the borrower declares that he has that day taken in hard cash
the full amount to be repaid, the value of certain crops or produce of
which he undertakes delivery upon a certain date. Very seldom,
indeed, does it happen that by that date the money can be repaid, and
generally the only terms offered for an extension of time for another
three or six months are the addition of another fifty or one hundred
per cent. to the debt, always fully secured on property, or by the
bonds of property holders. Were not this thing of everyday occurrence
in Morocco, and had I not examined scores of such papers, the way in
which the ignorant Moors fall into such traps would seem incredible.
It is usual to blame the Jews for it all, and though the business lies
mostly in their hands, it must not be overlooked that many foreigners
engage in it, and, though indirectly, some Moors also.

But besides such claims, there is a large proportion of just business
debts which need to be enforced. It does not matter how fair a claim
may be, or how legitimate, it is very rarely that trouble is not
experienced in pressing it. The Moorish Courts are so venal, so
degraded, that it is more often the unscrupulous usurer who wins his
case and applies the screw, than the honest trader. Here lies the
rub. Another class of claims is for damage done, loss suffered, or
compensation for imaginary wrongs. All these together mount up, and a
newly appointed minister or consul-general is aghast at the list which
awaits him. He probably contents himself at first with asking for the
appointment of a commission to examine and report on the legality of
all these claims, and for the immediate settlement of those approved.
But he asks and is promised in vain, till at last he obtains the moral
support of war-ships, in view of which the Moorish Government most
likely pays much more than it would have got off with at first, and
then proceeds to victimize the debtors.

It is with expressed threats of bombardment that the ships come, but
experience has taught the Moorish Government that it is well not to
let things go that length, and they now invariably settle amicably. To
our western notions it may seem strange that whatever questions have
to be attended to should not be put out of hand without requiring
such a demonstration; but while there is sleep there is hope for an
Oriental, and the rulers of Morocco would hardly be Moors if they
resisted the temptation to procrastinate