The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1899-07-14

pLOWING

ness, thanks to the rich beauty Of
earth and sky, and the remnants Of
what was once civilization Of a high
order, Is always interesting, and, above
all, picturesque.
The rites and ceremonies Of the reli-
gion Of the prophet are in themselves
an inexhaustible study for the artist
as well as for the historian and the
philosopher. Take, for example, the
procession Of the Sheep feast, which is,
so to speak, the Easter Of the Lent Of
Ramadhan. Imagine a background Of
sky Of the brightest blue above a line
Of green foliage; place in the fore
ground the brilliant white Of the
snowy robes of the sultan, Of the gar
ments Of his r~etinue, Of the wells OF
the women watching from the walls,
with the CLINT Of gun barrel and spear
in the African sunshine, and what a
picture it makes to the minds eyel
What, again, can more adequately ex-
press the poetry Of motion than the
wild rush Of the Arab cavaliers in the
Sheep race? The game Of powder, that
40 ~ 9Ag NAG waving 4Au AAAnB IA NAN
air Of innumerable guns, which is the
part Of the show the Arabs love best,
gives the fantasia a warlike character
which makes it the favorite sport Of
those born horsemen and warriors.
The Sheep feast, which the Arabs
call "the great feast" is a serious busi-
ness. On that occasion every Moslem
family must sacrifice a sheep; anG care
is taken to choose an animal with hne
pair Of horns, because 1t is to them that
the Moslem must hold tight when
crossing the ricate, the bridge, narrow
as a hair and sharp as a razor, which
is suspended above hell, and across
which he must pass to paradise. The
sacrifcial act is commemorative Of the
ram caught in a thicket," divinely
provided to avert the sacrifice Of Isaac
by Abraham. In no Mahommedan
country is the faith Of Islam more
fanatically fierce than in Morocco, IS
is exemplihed in the city of Fee, with
its $50 mosques. One OF these mosques
is a sanctuary for even the most des-
perate criminals, for Fee is a holy city.
It Is also one Of remarkable beauty,
situated In a charming valley domin-
ated by high mountains, and studded
with groves Of lemon and pomegran-
lie trees, and cleaning with the white
wash Of which the law Of the prophet
~prescribes the use at regular intervals.
From the sanitary point Of view, how
ever, a Moorish town or village Is but
a whited sepulcher. Those women in
the sketch are doing their family
washing in the village weli-a grue-
some thought on which the European
mind does not love to finger. Agraoul-
turally, too, Morocco Is as backward
as in every other respect. The Arab
plow, drawn by Gender OK and an ass,
does but scratch the marVelously fer
tile ground, which, in Roman times,
made the Barbary coast the granary
Of Southern Europe. In short, one
may say today Of Morocco, just what
was said Of It by an Englishman who
went there with Lord Howard. the am
bassador OF Charles H.. in 1869: All
were to be desired that such indus
trious and public spirited persons did
inhabit there al might make an i'm
provement Of the goodness of the sol
and Of the conveniences Of the place.'
For, as Rudyard Kipling puts It. iii
the east nothing ever changes" ant
Morocco, despite its geographical 20
sitiOn, is nothing If not Oriental.