153 
mica, crystalized in great plates* Its grain was very 
uneven, passing from the coarse to the middling, and 
from the middling to the fine. These rocks continued 
to the place where we encamped; and whilst the tents 
were spreading, I got on one of the rocks, from whence 
I could at my ease behold the colossean masses which 
spread before my sight. The rock on which I found 
myself was flat as a table, about twelve feet square, ad- 
vancing about four feet above the ground, which it pier- 
ced to a very great depth. 
Vegetation was very backward; and though flowers 
were very scanty, I found still some means of gathering 
several curious plants. All the day long I discovered no 
ploughed nor sown land. 
I was told that the high mountain at whose bottom 
we had been encamping was inhabited by some holy 
hermits. 
The day was very fine though cloudy. The thermom- 
eter was at eight in the evening at 10°, the hygrometer 
at 98°, the wind S.W. I saw but one village* The spot 
where we stopped was a real desert. 
Tuesday, 20th March. Our journey began at eight 
in the morning; direction south. After having crossed 
three small rivulets, we stopped at half-past four, near 
a douar, and at a very short distance from some moun- 
tains. V 
The country is composed of plains, which towards 
the south and south-east are closed by numbers of 
small hills, behind which high tops of the Atlas, entirely 
covered with snow, were seen to rise. My camp was 
almost at the bottom of the first row of these moun- 
tains. 
vol. i, x 
