The Coolidge examiner., 1936-08-07

interiors are light and luxurious.
The privacy of their pleasant gar
dens is guarded by eunuchs. There
the fai1 occupants of the harem
may cast aside their wells and ugly
shroudlng garments, and shine in
all the splendor of massive jeWelry
and the bright hues of silken
dresses that Arab and Berber
ladies wear.
Seated on the ground with their
backs against the walls of these
houses are beggars. singly or in
groups, mostly blind.
Here three men squat side by
side, companions in misery. They
are silent, their chins on their
chests. In sudden movement
the three heads are lifted stimuli
taneously, the haggard faces and
slghtless eyes upturned, three
hands thrust out begging bowls,
and three voices chorus in perfect
time long-drawn appeal for aims!
A Street of Misery
In the name of Allah, give us
of your charity! You who have
riches. pity the poor! You who
have eyes, be merciful to the blind!
God will requite ye! Aims! In
the name of the Prophet, give us
alms!"
The three voices cease together,
the three bowls are swiftly with
drawn, the three heads are low
cred, chin to chest again-an in
perfect unison.
A bell rings clear and sweet;
and up the steep lane hobbies a
ragged man hugging under his left
arm wet and bloated hairy thing
like the swollen carcass of a
drowned dog. 1t is a goatskin
water bag with the hair left on.
The bearer is selling the liquid
and clangs the bright brass bell in
his right hand to attract attention.
Before the French protectorate
over Morocco was established, the
British government once sent a
mission to the Sultan in Fez with
letters and presents. Attached
to it was a Scots Guards subaltern
he is peer and a general today.
He had visited the country - leave
several times, so he was chosen
to 60 with the mission. When it
rode in state into Fez, he was
mounted on big mule and clad
in the full-dress scarlet and gold
of his regiment, with the bearskin
the hairy hat" as admiring
Dublin street urchins call it-on his
head. Tall and handsome, he pre-
sented striking figure in his gor-
geous uniform and appealed to the
crowds lining the route to the I'm
perial palace.
But the bearskin busby puzzled
them. What is that he has on
his head?" cried a wondering citi-
zen in the front rank of the spec
tators.
A newspaper correspondent in
Morocco, riding in the procession,
had lived many years in the coun-
try and spoke Arabic fluently. He
turned in his saddle and answered
the enquirer loudly in the verna-
cular.
That is a water bag. His sui
tan has allowed him to wear it
a. a mark of honor for putting out
a fire in his town."
The lane narrows into an alley
barely nine feet wide, covered over
with trellis-work of long, dried
reeds on which lie whitening the
leaves of a spreading vine which
in summer gives a welcome shade.
Street of Shops
The alley is lined with booths,
for it is the beginning of the IA
nous souks. Sioux means a mar
ket; but here, as in TuniS, it desig-
mates a street of shops; and in
eastern cities the shops that sell
the same things are grouped to-
gether.
Thus the Sioux Ell Attarine is the
street of the perfume sellers, who
vend, besides scents, the large,
brightly decorated Marabout can
dies to be burned before shrines.
In the Sioux Ell Khiyatine, tailors'
street, the knights of the needle
ply their trade, and burnooses, je-
labs (short-sleeved Woolen cloaks),
baggy breeches, and other gar
mentS are sold.
When night comes, the shopkeep-
ers put up and lock the shutters on
their establishments. They go off
to their evening meal at a native
restaurant or to drink a cup of
sWeetened coffee at a Moorish cafe
before returning to their sleeping
mats in a room like a rabbit
warren.