Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/114

98 Jewish merchants greeting the Colonel with friendly smiles, as I stopped to observe in many places the great number of Russian samovars exposed in the various shops and booths. They were the real products of the factories in Tula and bore Russian trade-marks. In answer to my query as to how they had ever filtered through into this Moroccan town, Colonel Pariel explained that many Berbers had recently returned to Ujda from pilgrimages to Mecca, where they had met their co-religionists from Russia and found that they had come with samovars to exchange for North African products—carpets, saddles and the well-known Moroccan embroideries.

As we wandered along, I also asked Colonel Pariel what could be the meaning of the word "Zkara," which had made such a marked impression on the crowd.

"It is the name of a tribe not far away from Ujda whom orthodox Moslems hate and avoid."

Some months later I learned further particulars about this unorthodox clan. The Zkara, like the tribes of Mlaina and Ghouta, are known for their indifference to Islam and to the laws of the Koran. They recognize only the prophet Sidi Ahmed ben Yusuf of Miliana and his disciple, Omar ben Sliman, who was previously mentioned as a renegade Jew. They have their Marabouts from the family of Ben Yusuf, and the so-called "rusma" is the oldest hereditary priest. The Marabouts of this tribe despise the Moslems, eat the pork that is so severely banned by the Koran, have their own ritual and take their wives exclusively from the women of Marabout families. On the other side Moslems accuse Zkaras of atheism, demoralization of Islam and debauchery.