right to deal in these was granted yearly as a monopoly; but in 1887
the late Sultan, Mulai el Hasan, and his aoláma, or councillors,
decided to abolish the business altogether, so, purchasing the
existing stocks at a valuation, they had the whole burned. But first
the foreign officials and then private foreigners demanded the right
to import whatever they needed "for their own consumption," and the
abuse of this courtesy has enabled several tobacco factories to spring
up in the country. The position with regard to the liquor traffic is
almost the same. If the Moors were free to legislate as they wished,
they would at once prohibit the importation of intoxicants.

Of late years, however, a great change has come over the Moors of the
ports, more especially so in Tangier, where the number of taverns and
_cafés_ has increased most rapidly. During many years' residence there
the cases of drunkenness met with could be counted on the fingers, and
were then confined to guides or servants of foreigners; on the last
visit paid to the country more were observed in a month than then in
years. In those days to be seen with a cigarette was almost a crime,
and those who indulged in a whiff at home took care to deodorize their
mouths with powdered coffee; now Moors sit with Europeans, smoking and
drinking, unabashed, at tables in the streets, but not those of the
better sort. Thus Morocco is becoming civilized!

However ashamed a Moor may be of drunkenness, no one thinks of making
a pretence of being chaste or moral. On the contrary, no worse is
thought of a man who is wholly given up to the pleasures of the flesh
than of one who is addicted to the most innocent amusements. If a
Moor is remonstrated with, he declares he is not half so bad as the
"Nazarenes" he has come across, who, in addition to practising most of
his vices, indulge in drunkenness. It is not surprising, therefore,