140 The National Geographic Magazine 



THE BEGINNING OF DISORDER 



In 1894 Umlai El Hassan died. This 

 Sultan was perhaps the ablest ruler Mo- 

 rocco ever enjoyed, and was as remark- 

 able for his personal appearance as for 

 his courteous manner and. signal merits. 

 His young son, Abd El Aziz, nominally 



The British Consul at Tangier, to the 

 left, and to the right Kaid Sir Harry 

 Maclean, late Commander and Mili- 

 tary Instructor of Sultan's Forces 



succeeded to the throne upon his father's 

 death, but did not assume the reins of 

 power until the decease, in 1900, of the 

 Great Vizier, Ben Hamed Ben Mousa. 

 A year or two later an adventurer known 

 as Gilali El Zarhmni, an alleged elder 

 brother of Abd El Aziz, and many of the 



Berbers in the neighborhood of Fez r 

 rallied around this Pretender and even 

 threatened Fez itself. For a short time 

 the Sultan's troops were so aroused that 

 many of them deserted with their arms to 

 the enemy, and the Sultan himself barely 

 escaped capture. Since this experience 

 Abd El Aziz has not ventured to leave 

 Fez, excepting for a few weeks on a 

 single occasion, lest the city should open 

 its gates to the Pretender. 



The weakening of the Sultan's hold 

 upon power was followed by a marked 

 alteration in the attitude of the natives 

 toward foreigners — Europeans or Ameri- 

 cans. 



It was evident that the singular im- 

 munity and advantages we had so long 

 enjoyed no longer existed, and it became 

 a question as to whether it was wise to 

 remain in the country. There were, 

 however, many reasons why I hesitated 

 to abandon my considerable interests in 

 the country. I was at the time president 

 of an international commission charged 

 with the administration of the town of 

 Tangier; nor did I imagine that I my- 

 self would be exposed to any immediate 

 danger, much less that I should be car- 

 ried off as a hostage by the Berbers, or 

 that the squadrons of our navy and the 

 orders of my release here in Washington 

 would become factors in the immemorial 

 struggle between the Berbers of El 

 Moghereb and the Sultan of Fez and 

 Morocco. 



THE SURPRISE AND CAPTURE 



We had moved up two days before this 

 startling event to Aidonia, our summer 

 residence, on the Spartello headland 

 about 5 miles from Tangier. The house 

 which we had here erected is an unpre- 

 tentious villa overlooking the entrance to 

 the Straits of Gibraltar and surrounded 

 by grounds some 300 acres in extent, em- 

 bracing many varied features of wood- 

 land and of precipitous rock. This lovely 

 locality has, however, been sadly spoiled 

 for us by the alarm and insecurity caused 

 by the Raisuli raid. 



