258 REVIEWS. 



Judicious representations upon this line would go far toward 

 explaining' the strange proceeding of the party of travelers, 

 and would contain all the truth they were likely to get credit 

 for. So " there is no doubt that the current belief among our 

 own followers was, that the Sultana of England had heard that 

 there was somewhere in Marocco a plant that would make her 

 live forever, and that she had sent her own lialcim to find it 

 for her." And when it was seen what toil and hardship these 

 botanical explorations entailed, the natural commentary upon 

 the whole proceeding was : " The Sultana of England is a 

 severe woman, and she has threatened to give them stick 

 (the bastinado) if they do not find the herb she wants." 



Those interested in the natural history of an almost un- 

 known district lying on the very border of Europe ; those 

 interested in its geography and physical features ; the states- 

 man and philanthropist, who may here contemplate in a typi- 

 cal instance the decadence and depletion of a once prosperous 

 people, and note the misery which two or three centuries of 

 misrule may bring uj^on a smiling land ; and those who enjoy 

 the charm of fresh and graphic narrative, the sketch by a 

 practised hand of keen and quick observations by practised 

 eyes, — all these will find this volume attractive reading. To 

 us it has been fascinating and full of suggestion. The main 

 drawback to our travelers' enjojnnent was the suffering which 

 they unwittingly inflicted on the mountain villagers of the 

 Atlas — the poor Berbers, who are altogether the worthier 

 part of the population — through the insatiable rapacity of a 

 large escort provided by the Moorish government for their 

 protection. If the naturalists could have journeyed by them- 

 selves, with needful attendants under their complete control, 

 their support would have entailed no hardship whatever ; but 

 the shameless extortion and abuse by the guards, which the 

 travelers were unable to prevent, must have left a painful 

 remembrance upon their minds as well as upon those of the 

 despoiled mountaineers. It is hardly a consolation to the 

 former that the latter are used to it. 



The appendix to this charming volume is filled with scien- 

 tific, philological, and geographical details. The most elabo- 



