The sultan of the mountains

“You go to see my cousin el Raisuli—to write about him,” said Mulai Sadiq at Tetuan. “For what reason? Between Africa and Europe there is a barrier higher than these mountains....

Always there was the echo of the personality which had so impressed itself on Morocco that the soil of the mountains and the texture of men’s minds were equally impregnated with...

It is a long way from London to Tazrut and, during the whole journey, thoughts of el Raisuli had filled my mind. His name met me on the coast of Morocco and, wherever I went aft...

When a Sherif of Yemen tells his lineage he generally begins with Noah, and, passing through the legendary Kahtan and Johtan, explains the union of Ishmael the son of Abraham wi...

“My life was good when, suddenly one evening, about the time of the fourth prayers, a woman came to Zinat. Her clothes were torn and there was blood on her arms. She had walked...

“Sidi Abderrahman tried many things against me. A wise man uses every tool, but the tools of the Bey broke in his hands. He could not take away the mountains, or make flat the w...

“Do you know Mr. Harris?” asked Raisuli, one day when we were drinking green tea. The slaves had poured a perfect bath of orange-water over us, and our host, holding open his ro...

“When I became Governor of Tangier, there was much trouble in the neighbourhood because of the rebellion of Bou Hamara, an ignorant man who pretended that he was the elder broth...

“That night there was much business at Zinat. Far away in the plain the army slept, but there was no sleep with us. In the darkness we slipped away to the mountains, which are e...

After the successful termination of this episode, el Raisuli could have lived in peace and waxed rich and prosperous, without fear of retribution, for it would have been difficu...

“When I came to Azeila,” said the Sherif, “I found there had been much injustice, and where there is no justice, there is no security. I made peace between the tribes and brough...

Many legends have grown up round the government of Raisuli at Azeila, but most of them are palpably untrue. It is said that he tortured his prisoners in dungeons where the light...

“A great deal of trouble came from the French zone,” said Raisuli, “for there were many powerful families there who did not understand the politics of the North. At one time the...

Mulai Hafid had signed a treaty with France in the preceding November, to the extreme discontent of most of his subjects. On the 17th of April the rebellion broke out in Fez. Th...

“It was written that there should be war between Silvestre and myself,” said Raisuli. “We had tried to escape the fate that was intended for us, but at last (in January, 1913) h...

“When Silvestre heard that his Government was treating with me,” said Raisuli, “he was very angry, for he had been told nothing about it, and believed that at last the policy wh...

“In the West there is a plain, and across that country Silvestre advanced. I could not fight him in the open, and there was little cover, so all my men did was to harass his mov...

“Towards the end of 1915,” announced Raisuli, fingering a Spanish map, “Silvestre occupied a line through Questa Colorada, Kesiba, Mulai Bu Salam and Tarkutz, to Al Kasr.” He po...

Raisuli sat staring at the carpet when he had finished the story of the ill-fated Alkali. I was afraid of meeting his eyes, so I occupied myself with killing two or three bugs w...

There came a day when el Raisuli would not talk. Seated on a slab of stone in the garden, with his chin sunk between his shoulders and his eyes downcast, he emitted a series of...

“By my help,” said the Sherif, “the telegraph was established between Tangier and Tetuan, by way of the Fondak, and, after Wadi Ras had been occupied, for the first time Spanish...

“One of my worst disputes with Jordana,” said the Sherif, “was concerning some of his police from the neighbourhood of Larache, who had attacked a farm on my land and murdered o...

“One of the first acts of Berenguer,” said the Sherif, “was to release Dris er Riffi from the prison in Tetuan where he had spent the years since Alkali’s death, and to reinstat...

After Raisuli had left us, Menebbhe and Badr ed Din murmured together under the shelter of their hands. Then the Kaid said, “Since the time of which he told you, the nature of t...

“I have told you nothing about Ali Ueld el Mudden,” said Raisuli, “but he was a good friend of mine throughout the war, and he was so clever that many thought he was possessed b...

“When Tazrut was first shelled,” said Raisuli, “there were many who were terrified and would have fled, but I ordered that no one should leave the town, and set guards on the hi...

“And that is all.” The Sherif gave a sigh and hitched up his jellaba till the rose-red kaftan[113] showed below it. “Now you know my life as well as I do.” “But not your mind, S...