no settled peace; it was torn
with civil war between the Arab and Berber tribes, until the Berbers
finally mastered the Arabs, and forced them to confine themselves to
certain districts.

Meanwhile, in Spain the Moorish Empire, which for seven hundred years had
remained firmly established, keeping alive Greek philosophy, building the
Alhambra and making an indelible impression upon the Spanish nation,
crumbled and fell, or, more properly speaking, was expelled from Spain
after a year of bitter persecution. Thousands of Moorish refugees flocked
back across the Straits to the land of their progenitors, and settled in
Tetuan, Tangier, and the cities on the coast, buoyed up with the
lingering hope of returning, when fickle Fortune smiled again, to the
glories of their old houses in Granada, and to that land which had chosen
to cast them out.

As may be imagined, the government of Morocco soon fell into their more
capable hands: they amalgamated more or less with the Arabs and
Berbers--their own kith and kin--and the country became known to Europe
as Morocco.

In due time a certain Moor, a _Shar[=i]f_--that is, a direct descendant
of the Prophet Mohammed--as head of the Mohammedan Church, gradually
united under himself Arabs and Berbers alike, and was acknowledged as
their Feudal Lord, Religious Chief, and Sultan. The present Sultan is of
the same holy line: hence his title of _Shar[=i]fian Majesty_.

A Berber and an Arab may easily be distinguished from each other.
Berbers, taken as a whole, have square frames, high cheek-bones, small
eyes, and are great walkers, not horsemen. The mountains are to them what
the plains are to the Arabs, and they prefer an agricultural life to any
other.

Leo Africanus describes them, and his picture in all essentials holds
good to-day: "They are strong, terrible, robust men, who fear neither
cold nor snow; their dress a tunic of wool over bare flesh, and above the
tunic a mantle, round their legs twisted thongs, never anything on the
head. They rear sheep, mules, and asses; and they are the greatest
thieves, traitors, and assassins in the world."

From personal experience let this ryder be added: that they make good
servants, faithful up to a certain point, to be trusted up to a certain
point; but they are rascals.

In Tetuan many more Berbers are to be met with than Arabs: the Riff tribe
is Berber, and Tetuan is full of Riffis.

Until the last thirty years the Berbers owned only