The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-12-11
BARBARY A LAND I
OF CENTENARIl
North African Countries G
tain Many People Past
Century Mark.
SSEEM YOU
Nowhere, Even in Other Tro,
Countries Where Centenarians a
Many, Are They So Often
Found as Here.

II saw q lot Of queer things during
wanderings through Morocco, Algeria
Tunis,' said a man who recently retu
to America from a long tour In the n
Of A1.ica, but the queerest thing Of
vas the multitude Of c~entenarians. ]
were as common as blackberries her
August. and a man or woman had ts
1t least $50 to enjoy any sort OF local
utation.
"It is quaint and refreshing to
aside for a moment from the hustle
modern life and make acquaintance '
men whose fathers or grandfathers "
Barbary corsairs; to drop into co
houses where public story tellers rivet
attention of a crowded audience. I
where the jars Of All Baba are still
common use; to frequent public sQua
where snake charmers. barbaric M
slams and other story book delights
/ commonplace; to meet n kadi riding
SQUIRT on a white mule; and to mix W
people who tell you stories Of djinns 81
hey were everyday occurrences.
"All this, and more. o can enjoy
Morocco, Algeria and ~Tunis-though
French are doing their best to spoil
Did world charm of he last two COZ
tries. But of all the strange things l 81
there, the stra.gest was the old peor
There are so many of them, and they { =
so strenuous
Every traveller in the "Barbary atatef
as they used to be called. is impressed
this remarkable abundance OF center
rians. A gray bearded old mar Of 70, w
Is trying to sell curios to q tourist
thrice their value, exclaims:
by the beard Of the prophet, may n
grandfather die If what l tell you is n
srue!"
Looking at his gray beard you think
Is quite safe in calling down that cur
upon himself. but when you make inqt
eies you find that he really has a gran
father living. aged about ITO, and that II!
old gentleman is still going about DOR
business on market days. Life Is NJ
wearing in Moslem Africa. A man new,
does anything in a hurry there. Natura.
ly. he does not even grow old In a hurr..
When he Is 70 he is beginning to get Owe
the frst hot flush Of youth; he Ia n
longer counted as one Of the boys, BIZ
not until he Is at least 80 does no eGpet
people to pay honor and reverence to hill
as a veteran. and even then he must tax
p back seat and listen deferentially whe
the hale and hearty ce%ntenarians al
proach.
h excessive zeal Of the various cor
.raternities which give vigor to the Mo,
lem faith in that part of the world mu!
be very wearing. But eve among thes
confraternitles many very old men ma
be found who go through the exhaustir
eitual just as easily as q mere boy Of
Or ~ can. OF all these confraternities, tt
best known and most interesting are II
Aissawa. who may be met with all throug
Morocco, Algeria and Tunis. Unlike mo
Of the other societies, they delight to di
play their fantastic ritual in public, eve
to the unbelieving eyes of the 'infid
dogs of tourists.
1t Is an undisputed fact that they e,
snakes and scorpions, chew glass ar
transfix themselves with swords witho,
being any h worse for such injurio,
habits. Opinions differ as to how the
manage 1t. but the favorite %explanatic
Is that they are under the influence (
hypnotism. They do not attempt the
dangerous exercises until they hav
wrought themselves up to the highe
pitch Of eXaltation by a series of wi
gyrations and much frantic beating
1rums. And many Of these dancing de
wishes, III whirl around like q top for
quarter Of an hour and hen swallo
snakes and hrust swords through the
bodies. are white bearded old men Of
years or more. Some are even centeni
rians. One would think that such fer,
excitement would be fatal to them, an
indeed, their faces oftentimes a X on II
CHASTITY pallor of death during their pc
Torrance. But soon after 1t Is over thu
are all right again.
More in tho Country
III the country districts the centenaria1
arc even more In evidence than in Il
cities, and many of them ara of the soft
sex. Some Of the Berber tribes yoke the
women to the pillow with the OK and Il
ass, and the blood OF the foreign travel
boils at the sight of aged grandmothe
and great-grandmothers being treated
This amer. But they trudge along II
rurrow cheerfully enough. The work
not really so hard as 1t appears, and tn,
do not realize the degradation, becau
they have never been used to anythil
else.
Many Of the "~marabouts," or holy me
who are to be found at the sacred shrin
and tombs which are scattered so thick
all over the Barbary states, live TO l
credible ages. There is one at Marake
who is said to be over $50 years old. H
body Ii shriveled up as If a mummy's,
face Is the color of ashes and the kin
drawn tightly over his check bones Ii
the parchment on a drum. Yet his ey
are bright and fierce. and he walks u
assisted every morning to the tomb. whe
he sits all day long to receive the offs
lngs Of the faithful and listen to tn,
petitions.
The sheiKh Of Glawa, a powerful Ar
c%hieftain, who Is feudatory to the suit
Of Morocco. Is considerably more than
years old, yet he still rules his tribe wi
a strong hand and rides abou; his ter
tory every day on horseback. He Is
straight as an arrow, and ca. ride a
shoot better than many of his Houng we
riors. He has led his tribe to , IT sever
times within the past few yeay No To-
ago he old an English visi.t.r that
hoped to lead them against the french k
fore he died.
C~entenarians are common enoui
throughout the tropics, but nov here Ell!
probably, are there SO many H. in the
8arbary states. and nowhere else do tn
display such unnatural youth and Wig,
They puzzle the French doctors in Algel
and Tunis. who often write learned mon
graphs on the subject, which only ser
to deepen the mystery.
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