TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 179 



that reservoir or out of it as required. The trough-disk is fitted with, a glass 

 cover, which is screwed on when the mercury is to he passed to or from the other 

 reservoir. When an observation has to be made this cover is removed, and a disk 

 of glass is placed on the mercury ; this gives a clear and steady reflecting surface. 

 The weight of the instrument is 1 j lb. The instrument is made by Messrs. Gould 

 and Porter, successors to Gary, optician, No. 181 Strand, London. 



Further disclosures of the Moabite Stone. By Dr. Ginsbttbg, 



Ascent of the Atlas Range. By Dr. J. D. Hooker, C.B., F.B.S. 



In this paper the author described his ascent of the Greater Atlas, accompanied 

 by Mr. Ball and Mr. G. Maw. Permission was given him to visit the whole range 

 of the Atlas from a point eastward of the city, westward to the ocean ; but he was 

 obliged to promise to confine himself to collecting plants for the Royal Gardens 

 and to practising as a Hakim, so that he was imable to take any exact topogra- 

 phical observations. He, however, reached the crest of the main range visible 

 from the city of Marocco, which has long had the repute of being the loftiest of 

 the whole great Atlas range. The mountains present, as seen from Marocco city, 

 a long ridge, apparently of tolerably uniform height throughout its whole length, 

 about 1.3,000 feet, steep and rocky in the upper regions, with long streaks of snow 

 descending in deep steep guUeys ; but it otters no snow-capped peaks or slopes 

 of any extent, nor glaciers, and the loftiest points of the jagged sky-line are not 

 snowed at all. The party took, from Marocco, first a south-easterly course to the 

 foot of the Atlas, in the province of Misfuia, and thence a south-westerly one to 

 the province of Keraia, whence they had been assured that the crest of the range 

 was accessible. Their camp, at an elevation of 4400 feet, was surrounded by olive 

 and walnut groves, fig-trees, prickly pears, vines, mulbemes, and almonds. The 

 native trees were poplar, ash, juniper, willow, and callitris (the famous Thuja of the 

 Romans) ; the bushes are lentisks, honeysuckle, cistus, elder, rose, alatemus, philly- 

 rtea, ivy, bramble, and shrubs allied to the broom. The climate is temperate, and 

 the scenery rather pretty than g^'and or mountainous, except up the valleys, which 

 are backed by the rugged, black, but snow-streaked crest of the range. At 6000 

 feet the party came upon the first indubitable signs of old glacial action, in a huge 

 moraine projecting apparently from the flank of a lateral valley, with two smaller 

 moraines nearly parallel with the greater one. All were loaded vnth. enormous 

 blocks of porphjTy and other metamoi-phic rocks, and, except for the walnuts and 

 little terraced fields, are nearly bare of vegetation. At about 9000 feet thej' came 

 upon a mule-track, up which they piished over rocks and debris. Dr. Hooker and 

 Mr. Ball were botanizing, and Mr. Maw alone reached the crest, where he read 

 his aneroid, which ga-\e a height, by comparison with another aneroid and the 

 boiling-point, of 12,000 feet. The temperature was 24"^ F. The most remarkable 

 feature of this part of the range is the downward extent of the snow in steep deep 

 northern gulleys to 7000 or 8000 feet, i;p to the end of May; but these snow- 

 streaks are not connected with any snow -fields or snow-capped peaks above. This 

 seems to be due to the climate and to the steep contour of the axis, which is now 

 scorched by a blazing sun, now swept by dry Sahara winds, and throughout the 

 year exposed to the very prevalent N.W. oceanic wind laden with vapours that 

 fall as snow and hail-storms. There is thus probably always snow on this part of 

 the Atlas, but there is no perpetual snow proper ; in other words, all the snow that 

 falls annualli/ on fairly exposed surfaces melts in the same year. Botanically, the 

 upper region is as bare as the middle region is rich, and the author described in 

 some detail the characteristics of each. The Atlas has a special interest as pi'e- 

 senting the southern limit of the Mediterranean, and indeed of the North Tempe- 

 rate flora. 



The party proceeded from the beautiful valley of Reraia westward over the 

 northern spurs of the Atlas to the province of Sectana, whence they travelled on 

 to that of Amsniiz. crossing the Wad en Fys, the principal feeder of the Temsift, 

 where the author and Mr. Ball ascended a peak 11,000 feet high in the main range, 



12* 



