Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-06-30

in order to let donkeys, mules and
horses, with their spreading burdens,
pass by.
Camels have to be unloaded on the
"soko.' or market-place, outside the
walls. Things too heavy to be car
ried by single animal must be trans
ported by men, and it is no unusual
sight to see great stones five and six
feet long slung on poles and borne by
dozen or more half-naked Arabs.
In these narrow streets the little box
like shops, waist high, give the proper
oriental setting to the whole. In them
we see the owner reclining and sedate-
Iy reading, seemingly oblivious to the
stirring scenes around him, until he is
''disturbed'' by purchaser for HIS
goods. all of which are within arms
reach.
Fez Once a Paradise.
Inland Fee is, of course, different
from Tangier. -The golden days of
Fee began in the Ninth century and
continued till about the Thirteenth. 1t
was then celebrated as paradise.
Around the city were splendid gardens
OF rarest fruits. The SOIL watered by
thousand streams, was of extraor-.
binary fertility. Its numerous schools
and libraries and its famous univer-
sity attracted students even from Eu-
rope. The climate. its fruits and flow
ers, it's fountains and wells, it's YER
dure and beauty, caused the city to
enjoy reputation unique in Islam. Its
glories have departed, but 1t still
mosques of the Mohammedan world,
that of Mulai Idress, 'the Younger"
the founder of the kingdom.
The sights of Fee are its teeming
streets, bazars and markets. Weeks
can be spent in this interesting city,
and yet new and strange scenes be
met with at almost any moment.
Snake-charmers, medicine-men, story
tellers, with their gaping crowds, ar
tisans and tradesmen of every descrip-
ton, costumes from the four quarters
of Morocco and beyond interest the
traveller at every turn. But all is not
poetry in Fez Revolving are the hor-
rible diseases to be seen on every
| hand.
The residence portion of the city is
strikingly unattractive. One can scarce
ly believe that he is being taken to call
on one of the wealthiest Moors of the
city, when he stops in narrow street,
barely five feet wide, inclosed by high,
prison-like windowless walls. These
walls are the houses themselves. A mas
sive, iron-studded door will be opened,
| and in semi-darkness one will be con-
| Quoted along a tortuous, dingy pas
sage, through several doors, to suddenly
( emerge into one of those inner courts
which are the masterpieces of oriental
architecture, with it's mosaics, tiles.
fountains, colonnades or light Sara
Genie arches supporting second gal
lery above, all covered with a profu-
sion of colored and gilded arabesques
and pendentives.
i Almost rivaling these inner courts
4 in popularity, especially with the WON
en-, the flat roofs of the houses must
aforementioned. n Here during certain
hours the men are never expected to
4 appear, for they are then sacred to
the women of the families who resort
4 to them unveiled to enjoy the cooling
II breezes from the Atlas mountains.
4 The city of Mekinez might be called
the monument of Mouley Ismael, the
great contemporary Of Louis XIV, who
\ even dared sue for the hand of q
4 daughter of the great French king
His mania for building. Is everywhere
in evidence. For miles along the road
leading to. the. quarries to the nortt
! great blocks of stone can still be seer
1 lying, just as they fell from the hands
of the slaves when they heard thai
their tyrant sovereign was dead. Bu
melancholy interest is attached t.
these great buildings for It must b
i remembered that hundreds Of Chris
tian slaves toiled and died on thes'
! gloomy walls.