The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-27
THE SULTAN OF MOROCCO.
Western IDEAS Possess the Head of
Abdul AziZ.
From the London Mail.

The Sultan of Morocco, Abdul Aziz,
is only young man. he is not yet %.
and he has only been on the throne
few years. Brought up in the seclusion
of the palace under the jealous eye of
a stern grand vizier who acted as re-
gent, the monarch king can hardly be
expected to know much about the gov
eminent of his country. He is. there
fore, surrounded by a ministry of
Moors, who carry on the business of
governing in the same way that their
forefathers and ancestors governed for
centuries. He is 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 government of his
country. That is not quite true. He is
by no means dull, being exceptionally
quick at learning things. OF course he is
Ignorant in the sense that he has had
no education of a western kind. While
shut up in the palace under the guar
dianship of the grand vizier he got no
opportunities to learn anything, and di-
rectly he left custody, as it were, he
assembled the throne, to which he Is
tied.
Kaid Maclean. however, has taught
him little English, and he is able to
converse, using a good deal of face
contortion and gesture, with English
travellers. He is exceedingly interested
in London. believe he would almost
give up all he has for a 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 West
ern instruments 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 properly,
judge distance and light and even to
develop and print. 1t was some time
before / could persuade him to let me
take photograph of himself, as it is
against the Moor's religion to repro
duce human life in any form. At last,
however. he consented, and l have a
fine picture of him standing by his
bicycle. AS soon as his slaves saw
the picture they wanted to be pho
tographed, too, but not one. of them
would stand unless, like his mas
ter, he was holding a bicycle!
The cinematograph has found it's
way to the far-off 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 pag-
cant and principal event that has taken
place since the process was discovered
revealed before him, and ha has gone
into ecstasies of delight over them.
1t is these things more than any
thing else that have aroused in him a
passionate desire to visit London. He
longs to get away from the dull monot-
ony of his court and to see the wonders
of the Western world. But he knows
that under the present regime it is
impossible. Not only would he lose
caste q doubt whether that would
worry him very much), but there would
probably be revolution and he would
lose his throne. And, after all, he does
not want to lose his vast dominions
for peep at a magnificent show.
Inclines to Western Ways.
From what have written about Abb
dull Aziz it will be seen that he is more
inclined toward civilization and west
ern methods than Moors usually are.
The fact is he is hardly a true Moor,
in the sense that he is progressive in
stead of rabidly conservative, like the
general run of his countrymen. AL
though despot, having absolute pow
er over an enormous number of sub
jects, he is one of the most humane
men l have ever met, and rarely pun
ishes a man with death. He can see
the advantages of civilization, and al
though up to the present time he has
steadily refused to allow the ground to
be opened up by the numerous mining
missions which have approached him
for concessions, 1t is not improbable
that he may relent later. on. The coun-
try is reputed enormously wealthy in
| minerals, to say nothing of it's agricul-
tural possibilities.
The funny jealousy of English infu-
ence results in some really funny cpl
sodes. Whenever a new article of Eng
lish manufacture is imported and the
| Sultan is pleased with it similar arti-
Gle, If possible greatly superior in
| quality, is wired from France While
l was there we had a large consign-
| ment of fireworks sent out from Eng
| land, and the genial emperor was ex-
ceedingly delighted with the pyrotech-
mic display. What was our astonfsh-
ment a few weeks later to find a huge
package of fireworks arrive from
France, and man to set them off as
well.
Here is another instance: The Sui
tan expressed a desire to try to raise
some English cattle. AS soon as posi-
bic the kaid got a bull and a COW of
the finest breed to be sent to Maria
kesh. When they arrived they were in
splendid condition. Soon after six
bulls and six cows, miserable looking
animals, arrived from France.
Also, soon after arrived to teach
the Sultan photography a Frenchman
and his big outfit arrived. He found
that the Sultan could take pictures al
most as we'll as himself, and great was
his disgust thereat. He shut himself
| up in his dark room for a few DAVIS
then went home. This is how the COM
petition for the Sultan's favor goes on
every day, with the result that the
French are invariably beaten. because
they so infrequently get to know what
the Emperors desires are. and because
also Abdul AZiz prefers articles of
English or American manufacture to