BETURN TO AMSJIIZ. 271 



CHAPTER Xr. 



Return to Amsmiz — Arround villagers in trouble — Pains and pleasures 

 of a botanist — Rid3 across the plain — Mzouda — Experiences of a 

 Governor in Marocco — Hospitable chief of Keira — A village in 

 excitement — Arrival at Seksaoua — Fresh difficulties as to our route 

 — A faithful black soldier — Rock vegetation at Seksaoua — Ascent 

 of a neighbouring mountain — View of the Great Atlas — Absence of 

 perpetual snow— Return of our envoy from Mtouga — Pass leading 

 to Tarudant — Native names for the mountains — Milhain — Botau- 

 ising in the rocks. 



Thk morning hours of May 23 were devoted to the 

 necessary work at our collections of the preceding day ; 

 but before our departure we once more took a short 

 ramble through the ground surrounding the village. 

 With a single exception, all the plants seen were species 

 common to the Spanish peninsula, two or three being 

 characteristic of Central Spain. Apart from the style of 

 building and the dress of the inhabitants, a stranger 

 transported to the spot might easily suppose himself 

 somewhere in Southern Europe, though closer examination 

 would suggest differences to the naturalist. At noon we 

 started on the way to Amsmiz, halting at the torrent in 

 the bottom of the valley to secure specimens of two very 

 fine and undescribed plants, both very troublesome to 

 the collectors. One was a spiny Genista, with very 

 numerous, stiff, intricate branches ; the other a fine 

 thistle, five or six feet high, whose long woolly leaves 

 were beset with sharp, slender, golden spines, fully an 

 inch in length. 



Without much further delay, we retraced the track 

 that we had followed on the morning of the 21st. We 

 were once more struck by the remarkable coolness of 



