344 CLIMATE OF THE COAST REGION. ch. xiii. 



the most insignificant-looking objects, provided always 

 that these are afterwards placed in the hands of com- 

 petent naturalists.' 



We returned on board about sunset, but did not leave 

 the roads of Mazagan till about 10 p.m. When we came 

 on deck next morning, June 11, we were nearing the coast 

 opposite Casa Blanca, and cast anchor soon after 7 a.m. 

 We here found the Sydney Hall, belonging to the same 

 owners as the Lady Havelock. She had left London on 

 June 2, reached Casa Blanca on the 10th, and soon after 

 our arrival started again on her outward voyage to 

 Mogador and the Canary Islands. We had the pleasure 

 of again seeing Mr. Dupuis, the active British Vice-Consul 

 at Casa Blanca ; but as our stay was to be short, and we 

 had already made an excursion ashore, we did not now 

 attempt to land. 



During our return voyage our minds were once more 

 exercised by the peculiar climatal conditions of this por- 

 tion of the African coast. It did not appear that the cool 

 temperature which had prevailed since our return to the 

 neighbourhood of Mogador on the 1st inst. was considered 

 in any way remarkable or unusual, although travellers 

 who have visited the city of Marocco at this season speak 

 of a temperature of 90 F. in the shade as not uncommon ; 

 and at Fez, though in the immediate vicinity of high 

 mountains, still higher temperatures have been recorded. 

 The direction of the wind on the coast in summer, which 

 to the south of Cape Cautin is constantly between the 

 north and north-east, is less uniform to the north of that 

 limit ; but the prevailing sign is NE., and this no doubt 

 is the most important factor in determining the climate. 



There is, however, another element that cannot be 



' We have lately received a parcel not much larger than an ordi- 

 nary pocket-book, containing specimens, or fragments, of about twenty 

 plants, picked up by the commander of a Spanish ship of war, who 

 landed on the African coast south of Oued Noun. Most of them are 

 of great so-ientific interest and value. 



