116 ABSENCE OF PERMANENT DWELLINGS. ch. v. 



(347*8 m.), or almost exactly the same as that of Aia 

 Oumast. The coolness of night temperature throughout 

 this region of Northern Africa doubtless contributes to 

 make the climate not only healthy but favourable to 

 human activity ; and it was impossible for us not to specu- 

 late at times on a possible, though remote, future, when 

 this may become the home of a prosperous and progressive 

 community. 



Early rising does not always mean an early start, and 

 many delays occurred on the morning of May 2, before 

 our caravan was fairly under way at about 9 o'clock. On 

 leaving our encampment, we perceived, on rising ground 

 close at hand, the remains of an ancient town, with stone 

 houses, for the most part in ruins, but some of them still 

 inhabited, and a kasbah or castle of somewhat imposing 

 •• appearance. We failed to obtain any information as to 

 these buildings, which may probably be of considerable 

 antiquity. It must be remembered that throughout the 

 portion of Marocco inhabited by an Arab population per- 

 manent houses are unknown, excepting in the coast towns 

 and the royal cities of Marocco, Fez, and Mekines. The 

 country people live in douars, which are merely groups 

 of rude dwellings, half hovel half tent, usually formed of 

 branches, over which a piece of camel's hair cloth is 

 stretched, and leaving no wreck behind when choice or 

 necessity leads their inhabitants to remove from one spot 

 to another. Even the Grovernor's kasbah, though often a 

 pile of large dimensions, rarely survives a single genera- 

 tion. The great wall and massive towers surrounding it, 

 as well as the building itself, are constructed of unbaked 

 bricks or of blocks of mud half dried in the sun ; and save 

 in cases where a son succeeds his father in power, the cus- 

 tom of the country is to level the whole structure to the 

 ground on the death or removal of the occupant. A few 

 seasons complete the work, and nothing remains but a 

 few mounds of clay to mark the site. Thus it happens 

 that in a country of which the greater part is naturally 



