294 DEFILE LEADING TO TARtTDANT. ch. xi, 



the Grovernor of Haha. Through the valley, which here 

 opens out, lies the main road from Marocco to Tarudant, 

 the chief town of Sous. Jackson, who seems to have 

 gained the especial favour of the reigning Emperor, re- 

 ceived, about the beginning of this century, permission to 

 accompany a military force despatched from Marocco to 

 Tarudant, and no other European is known to have 

 traversed this part of the Atlas.' Unfortunately his ac- 

 count of the expedition is limited to the statement that 

 the way lies through a narrow defile, where the path cut 

 in the rock is only 15 inches wide, with the mountain 

 rising almost perpendicularly on one side, and on the other 

 a precipice ' as steep as Dover cliff, but more than ten 

 times the height.' It would have been a matter of great 

 interest to us to make a short excursion up the valley, and 

 to penetrate this defile, but once more we were doomed to 

 disappointment. The sheik, having notice of our approach, 

 met us near to what seemed the chief village. His lan- 

 guage and manner were quite friendly, but he declared 

 that it was quite impossible for us to enter the valley. 

 Fighting, as he declared, was actually going on between 

 the mountain tribes, those of Ida Mahmoud, to the east of 

 the valley, taking part with Mtouga, and those of Ida 

 Ziki, on the west side, holding with Haha. It was im- 

 possible to get any reliable information as to the nature 

 of the country along the mountain road. According to 

 one informant the distance to Tarudant may be traversed 

 in two days, while another declared that time to be ne- 

 cessary to reach the summit of the pass. It seems certain 

 that the main chain in approaching its western termination 

 has a less regular structure than in the part nearer Ma- 

 rocco. It throws out numerous diverging ridges ; the 



' Mr. Lempriere, an army surgeon, who went in 1791 by the invita- 

 tion of the reigning Sultan to treat his son Mouley Ahsolon, Governor 

 of Sous, probably travelled this way on his road from Tarudant to 

 Marocco ; but his narrative is too imperfect to establish the conclusion. 

 See Appendix C. 



