Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-04-23
SCENES IN MOROCCO.
A Land Of Incidence and Plenty---The
Powder Play.

Ernest IngersOll, in an article upon
Morocco, in st. Nicholas, says:
On every side, as you travel through
the country, you cannot help noticing
the fertility Of the land. Delicious
fruits grow almost wild in great album
dance-oranges, p~omegranates, april
cots, peaches, ounces, almonds, vines
and ig-trees. Wide fields of grain
wave before your eyes, as surely they
would not were 1t not that the soil
barely needs to be turned over for,
Thorough all the centuries since this
coast was first cultivated, not one par
ticle of Improvement do the indolent
people seem to have made in their
clumsy methods. When a native
farmer finds he can no longer sit in
the u and postpone his blowing. if
he is to have any crop at all, he catches
a donkey and a goat, or a COW and a
mule, or any other creatures (includ-
ing his wife) that will pull, and har-
nesses them to a pillow which would be
a fine curiosity for one of our agricul-
tural fairs, since it is simply some
sticks of wood bound together so that
the sharply-pointed end Of the main
or handle piece is dragged along a lit
tie under the sod. Yet we must net
forget that much nearer home a like
lack of progress is seen for in rarts
of Mexico an almost exactly similar
excuse for a pillow has been used for
three hundred years, and may perhaps
be used for three hundred more.
When the caravan reaches a town
of considerable size, a stop is likely to
be made for some days, in order to
allow trading to be carried on. But
business is not permitted to worry the
traders much, and between the enter.
tainments Of the village people and
the recreatiOns at the camp, the stran.
ger will not lack for amusement. II
is to this race, it is always to be re-.
membered, that we owe the Arabian
Nights tales. OF these stories onr
translatiOns contain only a selection
and a you sit and sip your coffee. tea
or lemonade in some little cafe of
whitewashed stone, you can hear the
old plots and familiar names. and
many new romances of the same kind
told by men who do nothing else,
These tales form the treasury of A
very numerous class of men and wo-
men throughout the East, who find a
livelihood in reciting them to crowds
never tired of listening. The public
squares OF all the towns abound with
such men, whose Rotations, full of
gestures and suggestive looks. hold a
circle Of silent listeners, spell bound
with the pleasing pictures their i'm
aglnatlOns cOnjure. II is said that the
physicians frequently recommend the
story-tellers to their patients in order
to soothe pain, TO calm agitation. or to
produce sleep; and, accustomed To
talk to sick folk, they modulate their
voices, soften their tones, and gently
cease as sleep steals over the sufferer
Quite the opposite of this quiet and
dreamy amusement, which takes the
place of our theaters, are the shows Of
the nake-charmers, who eyefyyhere
collect pennies from admiring groups.
They sit on the ground and handle
the serpents in every way, allowing
them TO coil about their arms. necks
and body, and dart long. forked
tongues almost into their faces. while
one Of the group hammers a tambour-
inc as though his life depended on il.
l cannot conceive how this so-called
music has anything to do with the
wonderful control exercised over the
snakes by the juggler | should think
they would grow cross, rather than be
charmed" by its incessant discords.
THE P0wDER-pLAY.
Several times during the year in
Morocco the Arab inhabitants of a
town hold certain half-religious festi-
walls called the Feasts of the Aissouia.
which in many ways are as revolving
as the orgies of the lowest savages.
Though the Arabs are shy of foreign
eyes at their rites, the tourist nav get
an invitation to these performances II
he happens to have a friend amone
the natives. Following his Guide
through a maze Of tortuous streets
and up a great many flights of stone
steps, he will finally be conducted n
a small hall Of Moorish architecture.
with the characteristic horse.sboc
arches supported upon marble nillars
and no roof except perhaps a Prac.
ment Of striped awning. Around tbe
inside runs a gallery occupied by
yelled Moorish ladies, and ornamented
with a few flags, which alone %reliey,
the glare Of whitewash on all sides a
this queer building. The floor is laid
with octagonal tiles Of red and white
and upon red mats, around a snal
altar IN the center sit the musician
and performers, while the spectator
) md places behind.
Inc chosen performers will dane
baretooted upon rod-bot plates of iroi
, alq Oh beds OF living Goals; will licl
rods OF red'hot iron; will take burn.
l ing torches between their teeth. an,
hold flaming oil wicks until the bIa1,
has burned ctraight into the Palms q
their hands, will swallow nails AN,
stones will ven snatch up a liyinl
scorpion aud crunch il between IN,
! teeth With as keen relish as that witt
which a newsboy eats a shrimp. All
this is gone through with (for money
to the harsh tumult of half n doye,