The Republican journal., 1901-12-05
THE STREETS OF MOROCCO.
Every Day Scenes in the China Of the
West" A Moorish Wedding.

L.
Though Mediterranean guide-books adj
wise the tourist to keep away from this
part of the Sultan's empire and assure
him that there are no sights worth
visiting in the southern capital, we find
1t the most interesting of cities. 1t is
the strange life, customs and costumes
that absorb us; the swarthy people,
tQiours en- neglige-the Bluebeards, Ala
Babas, Forty Thieves, Grand WARS
aStride barrel-bodied mules, wise men
Of the east from across the desert on
their camels, and other delightful char
acters of childhood's acquaintance con-
SANITY met in it's dirty streets; the
medieval atmosphere of this land of
repose, where taX-gatherer and robber
are synonymous terms and the execu-
toner's hand never forgets it's cunning
nom lack of practice-all in.the great
est possible contrast to the happy and
confident life of our infant republic.
UNIVERSAL dread and distruSt-every
nan of his neighbor, and all of the
Iuel Sultan with his minions of the
uoW-string and bastinado, his prisons
nd fortunes -overshadow everything
nd explain why there are no social
nyohtles III Morocco. Cairo may have
$ races, balls, Italian opera and Eng
l>h soldier polo games; Constantinople
Is French boutfe, cafes-chantant, and
Wasque balls; even Jerusalem. the
allen, its lively foreign colony; but
ere, III the dawn of the twentieth cen
tlry, men exist merely as travellers
rom the distant past en- route to the
lie hereafter, concerning themselves
little with the things of today To
Moor and Arab, death means happy re-
Ease from the pain and sorrow of the
PRESENT, and their daily prayer is: cal
ali great! Allah bountiful. Give us
patience to endure till thou deemest us
worthy to behold the light of thy coun-
.enance.
Nobody with eyes in his head and the
remotest spark of appreciation of the
picturesque in his soul, can fail to be
harmed with the ever-varying piano.
anna of these crowded alleys: and as
here is really nothing to keep one with
u the dark, damp, bare and chilly
Houses, it is best to spend all ones wax
Ig hours out in the sunshine. To be
Ill a rnl,
# local color" one encounters good
Teal more local odor than is agreeable
rogether with some danger of disease
not to mention other possible perils,
such as Mohammedan fanatics with
heir thin, curved knives, and the long
can. murderous fingers of crazy ''San-
.os." who consider it a pious duty to
Strangle dogs of unbelievers' Every
thing that in civilized communities is
arted away and somehow disposed of
10y the garbage man, is here left to rot
the streets, including not only kitchen
mai, but dead CANNES and felines
{ cetera, to become an abomination in
the nostrils of the living Y ct the reek-
lug masses of fostering decay are not
an unmitigated nuisance, for at least
hey attract the myriads of big black
lies, which would otherwise make life
nbearable for human beings.
Begging is a rarity i'll Morocco as.com-
Jared with the wholesale manner in
which that industry is conducted on the
ether side of the ELECTROMAGNETIC
aps because Allah'S poor scorned to be
Helped by Christian dogs, as all foreign
egS are impolitely styled. Though not
SO numerous and importunate as their
fellows in Spain, these African mendi-
cants are none the less a pest. They
AVE an offensive habit of clutching
YOUR garments, or grabbing your arm,
and holding on like grim death, mean
While thrusting their dirty faces within
an inch of your own and demanding,
rather than requesting aims. 1t is not
so much the aggressive familiarity that
one resents as the foul breath in such
close proximity, and the microbe-infest-
ed hands which, manifestly, have never
made the acquaintance of soap and wa
ter. These beggars exhibit the most
nauseating sores as their stock in trade,
or horrible deformities, often purpose
~ inflicted by their parents, we are told,
Ill order to set them up in business); or
deep red holes in their faces where once
we're eyes, burned out, according to law,
in eXpiation of some crime. After OBJ
serving the unusual number of scaly
,epers with which Morocco is infested
all minus more or less of thei., limbs
and features, you shun the arm-grab-
berS like veritable pestilence. Mo
roccans seem to have no fear of leprosy,
and sufferers from that most loathsome
Of diseases have perfect freedom of all
public places.
Another ever-present menace to the
strangers safety in Morocco are the
Santos, or Mohammedan lunatics, who
range at will, indulging their wild
fancies to the fullest extent From
whatever cause a man may have lost
his wits, he is thenceforth held i'll high
est reverence Inv the MoorS who believe