234 SHELLUH POPULATION. ch. jx. 



wandering robbers of that region. But when we learn that 

 all the fertile oases of the Sahara have been monopolised by 

 a small class of Arab descent, who rest their claims on re- 

 ligious authority, it is not apparent that there is any alter- 

 native for those who do not belong to the privileged class; 

 and, under such an anomalous condition of society, the 

 energy of the superior race will show itself in robbery, 

 where that becomes the only means of obtaining a liveli- 

 hood. To judge from what we saw of the country, the best 

 thing that could happen for Marocco would be the substi- 

 tution for the Moorish government of an authority strong 

 enough to keep the Bereber tribes from intestine feuds, 

 and intelligent enough to leave them a large measure of 

 self-government, under a moderate and just fiscal system. 

 Gradual extension of irrigation works would fit for cultiva- 

 tion large tracts now unproductive, and the superfluous 

 population of the mountain valleys would spread into the 

 plains, and develop the latent resources of the country. 

 If it be said that the gradual diffusion of more intelligent 

 ideas of government may gradually draw the Sultans of 

 Marocco into the path of progress, and thus effect without 

 violence as rapid an advance as is compatible with the 

 ideas and character of the native population, the answer 

 seems to be that this supposition is not probable in itself, 

 and is not justified by experience. 



For over a thousand years since the date of the Saracen 

 conquest the two races that make up the population have 

 remained perfectly distinct. The gradual extension of 

 the central authority may have done something for the 

 maintenance of external tranquillity, but it has been 

 marked by a general and persistent decline in the pros- 

 perity of the country. It suffices to read the description 

 given by Leo Africanus, himself a Moor, of the numerous 

 large and thriving towns visited by him in the early years 

 of the sixteenth century, just at the time when they were 

 brought under the rule of the Moorish Sultans, to measure 

 the vast falling off that has since followed. 



