Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-14


lar in song and legend. By a treaty signed
in 1S45, France had recognized these GASES
as belonging to the Moors But now she
saw fit to reinterpret the treaty. for Britain
was kept busy by the Beers and had for
gotten the peril Of Gibraltar Later French
zouaves were dispatched to the frontier of
Morocco. Mulai Abdul Azz deemed 1t wise
to accept the reinterpretation of the treaty
of 1845 Next was heard that France had a
claim on the territory below the fertile
strip which lines the Straits of Gibraltar.
spaniards Sold as Slaves.
A KIDNAPPING similar to the Perdicaris ep-
ISOLDE brought Spain upon the scene in the
summer Of 1901. Brigands from the interior
mountain regions capkHrsa a Spanish girl
and boy. to sell then4 assslaves. Spanish
and French squadrOns anchored In Tangfer
harbor. Four thousand infantry and cav
airy, with many guns, brought the noun
taineers to submission, but failed to rescue
the kidnapped children. Senior Ojeda. pres
ent Spanish minister to Washington. col
lected an indemnity. But partly in revenge
for the beating which the Moors gave her
centuries ago, Spain had long cast covetous
eyes upon Morocco. 1t was not surprising
therefore that France found the dons to be
more than temporary rivals IN the Arabian
Nights empire in the northwest corner Of
the black continent. But Spain. too weak
to "go 1t alone" after the drubbing which
we gave her in '9S, is supposed to be backed
by England. who. Gibraltar In mind. ex-
poets Ceuta. Just opposite the great rock. or
Tangier, further to the westward, in return
for her support, Ceuta already belongs to
SPAIN It was Captured from the Moors by
Portugal in 1415 and passed to the dons in
1880. Italy Is expected to keep hands of.
the understanding being that France will
make to her a concession In Tripoli.
The game became more complicated when
the Perdicaris episode took the world by
the ears. There were negotiations between
France and Spain. and then came the An
glo-French agreement, by which France
was to WELD along the coast of Morocco
the same power which she holds over AL
geria and Tunis, to the eastward. Thus
the French zone has in the past few weeks
grown to include well nigh the entire
northwest corner Of the black continent
for the southern frontiers Of Morocco, AL
gera and Tunis touch upon the great
French Sahara. Meanwhile the Spanish
press has circulated rumors that Uncle
Sam has dickered for a coaling station on
the west coast of Muley Abduls empire.
Pawns His Empire.
France has just loaned Morocco s12,5OO,-
900, secured by the empires customs re-
ceipts. 1t is thus that Mulai Abdul Aziz
has put his empire in pawn. Had the pro-
gressive sultan followed the policy of his
ancestors such condition would not have
been brought about Until he took the ia
European control were not sOwn.
AS soon as he opened the door to the
christian peril" the sultan found his pal
ace overrun by shrewd commercial at
taches with tempting toys for sale. He
purchased vast quantities of fireworks. set
off in displays gorgeous that his envoy
to England saw fit to comment slightingly
upon those arranged in his honor at the
Crystal Palace, London. The sultan bought
yacht sixty feet long, for which he paid
upward of $4,000. He purchased a dozen
automobiles, although he had no suitable
roads to drive them over. He bought all
sorts of cameras, some with cases of pure
gold and one apartment of the palace IS
described by a recent visitor as stacked
from floor to ceiling with Photographic
plates He gave one order for $1,000 worth
OF Photographic paper, MT knowing that it
would spoil on his hands II not used in due
season. He established in the palace
grounds at Fee a royal menagerie, and paid
$4,000 for one lion. bought in England. He
gave large orders also for bicycles for HIM
self and pianos for his wives He put
some of his soldiers in European uniforms,
even boots. ~
Repeated Caesars Folly.
Then he made the fatal error which al
mighty Caesar made, and yearned for a
crown. the wearing of which the Koran
strictly prohibits. Fer ordered one and
placed it upon his head On occasions of
and hungry CaSsiuses.
Good Moslems were we'll aware that
Mulai Abdul AZfz. in spite Of all these ex-
-travaganCes. was a poor man and that
the public revenues were not sufficient to
conduct the administrative business of the
country. Yet he went further and appro-
priated $4,000 for an exhibit at the st.
Louis exposition. Moreover. to quell the
recent revolution he had to increase the pay
of his soldiers fiyefold.
The bandit Raisouli is a partisan of the
Moorish pretender Bou Hamara, who a year
ago last winter led this rebellion. There Is
a legend at Fee one of the capitals OF MO
rocco, that Christian horses will some day
be stabbed at the university building.
There is another widespread legend among
the tribes of Morocco that in some time of
peril prophet will come out of the east
gather about him an army of followers and
march into Fee, protected from all weapons
by his miraculous powers.
Rebellion Led by Juggler.
Bou Hamara. a juggler and conjuror of
low birth, who disgraced himself in Mo-
rocco In years past, returned from Algeria
in 1902 and declared himself to be this
prophet. He claimed also to be the sultan s
elder brother, MuIai Mohammed, who had
been placed in prison when Lalla R'kia in
trigued for her sons succession. He
claimed to have been freed from prison by
divine powers. By various tricks of leger-
demain he excited some of the fierce Berber
tribes of interior Morocco to follow him.
The sultan sent an army to meet the pre-
tender, but the latter was at first vlcto-
rious- He claimed power to turn bullets
into lead and water. and he Is said to have
allowed the first body of the sultan's troops
to fire at him at close range that they
might return to their army with PROOF OF
his invulnerability. The second body OF
soldiers he had dipped in petroleum and
lighted. BY taking his elder brother from
prison and exhibiting him to the Moors
Mulai Abdul Aziz dispelled the superstitions
as to the pretender's origin. The rebellion
was successfully put down.
The French have later been suspected OF
grooming for the throne second pretender.
Muley Ali. son Of an heroic English woman.
the Shereefa of Wazan. regarded by the
Moors as saint and prophecies Although
his mother retains her Christian raith'
Muley Ali is a blood descendant OF MO-
manned and represents a sanity house.
Morocco is as large in area as France or
as our middle ard New England states COM
bined. Its population is as great as that OF
Belgium and the Netherlands OF OF rem
sylvania and Ohio. 1t has three capitais1
Fee, in the northern central portion. oim-