Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-04-29

We did the same to the rest Of tn
herd, and soon the place was like hal
dozen Spanish bullfights rolled int
one. Fortunately I had played polo
and 80 knew how to dodge on horse
back. My conjurIng friend was a bat
rider, and the boars would have rolled
him over and over again II the sultal
had not gone to his rescue.
His majesty was in the thick of th'
iscrimmage all the time, darting ove
the grounds like streak Of lightning
and showing fine pluck. Luckily, no
body was hurt during the afternoon o.
pigsticking, but there were some mar
row escapes.
A few evenings later we had pyro'
technic display. The sultan had no
seen fireworks before, and Of course
they tickled him like a child. But Sil
Kaid MacLean had a better scheme tt
propose.
LET us have the boars out again,
he said, land chase them with lighted
squibs."
The sultan was overjoyed. II Mac.
Lean had not already been commander.
in-chief Of the army I believe he
would have rewarded him with thai
rank on the spot. The ponies were
ordered out, the boars let loose and we
mounted and lighted our squibs.
It was the widest, queerest, and mos
indescribable scene I ever witnessed
Imagine us, yelling like maniacs, riding
at a breakneck gallop over the bould.
ers and ruts, whirling our Fireworks
over our heads, and chasing those
boars around and around the court.
yard.
It was a miracle we were not all kill.
ed. The only person hurt was the sui.
tan. He held squib by the wrong END
and lighted 1t in the middle. Natur.
ally, he burned his fingers, and begar
to think that the game was not such 6
nice one after all.
Not day passed without some new
amusement. AS for the cares Of state
and the government Of the country, no.
body seemed to worry in the least about
them. Certainly the sultan did not, al
that time.
Large quantities Of mechanical and
scientific novelties had been ordered
from Europe-Abdul Aziz was just 8
big child, with unlimited money to
spend on toys. One day he tried ar
automobile and nearly blew himself
up. Then he soon smashed 1t, as he
smashed everything. The phonograpt
sent him into ecstasies, but he was not
thoroughly happy until he pulled 1t to
pieces to see where the voices same
from.
My friend used to amaze the unso.
phisticated Moors by his conjurine
tricks, his ventriloquism, and his hyp.
motto seances. They thought 1t was
the black magic, but the sultan was not
taken in. He has shrewd mind, Of 8
sceptica1 turn. He made my friend
show him how to do the tricks, and
before long he became pretty good al
parlor magic himself.
Photography interested the sultan
intensely. He had O magnificent as.
sortment of cameras, and soon learned
how to use them, although In doing sc
he broke one Of the tenets Of the Mo-
hammedan religion, which forbids the
representation in any form of any liv-
ing person or thing. He liked being
photographed, but it had to be done or
the quiet, to avoid raising a storm
among the fanatical Moors.
One day he was photographed IN
curious way. 1t was a solemn feast
day. The populace assembled by thou
sands outside the palace, and the sui
tan, who, as head Of the Melekite sect
Of the Sunnite Mohammedans, Is pope
as we'll as king, in Morocco, had to &c
out and bless them.
Against the law he permitted us tc
he present and witness the ceremony
from behind q screen which hid US
from the people. AS the sultan blessed
them, my friend, the conjurer, took
snapshot of him with tiny kodak
which he had hidden beneath his coat
with the lens exposed through one Of
the buttonholes. If he had been de.
tected he would probably have beer
roughly handled by the fanatical mob
and the sultan could hardly have saved
him.
Among the numberless toys imported
from Europe were several fine rifles
and revolvers. These the sultan un-
derstood, for he had been trained to
arms from his youth, like all the Moors
I have never seen a finer shot. He has
nerves Of iron, and an unerring eye.
One day he told my friend, the con-
jurer, that he would shoot an egg on
the top Of his head without hurting
him. My friend naturally suggested
that he should make the experiment
with some body else. At that the sui
tan good d-naturedly called up one of his
officers and did the trick again and
again.
Then he made the officer, much
against his will, shoot the egg off his
rulers august head. which the man did
successfully.
Mulay Abdul Aziz struck me as be-
ing in every way a capital fellow,
thorough sportsman, and an excellent
type of the Mohammedan gentleman
He Is generous to a fault, brave as
lion, gifted with good deal Of native
shrewdness, and eager to learn the ways
of the great world beyond the borders
of his own country. He was perputal'
ly questioning us about European
ways, European institutions, and Eu-