The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1903-02-08
FEE AND ITS INHABITANTS;
CITY OF MULAI IDREES.


The city OF Fer. where the young sultan
Mulai Abdul AziE who win 20 down %
posterity as tbe frst OF his race who at
tempted to reform his benightcd county)
has Just defeated the rebel chief and an
initiated his army, Is known to the Moors
as Fas. meaning "a hoe II Is one OF tho
most ancient and picturesque Of all East.
| ern cities ana also one OF the dirtiest and
most fanatical. well meritlng the appers
ton given It by a recent French visitor
Of "une vile infecte" With many adj
vantages bestowed upon II by nature; set
in groves OF orange lemon, pomegranatc
traversed from end to end by hundreds Of
rills OF running water, the very sound OF
/ which is almost sacred thing TO the
Moors; containing splendid specimens OF an
| Client Arabic art, reminding the traveller con,
stantly of the glories Of the ALEXANDRIA.
! surrounded by massive battlemented me
| dieyal walls originally of immense strength:
within easy distance OF the Mediterranean
and Atianuc--with ali these extraordinary
advantages II is one Of the hotbeds Of tbs
world for filth and fanaticism, one OF the
last refugees of that true Isamism which
revels In both,
Its most celebrated poet once sang OF H.
20. FAST every beauty Is united In thee
|
Inhabitants endowed? Is 1t thy freshness
which | inhale. or is It the health OF my
soul1 Are thy waters OF white honey or
sIlyer7 Who could paint those streams Of
time which unite under the earth and bear
their waters to the market places and on
the streetsT"
Alasl the freshness" inhaled IN Fez,
whatever it may have been in the days OF
Abou-el-Fadhl ben Ell Nahouy, who thus
extois 1t, Is, nowadays, laden with fever;
the honeyed waters bear along typhoid
the soil, saturated by the uucaredfor water
| courses, cxhales pestllence. And thus
! place which, In the hands Of a civilized
race, might he paradise, Is, In the hands
of It's bigoted and retrogrude possesSors,
sink, and Augean stable, to be cleansed
| only by the broom OF some European power,
| as cleaned IL must be some day.
THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY.
tndrces II was the founder Of Fee, In
the 1929 year after the HeRira, which cor
responds to the year sos OF the Christian
era The site was found for him by his
vizler. the abundance Of water having de-
cided III Its favor There were sixty springs
en- the site. and lu1uriant vegetation The
sultan himself, 1t is said, turned the first
sod OF the new city with hoe Cfas), say
ing: Here do l plant my fas, and so the
| Fec (Fas eli BalD aud it was divided into
two regions, the Andalus bank Of the river
| and the harueen bank The dWcllers on
| the Andalus bank were thos,g who had been
turned ont Of spain 9v one OF the early
callphs: the Karueen folk were Of eastern
| origin, and they were generally hshtlug one
| with the other. In l2O4 the walls were
| built, and In 1874 the new town, Fas ia
| deed, was erected. Soon afterwards the
! mosques and palaces were built, and since
| that time there has been little on no change
| In the aspect Of the town. Fec is, there
! fore, practically thirteenth Gentry Oreu-
| tai city, lust as IL was the time OF the last
crusades, and 1t gives to the stranger WAC
| secs it for the first time an mdcscrba1Ile
! impression Of picturesque and wallike
grandeur, with Its batuemented wallis and
gates, aud It's three outlying forts. which,
! however were only built in 1890. In many
! ways, says Mr. Meakin. who knows Morocco
probably better than any other living Eu-
| ropean, Fee may be favorably compared
| with even such famous cities as Shlraz or
| Bagdad, but In spite Of the glories OF
Cohstantinople aud Cairo, Damascus and
Jerusalem, he thinks none OF them excel
Fee in interest or artistic effect.
THE GREAT MOSQUES.
The mosque and tomb Of the founder
are among the most sacred In all Africa;
the very streets approaching It are so holy
that Jews. Christians and four-footed
beasts are not allowed in them; within
the bars which mark of the sacred
ground may often be seen tue refugees
| who lind there an !nvloable sanctuary
The actual tomb and It's surroundings are
the finest IN Morocco; the walls are hung
with gold braided huusings, the ceiling
Is exquisitely carved and painted, and
from 1t hang some astonishing chandeliers
| The art Of the Ahambra is here Tiyaled,
| and possibly even eAcelied. 80 great Is
| the sauctitS of the spot however, that
only two or three Europeans have ever
lanFa l.
| Islam or death for an intidel were he found
in any mosque in Morocco but here, ut
the tomb of Idrees, In Fe2, probably the
| option Of Islam would be withdrawn. Al
most as famous is the mosque OF the
karueen, founded IN A. u. 500, and, like
ldrees', containing many notable works OF
| ancient art 1t 10 the largest mosque IN
all AfIicn, and there have been nearly
$1,000 worshippers in II at the Friday
prayers. From the tower or this mosque,
Tor hye hours preceding dawn, ten muezzins
| successfully and necessarily chant for half
an hour the praises Of God. 1t now con
tains only a remnant Of once world.fa.
| nous library.
II has been stated recently, among the
! news that has come through Tungier TO
| Europe, that the rebels have cut on the
| water supply or Fee. This must mean that
| the supply OF the chief spring about eight
| miles outside the city, where there Is a
| strong fort has been tempered with. This
| spring becomes the Eez river, and II is led
or Into channels as IL enters the town,
I aud 30 Is distributed 10 all the mosques
aud houses, then the branches are reunited
Besides supplying water for washing pur-
poses-it would be almost certain death
TO a European 10 drink it-these streams
turn numberess mills. The diverting OF
the main river from Bez would no doubt
cause much sutfering but, as already said
there Is water supply independently OF
I the river and the erect would not be so Sc
rious in reality as it might seem TO be.
THE STREETS OF FEE.
New Fee now mainly consists OF the sui
tan's palace, with immense outlying courts
and there also is the indescribably filthy
Mellah, or Jews quarter. All the streets
10 either town are narrow, and are con
structed so as TO exclude the sun as much
as possible many streets are covered With
a trellis work OF reeds, often entwned
with creepers aud vines. pen picture OF
them has been given by u recent traveller
lin consequence OF the exclusion Of the
sun Q rays, which Is brought about by these
narrow covered streets" he says, the In
habitants OF Fee are remarkable for the
palior OF their complexious. The fe2zis
have naturally light sklns, and red-hQlred
men are not uncommon. Any enterprlsing
I MANAGER In search 0f the realistic who