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The country is a vast plain, open to the east and west, 
but bounded on che north and south by small mountains, 
ana on the south-east by a chain of the Atlas. 
The ground is calcareous sand, and a true desert, af- 
fording nothing but briars and osiers. 
The weather was calm and clear, but very hot. 
My camp was composed of five tents; one for my- 
self, a second for my Fakihs, a third for the kitchen, a 
fourth for the servants, and the fifth for my guard, con- 
sisting of four black soldiers of the Sultan's horse guard. 
I had left all my carriages at Morocco, and, what was 
worse, my medicines; this inconvenienced me, as I felt 
myself somewhat indisposed. 
Friday, 27th March. At eight in the morning we 
pursued our course S. W. and W. S. W. At eleven 
we crossed a small river, and at five in the evening I 
ordered our tents to be fixed, after having passed the 
river Schouschaoua, which, like the others, runs from S. 
E. to N. W. 
The country was of the same nature as I found it yes- 
terday. The chain of the Atlas seemed now a great 
way off; one of its branches, the lowest, terminated the 
horizon in the south. In the afternoon we passed a tract 
full of hillocks, and to the north of us I perceived a 
mountain, which seemed to be quite insulated. 
The ground is of a hard clay marl. The shores of 
the river were covered with fine kitchen gardens, which 
seemed to be full of population; a number of women 
with unveiled faces were washing in the river. My in- 
disposition increased; I was at about seven degrees and 
a half from the tropic, the weather was excessively hot, 
