Chapter XII

Silver ornaments—Mosques—Market—Snake-charmers—Jews—Police
arrangements—Frequency of murders—Army reform—Good intentions of
Sultan—Unpaid officials—_Lex talionis_—Mock Sultan—Two remarkable
events.

Most of the silver ornaments one sees in the jewellers’ shops seem of considerable age; and the ancient Moorish device of the horseshoe arch, which is to be seen in all their architecture, is often reproduced in brooches and earrings. Among other things I bought from an old Jew called Yakúb, who occasionally visits the Legation, is an antique silver snuff-box, apparently of Chinese manufacture; but how it came into Yakúb’s possession he either could not or would not explain. Another purchase was one of the silver brooches or clasps with which the ladies fasten their haïks, and which bears a curious resemblance to the old Scotch Lorne brooch. The price they all charge is the weight of the article in Spanish dollars or French five-franc pieces, often charging nothing extra for the work; so, if the silver is good—as we are assured it is—I do not see where the profit comes from. They will always, if you insist on it, allow the metal to be examined by the kaïd of the silver-market before purchase; and as little short of his head would atone for a Jew’s endeavour to swindle a Mussulman, I expect there is no doubt as to the purity of the material.

In one of my walks through the town I tried to get a glimpse of the Mulai Edris mosque, but was prevented going down the street in which it is situated. From the little that one can see of the interior _en passant_, it must be very beautiful and well cared for. The entrance is supported on pillars of white marble, and the whole façade is richly coloured and ornamented. This same Mulai Edris is a great gun here, and seems to have a finger in every pie. He is said to have lived about one thousand years ago, and his father, who came from Mecca and acquired a great character for sanctity, is buried in a sacred town, which is named after him, on Mount Zarhún.[45] Of real descendants they have none, though the men who look after the shrine here in which the son, who was founder of the city, is entombed, are said to represent them in some way. There are other mosques larger than this, but none of such special virtue. Among these is one called Kaa Ermiyel,or sometimes El Karuin, which was founded long ago by a female saint; it is richly endowed, and of immense extent, covering, apparently, almost an entire quarter of the town. Its doors open into a succession of streets, and through each one there are to be seen in every direction long vistas of white columns vanishing away into space. The interior, in point of size at least, must be magnificent; but the view is fleeting, for the Nazarene may not stop to gaze on it, lest something should be hurled on his unbelieving head, harder even than the curses of the moribund-looking wretches that lie around the door.

Leo Africanus calls this mosque “Caruuen,” and describes it “of so incredible a bignesse that the circuit thereof is a good mile and a halfe about.... The turret from which they cry amayne to assemble people is exceeding hie, the breadth whereof is supported with twentie, the length with thirtie, pillars.”[46]

I heard Mulai Edris invoked this morning in a curious way at the bi-weekly sôk, to which I rode at 7 A.M., with Mr. Náhum as interpreter. It was just beginning, and the kaïd of the market, an active old man in a blue uniform, came up and said that if we wanted to buy anything—horses, mules, &c.—he would be glad to help us. After that he got on his mule, and calling together all the men (about twenty) who had mules for sale, he arranged them in a line with an open space in front of them, round which a large crowd of people formed a circle; then, half standing, half kneeling on the broad pack-saddle on his mule’s back, with his slippers off, and amid the profound silence of the people, he recited a prayer to Mulai Edris; then followed one for the Sultan, another for the people and the mules, and in fact for every one except the abandoned infidel and his Jewish companion who stood respectfully looking on. At certain pauses he made, his hearers bowed their heads, and, touching their hearts and foreheads with their hands, muttered some responses, the only words I could make out being “Súltán” and “Mulai Edris.” The old kaïd seemed really eloquent in his exhortation, and his hearers were profoundly attentive. At the end of it the mules with their riders started off at racing speed to the end of the open space in front of them, then began to trot round in a circle, the owners vociferating forth the price and excellent qualities of the animals; and then—the “proceedings having been duly opened with prayer”—commenced vigorously the chicanery and swindling which are their normal avocation. The market was on a smaller scale than I expected, there being very few horses, and not many cattle or sheep; both the latter stock, however, were of a better quality than one usually sees in this country.

Passing back again into the town, we came upon a circle of people, with some snake-charmers in their midst. One of the performers, seeing me looking on, came up with a large snake in his hand, and opening its mouth with a stick, showed me its fangs, about a quarter of an inch long. I mentioned at breakfast having seen these people, so His Excellency, by way of a treat, sent for them here, much to the delight of the servants. The performance is not a pretty one to witness. The snakes, four or five in number—one of them the Boomraiah (Father of Beauty), about six feet long and beautifully marked—are kept in two cylinder-shaped baskets, into which the charmer put his hand and pulled out the Boomraiah. He then put it on the ground, and after chasing it about till it was in a rage he allowed it to bite his bare arm, which it did with much apparent enjoyment, and to the effusion of blood. He then took out a shorter and very thick one, of a deadly order, called the “Eftah,” which, after twisting about in every direction, he put inside his clothes next his breast; he then seized hold of the Boomraiah again about a foot from the neck, and as it twirled its head wildly round, he put out his tongue, on to which it promptly fastened itself, driving in its two long fangs, and making the blood flow freely. All the time this was going on an incessant accompaniment on two native drums was kept up; but whether to strike terror into the snakes, or embolden the principal performers, I do not know. Lawless tried to take a picture of the scene, but, owing to the ceaseless movement of the man who was manipulating the snake, it was rather a failure; the best part being the rapt faces of the servants and other bystanders, who came out well. Sir John tells me that some years ago, when he first saw this or a similar troop, he believed that the poison must have been extracted from the snake’s fangs, and wanted to let the reptile bite his hand. The snake-charmer, however, who always affirms that the poison is _not_ removed, recommended him to try the effect on some animal first; so a fowl was sent for, and the snake made to bite it. It soon got into a comatose state, and died within the hour, and on being cut open the flesh was found to be black and discoloured. It is needless to say the impulsive diplomatist retracted his proposed _experimentum in (suo) corpore vili_. Another part of the man’s exhibition to-day was swallowing a long snake to within a foot of its head. The unengulphed portion of it presently began to wriggle about violently as the gastric juices of the performer’s stomach operated on its latter end, and with its teeth it inflicted deep wounds on the man’s face.

A funny incident occurred in connection with these men, which shows how lightly the liberty of the subject is regarded in Fez. It seems that when His Excellency sent for them, the messenger found them all in jail, having been sent there, it appeared, for the crime of “holding up to the Christian kaïd a venomous snake, which, if it had bitten him and he had died, would have involved the Government in great trouble.” I was sorry at the swift judgment which had overtaken the poor people on my account; but as we gave them a liberal present, and His Excellency arranged they should not be re-committed to jail on the former indictment, they went away quite happy.

There are said to be over ten thousand Jews in Fez, all of whom are obliged to live in the Melha, or Jews’ quarter—the Ghetto, in fact, of Fez. They are particularly odious to the Moor, being held in greater contempt even than Christians; and the interest taken in them by foreign societies tends to make them insolent and independent, increasing thereby the Mussulman aversion to them. A few days ago a deputation of Israelites, with a grave and reverend rabbi at their head, waited upon His Excellency to thank him for past favours (he is one of the committee for their protection), and to beg for more. Among other things was a request that he would interest himself in their behalf to get permission from the Sultan for them to wear their shoes in the town. “We are old, Bashador,” they said, “and our limbs are weak; our women, too, are delicately nurtured, and this law presses heavily upon us.” Though I can quite sympathise with the poor Hebrew in his non-appreciation of having to walk over such streets as these barefooted, yet I was glad they were dissuaded from pressing their request, the granting of which would exasperate the populace, and might lead to consequences too terrible to contemplate. This argument has already been put forward by His Majesty, when pressed on a former occasion to remove the disabilities of the Jews, together with the pertinent one that the admission of their ancestors into Marocco as refugees was made conditional on the observance of this practice; so, if the contract is broken on one side, it might with equal justice be annulled on the other. I do not know what other suggestions they made, as the conversation was all in Arabic; but their excited gestures, and their bending forward across each other’s backs to get as near as possible, and not lose a word of the Envoy’s advice to them, looked as if they put great faith in His Excellency’s power of pleading their cause with the Sultan. This chosen people are at present the subject of much discussion, as at the Madrid Conference one of the chief topics under consideration is that of their protection by foreign powers. No doubt some change in the treatment they now meet with is desirable, but that their account of the hardships and injustice under which they labour is exaggerated, is also beyond dispute. The story of the slaying and burning of a Jew here, a few months ago, though an act of undoubted barbarism and ferocity, was much garbled and made capital of by the societies for their protection; and it would be well for such associations to inculcate, among their _protégés_, principles of chastity towards women, it having been an attempt on the part of an inebriated Jew to outrage a Moorish woman which excited the feelings of the mob on this occasion. Melh’, or Melha, signifies “salt,” and the place is so called from the old custom of giving the heads of criminals, when executed, to the Jews, who were compelled to _salt_ them before they were distributed over the gates of cities as a warning to others. Very queer specimens of humanity are those one sees in this same Melha. Hebrews of every type are there; some sitting cross-legged, working away at silver ornaments, or making the long guns used by the Moors; others cutting out clothes, either for themselves or their oppressors, as it is immaterial to the Jew for whom he labours, provided the payment is punctual and sufficient. In their own quarter they may do as they like (except ride on horses, these animals being considered too noble for such a base use); but once the gateway is passed leading into the town itself, they must dismount from their mules, and walk barefoot in all weathers. Some of the women and children are pretty, but good looks among the men are very rare, while some are most forbidding in expression. Their clothes, in shape, resemble those of the Moors, but the law restricts them to wearing only black, which, with their shaggy beards and long hair—generally dark, but sometimes of a carrotty red—gives the bad-looking ones a wild and evil expression, much resembling the portraits by some of the old masters, of their ancestors who assisted at the crucifixion.

Three cases of murder of Jews have occurred during the last few years, for which the compensation money has not been settled, and of which the perpetrators remain undiscovered; but our own annals of crime, especially in the sister isle, will hardly allow of our casting the first stone at the Moors.

In many respects the Jews in Marocco are better off than the Mahommedans, especially in this matter of enquiry into acts of violence against them; for whereas one Moor may kill another, and very little be said, if a Jew is the victim, there are a dozen advocates to take up his cause. They are exempt, too, from military service, which in a country like this is no small boon; and though their evidence is not accepted before any tribunal, neither is that of a Christian. They seem to excel the Moors in ornamental work of most sorts—guns, swords, &c.—and in what we should call cabinetmaking; but in masonry, gardening, and out-door work, I do not see them often employed. The great object of most of them is to become the protected subjects of some European power, and it is a pretty widely known fact that considerable sums of money change hands to facilitate such arrangements.

One of the snake-charmers of yesterday came here this morning to thank His Excellency for his good offices, and to say that their money, which had been taken from them at the prison, had been returned, while the soldier who had lodged them there had been detained and flogged. Alas for his excess of zeal! but it probably served him right, and it was refreshing to see the thankfulness of the other, whose conduct, though the appearance of the outward man was against him, recalled to our minds the grateful leper in the parable.

There is not such a thing as a “policeman” in Fez, which seems curious in a town of 50,000 not very peace-loving inhabitants. A writer[47] in the sixteenth century tells us that in his time four sergeants and officers were appointed to patrol the town from midnight till 2 A.M. “These,” he says, “have no stipend, but are freely permitted to sell wine * * *” and to deal in other even more questionable commodities—a mode of increasing the emoluments of the British officer which has hitherto escaped the attention of their well-wishers. To a certain extent, the plan now-a-days of preserving order is by setting every man’s hand against his neighbour’s, as any one, soldier or otherwise—though it is _par excellence_ the former’s business—can lodge a person in jail whom he detects in any crime, receiving for his trouble a fee which is paid by the offender. At night the facility for crime is lessened, and its locality determined, by the device of closing the gates of every quarter a little after sunset. The districts being numerous but small, and the gates pretty strong, detection of evil-doers is rendered easy, as escape, with the gates shut, is a matter of difficulty. At the same time, the total darkness of the town, and the proximity of the river, which can be seen foaming below the streets through many a cavity, makes the commission of crimes of violence much too simple. Punishment for such offences seems very slight, and payment of a certain sum of money, or, I am told, the providing of a substitute to take their place in prison, procures the release of almost any criminal. During the last few weeks, I hear, undetected murders have been frequent, and the kádi[48] is rather on his mettle to find out the perpetrators. The gardener of a place close to this saw, a few days ago, something floating down the stream which runs between the two gardens, and on picking it out, found it was a woman’s arm. The man took it to the kádi, who, determined to find out the murderer, showed considerable judgment in the steps he took. Noticing the arm was a good deal tattooed, he sent for the women who do this work, and handing them the limb, asked if any of them could recognise it. This one of them shortly did, saying it must have belonged to so and so, wife of a merchant in the town. This individual being summoned, the judge said to him, “I wish to see your wife; let her be brought before me.” “That is impossible,” said the husband. “Why?” “Because she went three days ago on a visit to her mother.” This was too much for the kádi, who ordered the man to be put in jail. It turned out, however, that his story was true, and that the woman having an intrigue on hand with another man, gave the above excuse for leaving home. The lover has been arrested, and it appears that he murdered the woman, either from jealousy or to possess himself of her jewels. So the husband, who learned in the same day of his wife’s dishonour and her death, has been released, while the lover is detained during His Majesty’s pleasure, the length of which term depends a good deal on the amount of money which can be squeezed out of the offender.

_Saturday, 1st May 1880._

I have lately, at the request of the commander of the Sultan’s infantry, adopted the _rôle_ of Cardwell of the army of Fez, and, assisted by Kaïd Maclean, have been busy for some days in drawing up a scheme of army reform, one of the conclusions I have come to on the subject being that, if the interior economy of the State is at all on a par with that of the army, the condition of the empire must be rotten indeed. But in speaking in this way, I refer only to the organisation of the regular infantry, for this is the only branch of the service which has come under my special notice. Of the irregular cavalry, under whose protection we travelled in the provinces, and who are a species of militia or landwehr, I have a higher opinion, as I believe them to be a force specially adapted for the protection of a country like Marocco.

We were all to have followed Sir John to the palace this morning, and had attired ourselves for the presence of Majesty accordingly; but His Excellency’s audience was so lengthy that it was settled to-morrow would do better for us.

The dignity and patience with which the Sultan listens to all the unpleasant truths it is the Envoy’s duty to lay before him, inspire one with a certain respect, and, at all events, a profound sympathy with him; and although, like a true Oriental, he always has a ready answer of the most soothing character for all disagreeable suggestions, I believe he has the interest of his country at heart, and is a sound centre in the midst of rotten surroundings. Considering also the terrible cruelty and tyranny exercised by many of his ancestors, his own comparatively milder rule cannot but be regarded as creditable; for, in the case of a semi-civilised autocrat, with the absolute control in his hand of the lives of his subjects, and with boundless other facilities for doing evil, the non-exercise of such power becomes a virtue. Viewing his character in this light, one does not grudge the tiresome work of instilling heliographic principles into the Moorish brain, or even flinch from the more delicate task of disclosing to His Majesty the utter inefficacy and swindling of his army administration. His Excellency seems to have been trying to-day to impress upon the Sultan the advantages of agriculture, to which, he explained, France chiefly owes her great wealth. Against some mining speculations which had been recommended by foreigners, and in starting which he has already been done out of a large sum of money, the Envoy warned His Majesty:—“Mines are risky things, and I would not recommend Your Majesty to put much trust in what speculators tell you; but agriculture should constitute the riches of a country like this.” “It shall be looked to at once,” replied his hearer; “I will order corn to be given to the people in time for next sowing, and they shall pay me a tithe of the crops.” Great part of the Sultan’s treasure consists in granaries stored with corn, and during the famine of 1778 the Emperor Sídi Muhammed (ancestor of the late Sultan of that name) “generously opened his store of corn and distributed it among his subjects,” every person possessing stores being obliged to follow his example.[49]

“The state of Your Majesty’s army is very unsatisfactory—a few disciplined troops, the rest a mere rabble.” “Yes, I believe they are not very efficient, and are, I am told, great robbers.” His Excellency, who sometimes puts forth parables as being more acceptable to a Moor than the plain truth, continued:—“If Your Majesty had a dog, and never fed him, would you be surprised at his stealing meat? Your troops only require to be well fed and clothed, and they will cease to disgrace you; the three hundred men you sent to Gibraltar were two years there, and no complaint was made against them, for they were properly disciplined and paid.”

By way of seeing if the scheme of army reform was likely to be well received, His Excellency said, “The kaïds of the English army who are with me have made a great many comments on your troops, and one of them has embodied his ideas on paper; would it please Your Majesty to see it before I leave Fez?” To which His Majesty graciously assented.[50]

Speaking of the pleasure we felt at having been so well received, Sir John remarked, “The officers of my Mission are highly pleased with your reception of them, and at the favourable eye with which Your Majesty has looked upon them.” “I am very glad of it,” said the Sultan, “and am surprised at officers so young being masters of so many scientific attainments.” In inculcating these practical and moral precepts His Excellency often introduces the remark, “If anything I say is displeasing to Your Majesty, I trust you will at once stop me;” but the Sultan always bears with him to the bitter end, concurring sadly but silently in what he hears.

Some characteristic remarks of two of the ministers were repeated to me the other day. “What do you think of the English Bashador?” said one. “If a doctor,” replied his friend, “comes to look at a bad boil on your leg, and smoothing it over puts a plaister on to ease it for a little, is he as good a surgeon as the man who ‘burns it out from the root’?” Though the faculty might deride such heroic treatment, it must be remembered that here phlebotomy or cautery is considered as a _remède à tous les maux_, and at any rate, the metaphor shows that some of the ministers endorse their sovereign’s high opinion of His Excellency. It is curious that with lots of thinking and reasoning men among them, the chief officers of the State should be allowed to cheat and swindle as they do, obstructing all reform, but seeing far enough ahead to line their pockets while they may. The mistaken system of never paying the officials, but, on the contrary, obliging them to make large payments to the Sultan for the favour of continuing in office, does more to hinder the progress of good government, and to maintain oppression and injustice, than almost anything else. Shortly before the death of Sídi Muhammed, father of the present Emperor, there seemed every chance of this abuse being rectified; for when each new Governor of a province was appointed, he received a fixed salary, and two public notaries (adúls) were attached to his suite to render an account to the Sultan of all fines and punishments inflicted. On Sídi Muhammed’s death, however, in 1873, things fell back into the old groove, the advisers of the present Sultan assuring him that unpaid servants were a clear gain to the country over paid ones. Now-a-days, therefore, if any crime, such as murder, is committed, the accused is put into jail, and if willing or able to pay, is only detained there till the amount of blood-money is determined upon; this, if he pays it, procures his release, a short absence from the district being at the same time recommended. Of course he has to take his chance of the murder being avenged by some kinsman of the victim, the _lex talionis_ being sanctioned by the Prophet, who stipulates there is not to be “too much cruelty” perpetrated in its execution. A liberal amount of blood-money, however, generally obviates such danger. The offender is also fined at the option of the Governor, into whose pocket the amount mulcted goes, as also does a considerable portion of the indemnity paid to the relatives. The same plan is resorted to in the case of other crimes, the rich man coming well out of his troubles, especially in the case of lawsuits about property, where, as there is no appeal but to the Sultan, the decision of the Governor is almost invariably in favour of the man who pays.

Rode out a few miles towards Mequinez with White to meet the Gordon Cumming party,[51] who were marching in from that direction; found them all—it was raining hard—sitting in a row, with their backs to the weather, discussing some luncheon, and reading their home letters, which had just arrived. We brought them the news that the house of one Ben Aouda had been prepared for them through Síd Búbakr’s influence with the town authorities; and the intelligence was welcome, as their tents and everything else were wet through. Leaving them to follow, we rode back to the town, and were just in time to see the performance of a curious annual ceremony. It seems that once every year the “students” (a party whose composition no one can exactly define) elect one of their number for a Sultan, under whose rule they all go out into camp on the first of May for a fortnight’s feasting and debauchery, and we met the procession _en route_ to their encampment. It consisted of the mock Sultan and his train, and is such a counterpart of the original, as we witnessed it in the pageant of the 19th ult., that we thought at first it was His real Majesty out for an airing. The party were escorted by a four-deep square of infantry, under Hadj Hamed, in the centre of which they moved slowly along. Occasionally they halted to allow some parties of hillmen, who preceded the troop, to perform a sort of war dance peculiar to themselves. Six or eight of them, armed with their long guns, advance and retire towards each other like the first figure of a quadrille, stooping down each time they cross, as if taking aim at their _vis à vis_; presently they begin to circle round and round, singing a wild monotonous air; and when the leader arrives at a certain high falsetto note, they all leap in the air, and before their feet touch the ground again discharge their guns, muzzle downwards, into the earth. The first time I saw this dance was at Tangier, during the festivals on the anniversary of the birth and circumcision of Muhammed, when I was much struck by the graceful motions and well-disciplined movements of the wild-looking performers. We were joined presently by some others of our party with a few mounted soldiers, who assisted in keeping off the crowd; and Kaïd Hamed sending some men to help, we managed to keep a space clear for the Gordon Cummings, who appeared at this moment, and who halted till the crowd had passed on with their newly-elected Sultan. This dignitary’s appointment is put up to auction, and this year was bought for one hundred dollars. The presents he gets, and some tribute which he receives from his royal _confrère_, soon reimburse him, and he is allowed to rob a little on his own account; the present one, too, being a merchant, is probably accorded some monopoly or contract by the Sultan.

To-night was remarkable for two events which can never have happened before; one was the fact of His Excellency’s having completed forty years in Her Majesty’s service; the other, that no fewer than eighteen Christians were collected in Fez, and sat down to dinner together. The first came to pass in the fulness of time and in the natural course of events; the second by Colonel Gordon Cumming’s party being unfortunately disappointed in getting into Ben Aouda’s house, from which he positively declines to move; and consequently, as the rain was falling in torrents, being detained to dinner here. Síd Búbakr, being put on his mettle by the falling through of his arrangements, rode down to the city gate, and having collected the animals, baggage, &c., had the camp pitched in the only available space inside the town; having accomplished which he returned here to guide the travellers through the darkness and the rain to their uninviting resting-place.