Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond

“The specimens of native architecture to be met with in Algeria are seldom, if ever, pure in syle, and are generally extremely corrupt. The country never knew prosperity as an independent kingdom, such as Morocco did, and it is only in Telemcen, on the borders of that Empire, that a real architectural wealth is found, but then this was once the capital of an independent kingdom.””

— Budgett Meakin

“A journey through Algeria shows what a stable and enlightened Government has been able to do in a land by no means so highly favoured by nature as Morocco, and peopled by races on the whole inferior.””

— Budgett Meakin

“Of no country in the world can it more truly be said than of the Moorish Empire that the social condition of the people may be measured by that of its women. Holding its women in absolute subjection, the Moorish nation is itself held in subjection, morally, politically, socially.””

— Budgett Meakin

“If an Englishman's house is his castle, the Mohammedan's house is a prison not for himself, but for his women.””

— Budgett Meakin

“The greatest obstacle to progress in Morocco is the blind prejudice of ignorance.””

— Budgett Meakin

“The absolute lack of morals among the people is the real cause of the trouble. Morocco is so deeply sunk in the degradation of vice, and so given up to lust, that it is impossible to lay bare its deplorable condition.””

— Budgett Meakin

“In truth, this is a country in which things are left pretty much to look after themselves. Nothing is done that can be left undone, and everything is postponed until "tomorrow".””

— Budgett Meakin

“A large proportion of Moorish officials end their days in disgrace, if not in dungeons, and some meet their end by being invited to corrosive sublimate tea, a favourite beverage in Morocco for others. Yet there is always a demand for office, and large prices are paid for posts affording opportunities for plunder.””

— Budgett Meakin

“In Morocco, each official preys upon the one below him, and on all others within his reach, till the poor oppressed and helpless villager lives in terror of them all, not daring to display signs of prosperity for fear of tempting plunder.””

— Budgett Meakin