MOROCCO. 363 



at the base of the higher phiin, which in turn proseiita an abrupt 

 elevation of 100 meters. Possibly the edge of the higher plain was 

 once the shore of the ocean. The coast plain bears nearly every- 

 where the marks of a true plateau, and when one gets a bird's-eye 

 view it appears to be level as a table. Here and there occur hills and 

 undulations in the ground. Their infrequency is to be attributed to 

 denudation and to the chalk crust so characteristic of expanses of 

 land in Morocco and so fraught with danger, to be explained as 

 essentially a climatic phenomenon. The primitive mountain crops 

 out only in Shawia, Avhere it forms isolated cliffs. 



Aj^art from the large rivers rising in the interior, running water 

 is utterly lacking in the coast plain. Most of the smaller streams 

 and brooks that descend from the upper level soon dry out, but their 

 valleys form an easy ascent to the higher table-land. The only 

 strips of land intersected by running water arc the precipitous coast 

 land to a distance of 10 to SO kilometers from the ocean and a narrow 

 girdle on each side of the Um-er-Rbia. 



As a consequence, springs are very rare in the lower plain, and 

 they probably occur only in Shawai, where they are occasioned hy 

 the impervious folds of the primitive mountains now degraded, and in 

 the belt along the Um-er-Rbia. For the most part in the countries 

 immediately along the ocean the inhabitants are dependent upon 

 artificial means of obtaining water, except where the great rivei-s 

 from the Atlas provide good though usually muddy drinking water. 

 The first expedient adopted by the natives was the construction of 

 artificial ponds for collecting rain water, suggested by the natural 

 pools formed on the chalk crust or in shallow basins. Such are 

 to be found in great number throughout the district, notably in 

 Dukkala, where there are many hundred, circular in shape, siu'- 

 rounded with low walls, and not seldom with a mound in the center. 

 Some persons maintain that they are of volcanic origin, but they are 

 undoubtedly products of human labor. I saw^ some that had just 

 been made. Then, the people constructed cisterns on the edge of the 

 chalk crust, which prevented the water from penetrating into the 

 ground. Where these means failed to secure w-ater for the eight or 

 nine months of the dry season, wells are l)ored, but it is a very difficult 

 task, as they must be dug to a great depth — I suppose as far as the 

 impervious primitive mountain folds. iSIoreover, for the most part, 

 stone for the construction of walls is lacking. I measured wells (iO 

 meters deep. The water in them is warm and very often so saline 

 that at first even animals did not want to drink it, and tea pre- 

 pared wuth it is unpalatable. And yet sometimes a well of this 

 kind is the only source for obtaining water in an entire district. In 

 such cases they are ahvays placed within the kasba (citadel) of the 

 kadi, as a means of keeping the population in subjection. A draft 



