REMINICENCES OF TANGIER. A SKETCH. By Albert Friedenthal.

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 13

REMINICENCES OF TANGIER. A SKETCH. By Albert Friedenthal.

rifciis little^uiare than>a year -ago sinee -I svas j touringa-i^l SoiifSierii Spain. .Moroccan friends had inviteld^ifie^io ci;oss over to the land* of the Moors/ was also a most £imisble invitation from Mrs Per.dicaris to 'attehd her annual ball, which .was Shoifght a lot of all over the Straits of Gibraltar. ''-She *also- offered me ifer -.grand ; drawing Tooni'ior.A concert;.. I had finished my -tour through the Peninsula , with a concert* in Malaga, and had "really to go to, Algiers and Tunis in a hurry/ but I could not ;resisVihdse L ls:ihd > 'itivitations, 'and^'cablefl at liast in the affirmative. From the great Rock p£ Gibraltar I crossed over, in , the earnier way" that "Sobadil had- to -"take when he and his followers bade iarew.ell- for ever to the gardens ei'-Andalusi^. Only ."the previous day I lufcT -"bfeen" wanderitfg among -the 'ruins of the Alhambra. What -wonder tHail my soul was still filled with a world for | i&elK-^-a.-.^world -.-that wi|h me finds; always- its- dissolution in. sounds- "Let's go, , ■chiljlren, 'to Gibraltar?" The well-known song and dance 'called the O'aohueha — " Let's ' • see '; whether, ife* little, Moots ./won't embark at- IjasV'— aiia then t^atVonderfulvfsong, "El ■ultihio adiolC" mountains, good-" •bye' gardens, good-bye maidens of Andalusia," kepjt .running^ through my"- head.' v The Sierra '"Nevada disappeared " from my sight, the -other side, Africts- jigid, [chain of -ihoujitairis, tHe forehills of, the Atlas,' 'grew 'Bigger and bigger. In less jthan four .hours ,1 was in Tangier. Four hours ago a , kind of hyper.enlfcure of' South-western Europe ; and now, ■as if by a " magic change, a place more 'Oriental tfran -any place, in Asia Minor can. be. The effect of' this sudden change is indescribable^; js by every visijtof,''-. ""Imagine;; a' large', wide'ly-spread^ town, with a-chabs* of> lanes, <-mbre erodked-' than the lines in the palm of your hand;so harrow that often two men on donkeys, have a difficulty' in passing. ' The houses all •white, mostly flat ;!; any "number of mosques and Arabic J sohoois.Jsand endless numbers of graceful 4niuarejfcs;7 .often pointed ; like r a toojtpiclc'; -the lanes" " and markets filled with an enorjri©usj throng of "people— -Moots,' i negroes, dd'nkeys 4 , a J nd camels, with now and then a white' face from the other side, — all pushing and falling one upon .the other.' But it is not tny" "intention to- give here a 'picture of this curious town, its people, its » unusually beautiful baj', and its paradisic surroundings. Among -the -families I visited the same . afternoon, on the back of a donkey, was that of the Pewiicaris. They are, by the way, multi-millionaires, the "so-called leading family of the p.lace, if you except the diplomats. -They/jive in a lajjge house, built: in Arabic. Ksty^c, situated-" in a beautiful' garden towards- the end' of a lane, leading somewhat away from the centre or "great market."' Indeed, ifc should not be difficult for bandits -to .capture people in this part of the town,' as- has- occurred in this most unfortunate case. s I guessed^ jight,. ;when jbhe first cable about this capture" 'appeared (two weeks ago), when I -told an Auckland reporter that it must have- taken place in Tangier itself or in its neighbourhood, as Mr Perdicaris, who is'aiman-.of about 70 years of age, would not venture, on a trip into the ■interior; also that Raisulis, th© bandits' captain, -who apparently is a Greek, wotild have his hiding places near Tangier or somewhere at the coast, thus being a worthy brother of the neighbouring reaf-cabyles. And now a few words about the Perdicaris family, whom I esteem- as amongst my beet friends in- that -part of the world. Mr Perdiearis, as I have already mentioned, is a man of advanced age. He is a Greek by birth, born in the city of Pericles : a man of the highest culture of mind and taste, a man who through his kind and pleasing ways fias, "so to say,' no enemies. He has become a citizen of the United States of America, *which, you know, is not so difficult to acquire, and, as you know, is .always a good deal more valuable than the protection , of a Sultan or evan of the King of the Hellenes. Mrs Perdicaris, however, is a born American, an elderly lady, and no doubt the kindest and most charming lady to be found in a wide neighbourhood. Duty and sincere friendship oaus© m& to praise- in equal terms the womanly qualities of Mrs "Varley, her daughter. Lastly, there aro two of th© jolliest and prettiest young ladies imaginable, whom I accompanied in a delightful ride on horseback to the- Perdicaris chateau, a summer residence situated a few miles away from the town, like a Mooi-'s castle, overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar from high rocks. They arc the Misses Varley, daughters o! Mrs Varley. WHh regard t©

Mr Varley, I did not meet him. He and his wife lived apart for many years. In fact, it is only from the papers that I learn they must have resumed living together. The house of ±he Perdicaris' contained about all th© luxury and comfort the Occident and the Orient could produce. . The ball given in that Alhambra-like drawing room reminded me only of one thing — of a feast of some Oriental prince I . used to read of as a boy in the " Arabian Nights." . Yet the guests were almost exclusively -Euro- • peans. Amongst them, to my ideas, " ',' la reine dv bal " was Lady X., an Irish beauty of great attractions; a young, ptnroVwoinan^ who could tell many \ a tale of tlie Sultan, who has mortally fallen -in loves with^ii-e^.^ There was a saying tlikt England "'could 1 have Morocco for the price of this young.y woman were not her "father a proud and $ inflexible son of the kingdom, who wishesc not to have a Moroccan, and not e^en H.M.* the Sultan of Morocco, as his The only two Moorish guests were jbhe sons_ of the Khediva, two bearded' young men" 1 dressed in long whito cloaks, with, beautifuL melancholic, pale faces, remiffidiiigi you&ja|.» thoßs " Asra " that die when they love — provided that Heine-Rubinstein are correct. . The same guests practically composed ; the. audience at the concert I gave in that satis.©" hall, and I remember that th© almost magic Oriental splendour surrounded •""s}.«. impressed me most mysteriously. Needless to add, this audience, .^including,, the whole corps diplomatique, all the foreign 1 ' officials-, distinguished -travellers, the correspondents of foreign" newspapers, etc., was a very apptej^ .ciative and enthusiastic one. Both these events— the ball and the con-

j cent — -took place duxin,g the great Moroccanwhich will still be remembered by readers. Of course, these troubles- occurred ;'in^ the -interior " of the JSultanat, and the" news* arriving at the coast from those remote 'regions was very scanty, and -often failed altogether. * I remember -how we ' -were 5 - sitting, jjfre. evening— .all the correspondents and myself — outside of a /little Turkish cafehouse, wnen _th'© v correspondent of a leading London paper received the order'" to supply ' quickly 500 "words' of cable" re I ' -the 1 latest occurrence*.- Well,"* we) all" helped him- as much as our Orientalising invention' permitted . until. j the -500 th word, was<> found. I was then perhaps the only on© wbo could announce to -the Berliner Tagebla^t -with a certain xight :; ""No 'news! from .the interior. Nevertheless -tfhe 'European concept has at last taken" , Powers*" 1 have signed, and ftfoere prevails great satisfaction in all circles*' {.etc. You certainly, guess which concert I meant. v - To return -now* to, the unfortunate Tcidnappirig"; I ifore'saw at once that this apparently^; private would "turn "out to be a pqlitieal.affair^of the highest "importance-T-in other. Trords, that it- was the beginning . of_ the end of the ,'Siate of :JMbfooco. Continuous, -cables arriving . since !±henr. seem - to support my opinion. PoliticaL song's are all ugly songs, and I..do.jpt like to sing, them. "From my own point of view of moral- rights,; I, neyerr'could understand why a Sultan has always to pay the ransom. In the case of Mr Perdicans, who Jis ■ a man of" immense wealth, that gentleman could do it himself easily.. It is almost amusing to see how TTncle'Sam shows his claws to the poor, much worried Sultan, "only"' because Mr Perdicaris happens to- be -his tnibject. I wonder what ; n&_ would say if ■ such ia joase occurred in his country,^ -which, " according ,to ,his opinion, ,js the finest an"t!ie world. -Juet' tak© "up" 'the f daily tA|rieri^an papers and see whether such or similar' case's ever oecuiyin the Land of- the Starspangled Banned. " » -.Pjpor Morocco 1 ■ T Poor. Moors! fit is the; r beginning* of the rerid ! '? For ' those neversatisfied Occidentals that call "themselves Christians, that call themselves cultivated, you are not -yet dead enough.' 1 "Kou.are in -the , -way. Give. up -your "country, or clear out as quickly as- you can. Soonj-they may come singing again: ""Let's go,' children, to Tangier;' let's .see whether ''the littl© Moors won't embark at last!"? .1 .. -„.-.