menu_book Chapter 6

Section 6 of France, Spain, and the Riff, Part 1, by Walter Burton Harris. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Alistair. Chapter 4A. Spaniards and Gibala. The Spanish campaign in Morocco was not confined to the Riff. Farther west, extending from the Straits of Gibraltar southward, as far as the French Protectorate frontier, and even beyond,

between the confines of the Riff on the East, at the Atlantic coast, is the country known as the Jabala. Arabic, Ghibli, a mountaineer. Plural, Jabala, mountaineers. At the extreme north-eastern corner of this region, on the Straits of Gibraltar, lies Ceuta, which has been, since 1580, a Spanish possession and is recognised as a Spanish territory. These districts, with the exception of the southern Jabala tribes which lie in the French protectorate, are included in the

Spanish zone of Morocco into which, by the terms of the Treaty of 1912, Spain undertook to introduce law and order. Until 1926 the Rif and the Jabala were entirely separated. The Spaniards never having succeeded, they had never even attempted it, in opening communication by land. The result was that Spain was engaged in two entirely separate campaigns in Morocco, against tribes speaking a different language, though of a common origin. The sea route was the only means by which troops

could be conveyed from one sector of the war to the other. In each sector, except when fine weather permitted of landing in open roadsteads, there was only one port, Ceuta in the west and Malilia in the east. Laresh on the Atlantic coast is inaccessible with westerly winds. These two harbours were the principal bases of the Spanish army. Ceuta is connected by a broad gauge railway with Tetuan, about 20 miles to the south, while from Malilia, a narrow gauge military

line ran westward as far as Battelle, a distance of 30 miles. Between these two seats of war lay a mountainous district of unexplored and unknown country inhabited by the Jabala, the Homara, and further east the tribes of the Western Riff. It seems strange that while travellers have penetrated to almost every point of Central Africa, this large and important region of Morocco has remained absolutely closed to all outside knowledge and discovery. For, like the Riffies,

the Jabala tribesmen have guarded not only their independence, but also their seclusion. From Tangier itself, mountain ranges are visible which have never yet been reached by any European, except perhaps some deserter of the foreign legion, or a criminal escaped from the penal settlement at Zayuta, who may have penetrated there in an attempt to find a hiding place in the recesses of those inhospitable valleys. Even when Szechuan, the flourishing little

mountain town of the Akmas tribe, was occupied by the Spanish troops in 1920, the writer was the only living European who had ever been there. De Foucault and Mr William Summers, the only others who are known to have penetrated thus far, having died before that date. When in May 1926, Abdel Krim surrendered, the nearest points of the two Spanish fronts in northern Morocco were over 80 miles apart and all the intervening district, with the exception of the triangle of

Tetuan, Szechuan, Wadlau, which had been previously occupied in 1920 and abandoned in 1924, was totally unexplored. The sole knowledge of these regions was based on information collected from the natives, and on a few photographs of the less remote portions taken from the air. It is curious to realise, in 1926, that, from on board the Great Liners as they leave Gibraltar for the east. The peaceful traveller can see in fine weather the mountain ranges south of Tetawan,

which remain one of the few regions of Africa that have never been visited. More is known of the jungle-covered slopes of Ruanzori than of the cedar forests of Homara. Yet the Jabala tribesmen who inhabit these mountains are no savages, but members of an organised society boasting an ancient civilization, and closely allied in mentality, and probably in race, with Europe. Adherence to religious tenets as well as the social injunctions of Islam, they obey the recognized Quranic law,

which is only discarded in cases where their tribal traditions and system of hereditary democracy is too firmly embedded to be neglected. Courageous, indifferent to suffering, devoted to their families and their children. Religious in practice, yet with no very deep sentiment of religion, this white race of Arabized Berbers presents a most interesting study. In many respects they differ from the Rifis, whose morality is superior, but who lack the humour

and gaiety of the Jabala. Excitable and easily led, they will readily adopt a new cause or a new leader, to abandon both with disconcerting facility should the fancy take them to do so. Their principal characteristic, in the opinion of other natives and in their own, is their consequence of thought and action. They are confirmed optimists in spite of constant disillusion. The millennium is always on the point of arriving, but never comes. They have accepted

a multitude of religious and temporal leaders, and almost always found that they were leaning upon reeds of the weakest fibre. They have often turned against, and frequently slain, with the same enthusiastic zeal in which they accepted them, the chiefs who had failed to carry out their promises to regenerate the world or lead them to victory. They have been the victims of a hundred impostors, many of whom became in turn their own victims. From time to time they

ran up against a strongman and adopted his cause, such were Raisouli and Abdelkrim, but their enthusiasm generally ended in regrets, for they found that the hands they filled with money scourged them with whips in return. Improvident, caring little for today and not worrying at all about tomorrow, while the day after is much too far removed to even think about,

they live their lives in the cold and rain and snow of their high mountains, or in the warmer valleys below, cultivating such soil as is capable of cultivation, and earning a precarious livelihood by supplying the towns with charcoal and fresh or dried fruits,

speaking Arabic with a strong local accent for their original tongue was Tamazurth or Shelha and laughed at for their ingenuousness and inconsequence the Ghibli have always been the butt of the other Moors he realises this full well himself

and his humour is sufficient to make fun of it there is no one who will recount the stories against himself with more gusto and with more enjoyment than the tribesmen of the Jabala I called to mind two of these tales

told me in the heart of their country. A ghibli visiting the plains brought a sheep, determined to start and to own a flock, for in his mountain district there were only goats. Already in his mind he saw the slopes of his mountains

white with the fleeces of snowy lambs. On his return home to celebrate his new and rare acquisition, he gave a feast to all his friends. After the repast of cooked meats, he led them out to see the sheep.

It was only then that he realised that he had killed it and cooked it as the piece de resistance of the entertainment. The second story treats of the same spirit of inconsequence. A local chief of the Beni Mastara tribe had been confirmed in his office by the Sultan and given the title of Cade. He and his tribesmen being mountaineers never rode horses, but he was told that his new dignity necessitated the purchase of a steed. He bought one and appeared at the first official ceremony riding it barebacked.

He was at once informed that he must add a saddle, one of those cumbersome rich expensive saddles in which the heart of the Arab rider delights. He had no money and was terribly worried as to what to do. Suddenly an inspiration came to him. He took his horse to the market and sold it and with the money thus acquired he bought a saddle.

The next day there was an official ceremony. At dawn he staggered to the stable, borne down by the weight of the magnificent saddle, but found no horse. It was only then that he realised that his solution of the problem was not faultless. Like the Rifis, the Jabala have defended their country against all invasion.

Once or twice a sultan has passed through their mountains. The last time was Molai Hassan's visit in 1890. And now and again, the Moorish army has been sent to repress some local insurrection. or to put down some too flagrant act of pillage. But the lesson, if ever learned, was soon forgotten.

Forgetful of yesterday and taking no thought for tomorrow, the Jubala returned to their independence and their tribal feuds. While the Rift possesses no towns, the Jubala can lie claim to three, Tetawan, Szechuan and Wazan, for all of these lie in their country, the first two in the Spanish sphere, the third in the French protectorate.

Tetouan, now the capital of the Spanish zone, is well known, not only on account of its political importance, but also because it is one of the most delightful and most accessible cities of Morocco. Situated less than 50 miles from Tangier, it can be reached by motor in from two to three hours. Although Tetouan was designated as the capital of the Spanish zone, it was not the first of the towns to be occupied, for, a year before the signing of the 1912 Treaty with France, which

supplemented the original 1904 agreement, the Spaniards had landed in the Reich and marched inland to El Cazir el Cabir, more commonly known as Alcazar. This was in 1911. It was on this occasion that the Spaniards first came into contact with Raisulli, who was destined to play so important and so sinister a part in the succeeding years. Even at this moment when he held out a helping hand to the Spaniards and staged for them the supposed attack upon Alcazar,

which brought about the hurried arrival of troops from Laresche, he was merely raising the curtain on the opening scenes of a drama in which he reserved for himself the leading part. But he was not the only claimant for the role of the hero. Colonel Silvestri, who commanded the Spanish expeditionary force from La Reche, afterwards so well known as General Silvestri, was a rival who knew how to insist, and it was only a few days later that the long struggle

between Reisuli and Silvestri began. The first interview had been cordial. Silvestri made, and Reisuli accepted, presents. It was a way Reisuli had, and was thoroughly characteristic of his whole attitude to life. The actual reason of the ensuing quarrel was that Silvestri was not satisfied with the occupation of Alcazar alone. He desired to continue his march northward at once and take possession of Arzala, a little walled town lying about halfway between Laresh

and Tangier on the Atlantic coast. He even hinted that he intended to force his way right through Tetuan across the intervening tribe lands of the Jabala. He found his intentions and his desires stubbornly resisted. Raisulli had no wish to see the Spaniards at Arzala, where he owned property and which he considered as his headquarters. The presence of Spanish troops at La Reche and Alcazar was a matter of almost indifference to him, for neither of those places had ever fallen either

legally in his jurisdiction or even under his usurped authority, but Arzala was a different question altogether. Raysulli's systematic obstruction forced Silvestri to abandon, for a time, any movement northwards, and, impatient by nature, he chafed under the position of inferiority in which he found himself. To remove the ex-brigand from his path, he realised, was, at that juncture, at all events, impossible. There seemed to be only one other course to pursue,

to try and win him over. Raesuli's ambition and cupidity rendered this no easy task. To Silvestri's discreet inquiries as to his price, Raesuli let it be known that nothing less than the post of Khalifa, the representative of the Sultan in the Spanish zone,

with almost independent powers, would satisfy him. He felt himself worthy of this honour, the second highest position in Morocco, for the Sultan alone took precedence over the Khalifa. He was a Sharif, a descendant of the prophet of particularly ancient and holy lineage.

The tomb of his ancestor, Malai Abdusalam bin Mishish, in the Beni Aros, was a place of constant and reverent pilgrimage, and the holiest spot in Morocco, north of Fez. His education was sufficient. As a boy and a youth, he studied theology and law in Tetawan, and was in a way a scholar. by nature courageous and a lover of adventure he had left the paths of learning for those of a more

exciting profession collecting a band of youths of similar temperament and age whose acts like his were not by any means in accordance with the tenets of theological education he had taken to a life of adventure and dissipation he made the former support the expenses of the latter and their nights of revelry in tetawan or in the open country were paid for by the lifting of cattle and the extortion of money under threats cattle stealing in morocco was only looked upon askance

by the victims and sometimes by the authorities it was the recognized profession of many men and had its rules and etiquette a man's cattle stolen by night from his yard or farm or even driven off when grazing by day would be offered him back within probably 24 hours of the theft, in return for the payment of a sum of money considerably below the value of the stolen beasts. It was better to pay this ransom than to lose the cattle, and nearly always the affair

was arranged to the entire satisfaction of the thieves, and to the very much less entire satisfaction of the victim. The actual raiders did not appear upon the scene. The transactions were carried out by a mutual friend generally a moor of influence and position who got a commission from both sides so notorious to the young race all his depredations become and so constant the complaints emanating often from the representatives of the european powers at tangier whose subjects

at times suffered loss that his arrest was ordered by the sultan he was captured by treachery and imprisoned at Mogador. He escaped, but was almost immediately re-caught, and chained to the prison wall. On the accession of Malai Abdul Aziz to the throne in 1894, Rasuli was released. He returned to the district of Tangier to find that all his property had been confiscated, and that nothing was left. In revenge, he took to the hills, where collecting his old band about him, and finding new

recruits without difficulty, he adopted once more his life of adventure, but he had changed. The gay, pleasure-loving Ray Sully of the earlier days had become cruel and morose. The recollection of the bitter sufferings of his imprisonment at Mogador, his injured health, the scars that the chains had left on his wrists and ankles, were ever-present to remind him of the past, and his hand was turned against every man's. Hatred and a deep determination to revenge

himself for the treatment that had been meted out to him took complete possession of his mind. His every act was marked by cruelty. A Sharif who had married his sister decided to take a second wife. The law permitted it, and it was a recognised custom. The first wife appealed to her brother. on the night of the wedding Rasuli and his band arrived

and forcing their way into the house cut the throat of the young bride as she sat decked out in her wedding garments awaiting the entrance of her husband her mother who was with her

shared the same fate on another occasion a local sheikh against whom Rasuli had a grudge had been kidnapped by a rival Rasuli bought him

for $1,500 and decapitated him upon his own doorstep As his acts of pillage and extortion increased, often committed in the name of justice, but always for his own benefit, the Sultan and the Magzen became seriously alarmed.

In 1906, an army was sent from Fez to restore order and to capture, if possible, the disturber of the peace. Znat, the village where he resided, situated about 14 miles from Tangier, was burned by the troops, and Rasuli's position was critical. The same evening his men captured the writer of these lines while riding in the neighbourhood and handed him over to Raisuli, who had about 2,000 Jabala tribesmen with him. I knew him well, but my acquaintance with him did not prevent his retaining me.

I was kept a captive at Zanat and afterwards in the Anjira for three weeks until Raisuli had obtained the terms he had demanded. The release of the Jabala prisoners in Moorish jails, the withdrawal of the Sultan's army, and other privileges. No ransom was demanded. A few acts of kindness, and a little hospitality that I had shown to the Jabala tribesmen in the

past, had not been unappreciated, and I reaped the reward. Tempting as money would have been to these people, they deliberately refused to entertain it. They were fully aware that the Moorish government could have been made to pay a large sum to obtain my release, but they refrained from asking a ransom and, when it was offered, indignantly refused it. The Moors have often been accused of a want of the sense of gratitude. Their conduct on this

occasion is a proof that they have a very keen appreciation of this virtue and practiced it in circumstances that made their forbearance only the more admirable. The following year, Rasuli, again threatened by the Sultan, captured Mr. Pertikaris, an American resident in Tangier, and his stepson Mr. Vali. They were kept seven weeks in captivity, and a ransom of 14,000 pounds was demanded and paid. Rasuli extorted from the Sultan, as well as this sum of money,

his own appointment as the governor of the tribes around Tangier, and the Pasha of the town was dismissed at his demand. There were other terms too, which Malai Abdulaziz was forced to accept. Ray Sully rode roughshod over every treaty. He kept however the caravan roads open, and law and order were respected, but his constant acts of cruelty and his disregard of the privileged position of Europeans led to a general outcry against him and his works. Still another army

was sent from Fez, and Zanat was once more burnt, but Rasuli had found time to escape to the mountains. It was then that he received a visit from Cade McLean, who had been sent by the Sultan to make terms of peace with the turbulent Sharif. When Cade McLean rose to leave, he found that he was a prisoner. He remained Rasuli's captive for seven months, and it was only on the payment of ransom of 20,000 pounds and on the granting by the Sultan of a number of privileges that he was

released. In 1908, civil war broke out in Morocco. The Sultan Abdul Aziz, after an attempt to maintain himself upon the throne, was beaten in battle by the forces of Malay Hafid and in the autumn he abdicated in favour of his brother. Raisulli, who had supported Malay Hafid's cause from the moment it appeared to be in the Ascendant, proceeded to Fez and made terms with the new Sultan. He was appointed Pasha of Arzila and Cade of the northern Jabala tribes, including the

Anjira. In return, he restored to a grateful and at that moment impecunious sovereign the twenty thousand pounds he had received as the ransom of Cade Maclean, which had been paid by Malai Hafez's predecessor on the throne, Malay Abdul Aziz. Ra's Sully well knew that the appointments he had received from the new sultan were worth far more than this sum of money. He returned to the north and took up his position, a stronger and greater man than ever. He was still Cade of

this region when in 1911 the Spaniards occupied Lares and Alcazar and Colonel Silvestri found himself face to face with the famous Sharif. It was not to be wondered at that the situation was difficult. It was rendered more difficult still by the characters of the two adversaries, the impatient hot temper of the Spanish colonel, and the deep cunning and arrogance of his rival, whose obstruction he had to overcome. Ambitious, brooking no interference, taking no advice,

and asking none, Resulli was a formidable obstacle in the way of Spain's progress in Morocco. His plans were never disclosed even to his intimate associates. Of friends he perhaps had none, for he trusted no one. He demanded and obtained obedience from all who served him, but everyone about him lived in perpetual fear. He beat and imprisoned and killed at will, giving no reason and being asked none. The duel between these two men was a duel to the death.

Ray Sully, cynical and witty, seemed to take, and no doubt did take, an infinite delight in thwarting every wish of Colonel Silvestri, who could ill-restrain his indignation and his rage at the continued obstruction and unmeasured arrogance of the man who seemed to block his every road to success. It became still more apparent than ever that he must be bought. Colonel Silvestri requested the Spanish government to appoint Rasuli Khalifa of the Spanish Zone.

Madrid refused. It was clearly impossible. Whatever may have been his position by birth, Rasuli's career stood in the way of such an appointment. With deep mortification he learned that the one post he would consent to fill was out of his reach, at least for the present. A high Spanish decoration ill-compensated him for this disappointment. He was now residing at Arzila, where he had built himself a palace on the sea wall, against the lower walls of which the waves

broke in ceaseless music. Now and again I visited him at this period, and he wrote me from time to time, bitter scornful letters describing the plight of the Spaniards and scoffing at their want of organization. You will find Alcazar changed, he wrote in one of his letters, for the Spanish soldiers who were starving here have eaten all the frogs and water tortoises of the river and the marshes. His resentment was deep and undisguised. He regretted having facilitated

the disembarkation of the Spanish troops at La Reche and their march on Alcazar. The air was charged with electricity. The storm broke one day when a small Spanish column met with a group of Reisulli's soldiery. There was an unfortunate encounter and blood was shed. Indignant, threatening and thirsty for revenge, Reisulli came to Tangier in order to communicate direct with the Spanish government through the Spanish minister at that place. He was suffering much pain, the results of

the ill health that he owed to his long imprisonment at Mogador. I saw him at times during those spells of distress. He was lying on his back on a low mattress with his feet suspended in scarves, hung from nails in the wall, that raised his swollen legs and ankles a few inches above the rest of his body. It was the only position in which he could obtain relief. His brother acted as his deputy at Arzala during his absence, for, in spite of reiterated protestations of

friendship from Madrid, Reisulli refused to return. His attitude caused very considerable anxiety in Spain, and Colonel Silvestri was hastily summoned to the capital to confer with the government. Immediately had he left Morocco, Reisulli paid a visit to the Jabala tribes, the members of which had been summoned to meet him at the tomb of Malay Abdesalam, in Beniaros. Returning a few days later to Tangier, he learned that his palace at Arzala

had been seized by the Spaniards and that members of his family were being held as hostages. It was at this critical moment that the Spanish government decided to occupy Tetauan, the capital of the Spanish zone. Advancing from Ceuta, the Spaniards entered the town in July 1913. Nor a shot was fired, and possibly had their arrival been followed by the introduction of a policy of sympathy and collaboration, no shot might ever have been fired at all, but the Spanish

troops were thirsting for glory and discipline was lax. There was too great an exhibition of the spirit of conquest. Morocco must give of its best, and among its best were its women. Immoral the Moors may often be, but there are laws and traditions which hold good, and are seldom broken and the greater part of them refer to their womankind. The behaviour of certain Spaniards in this respect set ablaze a flame of resentment and indignation.

Within a few weeks of their occupation of the capital, Spain's relations with the people of the town and with all the surrounding tribes were severely strained. A cousin of the reigning sultan was appointed to the position that Reisuli had coveted, the Khalifa of the Spanish zone. The astute Sharif himself, still at Tangier, showed no visible signs of discomfiture.

He expressed his desire to live quietly in his villa there, and, by negotiation with Madrid through the Spanish legation in Tangier, he obtained the release of the members of his family, who had been held at Arzala as hostages. This accomplished, he left suddenly for the neighbourhood of Tetawan, already angered by the behaviour of the Spanish officers,

and by the looting propensities of the soldiery, The tribesmen were only waiting a word of command. Reisuli gave it, and the war broke out on every side. The Spaniards suffered heavy losses in the outskirts of Tetuan itself. Wherever there were Spanish soldiers, there was fighting.

At Alcazar, at Azaila, and at the scattered posts, and along the roads. The first act of the Madrid government was to recall General Afal, and to appoint General Marina in his place. The situation necessitated the sending of reinforcements from Spain. and by the early autumn of 1913, there were over 40,000 Spanish troops in the field.

There followed one of those periods of cross-purposes which have so often marked the Spanish policy in North Africa. While the new High Commissioner was doing all in his power to bring about a reconciliation with Reisuli, General Silvestri at La Reis was leaving no stone unturned to increase the mutual distrust which already existed. The result was that little headway was made, and the situation remained highly unsatisfactory. End of section 6