CH. IX. SCARCITY OF ANIMAL LIFE. 233 



could learn, this appears to be a characteristic feature of 

 the Great Atlas. The lion is said to exist in the lower 

 valleys, and especially in Sous, but we were led to suspect 

 that the animal so called by the natives is the leopard. 

 The lion undoubtedly exists in the low country, but appears 

 to be now rare. Those sent as presents from the Sultan 

 to crowned heads have generally been taken in the valleys 

 east of Fez. The only one of the Carnivora seen by us was 

 a rather large creature, resembling a civet in form, but 

 with no markings on the yellowish brown fur, once seen 

 near our camp at Hasni. Birds were remarkably scarce, 

 and the only conspicuous kind observed near enough to 

 be identified much resembled the red-legged partridge, 

 and was seen at a height of from 9,000 to 10,000 feet in 

 the ascent to the Tagherot Pass. Instead of going 

 in pairs, as that species is used to do, these formed 

 a small covey. A single scorpion, of large size, seem- 

 ingly of the species common in the low country, was 

 found under a stone by Maw. Of the numerous reptiles 

 that abound about the skirts of the mountain range, few, 

 except lizards, seem to frequent the interior valleys ; and 

 the latter are wanting, or at least rare, in the higher region. 

 Insects were also infrequent, and none were found under 

 stones above the level of 9,000 feet. 



Our brief stay among the Shelluhs in this valley helped 

 to confirm our previous impression that they form the best 

 element in the population of Marocco. How much of this 

 superiority is due to race, and how much to the conditions 

 of existence in a mountain country, where steady labour is 

 indispensable, may be a question for discussion; but as 

 the same is also apparent among the people long settled 

 in the low country at the foot of the mountains, it may 

 be inferred that the inherited qualities of the mountain 

 tribes are not speedily lost when they are subjected to 

 altered conditions. We are told by Rohlfs that on the 

 northern skirts of the Marocco Sahara the Shelluhs have 

 adopted a predatory life, and are the most dreaded of all the 



