Vol. XVII, No. 3 



WASHINGTON 



March, 1906 



Q 



ATHONAL 

 ©fflAIPHiO 



MBAMi 



MOROCCO, "THE LAND OF THE EXTREME 



WEST" 



AND THE STORY OF MY CAPTIVITY 



By Ion Perdicaris 



The following article is the substance of two addresses to the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, November 17, 1905, and February 20, 1906. In the first address 

 Mr Perdicaris described the government and people, and in the second his capture 

 by Raisuli and his experiences with that remarkable man. For the very unique and 

 instructive pictures, excepting those on pages 136 and 13/, the Magazine is also 

 indebted to Mr Perdicaris, who sent to Tangier specially for them. The pictures 

 on pages 136 and 137 are from photographs presented by Mr David G. Fairchild. 



to 



IN the attempt of the French 

 secure a permanent control in 

 Morocco, in the intervention of 

 Germany, and in the assemblage of a Mo- 

 roccan conference at Algeciras in Spain, 

 we may witness the prelude to the closing 

 act in the drama of Moorish independ- 

 ence. Very possibly the young Sultan, 

 Abd El Aziz ;* may prove to be the last in- 

 dependent ruler of the Drisite dynasty — 

 a dynasty which dates back no" less than 

 some 1,200 years. 



According to the chronicler, Ibn Khal- 

 dun, in 788 Idris, a great-great-grandson 

 of Hassan (who was a son of Ali and of 

 Fatima), had fled from Arabia, and, 



*The Turkish form is Abdulaziz, the Arabic 

 is \1h1 El Aziz. 



passing around by the Desert of Sahara, 

 had come up to Tangier, where he was 

 amicably received by the Berbers. Ed 

 Dris or Idris, as it is pronounced, was 

 fleeing from the dread of death at the 

 hands of the Khalif El Mehdi. 



It may seem rather a far cry from cir- 

 cumstances connected with the present 

 day to go back so far as to this date of 

 788 ; but, curiously enough, no less than 

 four of the chief personages who were 

 concerned either in my capture or in my 

 subsequent release were all descendants 

 of this very Idris : First, the Sultan of 

 Morocco, who paid the indemnity of 

 $70,000 in order to secure my release; 

 secondly, the young chereefs of Wazan, 

 who brought up a relief expedition to 



