ex

quickly pushed off. There is not much of lounging slaves and eunuchs along the more to be said, save that, once in the cur- cordon of soldiers, we came to the opening rent, the heavily overloaded boats settled in the canvas wall, which I entered, and to the bottom, with the men still lounging stood in a crescent-shaped space between on the baggage. To the very last they the canvas wall and the royal canvas dome did not realize any danger, and probably piling up in front of me. thought that that was one of the ways a Here the Sultan came for a talk, as was boat has of crossing to the other shore. his wont each day. Some mutterings were heard that the pres- “Great excitement to-day," he ent Sultan was looking for a repetition of claimed, “but no human lives were lost, the affair.

praise be to God!" We camped close to a stronghold, a Beginning to look fit, he threw out his great part now in ruins.

When, a few chest, took a deep breath, and said: years ago, a tyrannical kaid left upon a "Traveling is grand. Soon we shall bejourney, the fury of his subjects had hold the sea." reached such a stage that they tore down Torrents of rain during the night pointed his palace, and, strange to say, a part of to the wisdom of fording. the mosque, and to-day only half of the Wandering with a servant through the tower remains.

camp, we stopped suddenly at the sight of In the evening a soldier appeared be- a market-place, which had apparently exfore me.

isted there for ages. Here were the quar"Answer our lord,” he said. Hailing ters of the shoemakers, close by the taimy soldier (with trickling tears poor Gelalli lors. Great quantities of bread were being had said farewell and remained in Morocco shoveled from smoking ovens. Vegecity to attend to his family), together we table-dealers, butchers, barbers, heaps of moved among the wild undergrowth, the straw and barley, and the ever-present meshes of tent-ropes, the ragged lines of snake-charmer and story-teller were everyanimals of burden in multiplied positions where. Although their tattered tents preof ease; then crowding between the artil- sented the appearance of having sprouted lery guns to the open space which surrounds and matured where they stood, the followthe mosque tent, and elbowing the crowds ing day revealed a tentless plain.

ness.

A few days later we crossed a country Mulai Abd-ul-Aziz, the Sultan. Never beso rich in soil that scratching the earth fore did it seem so incredible that I was, with a primitive wooden plow, followed by day after day, rubbing shoulders with this a boy pegging seeds in the furrows, yields inaccessible man. excellent crops, as the appearance

of
pros-

He commanded his chair to be so perous and well-clothed Arabs bears wit- placed that when he dismounted and

Numerous and large splashes of seated himself the water crept to his very mud, resulting from the "powder play" in feet. Nothing but sheer love of the sea soggy soil, tried, but could not belittle, prompted this. their dignity.

Farther down the coast, where a promIn a few days we expected to rest by ontory of great sponge-formed rocks exthe sea-coast, and the march over the posed their pores, the canvas dome was plains would be a thing of the past. spread, and as it was impossible to pitch

At this time his Majesty ambled about tents in the sea and at the same time prehis quarters in explosive enthusiasm, serve their usefulness, those which on brought on by anticipation, intermingled former occasions were placed on that side with dreamy recollections of childhood's of the royal quarters were now compelled visions. His feet, accustomed to slippers, to crowd among us, as the outer tents of were now incased in a pair of thick-soled the soldiers were rapidly going up. European shoes, for sauntering on the As very close neighbors I had a vizir, sands.

an army captain, several scribes, a bagWould any large steamers pass ? He gage-master, slaves, forty mules, as many would hail one and clamber aboard. horses, with an assortment of camels and

On the fifteenth day we left our last donkeys. Over the ropes, under the ropes, inland camp for the sea-shore, the Sultan they crowded, lifting them and pressing envious of those who could gallop to the them down, with my tent swaying like a water's edge before him. He rode along maddened white elephant. Ready answers quietly enough, checking his impatience, greeted my expostulations : all were carryuntil a narrow ribbon of blue burst into ing messages “for our lord, God preserve view above a stretch of sand-dunes, when him!” he communicated his feelings to his horse, A three days' rest here, which the Sultan urging him to a faster pace. This pace improved in mastering the mysteries of increased until it carried him up to and artillery firing, and, incidentally, also makover the sand into the sea. He was obliged ing his only drawing while en route-a to halt there. The sea refused to roll back, copy of a magazine picture of a European and his horse would go no farther. It was monarch. He was too deeply engrossed in a heart-stirring scene; and at the time, al- enjoying the little sip from the golden gobthough the old tale of King Canute came let of freedom to think of other things. to my mind, I was under too great a magic He spoke of railroads -how anxious he spell to smile at the similitude.

was to have one, and do away with this There was grandeur in that straight slow and tedious traveling. Although figure in glistening white, sitting so majes- tempted, he cannot allow a European tically in bewilderment upon his restive power to build one without exciting jealsteed, contemplating the billows as they ous rivals. Nor will he ever be able to gathered themselves and closed in on the gratify a desire to visit Europe unless the shore, racing under him up the sandy conditions of the government change, for shore, to slip back and leave a great ex- the ship which carries him from his dominpanse of polished strand. The stretch of ions will have an abandoned monarch sand leading to the long sand-hills swarm- aboard, and a new sultan will rule, greeted ing with white-clothed Arabs and many- by the royal salute, “ God preserve our colored standards, wedging their brilliance lord!” into the sky, held me enchanted.

A three days' march from Fidala, our The Sultan's very embarrassment made sea-shore encampment, brought us in the it all the more impressive, and he looked neighborhood of Rabat, and the day set the absolute monarch, unapproachable, apart for entering the city arrived. Amid who never smiled or joked, and never the throng of inhabitants who had come loaded paint on

No; this was out to join us, the Sultan rode through a

m

of

broad avenue of mounted citizens and sol- The royal palaces lay at some distance diers extending far into the plains. Nearing from the city, and as the Sultan intended the walls, he stopped a number of times to stopping only for a few months, he said to receive the greetings of groups

govern- me : “Wait until we reach Fez before ment officials from that district.

working." A number of times he spoke of His Majesty passed through the outer the fine studio which I should build in gate in a drizzling rain, and continued to that city, and surprised me one morning the gates of his palace, where he received by exclaiming: “I have heard so much the last salutation, given by the governor about America that I should like all of of Rabat, and then rode to the gate. Just the studio furniture and materials to come as he reached it, three slaves opened the from that country, and put in order bl doors and rushed forward with large bowls kä'ida (according to regulation). of fruit and cake, which signified that the "Yea, my lord," I said, and I thought palace was in order.

of the order of some studios. Riding his silver-and-gold horse, Mulai How soon will the effects arrive?" Abd-ul-Aziz disappeared through the gate- he asked. way, to live in his palace a number of “In about three months," I said after a months before continuing to Fez. The hasty reckoning. umbrella-bearer rode close to the portals, “ Adjäib!” he said. “ America is far." and giving his umbrella a rapid twirl, as a At once I wrote for a royal studio, and sign that the journey to Rabat had ended, by the time news of the shipment was due, slowly folded it, and mingled with the court was preparing to move to Fez. Ruthrong

mors now became serious: the people of Life in Rabat was tedious. Many who that city would not receive their Sultan; journeyed with us were compelled to live they were opposed to his modern ideas, in tents, as great numbers of houses were and were prepared to keep him from enfilled to excess, while the continual rains tering the city's wall. and an epidemic of smallpox proved very At any rate, I accepted this interval of depressing

confusion to revisit America.

A SONG OF DELAY

BY ETHEL CLIFFORD

To-morrow they may fade,
And, faded, who shall tell

How once they were arrayed ?

Love, wear your crown:

To-morrow you may sleep,
And, sleeping, who shall say

What state you used to keep ?

Love, love me now,

For soon it will be night.
In da ess hearts forget

The gladness of the light.

The 'HE average London citizen who is Threadneedle street and partly by Old

not actively interested in finance does Broad street. The former derives its name, not know where the Stock Exchange is.

which should be “Three Needle street," Indeed, the "man in the street," if asked from the arms of the Needlemakers' Comto point it out, would probably indicate pany, while Old Broad street seems to have the Royal Exchange, the imposing building been named on the lucus a non lucendo with the Corinthian portico, standing on principle, being one of the narrowest streets one side of the triangle formed by the Man- of the city. Bartholomew Lane took its sion House and the Bank, and constituting name from the Church of St. Bartholomew, the eastern focus of London traffic. As a by the Exchange, which had been rebuilt matter of fact, it is by no means easy to in 1679, after its destruction by the Great point out the Stock Exchange. The ori- Fire in 1666. ginal entrance to the amorphous building Dealing in stocks and shares virtually known familiarly as the “House" (a dis- dates from the reign of William III, the tinction it shares with the House of Com- first monarch to attempt to pay interest mons and Christ Church College at Oxford) regularly on the loans he contracted. He is under an archway up a narrow alley was the creator of the government funds, called Capel Court, which well-known and he founded the Bank of England. name is virtually a synonym for the Stock Brokers there certainly were before that Exchange. Over the door is the simple date. An act of Parliament of 1376, in the inscription, “Stock Exchange 1801—al- reign of Edward III, speaks of the occutered and enlarged 1853."

pation of "brocage" and of "broceurs," Capel Court itself was called after Sir later termed “broggery”; but these brokers William Capel, Lord Mayor of London in were not stock-brokers, but go-betweens 1504, in the time of Henry VII, and it or middlemen, in which sense the word then formed the center of an irregular “broker” is used by Shakspere, who, with triangle or wedge-shaped block of build- the modernity of genius, says, “A crafty ings which exists to this day. The base or knave does need no broker." Polonius's west side of the triangle is formed by Bar- advice to Ophelia might be repeated to-day tholomew Lane, which runs down by the with advantage to the unwary in respect side of the Bank of England. On the of the specious circulars of outside brokers north it is bounded by Throgmorton street, or“ bucket-shop keepers": named after a worthy called Sir Nicholas “Do not believe his vows; for they are Throckmorton, and on the south partly by brokers,

1 The Editor of The CENTURY MAGAZINE desires to express his best thanks to the trustees and managers of the Stock Exchange for their courtesy in affording to M. André Castaigne every facility for illustrating the home and the life of the Stock Exchange.