CH. i. POSITION OF AMS3IIZ. 249 



In the afternoon we went out for a stroll, and were 

 able to form a better idea than we had hitherto done of 

 the character of the scenery. The position of Amsmiz 

 somewhat reminds one of that of villages in Piedmont, 

 that stand at the opening of some of the interior valleys 

 of the Alps, and still more of similar places in the 

 Apennines of Central and Southern Italy. The lofty hills 

 that form the outer extremity of the spurs diverging 

 from the Great Atlas slope rather steeply towards the 

 plain, while the torrent issues from them through a cleft 

 so narrow that no path is carried along it into the valley. 

 Trees, that naturally clothe the outer ranges of the Alps, 

 are here very scarce, and the upper declivity, as com- 

 monly in the Apennine, is covered with brushwood and 

 low shrubs ; while the lower slopes are partly under tillage, 

 or else planted with olive and fig trees. We descended 

 from the plateau, where our camp stood close to the town 

 of Amsmiz at 3,382 feet (1,030-7 m.) above the sea, by 

 steeply sloping banks to the level of the torrent ; and 

 followed this for some distance, collecting plants by the 

 way ; and then made a circuit among fields, enclosed by 

 high hedges, in which grew a profusion of climbing plants. 

 The chief prize of our excursion was a curious new 

 species of Marrubium, whose spherical heads of flowers 

 are beset with long stiff bristles hooked at the end, formed 

 by the elongated lower teeth of the calyz. 



It was not without misgivings that we quitted our 

 tents in the evening to repair to the Governor's kashah. 

 ^V"e had hitherto been very successful in escaping -the 

 varied noxious insects that prey on the human body, and 

 which the walls of the first house we had seen in Ma- 

 rocco and the concurrent testimony of all who know the 

 country declare to abound throughout the empire ; but 

 it now seemed as if we must confront these enemies 

 under circumstances where we could not, without giving 

 offence, resort to energetic measures of precaution. We 

 were, therefore, agreeably surprised, when our host con- 



