16 JULY 1921, Page 20

Morocco That Was. By Walter B. Harris. (Blackwood.

25s. net.)—No Englishman knows Morocco better than Mr. W. B. Harris, and his new book, mainly about Mulai Abdul

Aziz, Mulai Hafid, and Raisuli, is most entertaining. His description of the last two Sultans is whimsical in the

extreme. As rulers, they were impossible ; as unconscious jesters, they were unrivalled, though the wretched Moors had to pay for their mad folly. Mulai Hafid had at times a pretty wit. He wrote some Arabic verses on Tangier which Mr. Harris translates thus :

"'In the last day the people of Tangier came to the judgment. seatof God ; and the Supreme Judge said, "Surely you are the least and worst of all people. "Under what circumstances did you live "

And they replied, "We have sinned ; we have sinned ; but our Government was international : we were ruled by the representatives of Europe."

And the Supreme Judge said, "Surely you have been sufficiently punished : enter into Paradise." ' "

Mr. Harris devotes a long and interesting chapter to the brigand chief Raisuli, who was for a time under British pro- tection and then under Spanish protection. He was during the war a nominal friend of Germany, whence he drew large subsidies. He is now using against Spain the arms with which the Spanish Government incautiously supplied him.