MOHorco. 



371 



ciin say with safotv at any linu' dial Ihciv is a revolt going on somewhere 

 in Monuco. In coiiseqnenco of this misgovernment the popnhition is 

 nowhere dense, not even in the most richly blessed regions. T believe 

 that the rate of density is not more than 50 heads per sqnare kilometer 

 in Abihu wliich is comijaratively thickly settled, and in which one 

 comes npon a duar,thongh nsually a small one, every qnarter of an honr. 

 And I also believe that the estimate which ascribes a population of 

 S.OOO.OOO probably comes pretty near the truth; but this is certainly 

 the maximum. Only a portion of this population, however, is bound 

 together by political ties and yields to the authority of the Sultan. Of 

 the (;00,000 square kilometers that I ascribe to Morocco by far the 

 larger part belongs to what is in the country itself called Beled-es- 

 Ssiba, " the independent territory," upon which the Sultan at best 

 exercises influence as the religious head ; and only 180,000 square kilo- 

 meters are comprised in Beled-el-Makhzen, " the land of the chan- 

 cery," which includes the provinces acknowledging the authority of 

 the^ Sultan. The kernel of the Beled-el-Makhzen is the Atlas Vor- 

 land, of about 85,000 square kilometers and containing 8,000,000 in- 

 habitants. 



In the hands of a European power which could develop the re- 

 sources of this country still lingering in mediawalism and could make 

 its position count for all it is worth, Morocco might become a political 

 factor of the first rank — might, indeed, be capable of bringing about 

 a change in the distribution of powder among the European States. 

 At the same time, the fact must not be disregarded that it would be 

 a long and difficult task to conquer the country. It would not be so 

 hard to conquer the Atlas Vorland, which is open country throughout 

 and easily accessible from the ocean, but all the more difficult to con- 

 quer the Atlas Mountain countries and the thickly populated Rif ter- 

 ritory. But little help w^ould be afforded by the existing division of 

 the mountain folk into a number of small tribes, which rule them- 

 selves democratically and are in a state of constant feud and vendetta 

 with each other, for their love of freedom is ungovernable and the 

 nature of the ground presents very great obstacles. This is especially 

 true of the natural route by which France could chain Morocco to 

 herself, the valley mentioned in the early part of this article, along 

 which at this very moment war operations are taking place, and which 

 will not be safe until the mountain folk to the north and the south, 

 the mighty tribes of Rhiata, Hiaina, and others, will have been com- 

 pletely conquered. 



And it is these very North-Moroccan Berbers that are now armed 

 with the best European breechloaders, which they obtained through 

 the smuggling that goes on from Spain and Gibraltar and, perhaps, 

 recently, from Algeria as well. It would seem as though the European 

 •powers, well aware of the frightful danger to the world's peace in- 



