Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



69 



THE CHARMING PEOPLE OF FEZ. 



In the Pall Mall Magazine for June Mr. J. F. 

 Legard gives us an interesting, if somewhat discursive, 

 glimpse into Morocco. He supplies some beautiful 

 photographs of the country through which he passed. 

 0£ the capital he says : — 



The people of Fez are charming. "" During one's walks or 

 rides through the town it is quite the exception to be spat at, as 

 is often the casein other ultra-Mahomedan town?, and the crowd 

 is, on the whole, merely smiling and inquisitive, like a crowd in 

 Naples or any other .South Italian town. Now and then some 

 fanatic — generally an epileptic— will try to raise a disturbance, 

 and will be gently removed by his friends — the Moors are 

 kindness itself in the face of poverty or affliction— but except 

 for these and a few casual curses from the old and soured, the 

 Christian dog may pursue his way in comparative peace, pro- 

 vided he does not attempt to enter a mosque or pass the barriers 

 placed in front of those streets le.iding up to the tomb of Moulai 

 Idriss, the founder and patron saint of Fez, by whom all good 

 Fezzites swear. 



Curiously enough in Fez the camera causes much less alarm 

 than in Tangier, and a great deal of interest ; and whereas in 

 Tangier the people cower away and hide their faces in fear of 

 the evil eye, in Fez they fljck round one so assiduously that 

 the taking of pictures is often very difficult. 



Perhaps one of the most astonishing things after having seen 

 the state of the other more " civilised " towns, is the cleanliness 

 of the " New "' (own. Compared to Tangier, which is supposed 

 to be scavenged by the Great Powers, it is sweet ; instead of 

 the smells of decaying produce and others too mysterious to 

 fathom, one is agreeably assailed on all sides by the scent of the 

 orange blossom and pink rose petals piled up in the shops and 

 s>jld for distillation, and the pungent smell of the mint of which 

 the Moors are so fond. Beyond the town, sad to relate, the state 

 of affairs is terrifying. 



The Mcllah is the portion of the city given over to 

 the Jews, who are loathed and ill-treated as nowhere 

 else, except, perhaps, in Russia : — 



They govern themselves and pay taxes to the Sultan, and it is 

 they who — in spile of oppression and plunderings — have made 

 the trade of the country what it is. Their houses are quite 

 l')Vely, and the architecture of the Mellah seems more character- 

 istic on the whole than other parts of the town. 



Th? Walls of Fez. 



OLD LONDON REVIVED. 



Mr. Perc\- Collins gives in the Pall Mall Magazine 

 an account of the models of Mr. lohn B. Thorp in the 

 London Museum, Kensington Palace. They are the 

 fruit of many years devoted to the careful study of old 

 pictures and records : — 



That they are of surpassing interest and nieiil is the unani- 

 mous opinion of experts. Blending as they do with panoiamic 

 backgrounds, they present to the obser\'er a faithful and realistic 

 vision of what the city looked like prior to the Great Fire of 

 1666. 



HOW OLD LONDON BRIDGE W.\S MADE. 



Of the Old London Bridge Mr. Collins says that it 

 was so important that upon its existence depended the 

 existence of London itself :^ 



The piers of the bridge were made by first driving piles of 

 oak and elm into the bed of the river in such a manner as to 

 form the outer curve of the proposed pier. The enclosure thus- 

 formed was filled with large stones to constitute a solid founda- 

 tion, and upon this was placed a platform of wooden baulks 

 securely bolted together. Upon this platform the solid stone- 

 work of the pier was erected. Each was strengthened by 

 "stirlings" to protect it against the "scour" of the tide. At 

 first thought this method of bridge-building may seem somewhat 

 primitive, but w hen we remember that Old London Bridge stood 

 for six centuries, and was only pulled down after the present 

 bridge had been built 200 feet further west, we realise that the 

 old builders understood their business. 



The bridge itself was 40 feet wide and 926 feet long ; but its 

 numerous piers reduced the waterway to 450 feet at high tide, 

 while at low tide it was only 195 feet — less than a quarter of the 

 whole width of the river. 



HINTS TO MODELLERS. 



Some valuable hints are given as to model-making in 

 this article, as for example : — 



kain-watcr pipes are imitated by bending copper wires to the 

 required curves, and small sections of rounded wood play the 

 part of chimney pots. The best way to represent water is to use 



a sheet of a kind of glass 

 known as '* mulHed '' ; 

 silvered glass reflects too 

 strongly, and has an un- 

 natural appe.irance. If 

 a well-kept lawn is re- 

 quired, billiard-cloth is 

 used ; but rough grass- 

 or fields can be best 

 iiiiiialed by mixing 

 whitening and glue into 

 a p.iste, with a little 

 saiid or sawdust, and 

 spreading this in a fine 

 I.iyer over the surface 

 winch it is necessary to 

 treat. When dry, the 

 mixture may be tinted 

 green. Gravel paths are 

 nio<lelled by means o( a 

 thin layer of thick gum 

 upon which fine sand is 

 sprinkled, the surplus 

 being bruOicd olV «hcn 

 dry. Trees and shrubs 

 are made wiih pieces of 

 sponge, moss, or loofah 

 dyed green and fixid to 

 snail twigs. 



