41 
Notwithstanding the fertility of the soil, there are few 
kinds of plants in the vicinity of Tangier. The insects 
were as rare, at least during my stay; but the most pro- 
per season for inquiries of this kind seems to be the 
spring. 
A prodigious number of storks have their nests, or 
rather their barracks, on the walls of the town; but 
from the month of September they all begin to migrate 
towards the south. Their nests are suffered to remain 
untouched, and it is said, that at their return, every one 
of them knows his nest again; and if by chance a stork 
places himself in the nest of another, when that one re- 
turns a bloody battle ensues between them, till one is 
conquered. This spectacle is said to be very often re- 
peated on the day of their return, which is always in the 
spring. 
At Tangier a man can hardly venture to get upon 
the terrace of his house without danger, on account of 
the jealousy of the inhabitants. The two houses which 
I successively inhabited were so unfavourably situated, 
that I could make but few astronomical observations, 
nor even these without a deal of difficulty. Besides 
having left my baggage with my instruments at Cadiz, 
when I at last procured them, the rainy season had 
come on, during which I rarely found a clear sky; this 
prevented me from making many observations. I suc- 
ceeded, however, in calculating the latitude, which upon 
an average was found to be 35° 47' 54" north. 
Having observed at Tangier the last contact of an 
eclipse of the sun on the astronomical day, 17th August, 
Mr. Lalande calculated my longitude of Tangier at 0 h 33' 
9" by time, west from the observatory of Paris, or it\ de- 
grees 8° 17' 15". Comparing this result with other ob- 
servations, the longitude of Tangier, upon an average. 
