nce he left
it, and high time he was in Fez again; for Fez is more in touch with
Europe--Fez means a shade more progression and civilization than life in
Morocco City. Round the palace lay bales of goods which had been ordered
by him and sent out from England--things such as waggons, motor-cars
possibly, which are supposed so much to shock his narrow-minded subjects.
They imagine that his Shar[=i]fian Majesty wastes vast sums of money;
whereas for a great monarch, the ruler of an empire, his private bills
are probably absurdly small. He may have fireworks let off every night
for ten minutes, horrifying Marrakesh; but the cost of his amusements,
considering his position, must be curiously reasonable: so one
considered, as one looked at the "parcels" awaiting his return to the
capital, which lay in the immense courtyard outside his palace, where
"powder play" is held, and where he receives foreign ambassadors,
marching through the great gateway which leads to his own private rooms,
over which is inscribed in Arabic an odd sentence; it reads literally,
"What God wills: there is no power but God."

The days passed, and our time in Marrakesh drew to an end. In spite of
all that had been told us in Tangier, of the difficulties and dangers
which would attend an expedition into the Atlas Mountains, in spite of
the verdict that we should not be given a permit, should be "stopped and
not allowed to continue the journey," we found that, once upon the scene
of action, there would have been little difficulty in getting at least as
far as Glaouia, and in pushing up through one or two other passes.

The ride to Glaouia might take five or six days: there were several other
places and a district or two which would have been worth visiting ten
times over. The missionaries in Marrakesh were willing to make all
arrangements: one of them would have gone with us, and under that escort
it would have been possible to travel into the Atlas without risk. We
should have gone "privately," without troubling any one, without
formality; and in all probability no one would have troubled about us:
that, after all, is the only way to travel satisfactorily in Morocco, not
with half a dozen soldiers and a vast noise.

But for this year at any rate our travels in Morocco had reached their
limit. R. was not strong enough to face more marching: the hot sun, long
rides, and general "roughing it" had told upon her, and the
responsibility of taking her on far