MOROCCO'S BLONDES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 66

MOROCCO'S BLONDES.

6TRANGE FAIR-SKINNED PEOPLE IN NORTH AFRICA. For the first time in 15 years Morocco js prominently before the civilised world. Ti^he last time was when the tribe known «s the Rifs rose up in amu, and by making fcbinsrs interesting for some Spaniards drew odown on their heads the vengeance of thr.t nation in a campaign truly and chara^terisvtically Spanish. Hostilities on the part of ylha Rifs -were not directed against any post or garrison or to the end of securing any 'military advantage, but rather to demolish5n.2 churches and insulting Christian faith. Then, when the Spaniards arrived before : Ihe town of Mejilla, General Martinez .Campos, instead of blazing away at their forts, proceeded to pepper the principal mosque, amid shouts of delight on the part « f the Spaniards and howl c of anguish

' from the fanatical Rifians. Aside from I this brief campaign, which was cut short by powers over which Spain had no con1 trol, Morocco has remained as inert as ever. ! Without attempting, therefore, to thresh out any old straw about a country concerning which a great dc-al of second-rate stuff has been written by persons who have never penetrated beyond the walls of the treaty ports, it may be of interest to many to learu that, while dead to the great body of civilised folk, Morocco for several years past has received considerable attention at the hands of anthropologists, several of whom went there to solve an exceedingly curious problem. Far down among the valleys of the Atlas Mountains, which run like a backbone through that country and Algiers, it was said, lived a curious race of white-skinned, blue-eyed, yellow-haired people ; a little island of blondness in the sea of African melanism. Before men like Professor Wilkins and Professor M'lver began work, all manner of curious notions and stories were told concerning these people and their origin. One of the old geographies which the children of 1835 and 1840 used to study states they are the descendants of the Vandals, a German tribe, which, as a matter of fact, did migrate south, and set up a kingdom in Africa on the fall of the Roman Empire, but who were by no means numerous. Being a set of adventurers, wanderers, and Hard cases generally, they did not remain in one spot long, but drifted 65 to other fields of enterprise when their African kingdom collapsed. Then ndvel writers had their turn with these people. In Northern Africa there are two distinct races, the Berbers and the Arabs, Moors, etc., the latter being the descendants of the first Mohammedan invaders. The Berbers, living alpng the coast, are dark-complexioned, but with a distinct European physiognomy, and, though in past times many persons have sought to find a different origin for the light-complexioned interior people, it was long the general understanding and belief that they also aie Berbers, although a distinct tribe or class. One of the' reasons why there wag 60 much confusion in regard to these people was owing to the fact that they did not often appear in cities and along the great highways of commerce and travel. The old-line anthropologists decided they were related to the Basques of Spain, and that both were kinsmen of the Iri>-b and other Celts. On the strength of this Victor Hugo, in hi.s novel "By Order of the King," describes the Irish woman and the Basque woman, members of the band of Comprechecos, whom the Stuarts had banished from England, saying their prayers during the shipwreck in tongues which both understood, the Basque woman saying "Amen" when the Irish woman had finished, and the latter crossing herself at the proper word when the iormer murmuied a paternoster in Basque. In fact, so much foolishness was written about these people that several years ago men of science began to doubt their existence, and to settle the matter Professors Wilkius and M'lver left England and went to Algeria, where they penetrated deep into the mountains on and over the border into Morocco, where for months they lived among these strange people. Speaking of his ■experiences during that period, Professor Wilkins states that the degree of blondness of these Berbers ranged from the blue-eyed, red-haired, freckledfaced tyne of the Scotch down to chestnut hair and" grey eyes. He found them very poor Mohammedans, caring little or nothing for religion, and having characteristics utterly unlike those of the Arabs and Moors. In their laws and customs they reminded Wilkins of the early Anglo-Saxons. Now and then they held a sort of folksmeet, where questions of property, etc., were decided; aho electing their headmen or chiefs by popular ballot. The women did not wear the veil, and, far from encountering hostility, Wilkins and M'lver were accorded better treatment by these people than the lattei were in the habit of extending to the Moors and Arabs Df the plains. Wilkins states that he could not bring himself to realise that he was in Africa, the red-haired and grey-eyed children reminding him so much of English or Scotch urchins. The chief ot one of tlie villages took quite a fancy to Wilkins, and he in turn was all admiration foi the headman, who reminded him of some well-fed and prosperous Yorkshire squire. It seemed to Wilkins that he was back in his own community in England, with the people masquerading in turbans and burnooses, rather than being in Africa among one of the oldest African races. During his sojourn among these people, Wilkins was sevaral times at a loss to determine why, although the hair of the men was frequently red, chestnut, sandy, end yellowish, that of the women was invariably black or dark brown.

Those whom he questioned upon, the matter were unwilling to give information until, finally, by dint of a good deal of pumping and persistent inquiry, he discovered that the fair sex were in the habit of dyeing their hair a deep black or brown wltl. the galls collected from a kind of oak tree found in North Africa. As he mingled from day to d ■• with the Berbers, whom he describes ~ " white people with white hearts, white manners, and white virtues," he began to realise t-h? wherefore of much that had formerly seemed inexplicable. It was to this centre of white blood and white courage that the Arabs and Moors looked for the brains to direct and the nerve to command the invasion and conquest of Spain in the twelfth century, and who afterwards filled the thrones of the Moorish kingdoms of Granada, Saragossa, Seville, and Valencia. In Conde's "History of the Dominion of the Moors in Spain" one is surprised to read that many jf the so-called Moorish kings were large, tall men, with florid complexions, reddish or light hair, blue eyes, arid sandy beards — men who were fond of hunting and athletics (the abomination of the Arabs and other Mohamoiedans), and in walking through the famous gallery of the Generaliffe one is surprised on beholding the portraits of these Moorish princes to note that many of them are blond men. This is particularly true of Boabadil el Chico, the last king of Granada, whom nature had endowed with fiery red hair, blue eyes, and a somewhat freckled skin. Some day — who knows? — some restless spirit may rise up among these fair-haired people to reorganise and command the restless valley tribes, and then, commanded by white men, the Moors again may become a formidable people. — Washington* Post.