The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1922-07-19


horses, with their spreading burdens,
pass by.
| Camels have to be unloaded on the
| 'sOko,T 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
| a 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-
ly reading. seemingly oblivious to the
stirring scenes around him. until he is
disturbed" by a purchaser for his
reach.
Fee 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 a paradise,
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, its fountains and wells, its YER
dure and beauty, caused the city to
tat nnin in, Tel r.
glories have departed, but it still
boasts of one of the most sacred
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.
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 Fee. Revolving are the hor-
hand.
The residence portion Of the city is
strikingiy unattractive. One can scarce
ly believe thar he is being taken to call
or one of the wealthiest Moors of the
city. when he stops in a narrow street,
barely FIVE feet wide, inclosed by high.
prison-like windowless walls. These
walls are the houses themselves. A mas
siye, iron-studded door will be opened,
and in semi darkness one will be con-
Quoted along tortuous, dingy pas
sage, through several doors, to suddenly
emerge into one of those inner courts
which are the masterpieces of oriental
architecture, with its 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.
Almost rivaling these inner courts
in popularity, especially with the wom-
en-, the flat roofs of the houses must
be mentioned. Here during certain
hours the men are never expected to
appear for they are then sacred to
the women of the families, who resort
to them unveiled TO enjoy the cooling
breezes from the Atlas mountains.
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
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 north
great blocks of stone can still be seq
lying, just as they fell from the HANDS
Of the slaves when they heard that
their tyrant sovereign was dead. But
a melancholy interest is attached to +.
these great buildings, for it must be
remembered that hundreds Of Chris.
tian slaves toiled and died on these
gloomy walls.