Yol. 55.] SOUTHEEN MOEOCCO ATSD THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS. 191 



gleanings in the form of a paper, it is necessary to remember two 

 things : first, that I do not write with the authority of a geologist, 

 but only as a geographical explorer with a certain amount of geo- 

 logical training. Equally important is it to remember that the 

 conditions of travel in Morocco are not such as will permit of any- 

 thing but the most cursory examination of the strata which may 

 crop up before the traveller. I very cordially agree with Sir 

 Joseph Hooker's conclusion that Morocco is the most difficult of all 

 countries in which to travel with advantage, so soon as the great 

 highways are left behind. The traveller is looked upon as a spy- 

 examining the riches of the country. Everything that he does is 

 seen through the medium of this belief, and twisted accordingly. 

 His servants and escort are not only spies, but obstructionists of the 

 most maddening type. It is sufficient to be seen doing or collecting 

 something that the natives do not understand, to be turned back 

 at an important point or plunged into a world of trouble. That 

 traveller has the most chance of going farthest who appears to do 

 and see least, and who seldom ventures from the beaten track. 



Of all scientific pursuits in that country, botanizing is the least 

 dangerous, for the Moors have the greatest faith in the medicinal 

 virtues of plants and interpret the collector's movements accordingly. 

 With geologizing, however, it is far different. To be seen examining 

 rocks, chipping off specimens, or picking up pebbles is sufficient to 

 raise a frightful hue and cry throughout a whole neighbourhood. 

 Such proceedings can bear but one interpretation — that the Christian 

 is seeking for valuable minerals, which the natives firmly believe 

 abound everywhere, and that the discovery of such mineral wealth 

 will only tempt the Europeans to seize their country. 



Under any circumstances this restriction would be bad enough, 

 but it was doubly so in my own case, as I had to force my way into 

 the Atlas Mountains in face of the express prohibition of the 

 Government, and in spite of unwilling servants who did all in their 

 power to thwart me, and were ever ready to turn the slightest 

 action on my part as a weapon against me. My own men formed 

 my greatest danger and obstruction, and more than once, when 

 success in some feat or other seemed assured, I was defeated by 

 their treacherous underhand plots and misrepresentations. The 

 following notes then, be it understood, are almost entirely gleaned 

 by passing glances from the pathway, unaided by careful examina- 

 tion or gathered specimens for after-study. Hence their sketchiness, 

 and, if they can claim to have any value at all, it is because the 

 Atlas Mountains form virgin ground to the geologist, where he 

 could fail to note something new only by absolutely shutting his 

 eyes to everything around him. 



II. Geogkaphical Sketch oe Southekn Moeocco and the Atlas. 



The country to which the following notes apply is that tri- 

 angular part of Southern Morocco ^ whose base is the Atlantic Ocean, 



^ [Most, if not all, of the localities mentioned in the present paper will be 

 found in tae author's map of South-western Morocco, Proc. Koy. Geogr. Soc. 



