358 MOROCCO. 



Mediterranean regions; and it gives Morocco a firm hold upon the 

 Muhija district, which constitutes a well-defined, distinctive territory 

 for Morocco, and is a portion of the girdle of plain land beginning 

 in Algeria at Oran, It has long been the endeavor of the French to 

 connect the northern capital of Morocco, Fez, with Tlemsen, and 

 thereby Morocco itself with Algeria, as with an iron clamp, by means 

 of a railroad, which would traverse the route along the basin that I 

 have described. To compare a large with a small thing, this basin is 

 like the Arlberg pass, by which the Suabian Vorarlberg is connected 

 with the Tyrol and Austria. West of Fez it broadens out toward the 

 basin of the lower Sebn. Larash, at the northern extremity, or 

 Rabat-Sla, at the southern extremit}^, of this basin, or Mehedyia, at 

 the mouth of the Sebu itself, would thus be the Atlantic terminal of 

 the orreat inland trading route, which is clearlv defined bv nature 

 and which ends at the Mediterranean at Tunis. The basin of the 

 Sebu in its general features resembles strongly that of the lower 

 (xuadelquiver. It is along the above-mentioned valley, now near 

 Thasa, now near Fez, that the revolts are at present occurring, which 

 seem to be carried on by the Berber tribes, Hiaina and Rhiata, living 

 in the mountains on both sides of the depression. 



Tow^ard the west, and north of the basin of the Sebu, lies the 

 district of Andjera, whose chief city is Tangiers, which by virtue of 

 its position on the Strait of (iibraltar is the exit and entrance gate 

 to Morocco from Europe. Andjera, the most northerly district, is 

 filled by the Rif Mountains, which here turn their gently sloping 

 side toward the ocean. This side of the mountains is composed of 

 Tertiary strata, which form small plateaus separated from each other 

 by swiftly flowing streams. 



As yet w^e have little light upon the geologic history of the 

 Moroccan Atlas Mountains and -their relations to the Algerian 

 Sahara Atlas. Of the Sahara Atlas it is known that its trend is 

 southwest and noi'theast, that it was elevated mainly in the Eocene 

 and Miocene periods, that it consists for the most part of three great 

 groups of folds, the demarcation between the groups being orograph- 

 ically well defined. Some of its folds, which are less pronounced, take 

 a more southerly direction, so that their mountainous character is, as 

 a rule, not very distinct, especially since the enormous masses of 

 detritus could not be cari-ied oil by running water after the dry 

 period had been ushered in. The formation of the Sahara Atlas is 

 chiefiy limestone and sandstone, with here and there marl of the 

 Jurassic and Cretaceous series; but Devonian and Carboniferous 

 ro(;ks appear among these, increasing toward the southwest, in the 

 direction of the Moroccan Atlas, in the district of the Wed Gir and 

 Susfana. The Moroccan Atlas range shows essentially different 

 features from the Sahara Atlas, though the trend is in the same 



