336 CARAVAN FROM TIMBUKTOU. ch. xiii. 



makers in France and England. It is said that the greater 

 part of what reaches England from Marocco is used in the 

 paper-mills that supply the ' Times ' newspaper. 



A caravan had lately reached Mogador from the Soudan, 

 and we saw several bales of ostrich feathers lying on the 

 wharf. They were imperfectly covered with coarse sack- 

 ing ; and the outer layer of feathers, soiled and broken, 

 seemed to be quite worthless, although the total value of 

 such a bale must be very considerable. Some trade routes 

 in Central Asia and elsewhere in the world involve ter- 

 rible hardships to those engaged in the transport ; but it 

 seems that there is none nearly so formidable as that from 

 Timbuktou to Marocco. In several directions the way across 

 the Grreat Desert is facilitated by the occurrence of oases 

 at moderate intervals ; as in the way from Tafilelt to Touat, 

 and in the line followed by the Arab traders from Tripoli 

 to Murzouk. But throughout the greater part of the 

 way from Timbuktou to Akka there appear to be no true 

 oases. Wells are few and far between, and the supply of 

 water often miserably scanty ; and even when a caravan 

 escapes all the dangers of the long way, and the bones of 

 men and camels are not left to bleach upon the burning- 

 sands, the sufferings of the travellers must reach the verge 

 of human endurance.' At the present day the regular 

 caravans no longer attempt to reach Marocco or Fez by 

 way of Tafilelt, the routes over the Atlas being too inse- 

 cure. The bad reputation of the Oued Noun people is 

 equally effectual in closing the coast route from the south 

 to Mogador ; and the course adopted is by the oasis of 

 Akka, lying south of the Anti- Atlas range, and about 100 

 miles east of Oued Noun. From Akka to Agadir the way 



' The only European who is believed to have accomplished Ihe 

 journey is Gaill6. There seems to be no reason to doubt that in some 

 way he reached Fez from the south by land; but it is a question 

 whether his account of the direct route from Timbuktou to Tafilelt is 

 derived from native informants, or whether, in default of notes, a 

 defective memory led him into errors and inconsistencies that throw a 

 shade of doubt over his narrative. 



