c'H. xin. LANDI^'G AT ILVZAGAN. 343 



internal traffic arising from frequent petty warfare between 

 neighbouring tribes is not to be forgotten. A merchant 

 may purchase a quantity of produce at what appears a 

 remunerative price ; but if he be unable to have it con- 

 veyed within a convenient time to the port whence it is to 

 be shipped, his bargain may turn out a very bad one. At 

 Mogador we had left things in a condition foreboding a 

 complete suspension of communication with the interior ; 

 we now heard that owing to some local troubles the coast 

 road from Saffi to Mogador was temporarily closed. 



At nightfall we returned to our steamer, but found that 

 we were to remain for the night in the roadstead of Saffi. 

 On the next morning our obliging host, Mr. Hunot, again 

 came on board, and we enjoyed his agreeable conversation 

 until the time came for starting on the short run to Ma- 

 zagan. We reached that place in the afternoon of June 9, 

 and landed with Captain Bone at a wharf beside the 

 Castle built by the Portuguese. It was proposed that we 

 should go through the town, and visit the great cistern 

 which was constructed during the prolonged Portuguese 

 occupation of this place, and which enabled them to resist 

 successfully the frequent sieges undertaken by the Moors. 

 We preferred, however, to make use of the short time at 

 our disposal in examining the vegetation near the shore 

 on the north side of the town. 



The net result of our short excursion was not very 

 large or brilliant ; but, in the case of a country so little 

 known as Marocco, the interest of his collections to a 

 naturalist does not mainly depend on the rarity or novelty 

 of the objects he may happen to meet. Each plant or 

 animal carried away contributes an item of information 

 respecting the distribution of the organised world, the 

 value of which it is impossible at the time to estimate. 

 Travellers who happen to visit little-known countries 

 would do well to remember that, with the most trifling 

 expenditure of trouble, they may make useful contribu- 

 tions to natural science by preserving specimens of even 



