The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-10-17

and Courier)
Tangier Morocco Sept. Is, 1901.
There are few special sights to tempt
the tourist in this chief port of Moroc-
co, but the whole city is a spectacular
panorama of rare interest and every
creature in it is as curious as the phan-
tasmagoria Of an opium dream.
The morning after our arrival we set
out early to do" the town, escorted by
the American consuls most trusted
dragoman. Like all his kind, this par
ticular Yusef is a splendid creature in
robes and turban, who reminds you of
one of the royal personages in Alad-
oln's tale-except when squatted on his
heels in the ante-chamber of the con-
sulate, waiting to run errands, or 9TH
erwise make himself useful as we'll as
highly ornamental. The African sun,
which looks like FURNISHED gold with
considerable alloy Of copper in twas
Just peeping above the eastern horizon
when we left our hotel down near the
landing. Early as it was the narrow
street was already packed with camels,
donkeys, goats, water carriers, omid a
deafening din of Balah! Balah! Balak
the Arabic equivalent for Look
out!"-shrieked by thousands of voices.
African soldiers with fierce, cruel faces,
bare-footed Jewish merchants of apollo
getic mien, turbaned Moors in gorgeous
robes, slaves naked Nubians, Bedouins
of the desert jostled one another in the
tunnel-lke thoroughfares, often flung
into doorways by the crush, or painful
ly pressed against buildings, or wedged
hat rD1, iat, ,t,o,,,
their teeth like savage dogs when irri-
tated.
After half an hours struggling in the
main street, we plunged into maze of
alleys, all precisely alike and so ex-
tremely narrow that, standing in the
middle with outstretched hands, one
can touch the walls on either side.
This Is the residence quarter of the
wealthy Moors and Arabs-though
there is nothing to indicate it in the
blank walls Of the low houses, which
have no windows on the street side or
other sign of human habitation. Per-
petual silence reigns within these sa-
cred precincts-doubly striking after
the din and hubbub left behind. No
fourfooted beasts are permitted to en-
ter this part of the city, except now
and then the white garb Of some splen-
did Pacha returning to his harem, or
minion of the Sultan, whom nobody
dare oppose though he ride rough shod
into the inner sanctuary Of "holy
house." Slaves, black as Goals and
ragged as beggars, pass in and out, in
tent on the duties of the day, and yelled
women fit from the adjacent mosque
oh od jpfn
sitely tiled vestibules where no shod
foot has ever trod. White walls, daz-
zline under the full rays of the sun,
slope upward to the citadel-crowned
hilltop above which floats the dull-red
banner Of Morocco; and dominating all
is the muzzen tower. glistening with
jewel like tiles, the outward and visi-
BILE sign that Mohammed reigns.
Our first visit was to the Sococo, or
great market place, which the English,
with their well-knoWn propensity for
numbering names, speak of as the
"Soke," or "Soko' 1t is difficult to
pick ones way along the crowded
square, the stones of which are slippery
with refuse fruit and vegetables, amid |
people of every nationality under heav-
en- Hundreds Of men, women and
children from neighboring villages I
come down to Tangier to sell or pur- !
chase provisions; fleet-f footed carriers, |
with hog-skins of water on !
their backs tottles to and |
fro from the walls outside the |
and fro from the walls outside the
town, Jugglers, snake charmers and (
other fakirs perform their various feats
for the raking in of foreign coin; bavies
of noisy tourists scamper by on diminu-
tive donkeys driven by grinning
muleteers; and huge, gray dromedaries,
old as time, rise grooming and
granting to their tired feet, to slump
back against to the desert whence they
came. The shops are rickety wooden
Sheds each the size of respectable
dry goods box, In which the Moorish
from his seat on the floor,
can reach anything he wants in his
stock. 1t is his settled policy to invari-
ably ask at least ten times the value
of an article and then to come down."
cent by cent with extravagant protes
tations. The result is endless hagglng,
often begun before dawn reddens the
eastern sky and continued till twilight
let's her curtain down-perhaps for
less than an American quarter" Wo-
men, with enormous straw hats on
their frowsy heads, squat on the
selling cakes and sweet meats,
which are laid out on dusty mats or
boards, under evrybody's feet The /
noise of human voices in many tongues,
The gathering of hoofs and cackling of .
fowls, mingled with the shouts of chill
lren and the occasional roar Of tame
ion of leopardess, produces a tumult
IS dealing as understandable. Later in ;
he day, when buying and selling Is not {
10 brisk; the fakirs and storytellers
nave their innings, each surrounded by
, circle of admiring natives, listening
With unfagging interest to the oft-told
ale, or watching the familiar antics of
he serpents.
The shops of the town are not much
,etter than those in the Sococo, with .
title to tempt the tourist beyond some S