Morocco, 1936

[Music] over here in Eastern Africa lies Ethiopia where for more than 7,000 years the unconquered lion of Judah has watched over the Destinies of Dusky absans and Nubian from Adis Ababa where highly cous Crown Emperor it is 3,000 500 M by airplane to Morocco on the northwest coast of Africa for centuries the highlands of Morocco have been the home of the fierce Bergers B Bears of the Moors who once conquered Spain but now all is at peace in this country and we were able to travel around in comfort and safety we started our trip at the Port of Kaza Blanca and then we drove to the town of marak better known as Morocco mares which lies in a great plane on the Northern slopes of the snow-clad Atlas Mountains was founded 900 years ago and was considered at one time to be the greatest city of Islam it was then surrounded by Massive flame colored walls sections of which still remain the beautiful Square Tower of the kbia mosque still stands as a memorial to the constructive Genius of the early Moes the great open Square called jamna is the favorite Gathering Place of the natives Morocco's general population is of a very mixed and turbulent kind through the centuries malakis has become a veritable Melting Pot berbers Arabs Moors Jews and Negroes from the Sudan have married and intermarried so indiscriminately that Origins are hard to trace and types are even harder to Define there are so many that can neither read or write that the public scribes are all kept busy but their Superior knowledge does not include modern methods first the Scribe takes a piece of bamboo which he painstakingly whittles into the shape of a writing pen meanwhile his customer patiently Waits and gathers his thoughts who knows perhaps this may be a tender love message or just a note telling dad that he's broke again the Scribe is writing in Arabic that is why his pen moves along the line from right to left marbles a game that belongs to the kids of the entire world its origin is lost in the midst of antiquity in the British museum they exhibit marbles that were used by Egyptian and Roman children more than 2,000 years ago just as these youngsters of mares are knuckling down and shooting their TOS in their alleys Morocco leather is used universally and right here in marish is where it is made out of goat skins which are tend a beautiful yellow or a brilliant red this harness maker is busy turning out a belt which he is sewing together with heavily waxed silk and is this young man proud of his new belt [Music] turn around there son let's take a look at the back yeah that's right to make their wonderful Dy they P pum granates and other vegetable matter in mortars the silk industry is an important one here and this is how they do their dying [Music] all these operations take place in the open Street Morocco is sometimes visited by that terrible and most ancient of plagues one that the Ingenuity of man has not yet been able to eradicate the plague of the all devouring locusts the same plague that was visited upon a stony-hearted pharaoh in the days of Moses the Locust you see here are nymphs they are young their wings have not yet grown once they are able to fly nothing can stop them they breed in dry arid soil and have to go hunting for their food they travel in such enormous swarms that they even shut off the sunlight from the land over which they fly when they Al light they strip the Earth Bare of all vegetable matter they eat every blade of grass every Leap on every tree or bush leaving utter desolation in their way even when young and wingless they do not scatter they follow a definite Direction This permits the natives to dig long ditches across their line of March the ditches are filled with water and the Locust ground another way of getting rid of them is to drive them toward big heaps of dry straw in which the young locusts try to hide the straw is then set on fire as far as we can discover the Arabs are the only ones that have found a use for Locust they boil them in salt water and then dry them in the sun they taste like stale shrimps but the Arabs enjoy eating them and by the way did you ever eat a stale shrimp no this is not a field of willows these are land snails clinging to the stalks from which they eat the leaves so you see they are vegetarians unlike the water snails which are not good to eat these Moroccan land snails are highly prized as a delicacy by gmes who call them esaro they are carefully gathered by hand then taken to a Central Station here they are slaughtered according to size and [Music] quality but with typical Oriental nonchalant the idea seems to be that when you work with snails you work at a snail's pace when sorting is done the escaros are placed in small crates for exportation to France and Italy but the larger shipments are made to the United States here comes a truckload of Moroccan snails shipped by an Italian exporter for French consumption as you enter a restaurant in Mish you keep your turban on your head but you leave your shoes at the door just a good old Moroccan [Music] custom as they don't have chairs they just squat tailor Fashion on cushions and now we're all set for the [Music] meal that's goats meat serving on an earn platter with a straw [Music] Bonnet true to Oriental custom the Moore breaks his bread he never cuts it first he must be sure that the sauce is up to standard and so he dunks after all it's the sauce that makes the dish here's a practical demonstration of the old saying fingers were made before forks and now a good drink of wine to keep the goat down no finger bows in my aish probably because it takes more than a finger Bowl to get the goat off one's hand so an attendant ceremoniously brings in a large brass Bowl in a cake of soap the tea kettle supplies the water then they dry their hands with the same cloth that served as a community napkin during the meal the proceeding is not very very aesthetic of course but it seems practical now comes the all important windup to the meal the ceremony of tea [Music] making first a little boiling water just enough to open the tea leaves [Music] then a bunch of mint is crammed into the teapot now two cones of sugar and finally some hot water there that will [Music] do Morocco has many other interesting sites and Customs someday we will visit the humble tillers of the soil in the upper reaches of the Atlas Mountains we'll meet more of its interesting people and investigate other Industries it's well worth a return visit until then I'll be with you [Music]