was reached, we passed a
kasbah which six years ago was in the possession of a kaid, who may or
may not be still alive, in prison. His province, at any rate, rose
against him to a man at the late Sultan's death, and wrecked his castle,
the Government disposing of him after he had escaped to Marrakesh. The
orchards of almond-trees, with thriving beans planted underneath them,
and the fat fields of barley, spoke volumes for the prosperity of his
days. It takes much provocation to induce country people to rise and
rebel against their kaid; for rebellion, if unsuccessful, brings down
such awful vengeance on the heads of the tribesmen: therefore his hard
case was probably just punishment.

Another river, the Asif-el-Mel, had to be forded on the same day. It was
a bad crossing, we were warned by one sheikh not to attempt it, and
neither of our men knew the ford; but some Arabs turned up, and they
helped to get the mules safely across. R. and I had each four men with
us: we tied our boots, stockings, camera and glasses round our necks, and
rode over, careful not to look down at the race of the torrent, which has
turned horsemen giddy often enough,--a raging river rather more than
breast-high is not a thing to be trifled with. On the banks beyond lay a
large and flourishing village, chiefly remarkable on account of its
_Mellah_ (Jews' Quarter),--a strange thing to find so far from
civilization; and yet it was not, for the interior of Morocco is full of
wandering Israelites, who, living and dying in remote Arab and Berber
settlements, become naturalized to a certain extent, yet ever "keep
themselves to themselves," housed only in their own "quarter," under lock
and key after sundown, and subjected to a few irksome regulations. Some
of them become rich on the profits of the "middle man," buying skins and
produce of all sorts from the country people, and passing them through to
the coast towns: such men may be worth from L3,000 to L5,000.

It is hard to conceive a race settling from choice amongst the squalor
and filth of the lowest type of Arab, but as a matter of fact, the Jewish
Quarter violated, over and above all the rest of the village put
together, every tradition of cleanliness. The Berber villages of the
north, dirty enough in all conscience, absolutely shone in comparison
with the Arab douars in the south, or with their larger settlements,
those semi-villages, whose flat-roofed huts were stacked with earthen or
basket-w