328 THE GUM EDPHORBIUM PLANT. ch. xiii. 



succeeded in engaging the services of two native collectors, 

 one of them a very intelligent Jew, the other a Shelluh 

 mountaineer. From the former large collections from the 

 country as far south as the borders of Oued Noun, and as 

 far east as the oasis of Akka, have been sent to Paris ; and 

 the latter has contributed a few additions to the flora of 

 the Great Atlas, along with many of the species collected 

 by us. With his accustomed liberality, M. Cosson has 

 sent us duplicates of these fresh contributions to the flora 

 of Marocco. 



In the afternoon of June 4, we went to pay a farewell 

 visit to the banks of the Oued Kseb, which had been the 

 scene of our first botanical excursion in South Marocco. 

 During the interval of six weeks a great change had passed 

 over the vegetation ; most of the annuals were completely 

 dried up and had disappeared ; but the excursion was not 

 altogether improductive, and we were able to add a few 

 plants to our collections. 



There remained a point of some botanical interest, 

 which it was very desirable to clear up before our de- 

 parture. The curious cactoid Euphm^hia, prodiicing the 

 Gum Euphorbium,' written of by Dioscorides and Pliny, 

 grows in the interior provinces of South Marocco. The only 

 modern writer who has given an account of it is Jackson,^ 

 who, though no botanist, was a careful and conscientious 

 observer. In his account of the plant, and the accompany- 

 ing plate, we had been struck by some apparent dis- 

 crepancies. The gum, as he says, is obtained from the 

 plant growing on the lower region of the Atlas ; but the 

 same plant is, according to him, abundant about Agadir, 

 and is carried thence to Mogador for the use of the 

 tanners. The Agadir plant, however, he declares to pro- 

 duce no gum. Further than this, in the plate annexed to 

 his description, the left-hand figure, giving a view of the 



' See Appendix D. 



2 Jackson, Account of tile 3nij)irc of Marocco, p. 131, Srd ed. 

 London: 18U. 



