CH. XTI. GRADUAL DESCENT FEOM THE ATLAS. 307 



unconsciously have done something to clash with the 

 superstitious feelings of the natives. It is clear that the 

 religion of Mohammed reaches but skin deep with the 

 Bereber population, while traditional observances, derived 

 from far more ancient religious systems, are still deeply 

 rooted among them. 



Much to the relief of our escort, whose first anxiety 

 was to get away from the troubled district, we started 

 about 10 A.M. The Kaid sent another message, again 

 excusing himself from a personal interview. "We after- 

 wards learned that he had made a present of four dollars 

 to each of our escort, of course with the object of procuring 

 some degree of support and countenance at head-quarters. 



Our course during the day lay between NW. and 

 NNW., keeping for a short distance along the course of 

 the stream. At two or three points we saw traces of rock 

 dwellings, not nearly so well preserved as those of Ain 

 Tarsil. Before long the walls of rock subsided on each 

 side of the stream, which bent in a westerly direction, 

 while our track ascended gently amid undulating downs, 

 till we reached a point commanding a wide unbroken 

 view of the northern horizon. To the eye the country 

 before us seemed almost a dead level, but there is a 

 decided general slope from south to north, as. we more 

 fully ascertained in the evening, when we found that we 

 had descended fully 1,500 feet during the day's ride. The 

 outline of the Iron Mountain (Djebel Hadid) was now 

 clearly traceable in the distance, the highest part bearing 

 about due NW. As we advanced there was a manifest 

 improvement in the fertility of the soil, and for a space 

 of five or six miles we rode amidst cultivated fields, 

 apparently the most productive that we had seen in South 

 Marocco. The same conditions necessarily affected the 

 wild plants of the country, and made it difficult to secure 

 specimens of manageable dimensions of several interesting 

 species. A great Daucus (Z). maximus of Desfontaines), 

 probably a luxuriant form, or sub-species, of the common 



X 2 



