Two years ago Tangier and the surrounding districts were governed by one Mulai Hamid ben Raisul, better known as Raisuli, a villainous blackguard who was finally deposed through the interference of the foreign legations. To-day this same Raisuli enjoys the interest on £15,000 (£5,000 having been given him in cash) and the protection ordinarily accorded to a British subject; and these favours are his because he deprived of liberty for seven months Kaid Sir Harry Maclean, a British subject in the employ of the Sultan Abdul Aziz. According to the terms of the ransom, which permit Raisuli, if he conducts himself in honourable fashion, to receive the sum invested for him at the end of three years, it is probable that the world will hear no more of him in his popular rôle; and, therefore, it might be interesting--also because of the light the story will throw on the ways of the Moorish Government and of diplomacy at Tangier--to sum up the exploits of this notorious brigand. [Illustration: A RIFF TRIBESMAN.] [Illustration: A MAGHZEN SOLDIER.] Raisuli, as his title _Mulai_ implies, is a Shereef or descendant of the Prophet, and partly for that distinction, aside from personal power, he holds a certain influence over the K’mass and other tribes about Tangier. Being a shrewder villain than the others of his race who aspire to govern districts, he adopted early in his career other methods than that which is the custom--of purchasing positions from the Maghzen. The system of buying a governorship, to hold it only till some other Moor bought it over the head of the first and sent him to prison, did not appeal to Raisuli. The mountains of the Riff were impregnable against the feeble forces of the Sultan, and for a rifle and a little not-too-dangerous fighting all his tribesfolk could be got to serve him as their leader. So Raisuli started out for power--a thing the Moor loves--in a manner new to Morocco.