86 EXCURSION TO THE ISLAND. en. iv. 



justice at the hands either of ancient or modem writers. 

 They have been inconvenient neighbours for those who 

 have sought to encroach on their territory, and they are 

 justly dreaded by the traveller through the Great Desert as 

 the most active and enterprising of the human enemies he 

 must confront or evade. Comparing them with the Moor 

 and Arab population of South Marocco, our report agrees 

 with that of Jackson, who probably knew them better 

 than any other European has done. They are decidedly 

 superior in intelligence, in industry, and general activity 

 to their neighbours. Two of our retinue, selected by Mr. 

 Carstensen among the mountaineers who resort to Mogador 

 to pick up a living about the port, distinguished them- 

 selves over all the rest both in physical and mental qua- 

 lities ; and one of these especially, who became Hooker's 

 personal attendant, showed an amount of general intelli- 

 gence and unfailing cheerfulness that made him a favourite 

 with the entire party. 



On the morning of the 27th we made an excursion to 

 the island. It is formed of an irregular, low, knobby 

 mass of very friable tertiary rock, which seems to yield 

 rapidly to the erosive action of the heavy waves that 

 almost constantly break on its seaward face, where the 

 overhanging cliffs are hollowed into caverns. At the time 

 of our visit it appeared to be uninhabited. Two or three 

 heavy pieces of cannon, honeycombed with rust, lay near 

 the highest point, but seemed never to have been placed 

 in position. A small building was said to have been some- 

 times used for the custody of State prisoners, but otherwise 

 there was no indication here of the presence of man. In 

 such a spot we expected to find the coast vegetation fully 

 developed, but we counted without the locusts. Nowhere 

 else did we observe such complete destruction. A good 

 many plants growing on the rocks, within constant reach 

 of the sea-spray, had escaped ; but on the rest of the island 

 scarcely a green leaf remained, and it required a patient 

 search to discover a few fruits of some leguminous plants 



