The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-13
IN LAND OF OLE AGE
CENTENARLANs ARE COMMON PART OF POPULATION OF
 BARBARY STATES.
Hurry an Unknown word--Men of Seventy Often Have Living j, 0randfathers-Women, Too,
 Tive e Long Time.

Washington Star.
 T saw e lot of queer things during my wandering through Morocco. Algeria and Tunis," said man who recently returned to America from c long tour in the north of Africa, but the queerest thing of all was the multitude of centenarians. They were as common as blackberries here in August, and e man or woman had to be at feast hundred and fifty to enjoy any sort of local reputation.
 'It is quaint and refreshing to step aside for e moment from the hustle of modern life and make acquaintance with men whose fathers or grandfathers were Barbary corsairB; to drop Into coffee houses where public story-tellers rivet the attention of a crowded audience, and where the jars of Ali Baba are still in common use; to frequent public squares where snake charmers. barbarie must- clans and other story-book delights are commonplace; to meet a Kadi riding to court on white mule; and to mix with people who tell you stories of dJinns as if they were everyday occurrences.
 "All this and more you can enjoy in Morocco, Algeria and TuniS-though the French are doing their best to spoil the old-world charm of the last two coun- tries. But of all the strange things l saw there, the strangest were the old people. There are so many of them, and they are so strenuous"
 Land of No-Hurry. Every traveller in the ''Barbary States, ,'' as they used to be called. is impressed by this remarkable abundance of centena- rians. A gray-bearded old man of 70. who | is trying to sell curios to a tourist for thrice their value, exclakmas
 By the beard of the. prophet, may my | grandfather die if what I tell you is moi truel''
 Looking at his gray beard you think he Is quite safe in calling down that curse upon himself, but when you make in- quiries you find that he really has a | grandfather living, aged about 110. and that the old gentleman Is still going about doing business on market days.
 Life is not wearing in Moslem Africa. | A man never does anything in a hurry | there. Naturally he does not even grow old in hurry. When he is 70 he is be- ginning to get over the first hot flush of youth; he Is no longer counted as one of | the boys. But not until he Is at least 90 does he expect people to pay honor l and reverence to him as a veteran, and even then he must take a back sat and listen deferentially when the hale and hearty centenarians approach.
 The Arabs and Moors of the Barbary States are strenuous only in their reli- gious exercises The excessive zeal of the various confraternities which give vigor to the Moslem faith fin that part of the world must be very wearing. But even among these confraternities many very old men may be found who go through the exhausting ritual just as | easily as a mere boy of 30 or 40 can. Of all these confraternities the best known and most interesting are the Aissawa. who may be found all through Morocco, Algeria and Tunis. Unlike most of the other societies they delight to {, display their fantastic ritual in public. even to the unbelieving eyes of the 'tn- l hdel dogs' of tourists.
 May Be Hypnotism. It is an updisputed fact that they eat