The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-10-24
IN THE MOORS' COUNTRY.
Spectacular Tangier. Abroad with Drag

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 spectacular
panorama of rare interest and every
creature is as curious as the phantasma-
goria of an opium dream.
The morning after our arrival, we set
out early to do" the town, escorted by
the American ConsuPs most trusted
dragoman. Like all his kind, this par
ocular Yusef is a splendid creature in
robes and turban, who reminds you of
one of the royal perSonageS in Alad-
dams tale-eXcept when squatted on
his heels in the ante-chamber of the
consulate, waiting to run errands, or
otherwise make himself useful, as well
as highly ornamental. The African
sun, which looks like FURNISHED gold
With considerable alloy of copper in it
was 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
amels, donkeys, goats, water-carriers.
mid deafening din of Balah. Balah.
1dlah the Arabic equivalent for ''look
out"' shrieked by thousands of voices,
African soldiers with fierce, cruel faces,
footed Jewish merchants of apollo
.etic mien. turbaned Moors in gorgeous
Iubes, slaves, naked Nubians, Bedouins
" the desert, jostled one another in the
tunnel like thoroughfare, often flung
INTO doorways by the crush, or painfully
pressed against buildings, or wedged be-
tween camelS, which Snarl and show
their teeth like savage dogs when irri-
lated
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
the residence quarter of the wealthy
Moors and Arabs-though there is moth
ing 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. Perpetual silence reigns
within these sacred precincts doubly
striking after the din and hubbub left
behind. No four-footed beasts are per-
mitted to enter this part of the city,
except now and then the white barb of
some splendid 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,
intent on the duties of the day, and
yelled women fit from the adjacent
mosque through arched doorways into
eXquisitely tiled vestibules where no
Shod foot has ever trod. White walls,
dazzling 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 MueZzen tower glistening with
jewel-like tiles, the outward and visible
sign that Mohammed reigns.
Our first visit was to the Sococo, or
great market-place, which the Eng
lSh, 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 Slip
perry with refuse fruit and vegetables,
amid people of every nationality under
heaven. Hundreds of men, women and
children from neighboring villages come
down to Tangier 10 sell or purchase
provisions; heet-footed carriers, with
hog-skins of water ON their backs, tot
tel to and fro from the walls outside
the town, jugglers, snake charmers and
other fakirs perform their various feats
tor the raking in of foreign coin, bevies
of noisy tourists scamper by on dimin-
ative donkeys driven by grinning mule
teers; and huge, gray dromedaries, look
ing old as time, rise groaning and grunt-
ing to their tired feet, to slump back
again to the desert whence they came.
The shops are rickety wooden sheds,
each the size of a respectable dry goods
box, in which the Moorish merchant,
from his seat on the floor, can reach
anything he wants in his stock. 1t is
lis settled policy to invariably ask at
least ten times the value of an article,
and then to come down." cent by cent,
with extravagant protestations The
result is endless haggling, often begun
before dawn reddenS the eastern sky,
and continued till twilight lets her
curtain down-perhaps for something
which after all amounts to less than an
American quarter" Women, with
enormous straw hats on their frOwsy
heads, squat on the ground selling cakes
and sweet meats, which are laid out on
dusty mats or boards, under every
bodys feet. The noise of human voices
i'll many tongues, the gathering of hoofs
and cackling of fowls, mingled with the
shouts of children and the occasional
roar of tame lion or leopardess, pro-
l,,oac t,,po,,Jt or do ar ;~Ja