MOROCCO. 357 



nally and loniritiuliniilly, of tho coiulitions which hero created a 

 group oi' lands hoiiiid t<)t>v(her by a certain kind of union, loose as 

 it is. A( the sanu> time, (here is no doubt that here we have a piece 

 of the u-n-at Eurasian mountain system. One p-oup of its ranges — 

 the Atlas Mountains of Morocco — extending to the southwest, ends 

 abruptly at Cape (iir; the other — the Rif Mountains — continuing the 

 Algerian Tell Atlas and bending to the north, also ends abruptly 

 at the Mediterranean. The Kif Mountains are of a very recent 

 origin, and, like the 'IvW Atlas of Algeria, essentially of the 

 Eocene and Miocene periods. In fact, to judge from the xVndalusian 

 system, the folds continued to be thrown up as late as the Pliocene 

 period, and presumably their composition is mainly Jurassic and 

 Cretaceous, but toward the sea of older strata. The several ])arallel 

 chains of the Rif Mountains, whose peaks are mon^ than 2,000 m. 

 high, ])resent their precipitous sides to the Mediterranean, aud with 

 their narrow valley passes they thus form a secluded mountain region, 

 ditlicult of access, which at all times enabled its Berber inhabitants 

 to keep their necks clear of a foreign yoke. Marquis de Segonzac 

 was the very first explorer who was able to cross it, and his work will 

 soon give a better idea of it than is now possible. 



The Rif coast, with its small coves, usually semicircular in shape, 

 its small, rocky islands, and its secret nooks and crannies, by virtue 

 of its proximity to the greatest strait in the w-orkTs commerce has, 

 up to the present, been a coast for fostering the exploits of pirates, in 

 defiance of the Spanish presidios. These strongholds, a remnant of 

 better times to which the Spaniards still cling, lie m part on island 

 rocks close to the coast (Penon de Velezf de la Gomera, Pen on de 

 Alhucenias, Las Zafarinas) , or on rocky promontories forming natural 

 strongholds (Ceuta and Melilla). The natives keep the Spanish 

 garrisons behind their walls and in their blockhouses in a constant 

 state of siege, and the garrisons must obtain not only their food sup- 

 plies from Spain, but even their drinking water. 



Inland, toward the Atlas, the boundary of the Rif region is that of 

 a valley, hydrographically well marked. Beginning wnth Thasa, of 

 late so frequently mentioned, and strategetically a very important 

 place, it extends to the west along the Tnnaun, an eastern tributary of 

 the Sebu, the chief river of northern Morocco, and to the east along 

 the Messun toAvard the Muluja, then along the winding Muluja itself, 

 and finally along the Wed-el-Kseb, a western tributary to the Muluja, 

 nearly to the border city of Udjda. This valley, forming a geologic 

 demarcation and, as it were, a low pass, at a probable height of less 

 than 1,000 m., constitutes the watershed between the Mediterranean 

 and the Atlantic. From of old it has been a trading route of the 

 utmost importance. It coiuiects the Atlantic slopes of the Atlas 

 lands, the Maghreb-el- Aksa, the extreme west of the natives, with the 



