112 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



letters received from Mr. Williams since the report for 1889 went to 

 press : 



Five sheets of a Berber manuscript were purchased. These manu- 

 scripts are very rare. Neither the Madrid Royal Library nor the Brit- 

 ish Museum owns one, and the Bibliotheque N ationale at Paris has only 

 two. These sheets are portions of one of a number of translations of 

 Moslem law into the Berber, made probably in the thirteenth century. 

 During the Arab renaissance, which attended the founding of the 

 Sherifian dynasties, these Berber books were destroyed, on the ground 

 that the law could be written only in Arabic. 



The botanical collection consists of about 300 plants, all of which, ex- 

 cept 4 or 5, are phenagamous. Mr. Williams made no effort to identify 

 the species, but has expressed his willingness, after this has been done 

 and the results published, to contribute a paper indicating their distri- 

 bution and the changes observed in the fauna of the region while pass- 

 ing from one elevation or one formation to another. Fossils were ob- 

 tained at Azigen, near Wazau, a place whose geological horizon has not 

 before been determined ; concretions from Fez from the only formation 

 near the place; fossils from encrinal limestone at Volubilis, confirming 

 previous conclusions; and a number of recent fossil shells from Wady 

 Ghifra, near Azila, extending the area of the quaternary formation 

 already observed near Tangier. These fossils add nothing particularly 

 new to the observations already made by Mourlon, Maw, and Velain, but, 

 since so few fossils have been found in Morocco, these will be valuable. 



A valuable collection of ethnographical material was gathered in 

 Morocco. Mr. Williams states that for $100 he can have delivered in 

 Washington the complete household equipment of a city and village 

 family. 



The costume of a city woman of Fez, a villagers costume, and also the 

 costume of a man and woman of the mountain, representing both the 

 Berber and mountain villagers, were obtained. The city male and 

 female costumes of Tangier are already in the Museum. The male cos- 

 tume in Fez and Tangier is similar, but the female costume differs in 

 many ways. The Jewish costume of northern Morocco is one of the 

 most elaborate in the world. It is a most interesting survival and rap- 

 idly growing rare. The complete costume, with its heavy embroidery, 

 costs $250. This estimate allows for paste jewelry in the costume. 



Northern Morocco is inhabited by four, if not five, races — the Moor 

 proper, often of primitive Arab, Berber, or Spanish descent; the Arab, 

 either wandering or sedentary in villages and cities; the Berber, or 

 Biff, in villages, in colonies in the cities, and in some cases, as at Tan- 

 gier and Tetuan, intermingled with the urban population; and the Jew, 

 for the most part Spanish, inhabiting a separate quarter in each city. 



The pottery collection was made with the special design to include 

 all the wares in ordinary use between Tetuan and Fez. The pottery of 

 Spain and Morocco are closely related, and Spanish patterns are still 



