Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-08-29
ABDUL THE JNAsSUMING.
Peculiarities of Former All-Powerful
Lord Of Morocco.


Peculiar1ties of Former All-Powerful
Lord Of Morocco
Abdul Aziz, the former sultan OF Mo-
rocco, is now at a London hotel for the
| season, enieayoring to brush up on Eng
lIsh customs. A writer in London Life
called On Abdul. Ten years ago the same
| writer made the sultan's acquaintance III
r ez. Abdul Aziz; he writes, was then the
all powerful lord Of Morocco. Like his
palace he was curious mixture of east
and west. He, was clad, at the time of
the interview, in the customary white
| burnoose, but wore French patent leather
boots instead Of red Moroccan slippers.
he carried a camera with him wherever
1 ne went Ills face was pleasing his
manner affable and he spoke very passa-
bic French, and understood English well.
| Somehow or other he seemed out of
place with his surroundings and suggest
! ed, despite the huge Berber soldiers with
glittering scimitars who stood on guard,
modern fortune hunter incorporating
| Ii white oriental garments in a semi
barbaric environment
OF course, | was invited" says the
writer, ITO take the inevitable green tea,
which is imported from Russia. in the
form of cakes, coffee being forbidden to
| strict MOhammedans. and the inyarlable
/ AOOc~hOu lAcA NOnOG VI WOAQ6IS. tuC
| sultan invited me to inspect his zoo, of
! which he was inordinately proud, and we
| drove through the palace gardens to the
| Enclosure reserved for wild beasts in a
/ hanson cab freshly imported from Lon
don. The sultan'S zoo was as up 10 date
as the one at Regents park, and con-
tanned several fine lions and tigers pur-
chased from the Dublin geological gar
/ dens-hon and tiger breeding being one
of fox frio
was in the charge of the minister of
war, as the sultan was of the opinion
| that contact with the ferocious animals
! would render him fierce and Warllke.
| One of Adults chief recreations was to
snapshot his beasts from time to time
'Then as a special treat Abdul took
me to his cinematograph theater, where
saw several excellent films exposed by
| himself. One very amusing one depicted
how he punished his wives. Abdul some
time previously had ordered dozen
ladies' bicycles from London with the
| idea of teaching the inmates Of his harem
to cycle. There Is nothing, however, that
/ Moorish ladies' dislike SO much as physl-
cal exercise of any description. Besides,
as the bicycle was q European invention,
| they regarded it as device of Satan, SO
for long time the bicycles remained I'M
! used. AT length a bright idea struck Alb
| dull Whenever any Of the. ladies Of the
| harem displeased him he compelled them
| to mount the bicycles and ride as hard
| as they could around special track he
| had constructed in his palace grounds,
while he took record Of their perform
ances with his cinema, which he used to
show them afterwards, so they could
| Judge what progress they were making.
| Moorish woman Of the upper class in
! their white baggy trousers and thick
white burnooses and wells look more like
| animated flour sacks than anything else.
| and Judging from the pictures | saw on
| the screen, the acrobatic evolutions,
some Of them performed when they first
essayed to ride the cycle, must have been
highly diverting to the sultan.
''This and other European iDnova-
tions, however, proved his undoing. Had
he been a bloodthirsty tyrant his sub
jects would have respected him as a
strong sulfan. His nature was gentle,
and then it was rumored that his ortho-
| doxy with regard to the Koran was suS-
| pected His friendship with Europeans
and things European was cited in proof
Of this, and finally Abdul was driven
from the throne by his conservative,
bloodthirsty and extremely religious sub
jects. Personally, Abdul is very good
| fellow. He is a daring horseman, q
splendid shot, capital billiard player,
and, generally speaking, q good sports
man from an English point Of view
Irish blood flows in his veins! It Is not
generally known that the grandmother
of the ex-sultan was handsome Irish
woman, who originally came to Gibral-
tar as the wife Of an Irish soldier. Scan
dals occurred, so the lady crossed the
straits to Hangers, where, after pc
riod of adventures. she entered the ha-
rem OF the then sultan. became his chief
/ wife, and bore him a son, who eventual
" became ruler Of Morocco, the land OF
Incredible barbarity and beauty, that is
only four days sail from the English
coast"
j Adults downfall, it Is said, was
brought about by his adoption Of Euro
pean customs in the matter of attempt
ing reform in administration, and HE
eager acceptance of many European in
i yentions and amusements while holding
at the same time to Mohammedan lux
ury in women and display. Said a critic
] concerning his deposition: Behind the
! walls of his palace Aziz ~. sat drink
/ ing mint favored tea, sweetened witt
j strip, and dallying with the, costly beau
Il Ties il his harem, while, with an orienta
shrug and a bland smile he dismissed
from his mind the subject of his people,
unrest