Evening star., 1932-02-21
Blue Sultan of Africa

Even politically this unknown guam
tity, this Atlantic wilderness, Is impOr-
tant. For there dwells the Blue Sui
tan" And the Blue Sultan may yet
become one OF the big pawns in colonial
politics.
The conquest Of Africa by the Euro
pean is rather a pacification and act OF
political barter than q final military
overthrow. Abd-el Krim was really dan
gerous in the Riff. II gingered up by
a German adviser the Blue Sultan"
might be more dangerous In the South.
Given q great dispute between the
Mediterranean nations Of Europe the
two places where the clutch of the
whites will first loosen would be the
Riff in the extreme North and the Blue
Belt in the extreme South.
When the Blue Sultan" Ma FL Amin
came up out Of the Western Sahara
in 1910 with his Blue Men" and in
vaded Morocco lin order to purge 1t Of
Christian influence) he acted most cor
rectly from the standpoint OF Berber
history. He should, by all the rules of
the game, be at Tangier today-if not
at Granada as well. But in fact he
merely acted as a convenient Blue nine
pin for the French artillery. His eclipse
was instantaneous. His less gifted son.
Ell Hiba, had far longer run for his
money And the present Blue Sultan. "
Merebbi Rebo, the extremely dull
brother Of the latter, might, under ia
vorable circumstances, 60 much farther
than either. Not possessing the un-
compromising fanaticism Of the pre-
vious Blue Sultans' (Which caused
them to turn down all offers Of help
from Europeans hostile to the French)
this third pretender might succeed
given the opportunity.
Arms Constantly Smuggled.
Not long ago it was announced that
Abd-el Krim had escaped He was re-
ported as back in the Riff This was
denied. But who can doubt that he
will eventually find his way there? In
the Spanish Cortes anxious deputies ask
daily whether the reports are true that
the diSorganiZed, semi syndicalized
Spanish troops of occupation In the Riff
are selling their arms to the "Moroe. ="
by way Of contraband fleets as well.
But the Riffs are feveriShly arming;
the Blue Men" are also acquiring a
rifle or two. The Moroccan newspapers
report an almost daily seizure Of con-
traband in the extreme South; and, Of
course, on the desert coast Of the Rio
de Orc there is no obstacle OF any
kind to the arms smuggler, and he is
reputed to do roaring trade in those
wild places. Every Blue" nomad must
have a rifle, In the nature Of things
no woman would look at him II he
were not heavily armed. If he allowed
himself to be robbed Of his rifle. for
instance, and did not replace it at once,
his wife would leave him. So contra
band of arms flourishes throughout
those deserts.
But inside, as we'll as outside the zone
of the French occupation, rifles are
being brought in daily-every week
some one is caught red-handed. some
where in the Sous, squatting on q box
of rifle ammunition or handing over q
consignment Of carbines.
I cannot at all vouch for the &C.
curacy Of stories regarding the BLUE
Sultan" but many Of them are highly
picturesque 1t Is said, for instance,
that he has as his right-hand man a
German officer Of the
same sort as Abd-el Krim,s German ad-
wiser, suppose. This German is sup
posed to have been joined by other for
eigners, more or less white like himself,
and there he is supposed to be. married
to the niece of the Blue Sultan" busily
organizing the Blue Men" for war
against the French.
The present Blue Sultan" is called
Merebbi Rebo; he is the brother Of
El Hiba and the son Of Ma El Amin.
He lives in the neighborhood OF the
ancient kingdom Of Tazerwalt upon the
Saharan town named Kerdous.
Natives Stain Bodies Blue.
Why are these personages referred to
as blue sultans?" Ma El Amin, the
turesque title, first because he was pro-
claimed sultan throughout the South,
and secondly, because he was the leader
of the blue men of the Rio de Orc"
Why they in their turn were called
blue men" was because Of the indigo
cottonades worn by them, and with
which their bodies became stained. But
this staining is not mere accident.
Even their faces and hands are blue
When they buy q new Sudanese cotton
ade they wet their thumb and run it
along the surface Of the cloth to see If
the dye comes off, If 50. they buy It:
1t Motif it Is fast-no true blue man
would look at it And what I have
said about the possession Of rifle also
holds good for the possession Of blue
skin. No true blue woman would look
at man who was not good deep blue.
But there was time when this blue"
world Of the Atlantic Sahara was not
yet blue. On the other hand, 1t was at
that time, the latest researches have
shown, universally veiled. The "veiled
men" Of the Almoravidic hordes who
invaded Spain at about the time "Wil-
liam the Conqueror" was stumbling
onto the beach south Of Hastings they
were the ancestors Of the blue men" of
today. The story Of how they came to
lose their wells Is, perhaps, little in
volved
It is necessary to understand, to start
with, that the "blue men" Of today are
Berbers. Not Arabs But it is more
complicated than that; they happen
also to be fanatically Islamized Ber-
bers. They were originally Sanhadjas
nomads (the Sanhadjas who gave their
name to SenegaD. And the Sanhadjas
were one Of the greatest Of all the
Berber tribes.
Arabs Blot Out Berber Tongue.
Prior to the fourteenth or fifteenth
century the Sanhadjas and Touaregs
were all one large and powerful family
of yelled, nomadic Berbers. Between
them they occupied the whole of the
Western Sahara, from the Atlas to the
Niger, all the plains of the Rio de Orc
and the Sous. They were camped in
the plains at the doors of Rabot. They
were the overlords Of all these terri
tories. Then powerful tribes Of Arabs
came down into the Rio de Orc. They
defeated the Vpiled Barhprs All the
veiled Berbers, except the Touaregs, be-
came subject to the Arabs, and at last
they became so ashamed Of the veil
which they came to regard as q symbol
Of inferiority and servitude, the emblem
Of defeated race, that they left it of
altogether. They became fanatical
Musulmen. They even learned to speak
Arabic, and quite forgot Berber. In
this way the Berber world Of the South
was cut in two, or rather three. The
Berbers In the Atlas remained inde-
pendent, and Berber. Those In the Oc-
cidental Sahara became Arabized. And
the Touaregs (still with their veilS)