CH. IX. ABRAHAJI'S MEDICAL PEACTICE. 209 



person against whom the four barrels may have been 

 directed. 



The sheik undertook that one of the houses in Arround 

 should be cleared out for our reception ; but, to provide for 

 all contingencies, we arranged to take with us the two 

 smaller and lighter tents, along with the usual supply of 

 botanical paper and tin boxes. 



Many natives of both sexes came to our camp during 

 the day, in quest of medical treatment, as they had done 

 during our absence the day before ; and we were much 

 amused to find that Abraham had coolly undertaken 

 medical practice on his own account. He had provided 

 himself with a large bottle of black stuff, containing 

 heaven knows what nauseous ingredients, and this was 

 doled out impartially to all applicants. It appeared to be 

 a strong purgative, and may have answered sufficiently 

 well in the rather frequent cases of indigestion arising 

 from overeating. Of more serious complaints, ophthalmia 

 was one of the most prevalent here, as elsewhere through- 

 out South iMarocco. Scrofulous sores and strictures were 

 also common. Women desirous of offspring were brought 

 to the camp by their husbands, and some cases of natural 

 deformity also presented themselves. All seemed to have 

 that great condition for remarkable cures that depends on 

 a firm faith in the efBcacy of the remedy. We had 

 deliberately refused to follow the example of many African 

 travellers, by including aphrodisiacs among the drugs 

 carried with us, and all applications for such were met by 

 a stern refusal. 



We found time in the afternoon to examine the vege- 

 tation of the valley in the neighbourhood of our camp, of 

 which we had hitherto obtained merely a passing view. 

 The general aspect was very much what may be found at 

 a level lower by 1,200 or 1,400 feet in Southern Spain or 

 Calabria. In the valley bottom the prevailing trees were 

 poplars — the common black poplar, and a small-leaved 



p 



