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CHAPTER XXVIII

A LOOK AHEAD IN NORTH AFRICA

HE life in these Moslem lands of North Africa

remains much the same as before their Christian

conquerors came across the Mediterranean bring

ing their unwelcome Western ways. Yet, partly as a result of the upheaval among the European nations, and partly because the great Powers are ever strengthening their grasp upon their African possessions, some changes have inevitably occurred. These are most marked in French Morocco, whose present-day administration will remind Americans of our own military governments in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines.

If we were to visit Morocco again next winter we should probably choose to cross from Europe by airplane. This land, chained so long to the traditions of the past and until recently steeped in anarchy, has the first of the international air-transport services with which France is binding closer her African colonies. Our airplane would take us on board at Toulouse at sunrise and land us at Casablanca before sunset, after a flight longer than from New York to the Mississippi River. Under French control, Casablanca has already surpassed Tangier as a commercial centre, modern docks and piers have been built, and its business is rapidly increasing.

If we like, we may fly down the coast to Agadir, the port famous for the naval demonstration of Kaiser Wilhelm

which nearly precipitated the World War several years before it finally came. If we are very adventurous, we can travel by air from the Moroccan coast to Dakar, the capital of West French Africa, near Cape Verde. From there it is only three days' sail to Pernambuco, Brazil, and the French have a scheme for a combined rail-water-and-air route through Spain, across to Morocco, down to Dakar, and over the Atlantic to the easternmost tip of South America. This route will bring all Europe a week nearer South America.

We

As we fly over the country we shall not find Morocco greatly changed in appearance though the French have made many improvements since they took it over. know, however, that we can travel with safety anywhere we please, riding on the little narrow-gauge railroad lines, or motoring over the smooth, hard roads, even to the sacred city of Fez. Many miles of these new motor roads were built by German prisoners sent over from France during the World War. As labourers they replaced the thousands of natives, hundreds of them former rebels and mutineers, who left their homes to fight for France.

Morocco has helped to feed France as well as to fight for her. Where formerly most of the grain raised by rude methods on the little native farms was consumed at home, during and since the World War Morocco has furnished to France millions of bushels of wheat, barley, beans, and corn, besides quantities of hogs, eggs, and other foodstuffs. The arable lands extend for about three hundred miles along the coast and end with the Atlas Mountains, yet if all the land now under cultivation were put together it would form an area not larger than Massachusetts. There are rich possibilities in planting

grains, grapes, lemons, olives, and almonds. There is also a future in sheep-raising and in the development of the forests of cedar and cork oak.

In her minerals Morocco has a practically untouched source of riches. There are large deposits of iron, copper, lead, silver, gold, and platinum believed to contain ores sufficient to supply all Europe for years to come. Vast coal beds and underground reservoirs of fuel oil are also known to exist. It was a hint of this undeveloped wealth that made the Powers so eager to get control of Morocco and sustained the ambitions of France in manœuvres with rival nations.

The French are doing all they can to improve the farming methods of the natives, who have been accustomed to getting only ten bushels of wheat to an acre. At the agricultural schools the simplest rules of good farming are taught and experts go through the country teaching better ways of handling crops and live stock. Annual fairs and expositions are held in several places and mixed chambers of commerce and agricultural societies have been organized. Stimulated by cash prizes for the largest acreage cultivated with modern methods and machinery, the natives are giving up the plough made of a forked stick and the farm tractor is abroad in the land.

The French are also trying to revive among the people their ancient handicrafts, which were fast being forgotten. Specimens of native pottery, jewellery, rugs, metal work, and embroidery are to-day shown along with farm produce.

The visitor to the new Morocco need not feel that he is at the end of the earth or out of touch with the world. There are more than four thousand miles of telegraph

lines, several radio stations, and daily mail service from European ports. The holy city of Fez, far in the interior, gets the wireless flashed every day from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, while there is a telephone even on the walls of the Sultan's harem. There are over six hundred miles of new railways and motor buses, and private cars are available for trips across the country into Algeria.

Even so recently as during the World War, there was not a wheeled vehicle in all Morocco, there were no roads outside the towns, and freight transportation was limited to what could be carried on a camel's back, and that at prohibitive rates. Only yesterday fifteen miles was a day's journey; now one can go fifteen times as far between breakfast and supper and will find little hotels and eating places along the way. Near the towns the roads are lined with tiny tents where candy, tobacco, and all manner of goods are offered for sale and the barber and the blacksmith are ready to ply their trades.

While the French programme of railroad construction is far from complete, already they have linked up Casablanca with Fez and have established rail communication with Algeria by means of the Fez-Taza line. The narrowgauge railways built for military purposes are being replaced as rapidly as possible with standard construction.

The recent remarkable progress of Morocco is largely the work of one man—the French Resident General, and the real ruler of the country. I first met Marshal Lyautey when he was in charge of one of the provinces of Algeria, and doubtless this earlier experience in North Africa helped him to make his brilliant success in turbulent Morocco.

When the French took hold of the Moroccan mess, they