282 ME. J. ball's SPICILEGirM FLOH^ MAEOCCAK-S. 



all but impossible to strangers. The fine peaks of the Beni 

 Hassan, within sight of the rock of Gibraltar and easy reach of 

 Tangier and Tetnan, have never been approached by a traveller ; 

 and Sir John Drummond Hay, whose knowledge of the people 

 and influence amongst them surpass that of any other European, 

 pronounced against the feasibility of the excursion which we 

 earnestly desired to make in that direction. 



As a necessary consequence of what has been stated, our know- 

 ledge of the Flora of Marocco has been extremely limited, and, in 

 spite of what has been done during the last few years, is still most 

 imperfect ; and the time is yet distant when it will be possible to 

 give more than a rude outline of the relations between the vege- 

 table population and those of the surrounding regions. 



The earliest notice that I have found of botanical research into 

 the Marocco Flora is in the ' Istoria Botanica' of Zanoni (Cura- 

 tor of the Botanic Garden at Bologna), published in 1675. He 

 had received plants and seeds from Tangier from a Mr. Alexander 

 Balaam, who appears to have been a merchant trading with 

 Tangier during some part of the time when that town was held 

 by the Portuguese and the English. The next contribution, and 

 ' amore considerable one, is contained in a list published (1696) in 

 the 19th vol. of the ' Philosophical Transactions' (p. 239 etseq.), \ 



but drawn up in 1673 by Mr. Spotswood, a surgeon who lived there 

 during the English occupation, and gathered plants which he gave 

 to the same Mr. Balaam and to Dr. Morison at Oxford There 

 is some difficulty in identifying many of the species named ; and I 

 have not thought it worth w^hile to cite the plants contained in 

 Mr. Spotswood's list. 



After the evacuation of Tangier by the English, under circum- 

 stances little creditable to our national honour, communication 

 between Europe and Marocco became more unfrequent than ever, 

 and, excepting some occasional negotiation' for the release of 

 Christian captives, seems to have almost ceased.' At the latter 

 end of the last century relations between some European powers 

 and the Marocco Government became more frequent and almost 

 amicable, so that travelling in the country seems to have been 

 easier than it has been in more recent times. A French botanist, 



M. Broussonnet. who also viaitpd thp nnnnT-D- Tslnnflfl and some 



Marocco 



years of the century. 



Moga 



\\ 



% 



dor and Tangier, visited several of the ports on the Atlantic coast. 



