Evening journal., 1922-12-27
MorTOccO-Where Your
POcketbOOk Came From

Retirement OF Raisuh from active
banditry IN Morocco is only one more
indication of the sudden impact of
western ideas upon a Mohammedan
stronghold which remained untouch-
ed by outside influences until a dec
ade ago, according to bulletin from
the Washington, d. c., headquarters
of the National Geographic Society.
Such contast displays amazing in
'congruities to the traveller through
this region which only yesterday was
forbidden land to the Christian.
Brass bedsteads and grandfather
clocks are set up against walls of ex-
quisite mosaic and intricate ara
besque patterns. Arabs pitch their
tents at the foot OF great wireless
stations. Yelled women of the
harem ride through new made
streets in automobiles. The streets
themselves are indicative of rapid
change; for few years ago no roads
ran into Fee. and even yet some Of
the thoroughbred are so narrow that
not even an animal, much less a We
hicle, could squeeze through them.
Seems a Stretches City.
1T one looks down upon Fez from
an airplane, as flyers now do, It
would seem to be a streetless city. !
Many of the narrow, aisle-llke streets
are latticed over to protect the hood
ed, ghost-like pedestrians from the
sun. Others burrow under great es- |
tates by tunnels. as does the famous /
Cliff Walk, at Newport, under sew /
eral OF the gardens of summer homes I
there.
Conspicuous figures on the bust
ness streets are water carriers with
the goat skin water bags sung by I
Kipllng. The stranger Is puzzled
when he notes that these carriers
give freley OF their supply TO every
one who asks without demanding q
fee. Later he learns that the mer-
chants along the street pay the car
riers and, recalling that any Ameri-
can department stores provides a
drinking fountain, he gains an ink
ling that trade carries it's burden OF
service into far away places. Thirst
for this water is somewhat assuaged
when the visitor learns that the pots
in which this water is collected are
made by the lepers who live in fan
like caves Just outside the city walls.
Gay Spectacle.
Perhaps the gayest sight OF q
Moroccan city is a funeral. The wife
who has been cloistered in life Is
paid every honor in death. She is
borne aloft in a great carved box of
many colors, and behind her sing
choral societies organized to follow
funerals. A mere man is swathed in
cloth and bound TO a board. He has
no box.
"a marriage register is the Moroc-
zen Bradstreet. A sultan who at
aimed great eminence abdicated
,ome years ago leaving 900 wives be-
hind but took fifty with him for
,olance in his exile. The more pre-
.entious homes of Fez are built
lround a courtyard, with tiny rooms
opening out upon the court. resem-
bling the setting OF room in some
title theatre.
THE guest in a Moroccan home
"a sses through the court with it's in
,vitable fountain, lays off his shoes
&
before the dining room compart-
nent. as he would upon entering a
,hinese temple, and sits down upon
cushion opposite his host. The
lost would commit a serious breach
II etiquette IF he touched any food
,efore the guest had finished his
neal. After the guest has conclud-
d the host partakes a leisurely re-
,ast and not undl he is through is
he food he leaves sent TO the wives.
but audible. on the upper
oor.
Wives "Day Out"
"The Moroccan wife has some-
that less freedom of movement than
n American domestic. Friday af-
ernoon is the wives day out but
hev may go to the cemetery .hen
rom which men are excluded for
he afternoon. The cemetery is not at
II gruesome, however, to the Moroc-
an way of thinking. Markets are
ED there, and in various ways the
tiles of the dead do duty for pub
c parks.
water wheels are as numerous in
ez as windmllls in Holland. The
ity is netted with tiny streams 50
nat It is almost literally true that
very hous has a waterway beneath
Islam contributes to this abun- e
ant water supply, for the Mohar'- c.
ledan must wash before he enters a r
losque to pray And he prays. a