Evening star., 1901-07-18
THE SULTAN OF MOROCCO
WESTERN IDEAS POSSESS THE HEAD
OF ABDUL AZIZ.
Held to Moorish Ideas and Traditions
by His Minfstry-CustOms OF
the Court.

From tie London Mall.
The Sultan of Morocco, Abdul Aziz, is
only a young man; he is not yet. twenty
three, and he has only been on the throne
a few years. Brought up in the seclusion OF
the palace under the jealous eye OF stern
grand vizer who acted as regent, the mon
arch king can hardly be expected to kno"
muclP about the government of his country
He is, therefore, surrounded by a ministry
of Moors, who carry on the business OF
governing in the same way that their fore
fathers and ancestors governed for centu-
ries HIS is a most interesting person, 1t
has been said that he is dull, ignorant and
childish, playing all day with mechanical
toys, taking no active part In the govern
ment of his country. That is not quite true
He is by no means dull, being exceptionally
quick at learning things. OF course, he ls
ignorant in the sense that he has mad no
education of a western kind While shut up
in the palace under the guardianship of the
grand viZier he got no opportunities to
learn anything, and directly he left Gus
tody. as 1t were, he ascended the throne. to
which he is tied
kaid Maclean, however, has taught him
little English, and he Is able to converse.
using q good deal of face contortion and
gesture, with English travellers. He is ex-
ceedingly interested in London l believe
he would almost give up all he has Cor q
holiday In London, where he could see the
sights and indulge in the gayeties and bus
tie and whirl Of the metropolis.
Fond of a Bicycle.
He is exceedingly fond Of western instru-
ments of diversion He has bicycle
which he rides easily, and evidently derives
huge enjoyment from it. His latest hobby
is photography, and he was an exceedingly
apt pupil. He quickly learnt to focus prop
erly. judge distance and light and even to
develop and print. 1t was some time before
1 could persuade him to let me take pho
tograph of himself, as it Is against the
Moor,s religion to reproduce human life in
any form. At last however, he consented,
and l have a fine picture of him standing
by his bicycle AS soon his slaves saw
the picture they wanted to be photograph
ed, too, but not one of them would stand"
unless, like his master, he was holding
bicvcle
The cinematograph has found It's way to
the far-of Moorish court. Nothing that
Europe or America has since invented has
given the sultan more pleasure than the
cinematograph. He has had films of nearly
every pageant and principal event thai has
taken place since the process was discov-
cred revealed before him. and he has gone
into ecstasies Of delight over them.
1t is these things more than ANYTHING
else that have aroused in him a passionate
desire to visit London He longs to get
away from the dull monotony of his cour:
world. But he knows that under the pres
ent regime it is impossible. Not only would
he lose caste q doubt whether that would
worry him very much). but there would
propably be revolution and he would lose
his throne. And after ALL he does not want
TO lose hts vast domnions for peep at
magnificent show.
inclines to Western Ways.
FROM what l have written about Abdul
Aziz 1t Will be seen that he Is more in
cllned toward civilization and western
methods than Moors usually are The fact
is he is hardly a true Moor in the sense
that he is progressive instead of rabidIy
conservative, like the general run of his
countrymen. Although despot, having
absolute power over an enormous number
Of subjects, he is one of the most humane
men l have ever met, and rarely Furnishes
a man with death He can see the ad-
Vantages of civilization, and although up
to the present time he has steadily refused
10 aiioW the ground to be opened up by
the numerous mining missions which have
approached him for concessions, 1t Is not
improbable that he may relax later on.
The country is reputed enormously
wealthy IN minerals, to say nothing of it's
agricultural possibilities.
The funny jealousy of English influence
results In some really funny episodes.
Whenever new article Of English manu-
facture is imported and the sultan is
pleased with it similar article, if posi-
bic greatly superior in quality, Is wired
from France. While I was there we had
q large consignment Of fireworks sent out
from England. ,and the genial emperor was
exceedingly delighted with the pyrotechn!c
display. What was astonishment a
few weeks later to find huge package of
fireworks arrive from France and a man
to set them off as wei.
Here is another instance: The sultan
expressed desire to try to raise some
English cattle. AS soon as possible the
kaid got bull and a COW Of the fncst
breed to be sent to Marrakesh. When they
arrived they were in splendid condition
Soon after six bulls and six cows, misera-
BILE looking animals, arrived from France.
Also. soon after l arrived to teach the
sultan photography a Frenchman and his
big outfit arrived He found that the
sultan could take pictures almost as well
as himself. and great was his disgust
thereat. He shut himself up in his dark
room for few days. then. went home.
This is how the competition for the sui
tan's favor goes on every day, with the
result that the French are invariably
beaten, because they infrequently get
to know what the emperor's desires are,
and because also Abdul Azz prefers arti-
cles of English American manufacture
to any other.