Religion: Mevloud

At Meknes, in inland Morocco, a bored French sergeant marched a platoon through the white deserted streets before dawn one day last week, posted his men at strategic street corners. The men lit cigarets and waited.

At dawn the sound of drums and shrill fifes commenced. It was Mevloud, 1,361st anniversary of the birth of Mohammed, a celebration that lasts 28 days in Meknes. There the rites are hotly colored with Negro practices from the Sudan. White-robed Moors filled the narrow streets, gathered in shouting groups around the throbbing drums.

Hours later when the heat, the dust, the drums and the waiting...