67 
ter of an hour: it was always of the same depth. The 
river Ordom is large and deep; but it may be passed 
over fords in several places, though with great difficulty^ 
as the current is very rapid. The banks are of clay, 
and cut like those which I have mentioned before. In 
crossing the mountain, which terminated the scene to 
the south, we discovered a new horizon, bounded to- 
wards the east and south by another line of mountains, 
and to the west by some small hills. 
The soil, which was clay for some extent, and cover- 
ed with thistles in seed, displayed in many places sandy 
and chalky appearances, with some thorny shrubs; and 
in other parts good vegetable earth, well worked and 
sown. The mountain which we crossed was a chalky 
rock, with a slaty texture, and in sloping beds. 
We met many douars, and fixed our tents near one 
of them. We came also to some chapels or hermitages, 
in which we performed our prayers as we passed. 
The day was cloudy and very rainy; the night con- 
tinued in the same state, but calm. At three o'clock, 
in open air, my thermometer was at 12° 5',* and my hy- 
grometer 34°. 
Tuesday, 1st November, we moved again at a quar- 
ter after seven, direction S. S. E., but, on account of 
the irregularity of the ground, varying every moment 
our direction. At eight we crossed for the last time the 
river Ordom, which continued to flow with the same 
rapidity to the west. At eleven three quarters we passed 
the parallel of Fez, which was at about fourteen to fif- 
teen miles east of us. At one in the afternoon we cross- 
ed a small river, which runs east; and ascending an 
eminence, I found myself within a mile of Mequinez, 
which this hill commanded. After our descent, wc 
* 58» Fahrenheit. 
