FRENCH MOROCCO

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4534, 9 February 1942, Page 6

FRENCH MOROCCO

COVETED BY THE NAZIS PHOSPHATE RICHES (By D.G.S.) 'News of the arrival in North Africa of an important German mission headed by the son of Baron von Neurath, together with reports that members of the Vichy Government are considerably alarmed at the German infiltration into French North Africa, focusses attention on Morocco, one of the largest of France’s protectorates. Situated in the north-west of the African continent, Morocco is bounded on the north by Spanish Morocco and the Mediterranean, on the northwest by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Sahara, and on the east by Algeria. It extends over an area of 415,000 square kilometres. Although the Sultan of Morocco, together with his Makhzen, or Central Government, is nominally ruler of this vast, rich country, his power is not very considerable, and all his orders are countersigned by the French Resi-dent-General. PRICE OF PROTECTORATE Since the French assumed the Protectorate in 1912 they have poured blood and treasure into the country without stint. At Fez and outside the one-time holy city of Marrakeesh they, have built modern towns, with shops and hotels equal to any in Europe. They found Casablanca a collection of ruined walls, houses built with the poorest of materials, a mediaeval Jewish ghetto, and an unprotected anchorage which was the dread of sailors. To-day Casablanca is a modern city of more than a quarter of a million people, with as fine a harbour as any on the Atlantic sea-board.

The Sultan of Morocco, Sidi Mohammed, is 30, and is “westernised.” In pre-war - days he was a frequent visitor to Paris, where he could be seen doing his own shopping. In Morocco he has lately lived at Rabat, although he has magnificent Moorish palaces at Fez and Marrakeesh, the two ancient capitals of the Moroccan Empire. Rabat is the official French capital, and there the Sultan lives with the amenities of western clothes, a French chef, golf course, and motor cars. On sacred feast days, however, it is another story. Then in the palm-tree lined streets appear rows of white Arab stallions, ridden by the royal bodyguard. The Sultan emerges from his palace in a wonderful burnous, and is escorted at the trot under a palanquin to worship at the mosque.

The indigenous peoples of Morocco are Berbers, of whom there are three great groups, which differ from one another in language, race, type and customs. In the north one finds the Rif people who inhabit the coastal massifs, in the centre, the Berber group, and in the south the Chleuth group, who live in the high Atlas ranges, and in the Sus. In the plains the Berbers have adopted the Arab language and the Muslim religion, but Morocco, on account of its geographical situation, has been less influenced from the eastern Mediterranean than Tunisia and Algeria. Morocco is essentially an agricultural country, and the natives cultivate chiefly cereals and trees. Hard wheat, barley, maize, beans, lentils, chick-peas, flax and hemp are grown, but the Berbers, like all Mediterranean peasants, are essentially orchardists, the chief produce being olives, figs, oranges, pomegranates, almonds and dates. The natives are stockraisers, too, and there are many cattle, sheep, horses, goats and camels. Very large deposits of phosphate of lime, the exploitation of which has been reserved to the Moroccan Government, have been found. ABRAHAM TO BIRMINGHAM Despite its modernisation, Morocco in many ways still lingers in the past. There are several powerful rulers in the southern mountains who are by no means under the control of the French, and who, indeed, are reputed to be paid handsome subsidies to keep their followers in order. Such a one is El Glouai, of the mountain fastness of Telouet, who, within his great straggling castle, maintains full Mahometan state. Another, who lives in the castle of Tinmal, is reputed to be paid by the French to keep his nomad herdsmen and warriors in order, for hereabouts life goes on very much as it did in the days of Abraham’s wanderings. The nomads go where there is water and spoil. Apart from their horses, sharp daggers and long rifles are all they require. In Marakeesh, the visitor wanders among mosques of fantastic beauty, although it is not permissible to enter. At sundown there can be heard the dull drone of the muezzins calling from the tops of the minarets that it is the hour of prayer, and most of the seething population immediately prostrates itself on the ground, each man’s head turned to Mecca. Out of the grandeplace of the Kouti Baiya there is to be found the most fascinating kaleidoscope of humanity —witch doctors, snake charmers, sword swallowers, men breathing flames, old tale tellers, recording in monotonous , voices, interminable legends of desert and bazaar,’ camel drivers, tribesmen from the hills, foreign legionaries in their kepis, spahis and bashi bazouks, magnificent men, with huge spurs that look a positive menace. Beyond it all are the palaces and their harems, bazaars filled with carpets made in Hille, and copper ware originating in Birmingham. It is a country of strange contrasts.