The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-02-17
ODD CONVICT CAN'T
ON MOROCCO COAST
Frank Carpenter Writes About
the Last Of Spain's
Colonies.
STONED BY The NATIVES
Horrible Punishments Of the
Moors Thieves Blinded
With Hot Pokers.
STONED BY The NATIVES
By Frank G. Carpenter.

~. ELLA, SPANISH NORTH
~ "a AFRICA--I am IN what Is
AH about the last Of spain's CO.
~ lon!al possessions. In the
sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries she owned the best part of
the new world. She had the cream
of North America. II we include the
Louisiana purchase, which we got by
way OF France, and she had almost the
whole OF South America excepting
Brazil The best OF the West indies
were hers, Cortez poured the treasures
of Montezuma into her royal Golfers.
and Pizarro, shoeIng his horses with
solid silver, robbed the Incns of Peru
Of their gold by the shipload The
Philippines added to these sources OF
wealth. and for a long time two great
golden streams rolled across the At
lantic and Pacific to benefit the
Spaniards. Spain was then the rich
est OF all the powers In her colonial
possessions day by mismanage-5
ment and oppression she has become
tho poorest, and since her war with
+ us, when she lost Cuba, Porto Rico
and the Philippines there have been
Spanish Africa.
Indeed. all the land which Spain has
left outside her own boundaries is In
Africa. and even here her possessions
are the rag-tag and bob-tatl of the
continent. They may cover perhaps
two or three hundred thousand square
miles, but they are all desert, sand
or fever swamps, and the 2tillable lands
suitable for white men which they
contain are not as big as an Ohio
county, and their total population VIII
hardly equal that of Washington city,
In contrast with this the other
treat powers OF Europe have been
quietly gobbling up the fat things of
this mighty continent. France has the
biggest share. if we include the Island
of Madagascar She has almost 1000
square miles, OF. more than one-third
OF ali Africa vast deal OF her
territory. however. is in the Desert OF
Sahara, 1t is made up of stone and
sand which might form good building
materials. but which are of no value
where they lic.s Great Britain comes
next among the national land owners
She has close to another third OF the
continent If we consider Egypt and
Its Soudan as part of her bosses
slons. Germany has not quite one
eleventh of the whole and Portugal
almost one thirteenth, while Turkey
itself. in Tripoli, has about asIlmuch
land as Spain.
What Spain Owns.
Before describe this G cd -forsaken spot
where 7 now am ! would Ike to tell yo,
lust what Spain has in Africa. She owns
the Island OF Fernando Pc and a. small
tract ON the mainland on the Gulf 0i
Guinea Her country there contains,
believe about 5000 square miles Of lit.
tie more than the State of hlassachu
sets The land is swampy and so un'
llealthful that 1t has become known a:
the white Mans Grave" It Is covered
with a luxuriant vegetation and produce.
some India rubber and palm oil, The onl,
foreigners there are few Spanish
French and English merchants. The ma
tlves are among the most degraded o
the Africans. They are negroes Of thu
lowest type, and slavery Is common, Fer
nando Pc itself has convict settlements
rnd the criminals sent there seldom re
I'm.
forth Of the Gulf of Guinea, between
Morocco and the French Soudan Spai
has wide strip of land which Is rule
by the Governor of the Canary Islands
IT stretches for several hundred mile
along the Atlantic coast but it Is on
OF the worst parts Of the whole Deser
of Sahara. 1t has no rivers nor an
GASES Of value, and is very thinly popu
lafed - +haTinf the nefghborhond Q
Cape Blanco, and its chief town Is ri
do ORC, which is golden only3in name.
q Convict Colonies of Mediterranean
In addition TO these possessions. spai
has several convict colonies on the No
roccan const of the Mediterranean Sc;
The FIRST Is Ceuta, Just across the wa
from Gibraltar. ] passed It on IN
way to Tangier, II can be reached frol
Algeciras by Il government steamer whc
takes over DISPATCHES and mail ever
day. 1t consists of rock on who
The town stands and where the fortltlc.
lions and prisons are. It now has abo,
y 5000 convcts who are poorly fed ar
"A badly treated,
Ceuta is one or tho oldest towns
history. 1t Is the lIeptadelphi II
ptolemy and is supposed to he ono
the first three cities OF tho worl
The others We're Salernum, in Itnl
, and Salem in Juden. t
This place was where the Moors or
tarltcd when they first crossed ov
from Africa to invade Spain many ce
turtles ago, They hold all tho cou
try about 1t to-day, and they ST
80 dislike the Spaniards that 1t Is II
possible for the Ceuta people to /
Fl 81