About mid-day we started for our short day’s ride, forming, with Mr. Carstensen and his suite, a numerous cavalcade. Our course lay about WNW., over low undulating hills, dotted with Argan trees. Most of the surface was under cultivation, and appeared to be moderately fertile. At 2.30 P.M. we reached an olive grove near to a zaouia or sanctuary, called El Masaats. Close to this was a dwelling, on a larger scale than is common in this country, belonging to a man of some substance, with whom Mr. Carstensen had friendly relations. It would have been impossible to pass his home without a visit, and equally impossible, according to local ideas, for him to neglect the rites of hospitality. Luncheon for the entire party was speedily provided, and, while assisting as spectators at the lively conversation, we once more had to admire Mr. Carstensen’s perfect command of the native dialect.
As we sat under the trees several parties of natives, dressed in their best, passed by on their way to the adjoining zaouia. This was the anniversary of the death of the local saint buried at the sanctuary; and on such occasions the people of this country, whether Moor or Shelluh, do not fail to resort to the sacred spot. For the great majority the occasion seems to be no more than a welcome opportunity for breaking the monotony of their daily life. Excepting our Mogador Kaïd, who was most exact in the performance of his devotions, we saw little indication throughout our journey of regular compliance with the injunctions for daily prayer, so strictly observed in most Mohammedan countries.
After resuming our route we soon found evidence that we were entering upon a new botanical region—that of the Atlantic coast. Besides numerous species not seen since we had left Mogador at the end of April, we here found for the first time several conspicuous plants characteristic of this region. In hedges, and among bushes, a tall Bupleurum (B. canescens of Schousboe) grew to a height of eight or ten feet, and in similar situations Periploca lævigata was just forming its fruit.
The facts known as to the distribution of the last-named plant, and the allied species, Periploca græca, suggest speculations as to their past history that deserve some passing notice. The genus Periploca, which takes its name from the twining stems of the species first known to botanists, has its centre in the sub-tropical zone of the Asiatic continent. The single mainly western species is Periploca lævigata. This appears to be common in the Canary Islands, and grows freely in the tract now visited by us to the north-west of Mogador. It has been found in abundance on some rocky islands near the coast ot Sicily; but, in spite of the silky hairs attached to the seeds, it has not spread itself to neighbouring islands, nor to the Sicilian coast. It has been detected in two or three places in the south-east of Spain, and here and there in rocky places on the skirts of the desert in the interior of Algeria and Tunis. Finally, it was long ago found by Labillardière in one place on the coast of Syria. All this points to the former wide diffusion of a plant which no longer finds favourable conditions of existence, unless, perhaps, in the Canary Islands. Its presence in the interior of North Africa may possibly date from the period when it grew near the coast of a great gulf opening to the Atlantic; but it is not easy to understand how it has held its ground in a climate so different from that of its natural home. This plant has inherited from a remote ancestor a habit which is now of no service to it. The young branches near the root twine round any adjacent support; but as they grow older they become stiff and straight, and the taller specimens derive no adventitious support from this source.
The history of Periploca græca, the only species known to the older botanists, is somewhat different. It is rather common in Georgia, and in parts of Persia and Asia Minor. Less common in Greece, it becomes extremely rare to the west of that limit, being found only in Montenegro, at one place in Dalmatia, at another in South-eastern Italy near Otranto, and, finally, in the pine-woods on the Tuscan coast near Pisa. These facts indicate the former wider extension of the species towards the west, and its gradual retreat towards its primitive home in Asia. But we have more direct evidence to that effect. The prints of leaves unmistakably belonging to this species are not uncommon in the quaternary deposits of the valley of the Arno. It may probably have flourished in thickets on the Monte Pisano, and on the Monte Nero near Leghorn, when these were islands in a tertiary sea, and gradually descended towards the Mediterranean as the coast line was advanced by a change of level, and by the formation of the deltas of the Arno and the Serchio.
Another conspicuous plant, now seen for the first time, was Odontospermum odorum (Asteriscus of De Candolle), forming a dense dwarf bush, about two feet high. The whole plant gives out an agreeable scent; but, except in this respect, and in having the leaves covered with white silky hairs, it differs very little from 0. graveolens, a characteristic species of the desert region, remarkable for its offensive smell. The sweet-smelling species had been hitherto found only in the Mogador district, and in the Canary Islands; but it was afterwards gathered by us near Saffi.
We reached our destination at about 5.30 P.M., and were agreeably surprised at the verdure and freshness of the spot. Our camp was pitched among large olive trees, near to the stream flowing from the principal spring. The position somewhat resembles that of the so-called fountain of Elias near Jericho, well known to travellers in Palestine; but the contrast offered by the vegetation was remarkable. If a few plants close to the stream appear to thrive about the waters of Elias, the surrounding vegetation is meagre, and amid the straggling bushes of exotic aspect that surround the spot the traveller seeks in vain for effectual protection from the sun. Here, besides the gigantic olive trees that must have been planted at a remote period, the white poplar grows to a great size, and wild herbaceous plants were still green, many of them in flower as well as fruit, at this advanced season. At a time when the summer heat has become intolerable at most places in North Africa the thermometer in our tents stood at about 70° F. an hour before sunset, and the nights were even cooler than some might have wished. Something was no doubt due to the unusual amount of rain that had fallen during the month of May; but if the climate of the coast region of South Marocco were altered so as to resemble that of other places in the same latitude, much of the existing vegetation would soon disappear. On dry sandy slopes above our camp the effects of the late rains were plainly seen, and before nightfall we collected a considerable number of annual species in flower, sprung from seeds borne by the first crop, and ripened two or three months before.
We did not visit the remains of ancient miners’ work that are visible at several places about the base of the hill; but we found scoriæ in abundance, and some fragments of the ironstone from which the mountain takes its name. It is not easy to conjecture the date at which these iron mines can have been worked. There is no reason to believe that any Moorish ruler ever attempted to turn them to account; and although the Portuguese once built a small fort near Mogador, it does not seem probable that they ever held control over the adjoining country. As to the long interval between the establishment of Roman power in North Marocco and the disappearance of Roman civilisation after the Saracen conquest history is silent, and it would be as unsafe to assert as to deny that the workings of Djebel Hadid are to be referred to that epoch. The only apparent alternative is to attribute them to a still more remote period, when Carthaginian colonies flourished on the coast.
In connection with this subject it is curious to remark that Leo Africanus, in his account of the hilly range of the Djebel Hadid, makes no allusion to the working of the mines there, although his work contains frequent reference to the extraction of metals, not excepting iron, from mines in the Great Atlas. In his day the Djebel Hadid seems to have had a rather numerous population of Bereber stock. He describes them as of gentle and inoffensive manners, who expelled from among them men guilty of robbery and violence. They had been much molested by the Arabs of the neighbouring plains, and had agreed to purchase tranquillity by the payment of black mail in the form of tribute, when the reigning Sultan, whose policy it was to protect and favour the Bereber population, despatched a military force (which Leo Africanus himself accompanied), brought the Arabs to order, and relieved the Berebers from tribute. At the present day the Shelluh stock has apparently disappeared from this part of the country, being either driven away, or absorbed by inter-marriage into the surrounding Arab population.
A young man, the son of one of the wealthiest Jews in Mogador, had been invited by Mr. Carstensen to accompany him in this excursion. He was absolutely ignorant of the country beyond what he may have learned in a daily canter over the sands at Mogador, and was far less fitted for rough life than the majority of English young ladies of the upper class. Everything in tent life seemed to him strange and rather terrible. In the course of conversation over the evening cigar it came out that he had never seen a scorpion; whereupon, by order from Mr. Carstensen, a corner of the carpet within the tent was turned up, and a scorpion-hole speedily found. When the ugly creature was dug out of his hole and produced to the company, the genuine consternation and disgust of our young friend were irresistibly ludicrous. We afterwards heard that he passed a miserable night, in constant terror of encountering the enemy, and on the next day returned to the paternal home, whence he will not again be easily lured.