A NATIVE INFORMANT "WANTED. 149 



CHAPTER VII. 



Choice of a route in the Atlas — DifiBculty of procuring information — 

 Hills near the city — Panorama of the Great Atlas — Probable height 

 of the range — Wild birds of Marocco — Condition of the Jews — 

 Departure from the city — Farewell interview with El Graoui — 

 District of Meslioua — Interview with the Kaid — Approach to the 

 Great Atlas — Aspect of the vegetation — Castle of Tasseremout. — 

 "Washington's visit — Jewish suppliants — Great boulder mounds — 

 Ourika valley — Peculiarities of Moorish character — Rapacity of 

 our escort. 



On returning from our intervie"w with El Grraoui, we felt 

 that our most urgent want was reliable information about 

 the districts mentioned by him as within the possible 

 range of our expedition. Hooker had already ordered 

 Abraham to make inquiry for some one who had actually 

 travelled eastward from the city into the mountain coun- 

 try ; but such a person was by no means so easily found 

 as a stranger might suppose. The few Moors who ever go 

 into the interior are cut off from communication with the 

 natives by ignorance of the language ; and, besides this, the 

 Moor is usually too incurious and intellectually sluggish 

 to carry away information about anything not directly 

 concerning his own business or pleasure. Had our stay 

 in Marocco been prolonged, we might perhaps have been 

 able to collect some details as to the interior pro"vinces 

 from natives of the mountain valleys who must from time 

 to time resort to the city ; but it is very doubtful whether 

 a Christian stranger could obtain anything reliable in 

 this way. People constantly forget how wide the gap 

 is that separates the mind of a modern European from 

 that of the inhabitant of a barbarous country, where the 

 conditions of society are such that apprehension of danger 



