284 RUMOURS OF WAR. ch. xi. 



inspire respect among the rude mountaineers, there would 

 have been no real risk in proceeding along the valley — or 

 anywhere else in this part of the country — provided we 

 could have reckoned on our men ; but in the face of their 

 refusal, there was no use in further pressing the point. 



The next thing to be done was to make an arrange- 

 ment for enabling us to see something of the outer range 

 of mountains immediately surrounding our camp, and 

 after some debating it was agreed that on the following 

 day we should ascend to the higher ridge of the consider- 

 able mass already referred to as rising to the west of our 

 camp. Much nearer at hand, extending from behind our 

 tents towards the opening of the main valley, a steep 

 rocky ridge, only from 400 to 500 feet in height, pro- 

 mised to show us what we had hitherto seen little of, 

 the rock vegetation of the lower region of the Atlas, and 

 we readily made up our minds to devote the remainder of 

 this day to its careful examination. 



There was, however, another matter of a practical 

 nature requiring immediate attention. A glance at the 

 map shows that in travelling along the skirts of the 

 Atlas from Seksaoua to Mogador our route must lie 

 through the district of Imintanout, and thence through 

 the adjoining provinces of Mtouga and Haha. We had 

 informed Mr. Carstensen of our intention to follow this 

 line of route, and fixed the probable date of our return to 

 Mogador at the 2nd or 3rd of June. During the last two 

 days we had heard vague reports of disturbances going on 

 in the provinces of Mtouga and Haha, and these were now 

 confirmed and aggravated by the sheik of Seksaoua. War 

 was actually raging, we were told, and the Grovernors had 

 summoned all their people to arms. As was to be expected, 

 the men of our escort, who clearly had no stomach for fight- 

 ing of any kind, were becoming very uneasy at the idea of 

 coming near to the seat of operations, and we apprehended 

 that they might make an attempt to force us to diverge 

 from our intended route and travel northward across the 



