The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1907-09-21

fore. ~ fanatical horsemen estimated
at $4,000 at his back, while in the
western provinces still slumber the
never radically suppressed rebellions
Of the Rogui and Bou Hamara the
benevolent Father of the Asses" who,
with his claim to divine descent and
revelation and his wondrous gift Of
eloquence, exercises a remarkable in
fuence upon the mule drivers and all
the other Iomadic folk Of the empire.
Nations Have Hard Task.
Such in outline is the situation by
which France and Spain find them
selves confronted because of the recog-
milton Of their special interests in the
disturbed country, and the police man
date which they received at the con-
ference Of the powers at AlgeCiras. In
the light Of recent events 1t would
seem not at all unlikely that their
diplomatic victory at the conference
will entail upon France and Spain the
loss Of many thousands of men and
many millions Of francs, which neither
can afford to throw away. The talk
OF an expedition to Fee, a flying col
umn Of 10000 men, in which the boule-
ward sheets indulge, is the sheerest
nonsense, or the widest madness 1t
would require 100000 men, all picked
troops, to capture Fee, and it would re-
quire many thousands more, and re-
quire them indefinitely, to hold the
holy city and maintain something APP
preaching law and order in the sur
rounding country.
Portugal was for several hundred
years in possession of nearly all the
Moorish ports on the Atlantic coast,
including Casablanca; indeed. the sec
ond title of the ruler Of Portugal to-
day IS King of the Algarvos," which
refers to the royal pretenslons to
Moorish sovereignty all substantial
basis to which has long since dsap-
peared, together with the East Indian
dependencies
Fate Of Portuguese Army.
1t was in 1873 that Dom Sebastian,
the chiyalrous hero of Portuguese song
and story, equipped an army for the
purpose Of overrunning the whole
country. A duke of Leinster and many
other gentlemanly adventures joined
Dom Sebastian's standards and began
the journey to the capital, which so
many conquerors have undertaken bun
in which no single one has succeeded
at least not since the day when the
green banners of the Prophet Of Islam
were first flung to the breezes from
the battlements Of Fee.
Dom Sebastian and his army of 90
600 men, together with the amounted
from all over Christendom to follow
50 gallant and so generous a prince,
met their fate in the valley by Alkesar,
which is watered by a shallow river
generally identified by historians and
gcographers as the Lixus of Pliny
There 10000 men We're cut to pieces
by the Moorish cavalry and those who
died here by the sword were the for.
tunate members OF the army. Accord.
ing to some accounts, Dom Sebastian
and the more notable of his followers,
wounded or captives, were taken to
Mekinez, where, after they had graCed
the triumph Of the terrible sultan. Alb
delMelet, their conqueror the greater
number of them were buried alive in
the city walls In these same walls
are visible today many hundred brick
ed up cells in which on this occasion
and ut other times OF fanaticai fury,
Christians were immured while living
as a punishment for refusing to recite
the fatiha and SO become renegades
to their creed
The Battlefield Of Long Ago.
1t is dreary scene, this long for
gotten battlefield, but one that the fl,
ture invaders OF Morocco may remem.
Der with advantage | came upon II
on one OF my journeys In Morocco,
and made II an iudelible impression.
II had been very hot day and we
were At first delighted to be vet to the
skin as our horses wadcd. or rather
swan, the Iixus Then the cold