106 VIEW OF THE OEEAT PLAIN. ch. v. 



the inhabited parts of the country, not always near a vil- 

 lage, and the place takes its name from the day of the 

 ■week on which the market is held. We found this place 

 to be 1,183 feet (360*3 m.) above the sea level. 



Our way now lay for some distance amidst enclosed and 

 cultivated land, through green lanes bordered by shrubs 

 covered with climbing plants. As the enclosures came to 

 an end, and we again found ourselves in an open country 

 dotted with trees, we observed the Argan gradually becom- 

 ing more scarce, and the Zizyphus more frequent, until the 

 last of the former were seen about ten miles east of the 

 kasbah. Among the smaller shrubs Rhus fentaphylla 

 was prominent. The genus Teucrium is especially cha- 

 racteristic of South Marocco, as may be inferred from the 

 fact that four new species were found by M. Balansa, 

 besides many of those common about the Mediterranean. 

 We here met one of the peculiar Marocco species (T. col- 

 linurri) ; and the ever varying T. Folium constantly re- 

 curred throughout our journey, from the coast up to over 

 4,000 feet above the sea. 



After several brief halts, requisite for collecting new 

 and rare plants by the way, we rested for half an hour in 

 a shady spot near a well. Up to this point our course 

 since morning had varied between due E. and SSE. ; 

 but for the remainder of this day's journey our general 

 direction was about ENE. The track slowly wound its 

 way upwards amongst hills covered with Retam, till it 

 reached the brow of a rounded eminence that overlooks a 

 wide expanse of treeless plain extending eastward to the 

 horizon, except where some low flat-topped hills were seen 

 in the dim distance. We had now accomplished the first 

 stage of our journey. We had traversed the zone of hilly 

 country lying between the coast and the great plain of Ma- 

 rocco, on the verge of which we here stood. Leaving out 

 of account a few prominences to be spoken of hereafter, 

 the plain appears to the eye quite horizontal ; but in fact 

 there is a very perceptible inclination of about forty feet 



