THE MOORS IN SPAIN

Evening Star, Issue 22963, 21 May 1938, Page 9

THE MOORS IN SPAIN

[KfJaptain Frank H. Mellor, in ‘ Christian Science Monitor.’] Moorish troops from Spanish Morocco fighting for General Francisco Franco .have been one of the most vital factors in the Spanish Civil War. How did Spain come to take possession of the stretch of Northern Morocco which borders the Mediterranean and .the Atlantic? Spanish Morocco can roughly be divided into two parts—the Jibala, or Western Division, and the Riff, or Eastern Division. Between them lies the little-known district of the Ghomara, where immense cedar forests delight and astonish the eyes of the traveller. Melilla fell to Spanish arms as long ago as 1497, and Ceuta was occupied almost a century later; since then these two seaports, along with the island fortress of Alhucemas, have been considered part of Spain and administered as such. Then, in 1912, the_ French negotiated a treaty of protection over the Shereefian Empire with the Sultan, and in a subsidiary treaty with Spam Franco, sublet to her, so to speak, that part of the country which is now known as Spanish Morocco. NO DIRECT AGREEMENT. The Sultan is represented by a Khalifa or Governor and Nationalist Spain by a High Commissioner, but the situation remains as it was after the 1912 treaty of protection, and there has never been ■ any direct agreement between the Sultan and Spam. The Spanish zone is perhaps the most interesting and romantic part of all Morocco, inhabited by a people who. with the exception of the Andalusian Moors in Tetuan and Xauen, have sprung from a white Berber race. The .Riffis are all light complexioned, and those who have travelled in their country note with surprise that fair hair and blue or green eyes are by no means uncommon. Hardy, moral, and instinctive lovers of freedom, these fine qualities are marred by the treachery they have so often displayed in their dealings with each other, though, curiously enough, as far as Europeans are concerned, they make faithful servants and devoted friends. Equally gallant but very different in temperament are the Jihads, whose gay inconsequence has always caused so much amusement in Morocco. If they ' started to climb to the moon they would soon discover they really wished to reach the sun. ARABS CAME LATER. In addition to these two Berber races there are the Andalusian Arabs of - Tetuan and Xauen, who came to Morocco after the fall of Granada and have inherited much of the culture of their ancestors. I have recently returned from a journey in the Spanish zone, which I was able to carry out successfully in spite of certain difficulties caused by the war in Spain. It so happened I arrived in Tetuan, the picturesque capital, on a Friday, and so was able to see the Khalifa proceeding in state to the Mosque. These are the great events of Moslem life, and it is_ worth while travelling hundreds of miles to witness them. MEMENTOS OF OLD f)AYS. In Tetuan there are many memories of the old days in Andalusia. The sword of Boabdil. the last Moorish King of Granada, was preserved there until 1860, and one of the great families claims direct descent from the ill-fated monarch. The Moors have never forgotten that they held the greater part of Spiin, fo£ of v years, .Still to-day ’ a blue flag is hoisted on the minaret of the.mosques on Friday in mourning for the loss of Andalusia. Perhaps it is this intense yearning for their old homes which has made the Moors embrace the nationalist cause with such enthusiasm and inspired them to go and fight in Spain. But if there are some memories of the old lost empire in Tetuan, there are even more in Xauen, When the Moors were expelled from Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella many ot them, anxious to find a secure retreat, wandered on past Tetuan along the valley of the Beni Hassan, until beneath the shadow of the mountain, where a stream of pure water gushed forth from the rock, they found an ideal site. There they built their town in imitation of their old home, and stil] to-day the towers of the castle and the minarets of the Mosque rise up from out ot a sea of little white houses with red tiled sloping roofs—entirely different from the buildings to be seen elsewhere in Morocco—so that one imagines oneself to be in Andalusia. Spanish Morocco is an empty quarter. The Jibala boasts only two towns —Tetuan and Xauen—the Riff none at all. As soon as one leaves the valley of the Beni Hassen to climb up into the Ghomara and the Riff one feels one is in a land where no man ever comes. At Katama stretches green turf studded with innumerable cedar trees and rippling streams. On leaving the Ghomara the road mounts until one feels as if one is travelling on the roof of the world, for though there is no mountain in the Riff exceeding 7,000 ft the general altitude is very high, and one drives through snow. Beyond Targvfist is the country of the Beni Uriaghel, Abd-el-krim’s own clan which supported him all through the Biff War.