Page 3

Trip through Morocco described by
Alys Russell ’90, in Letter to News
PART TWO
_FEZ AND THE WAY OUT

Fez, the infinitely old and infinitely
sacred religious and political center of
the Cheriffian Empire, lies in the valley
of the river Fez, it houses and gardens
creeping up the narrow gorge and along
the plateau from which the river de-
cends in a hundred cascades. Seen fror.
the surrounding bare and savage hills
enclosed in heavy crenellated red-
brown walls 60 feet high, it is a veri-
table paradise of green gardens and
white mosques and houses. Slender and
green-tiled minarets and the tiled cupo-
la of the sacred tomb of Moulay Irdiss
II rise above the flat roofs of the houses,
and reflect the brilliant African sun at
noonday, and the lovely rose colour of
evening, when the sun sets behind the
distant Atlas mountains. For a thou-
sand years it has lain thus, beautiful
and remote,—a town of pilgrimage for
Mohammedans.

Ride Trough Fez on Mules

Seen from outside, the town looked
to us very spacious, but inside we found
it an almost inextricable network of nar
row and_ tortuous
threaded on our mules between mysteri- |
ous white walls, or through the busy |
souks (Bazaars) lined with shops. And |
up and down was always surging a}
crowd, handsomely dressed Fasi, offi- |
cials or merchants, negroes driving heav
ily laden donkeys who could more easily |
pass under the over-hanging caves than |
we cotild on our mites, half-clothed Nu- |



streets which we

bian watersellers, veiled Fasi women |
draped in white with. only one eye |
visible, though their legs were often |
bare. It was a miracle how the child- |
ren, in the long, uncomfortable garments, |
escaped the crowd of men and _ beasts
by creeping into the low doorways or
under the shop ledges.

Search Shops for Deanery Curtains

The shops are about four feet above
the pavement, and the shopkeepers climb
up to them by hanging ropes, when they |
have taken down their shutters, and com-

rooms awaiting purchasers with orien-|
tal indifference. We found them al- |
most annoyed with our desire to buy
new curtains for the Deanery working- |
room of the silk and cotton-and-gold |
thread mixture which is a specialty of |
Fez, but when we insisted, they srade- |
ally grew interested, and later followed
us to the hotel, where [ found four in
my bedroom with new goods to show.

.

pose themselves in their tiny show- |
i

|

|

Explore Mohammedan Marriage Customs
Our passage along the streets was of-
ten interrupted by processions of neg-
roes carrying on their heads great bowls
of Kouskous, (the national dish of mut-
ton, rice and spices,) and other cooked
food. These were the engagement pre-
sents from a bride-elect to her fiance, af-
ter her finger nails have been dyed with
henna, and she has received a jewel from
her mother-in-law elect. The fetes of!
these marriages, which are arranged by
the parents when the girl is 15 or 16, |
and the boy about 20 constitute, with cer-
tain other family fetes, the principal
social events in the monotonous and re



cluse life of the women, who rarely go
out, even veiled, and can only have fresh
Never |
taking exercise, they develop the moun-|
tains of fat so much admired in the}
East. The marriage contracts contain
many elaborate regulations, often stip- |
ulating the number of negresses the bride |
may employ, and even the number of
visits she may receive from her own mo

air on their roofs at sundown.

ther. But a wife's position is always ir
secure, as her husband may divorce he:
at will, and need only provide her with

sustenance for three months

THE COLLEGE NEWS

_ Henna Nails Insignia for Wedlock

The Jewish women, on the contrary,
whom we met in their own special quar-
ter, the Mellah, go about quite freely,
with faces uncovered under a bright
kerchief or handsome green velvet cap,
and. wearing brilliant clothes covered
with jewelry. The little girls, too, are
richly dressed, but generally, alas! their
finger nails, even at five or six years.
are dyed with henna, which means mar-
riage.

The narrow streets of the Mullah were
crowded, too, but largely with French
or Spanish soldiers and working-men,
(there were no tourists of any nation-
ality,) searching for the drinks that can-
not be found in Mohammedan “dry”
Fez. If any Arabs were seated at the
Jewish cafes, they were only drinking
elaborately sweetened tea, the national
drink, and were seldom smoking.

Often in Fez, we peeped into the tiny
stuffy school-rooms, where we could see
the boys squatting on the crowded floor,
rocking to and fro, as they conned their
lesson. The smaller boys of four or
five years were in front for handcuffs
from the venerable master, while the old-
er boys at the back were within reach



Jet Wr rod. All slong cur walla, the

hum of their monotonous voices could
be heard above the street cries and the
noise of the many waters of Fez. The
gurgling fountains and the rushing
streams under the houses, fill the night
with soothing sounds, otherwise quiet
till the Meuzzins call to prayer from
every minaret at dawn.

Military Escort on Road to Algiers

We had to tear ourselves away from
Fez, as we wanted to reach Algiers and
Tunis before the winter rains, but as
it had been difficult to get to Fez from
the southwest, it seemed impossible to
get away through the east. The tribes
were in rebellion; the motor road of
100 miles to Taza was bad, and the light
train from Taza to the frontier was pre-
empted for military transport. We final-
ly secured a car, however, to carry us
along the Taza road, carefully guarded
by gaily dressed native cavalry, or by
infantry ensconced on hillocks behind
sandbags with pointing rifles. Our guide
was especially afraid of brigands, and the
chauffeur would only stop for our pic-
nic lunch by .a soldiers’ encampment.
and put on tremendous speed to hurry
by some armed natives at a lonely spot



of the road.

After twelve hours of jolting and ut-
ter discomfort, we reached the Algerian
frontier and found a comfortable train
for Algiers and civilization. Now we
are settled in a perfect French hotel,
overlooking the lovely bay of Algiers
and the white apartment houses like a
minature Paris, which the French have
created out of Barbarossa’s pirate town,
where Cervantes was once a prisoner.
As Algiers is only 36 hours from Mar-
seilles, we have reached the land of tour-
ists, including several sulky and silent
brides and grooms, who have omitted
to provide themselves, as we have done,
with novels and interesting books of tra-
vel to read at table d’hote.



BATES HOUSE TO BE RENOVATED
Although in such great need of repair
last summer that it was feared the
building could not be used again, Bates
House will be run as usual this year.
It is being completely done over and
repapered; the plumbing will be fixed
and the leaks in the roof mended, so
that in June the children from New
York and their mothers will find it ready
for another vacation.









Some Advantages of
Railroad Electrification

Saving the Nation's coal
Lower maintenance costs,

Greater reliability and fewer
delays.

Ability to haul smoothly
heavier ‘trains at higher
speed.



Operation of electric locomo-
tives unaffected by extreme
cold.

Ability to brake trains on
descending grades by re-
turning pow or to the trolley.





i

General@Electric
Company siyas...

General Office
Schenectady, N'Y.

LECTRICITY has leveled out
the Continental Divide. The
steam locomotive, marvelous as it is
after a century of development, can-
not meet allof the presentdemandsfor
transportation facilities. Its electric
tival has proved to be far superior.

On the mountain divisions of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railway—the world’s greatest elec-
trification—giant electric locomotives
today lift an ever increasing freight
tonnage over the mile-high Rockies
and also make traveling clean and
comfortable. They utilize the abun-
dant energy of distant waterfalls and
then, by returning some of this
power to the trolley, safely brake the
trains on descending grades. And
their capabilities are not impaired
by excessively cold weather when the
steam engine is frozen and helpless.

The Power of Electricity
in Transportation




Electricity is the power which
drives the trains of New York City’s
subway and elevated systems. It
operates the locks and tows the ships
through the Panama Canal. It pro-
pels the Navy's latest super-dread-
naught, the New Mexico. Electric
mine locomotives have replaced the
slow-moving mule and the electric
automobile has also come todoan im- |
portantservice. Such achievements

were made possible by the extensive

research and manufacturing activities

of the General Electric Company.



Electricity has become the universal
motive power. It has contributed
efficiency and comfort to every form
of transportation service and in this
evolution General Electric apparatus
has played a large part — from
mighty electric locomotives to
the tiny lamp for the automobile.

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