Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1879-05-02
Scenes In Morocco.

On every side, rs YOU travel through
the country, you cannot help noticing
the fertility of the land. Delicious fruits
grow almost wild in great abundance
oranges, pomegranates, apricots, peaches,
ounces, almonds, vines and fig trees.
Wide fields of grain wave before your
eyes, as surely they would not were it
not that the soil barely needs to be
turned over; for, through all the centm-
les since this coast was first cultivated,
not one particle of improvement do the
indolent people seem to have made in
their clumsy methods. When native
farmer finds he can no longer sit in the
sun and postpone his blowing, if he is to
have any crop at all, he catches n
donkey and goat, or a COW and mule,
or any other creatures Gncluding his
wife) thatoawill pull, and harnesses them
to plow which would be q fine curl
Osity for one of our agricultural 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 little under the sod.
Yet we must not forget that much nearer
home a like lack ofprogress is seen; for
in parts of Mexico an almost exactly
similar excuse for plow has been used
for three hundred years, and may per-
haps be used for three hundred more.
When the caravan reaches town of
considerable size, 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 entertainments
of the village people and the recreations
at the camp, the stranger will not lack
for amusement. 1t is to this race, it is
always to be remembered, that we owe
the Arabian Nights tales. OF these
stories our TRANSACTIONS contain only a
selection, and as you sit and sip your
coffee, tea, or lemonade in some little
cafe whitewashed stone, you hear the
old plots and the familiar names, and
many new romanceS of the same kind,
told by men who do nothing else. These
tales form the treasure of very numer-
Gus class of men and women throughout
the East, who find livelihood in re-
citing them to crowds never tired OF
listening. The public squares of all the
towns abound with such men, whose
recitations, full of gestures and sugges-
tive looks, holds circle of silent listen
ers spellbound with the pleasing pic
lures their imaginations conjure. 1t is
said that the physicians frequently
recommend the story-tellers to their pa.
tients in order to soothe pain, to calm
agitation, or to produce sleep; and, ac.
customed to talk to sick folk, they mod
ulate their voices, soften their tones, anC
gently cease as sleep steals over the suf
ferer.
Quite the opposite of this quiet anc
dreamy amusement, which takes the
place of our theaters, are the shows o.
the snake-charmers, who everywhere
collect pennies from admiring groups
They sit on the ground and handle thu
serpents in every way, allowing them tt
coil about their arms, necks and body
and dart long, forked tongues almos
into their faces, while one of the grouI
hammers a tambourine as though hi
life depended on it. / cannot conceive
how this so-called music has anythin!
to do with the wonderful control exer
cised over the snakes by the juggler;
should think they would grow cross
rather than be " charmed" by its inces
SAINT discords. - Ernest h2gerSoU IN 81
Nicholas. .r