In 1902 a pretender, Bu Hamara, proclaimed himself Sultan, and established his claim to divine appointment by feats of legerdemain. According to a story current among Europeans, one of his ‘tricks,’ in gruesome keeping with the country’s cruelty, was the burying of a live slave with a reed for him to speak and breathe through. Bu Hamara by this means called a voice from the grave, and after he had called it, placed his foot upon the tube. When the grave was opened the slave was found really to be dead. Bu Hamara came near to capturing Fez. Raisuli rose to power and successfully defied the Maghzen forces. With Abdul Aziz things went from bad to worse, till, hopelessly bankrupt, with a following of perhaps ten thousand men, mostly volunteers, he came to Rabat in September of last year, roused to this move when his brother Hafid was proclaimed at Marakesh. Since then Fez has also proclaimed Hafid, and the army that came with Aziz has dwindled away, until it numbers now hardly four thousand men. Besides these he has but the petty garrisons, who find it convenient to remain in the barracks of coast towns. Abdul Aziz, now thirty years of age, is a pale-faced quadroon with a black, immature beard and a thin moustache. He is above medium height and well built, of a healthy though not athletic appearance. His manner in the presence of official visitors is seldom easy; his words are few and constrained. With private guests whom he knows, however, he is gay and often familiar. He speaks gently and slowly, I am told, occasionally placing his hand on one’s shoulder, and all who know him like him. He seems anxious that things shall go well, but he is more a student than a man of action. He is vain of his enlightenment, of which he has a somewhat exalted opinion; and he is jealous of his prerogatives. He tells Europeans who visit him that his brother Hafid (who is almost black), was of course brought up differently from himself, that while possessing some good qualities, he is of course a man of little education, and that his head has been turned to declare himself Sultan. Abdul Aziz says he will not punish Hafid--when the rebellion is put down and he is captured--except to imprison him in some princely palace. * * * * *