Daily Kennebec journal., 1921-08-15
Troublous Tribes
of Morocco Making
1t Hot for Spaniards

IL 11Cl III OpdllloIO OO
! Madrid, Aug. 14-(By the Associat-
ed Press)-That part of Morocco
called the Spanish zone where
Spain's troops have just suffered
disastrous reverses at the hands or
the Moors with the loss of thousands
of men and thousands of square
miles of territory is part of the no.
| torious Barbary Coast whose pirates
proved on European commerce for
many years and carried Europeans
| into slavery
| in the present generation 1t has
! been made famous by the operations
/ of the chieftain Mulai Ahmed er-
/ Paisuli who captured and held for
ransom ION PerdiCaris, an American
citizen, in 1905 This was in the ad-
ministration of President Roosevelt
and evoked from Secretary Hay the
historic phrase demanding "Perdi-
caris alive or Raisuli dead. 1t re-
suited in the almost immediate re-.
lease of Perdicaris.
The rest of the world knows COM
paratively little about Morocco de-
! spite the fact that it has been the
ground of intermittent fighting for
centuries. It occupies the extreme
northwestern part Of Africa. having
an area estimated at about 100000
square miles and a population OF D
600 900 to 100000 It's people con
tributed TO the armies which once
invaded Spain and conquered Grana-
da.
The country is an absolute monar-
chy with a sultan or caiiph as It's
head. The present occupant of that
position is Mulai el-Mehdi but his
control over the shereefs, or mobiles.
has been for many years only nomi-
nal Various European governments
have negotiated with the sultans in
an attempt to pacify the Moors, but
these have only resulted in outbreaks
by numerous leaders such as Raisuli,
who have committed outrages which
again brought the Moorish question
before the European cabirets.
Three races inhabit Morocco. the
original Berbers. or mountaineers,
who conquered Spain on three differ
ert occasions; the mixed race of
Arabs and BerbCrs known as Moors,
both of which races are generally
Mohammedans; and tho colonies of
Jews which inhabt the coast cities
and control the majority of the coun-
try's commerce.
TIC Spanish zone. where tho fight
ing j. rot in progress, IS a narrow
STRIP of land along the northwestern
coast fronting on the Mediterranean
S"a IT is about 200 miles long.
cast and west, with an average
breadth, north ard south, of about 60
miles and extends from Algeria. un-
der control of the Franch. to the At
lantic Ocean on the west 1t does
not however, include the extreme
northw estcrn tip of land on which is
! located the city of Tangier The
French nominally control the terri
tory further south. Spanish troops
have fought the Moors for centuries
but it was only in 1912 that the
northern littoral of Morocco was as
signed to Spain under the terms Of
the Franco Spanish treaty signed in
that year. Since then Spain has
been engag ged at intervals in spora-
die attempts to maintain her author
itY with varying success and failure
Both the French and Spanish gov
ernments decided in January. 1920, to
make military demonstration in
t"eir respective zones for the pur-
pose Of preparing the way to more
orderly government. The French zone
was soon pacified. The Spanish ter
rltOry which is adm iniSterpd hy
General Damasn Berenguer. as high
commissioner, was not so submissive
Spanish troops at first made their
base on the Atlantic coast of Moroc-
co at ElArish, also known as La
tatche. From there they penetrated
vel into the interior and captured
nulnfcr Of Moorish strongholds, in
Guiding the so-called secret citv Of
heshawan. For some time little
activity has been reported in that
western district of Morocco,
The Spaniards, however. sent an
other expedition under the. command
of General Silvestre, who estob-
lished base at Melilla, midway on a
promontory which extends from tbo
eastern end of the Spanish zone
northward into the Mediterranean
From that point. General Silyes+re,s
troops attempted to penetrate south
ward INTO the interior. Early suc-
cesses were reported. but last snr;p.
the Spaniards encountered strong
native troops and hostile tribes,en
esumated TO number 10000 and said