DEPARTURE FROM MOGADOR. 95 



CHAPTEE V. 



Departure from Mogador — Argan forest — Hilly country of Haha — 

 Fertile province of Shedma — Hospitality of the Governor — Turkish 

 visitor — Offering of provisions — Kasbah of the Governor— Eide to 

 Ain Oumast — First view of the Great Atlas — Pseudo-Sahara — Tomb 

 of a Saint — Kzelas — Ascend the ' Camel's Back ' — Oasis of She- 

 shaoua — Coolness of the night temperature — Rarity of ancient 

 buildings — Halt at Ain Beida — Tents and luggage gone astray — 

 Night at Misra ben Kara — Cross the Oued Nfys — Plain of Marocco 

 — Range of the Great Atlas — Halt under Tamarisk tree. 



The morning of Saturday, April 29, was fixed for our 

 departure from Mogador, and about 7 a.m. all were ready 

 to start. 



Mr. and Mrs. Carstensen, with a rather numerous 

 party of the European residents at Mogador, had arranged 

 to escort us foi' a distance of some se\en miles ; and it was 

 agreed that, instead of following the direct road to the 

 city of Marocco, which runs about ENE. from Mogador, 

 we should make a detour nearly at right angles to that 

 direction, or about SSE., so as to gain a fuller acquaint- 

 ance with the Argan forest. 



Our course lay in the same direction that we had 

 chosen in om: first short excursion from the town. Between 

 the belt of sandy shore that is daily washed by the tide, 

 and the sand dunes that rose in undulations on our left, 

 we rode past the mouth of the Oued Kseb, and then began 

 to ascend over sandy dunes, whereon the prevailing plant 

 is Genista monosjperma, the R'tam of the Arabs, whose 

 slender silvery branches wave in the slightest breeze. 

 Several of the peculiar plants of this coast occurred at 

 intervals, such as Cheiranthus semperfiorens, Statice 

 inucronata, a curious and somewhat ornamental species. 



