board the
climate is delightful, with abundance of rain in the season; among the
mountains extremes prevail; south of the Atlas it is hot and almost
rainless; the mineral wealth is probably great; gold, silver, copper, and
iron are known to be plentiful, but bad government hinders development;
the exports are maize, pulse, oil, wool, fruit, and cattle; cloth, tea,
coffee, and hardware are imported; the chief industries are the making of
leather, "Fez" caps, carpets, and the breeding of horses; government is
extremely despotic and corrupt, and the Sultan's authority over many of
the tribes is merely nominal; there is no education; the religion is
Mohammedanism, and slavery prevails; there are no roads, and the country
is imperfectly known; telegraph, telephone, and postal service are in
European hands; the country was taken from the Romans by the Arabs in the
7th century, and has ever since been in their hands, but Berbers,
Spaniards, Moors, Jews, and negroes also go to make up the population.
The chief towns are Fez (25), in the N., a sacred Moslem city, squalid
and dirty, but with good European trade, and a depot for the caravans
from the interior; and Morocco (60), in the S., near the Tensift River,
240 m. SW. of Fez, well situated for local and transit trade, but a
dilapidated city.

MOROCCO, a fine-grained leather of the skin of a goat or sheep,
first prepared in Morocco.

MORPHEUS (i. e. the Moulder), the god of dreams, the son of Night
and Sleep.

MORRIS-DANCE, a rustic merrymaking common in England after 1350, and
still extant; is of disputed origin; the chief characters, Maid Marian,
Robin Hood, the hobby-horse, and the fool, execute fantastic movements
and Jingle bells fastened to their feet and dress.

MORRIS, SIR LEWIS, a poet, born in Carmarthen, Wales; the author of
"Songs of Two Worlds," "The Epic of Hades," "A Vision of Saints," &c.;
often confounded with the succeeding, with whom he has next to nothing in
common; _b_. 1833.

MORRIS, WILLIAM, poet, art-worker, and Socialist, born in
Walthamstow, near London, son and heir of a wealthy merchant; studied at
Oxford, where he became the lifelong bosom friend of Burne-Jones; of an
artistic temperament, he devoted his working hours to decorative art, in
particular designing wall-papers; produced in 1858 "The Defence of
Guenevere and other Poems," in 1867 "The Life and Death of Jason," and
from 1868 to 1870 his masterpiece, "THE EARTHLY PARADISE"