CH. XI. DEPARTURE FOR IIZOUDA. 275 



are, of course, many handicrafts, and notably the making of 

 slippers and boots, practised by the floors ; but such trades 

 are for the most part hereditary in certain families, and the 

 ordinary Moor affects to despise all occupations of the kind. 



At half-past eight the Kaid appeared, mounted on a 

 strong serviceable horse ; and, everything being ready, we 

 rode down the steep bank above which stands the town of 

 Amsmiz, and, after following the torrent for a short dis- 

 tance, reascended to about the same level above the left 

 bank. We now found ourselves on the verge of a wide 

 open plain, sloping gently from south to north, and our 

 course to i\Izouda — the next stage in om- journey — lay a 

 little north of due west, while the outer range of the 

 mountains trended away to S.W. We had been led to 

 suppose that ^Izouda lay, like Amsmiz, at the foot of the 

 Great Atlas, and might therefore serve as starting-point 

 for another excursion into its recesses ; but it was now 

 clear that it must stand far out in the plain, many miles 

 from the nearest range of hills. We were somewhat com- 

 forted, however, by the positive assurance that Seksaoua, 

 the next stopping-place beyond Mzouda, stands close to 

 the mountains at the opening of a considerable valley, 

 and was therefore a promising spot for oui- purposes. 



The difficulty of getting correct information in such a 

 country as this, as daily experience proved to us, is one 

 of the most serious difficulties of the traveller, and de- 

 pends quite as much on the incapacity of the natives as 

 on the habitual suspicion with which all strangers are 

 regarded. One day when Kaid el Hasbi appeared to be 

 in unusual good-humour we were endeavouring to obtain 

 from him information as to some place on our route, and 

 the interpreter being told to ask if he could make the 

 matter clearer by reference to the cardinal points, he an- 

 swered in a tone of contempt, ' Does he take me for the 

 captain of a steamer ? ' 



After riding with us for two or three miles the Kaid of 

 Amsmiz bade us a friendly farewell ; and we continued in 



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