The Detroit times., 1912-11-25
CHAPTER XIV.
A Foot-Note 10 history.

| believe that the Republic OF
Marina in North Italy, and the some
what squalid Republic OF Andorre in
the Pyrenees, make the proud boast
that they have never been conquered.
Discourteous people might point out
that there is nothing in either or
them TO attract the appetite Of con-
querur. Thibet, or course, has SUIT
fered a downfall. and the North Pole
is under suspicion. So the Mayal
section Of Yucatan and the Berber vii
lagos OF the Western Atlas remain
the only countries OF the world today
worthy OF envy that have not been
polluted by the foot OF the invader
All modern rulers of Mexico from
Don fernando Cortez to Don Porfitio
Diaz have tried 10 annex the interior
Of Yucatan-and failed; and through
out all the ages, all the successive
powers from the Romans to the pres
ent Moors who have held Morocc0
have been similarly unsuccessful in
their attacks upon the Berber strong
holds In the Atlas mountains. 1t ar.
CUES, IL one comes to think OF ~.
some particular trait OF strength
which keeps these two small d.s-
tricts alone OF all the vast acre
ege OF the globe unexp'ored by
the pushing white man, unannexed by
some other hungry nation, undisturb-
ed by that standard which other peo-
PIE have been pleased to set up az
civilization.
Old kald Bergash Gather OF the
man Captain Kettle dlsliked SO keen
ly on first sight was a tough old war
rior who ruled his tribe with a rod
OF iron, and was an authority Oh
tradition. He lived in a stone cast e
built On an almost inaccessible spus
OF the Atlas, and his tribe lived there
with him. and within it's walls stored
all their principal gear and worldly
goods. The castles ground space In
side the walls measured barely al
acre and a half, so that when a man
or a family needed more house room
they built story ON to their exist
ing dwelling. Some OF these huddleC
lowered as much as five
stories above ground level But that
was the limit. One or two ambitious
architects had tried for greater
heights and had brought their whols
structure crumbling In ruin. At least
there was a tradition that this had
happened in the year A. ID. 1892. whet.
the Moors OF the Moroccan lowiands
were busy in Spain, and the Berber
increase was not kept within reason
able limits by war.
Below the surface OF the rock, great
hollows had been dug out In very
early days for grain and water stor-
age, and the fact that the tribal
focks and herds were stabbed In the
ground foo: of the houses above, ana
gave the water n good ammoniacai
flavor, was not trifie to disturb a
Berber palate. And, anyway, the
tribe had hourished on the arrange
ment for a matter OF some three thou.
sand years.
The engineer OF these caverns was a
sapper who had served his time as 4
mer"enary OF Carthage, and, except
that he seems TO have run TO a tast.
for heavy bronze doors and hds 10
his bins, he appears TO have done his
work efficiently and well. He was an
expert on sieges. and laid down the
law hat they should always be kept
In store four years corn, three years'
forare for the animals, and six years
water; which provision has proved
efficient on many historical occasions
and. is accordingly maintained today.
There is also a we'll in the middle o,
the castle. wA4eh-has been dug doyh
through the rock during -sfcgeg-
sinking was spread over four hundred
vears-and after the first four hun
dred feet Il goes down in inclines set
spiraiyise round solid central core
Blu az they had TO drive downward
&c matter of twelve hundred and nifty
feet before they struck water and the
air down there Is very bad, the well IL
only looked on az an additional guar.
,antec. and IL In reality never used ex-
cept In moments OF very great hard.
ship.
! On three sides of the castle IN,
rock drops practically sheer into the
valley. which is trifie OF twelve hur.
dred feet below | fancy there must
have been few projections once. brt
those stout-hearted old fellows at the
back OF time who built the place must
haXr sitting one another with aWAfde
ropes down the face OF the precipice
and Clipped. and drilled, and quar-.
] RED With their bronze tools till all
: possib- -footholds dropped down be-
low Afterward they squared the bits
and carried them MP to the top agaii..
round by the path, TO use as building
material.
There was nothing Carthaginian, or
Il for fNQf altar Afrtnan oho..f