“And Jesus said, Truth is from heaven; Pilate answered, Therefore truth is not on earth” (Gospel of Nicodemus, chap. iii., verses 12 and 13). Since writing this it has been shown that he has more authority in the Sus than was thought, as witness the landing of the Globe Venture Company’s filibusters, which was promptly checked. “Taleb” literally means a learned man, but in Morocco it is applied to everyone who can read and write, in fact, as the Spaniards say, “sabe de pluma”; my “taleb” did not fall under the latter head, being a learned man, and a gentleman. I had to give up this as I spoke little Arabic and no Turkish, and as I looked rather like a Moor from Fez, finally called myself Sheikh Mohammed el Fasi; but I fear few were taken in by that name. The Toledan dialect is the old Spanish of the Jews, who were expelled from Spain. They speak the Spanish of the sixteenth century, using the X instead of J, and with other peculiarities. They inhabit the towns of Tetuan, Tangier, Alcazar, Arzila, Larache, and Rabat, and are the highest caste Jews of Morocco. The Jews of the interior speak Arabic, come from the East, and are in general of a lower type. Coge mas berengenas que un hortelano Morisco. Luccos is the El Kuos of the Arabs, and the Luxos of the Romans. “EmpeÑo” means “a job.” The phrase is well understood throughout the Spains, and the practice much indulged in. The Germans are slowly but surely driving us out of the coast trade in Morocco. It may well be said of them that they are conquering the world with the trombone and the ophicleide, as the Romans did with the pick and shovel. Where these “bummel bands” once get a footing, their empire and all that, is sure to follow. The Moriscos went to Tetuan, Fez, and Rabat, and in consequence the upper classes of all these cities are fairer in colour and more enlightened in mind than those of any other city of Morocco. The others are Fez, Marakesh, and Mequinez. The system of an ambulatory capital also obtained formerly in Bolivia. Once looking at a steamer coming up London docks in a thick fog, I said to an aged shell-back standing near, “She looks very large somehow,” and received the answer, “Well, she do loom lofty in the mist.” Manigua is the Cuban name for a tropical forest. Tagir means a merchant and is a highly honourable title in Mohammedan countries where the feudal system never made trade be looked down upon. “Caballer,” i.e. Caballero, is a more modern and, so to speak, gentleman-like appellation. Perhaps a kind of Plica Polonica, or perhaps the “scald” of the Middle Ages, as when Chaucer says to his scribe who did not correct his proofs, “Under they long lockes mayst thou have the scald.” Taifa is the Arabic word for a company or following. It is generally applied contemptuously, as in the phrase “Reyezuelos de Taifas,” used by the Spaniards during the time the Moors were in Spain to designate the Kings of Almeria, Ocsonoba, Huesca, and other small Principalities. Celestina, Tragi-Comedia de Calisto y Melibea por Rodrigo de Cota, Juan de Mera or some one else unknown. This may serve to illustrate the retrograde condition of medicine in Mohammedan countries. Who would welcome the return of a doctor in a European country? A sherif is a more or less authentic descendant of the Prophet. They occupy a semi-religious semi-political position, and are as numerous as the “ancestors came over with the Conqueror” people in England. Jehad—religious war—generally applied to a war entered into from self-interest, as that of the United States against Spain. For the last two hundred years the Franciscans have had missions in the coast towns of Morocco. They, at present, confine their labours to the Spanish population. The vineyard is stony. Formerly they worked amongst the captives. Your captive generally is inclined to listen to a friar or to any one else who will talk to him. The late Prefect of the Franciscans in Tangier, Father Lerchundi, was a most erudite man, having composed many treatises on the Arabic language, which he knew perfectly. At his funeral, Jews, Christians, Moors, and other mutually described infidels, turned out in great numbers, and for a brief space the “Odium Theologicum” was laid aside, and the cross, the crescent, and the other symbols of the three jarring faiths went up the main street of Tangier in seeming amity. The Protestant missionaries in Morocco are almost all Scotchmen. I have received unfailing kindness from all of them, whether as a Protestant or a Scotchman, I do not know. Morality from mores, customs; therefore, as the customs of all nations are different, so is their theory of morality. Shortly before we left Tangier, my interpreter, Mr. Lutaif, took a man out of the prison who had been five days without food. His offence was the possession of a good Djellaba (hooded cloak) and fifteen dollars. Santa Maria la Blanca Elizabeth Fry never ceased remonstrances against the silent and solitary plan. In a communication sent to M. de Beranger, of Paris, she urges, under the 7th head, “the impossibility of fitting the prisoners for returning to society under the system.” It was from Azimur that one of the companions of Alvar NuÑez came, in his captivity in Florida, for he says, “el quarto era negro alarabe de Azimur, se llamaba Estebanico.” The Moors call the place Mulai Bushaib. The Cofre de Perote, in Mexico, is also box-like in appearance, as the name indicates. Djellaba is the hooded garment shaped like a sack, much worn in Morocco, and apparently of Berber origin, as it is unknown in other Arab countries. A Zowia is the house and district of some Sheikh or Sherif. Wad, in Morocco, means river. It is the same word as the Egyptian Wadi, a dry valley. It appears in many Spanish names of places, as Guadalquivir, Guadalimar, Guadarrama, etc. Shluoch is the Arabic name for the Southern Berbers, i.e. of the Atlas and the Sahara; Shluoch, in Arabic, means “cast out,” and the language is called Shillah, in Arabic. The Shluoch call themselves Amazcright, i.e. the noble people. This difference of opinion as to nomenclature has been observed in other nations. Abdul Kerim means slave of the Merciful, merciful, of course, being an attribute of Allah. The Sultan of Morocco is called His Shereefian Majesty, as being a shereef, i.e., descended from the Prophet. Pelo en pecho—hair on the chest, by inference a brave man, or man of action. Events proved that I was right, and almost as I was writing news came that Major Spilsbury, in The Tourmaline, had tried to land at Asaka again, and had been repulsed by the Sultan’s troops, and exchanged shots with the Moorish armed transport, The Hassam.
Four of his men were taken prisoners, several of the friendly Arabs were killed, and many others, including the Sheikh Neharek-ou-Ahmed, were sent in chains to linger in the prisons of Fez and Mequinez; Major Spilsbury was detained some time at Gibraltar, and the whole result of the expedition was that the reputation of England was much damaged in Morocco, and the country rendered still more difficult of access than before. I do not hear that those who fitted out the expedition have suffered in any way except by loss of money, but that is, probably, the only kind of loss they could ever feel. There being no P in Arabic, the Arabs use B precisely as if they were inhabitants of “Botzen and Bosen.” Mr. Sassoon was reported to be interested in the venture. “El N’zrani kulshi flus” is a common saying in Morocco. I will be glad to give names in full to anyone who will take up the poor devil’s case. Sidi M’Doul is said to have been a Scotch sailor who became a Moor, and after his death, a saint. Be this as it may, from the saint’s name Europeans have made the name Mogador, which is never used by the Moors, who call the town Sueira, the picture. Tajin literally means “the dish.” It is generally a greasy stew of mutton, soaked with rancid butter and saffron, and seasoned with asafoetida. Couscousou is a kind of dry porridge made of grated wheat, stewed, and served up with mutton or chicken, and pieces of boiled pumpkin. “Mas vale salto de mata que ruegos de hombres buenos,” goes the adage in Spanish, and it is one that most sensible men will endorse. Mellah is the word used to designate a Jewry in Morocco. Literally it means Salt, and I have never heard any explanation of the term, but the salt has not lost its savour, as any traveller not suffering from rhinitis can testify. Pagar y apelar. “Viva la gallina con su pepita.” “Outpost of Progress,” Cosmopolis, June, 1897. Story of an outpost of Progress told without heroics and without spread-eagleism, and true to life; therefore unpopular, if indeed, like most other artistic things it has not passed like a “ship in the night.” The Argan Tree, the Elcedendron Argan of some and the Argania Sideroxylon of other commentators, for botanists like doctors often disagree, seems to belong to the family of the SapotaceÆ. Its habitat is very limited, being apparently confined to the sandy district between Mogador and Saffi, in which it forms a dense wood stretching for forty miles. In habit it resembles an Acacia, being thorny, twisted in trunk and limbs, and able to survive the longest droughts without apparent suffering. It produces a nut about the size of an olive, from which an oil is extracted and used in cooking by the Moors. It is unpalatable to those Europeans who have never eaten a Turkey Buzzard. Gualichu is the god (or devil) of the Pampa Indians. At any rate, he is the spirit they propitiate by tying rags, cigars, pieces of hide, tin cups—or anything they may have useless enough to be offered to a deity—to its branches. The tree which I take to be a ChaÑar (Gurliaca Decorticans), though others, perhaps wiser than myself, say it is a Tala, stands on a little eminence, and is the only tree for leagues. Darwin remarked it and camped close by it, and it is known all over the South Pampa from Tandil to Patagones. Agadhir Ighir (Ighir means a fort in Shillah) was once held by the Spaniards, and called Santa Cruz. It is situated on a slight eminence near Cape Gher, has a tolerable port and is the natural outlet for the trade of the Sus, but it is closed to trade by order of the Sultan, and the merchants in Mogador do all they can to keep it closed, as they themselves depend much on trade with the same province. In the last century Agadhir had a flourishing trade with Europe, but the closing of the port killed the place, and there are now not above a thousand inhabitants. Amongst these there are a good many Jews, and it is reported that amongst these Jewish families there are to be found the handsomest women in Morocco. One regrets that there is no trade with Europe, on account of these daughters of Israel. Rumi, Roman, is the polite word for a Christian. N’zrani or Nazarene is half-contemptuous. Oulad el Haram. Ha-ha is the name of the province in which Mogador is situated; it is also the name of the tribe. Suddra is the Zizyphus Lotus of botanists. It is extremely thorny, and is much used by the Arabs to make the enclosures known as “Zerebas” round their houses; when dry it takes a curious grey-blue tinge, very effective in certain lights. It is of this plant, I think, that the Soudanese make the temporary “Zerebas” round their camps, which on occasions have given so much trouble to our troops. Selham is the hooded cloak worn as an outer garment; it is made of blue cloth or white wool. It is the “burnouse” of Algeria. This phrase often occurs in Spanish chronicles, after a long description of a man’s virtues, his charity, love of the Church, and kindness to the poor, and it is apparently inserted as at least as important a statement as any of the others. In point of fact, chronicles being written for posterity, it is the most important. “Drinking the shameful” is smoking tobacco, not drinking new whisky as in some civilised lands. I would not be taken here as wishing to disparage the prisons of my own country, or to insinuate that they are often empty. Reason, I fancy, filtered into man’s composition after the original plan was completed, and was maybe the work of the serpent. Others of his subjects admired his procedure so much that their catchword was reported to have been “Viva Fernando y vamos robando,” which after all, is but a practical application of the old Spanish aphorism “Viva el rey Baca la capa.” It is true that Herrick saw a certain beauty in our “Meadows,” or he would not have written the following stanza, but in his days there were no patent manures:
Ye have been fresh and green,
Ye have been filled with flowers;
And ye the walks have been
Where maids have spent their hours.
Difla in Arabic, from which the Spaniards have taken their word Adelfa, as from Dib, jackal, they have formed Adibe, Berk, a pond, Alberca and the like. I.e., Roman is generally used by Arabs in North Africa when they wish to be civil to a Christian. “Caballer el rumi” has a pleasant sound, even when uttered by a man who, in his heart, thinks you a Christian dog. The Boukharis were first raised by Sultan Muley Ismael, one of the most powerful rulers the country has ever had; he flourished in the eighteenth century, and sent an ambassador to Louis XIV. to demand the hand of his daughter, which, perhaps through religious intolerance, or some other reason, was not accorded to him. The Boukharis were all negroes from the Soudan, who, belonging to no Arab tribe, were devoted to the person of the Sultan alone. John Law of Lauriston. Light chestnut in Spanish is “ruano”; the proverb says “Caballo ruano para las putas.” Query: Does that hold good of a mare? A tall peaked fez in Morocco is the outward visible sign of a soldier or man of the Mahksen, Government. From the Arabic word Mahksen, which is not used in other Arab-speaking countries in the sense of the Government, but simply as signifying a “Store,” comes the Spanish word “Almacen,” a store, and some say also our word, “magazine.” The inward spiritual grace is a swaggering demeanour to show the soundness of his faith, an insolence of manner not quite unknown among soldiers of other powers; and a firm determination to obtain for nothing, everything that the wretched “Pekin” has to pay for in the debased copper currency of the realm. Tabieh, the “tapia” of the Spaniards and the “pisÉ” of the French, is merely mud run into frames till it hardens, and then left to dry in the sun. It figures in the saying “Sordo como una tapia,” deaf as a wall, and seems to be at variance with the northern proverb, “Walls have ears.” Sheikh is a most indefinite word, and is generally held to mean a chief, but often only means gentleman. Scribes, especially if Easterns, i.e., from Syria, Damascus, or Bagdad, often use the title. Lutaif upon our journey figured as Sheikh Abdul Latif el Shami (the Syrian), and, when convenient, I was styled Sheikh Mohammed el Fasi, at other times simply “el Tabib” (the Doctor), sometimes “Sherif,” anything, in fact, to distract attention from my white face and extremely small knowledge of Arabic. The usual system of storing grain is either in earthen jars buried in the ground, or in funnel-shaped pits known as “Metmoras,” from which word the Spanish word “Mazmora” has been taken, and from which we again took our old-fashioned word “Massymore,” used for a dungeon. This tripod is used all over Spain, and called, in Andalusia, “Anafe,” from the Moorish words “En Nar fi,” the fire is in it. A Shegedef is a kind of long pannier in which the richer pilgrims lie or sit one on each side of a camel. There is an awning over all, and pilgrims have assured me that the pleasantest part of the whole journey is the portion which is performed in this manner. It is actually sold cheaper in Morocco than in Marseilles. “The Madhna” may be a relic of phallic worship, many relics of which have lingered even at Mecca, as Burton, in his chapter on Mecca in his celebrated “Pilgrimage to Medinah and Mecca,” relates. I offered him quinine, but he looked coldly at it as a man in the time of MoliÈre might have disdained the futile drugs of the licensed practitioner knowing that he had orvietan at his command. The word Sherif is often rendered by Europeans, in Morocco, as Saint, they having most likely taken the word from the Spanish word Santon. Ait corresponds to the Arab “Ibn” or “Ben,” and the Scotch “Mac.” It was the Tuaregs who killed the French explorer, the Marquis de Mores, and they have killed many explorers of almost every European nation. From their habit of going veiled to protect themselves against the sun and dust in the desert, some have supposed that the mysterious “veiled men” referred to in the Spanish Chroniclers as having accompanied the Almohades in their invasion of Spain in 1146, were Tuaregs. The leader of the Almohades was Mohammed-ibn-Abdullah, King of Fez, or Morocco as some say, for the kingdoms were not joined in those days. In either case, he might have brought the Tuaregs. The word Almohade is said to mean Unitarian, a title of honour in lands where miscreants either reject or do not fear the doctrine of the Trinity. GrÜberg ’di HemsÕ. “Speechio Geographico e Statistico di Marocco,” page 72. For list of Amzirght words collected at Gundaffi, see notes. Mr. Walter Harris, in his Tafilet, says the word Shillah = noble, but he has probably been informed by a Berber. He also, after the fashion of most European travellers, “finds out immediately how infinitely superior they are (the Berbers) in morals and character to Arabs. Their every word and look speak of greater honesty and truth than one finds in a month amongst the Arabs” (“Tafilet,” p. 62). Certainly Mr. Harris has every right to speak, as few men know the mountaineers better than he does, and dressed in their clothes, his head shaved, and a string of camel’s hair bound round his forehead, bare feet and legs, and wrapped in a brown djellaba, he could pass anywhere for one of those moral and honest folk. I wish, though, that he had stated plainly what he understands by Shillah honesty and morality, for, as in theological discussions, the greatest difficulty is to define terms. He was born in Granada, and fled to Fez after the capture of Granada by the Catholic Kings. Being taken prisoner by Christian pirates, he was brought to Rome, received into favour by the Pope, was baptised, and died at Rome after translating his work on Africa into Italian. “Noble Shillah race” of modern travellers. “Moral and honest” folk of Mr. Harris, etc., etc. Estancia is the Argentine term used to denote a cattle farm. In Spain it is rarely or never used in such a sense, and the word Cortijo is the usual term for a farm. Literally, Bastards. El Gharb is a prairie territory stretching from Tangier to the river Sebu. The word Gharb means “the west,” and Algarve in Portugal was simply the west of that country. The word Trafalgar is compounded from Tarf, a headland, and El Gharb, the west. Flus is a small copper coin, a donkeyload of which about makes change for a sovereign. It has come in Morocco to mean money generally, and was evidently so used in Spain under the Moorish domination, for I remember seeing a coin the inscription on which was “this flus was coined in Andalous”—i.e., Spain, which the Moor generally referred to as “Andalous.” Noria is the Persian water-wheel, Naurah in Arabic, which literally means a machine, and as it probably was the greatest machine at the time of its invention (say B.C. 5,000), the name has remained. Alcuza is an earthenware jar, fixed to the water-wheel, which empties itself as the wheel turns round. The Gauchos used to call a sore on a horse’s back “una flor,” a flower, and they certainly rode their horses no matter how red the “flower” was, as if their own withers were unwrung. Malon was the word used on the Pampa to designate an Indian invasion. I put it to casuists if it was permissible on these occasions to ride a sore-backed horse, and still be called a humane man. “Algaroba” is one of the words the Spaniards have taken from Arabic, the word in that language being “El Karoub” or as some spell it “El Keurroub.” “Aqui hay gato encerrado,” is the Spanish proverb in reference to anything which seems too good to be true. The Shillah’s black horse is now in the hands of Don Jose Miravent the Spanish Consul at Mogador, after having carried me all the journey. As to my grey horse I cannot say, nor yet be certain if there are birds in last year’s nests. “Maalem” literally means a “master” as a master carpenter, master smith, etc. In Morocco it is often used for a good rider who is said to be “Uahed Maalem.”
“El Feyer” in Morocco is the call to prayers about three in the morning. An “ArribeÑo” is a man from the upper provinces, some of which have long hard names, as Catamarca Jujuy Rioja, etc.; so, to save adjectives, they are lumped as “ArribeÑos.” Bismillah is the Arab “grace before meat.” In rendering thanks to the “Great Giver” they say, “El Ham du lillah,” “Praise be to God.” Poor heathens, what can be the use of their troubling our Creator. Hooker’s “Morocco,” page 389. “Travels in Barbary.” “Trees and Shrubs of the Ancients.” Miedo guarda viÑas y no vallados. Sahara is a dactyl in Arabic. The “moufflon” of the Atlas is called “Oudad” by the Berbers. No doubt when duly stuffed and labelled in a museum he has his proper Latin name, without which no self-respecting beast can die. People then gaze at him through dusty glass, and the less educated, seeing the Latin ticket, go away wondering at the depth of wisdom men of science seem to descend to. Casa de Almenas (a house with battlements) is in rural Spain a euphuism for a gentleman’s house. I fancy, like the torch extinguishers in the regions about Berkeley Square, that these almenas occasionally rise in a single night in houses where owners in the past have neglected to be legally constituted and known as gentlemen. I fear though they would have to be descended from St. Peter, who carried a wife about with him, as his great rival somewhat tartly remarks. At any rate, even the Ebioim have never ventured to cast any doubt on St. Paul’s private character. This is consolatory when one recalls the case of Burns and other poets, including King David. Tisi = hill, in Schluoch. Nemiri means “stones.” N’Zala is a sort of post-house established by the Government. At the N’Zala we contemplated passing there was a sort of custom-house put up to swindle travellers, as is usual in all well-governed countries. A “maidan” is an open space on which to practise horsemanship, and one is generally to be found before the gate or near to the walls of every castle or Sheikh’s house throughout Morocco. Couscousou, or cuscus as it is often called in Morocco, is something like the American hominy. It is made of wheat pounded and grated, and then steamed, so that the result is a very dry porridge. You eat it with your hands, and the result is rather messy to the novice. Sometimes mutton and pieces of pumpkin are served up on the top of the cuscus, and on grand occasions it is made with sugar and milk, and flavoured with cinnamon. The Arabic name of the tribe is Kintafah. This in Shillah becomes Takinteft, following the Shillah etymology (see Appendix). No hay hombre cuerdo Á caballo (“There is no sane man on horseback”), says the proverb. A cousin of the celebrated Abd-el-Kader, one Haj Ali Bu Taleb, was employed by them to conciliate the natives. But though a man of ability and held a saint amongst the Arabs, he was unsuccessful. Azib is a country house or farm. Tisi Nemiri, in Shillah, the Hill of the Stones. Kasbah = a castle, and from it is derived the Spanish word Alcazaba, so frequent in Spanish place names. In a Bible in Pentonville Prison, at the end of the Book of Jeremiah, a prisoner had written, “Cheer up, Jeremiah, old man.” I used to be sorry for both prisoners when I read that Bible in my cell. Cosas de palacio van despacio. “Ashik” literally means “lover” in Persian, and has by degrees come to mean a minstrel, because in the climate of Persia lovers are assumed to sing to lutes and other instruments, which the climate renders unseemly in England. Gerhard Rohlfs’s “Adventures in Morocco.” London, 1874. Oskar Lenz, “Timbouctou.” Paris, 1886. Luis de Marmol y Carbajal was a prisoner in Fez, and wrote a curious book, called, “Descripcion General de Africa.” He was born in Granada in 1520, accompanied Charles V. in his expedition to Oran, served in Africa twenty years, was made prisoner, and remained eight years in Fez. On his return he wrote his book. Diego de Torres (a Valencian), “Relacion del Origen, y Suceso de los Xaribes, y del Estado de los Reinos de Marruecos, Fez,” etc. Seville, 1584. Joachim Gatell, “Description du Sous,” “Bulletin de la SociÉtÉ Geographique Paris,” sixiÈme serie, 1871, pp. 86–89, puts it at 8,300 or thereabouts, and the houses at 1,300. The Spaniards call Cadiz “Una taza de plata,” a silver cup. It is, however, a reproach to our travellers that this town, accessible to travellers of all nations in the sixteenth century, is less known than Mecca to-day, and has never been visited by an Englishman this century. Mr. Walter Harris, the well-known traveller in Morocco, made a much more difficult and dangerous journey to Tafilet, and if he essays Tarudant, I wish him the success which in my case was withheld by Allah. The inhabitants are, without doubt, the most fanatical in Morocco; but I am certain that, had I had more time for preparation and an adequate knowledge of Arabic, I could have both reached the place and come safely away. As it was, I had no one to consult with, little time at my disposal, and I knew little Arabic, and that little badly. El Faredi, born in Cairo, 1181–1235 (Christian era). His only work which has survived is a collection of poems in praise of Allah, known as, “El Divan-el-Faredi.” Little is known of him but that he was a fakir. “Literal” as opposed to the spoken or “vulgar” Arabic. “Eastern” carries with it something of holiness, as born near the holy places. The Spaniards also say a jet-black horse (zaino) is bad tempered. “Remarks on Horsemanship,” by the Emir Abd-el-Kader. Sorgum is the Sesame of the Arabian Nights. In Spanish it is known as Ajonjoli, a corruption of a word of similar sound in Arabic. Taifa means a Band or Company. The word is more used in the East than in Morocco, in the Arabic of to-day. Almeria was one of the few cities in Spain founded by the Moors. Its name in Arabic is El Merayeh, the Looking Glass. Someone, I think, has called journalists “gentlemen of the third sex,” but these guardians were connected with no newspaper. The Gimbri is a diminutive mandoline, the front of which is of parchment. It has only three strings, and yet its sound is less unpleasant than that of more pretentious instruments I have heard. These two are to be found in the notes, in extenso. I render the Arabic word “Hajib” by Chamberlain, though I am not quite sure whether Chamberlain does not better correspond to the Moorish dignity of Kaid-el-Mesouar. U.P. in N.B. stands for United Presbyterian. Stevenson refers to this sect, in one of his ballads in the Scottish dialect. This sect is little known amongst well-informed people, and its tenets have been greatly misunderstood. In Morocco the people belong to the sect of Malekiayahs, one of the four sects into which orthodox Mohammedans are divided, the other then being the Hannafiyahs, Shafiyahs and Hambaliyahs. Thus, had I declared myself a member of the U.P. church, I fear I should still have been less orthodox than the Chamberlain. Paris is always pronounced “Baris” by Arabs. Vapor, a steamer, “Babor” and so on. Read perhaps “two dollars,” for it is politic to exaggerate the munificence of the great. The politic man shall stand before kings, and they shall honour him. Tertulia is the Spanish word for a gathering of people sitting talking about nothing, or important matters, for amusement. Thus after an hotel dinner at a watering place, there is always the “Rato de tertulia,” i.e. the half hour of conversation in which the affairs of the world and one’s acquaintances are discussed and settled. The word is also used for an evening party. Much offence has often been given in Morocco by “sportsmen” firing at storks. The Arabs, who are not civilized people, do not understand killing anything you cannot eat. Besides, the stork, amongst birds, is the friend of man, as the porpoise is amongst fish. Literally a Djin. The belief in the Djintin seems to be a relic of Pantheism, or some older faith than that of Mohammed. After he had gone a doubt occurred to me whether he had left the place at all, and had not merely hidden himself, and came back to amuse us with a comedy. But I consoled myself by thinking that even if this were so, I had paid more money to see worse acting in a theatre. Sidi originally meant Lord in Arabic. To-day, in Morocco at any rate, it has, like Esquire, fallen from its proud estate, and now about answers to “Mr.” It is used in addressing anyone who has good clothes, the chief class distinction in Morocco, where all are socially equal to an extent unknown in Europe, except in Spain. Sidi was the word from which the Cid took his title. Christian is official in Morocco. If you are not a Mohammedan or a Jew, you are a Christian. Ighir means a castle or fortified place, in Shillah. Kief is hemp mixed with some other herbs and cut up fine and smoked in little pipes about the size of those used for smoking opium. It does not produce torpor as the Turkish Hashish does, but if too much indulged in destroys the health and gives a curious livid look and glaziness of the eyes to the habitual smoker. Taken in moderation it has the sustaining qualities of the Coca of the Andes and the Betel Root of Java and the Far East. A slight headache is all that I have ever experienced on smoking it. Ajemi is the Arab term applied to any foreigner as distinct from themselves. As at the inception of Islam the Persians were almost the first foreign nation they met, the term has become used exclusively to designate them. Mr. Fitzmaurice Kelly is confident that Rojas threw off the Celestina in a fortnight’s holiday, but if so, I cannot help wondering why he threw off no more, as writers, ancient or modern, seldom know the force of the American adage, “When you strike ile, stop boring.” A district a little north-east of Morocco city in which the tribes are in constant rebellion. For the yacht Tourmaline see Appendix. Swani, so that the odium theologium might not be wanting, hoped that the Persian would be killed on the road, for, said he, these Persian heretics are worse than Christians. The Persians are, as is well known, unorthodox, and who does not prefer an infidel to an unorthodox believer? Oudad, the moufflon. Ain Sefra is, or was a few months ago, the terminus of the French railway system in the Western Sahara. I should not be surprised that it was pushed on close to Figig by now, for the French in matters of this kind are not hampered with conscience, Nonconformist or otherwise. “Uaheda Sultana Madame Casba.” Magia is a spirit made by the Jews in Morocco; it is sometimes made of grapes, sometimes of figs, and again of dates. The magia made of dates is less lethal than that from figs or grapes. It is of a milky colour and very strong. Es Shark, the East. It is possible that the word Asia was derived from it when it is remembered that the Greeks and Romans must have had great difficulty in pronouncing both the Arabic gutturals and semi-gutturals. Ceilings divided into an infinity of little squares, and with pendant knobs here and there, and much inlaid work and gilding, are called “artesonado” in Spain, and I know no word in English by which to render it. “Shillah race,” see books on Morocco, written sometimes by those whom Disraeli described as “flat-nosed Franks,” and who, no doubt humiliated by having met in the Arabs a finer type than their own, turned to the Berbers with the relief that the earthen tea-pot must find when taken away from the drawing-room companionship of “powder blue” china, and put back again on the kitchen dresser. These saddle-cloths, called in Morocco “libdah,” are carried by respectable Moors when going to the Mosques to pray; Talebs and men of letters (who ride mules) generally have one loose upon their saddles, to sit upon when they dismount. Men of the sword disdain them and use them only underneath their saddles, where they place seven of them, of several colours, blue, red and yellow, and add an eighth, when on a journey, of white wool and separate from the others (which are all sewed together), so that it may be removed and washed. An ajimez is one of the little long-shaped horse-shoe windows, so frequently seen in Moorish buildings; often in the sides of towers, as in those of the Giralda at Seville. At that time, October, 1897, several Spanish, Greek, and Italian sailors were detained by the Riff tribes, having been captured when their vessels were becalmed near the shores of that province. European diplomacy having, as usual, failed, a Jew from Tangier with the aid of the French Consul in Tangier arranged for their liberation, and they arrived in Tangier on the same day that I arrived from the Atlas. The populace, chiefly Spaniards from Malaga, who had “had trouble” (knife thrusts given and received), welcomed us with acclamation, that is, they stared at us and shouted. The Globe Venture Syndicate, I imagine. Corrals, or enclosures. “Garcilasso de la Vega, Comentarios Reales del Peru,” Fifth Book, Part II., Chap. 21. A philosopher has remarked that liar, damned liar, and skilled witness stand in a progressive ratio, and for all I know, “specialists” may hold much the same position in the world of medicine. Shisha is a kind of thin porridge not unlike the skilly of our Christian prisons. “Painting a mark from the Spanish expression ‘pintar una marca.’ In the same way in Western Texas ‘Pinto,’ a piebald horse, became ‘paint,’ ‘cabresto,’ a halter, ‘cabress,’ and so on, in all conscience and tender heart.” Baraka literally means a blessing. It is also used in thanks, as Baraka Lowfik (“The blessing of God be on you”). And not infrequently as a sort of general term for goodness or generosity. Arabs rarely say “Baraka Lowfik” in thanking a Christian, but use the less religious phrase “Kettir heirac.” Neither do they (in Morocco) ever salute a Christian with Salam Aleikoum (“Peace be with you”), as peace is only for Believers. Andalusia is known to Spaniards as La tierra de Maria Santissima. The recent war having reminded the public that a country called Spain exists, I feel that I am not obliged to explain how little English money a peseta is worth at the present rate of exchange. The Powder Play (Lab-el-Barod) is known in Algeria as the Fantasia. Both in that country and in Morocco it is the imitation of an Arab tribal battle. The horsemen rush forward and fire their guns in parties or singly, stand up on the saddle, fire under their horses’necks, and over their tails, throw their guns in the air and catch them, and perform all the evolutions which their ancestors performed with javelin and spear. This exercise prevailed in Spain till the middle of the last century under the name of the “Juego de Callas.” It is still played in the East with reeds. “Si MoshÉ murio, Adonai quedÓ.” Jaui is the word used in Arabic to designate Malays, Chinese, and the Eastern Mohammedans in general. “Quien Á caballo pasa la puente, tiene la muerte ante la frente.” This fashion is still kept up amongst old-fashioned and provincial Spaniards, who, on the rare occasions on which they admit a stranger to their houses, never leave him till bedtime. It is called “to accompany the guest” (acompaÑar el huesped), and to omit it would be the height of ill-breeding. To pour out a libation of milk on the road is a sign of welcome in Morocco. Walter B. Harris, author of “Tafilet,” and many works on Morocco, and one of the few Europeans who really know the country and the Moors. Morocco city was founded by Yusuf-ibn-Tachfin in 1072, on the site of the ancient Martok, and near where some say the Romans had a city with the strange name of Bocanum Homerum, sounding like nothing Roman and perhaps an attempt of the Romans to write some Berber word. Yusuf-ibn-Tachfin was the first prince of the Almoravides who invaded Spain and overthrew the forces of Alfonso VI. of Castille at the great battle of Alarcos, and reigned over Southern Spain and Africa until the Almohades broke their power. Kaiserieh, the bazaar. Literally silk market. The word is preserved in Spanish under the form of Alcaiceria. Azofaifa is the jujube tree (Zizyphus jujuba). The Spanish word azofaifa is derived from the Arabic zofaif. Riad means a garden. In Andalusia it is still used under the form of Arriate. The haik is supposed to be the Roman Toga, and it is certainly very like it. “Wind drinkers,” Shrab-er-Reh in Arabic, is the term applied in the Sahara to the best breed of horses. Geographers seem to have overlooked Ben Joul, perhaps without due cause. A palm tree is said by the Arabs to grow with its roots in water and its head in fire. Called Retam by the Arabs, and Retama by the Spaniards. The Tuaregs in writing Tamashek use a character of their own, but this is unknown to the Shillah.
