The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-09

riSoned by standing army composed
Of his own retainers. These retainers
hold land from him under system Of
feudal tenure, just as squires and men
alarms did from their barons in Eng
land in the days of the Plantagenets.
The textbooks say of the Abys-
sinian army that 1.-The central control
is weak" That is a mild way Of put
ting it. Menelik has no greater con-
troll over his provincial sub-kings than
the medieval monarchs had over their
mobiles. Throughout his reign he has
been lighting them, off and on. Their
patriotism makes them readily re-
spond to his appeal for troops to repel
a national foe, as in the cases OF the
Italian and Mahdist invasons but
when Menelik sets out to chastise a
recalcitrant 'sRas" at a time when no
national danger threatens, other mem
bers of his order are quite as likely 10
side with him as with their monarch
Menelik finds it very 4laicult to
apply modern military methods and
modern weapons to his feudal army.
Take the matter of rifles, for instance,
Every "Ras' arms his men with them,
but nearly every "Ras" chooses a diff
ferent kind of rife. The result is that
the supplies of ammunition are apt to
get mixed ana when one 'Ras" runs
short of cartridges for his men in the
middle of fight he cannot borrow of
his neighbor This seriously lessons
the efficiency of an otherwise formid-
able lighting force.
Until the reign of the late Amer
Abdurrahman Khan, Afghanistan was
organized on feudal system quite as
thorough as that of Abyssinia-
Boiled in Oil.
The settled policy of Abdurrahman
throughout his long and strong rule
however, was to break up this system
He fought dozens OF campaigns
against his most powerful tributary
chiefs, stormed their strongholds
took them prisoners and not infre-
quently doomed them to something
lingering, with boiling oil In it,"
AS a result, he centralized the mill
tary power of the country in his own
hands before he died but it is re-
ported from India that his son, Habi-
bullah Khan, is not strong enough to
control the chiefs, and the feudal sys-
tenn Is returning in all it's old force.
But Morocco is the country of all
others where life is most like what 1t
was in Europe in the Middle Ages.
There is hardly an institution written
of in the pages of Scott which you
cannot find in full working order in
| Morocco to-day.
Front-de-B oeuf lives again In the
| person of nearly every Moorish
"kaid," and in the dungeons Of his
castle he tortures Isaac the Jew until
the latter consents to satisfy his ava
rice.
| The Moorish "Knid."
The Moorish 'kaid" is in every i'm
portant respect perfect reincarnation
| of the robber baron of medieval Eu-
rope. For all practical purposes he
is independent of the control Of the
Sultan Abdul-Aziz, his theoretical
emperor.
His castle is a building usually inn
pregnable to any assault except tfrat
| of modern artillery, and he always
keeps it provisioned with two or three
years store of corn, wine, oil and
other provisions. A spring of pure
water generally bubbles up in the
courtyard, so that the garrison will
not suffer from thirst. This was al
ways one of the main points consid-
cred when the castles were built.
The "kaids' are constantly at war
with one another and with their EN-
peror. They rob travellers and cara
vans and Cypress the common people
| just as predatory barons did in the
Middle Ages. This habit has brought
them into violent conflict with the
| French troops along the Algerian bor-
der on many occasions. and has fire.
| quently threatened to bring on a war
which would possibly end the indie
pendenoe of their country.
like Tournaments of Old.
Some of the customs and obser-
Vances Of the chivalry of the Middle
Ages are followed by these "kaids"
and also by certain of the Bedouin
tribes, especially the Touaregs. They
have a kind of tournament OF their
own which closely resembles it's Euro
pean prototype. and the decision of a
battle by single combat between
champions. instead of by a general
conflict of the opposing armies, is not
uncommon.
1t is probable that these chivalric
observances are not of local growth
but were derived direct from medieval
Europe. When the Moors conquered
Granada they eagerly learned the GUS
toms and ideals Of chivalry from the
Spanish knights, and when they were
driven back to Africa they naturally
carried those customs and ideals with
them and created a barbaric civiliza-
ton similar to that of Europe.
Europe has gone ahead, but the
Middle Ages still live in Morocco
more than in any other part of the
world.
49, II. ~