Show weitso WefT AM so Y 0 C a ap AT t 4 1 l A r W Y t 3 4 3 I 1 I 1 4 Z ev e V va street in a moorish town prepared by the national geographic society washington D C there is something to be learned from the recent swing around the elide circle by the president of france through morocco it includes visits to mohammedan holy places near which a few y years ea S a ago go christian infidels were not permitted p emitted smiles of we welcome met this french party where formerly all europeans received scowls or worse it seems that the history of algeria is being repeated and that french econ economic onile pene penetration trat on is proving a success in this anomalous country whose arable arabic name means the extreme west but which has harbored more tenaciously than E egypt agypt or mesopotamia the flavor of the east until a decade ago morocco acorne scorned d western civilization and had succeeded in keeping itself 1 self at least a millennium and a half behind the times moslem fanaticism f ran riot jews and chris thins were treated with a mixture of contempt suspicion and hostility he ble cause as a result of pressure by the european powers christians were permitted to own land in tangier cans referred to it as a dog town rind one monism map maker insisted on leaving it off the map of morocco relatively few europeans lived in the country outside of tangier and a few other coast cities and in some ot of the towns considered holy it was as much as a non moslem foreigners ili life e was worth to appear the morocco of today Is something ut 01 a mixture govern ioen tally theoretically oreti cally it is all under the control of the sultan of morocco As a matter of fact however the country is divided into three parts still nominally under the sultan along the e mediterranean and extending inland tor for 50 to miles is the narrow zone reco recognized to be under spanish influence A caliph appointed by the sultan Is supposed to be in control of this zone assisted by spanish officials the city of tangier on the northwestern point of africa and a small surrounding district constitute a special zone in which an international commission assists moroccan officials clala the main portion of morocco so something met h ing like nineteen twentieths la is under a french protectorate has existed since 1912 has ha many capitals morocco is a land of 0 many capitals the sultan has palaces in vw fez tafilele Tafil elt Mar rakesh morocco city and rabat and resides in ili each from froin time to time for some years tangier was the alie diplomatic capital where all foreign envoys were resi resident deril and where it a rep resent athe of the sultan also reId re elded cd life and property were too insecure in the interior for foreign envoys to feel sate safe in the city in which the sultan happened to be living tills this situation has changed since the french protectorate was established and the resident general now nov resides reside in the city of the sultan sul tin having residences ILS as well ell in the other capitals from the sea tangier Is the arab city of north africa par excellence for the ugly dashes of yellow green anti and red ith which scattered modern constructions have marred the otherwise glistening whiteness of the native city are not distinguishable until the stearn arlies close in icing a i city of infidels it has been visited only on the rarest occa occasions sioni by the sultan the traveler from europe will be struck at once by the total lack of the well ivell known rumble of city streets Af for though the uneven thoroughfares are in most parts paved with cobblestones wheeled vehicles leles are practically unknown not only in tangier but throughout tire empire the streets ore are nevertheless crowded with other means of transport so narrow are some if f them that at the oft repeated balak Bal look out one must again nd and again spring w into some doorway in order to let donkeys mules and horses with their spreading burdens pass by camels have to be unloaded on the soko or marketplace market place outside the walls things too heavy to be carried by a single animal must be transported by men and it Is no unusual sight to see sea great stones giveand five and six feet long slung on poles and borne bome by a dozen doen or more halt half naked arabs in these narrow streets the little box bos like shops waist high give the proper oriental setting to the whole in them we see the owner reclining and sedately reading seemingly oblivious to the stirring scenes around him until he Is disturbed by a purchaser for hta his goods all of which are within arms arm roach reach fez once a paradise inland fez Is of course different from tangier the golden days of fez began in the ninth century and continued tilt till about the thirteenth it was then celebrated as a paradise around the city were splendid gardens ot of rarest fruits the soil watered by a thousand streams was of c extraordinary fertility its numerous schools and libraries and its famous university attracted students even from europe alie TI ie climate its fruits and flowers its fountains and wells its verdure and beauty paused the city to enjoy a reputation unique in islam its glories have departed but it still boasts of one of the most sacred mosques of the mohammedan world that of mulat idress the younger the founder ot of the kingdom the sights of fez are its teeming streets bazars and markets weeks can be spent in this interesting city and yet new and strange scenes be ba i met with at almost any m moment snake charmers medicine men storytellers with their gaping crowds artisans and tradesmen of every description costumes from the tour four quarters of morocco and beyond interest the traveler at every turn but all Is not poetry in fez revolting are the horrible diseases to be seen on every hand the residence portion of the city Is strikingly unattractive one can scarcely belle believe e that he Is being taken to call on one of the wealthiest moors of the city when he stops in a narrow street barely five feet wide by high prison ilke window windo less walls these walls are the houses themselves A massive iron studded door will be opened and in ili semidarkness semi darkness one will be conducted along a tortuous dingy passage q through several doors to suddenly emerge into one of those inner courts which are the masterpieces of oriental architecture with inith its mosaics tiles fountains colonnades or light arches supporting a second gal lery above all covered with a profusion of colored and gilded arabesques anti and tives almost rivaling these inner courts in popularity especially with the women the flat roots roofs of the houses must be mentioned here during certain hours the men are never expected to appear for or they are then sacred to the women of the families who resort to thern them unveiled to enjoy the cooling breezes from the lie atlas mountains mount alris the city of might be called tue the monument of bouley ismael the great contemporary of louis XIV who even dared sue tor for the hand of a daughter of the great french king ilia fits mania for building is everywhere la in eil evidence dence for miles along the road lending leading to the quarries to the north great blocks of stone can still be se lying just is as they fell from froin the hand bano of the slaves when they heard that their tyrant sovereign was dead but a melancholy interest Is attached to these great buildings for it must b be remembered that hundreds of chris tian slaves tolled and died on these gloomy walls walla |