288 ME. J. ball's SPICILEGIFM florae KAROCCA:N"iE. 



Mo 



Mogador, not having any favoni 

 Mazagan or Saffi. We reached 

 and after attending to the requisite arrangements for our journey 

 we visited the curious neighbourhood of that town. The vegeta- 

 tion of the neighbourhood, and especially that of the low rocky 

 island which forms the port, had suffered severely from the perio- 

 dical visitation of locusts which had lately passed over the district; 

 "but we were able to secure most of the interesting species found 

 by our predecessors ; and on the 29th we started for the interior, 

 making a slight detour by keeping southward near the coast for 

 some five or six miles, and thereby making fuller acquaintance with 

 the Argan forest, and then across the country till we rejoined our 

 tents and baggage outside the walls of the extensive castle of 

 the Governor of Shedma. During most of the day we had tra- 

 versed the northern part of Haha, a very large province that ex- 

 tends along the coast from Mogador to Agadir and to the skirts 

 of the Atlas chain. It is needless to say that on this, as on each 

 succeeding day of our ride to Marocco, we encountered many in- 

 teresting plants, some altogether new to us, some known only 

 from dried specimens, and several hitherto undescribed. On the 

 evening of the 30th we reached Ain Oumast, a spring where tra- 

 vellers necessarily encamp, as for many miles eastward the country 

 is an arid stony desert, closely resembling in aspect, as well as in 

 its vegetation, some parts of the Sahara. 



On the 1st of May we encamped at Sheshaoua, a veritable oasis, 

 where in the shade of fruit-trees we were surprised to find many 

 common European species. The soil surrounding it appears to 

 contain much gypsum, and produced an unusual proportion of 

 Chenopodiaceje, 



A long ride on the following day took us to Misra ben Kara, a 

 place near the banks of a considerable stream that flows north- 

 ward from the Great Atlas; and on the following day a short but 

 hot ride across the glowing plain took us to the ancient capital of 

 Marocco. 



While detained in Marocco Mr. Maw made an interesting ex- 

 cursion to the nearest of some rocky hills of metamorphic rock 

 that rise a few miles N.W. of the city. He brought back a new 

 species o{ BoerJiavia, ForsakJilia tenacissimaj Andropogon lanigeTf 

 and several other species not hitherto seen by us. 



On the 8th of May, after encountering various tokens of un- 

 friendly disposition on the part of some of the native authorities, 



