Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-12-18
SCRAGGY BRUINS OF NORTHERN AT
RIGA ARE PETS OF NATIVES
OF ATLAS MOUNTAINS.
SHELLUHS RESPECT BRUTES.
Only Bear on Dark Continent Protected
Since Time Immemorial, but Is
Made to Supply Food.
KILLED WITH PRoFUsE APOLOGIES

petition he will have to make some
change in his plans. In The parts of the
dark continent which he contemplates
visiting the bear is altogether unknown
The single representative of the Ursus
family found IN Africa occurs in the
northwest corner of the continent, among
the Atlas mountains.
But wild and undiscovered AS the re-
giOn is and ideal as It must be for a hunt
the Presidents ambition would have to
stop short of shooting. The bear Of Mo
rocco is not by any means of such no
BILE character as to tempt the hunter, and
in catalogue Of typical bruits or ted
dies he would not count But among
the mountain people, known commonly
as the Berbcrs bUt Gthnographically rs
the Sheliuhs. that dirty yellowish vege-
tartan is an object of superstitious reyer-
ence and it is never killed without an
apology to the animal for the necessity
which led to its death.
Is Addressed AS Sir"
In the Shelluh language it is addressed
as sir, and nothing more respectful
can be imagined than the terms in which
the savage of the China of the West
addresses the dead beast after a change
in its dietary from vegetables and honey
to "a sheep or n child has made it desir-
lbiC ~ pronounce us uObli III me most
abJect manner the death is dcplOred, and
it is only when the offense is of a very
serious character that such an eXecu-
ton takes place among the tribesmen.
After having committed that which is
reckoned as little less than heinouS
crime the offender is know for the rest
of his life by name which is singular
ly opprobrious and means not the man
who Killed bear" but the wretch who
said sir 10 the dead"
Manifestly the ShelIuhs, with this
peculiar respect for the animal among
themselves, entertain the most uncom-
promising resentment against any out
siders who kill bears. Although there
Is nothing that would 30 to show that
they regarded the bear as sacred in any
such sense as the bull alligator or snakes
have been or are regarded by heather
people, the superstition is indelibe
In former times when Morocco was
Mauretania and in the medieval period
when the Berbers opposed obstinate
resistance to Islam the soldiers of both
Belisarius and Okla who ventured to
kill bears were marked for assassination
In the Tenth century, with the Arab
power at its height, OPPRESSION cruelty
and Oligarchical power were hardly re
scented until the Fatimites began to de
stroy the bears, when the powerful
Shelluh tribe of Ketama arose and over
came the Arabs, putting TO an end their
empire in north Africa
Bears are Sacred.
Always offense against the bears is
deadly. Time and again clashes between
the Moorish authorities and the
aboriglnes have started over the wanton
destruction Of these animals.
In 1852 len the Sultan of Morocco
wanted TO make Charles H. Of England
a present he sent two lions and took
occasion to ingratiate himself with the
hlllmen by the ostentatious deciarat ton
that while the English monarch might
have preferred bears, las he could eat
them, he had considered it best to for
bear in favor of the lions AS late rs
last century in the reign Of Add er Rah-
man, that chieftain in the midst of his
troubles with Spain had only to describe
himself TO the tribes as protector If
the bears to have their hearty co-opera-
ton.
Obviously to hunt bears in the Atlas
Is not to be thought of for a moment,
and while the American hunter may get
as broad license in other regions as he
cares TO ask for there would be no use
in having any intentions against the pet
OF the Shelluhs Pet it is, to be called.
rather than sacred animal
To say that the Sheluhs reverence the
bear would be Incorrect, but to say that
they have respect for it above all other
animals would not be eXaggeration.
While not reckoned as Il wild beast, still
ii is not dosucsticated in the usual sense
Of the word.
Travellers on the roads in the interior
tell Of meeting the great creatures or of
seeing them asleep in the sun. Unless
they are eurdged they are not ferocious
Provoked to fury the bear DESTROYS do
IneStic animals. houses. plantations and
even the people themselves.
Left alone it eats its fill Of honey.
fruits aud veg tables and enjoys a dolce
far nlente existence in it's native wildS.
Every Shelnh mother to every son urges
Kindness 10 the hear, and nj the obsc-
duics of ShciIuh nothing is said 10 he
more touching th0u the vail which re.
cites mat the deceased was "dutiful to
ms mothCr as one who is good 10 the
Dear
SheliuhS XIII Animals
Nevertheless and i'm sniin Of NIL tlis
superstition the Shelluh makes , virt,io
of bear killing. While the protective in.
junction is emphatic aud while The 10.
uunciations against "murdprers IF
bears" never lack strength. still tbnh cof