Show A New NelV Yorker a at Large By GILBERT SWAN FEZ Morocco March 7 SOme 7 Some Somehow how I could have done very we well wel without that Un lineup up of or motor bu busser e and taxis and array of carriages Just outside the walls of Fez I had my own Ideas about th thc medieval atmosphere atmosphere atmos atmos- phere I wanted And s speeding p pee e c d i ii 11 g galong alon along in my own z t z petrol wagon the hilltop provided Just the sort of g J picture I 11 had a ad d n tucked away since ince childhood that of ofa i i ia a Bagdad sort of I place The arches II U I through which one entered the city were to be the last work vork in rainbow rainbow- t. t tinted ill t e d mosaic And this they were But half a mile away from any anyone one of the three wall walled cd cities that make makeup makeup makeup up Fez there came a caravan van of or motor motor mo mo- mo tor busses turning the barren wastes Into a a. sort of or far away Fifth Firth avenue And even as upon the thc a the busses were packed to the guards that but with white draped figures seemed so Incongruous incongruous' that it was impossible not to toO smile After all there Is no reason why a a. crowd 01 ol bearded Arabs and turbaned Moors shouldn't be whisked to their faraway faraway far far- away avay stations by motor but motor but after the caravans of camels and donkeys the scene punctured an illusion or two However one has ones one's choice of ol three separate and vastly different towns There is Fez Bali Ball the old original native town which lies as though tumbled Into a a. valley a a. lit littie little lit lit- tlc tie city of fading pastels olive trees and and near near-by orange groves SToves of minarets minarets min mm- and Oriental color coor Fez is 15 the new Arab section where the sultan sult-nn has his home and there is the thc still newer French section 4 Never in all the world was th there re such an entrance to tOla toa a hotel as that which takes one to the Palace Jer- Jer mats mais The traveler who wants his bis thrills and hIs Ills novelty will wm find this en entrance entrance en- en trance right up his alle alley and right down er c every other sort of alley ever conceived There Ther are arc alleys of ot dirty mud and alleys of cobblestone alleys that hat smell and alleys cluttered with beggars and peddlers and traders To explain this you ha have vc to know what I bIlow is that the hotel was once a sultans sultan's palace and has stood there for some five centuries or thereabouts that the sultan found himself l new quarters and the hotel people took the old od place over Intact and but for a Job or r two of reconstruction have sought to o preserve presen e it intact Thus the smart stuart lackey ackey who takes you OU to your room is s likely to whisper that youre you're in inthe inthe inthe the very spot once occupied by the sultans sultan's favorite girl friend And does this thrill the plump lady tourist Dunt eski C 4 W But its it's the water they'll keep telling telling tell- tell ing ng you about Yes sir theres there's water here acre which is why Fez is Fez To Tobe Tobe Tobe be sure its it's a sluggish dirty looking stream for fer the most part But its it's water and in arid Africa that's something to toO talk about Ive I've heard much about the dirty Arab and the dirty Moor and the dirty half half castes and all the rest resL My observation has has been that tha t the pe people are not dirty out of any in instinct instinct instinct in- in or desire but out of necessity On the morning after a heavy rain I have watched whole colonies rushing pr the nearest puddle to the don done the Ret get laundry Along roadside where a little irrigation IV 1 ditch or conduit I Iran ran Ive I've seen an an anI I I entire family taking tak- tak ing a a. bath in the 4 face of all passing u i I n traffic Ive I've seen Ii 11 l them bathe their feet and take a t quick sponge bath bith at every fountain and line a river riverbank bank by the hun hun- J And as you ou all know without my mya a assistance Fez Is the holy of holies boUes cluttered with mosques and minarets minarets min ruin a place of universities and religious schools colorful and cluttered cluttered ered with assorted races races raees-a. a cultural center of tl this s section of the world Copyright 1931 NEA Service Servi Inc |