldom visited by
Europeans, the garments are ruder far, entirely of undyed wool, and
unsewn, mere blankets with slits cut in the centre for the head. This
is, however, in every respect, a great difference between the various
districts. The turban is little used by these people, skull-caps
being preferred, while their red cloth gun-cases are commonly twisted
turban-wise as head-gear, though often a camel's-hair cord is deemed
sufficient protection for the head.
Every successive ruler of North Africa has had to do with the problem
of subduing the Berbers and has failed. In the wars between Rome and
Carthage it was among her sturdy Berber soldiers that the southern
rival of the great queen city of the world found actual sinews enough
to hold the Roman legions so long at bay, and often to overcome her
vaunted cohorts and carry the war across into Europe. Where else did
Rome find so near a match, and what wars cost her more than did those
of Africa? Carthage indeed has fallen, and from her once famed Byrsa
the writer has been able to count on his fingers the local remains of
her greatness, yet the people who made her what she was remain--the
Berbers of Tunisia. The Ph[oe]nician settlers, though bringing with
them wealth and learning and arts, could never have done alone what
they did without the hardy fighting men supplied by the hills around.
When Rome herself had fallen, and the fames of Carthage and Utica were
forgotten, there came across North Africa a very different race from
those who had preceded them, the desert Arabs, introducing the creed
of Islam. In the course of a century or two, North Africa became
Mohammedan, pagan and Christian institutions being swept away before
that onward wave. It is not probable that at any time Christianity
had any real hold upon the Berbers themselves, and Islam itself sits
lightly on their easy consciences.
The Arabs had for the moment solved the Berber problem. They were the
amalgam which, by coalescing with the scattered factions of their
race, had bound them up together and had formed for once a nation of
them. Thus it was that the Muslim armies obtained force to carry all
before them, and thus was provided the new blood and the active
temper to which alone are due the conquest of Spain, and subsequent
achievements there. The popular description of the Mohammedan rulers
of Spain as "Saracens"--Easterners--is as erroneous as the supposition
that they were Arabs. The people who conquered Spain were Berbers,
although their leaders often adopted Arabic names with an Arab
religion and Arab culture. The Arabic language, although official, was
by no means general, nor is it otherwise to-day. The men who fought
and the men who ruled were Berbers out and out, though the latter were
often the sons of Arab fathers or mothers, and the great religious
chiefs were purely Arab on the father's side at least, the majority
claiming descent from Mohammed himself, and as such forming a class
apart of shareefs or nobles.
Though nominal Mohammedans, and in Morocco acknowledging the religious
supremacy of the reigning shareefian family, the Moorish Berbers still
retain a semi-independence. The mountains of the Atlas chain have
always been their home and refuge, where the plainsmen find it
difficult and dangerous to follow them. The history of the conquest
of Algeria and Tunisia by the French has shown that they are no mean
opponents even to modern weapons and modern warfare. The Kabyles,[3]
as they are erroneously styled in those countries, have still to be
kept in check by the fear of arms, and their prowess no one disputes.
These are the people the French propose to subdue by "pacific
penetration." The awe with which these mountaineers have inspired the
plainsmen and townsfolk is remarkable; as good an illustration of it
as I know was the effect produced on a Moor by my explanation that a
Highland friend to whom I had introduced him was not an Englishman,
but what I might call a "British Berber." The man was absolutely
awe-struck.
[3: _I.e._ "Provincials," so misnamed from Kabilah (_pl._
Kabail), a province.]
Separated from the Arab as well as from the European by a totally
distinct, unwritten language, with numerous dialects, these people
still exist as a mine of raw material, full of possibilities. In
habits and style of life they may be considered uncivilized even in
contrast to the mingled dwellers on the lowlands; but they are far
from being savages. Their stalwart frames and sturdy independence fit
them for anything, although the latter quality keeps them aloof, and
has so far prevented intercourse with the outside world.
Many have their own pet theories as to the origin of the Berbers and
their language, not a few believing them to have once been altogether
Christians, while others, following native authors, attribute to them
Canaanitish ancestors, and ethnologists dispute as to the branch of
Noah's family in which to class them. It is more than probable that
they are one with the ancient Egyptians, who, at least, were no
barbarians, if Berbers. But all are agreed that some of the finest
stocks of southern and western Europe are of kindred origin, if not
identical with them, and even if this be uncertain, enough has been
said to show that they have played no unimportant part in European
history, though it has ever been their lot to play behind the
scenes--scene-shifters rather than actors.
[Illustration: _Photograph by Dr. Rudduck._
AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO.]
V
THE WANDERING ARAB
"I am loving, not lustful."
_Moorish Proverb._
Some strange fascination attaches itself to the simple nomad life of
the Arab, in whatever country he be found, and here, in the far west
of his peregrinations, he is encountered living almost in the same
style as on the other side of Suez; his only roof a cloth, his country
the wide world. Sometimes the tents are arranged as many as thirty
or more in a circle, and at other times they are grouped hap-hazard,
intermingled with round huts of thatch, and oblong ones of sun-dried
bricks, thatched also; but in the latter cases the occupants are
unlikely to be pure Arabs, for that race seldom so nearly approaches
to settling anywhere. When the tents are arranged in a circle, the
animals are generally picketed in the centre, but more often some are
to be found sharing the homes of their owners.
The tent itself is of an oval shape, with a wooden ridge on two poles
across the middle third of the centre, from front to back, with a
couple of strong bands of the same material as the tent fixed on
either side, whence cords lead to pegs in the ground, passing over two
low stakes leaning outwards. A rude camel's hair canvas is stretched
over this frame, being kept up at the edges by more leaning stakes,
and fastened by cords to pegs all round. The door space is left on
the side which faces the centre of the encampment, and the walls or
"curtains" are formed of high thistles lashed together in sheaves.
Surrounding the tent is a yard, a simple bog in winter, the boundary
of which is a ring formed by bundles of prickly branches, which
compose a really formidable barrier, being too much for a jump, and
too tenacious to one another and to visitors for penetration. The
break left for an entrance is stopped at night by another bundle which
makes the circle complete.
The interior of the tent is often more or less divided by the pole
supporting the roof, and by a pile of household goods, such as they
are. Sometimes a rude loom is fastened to the poles, and at it a woman
sits working on the floor. The framework--made of canes--is kept in
place by rigging to pegs in the ground. The woman's hand is her only
shuttle, and she threads the wool through with her fingers, a span at
a time, afterwards knocking it down tightly into place with a heavy
wrought-iron comb about two inches wide, with a dozen prongs. She
seems but half-dressed, and makes no effort to conceal either face or
breast, as a filthy child lies feeding in her lap. Her seat is a piece
of matting, but the principal covering for the floor of trodden mud is
a layer of palmetto leaves. Round the "walls" are several hens with
chicks nestling under their wings, and on one side a donkey is
tethered, while a calf sports at large.
The furniture of this humble dwelling consists of two or three large,
upright, mud-plastered, split-cane baskets, containing corn, partially
sunk in the ground, and a few dirty bags. On one side is the mill, a
couple of stones about eighteen inches across, the upper one convex,
with a handle at one side. Three stones above a small hole in the
ground serve as a cooking-range, while the fuel is abundant in the
form of sun-dried thistles and other weeds, or palmetto leaves and
sticks. Fire is obtained by borrowing from one another, but should it
happen that no one in the encampment had any, the laborious operation
of lighting dry straw from the flash in the pan of a flint-lock would
have to be performed. To light the rude lamp--merely a bit of cotton
protruding from anything with olive-oil in it--it is necessary to blow
some smoking straw or weed till it bursts into a flame.
Little else except the omnipresent dirt is to be found in the average
Arab tent. A tin or two for cooking operations, a large earthen
water-jar, and a pan or two to match, in which the butter-milk is
kept, a sieve for the flour, and a few rough baskets, usually complete
the list, and all are remarkable only for the prevailing grime. Making
a virtue of necessity, the Arab prefers sour milk to fresh, for with
this almost total lack of cleanliness, no milk would long keep sweet.
Their food is of the simplest, chiefly the flour of wheat, barley, or
Indian millet prepared in various ways, for the most part made up into
flat, heavy cakes of bread, or as kesk'soo. Milk, from which butter is
made direct by tossing it in a goat-skin turned inside out, eggs and
fowls form the chief animal food, butcher's meat being but seldom
indulged in. Vegetables do not enter into their diet, as they have no
gardens, and beyond possessing flocks and herds, those Arabs met with
in Barbary are wretchedly poor and miserably squalid. The patriarchal
display of Arabia is here unknown.
Of children and dogs there is no lack. Both abound, and wallow in the
mud together. Often the latter seem to have the better time of it. Two
families by one father will sometimes share one tent between them, but
generally each "household" is distinct, though all sleep together
in the one apartment of their abode. As one approaches a duar, or
encampment, an early warning is given by the hungry dogs, and soon the
half-clad children rush out to see who comes, followed leisurely by
their elders. Hospitality has ever been an Arab trait, and these poor
creatures, in their humble way, sustain the best traditions of their
race. A native visitor of their own class is entertained and fed by
the first he comes across, while the foreign traveller or native of
means with his own tent is accommodated on the rubbish in the midst
of the encampment, and can purchase all he wishes--all that they
have--for a trifle, though sometimes they turn disagreeable and "pile
it on." A present of milk and eggs, perhaps fowls, may be brought, for
which, however, a _quid pro quo_ is expected.
Luxuries they have not. Whatever they need to do in the way of
shopping, is done at the nearest market once a week, and nothing but
the produce already mentioned is to be obtained from them. In the
evenings they stuff themselves to repletion, if they can afford it,
with a wholesome dish of prepared barley or wheat meal, sometimes
crowned with beans; then, after a gossip round the crackling fire, or,
on state occasions, three cups of syrupy green tea apiece, they roll
themselves in their long blankets and sleep on the ground.
The first blush of dawn sees them stirring, and soon all is life and
excitement. The men go off to their various labours, as do many of the
stronger women, while the remainder attend to their scanty household
duties, later on basking in the sun. But the moment the stranger
arrives the scene changes, and the incessant din of dogs, hags and
babies commences, to which the visitor is doomed till late at
night, with the addition then of neighs and brays and occasional
cock-crowing.
It never seemed to me that these poor folk enjoyed life, but rather
that they took things sadly. How could it be otherwise? No security
of life and property tempts them to make a show of wealth; on the
contrary, they bury what little they may save, if any, and lead lives
of misery for fear of tempting the authorities. Their work is hard;
their comforts are few. The wild wind howls through their humble
dwellings, and the rain splashes in at the door. In sickness, for lack
of medical skill, they lie and perish. In health their only pleasures
are animal. Their women, once they are past the prime of life, which
means soon after thirty with this desert race, go unveiled, and work
often harder than the men, carrying burdens, binding sheaves, or even
perhaps helping a donkey to haul a plough. Female features are never
so jealously guarded here as in the towns.
Yet they are a jolly, good-tempered, simple folk. Often have I spent a
merry evening round the fire with them, squatted on a bit of matting,
telling of the wonders of "That Country," the name which alternates in
their vocabulary with "Nazarene Land," as descriptive of all the world
but Morocco and such portions of North Africa or Arabia as they may
have heard of. Many an honest laugh have we enjoyed over their wordy
tales, or perchance some witty sally; but in my heart I have pitied
these down-trodden people in their ignorance and want. Home they do
not know. When the pasture in Shechem is short, they remove to Dothan;
next month they may be somewhere else. But they are always ready to
share their scanty portion with the wayfarer, wherever they are.
When the time comes for changing quarters these wanderers find the
move but little trouble. Their few belongings are soon collected and
packed, and the tent itself made ready for transportation. Their
animals are got together, and ere long the cavalcade is on the road.
Often one poor beast will carry a fair proportion of the family--the
mother and a child or two, for instance--in addition to a load of
household goods, and bundles of fowls slung by their feet. At the side
men and boys drive the flocks and herds, while as often as not the
elder women-folk take a full share in the porterage of their property.
To meet such a caravan is to feel one's self transported to Bible
times, and to fancy Jacob going home from Padan Aram.
VI
CITY LIFE
"Seek the neighbour before the house,
And the companion before the road."
_Moorish Proverb._
Few countries afford a better insight into typical Mohammedan life, or
boast a more primitive civilization, than Morocco, preserved as it
has been so long from western contamination. The patriarchal system,
rendered more or less familiar to us by our Bibles, still exists in
the homes of its people, especially those of the country-side; but
Moorish city life is no less interesting or instructive. If an
Englishman's house is his castle, the Mohammedan's house is a
prison--not for himself, but for his women. Here is the radical
difference between their life and ours. No one who has not mixed
intimately with the people as one of themselves, lodging in their
houses and holding constant intercourse with them, can form an
adequate idea of the lack of home feeling, even in the happiest
families.
The moment you enter a town, however, the main facts are brought
vividly before you on every hand. You pass along a narrow
thoroughfare--maybe six, maybe sixteen feet in width--bounded by
almost blank walls, in some towns whitewashed, in others bare mud, in
which are no windows, lest their inmates might see or be seen. Even
above the roofs of the majority of two-storied houses (for very many
in the East consist but of ground floor), the wall is continued to
form a parapet round the terrace. If you meet a woman in the street,
she is enveloped from head to ankle in close disguise, with only a
peep-hole for one or both eyes, unless too ugly and withered for such
precautions to be needful.
You arrive at the door of your friend's abode, a huge massive barrier
painted brown or green--if not left entirely uncoloured--and studded
all over with nails. A very prison entrance it appears, for the only
other breaks in the wall above are slits for ventilation, all placed
so high in the room as to be out of reach. In the warmer parts of
the country you would see latticed boxes protruding from the
walls--meshrabiyahs or drinking-places--shelves on which porous
earthen jars may be placed to catch the slightest breeze, that the
God-sent beverage to which Mohammedans are wisely restricted may be at
all times cool. You are terrified, if a stranger, by the resonance of
this great door, as you let the huge iron ring which serves as knocker
fall on the miniature anvil beneath it. Presently your scattered
thoughts are recalled by a chirping voice from within--
"Who's that?"
You recognize the tones as those of a tiny negress slave, mayhap a
dozen years of age, and as you give your name you hear a patter of
bare feet on the tiles within, but if you are a male, you are left
standing out in the street. In a few moments the latch of the inner
door is sedately lifted, and with measured tread you hear the slippers
of your friend advancing.
"Is that So-and-so?" he asks, pausing on the other side of the door.
"It is, my Lord."
"Welcome, then."
The heavy bolt is drawn, and the door swings on its hinges during a
volley and counter-volley of inquiries, congratulations, and thanks to
God, accompanied by the most graceful bows, the mutual touching and
kissing of finger-tips, and the placing of hands on hearts. As these
exercises slacken, your host advances to the inner door, and possibly
disappears through it, closing it carefully behind him. You hear his
stentorian voice commanding, "_Amel trek!_"--"Make way!"--and this is
followed by a scuffle of feet which tells you he is being obeyed. Not
a female form will be in sight by the time your host returns to lead
you in by the hand with a thousand welcomes, entreating you to make
yourself at home.
The passage is constructed with a double turn, so that you could not
look, if you would, from the roadway into the courtyard which you now
enter. If one of the better-class houses, the floor will be paved with
marble or glazed mosaics, and in the centre will stand a bubbling
fountain. Round the sides is a colonnade supporting the first-floor
landing, reached by a narrow stairway in the corner. Above is the
deep-blue sky, obscured, perhaps, by the grateful shade of fig or
orange boughs, or a vine on a trellis, under which the people live.
The walls, if not tiled, are whitewashed, and often beautifully
decorated in plaster mauresques. In the centre of three of the four
sides are huge horseshoe-arched doorways, two of which will probably
be closed by cotton curtains. These suffice to ensure the strictest
privacy within, as no one would dream of approaching within a couple
of yards of a room with the curtain down, till leave had been asked
and obtained.
You are led into the remaining room, the guest-chamber, and the
curtain over the entrance is lowered. You may not now venture to rise
from your seat on the mattress facing the door till the women whom you
hear emerging from their retreats have been admonished to withdraw
again. The long, narrow apartment, some eight feet by twenty, in
which you find yourself has a double bed at each end, for it is
sleeping-room and sitting-room combined, as in Barbary no distinction
is known between the two. However long you may remain, you see no
female face but that of the cheery slave-girl, who kisses your hand so
demurely as she enters with refreshments.
Thus the husband receives his friends--perforce all males unless he be
"on the spree,"--in apartments from which all women-folk are banished.
Likewise the ladies of the establishment hold their festive gatherings
apart. Most Moors, however, are too strict to allow much visiting
among their women, especially if they be wealthy and have a good
complexion, when they are very closely confined, except when allowed
to visit the bath at certain hours set apart for the fair sex, or on
Fridays to lay myrtle branches on the tombs of saints and departed
relatives. Most of the ladies' calls are roof-to-roof visitations, and
very nimble they are in getting over the low partition walls, even
dragging a ladder up and down with them if there are high ones to
be crossed. The reason is that the roofs, or rather terraces, are
especially reserved for women-folk, and men are not even allowed to go
up except to do repairs, when the neighbouring houses are duly warned;
it is illegal to have a window overlooking another's roof. David's
temptation doubtless arose from his exercise of a Royal exemption from
this all-prevailing custom.
But for their exceedingly substantial build, the Moorish women in the
streets might pass for ghosts, for with the exception of their red
Morocco slippers, their costume is white--wool-white. A long and heavy
blanket of coarse homespun effectually conceals all features but
the eyes, which are touched up with antimony on the lids, and are
sufficiently expressive. Sometimes a wide-brimmed straw hat is
jauntily clapped on; but here ends the plate of Moorish out-door
fashions. In-doors all is colour, light and glitter.
In matters of colour and flowing robes the men are not far behind, and
they make up abroad for what they lack at home. No garment is more
artistic, and no drapery more graceful, than that in which the wealthy
Moor takes his d |
