542 



MOROCCO. 



estimated at 300,000 men. About 25,000 are in 

 ordinary times kept under arms near the Sultan 

 in his progresses from town to town. 



Area and Population. The extent and 

 boundaries of the empire are undefined. The 

 area is said to be 219.000 square miles. The 

 population has been estimated at 9,400,000, com- 

 posed of Berbers, mixed and pure Arabs, Tua- 

 regs, and a small proportion of negroes. The 

 people are Sunnite Moslems of the Malekite 

 creed. There are about 300,000 Jews and 1,800 

 Christians, who are not admitted to citizenship, 

 but are under the protection of foreign powers. 



Commerce and Navigation. The commerce 

 was formerly in the hands of the English and 

 French. In recent years Germany has got a 

 considerable share of it. On June 1, 1890, Ger- 

 many concluded a commercial treaty with the 

 Sultan. A line of steamers was already running 

 between Hamburg and Tangier. The German 

 duties on sulphur, coral, cocoons, and spun silk 

 from Morocco were removed, and those on dates, 

 almonds, oil, lead, cork, lemons, oranges, iron 

 and copper ores, hides and skins, and other arti- 

 cles were lowered. Loaf sugar, cotton and 

 woolen and mixed cloths, felt, candles, aniline 

 dyes, gilt jewelry, and other articles of German 

 manufacture are imported in increasing quanti- 

 ties. The total imports in 1889 were valued at 

 1,681,275, and the exports at 1,585,020. There 

 were 2,336 vessels, of 778,953 tons, entered at the 

 ports of Morocco in 1889, and 2,352, of 783,529 

 tons, cleared. Of 2,042 vessels, of 612.689 tons, 

 entered in 1888, 394. of 237,390 tons, were 

 French ; 735., of 211,994 tons, were English ; 726, 

 of 136,558 tons, were Spanish ; 33, of 9,404 tons, 

 were German ; 92, of 7,423 tons, were Portuguese ; 

 41, of 6,246 tons, were Norwegian: 13, of 1,875 

 tons, were Danish ; and 8, of 1,799 tons, were of 

 various other nationalities. 



Political and Economical Condition. 

 Morocco was a thickly populated and highly 

 civilized country in ancient times. It was one 

 of the chief sources from which cereals were im- 

 ported by the Romans. The Berbers, who con- 

 stitute the bulk of the inhabitants, are as vigor- 

 ous, warlike, and industrious as of old, and the 

 richness of the soil is unimpaired. 'The policy of 

 the Arab conquerors, who hold the outlets of the 

 country, though they have never been able to im- 

 pose their rule thoroughly on the Berbers, checks 

 all development. The possessors of wealth are 

 systematically plundered. The exportation of 

 grain is forbidden, and other exports are so taxed 

 that there can be no development of the export 

 trade till the restrictions are removed. Foreign- 

 ers know little about the country because their 

 route of travel is confined to the road from Tan- 

 gier, through Quasr el Kebir, to Fez, the usual 

 residence of the Emperor, and thence through 

 Mequinez, to the seaport of Rabat, or sometimes 

 to the old royal city of Morocco, and thence to 

 Mogador, where they can take ship for Tangier. 

 The independence of Morocco is maintained 

 through the rivalry of England, France, and 

 Spain. The Spaniards look on the country as 

 their political heritage. The French desire to 

 extend their boundaries where Morocco touches 

 Algeria, and especially to obtain control of the 

 Sahara and the route of the projected railroad to 

 Tiinbuctoo and Senegal. England is deter- 



mined that there shall be no partition of Morocco 

 that will not secure to her advantages equal at 

 least to those reaped by other Mediterranean 

 powers, and would thwart or retard the consoli- 

 dation of the French possessions in northwestern 

 Africa, and vigorously oppose the acquisition by 

 Spain of strategic positions commanding the en- 

 trance to the Mediterranean, of which Gibraltar 

 is now the only key. Italy, Austria, and Ger- 

 many work together with England for the preser- 

 vation of the status quo until they can see their 

 way to obtaining compensation. The govern- 

 ment of Muley Hassan has been atrocious. 

 Wherever his authority is paramount, men oi' in- 

 famous character hold the offices of kaids and 

 governors, while the industrious, the intelligent, 

 and the enterprising natives are robbed of their 

 possessions unless they can hide them from the 

 knowledge of their tyrants. There is no public 

 police force, and what the official extortioners 

 leave, brigands and highway robbers can take. 

 The penalty for saving is worse than that for 

 crime. The Berber tribes, which have main- 

 tained their independence, except when periodi- 

 cally raided by the Sultan's army, live in differ- 

 ent degrees of comfort and civilization. In some 

 even the women learn to read and write. In 1891 

 great distress was caused in all the southern 

 provinces by the ravages of locusts, which de- 

 stroyed half the wheat crop in Rabat and Daral- 

 baida and the whole of the maize and peas crops 

 at Mazagan, produced a scarcity of grain at 

 Mogador and throughout the wheat-growing 

 districts, injured the olive and almond trees, 

 consumed the fruit and vegetable crops every- 

 where except in northern Morocco, where they 

 appeared too late to do much damage, and 

 caused a failure of pasturage and such mortality 

 among cattle that people sold a large part of 

 their live stock for whatever they could get. 



The Spanish Government in April, 1891, laid a 

 cable to connect the port of Ceuta with Tangier. 

 The natives in the Angera district prevented the 

 erection of telegraph poles by the Spaniards until 

 the Moorish Minister of Foreign Affairs inter- 

 fered. An insurrection at Cape Juby impelled the 

 British to send a gunboat to that part of the 

 coast, where there is an English factory. Late 

 in the year disturbances broke out in the vicinity 

 of Tangier, and the British Government dis- 

 patched war vessels to that port and threatened 

 to land sailors if the governor could not protect 

 British interests from the depredations of the 

 rebellious tribes. The trouble was caused by ex- 

 actions of local officials to which the peasants re- 

 fused to submit. 



In October important changes were made in 

 the personnel of the Sultan's court. His favorite 

 brother, Muley Isrnain, was accused of a con- 

 spiracy to overthrow the Sultan and mount the 

 throne. This popular prince was deposed from 

 the office of khalifa or chief judge and sent 

 away to the city of Morocco. He was succeeded 

 by the Sultan's son, Muley Abdul Aziz. At the 

 same time the chief kaid and other officials were 

 disgraced and the powerful and generally de- 

 tested Vizier, Si Ahmed ben Musa. whom am- 

 bassadors have regarded as the principal obstruc- 

 tion to the exercise of wholesome foreign influ- 

 ence on Muley Hassan, was dismissed. He was 

 succeeded by Si ben Segher. 



