92 KEW, ST. PETERSBURG, AND MAROCCO 



is so far ahead of the barbarism of the Moor, that there might 

 be hundreds of miles between them. . . . 



I say that Ball finds this and that, because he beats me 

 hollow in botanising, and is making a splendid Herbarium. 

 I find my eyesight quite fails me as a collector ; indeed I have 

 been remarking for two years now, that I cannot read the 

 garden labels with my spectacles even, except I stoop down. 



Mr. Maw has a marvellous eye also, especially for 

 bulbs ; and the aggregate knowledge of Ball and Maw, as 

 to European plants, is simply astounding. Ball knows the 

 smallest flowering scrap of hundreds of obscure things 

 (Medicago, Carex, and such like), and Maw recognises the 

 bulbs by leaf, however long the tall grass they grow amongst. 



On April 20 they left Tangier for Mogador (April 26-29) 

 and, reaching the city of Marocco on the evening of May 3, 

 left it again on the 8th. 



Sir John Drummond Hay, 1 our representative in Tangier, 

 had obtained the proper permit from the Sultan. At Marocco 

 it was necessary to interview El Graoui, governor of the moun- 

 tain district they wished to explore, in order to make detailed 

 plans of travel. Incidentally Hooker was able to play off the 

 goodwill of El Graoui and the Viceroy, the Sultan's son, against 

 the discourtesy of the fanatical governor of the town, and to 

 get the better of him at the first encounter. 



Writing to his mother on May 6, he tells of his success so 

 far ' in botanising and getting about in this barbarous country ' 

 and the delays of the local officials, while reassuring her alarms. 

 It was only on May 5 that his main object was secured. 



Yesterday I went to El Graoui, the Governor of the 

 Atlas Provinces, whom the Sultan had given orders to 

 facilitate my travels and objects in every way, and this he 

 will do now, sending a guard of soldiers and providing me 

 with food every day for myself and all my party. El 

 Graoui is an ignorant man, almost a Negro, with a pleasant 

 face and, like all these people, extremely courteous in his 



1 Sir John Hay Drummond-Hay (1816-93) was first assistant, and then 

 successor (1845) to his father as Consul-General of Marocco, finally becoming 

 Minister Resident 1860-72 and Plenipotentiary 1872-86. 



