CHAPTER XIII.
Second stay at Mogador — Plants obtained through native collectors — Outrage committed by the Haha people — Story of the troubles in Haha — Farewell presents to our servants and escort — An unpunctual tradesman corrected — Exports from Mogador — Caravans from Timbuktou — Jewish wedding — Voyage in the Lady Havelock — Land at Saffi — Excursion ashore — Land at Mazagan — Return to Tangier, and thence to England.
However pleasant were our recollections of the rough life we had been leading for the past five weeks, we could not fail to appreciate the physical comfort involved in a return to the habits of civilised life at Mogador. A chair to sit upon, a table at which to eat one’s meals, a hundred other things to which daily use makes us quite insensible and indifferent, become luxuries to one who has for some time been deprived of them.
We had no lack of occupation during the four days of our stay at Mogador. The large harvest of dried plants collected during our journey had to be put in order and safely packed for conveyance to England. It had been our prime object to obtain as far as possible a complete representation of the Flora of the territory which we had been able to explore; and for that purpose we had made it a point to carry away a specimen, or at least a fragment, of every species, even the commonest, from each district that we traversed. In this way our collections represent, not merely the constituents of the South Marocco flora, but, to a great extent, the distribution of the several species. Besides attending to this, our main object, we did not fail to collect duplicates of most of the new and rare species seen during our journey for distribution to the chief public herbaria, and to the botanists who have illustrated the flora of the Mediterranean region. To avoid chances of future error, it was necessary to give much care to the labelling and packing of our collections, which we could not expect to see again until some time after our return to England. Fortunately our specimens were nearly all quite dry, and in excellent condition; and we had not to complain of the moist condition of the air which had given us so much trouble during our first stay on the coast. The cool breezes from the N. and NE., which make the climate of this region so agreeable and healthful in summer, now steadily prevailed. The air at this season is relatively dry and free from haze, and, as a consequence, the daily range of the thermometer is greater than at any other season. Yet, as compared with any other place we know, the extremes are singularly moderate, and never exceed the limits conducive to full health and enjoyment. The thermometer, observed pretty frequently by night as well as by day, only twice rose during our stay to 77° F. At about 3 A.M. it usually fell to 63° F., and on one occasion to 61°.
On our return we found awaiting us a small addition to our Marocco herbarium. With the kind assistance of Mr. Carstensen, we had arranged during our first visit that two natives, who had received a first lesson in the art of drying plants, should start for Agadir early in May, and should bring back whatever plants they could then find in flower. The collection, which we now shared between us, was not of much importance, including, as it did, but a single species not found by us. We doubted, at the time whether the men had, as they solemnly asserted, really reached the neighbourhood of Agadir; but we have now reason to believe that the vegetation of the coast region from Mogador southward to about the twenty-ninth parallel of latitude is very uniform.
Since our return from Marocco our friend M. Cosson, with the active assistance of the late M. Beaumier, has succeeded in engaging the services of two native collectors, one of them a very intelligent Jew, the other a Shelluh mountaineer. From the former large collections from the country as far south as the borders of Oued Noun, and as far east as the oasis of Akka, have been sent to Paris; and the latter has contributed a few additions to the flora of the Great Atlas, along with many of the species collected by us. With his accustomed liberality, M. Cosson has sent us duplicates of these fresh contributions to the flora of Marocco.
In the afternoon of June 4, we went to pay a farewell visit to the banks of the Oued Kseb, which had been the scene of our first botanical excursion in South Marocco. During the interval of six weeks a great change had passed over the vegetation; most of the annuals were completely dried up and had disappeared; but the excursion was not altogether unproductive, and we were able to add a few plants to our collections.
There remained a point of some botanical interest, which it was very desirable to clear up before our departure. The curious cactoïd Euphorbia, producing the Gum Euphorbium,[1] written of by Dioscorides and Pliny, grows in the interior provinces of South Marocco. The only modern writer who has given an account of it is Jackson,[2] who, though no botanist, was a careful and conscientious observer. In his account of the plant, and the accompanying plate, we had been struck by some apparent discrepancies. The gum, as he says, is obtained from the plant growing on the lower region of the Atlas; but the same plant is, according to him, abundant about Agadir, and is carried thence to Mogador for the use of the tanners. The Agadir plant, however, he declares to produce no gum. Further than this, in the plate annexed to his description, the left-hand figure, giving a view of the whole plant on a reduced scale, shows the thick fleshy branches, with four angles, as we had seen them in the specimen given to Hooker by the Kaïd at Mesfioua; while the right-hand figure, showing a fragment of the natural size, represents the end of a branch, with numerous (about ten) projecting fleshy ribs, beset with spines. Hooker came to the conclusion that there were possibly two quite distinct plants known to Jackson, and on returning to Mogador he proceeded to make inquiry on the subject.
Before long a native was brought to us who appeared to be well acquainted with the Agadir plant, and who declared that it grows in abundance about half-way between that place and Mogador. Upon this Hooker became anxious to start at once for the purpose of personally examining the suspected plant, and securing live specimens for Kew. To this Mr. Carstensen felt it necessary to object. Matters, as he informed us, had been getting from bad to worse in the great province of Haha, which includes the whole sea-board between Mogador and Agadir. Between the discontent caused by repeated acts of unprovoked cruelty on the part of the Governor, and the results of the war still proceeding between him and his neighbours in Mtouga, the province had lapsed into a complete state of anarchy, and a European attempting to travel at such a time would be exposed to serious risk. It was reluctantly agreed by Hooker that our native informant, with a companion, should depart for the spot, which he professed to know, charged with the commission to bring back a donkey-load of specimens of the living plant.