408 



MOROCCO. 



government and in educational systems abroad their Arab neighbors. For seven years the court 

 and desired to keep on good terms with the had been absent from Fez and they had gone 

 powers. He took pleasure also in automobiling untaxed and ungoverned. The rising began in 

 and surrounded himself with modern inventions the usual way with robbing of caravans and 



pillaging of Arab villages. When the harvest 

 is garnered it is no uncommon occurrence for 

 them to indulge their -pugnacious instinct by en- 

 gaging in intertribal fights, and only at long 

 periods will their unrest manifest itself in open 



and the conveniences of civilized life, liis father 

 had exhibited liberal tendencies in the early part 

 of his reign, but although an autocrat of ener- 

 getic character, he gave up the idea of revolu- 

 tionary reforms repugnant to the official class 

 and the fanatical element. The son was more 



and united defiance of the Government. There 



TANGIER VIEW FKOM THE EAST. 



helpless because he had not the means to keep 

 up a strong military force, and was even obliged 

 to dispose of some of his jewels to maintain 

 his state. After his arrival at Fez the Sultan 

 -tinned civilities to the foreign consuls and Eu- 

 ropean officers and engineers in his service such 

 as had never before been extended to Christians. 

 He carried out his promise to reform the prisons 

 in Fez. Overcrowding, bad sanitation, fetters, 

 and cruel punishments were done away with, 

 and, as the result of inquiries into the causes 

 of incarceration, many prisoners were set free. 

 An expedition of 2,200 Moorish soldiers, accom- 

 panied by a Spanish officer, marched from Tan- 

 gier in January to punish the Beni Mesara Ka- 

 byles and recover Spanish children abducted by 

 them. By arrangement French and Spanish squad- 

 rons anchored in Tangier harbor. The expedi- 

 tion was reenforced by 4,000 infantry and cavalry 

 and many guns. The Beni Mesaras were brought 

 to submission, and the troops proceeded to chas- 

 tise the Beni Aros, to whom the robbers fled with 

 the kidnaped girls, who were not rescued, al- 

 though the campaign lasted throe months, but 

 the lawless tribes were subjugated. 



Rebellious Uprisings. In the summer the 

 Berber tribes in the country surrounding Mekinez 

 broke out in one of their periodical insurrec- 

 tions against the rule of the Arabs. They are 

 of the pure Hamitic stock, speaking the distinct 

 Shelhn language, and are habitually hostile to 



is always a disorderly element addicted to rob- 

 bery when an opportunity is ofl'ered. The first 

 attacks on caravans by Beni Metir and Geruan 

 tribesmen were allowed by the Government to 

 go unpunished, and when the attacks became 

 frequent the Mekinez traders and Arab villagers 

 retaliated by burning the stacks and seizing the 

 cattle of the Berbers. The Government hesitated 

 to employ troops against the Berbers because the 

 soldiers when sent to restore order proved as 

 lawless as they. The disorders thus grcV with 

 impunity until toward the end of August, when 

 the Berbers had repeatedly raided up to the walls 

 of Mekinez, despite the reenforcement of the gar- 

 rison by 1,000 men, and a band of several hundred 

 mounted men entered and plundered the cattle 

 market. Sid Mohammed el Amarani, the Sul- 

 tan's uncle, then brought reenforcements and 

 Maxim guns from Fez, and attacked the Berbers 

 in front while Arab tribes on the north fell upon 

 the villages of Geruan from the opposite quar- 

 ter. The troops, infantry for the most part, who 

 could not come within fighting distance of the Ber- 

 ber horsemen, were disorderly and unmanageable, 

 and committed the blunder of looting and burning 

 the Beni Metir villages. This, the most powerful 

 tribe, although members of it had robbed cara- 

 vans, still remained loyal to the Government and 

 sent levies to fight for the restoration of order. 

 Now the Beni Metir Berbers joined those of 

 Geruan and Zimmur in the rebellion. Their co.n- 



