The Argan Tree

Anwar’s New Enterprise: 

I have spoken at length but have never formally introduced myself. This is discourteous of me and I apologise. My name is Anwar! 

I started to tell you of my new enterprise; the production of argan oil for the decadent white, Western world. As a True Believer, I despise all infidels and curse their wicked souls to the everlasting torments of a fiery Jahannam. Nevertheless, I am not opposed to making money from them in the here and now. And so, I feel no guilt in using them to add to my earthly wealth.

Since the discovery of the benefits of argan oil to the West, the argan tree, which is endemic to my part of the world, is now grown in other places. However, the advantage I have is that I own countless numbers of mature trees which are in full production.

The argan tree is well adapted to cope with the harsh conditions in which it grows. This  unremarkable looking tree with its twisted, gnarled growth habit can live for 250 years. It is slow growing and can take years before it is in full production; an advantage I already have over over others seeking to cash in on is new bonanza. 

The tree itself, although mostly stunted by its environment, is most productive in producing the green, apple-sized fruit but harvesting it is difficult. Covered with thick sharp spines, it is capable of shredding flesh and so traditionally, we always waited until the fruit ripened and fell to the ground where it was gathered up by our womenfolk whose laborious task it was to produce the oil. As I said previously, it takes sixty-six kilograms of fruit and fifteen laborious hours to make just one litre of argan oil. Measure for measure, the oil is more valuable than a slave.

An exception to this method of gathering the fruit is that it, or rather its outer, fleshy covering , is highly prized by our goats as a food. 

Seemingly unbothered by the sharp spines, these goats have adapted to climbing to the tops of the trees and gorging on the ripening fruit. They digest the outer covering and then excrete the kernels which can number one to three for each fruit where it can be gathered up and processed into the delicious cooking oil and bread dip greatly favoured by us.

With great perceptiveness, I realised early on the potential of my trees and planned to capitalise on this. Harvesting the fruit was my greatest challenge as it resists any mechanical means of doing so. It  is labour intensive and as already mentioned, I quickly realised that I needed a large herd of goats to assist in “harvesting” the fruit and a large number of slaves for the soul-destroying and back-breaking labour needed to produce my high-quality oil for export to the West.

To that end, I am a  frequent visitor to the local slave-market where I seek out strong and healthy new slaves to work my argan oil processing plants.

Today, as seen in the first picture, we have a small offering of white infidel males caught up in the clandestine slave-trade and brought here for auction. Though small in number they are nonetheless impressive.They are young, robust, brawny brutes with strong muscles and show the promise of several years of much hard physical labour. These are attributes that will sustain them through the rigorous demands made of them as they labour on my lands. 

I always enjoy visiting the slave-market and wandering among the naked offerings. It is most enjoyable subjecting a slave - especially if he is a white infidel - to the most painstaking and humiliating of inspections. The slaves on offer are usually in a state of shock and disbelief. How can it be possible that they are now lowly slaves relegated to the level of mere beasts-of-burden? Most stand in mute silence as I minutely inspect their naked bodies, assessing their strengths and weaknesses and haggling over prices with the slave-dealers. This haggling over the price for any commodity is an important part of our culture and has always been so. And slaves are no different. 

The only time a new slave offers any resistance is when I force open his mouth to test the soundness of his teeth and when I physically probe his arse-hole. These two areas are important; over the years, I have found if a slave has a healthy mouth and a sound anus then his digestive system is in excellent condition and I can expect very few problems.

Finally, I have made my choices and purchased five new slaves - shown in the second picture- who will be taken immediately to my oil processing plant and put to work. Time wasted is money lost and I need to recoup my investment in buying these slaves.

I see the fear and apprehension in their faces as they face an unknown future. By now, the miserable wretches understand they are merely naked slaves animals and that they are owned by me. What they don’t know is the fate that awaits them. They don’t know of working naked and in chains for long days of unrelenting, backbreaking labour in the harshest and hottest of environments as the whips of my overseers exhort them to work harder. 

However, by day’s end, they will fully understand their new roles as my slaves whose only purpose in life is to enrich me.