A JOURNEY IN MOROCCO: 
OF Apes 
By THomas LIinDsEY BLAYNEY, 
“TAE LAND 
MOORS” 
Pup CanrRAL UNIVERSITY 
OF Konceee 
HE expression “Classic land of 
the Arabian Nights’ has been 
applied to Morocco so often by 
travelers that it has almost become trite ; 
yet no other phrase seems to the writer 
to portray so well the life, glamour, and 
color of this unique land. “While other 
oriental countries-—Palestine, Egypt, Al- 
geria, Turkey—have been profoundly 
modified by external influences, the 
“Land of the Moors” has preserved al- 
most inviolate the manners, customs, and 
racial appearance of the East of ancient 
days. It has withstood with success the 
blandishments of civilization on the one 
hand and the threats of cupidity on the 
other. The traveler in search of novelty 
may approach its shores with conAdence ; 
the student of civilization can be assured 
of rich reward. 
Morocco is about the size of Spain. 
The high chain of the Atlas Mountains, 
which to the south separates it from the 
desert, renders the climate healthful and 
pleasant. Prof. Theobald Fisher, of the 
University of Marburg, the best-known 
scientific student of Moroccan  clima- 
tology, credits this most western land of 
3arbar y with unusual climatic and physi- 
cal advantages. ‘These he believes, under 
proper conditions, will render Morocco 
an even richer agricultural country than 
Algeria and Tunisia and even enable it 
to rival the fertile regions about Malaga 
and Valencia. 
Owing to the fanaticism of the in- 
habitants, it has not been possible to 
make any thorough study of the possible 
mineral wealth of the land, but it 1s 
known that gold, silver, copper, anti- 
mony, iron, iridium, and palladium are 
present. ‘The intense antipathy of the 
inhabitants to foreigners and to foreign 
ideas has rendered the mineral and agri- 
cultural wealth of the country practically 
useless. 
The forbidding, precipitous chain of 
the Rif Mountains, which forms, along 
the Mediterranean, the northern confine 
of Morocco and is the southernmost of 
the famed | “Pillars ot) lenculless seins 
no hint of the rich, rolling land beyond. 
This northern chain, where “Maure- 
tania’s giant shadows frown,” and the 
Atlas range are the Nature-built citadels 
of the warlike, robbing Berber tribes, the 
remnants of the original inhabitants of 
the Barbary States. These Rifian Ber- 
bers, fierce but frank, have furnished the 
sinews of war to conquering African 
armies from the days of Carthage to the 
present. 
FIGHTING, A BIRTHRIGHT 
The conquerors of Spain were not 
Saracens (Easterners), but Berbers, 
among whom at an early date Moham- 
medanism had been introduced by the 
Arabs. ‘The very name “Morocco” is a 
misnomer, derived through the Spanish 
from the name of one of the capital cities 
(Spanish, Marueccos,; Arabic, Marra- 
kesh; English, Morocco City). The Ara- 
bic name of the country is El Moghrib 
el Aksa, “Most Western Land,” but the 
natives refer to it as “El Gharb.” 
A large proportion of the population 
of the valleys and towns is of Arab ex- 
traction, though mixed with Berber and 
negro blood. ‘These Arabs are princi- 
aay descendants of Arab tribes from 
the south of Egypt, who overflooded 
North Africa about the year 1050. This 
is the only Arabic-speaking part of the 
population, the Berbers having preserved 
their primitive, unwritten language. 
Many of the Moors have a sorapllession 
