THE PRETENDERS RAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13780, 19 June 1908, Page 5

THE PRETENDERS RAGE.

- AN EMPTY TREASURY.. ,; NOTHING BUT OLD CLOTHES. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. Morocco, June 17. Mulai Hafid (Pretender to the Sultanate of Morocco), who captured. Fez last week, is removing from the palace at Fez all traces of European civilisation. On breaking open the Treasury he was furious at finding only a coffer containing the Sultan Abdul Aziz's old clothes. He whipped the occupants of the harem to compel a disclosure of where the treasure was hidden, but the ladies declared that Abdul Aziz took everything with him when he fled from Fez prior to his brother's advance on the town. The possession by Mulai Hafid of Fez, the holy city, on the banks of the Sebu, means the possession, so far as the word is understood in Morocco, of the Empire. With a population of about 60,000, when the Sultan an dhis numerous retinue are in residence, Fez is the most important of the* three capitals of Morocco, the others being Mekinez in the north, and Marakash in the south. Fez was founded by .Mulai Idris the younger towards the close of tiho eighth century. Now it is divided into two quarters, old and new Fez, the latter containing only the Mellah, or Jewish quarter, and the Sultan's residence, an unpretentious building, so far as the outside is concerned, but inside a gorgeous place, with all the characteristic wealth of Moorish ornamentation. In the old town of Fez, in the mosque of El Karouin, is a famous library of valuable manuscripts, besides a curious collection of ancient globes and astronomical instruments, relics of the time when Fez was a centre of Moorish culture. A famous mosque is that of Mulai Idris, when; the founder of the city is buried. In the days of its , glory Fez "was a great trading and manufacturing centre, famous for its cai'pets, leathers, woollens, silks, jewellery, and saddlery. Even now the leathers of Fez (ire esteemed the finest an most durable made in Northern Afi*ea.