A JOURNEY IN 
MOROCCO 793 
A MOROCCAN CITY GATE 
Pedestrians have difficulty in holding their own against the stream of horses, donkeys, camels, 
and dogs that obstructs the narrow passage. Photo by Thomas L. Blayney, Ph. D. 
of a chalklike fairness, betraying the 
presence of the blood of Gothic mothers, 
infused at the time of the Moorish as- 
cendancy in Spain. The negro element, 
slaves from the Sudan or offspring of 
such, is everywhere in evidence. Those 
that have been freed, or who are sons of 
Arabs by negro mothers, enjoy all politi- 
cal and religious privileges of the domi- 
nant race. ‘There remain to be men- 
tioned the Jews, despised by all true Mos- 
lems, who are compelled to live in sepa- 
rate villages or quarters of the cities 
(Mellahs), but who here, as in other ori- 
ental lands, form the well-to-do, progres- 
sive merchant class. 
Pheenicians, Romans, and Vandals in 
turn have held transitory sway here, but 
have left no lasting imprint upon the 
population or customs. Contrary to the 
accepted opinion, the land was not origi- 
nally invaded by a Moslem host, who 
forced their religion upon the inhabitants, 
but on the other hand was converted to 
the faith of Islam by peaceful mission- 
aries fleeing from the Kahlifa of Mecca. 
The new faith spread rapidly among the 
Berbers of the surrounding tribes, but 
they always have been, and are today, 
less strict observers of the laws of the 
Koran than the Arab population. The 
coalition of these Mohammedanized Ber- 
