Morocco

Vegetation.

The vegetation reflects the diverse influences of the climate; it is clearly Mediterranean in character; in the south a certain number of plants from the Canaries are found. The presence in the south-west, from Umm er Rbica to Wad Noun, of the argana (Argania sideroxylon), which belongs to the family Sapotaceae, is a remarkable botanical peculiarity. In the moun tains, the vegetation takes on a more northerly character, many central European species and a certain number of Alpine plants occurring there. The well-watered regions are covered by forest except where it has been destroyed by man, as is the case in the plains of the west. The dominant species are oaks and conifers. The cork-oak constitutes the great forest of Mamora (125,000 hectares); in the mid-Atlas there are fine cedar forests (I5o,000 hectares) ; the evergreen oak, the Zen oak, the thuya and the juniper, are widespread. The argana forms a widely-spaced growth, a kind of forest-steppe. The forest passes into maquis, this into steppe, grassy when the rains are sufficient, and the steppe into desert. The fauna also is Mediterranean; the lion has disappeared, the panther and the macaque are common, as are also the jackal and the fox (fennec). Antelopes (gazelles) are numerous.

Population.

The indigenous peoples of Morocco are Ber bers; they call themselves Imaziren. The Berber name covers very different human types; the most widely-spread seems to be akin to that of the southern Europeans (Ibero-Ligurian race) ; there are also amongst them Hamitic elements and some blond peoples whose type resembles the Nordic. There may be several successive layers of Berbers. There are three great groups of Moroccan Berbers, which differ from one another in language, race type and customs; the northern or Rif people, who inhabit the coastal massifs, the central or Berber group, who inhabit the mid-Atlas, and the southern or Chleuh group, who live in the high Atlas and in the Sus. In the plains the Berbers have adopted the Arab language and the Muslim religion, but Morocco, on account of its geographical situation, has been less influenced than Tunisia and Algeria from the eastern Mediterranean ; tribes coming from Egypt and Asia have reached Morocco slowly and with difficulty, and the great chains of the mid-Atlas and high Atlas have proved effectual barriers, so that Arabs are met with only in the eastern steppes near the Algerian frontier. About half the indigenous population of Morocco speaks Berber dialects. The natives other than the town dwellers are divided into nomads and sedentary; mode of life has no connection with race, for many Berbers are nomads, especially in mid-Atlas; they have store castles called agadir, for their harvests. Morocco has about. Ioo,000 Jews, amongst whom may be distinguished the old estab lished Jewish settlers and the Spanish Jews (Guerush Castilla). The slave trade has introduced a large number of Sudanese, who have influenced the complexion of the populations of the south.

Before the establishment of the French protectorate, there was a distinction in Morocco between the bled-makhzen, the region in which the sultan had succeeded in making the natives pay tax and accept his kaids, and the bled-siba, which evaded his authority.

The two regions had uncertain and fluctuating boundaries, the extent of the bled-makhzen depending on the varying powers of the sultan, and at times being reduced to the immediate neigh bourhood of certain towns. The Berbers, jealous of their inde pendence and lackirig social classes among themselves, were, in general, impatient of any authority; they remained under tribal organization and were administered by small local assemblies called djemaas; there was a permanent state of war between the tribes.

According to the census of 1931, the French zone of Morocco numbers 4,500,000 inhabitants; there are about 720,000 in the Spanish zone and 72,00o in the international zone, giving a total of over 5,200,000. The population is most dense in the plains of the west, El Gharb and El Huz, and on the border of the mountain massifs, the regions with a great altitude not lending themselves to permanent habitation. The neighbouring regions of the Sahara and of Algeria, except in the very limited areas where irrigation-culture is possible, permit only the low density, characteristic of nomad lands. There is a certain number of important towns; the chief are Marrakesh (pop. 191,936), Casa blanca (160,418), Fez (106,838), Rabat (53,006), Meknes 156), Safi (26,133), Sali (25,817), Ujda (29,437), Mazagan (20,648), Mogador (14,491). In the Spanish zone Melilla has a population of 62,614, Tetuan 43,00o, Ceuta 40,000, El-Ksar 40, 00o, Larache 20,000. Tangier, in the international zone, has 56,000 inhabitants.

In 1907, apart from the ancient Spanish possessions, there were not more than 5,000 Europeans in Morocco, of whom 4,000 were in Tangier. European immigration has been very rapid since the establishment of the protectorate. In the French zone there are 150,00o Europeans. But this population is, up to the present, essentially urban. Casablanca has 55,291 Europeans, Rabat 20,802, Ujda 54,383, Meknes 9,945, Kenitra 5,482, Marrakesh 6,379, Fez 9,641. Casablanca, in particular, which was only a poor hamlet before the French protectorate, has had an extremely rapid growth. Marshal Lyautey planned the European towns on the best hygienic and aesthetic lines, while respecting the native settlements. The rural population of European extraction is, up to the present, represented by about 2,000 colonists, living on their land and numbering with their families 5,000 to 6,000. Of 104.712 Europeans in the French zone (1926), 74,558 were French (8,335 of them French subjects and persons formerly under French protection), and 30,154 foreigners (15,141 Spanish, 10,300 Italian, 4,713 Europeans of various origin). To the Europeans of the French zone must be added about roo,000 Europeans, nearly all Spanish, in the Spanish zone (Melilla 30,000, Ceuta 25,000, Tetuan 8,000) and 15,0m in the zone of Tangier (of whom 9,00o are Spanish and 4,000 French).