CH. V. CHANGES IN THE VEGETATION. 123 



been to recommend us to the good offices of some wealthy 

 and influential Moors, correspondents of English mercan- 

 tile houses, and we were not long before experiencing the 

 benefit of this piece of kindly attention. 



The heat of the sun was much felt as we rode over 

 the open plain, and it was suggested that we should do 

 well to halt awhile, and await the return of the soldier who 

 was to report to us the state of affairs in the city. The 

 only spot on the way affording the slightest shelter is 

 under the reclining trunk of a fine tree of Tamarix arti- 

 culata, which had apparently been blown down, though 

 still adhering to the ground by its roots, and throwing out 

 vigorous shoots and branches. The remaining portion of 

 the trunk was 24 feet long, and at 8 feet from the roots 

 the girth was 7 feet 7 inches (2-32 m.) We saw no 

 other specimen of this tree, characteristic of the semi- 

 tropical region of Northern Africa ; but our opportunities 

 for exploring the country surrounding the city were very 

 limited, and it seems probable that it is here indigenous, 

 though the extreme scarcity of fuel may have led to its 

 partial extermination. The slender twigs into which the 

 branches are divided gave no protection from the sun ; but, 

 by throwing a carpet overhead, we extemporised a service- 

 able roof, whose shade was most welcome. Though bare 

 to the eye, this part of the plain produced many small 

 herbaceous plants, such ns Notoceras canariensis, our 

 native Coronopus Rnellii, Mesembryanthemum nodiflo- 

 rum, and Scli ismus cahjcinus. The Mesembryanthemum 

 is as common here as it is in the East ; but the last-named 

 grass, so characteristic of the skirts of the desert in Egypt 

 and Arabia, seems to be rare in South Marocco. 



Throughout our morning's ride, as well as on the 

 journey between Sheshaoua and Misra ben Kara, we no- 

 ticed the apparently unaccountable way in which certain 

 social species prevail over a considerable tract, and then 

 suddenly give place to others, without any apparent refer- 

 ence to the composition of the soil. Where Chenopodiacese, 



