Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-11-05
#istellaueoas 8eading.
MOGRHEB- -AL-AKSA.
Morocco a Land Afflicted of God.

Islam.
In the name Of Allah, the AllCom-
passionate!" Brave words and sonor-
Gus; but in the Sunset land Of Mogrh-
eb they sound like hideous mockery.
For what compassion has Allah shown
t. Morocco? There the iron heel of
oppression presses relentlessly; and
the groans Of those beneath it go up
| to the ALL Compassionate, who hears
them not. Surely 1t is land afflicted
OF God.
stood, not long ago, in the Sok
| (Which is the market place) at Tangier
"a wide. sandy space bounded by the
Isouthern walls of the Christian ridden
lcity. 1t was crowded with men and
beasts: Berbers, Moors, Jews, negroes
and men from the Riff country: All had
something to sell, and the clamor of
their cries rose, with the nameless
labomination Of the city odors, to the
white-hot sky. A mean, squalid, rag
wrapped crowd 1t was, and the fierce,
lean, swarthy faces, framed in the
shroud-like folds Of their "haiks," glar-
ed out at me with hatred In their
eyes. One white bearded Moor. lead
ing a miserable. half-raw donkey, drew
a large following after him. Present.
ly he came to a vacant space between
the foul, tattered tents Of the fruit
sellers, and commenced his perform
ance. In his hand he held a stick
with a sharp pointed nail at its end,
and. in obedience to its gentle persua-
slons, the melancholy ass stood upon
its hind legs and danced. The onlook-
ers yelled with laughter, and many Of
them gratuitously assisted the show
man by prodding the animal with
nice judgment as to it's most recent
sore places) with sharp weapons. l
went away sick at heart; but present.
ly learned to make allowances.
These people were themselves treated
In just the same manner; and any
way a beast Is lower than a man
even IL some men can be lower than
any beast.
Then / adventured afar to many ci-
ties and villages in this unfortunate
country, living the extreme simple life.
and travelling for the most part on
mules. which are not amiable steeds.
There are no wheeled vehicles in Ell
Mogrheb; II there were, there would
be no roads for them. In course or
time I came to a town set in the midst
of orange gardens and surrounded by
groves Of olives and jumpers. Seen in
the light Of the rising sun, it rose fair
and white against the waking sky; but
once inside the gates (outside, which
crowds of horrible lepers clawed at us
for "foos') the old familiar 'odors
Eatose and compassed us about. Ham
Zelda (who Travelled with me for a con-
sideration, and because he spoke the
villainous Mogrhebbin which gould
not MASTERY guided me to the Kasbah,
and thence to the prison. There the
scales fell from my eyes, and under
stood all about the donkey at Tangier,
the camels at Mazagan (Which story
have not related), and other inhu-
man practices witnessed in the dark
places Of the earth. If man treats his
fellowman like a beast, his fellowman
can scarcely do less than treat his
beasts as something worse. The Moor
ish prisons on the coasts are swept
the casual tripper from abroad. Those
inland are different. The Moorish
Maghzen does not feed its prisoners In
the Kasbah, their friends outside have
to do this, If they cannot sell little
wicker baskets to the Roumis
And in the towns Of the interior there
are no Roumis to buy the little bask-
cts: consequently the captive with no
friends stands but a poor chance OF
ever coming out-alive. l remember
the prison at MaZagan-seen from the
rooftops as a hole in the ground
where (Allah forgive me for Philis-
tine and a globe-trotterD l threw
down "foos'-about sixteen to the
penny-among the rabble. They ac-
tually jeered at me (Which thorough
" deserved) and refused to scramble
as promised by Hameida. "lngleese
shillin'!" yelled a precocious youth. He
had seen globe trotters before.
But that was in Mazagan, and on
the coast-a show place for trippers.
In the town of which 1 now speak tor
my own reason 1 do not mention its
name) the state Of affairs is very diff
ferent.
That very rich man once" said
Hameida, pointing to a decrepit wretch
with red, eyeless sockets, and claw-like
hands. "Basha no like. Like wife.
Him much money So he come here
A novel in a nutshell, If ever there
was one! And it explained the whole
working of life in Morocco. ITO him
that hath, to him shall be given" etc.
The Basha of the town had coveted
this mans wife: the man had refused
t. trade There was trumped-up
charge (such things are easy in
land where the iron he>i rules and the
sultan is far away and the result was
this eyeless wreck, leg-ironed and with
hands transformed into claws by the
salt torture, slowly starving in the
pestilential prison Of -.
looked at the hopeless, miserable
faces the lean forms and ragged gar
ments of the others confined IN this
noisome pest-house. when VIII they
be liberated" l asked.
Hameida laughed. "lnshallah buk-
ra," he said.
This was the equivalent of the Span
ish "manana"-with a devout attach
ment. please God, tomorrow" say the
Arabs. 1t Is the epigram of laziness.
After this went away and saw
heads impaled over gates, bones and
other things unspeakable displayed to
the vulgar and disinterested gaze, and
was properly and most righteousiy
sick Then the Basha gave me mint tea
three gasses-and 1 looked at his
portly build and wondered. Wonder