Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-11-25
LIFE IN LAZY LAND.
Travel in Morocco, Its DiscOm-
forts, Delays and Amuse-
ments.

Pail Mall Gazstts,l
Visitors to Morocco find the cOun-
try and its people marvelously strange
and fresh. Theirs ARE the rain and
sunshine and the ways OF an old wis
dom BY our world forgot" Nowhere
can a man be more impressed with the
vanity and tedium Of much that Eu-
pean civilization considers indispensa-
BE 10 the interest Of life. From the
hour you set foot in the country the
present moment seems 80 full OF
delight that there is but the small
est desire to project life into antici-
patton. Time ceases to exist, or at
least to be of any account, 1t must be
admitted, however, hat the dispo-
sition of everybody in this lazy, lotus
eating land to act on this is at times a
little troublesome. You have ar
ranged TO make an excursion to a town
10 the Interior you have fixed the day
for starting-after having found that it
must not be a Tuesday, for "Tletss
feletsa" Cor, the third day all fails"
nor on a Friday, for that is their Sab
bath-you have been promised guides
and mules before such a time; but do
not expect them there, they will not
come. You go to the man with whom
you have made arrangements he is
probably doing nothing, and be has
probably nothing to say in answer to
your complaint but please Allah,
to morrow" Yet if you manage to
set out on the third day. or before the
week has run out, you will have been
treated fairly we'll. They mean to neg
lect or ~disrespect; it is only their "old
void" way. Hence their proverb.
"0nee over the threshold the Journeys
halt done"
For. travelling there are, Of course,
neither carriages nor roads; the roads
so-called are only collocations Of mule
and camel tracks. Till within two OF
three years there was not a single
wheeled vehicle IN Morocco, but noH
there are known to be two the one il
a yellow aDtediluvian gig, which tn,
Sultan has procured somehow or other
md which figured some time ago in
state procession, to the astonishmen
J and delight of the spectators; the othe
is q wheelbarTow which a gentlemei
recently took to Mogador, an.
of which the stalwart Moo
to whom it vas consigned s
little surmised the use that, when b
had filed it with mortar according (
instructions, he promptly shoulders
, it and strobe of. Travelling on null
back, however, in the large, well-paC
lded saddles of the country, with stir
rups like slippers, is no great hardshi
TO either mar or woman, and the WI
}, lis constantly beguiled by some fre'
illustration of Moorish life and mai
is uers; a company Of noisy country foil
u going to or from market; a troop
B horsemen dashing past, with fowl
d white celabs; the ghostly looking, /
is lent cavalcades of an Arab Shiek
rs the plains and his harem, swath,
ID from view, all but, perhaps, one lul
a lroas eye; the astonished girl, W
ID hides her face, but not her legs, or t
toilsome, almost naked, peasant daw
es ling along behind his aboriginal plo
It A goat and adonkey mayoften be SC
re yoked together, aud a woman has be
IS seen in the place of the goat; /
or whatever the team, the blowing
to always the same, a mere scoring OF /
soil. and yet it brings forth in abu
OIL dance.