STMCKEN MOROCCO.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12498, 8 May 1906, Page 10

STMCKEN MOROCCO.

—— Maßrakesii CoßßEsroMiE.vr op " Thk Pall Ga^'EITE." I must carry my recollection a 10113 w.i\- hack to V:nd tin- time ulicn tin , <oiint.ry in a worse condition. It i-, not th.it there i.s any speci.il amount <>. rioting; for, Knee it ljcoamp inipn.--(■■ibio to coll fit taxes, tho Moors havo very (jiii.'t and peacefully inclined. The trouble from which tin , southrrn country i> Niiff»-ri now ii> due to a bad fK'srou. Tlii. , raiius liavo kept away, nn.l wlien the corn lands woro just lxv t<' snow tlieir normal grooncry c.pic w."cks ago, tho locusts appeared, 1 orally in their millions. Now you <i)i "ride for mile* »icr-o.ss arable land Ili.lt :<■- as lwiro an though it had never I" "ii sow.i, and so acute is the distiwfi \ii:if ili^ , locusts themselves ar<: eagerly !■■• :<'Jit alter, and aro ioteliing. at the tiiiie I write, ac much as .10 dollars per cumi'l-lfvul for food. Happily, for niipv, thf Mnghzen has Ix-cn moved to t;ikL' 6,;ino *>tt-ps on behalf of the Miifpriii'j; pcnpl-e, and the embargo laid upon tlie cNport of rice and eomolina in normal iimeH has boon romoved, so that hi» have liad great camol-loads of the precious grain coming in to tho market from the coast. Unfortunately, the prices have risen steadily, and I exaggerate nothing when I say that no day passes without siting many deaths from btarvation. Sow the slaves are beginning to feel the benefit of their slavery, for thoy, at least, are fed, whilo the di4ieHs among t!he poor freemen and their families can scarcely bo imagined. Bad a.s things are, there is littlo or no possibility of improvement, and, if posfiible, they will go from bad to worse. When harvcet-time comof. round in April, there :vill he 110 corn to cut, tinrl the drought will have had its inevitable effect upon the cattle, the sheep, and the gowits. Already the wandering Bedouins are coming up from the south, urging tlieir miserable flacks forward in search of green pastures that are already grey, and talking despairingly of vast, districts lying for mike round the River Nun and tho Southern Prnr» country, in which there lias been no rain. In the market-places you can get all labour for which thero is any demand, and some of it skilled labour, for the equivalent of 7d a day, and it is a painful sight to «ep men waiting for employment in a condition of emaciation, that is eloquent of their inability to do any work whfltfwvpir. Tho mortality among the children is very considerable, and the low prices in the slave market are a further sign of the poverty of tho country. In the MellaTi. literally the "Salted Place," where tho .lewfi live, there are terrible sufferings, for the people are herded together like cattle. Ophthal-

mia is raging, and the sufferers "have no strength to withstand any diseiise. as a result- ot their enfeebled condition, or on account of the extraordinarily cold weather, there h.i« been a great deal of influenza, which. of course, has played havoc in tho crowde:! (j'larteie of the town. Tlie wealthior action of the Jews in the Mellah have iiiado a confiiderable effort to raise a sum equivalent to aliout £0 a clay in English money, to k"<«p their poor alive, bub even this comparatively tiifling amoun'. has not loon siilv-cribed, Jiml tho Miflering is literally heartrending