A NERO OF TO-DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 26 October 1907, Page 4

A NERO OF TO-DAY.

iSE.NSATIOXS 01'' THE SULTAN OP AIOKOCCO. A turbulent empire of ton millions, without roads or telegraphs, laws or justice, but within gunshot of Europe, is watching its ruler with tierce scorn. "We have no Sultan!" they say. All know tin: Prenth have cast a net about their land, and that the end may not he far off. -Meanwhile a strange hgurc sits listlessly amid the orange-groves ef old Fez, a big heavy-featured young man, well-meaning, but bored and vacillating, dimly realising that perhaps with him passes a dynasty of two thousand years. For Moulai Abd-el-Aziz XIV. is lineal descendant of those proud CalipTis who overran Spain long ages ago, and planted their mosque in Cordova, their throne in the gorgeous Alhambra. Old .Moulai Ilassan, lather of Abd-ol-Aziz,- was a strong ruler, who kept his tierce tribes and chieftains in order. A strong man, too, was 13a Ahmed, his Grand Vizier and Regent during the boy's minority. Then came his proclamation in the mosques, followed by the fateful mission of K1 Alenhebbi, then Minister of War, to London, and his return full of wonders to his young master.

"Oh, Sidna," cried Menhebbi, as he sat with Ms master drinking mint tea in the pahice at Fez, "these Franks have vast tire-ships with guns of exceeding violence. Mcseems they could lay Fez in ruins even from Tangier Bay! And :'.;;;■ ling men with caps all alike; and galloping guns throwing shot that strike and then explode. Are we not rich? Can we not have these things, that our power may live'for over?"' The young Sultan's imagination was fired. What sort of a "lire-ship" was his own miserable little yacht, Sid-ct-Turki, with her humorous Scotch captain, rag-lag crew, and rusty 15-pound-ers? lie would begin with the army. And so new rillcs, sword bayonets, red tunics, and trumpets were obtained by the thousand. Field-guns were ordered from Krupp's; and British, French, ami Italian military instructors were sent for to lick the raw and truculent material into shape. A crowd of taxgathcrs was let loose in the land; and the thirty odd kakls, or local governors, were pounced upon for contributions—one hundred thousand dollars from the Zeuioor tribe; fifty thousand from the tierce Rahnnma, aud so on. Not that the army wa,s to be paid at all, but the price for the keep was great. Precarious loot was to be their only portion, as before. There were fireworks and bullfights; circuses and zoos; telephones, telegraphs, and "wireless." Toy railroads, too, for the palace grounds, with tire balloons, bicvcles for the ladies of the harem,

automobiles, and motor boats for this lakes of the Starry Pavilion. Cinematograph shows were vaguely foreshadowed, as well as horse, races, tennis courts, and such games as golf, polo and billiards;

and, for the great silents aloons, bedsteads and big grandfather's clocks, with pianos and musical boxes. For dull evenings conjurers and vaudeville entertainers were promised from London

and I'aris, as well as wondrous veutriljipiists .tiici marionette shows that should set the court in a scream. The camera came first, but the despot tired of photography after a time; tired of even its concomitant, the amusing cinematograph, projected through dark doorways into sacred harem enclosures guarded "by colossal eunuchs. Next came (ho zoo. For by this time the misguided monarch had around him a horde of white "advisers," whose sole reason for being -o was fertility in the matter of devising and suggesting new wonders. Here was .Allah's own representative on a rhinoceros! And this in Africa, ton! There were to be birds, from the ostrich of the Cape Colony karoo to the tiny humming-bird of Costa Riea. Nose-horn-ed rhinos from Uganda: hippos from the Zambesi. And pythons and crocodiles and many more besides. The Sultan was in high glee; he was never tired of hearing strange tales of the great inonagerie-to-he. "We shall let them all loose,'' he said, gently—and wondered why the enthusiasm tlied away. .More money, of course. More tax-gatiiercrs bearing letters stamped with the dread seal of the lord of lords. And there were curses both loud and deep from a peasantry already reduced to starvation-point by piratical governors, who were forced to fill first the Sultan's bottomless treasury ant then their own pockets in the brief session of their power. Next month—next year—they might be sent for to court, and that meant either languishing in a dungeon or leaving one's head on a naU over the huge arched gates of the city wall.

In due time the animals were bought —chiclly in Hamburg, Antwerp and Liverpool. Three Noah's Arks sailed into Tangier Jjay, and then caravans passed over the snow-white sandhills towards the immemorial Fez. Elephants and giraffes walked low by two, as in the children's picture books. Terrified tigers travelled between hard-working camels. A well-fitted zoo was ready for them all in the palace grounds, and the Sultan had now a valuable means of impressing the country governors when they came into the city. The strange monsters from many lands were surely a visible symbol of Sidna's power —and a sinister menace, too, where the disloyal were concerned!

iiut even this novelty paled and faded before the attractions of the billiard table. Kaid Maclean and Dr. Verdon, the physician to the Moorish Court, together taught their Imperial master the mysteries of the. green cloth. And here let it be said that the Sultan is really

an excellent player, who has amazed many an emissary of France and tlerma.ny by his skill with the cue. Nor can it be said that the Sultan has tired uf billiards to this day. Next came French autos and chauffeurs. Somewhat strange, perhaps, in a country without roads of any kind; -till, they could be used in the palace grounds. And they were—for a little while.

_ Fireworks and fire-balloons followed. For ill.-, appetite came with eating; and the Sultan's hunger for civilised marvels knew no satiety. There was some talk of a teh-phoue bet ween Fez and Marraksh, but a compromise was made by putting in a telephone from the Ministry of War to the Palace in Fez. Whereupon Sid-el-Mcihobbi's life became a thing of terror; only devotion to the Caliph kept the poor man alive. A fine fellow tins Menlicbbi. liv the way, obedient i„ death. Alas! he was Wok m and diseraecd long ago in favor of a. more powerful rival. ' liy this lime, naturally. I he usual Iribnl |iiv?ciits and tribute, offered periodically in the great square of Fez, were rojeclci! villi scorn. ('lf what use were -neb things as Arab horses and bolls of silk: carpets and slaves: dngecru audi saddles and pearls? Awav with them all! High-spirited tribal sheikhs have been sie.ii to rise with muttered, iroprc,.'

cations, then bcnu low auu rule oil, vow- I iug vengeance next lime the Caliph'.s ] tax men called at their mountain last- j ness. I Can you wonder that they killed Dr. Mauchamp ike other week when they say the mysterious surveying polo hoisted on his house in MarrakshV To such devilries they owed all their miseries, they said. .Down with the Christian and all his infamous gear that had lured the Caliph of islam and alienated his people.' Imagine the dismay that fell upon courtiers, both Christian and Moorish, when the Sultan playfully asked all those who loved him to go up to one of the lighting bulls and lead hiin round by the ring in his nose! "It is death, 0 Croat One/' wailed one of the Viziers. Whereupon, to the real eonsternation of all, Moulai Abd-el-Aziz himself walked up to the fierce-looking creature, took {hold of the nose-ring,} and led him through the gate. The craze for bicycles lasted literally a day. Seventy of them were ordered in Coventry, England; and when they were unpacked from their crates in Fez the Emperor retired into the harem pavilion and insisted upon his ladies riding them. Shrieks of terror, laughter and pain were heard all over the palace; and many of the hapless riders had pretty bad tumbles. Next day the machines, vastly the worse for wear, were distributed among the slaves and eunuchs, some of whom became excellent riders, manoeuvring recklessly on every patch of level ground, with the usual disregard for pedestrians -characteristic of the Sultan'* servants.