se," he replied; "what else do they require in Morocco?"

The houses were more like toys than dwelling-places, they were so very
small, rarely of more than one story, the walls whitewashed to such a
degree as to be almost blinding. Now and then the monotony was broken by
an arabesque window, but, as a rule, there were none opening outward;
like all Moorish houses, they had a small inner court upon which doors
and windows opened, thus avoiding being overlooked, and promoting the
seclusion of the harem, which seems to be the first and foremost idea of
the Eastern people. Nearly the last sound that greeted our ears as we
walked down over the irregular pavements, and through the narrow lanes
towards the pier from whence we were to embark, was the rude music of
the snake-charmer; and the last impressive sight was that of a public
story-teller, in one of the little squares, in earnest gesticulation, as
with a high-pitched, shrill voice he related to a group of women, who
were squatted in their white haiks, and men of the desert in their
hooded gehabs, what the guide told us was a chapter from the "Thousand
and One Nights!" We embarked once more on board the little Leon Belge
for Gibraltar, well pleased with our brief visit to the curious Moorish
capital.

The Sultan of Morocco is supreme, and holds the lives and fortunes of
his subjects at his will. He is judge and executor of laws which
emanate solely from himself. Taxation is so heavy as to amount to
prohibition in many departments of enterprise. All exportation is
hampered, agriculture heavily loaded with taxation, and only so far
pursued as to supply the barest necessities of life. Manufacture is
where it was centuries ago, and is performed with the same primitive
tools. The printing-press is unknown. There are no books; the language
itself is such a mixture of tongues and so corrupted as to have hardly a
distinctive existence. The power of the sultan sucks the life-blood out
of the people, who obey the local sheikhs; above them are the cadis,
controlling provinces; and still higher the pashas, who are accountable
only to the sultan. And yet the Berbers, so-called, who form the basis
of the native population, outnumbering the Moors, Arabs, Jews, and
Negroes, and who live mostly in the nearly inaccessible mountains of the
Atlas, are so independent, savage, and turbulent, as to nearly defy the
imperial authority, yielding only so far to its control as they deem
advantageou