A JOURNEY IN MOROCCO 759 
oo 
o by George . Holt 
Phot 
SCENE IN THE MELON MARKET 
walls. Things too heavy to be carried by 
a single animal must be transported by 
men, and it is no unusual sight to see 
great stones five and six feet long slung 
on poles and borne by a dozen or more 
half-naked Arabs. 
In these narrow streets the little box- 
like shops, waist high, give the proper 
oriental setting to the whole. In them 
we see the owner reclining and sedately 
reading, seemingly oblivious to the stir- 
ring scene around him, until he is “dis- 
turbed” by a purchaser for his goods, all 
of which are within arm’s reach. 
THE PRISON CONDITIONS 
Another of the “sights” of Tangier is 
the prison. One can pass the guards at 
the outer gate and, stooping down, peer 
through a hole at the miserable creatures 
within. Practically all of them are 
heavily chained, some having “heavy 
chains even about the neck. They are in 
every stage of misery and sickness. The 
government does not feed them, when 
not forced to do so by the powers, and 
sad indeed is the state of those who have 
no money or friends. They weave little 
baskets, which they sell to visitors, and 
so manage to keep body and soul to- 
gether a little longer. 
It will be recalled that one of the 
wrongs alleged against the government 
by Rasuli, the noted bandit chief, who 
captured Mr. Perdicaris, was that he had 
been chained for four years in such a 
way that he could neither lie nor stand. 
The slightest pretext suffices to bring a 
prison fate to high and low, for the 
grand vizier of today may be the half- 
naked prisoner of tomorrow. ‘The laws 
are supposed to be based upon the Koran, 
and all cases not involving foreigners 
are decided by the judge, either civil or 
religious, who sits in the open several 
times a week and decides at once all cases 
brought before him. The penalties are 
fines, imprisonment, whipping, burning 
out of eyes, chopping off of hands, feet, 
or head. 
