vi PEEFACE. 



accuracy of a narrative intended to represent the ex- 

 isting condition of the country and its inhabitants ; but 

 in the case of Marocco, where, from a comparison with 

 the accounts of early travellers, no notable change is 

 apparent during the last two centuries, the effect of a few 

 years' interval may be considered insensible. Up to the 

 date of our visit the Great Atlas was little better known 

 to geographers than it was in the time of Strabo and 

 Pliny ; and it may be hoped that whatever interest be- 

 longs to our journey is as great now as it was at the 

 moment of our return. 



The narrative now published is mainly founded on the 

 journals kept by Sir J. Hooker and Mr. Ball, supplemented 

 in some particulars by that of our fellow-traveller, Mr. Gr. 

 Maw. To the latter we owe a sketch of the Geology of 

 Marocco, which appears in the Appendix. Along with 

 this we have published some interesting contributions 

 received from Mr. H. B. Brady and Mr. Freeman Eogers, 

 as well as some papers upon various matters connected 

 with the physical geography and the flora of Marocco. 



It is impossible to present these pages to the public 

 without repeating the expression of our obligations to 

 eome of those to whose assistance we largely owe whatever 

 success we were able to attain. Foremost amongst these 

 we must name H. E. Sir John Drummond Hay, K.C.B., 

 British Minister Plenipotentiary in Marocco. From the 

 moment when, in compliance with the request of Sir J. 

 Hooker, Lord Granville, then Foreign Secretary, instructed 

 our Minister to apply for the permission of the Sultan to 

 visit the Great Atlas, Sir J. D. Hay, by his extensive 

 knowledge of the country and the people, and by his 

 great personal influence, afforded invaluable assistance to 

 the expedition. 



