546 



MOROCCO. 



2,500,000 ; Rohlfs and several others assume 

 6,000,000; and Tissot even assigns to the coun- 

 try as many as 12,000,000. About two thirds 

 of the population belong to the race commonly 

 known as Moors, the remaining third consisting 

 mainly of Bedouin Arabs, Jews, estimated at 

 340,000, and negroes. The number of Chris- 

 tians is very small, not exceeding 1,000. The 

 capital, Fez, has about 150,000 ; Morocco, from 

 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. 



The movement of commerce, including pre- 

 cious metals, was in 1879 as follows, value ex- 

 pressed in francs (1 franc =$0.1 9). 



The movement of shipping in 1879 is given 

 in the following table : 



The entrances were distributed as follows among the flags under which the vessels sailed 

 and among the ports which they entered : 



The condition of the Jewish population of 

 Morocco and the treatment to which they have 

 been subjected have attracted the attention of 

 Europe, and have been made the subject of an 

 international conference. The Jews in this em- 

 pire are more numerous in proportion to the 

 whole population than in any other country. 

 They are estimated to number 340,000 souls, 

 of whom about 200,000 came to Morocco di- 

 rectly from Palestine, and the remainder are 

 the descendants of the Jews who were expelled 

 from Spain during the reign of Ferdinand and 

 Isabella. A letter published in the Gibraltar 

 "Guardian," in January, gave an account of 

 serious disorders which had broken out at Fez. 

 The Moors, it was stated, had attacked the 

 Jews, wounding several, and "amid shouts of 

 joy " had killed a man seventy years of age by 

 pouring petroleum over his body and setting 

 fire to it while he was still alive. Two French- 

 men were wounded during the disturbance. A 

 remonstrance was immediately addressed to the 

 Emperor against this and other outrages by 

 the American consul, who informed his Majes- 

 ty that considerable agitation had been excited 

 in Europe, and even in America, over the treat- 

 ment to which his Jewish subjects were ex- 

 posed ; and that such a state of affairs could 

 not continue without great prejudice and in- 

 jury to the empire ; demanded that the perpe- 

 trators of outrages should be punished; and 

 warned him that "it is indispensably requisite 

 that the Israelites of Morocco should be pro- 



tected by the local authorities, otherwise it will 

 not be long before they will all be protected by 

 foreign nations." The consul also stated that 

 several representatives of foreign nations, as 

 well as himself, had received instructions to 

 inquire into the condition of the Jews of Mo- 

 rocco, and to consult concerning the means of 

 ameliorating it. Five Kabyle chiefs arrived at 

 Malaga, Spain, near the end of January, bring- 

 ing with them a petition from several thousand 

 Moors, asking to be placed under the allegiance 

 of Spain. They declared that, if the Spanish 

 Government declined to assume the protector- 

 ate over their country, they would ask for the 

 protection of France or England. The Spanish 

 papers expressed strong hopes that the authori- 

 ties would accede to this request, and urged in 

 favor of it that, while Germany, Italy, England, 

 and Austria had made annexations at the ex- 

 pense of costly wars, Spain was, in this case, 

 freely offered a territory with some forty-five 

 miles of seaboard, extending thirty-five miles 

 inland, and inhabited by fifteen thousand per- 

 sons. The Kabyles came to Spain, the journals 

 said; "Spain does not seek them and there- 

 fore the acquiescence of Spain with the request 

 made to her can offend no one." The King of 

 Spain called an international conference to 

 meet in Madrid in May, to consider the affairs 

 of Morocco, and the best means of securing to 

 Moorish subjects of all classes and creeds protec- 

 tion and the full enjoyment of their rights. This 

 conference concluded its labors in June, having 



