1920.] of the Maroccan'' Middle- Atlas.'' 261 



before setting out on the trip, I think most of us often 

 find, on or alter arrival, that "the one thing" one nn'ght 

 and should have read was absent from the literature so 

 carefully waded through. 



And so in my case : the works studied had been those 

 likely to provide news about Natural History; all, except the 

 mere bird-lists, written before, some very long before, even 

 the Algeciras (.'onference of 190(j, and though I do not for a 

 moment regret the notes culled from the works of Hooker, 

 ISegonzac, Gentil, Pitard, and olhers, my general impres- 

 sion of Marocco before landing there, uas that of the old 

 Moghreb : heads on spikes around the city-walls, slavery 

 and torture, vast camping equipments antl retinues, Cheritian 

 letters, monas, etc. 



Had, for instance, J\lr. Consul McLeod's excellent paper 

 ill the Journal of the W. CI. S., August lUlS, or even some of 

 the French-Maroccan journiils been among the literature 

 studied, I should have realized how far the past eight gears' 

 policy of General Lyautey, the nniker of modern Marocco, 

 had evolved onler out of that mediaeval chaos, and should 

 in consequence have brought out a rather better equipment, 

 and perhaps commenced work earlier in the season, both of 

 which would have been advantages. 



However, at Tangier I was soon put upon the right tiack. 

 8iv Herbert White most kindly gave me not only letters 

 of introduction, but suggested the possibility of my being 

 allowed to visit the recently opened-up forests in the central 

 parts of Marocco ; and. further fortified in this new plan by 

 help from jMr. W. B. Harris, I went on at once to Casablanca 

 by steamer, and thence by rail the following day (14 April) 

 to Rabat, where my cause was taken u[) by Mr. Vice-Consui 

 Lomas, whose kind and invaluable helj) all through niv stay 

 in Marocco I recall \\itli the deepest gratitude. 



liabat, lying rU a vis across the Bou Kegreg Kiver, with 

 Sale, the old lair of the " Sallee Rovers," was gay with 

 bunting ; the new Governor-General of Spanish Marocco 

 had just arrived to [)ay his State visit to General Lyautey. 



In consecpuMice, before I could present myself at the 



