The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-23
AN OLD AND RICH CITY.
HOW PEOPLE LIVE IN TAR-AWAY
 MOROCCO.
A Moorish HousehoId-superstiti of African Jews-How the Moors Make Tea.

Tea.
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier.)
 City of Morocco, Oct il, 1901.
 It is hard to believe that during t.;e
 early centuries of it's existence-hun-
 dreds of years before America was dis covered-this now dilapidated and pow
 y-stricken city ranked as one of the
 richest and greatest in Islam. History { says that in the tenth century it had
 nearly a million inhabitants, incalcula-
 ble wealth and an extraordinary degree
 of learning, as education was rated in
 those days. Now it's extremely mixed
 and turbulent population, numbering fifty thousand or so, appear to devote
 their mental energies mostly to the
 gentle arts of robbery and murder, ankd
 cricrimes of violence are of hourly oc-
 currence. Were it not for an exception { al beauty of situation-at just the right
 elevation in the semi-tropics to secure | perfection of climate, surrounded by
 luxuriant groves and gardens, and 8 within full sight of the magnificent Atlas mountains-the city of to-day
 would be about the most wretched
 place on earth to live in. Words can ! not picture the squalor and decay en-
 conntered at every step-the foul odors that salute you in its inconceivably
 dirty streets, the pitfalls and cess
 pools in the most frequented thorough
 fares, and the eternal vigilance re-
 quired to protect your belongings from
 the tricks and wiles of professional thieves. It would never do for the Z stranger to be abroad after nightfall; Z and even at monday, in the most
 crowded thoroughfares, he would better
 avoid dim doorways and shadowy cor
 ners, where assassins may turk. The
 very walls that encompass the town once thirty feet high, eight feet thick and with immense square towers at
 frequent intervals-speak of the deso-
 lation within. They are now so dilapi- dated that in many places both foot
 messengers and horsemen make nothing
 of clambering over the fallen bricks
 md through the breaches, ignoring the
 gates, which are yet as reigiously Neuarded as if they were of any use.
 There are not half dozen structures
 worth visiting in the town, and not one
 building of stone except the tower of Kutubia mosque and an archway which was brought from Spain in sections. Even bricks are very little used, though the native manufacture is said to be sexce1lent The universal building ma terial is tappia, or labiya, as here cHlled-which is mud, hardened in a frame, akin to the betin of Algeria and the adobe of Mexico-than which nothing could be drearier in archtec- 'tural effect.
 V Of course you hie at once to Kutubia tower, the solitary show place of the town. It is not only a wonder in itself, but about the only memorial of the constructive genius of the early Moors that Is left in the empire of Morocco outside of Fez, the Holy City" where the far-famed beauties of the Aham- bra, San Sophia, even the Tai Mahal of India, are outdone in hundreds of mosques minarets, arches and door ,WayS, This Kutubia tower is almost siaentical with that of Hassan, at Ra- bat, and both are after the pattern of the, Giralda, at Seville-for the simple reason that the three were designed by the same architect one Abdulla Jabir, { who went his way to the Moslems par adise some eight or nine centuries ago. The mosque to which Kutubia tower | belongs is remarkable only for size, be- | Ing an immense brick building, perfect ly bare inside except for a forest of | marble pillars. It's entire crypt is oc- cupied by vast, mysterious cistern, | said to have been excavated by Man. sur himself-for what purpose, may be Allah knows There are nineteen other mosques in the City of Morocco, among which the most notable are Abu Yu- suf, Al-Mansur and Al-Mo-izz. From their lofty minarets, at the first glim- mer of dawn, the muzzin cry resounds over the sleeping city. Pitched in clear high key, more penetrating than the sound of silver bells, the confession Of faith is echoed from tower to tow CT; La ilah il Allah iva Mohammed er-rasool Allah" Again at sunset the same cry resounds; and at hourly in- tervals during the day an abbreviated form is heard. Every Moor and Arab hears 1t and pays instant and undivi- ded attention. If asleep in bed, he arises at once, or drops whatever work he may be doing; spreads his prayer cIOtn on the gIpuHu, lufnS ms race bows to the earth and rev repeats the orison To us, dogs of unbelievers,' it is problem how such religious ievoutness can go hand in hand with III manner of crime. Another noteworthy institution in Morocco city is the shrine of Sdi 'Saint) Bel Abbar, which possesses property to the value of a million dol ars, and whose great chapel serves as tn asylum and almshouse. There are ,till schools in Morocco, but the fa nous colleges of long ago exist but in s radition A Moorish school is a simple 1 lffair-no seats, no desks, no books. Tor beginners, boards about the size of | X sheet of foolscap whitened on both l iles with clay, are used, and on them t exits from the Koran are enscribed. I Though reading and a little writing are C aught by the Moorish doctors" as f are designated, compara- g lively few of the pupils arrive at the t Itch of perfection necessary to endi- | C ing respectable letter. Therefore ! here is plenty of employment for the a umerous brood of scribes and notaries; | i
 Hz,x 41,., x.stt