The Republican journal., 1901-11-07
GLIMPsEs OF FEE,
The Sacred City of Morocco.
[Secial Correspondence of The Journal !

mos Oriental cities, Fez-or Fas as the
Ar0s know it-looks best from dis
tame, the farther the better. Singular
ly situated at the head of funnel
SHAPED valley, formed by low hills whose
sloes are covered with orchards and
crovned by the ruins of ancient FORTH
cations, the distant view is wonderful.
Tn town is still surrounded by old tur-
REED and battlemented walls, so lofty
tint nothing within them is visible from
outside but the tops of the tallest
holseS and the slender minaretS of
countless mosques, shining against the
cludlesS blue of the African sky like
tlB spears of an advancing army
T rough the valley winds the Wad ell
.Ilbai, branch of the Sebu river,
witch it joins few miles north of the
town; and all along its banks are ruined
edticeS of every description-brOke
c1umns and stone aqueducts of RO-
nan times, cells of hermits, dervisheS
AID other religious fanatics of later
lite, dome-like tombs and dilapidated
irts. You remember that during the
Niddle Ages Fee was one of the largest
nd most magnificent cities of the Mo-
lammedan world, renowned for its
shoots and scientific institutions, its
Plendid public buildings, seven hun
Il +1n
hen in existence After the removal
f the court to Morocco, this city grad
tally declined. But in the eyes of
Western Arabs it is still place of par
mount Importance, being considered
holy on account of innumerable
tombs and relics.
Entering the town through a narrow
slit in one of the lofty towers that flank
The walls, you find that the latter are
what Westerners call "a bluff" being
not nearly so formidable as they APP
pear, but fast falling to decay. Before
this point is reached in your travels,
YOU have become accustomed to the
strange people of Northern Africa,
yothed and unclothed, and stately
Noors, raggedlJ ews, naked negroes Bar
oers, BedouinS, leperS, snake harmerS,
trab steeds and dromedaries of the
aesert, no longer astonish you. The
hing that strikes you first in Fee, and
strikes with staggering force, is the
appalling smell, which seems to have
come down from the days of Muley
tdris, who founded the place A. ID. sos
and to have been gaining in strength
and vigor ever since. The explanation
Is easy. Like all Morocco towns Fez
possesses a system of drainage and an
ahundant water supplementary every
louise having fountain in it's court
yard, by which the drains are constant
Y flushed. But all this waste-water
Las no connection with the sewerage,
0l rather the lack of it, and the closet
If each house is placed just inside the
street entrance, and needs no sign-board
10 locate it.
Next you are struck by the extreme
UarroWness of the streets, many of
which are mere foot paths in which
-Wo persons could not possibly walk
breast. Though Fee is nowadays the
commercial emporium of the desert, its
Principal business streets are barely
1iue feet wide Considerable trade is
arried on 10y means of caravans with
djOining countries to the south and
ether side to the sea and to Europe by
way of Tangier. Hence the narrow
ways are packed, not only with people
uf every race and color, but with many
casts of burden, including vicious
camels that snarI and strike out their
Neels at paSsers-by, and occasionally
lalf-tamed lions and leopards in charge
If their keepers. These monarchs of
lie desert are in great demand in Mo-
rocco for household pets, by those who
IAN afford to pay the price. 1t is said
ions, not tanned at all. They are kept
securely chained by day; but at night
they are let loose and permitted to
range the court yard, in order to guard
the royal harem. A standing army
could not be better protection, for no
lover is likely to brave those beasts, nor
any frail Fatima to run away.
How can one describe place when
there is nothing with which to compare
it: The houses are all hat-roofed and
generally three-storied, with blank
walls toward the street. High up in
each-too high for eyes to see into
small wooden gratings are set, to admit
the air. Each immense dwelling,
which is practically prison for it's
female inmates, has only one narrow
door of heavy wood, strong enough to
withstand siege and always securely
barred. When one wishes to enter, he
pounds upon it with the hilt of his dag
ger, a stone, or any convent missile;
until, by and by, a leisurely eunich
shows his face at the little sliding panel
and enquiries what is wanted. And
then, a hundred to one, the applicant is