CH. IX. UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER. 221 



made mountain path, constructed with some skill, advan- 

 tage being taken of the nature of the ground to make 

 zigzags, evidently intended for the passage of beasts of 

 burthen. 



We had ascended several hundred feet, and were 

 looking about for plants among rocks to the left of the 

 path, when some faint sound made us look up, and we 

 descried, amid the rain and mist, a party of men and laden 

 mules descending towards us down the steep ravine. There 

 was some obvious awkwardness in the impending encounter 

 of three Englishmen, utterly ignorant of the native tongue, 

 with a set of wild mountaineers of the Atlas, in a spot 

 where no stranger had ever before been seen. In such 

 cases, the less time that is left for deliberation the better. 

 Suspicion or greed may prompt an attack where time is 

 left for consultation ; but if people are suddenly con- 

 fronted by peaceable strangers, they will rarely, unless 

 robbers by profession, think of molesting them. The 

 shape of the ground happened to favour this obvious bit 

 of policy, and some projecting rocks concealed the ap- 

 proaching train until we suddenly confronted them at a 

 turn of the path, and passed within a few yards, with 

 something approaching to a grave salute. The mules ap- 

 peared to be laden with goat-skins, along with other arti- 

 cles that we could not distinguish. Whether these were 

 people from the northern side of the chain returning from 

 a trading expedition in the Sous country, or men of Sous 

 carrying goods to the capital, we never certainly ascer- 

 tained ; but, from noticing pieces of orange-peel on the 

 track, we inferred that they must have descended rather 

 low in the Sous valley; while it is certain that people 

 going from the lower part of that valley to the city of 

 Marocco would not have followed this circuitous and diffi- 

 cult track, unless urged by special reasons. 



A little farther on we found, on ledges of rock near the 

 track, several of the most interesting plants seen during 

 the day. Thenceforward all botanising became difficult. 



