Morocco, the Land of the Extreme West 119 



the nomenclature of the Barbary States, 

 including Barka, Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, 

 and Morocco. 



These Berbers antedated Phoenician, 

 Carthaginian, Roman, Gothic, Byzantian, 

 and Arab occupation by centuries upon 

 centuries ; it is probably one of the oldest 

 races ; and there are certain ethnologists 

 at the present day, at the head of whom 

 is an Italian writer named Sergi, who 

 maintain that the theory of those succes- 

 sive invasions of Caucasians, about which 

 we have all read, and which are generally 

 believed to account for the origin of the 

 races of southern Europe, did not furnish 

 the main part of the population of the 

 Mediterranean basin, but that the latter 

 was derived from these Berbers, a white 

 race which has many resemblances to the 

 ancient Etruscans. They are quite like 

 the pictures also of some of the ancient 

 Egyptian dynasties. 



THEY HAVE ALWAYS WITHSTOOD 

 SUBJUGATION 



These people have always been op- 

 posed to any attempt to bring them under 

 control, and they have never been kept in 

 subjection by any of these successive 

 governments for any great length of 

 time. Their desire is never to recognize 

 any more authoritative control than that 

 of their own village elders. It is from 

 this race that the two great sects of the 

 early church of the fourth and fifth cen- 

 turies, known as the Donatists and Cer- 

 cumceliones, are descended. These were 

 really a sort of Christian nihilists, a sect 

 which swept away many of the towns and 

 villages of the Roman senators — a de- 

 struction which was finally completed by 

 the great Arabic invasion which swept 

 over much of that country, and which 

 seems to have been itself on very friendly 

 terms with these Berbers. 



The Berbers, as you are all very well 

 aware, joined the Arab invaders and 

 formed a large contingent of the Saracen 

 tribes who overwhelmed the Gothic kings 

 of Spain. They did not speak of them- 



selves generally as Berbers ; they called 

 themselves Schleuh, and described the 

 various dialects of their tongues as of 

 the Schilhak language. They could not 

 even understand or communicate with 

 the Arab tribes without an Interpreter. 

 Some of them learn Arabic, but many of 

 them cannot communicate at all with 

 their fellow Arabian laborers. 



The name "Morocco" can be traced to 

 the Roman designation of Mauritania, 

 the natives being called in Spanish 

 "Mauros," "Moriscos," and finally 

 "Moros," and hence in English "Moors." 

 The word "Morocco" may also be an ef- 

 fort at approximation to Marekshe, the 

 southern capital of the country which we 

 know as Morocco City. Whatever may 

 be the origin of the term "Berber," these 

 people speak of themselves as "Schleuh." 



When the successive Arab invasions, 

 beginning in 711, broke upon the country 

 (that was in the year 200 of the Hegira) 

 this Berber population was ultimately 

 driven by the Arabs from the plains and 

 from the richer valleys and forced to take 

 refuge among the Atlas Mountains ; and 

 in these mountain ranges they have al- 

 ways remained, a thorn in the side of the 

 Arab rulers and a great menace and 

 danger to the people of the lowlands, 

 whenever the central authority was 

 weakened by a disputed succession with 

 a feeble Sultan at the head of affairs. 



THE JEWS ARE AN IMPORTANT EACTOR 



There are two other important factors 

 among the population — the Jews and the 

 negroes. The Jews are mostly exiles 

 from Spain and Portugal, having been 

 driven out after the Moors had been ex- 

 pelled from Spain. The Jews were driven 

 out by the Inquisition, and a great many 

 of them came over to Morocco and set- 

 tled there. Others went as far east as 

 Turkey. Still others visited other coun- 

 tries. Those who settled in Morocco 

 were almost all confined to a special 

 quarter of the towns, entitled El Mellah. 

 This word Mellah means salt, and it 



