CH. i. DESCENT OF DJEBEL TEZAH. 267 



turned to the descent. It was clearly desirable to take 

 a different line from the straight course followed in the 

 ascent, and we speedily agreed on the plan of action most 

 likely to add to the botanical results of the ascent, which 

 hitherto had fallen somewhat short of our expectations. 

 The round-backed ridge sloping westward from the summit 

 throws out a massive spur, projecting nearly at right 

 angles or somewhat E. of N., so as to enclose a recess in 

 the mountain into which a large part of the drainage of 

 the northern slope is collected; there was reason, therefore, 

 to count on finding there a more varied vegetation than 

 on the bare slopes enclosing it. On the projecting spur 

 above it, we were struck by the appearance of trees, 

 evidently not coniferous, scattered at intervals along the 

 slopes, while the greener tint of the surface gave some 

 promise to the botanist. It was, therefore, desirable that 

 this ridge should not escape examination. A rapid descent 

 soon brought us to a point overlooking the hollow recess 

 of the mountain where we were rejoined by our Shelluh 

 guide, who had now assumed a crest-fallen air, and we at 

 once determined to separate. Hooker with the guide de- 

 scending into the hollow. Ball making a circuit by the 

 ridge to the left. The time at our disposal being so short, 

 it was impossible to examine the ground carefully, and 

 many species were doubtless overlooked, but we were both 

 rewarded by finding several plants not seen elsewhere 

 during our journey. Among others Hooker secured a 

 dwarf, very spiny barberry, with blueish-black berries, 

 seemingly not different from the Spanish variety of Ber- 

 beris cretica ; and lower down, near the base of the moun- 

 tain, a fine white-flowered columbine, fully four feet high, 

 probably a variety of the common Aquilegia vulgaris, 

 widely spread throughout the mountain regions of Europe 

 and Asia, but not, as we believe, before found in the Afri- 

 can continent. Ball, who reached the rendezvous half an 

 hour after Hooker, brought down with him a curious little 

 succulent plant, forming a new species of the genus Mon- 



