Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond | Page 3

are changing."
Moorish Proverb.
By the western gate of the Mediterranean, where the narrowed sea has
so often tempted invaders, the decrepit Moorish Empire has become
itself a bait for those who once feared it. Yet so far Morocco remains
untouched, save where a fringe of Europeans on the coast purvey the
luxuries from other lands that Moorish tastes demand, and in exchange
take produce that would otherwise be hardly worth the raising. Even
here the foreign influence is purely superficial, failing to affect the lives
of the people; while the towns in which Europeans reside are so few in
number that whatever influence they do possess is limited in area.
Moreover, Morocco has never known foreign dominion, not even that
of the Turks, who have left their impress on the neighbouring Algeria
and Tunisia. None but the Arabs have succeeded in obtaining a
foothold among its Berbers, and they, restricted to the plains, have long
become part of the nation. Thus Morocco, of all the North African
kingdoms, has always maintained its independence, and in spite of
changes all round, continues to live its own picturesque life.
Picturesque it certainly is, with its flowing costumes and primitive
homes, both of which vary in style from district to district, but all of
which seem as though they must have been unchanged for thousands of
years. Without security for life or property, the mountaineers go armed,
they dwell in fortresses or walled-in villages, and are at constant war

with one another. On the plains, except in the vicinity of towns, the
country people group their huts around the fortress of their governor,
within which they can shelter themselves and their possessions in time
of war. No other permanent erection is to be seen on the plains, unless
it be some wayside shrine which has outlived the ruin fallen on the
settlement to which it once belonged, and is respected by the
conquerors as holy ground. Here and there gaunt ruins rise, vast
crumbling walls of concrete which have once been fortresses, lending
an air of desolation to the scene, but offering no attraction to historian
or antiquary. No one even knows their names, and they contain no
monuments. If ever more solid remains are encountered, they are
invariably set down as the work of the Romans.
[Illustration: Cavilla, Photo., Tangier.
GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI.]
Yet Morocco has a history, an interesting history indeed, one linked
with ours in many curious ways, as is recorded in scores of little-known
volumes. It has a literature amazingly voluminous, but there were days
when the relations with other lands were much closer, if less cordial,
the days of the crusades and the Barbary pirates, the days of European
tribute to the Moors, and the days of Christian slavery in Morocco.
Constantly appearing brochures in many tongues made Europe of those
days acquainted with the horrors of that dreadful land. All these only
served to augment the fear in which its people were held, and to deter
the victimized nations from taking action which would speedily have
put an end to it all, by demonstrating the inherent weakness of the
Moorish Empire.
But for those whose study is only the Moors as they exist to-day, the
story of Morocco stretches back only a thousand years, as until then its
scattered tribes of Berber mountaineers had acknowledged no head, and
knew no common interests; they were not a nation. War was their
pastime; it is so now to a great extent. Every man for himself, every
tribe for itself. Idolatry, of which abundant traces still remain, had in
places been tinged with the name and some of the forms of Christianity,
but to what extent it is now impossible to discover. In the Roman

Church there still exist titular bishops of North Africa, one, in
particular, derives his title from the district of Morocco of which Fez is
now the capital, Mauretania Tingitana.
It was among these tribes that a pioneer mission of Islám penetrated in
the eighth of our centuries. Arabs were then greater strangers in
Barbary than we are now, but they were by no means the first strange
faces seen there. Ph[oe]nicians, Romans and Vandals had preceded
them, but none had stayed, none had succeeded in amalgamating with
the Berbers, among whom those individuals who did remain were
absorbed. These hardy clansmen, exhibiting the characteristics of
hill-folk the world round, still inhabited the uplands and retained their
independence. In this they have indeed succeeded to a great extent until
the present day, but between that time and this they have given of their
life-blood to build up by their side a less pure nation of the plains,
whose language as well as its creed is that of Arabia.
To imagine that Morocco was invaded