468 APPENDIX I. 



APPENDIX I. 



MOORISH STORIES AND FABLES. 



Fhom mucli information that lias been kindly furnished to us 

 by Mr. Freeman Rogers, a gentleman who was several years 

 resident in Marocco, and had become familiar with the people 

 and their language and manners, the following extracts have 

 been taken for the sake of the light which they throw on the 

 condition of the country. It being the main object -of this 

 volume to relate our personal experiences, we have not been 

 able to avail ourselves of much information supplied to us 

 by Mr. Rogers, and other competent witnesses ; but it has 

 appeared to us that the extracts here given form a useful 

 supplement to the facts which came to our knowledge during 

 our short stay in Marocco, and will help the reader to form a 

 truer conception of its present condition. 



The stories, which may be said to have a political character, 

 furnished to us by Mr. F. Rogers, all refer to events that have 

 occurred during the last twenty-five years, and are precisely 

 similar in character to others which were passing at the time 

 of 'our visit. They are accepted as substantially accurate by 

 our informant, and we see no reason to refuse them credence. 

 They certainly tally with the universal belief of the natives as 

 to the conduct of their rulers. Any one who is familiar with 

 the chronicles of the Middle Ages, who has marvelled at the 

 deeds of ferocious cruelty recorded of German petty rulers, or 

 the more refined atrocities of Italian princes, must sometimes 

 have felt a wish to know what manner of men they were who 

 committed these deeds. To satisfy such a curiosity, he cannot 

 do better than pay a visit to the interior of Marocco. If duly 

 commended to their good offices, he will be received by men of 

 stately and courteous manners, prompt to display a lavish hos- 

 pitality, who will inevitably send him away with a favourable 

 impression ; but before he has been many weeks in the country, 

 he will become aware that these amiable hosts are habitualJy 

 guilty of deeds of combined ferocity and treachery that equal, 

 if they do not surpass, those of the dark periods of European 

 history. 



