MOOBISH STORIES AND FABLES. 469 



The popular fables, wliich were taken down from the mouth 

 of an old Moorish story-teller, and literally translated by Mr. 

 Rogers, complete the impression derived from the fragments of 

 contemporary history. They all turn upon the success of fraud 

 and force in the affairs of life. The moral, so to speak, of all 

 is ' woe to the weak and . the confiding ; ' but admiration is 

 mainly given to those who supply the place of strength by 

 successful perfidy. 



Ahd el Saddock, Kaid of Mogador, Duqucdlah, 

 Ahda, and Sous} 



On one occasion this Kaid was sent to Sous by the Sultan to 

 reduce some provinces to submission. When arrived there, a 

 grand entertainment was given to him by the refractory Sheiks, 

 and immense quantities of provisions sent in to supply the 

 guests, among which was a large quantity of a particular dish 

 of which the Kaid was known to be very fond, and this was all 

 poisoned. The Kaid, suspecting from the Sheiks' importunity 

 for him to eat of it that it was poisoned, ordered his soldiers to 

 guard the doors and let no one escape, and then called upon the 

 Sheiks one by one to partake of the dish. Most of the Sheiks 

 refused to eat, and some few came cheerfully forward at the 

 K aid's call ; those who refused were compelled to eat, and those 

 who came cheerfully forward were not allowed to eat ; and so 

 the Kaid in one day not only got rid of his enemies, but saved 

 his friends, whom he rewarded by putting them in the place of 

 those who fell by their own treachery. 



Kaid Boh Djemma. 



Some short time after the news of the foregoing had spread 

 over the country, a revolt took place at Shedma, and many of 



' Abd el Saddock was the father of Hadj Hamara, the Kaid of 

 Mogador, by whom we were hospitably entertained soon after our 

 arrival. The father appears to have cumulated important offices to an 

 extent now rare, if not unknown, in Marocoo. As the Sultan's hold 

 over the province of Sous is very feeble, and limited to the occasional 

 receipt of tribute, there is no resident Kaid, but the title is given to 

 any otficial sent, pro Mc vice, to represent the Sidtan. But the pro- 

 vinces of Duquallah and Abda, like the rest of the settled country, axe 

 ordinarily administered by resident governors. 



