6 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



Since then the partial destruction of the North 

 African forests has diminished the range of the 

 Barbary ape ; it still occurs, however, in many 

 places in Algeria and Morocco, where it inhabits 

 rocky situations, more or less covered with trees 

 and bushes, though I have no information of any 

 survivors still occurring at Stora. The best known 

 haunt of these monkeys at the present day is the 

 Gorge of the Chiffa, near Blidah, in Algeria, 

 where the animals are often seen in considerable 

 numbers. 



In June, 1903, a visit was paid to the Ruisseau 

 des Singes, a mountain stream situated in the 

 heart of the Gorge. Setting out at half-past seven 

 in the morning from the pretty little town of Blidah, 

 embowered in groves of orange and citron, we 

 drove along the white, dusty, cactus-fringed road, 

 which led from Blidah to Medeah. A blue haze 

 obscured the lofty peaks of the Atlas mountains on 

 the one hand, and the fair plateau of the Sahel on 

 the other, while between the two lay the fertile 

 Metidjeh plain, and over all hung the turquoise 

 sky of Africa. At a distance of four miles from 

 Blidah an iron bridge spanned the Oued Chiffa, 

 in summer a mere stream passing over a rocky 

 bed, far too wide for it, but in winter a fair-sized 

 river. The Gorge of the Chiffa an enormous 

 rent in the Atlas extended for ten miles into the 

 heart of the mountains. The scenery was 



