lake’ was probably near the mouth of the Oued Tensift, we are
led to believe that Hanno disembarked settlers at no less than five
stations on the coast of what is now the province of Haha. If we may
rely on the correctness of the Greek text we must infer that these
were settlements established by the Carthaginians before the date of
Hanno’s expedition.[1] The next place reached by Hanno was ‘the
great river Lixus, flowing from Libya, about which dwelt a nomadic
people,’ who are called in the text Lixitæ (Λιξίται). It is
further stated that the river is said to flow from great mountains
in the neighbourhood, around which dwell the Troglodytes, referred
to in our text, p. 301. The only assertion that can be confidently
made about the Lixus of Hanno is, that it was quite a different
stream from that afterwards known to the Romans by the same name,
the latter being the modern Oued el Kous, falling into the sea
at El Araisch, and which Pliny makes fifty-seven Roman miles from
Tangier. The learned commentator, C. Müller, identifies the Lixus
of the Periplus with the Draha; but, unless we assume that great
physical changes have occurred during the interval, this supposition
is scarcely compatible with the existence of a numerous population
near the mouth of the river. It may possibly have been the river
Akassa (the native name of the river of Oued Noun); but it appears
far more probable that it was the Sous, the only one of these rivers
which is believed constantly to discharge a large volume of water
into the sea. It may be, indeed, that there is an etymological
connection between the names Sous and Lixus, as there undoubtedly
is between some names still current and those used by the Romans.

After Hanno, the next voyager along this coast of whom we known
anything was Polybius. The original record of his voyage has,
unfortunately, not come down to posterity, but a few particulars have
been preserved by Pliny.[2] We learn incidentally that the Romans
called Cape Cantin promontorium Solis, a name evidently suggested by
the earlier name Solois of the Carthaginians, afterwards rendered
in Greek by Ptolemy ἡλίου ἄκρον. Whether Polybius succeeded in
reaching the Senegal, or some other river within the tropics, may
be uncertain; but he undoubtedly visited many places on the Atlantic
coast of Marocco. We hear for the first time of the rivers _Subur_
(modern Sebou), and _Salat_ (the Bouregrag, which falls into the
sea at Sallee). He touched at the port of _Rutulis_, said to have
been eight Roman miles beyond the mouth of the river Anatis, which
was 205 Roman miles from Lixus (El Araisch). The river is doubtless
the modern Oum-er-bia, and the port was the same which the Portuguese
named Mazagan. The next port touched by Polybius was named _Risadir_,
which has been with much probability identified with Agadir.[3]
As for the rivers named by Polybius on the coast south-west of the
Atlas, their identification with any known to modern geographers
is purely conjectural.

Of Roman writers Pliny is the only one from whom any positive
information as to the geography of this part of Africa is to be
gained; but even this is very limited.[4] He complains that the
reports as to the region beyond the narrow limits within which
Roman power was established in his day were most fallacious, and
censures the Roman authorities for indolently giving circulation
to mendacious stories, instead of investigating the truth for
themselves. In his day Sala (modern Sallee) was the most southern
of the Roman settlements in Marocco. He describes it as ‘a
town standing on a river of the same name, on the confines of the
desert (_solitudinibus vicinum_), which was infested by herds of
elephants, and still more by the tribe of the Autololes, through
whose territory lay the way to the great mountain of Africa, the
many-fabled Atlas.’ It appears elsewhere that Pliny had access to
the manuscripts left by Juba, which, unfortunately, have not come
down to posterity. That accomplished prince appears to have held
control over the whole territory of Marocco as far as the base of
the Atlas. It is to these lost pages of Juba that we probably owe the
only fragment of moderately correct information as to South Marocco
which is to be found in Pliny’s work.[5] The river Asana, whose
mouth is said to be 150 Roman miles beyond Sala, is doubtless the
Anatis of Polybius, and the Oum-er-bia of the Moors. The next river,
which he calls Fut, is the Tensift. The distance assigned for the
interval between the mouth of the Fut and the Atlas is excessive;
but not largely so if Agadir be intended, that being the first
place on the coast from which the high summits of the Atlas are
habitually visible. The statement as to the existence of remains
of vineyards and palm-groves about the ruins of ancient dwellings
seems to lend probability to the belief that the Carthaginian
settlements on this coast may have had a prolonged existence. The
fall of the parent State would have had but an indirect influence
on their destiny. Verbal resemblances are so often misleading that
little weight can be attached to them; but it is natural to compare
the word Dyris, said by Pliny to be the native name for the Atlas,
with that now used by the natives—_Idrarn_—this being the plural
form of _Adrar_, which means generically a mountain, both in the
Shelluh and in several other Bereber dialects.

Besides what Pliny may have learned from King Juba as to the
geography of the coast of South Marocco, he had access to
contemporary testimony as to some part of the interior of the
country. Suetonius Paulinus (the same who at a later date played
a conspicuous part in Britain) being appointed governor of the
provinces of N.W. Africa, then recently incorporated in the Roman
Empire, resolved to penetrate southward beyond the Great Atlas,
whether with a view to intimidate the native tribes, or for the mere
satisfaction of carrying the Roman eagles into a new region. He
appears to have left a written account of his expedition, which,
like so much else of ancient geographical literature, has been
lost. The particulars preserved by Pliny are unfortunately so vague
as to be almost valueless.

In ten days from his starting point, wherever that may have been,
we are told that he reached the highest point of his march. He
reported the mountain to be covered with dense forests of trees of
an unknown kind, and declares the summit of the range to be deeply
covered with snow, even in summer.[6] From the summit of the Atlas
Suetonius descended, and marched on through deserts of black sand,
out of which rose here and there rocks that had the aspect of being
burnt, to a river called Ger. Although it was the winter season the
heat of these regions was found intolerable. The neighbouring forests
abounded in elephants and other wild beasts, and with serpents of
every kind, and were inhabited by a people called Canarians.

The controversies to which this passage has given rise are not
likely to be definitively decided. The balance of opinion leans
to the belief that Suetonius ascended the valley of the Moulouya,
and traversed the Atlas by the pass now called Tizin Tinrout,
leading to Tafilelt. This was the pass traversed by Gerhard Rohlfs
in 1864, and to his narrative alone we can refer for information
respecting it and the country extending southward towards the Great
Desert. The existence in that part of W. Africa, on the south side of
the Great Atlas, so far from the influence of the Atlantic climate,
of vast forests capable of maintaining elephants and sheltering a
native population, would apparently be irreconcilable with existing
physical conditions, and is not readily admissible in the Roman
period. Whatever vigorous vegetation exists in the region traversed
by Rohlfs adjoins the banks of the stream; and, though sand may
encroach here and there, and sun-burnt rocks are seen there, as
elsewhere on the south side of the Atlas, the description is not
what would occur to any one following the course of the stream. It
seems, further, highly improbable that a prudent general, such as
Suetonius Paulinus, would have undertaken to lead an aggressive
military force along the tortuous valley of the Moulouya, some 250
miles in length, enclosed for the most part between lofty mountains;
and it is also to be noted that at the period of his expedition
the Romans held no station in the valley of the Moulouya, if indeed
they ever penetrated far into it.

The few particulars quoted above lead to the conclusion that the
Roman general in his southward march beyond the Atlas did not follow
the course of a stream, but was compelled to cross a tract of desert
before reaching the river of which he speaks, which, therefore,
probably flowed from E. to W. On the whole, it seems to me that the
brief record is more easily reconciled with the supposition that
Suetonius Paulinus made Sala (Sallee), the farthest Roman station
in Western Africa, his base of operations; that he marched thence
across the open country towards SSW., and gained the summit of
the Atlas range at the pass between Imintanout and Tarudant.[7]
Between the course of the Sous and that of the Akassa, or river
of Oued Noun, there are extensive tracts of sandy desert, where,
even in winter, his troops may easily have suffered from heat and
thirst; and the river (called Ger) may have been the main branch,
or one of the tributaries of the Akassa flowing from the range of
Anti-Atlas. The former existence of great forests, frequented by
elephants, on the flanks of that range, is far more probable than
on the parched southern slopes of the interior, where, as Rohlfs
tells us, the rocks and hills are now absolutely bare of tree
and shrub vegetation. Finally, it is more natural to look for the
ancient Canarians in the country near the Atlantic coast than in
the interior.

The solitary argument of any weight in favour of the Moulouya
and Tafilelt route seems to be derived from the fact that in
descending southward from the pass at the head of the Moulouya
valley the traveller follows the course of a stream which now bears
the name Gers, or Ghir. But it must be remarked that this name
exists elsewhere in Marocco, there being at least three streams so
denominated, and further that it is nowadays borne by the river
of Tafilelt only during a short part of its course. Rohlfs, who
is here our only authority, tells us that the stream first met
in descending from the pass of Tizin Tinrout is called Siss.[8]
After following this for seven or eight hours, it is joined by
another stream which he called _Ued Gers_. The united stream bears
the latter name for a distance of some six hours’ ride, and then
resumes the name of Siss, which it bears throughout its subsequent
course till it is lost in the sands of the Sahara.

The long period that intervened between the decline of Roman power
and the establishment of Mohammedan rule in Marocco, is a blank to
the historian and the geographer. It can scarcely be doubted that
Roman authority and Roman institutions spread themselves throughout
a great part of the open country between the Atlas and the Atlantic,
although there is but little direct evidence to that effect.

Little reliance can be placed on the statement of Leo Africanus
that the people of Barbary were converted to Christianity 250 years
before the birth of Mohammed, or about A.D. 320, for, in a country
so split up into independent tribes, the new faith must have made
way irregularly and at various periods; while it is most probable
that it never struck root among the mountain tribes of the Great
Atlas. But the positive assertion of the same writer, that when
the Arabs arrived in Marocco they found the Christians masters of
the country, probably holds good of all except the mountain tracts.

Whether any reliable information as to South Marocco is to be
gleaned from the writings of the eminent Arabian geographers who
lived between the tenth and fourteenth centuries, I am unable to
say; but it seems sufficiently certain that the period of European
exploration leading to practical results commenced in the fourteenth
century. The Genoese, the Catalans, and the Venetians appear to
have despatched several expeditions along the coast, most of them
intended to reach the gold-producing regions of tropical Africa. The
Portuguese, who were destined to outstrip all their rivals in
maritime exploration, were the first to establish themselves on
the western coast of Marocco; and, at one time or other, they held
most, if not all, the Atlantic seaports. Much information doubtless
lies concealed among the mediæval records of Italy, Spain, and,
especially, of Portugal; but up to the present time nothing has
been published to show that any European was able, from personal
knowledge, to give an account of the interior of Marocco, before
Marmol, who, having been taken prisoner by the Moors, passed several
years at Fez and elsewhere in North Marocco, about the middle of the
sixteenth century. The earliest known document showing a moderately
correct knowledge of the coast is a map (number 5 in the series),
contained in the celebrated _Portulano_ of the Laurentian Library
in Florence, bearing the date 1351.[9] In this map, which, from
internal evidence, must be of Genoese origin, the general outline
of the Marocco coast is correct, and the positions of the few
places laid down unmistakable. The now abandoned town of Fedala
(Fidalah), Mefegam (Mazagan), and Mogodor here appear for the first
time. Of early Portuguese maps there must be many not now known to
geographers, and it was certainly from Portuguese authorities that
Gerard Mercator partly derived the materials used in both editions of
his Atlas. In the _Atlas Minor_, published by Hondins in 1608, a map
of South Marocco is given in page 567, wherein for the first time an
attempt is made to represent the positions of cities and mountains,
and the courses of rivers in the interior of the country. The
outline of the coast is here less correct than that given in the
much more ancient Medicean map; but there is far more of detail,
especially as to places which were evidently well known to the
Portuguese. Thus, as mentioned in the text, we here for the first
time find the island of Mogador with the name _‘I. Domegador.’_
The places laid down in the interior appear for the most part to
be taken (but with numerous errors) from the work of Leo Africanus;
but the chartographer has spoiled his map by making the river Sous
flow from SE. to NW., instead of from NNE. to SSW. Mountains are
scattered pretty uniformly over the map; but what is made to appear
as the loftiest mass, and is marked _‘Atlas M.,’_ with a town
named Tagovast at its foot, stands S. of Tarudant about the western
extremity of the range of Anti-Atlas. The accompanying letterpress,
page 566, is to a great extent derived from Leo Africanus, but with
additions from other sources. It is curious to read that Tarudant,
now a place which no Christian stranger dare approach, was then
resorted to by French and English merchants.

The name of the remarkable man, who stands almost alone as a
geographical authority for the interior of Marocco, has already
been mentioned; but it is impossible to dismiss him so lightly. Leo
Africanus, to give him the name by which he is known to posterity,
was a Moor of Grenada, born in the latter part of the fifteenth
century, who, with his kinsfolk, fled to Fez at or about the
time of the siege of Granada in 1492. In those days Fez was the
head-quarters of Arabic culture; Leo was an earnest and successful
student, and, as a man of learning and intelligence, was taken into
favour by Mouley Ahmet, the founder of the dynasty still reigning in
Marocco. Either in company with the new ruler, or with his protection
and authority, he travelled through almost every part of the empire,
as well as nearly all the rest of Northern Africa, and evidently made
copious notes. He wrote, in Arabic, various works on history and
grammar which have not been preserved, and, in the same language,
the original version of his description of Africa. It would appear
that he carried this with him, in manuscript, when, in 1517, he was
made captive by Christian corsairs, who took him to Rome. Leo X.,
hearing that a learned Moor had been brought a captive to Rome,
sent for him, and treated him with kindness and liberality. A
suggestion that he should undergo the rite of baptism seems to
have encountered no obstinate prejudices, for he soon complied,
receiving at the font the Pope’s own names, Giovanni Leone, and
perhaps becoming as earnest a Christian as the Pontiff himself. He
afterwards lived many years in Rome, acquired the Italian tongue,
and translated his work on Africa into that idiom. This remained
for some time unpublished, until it fell into the hands of Ramusio,
who included it in his famous work ‘Delle Navigationi et Viaggi,’
of which the first edition, in three folio volumes, was printed in
Venice in 1550. It is not easy to account for the numerous variations
between the original text and the versions which appeared in various
languages during the century following the original publication;
but in the absence of satisfactory explanation it seems safest to
accept the text of Ramusio as alone authentic.

Like most modern readers, the members of our party, when they
resolved to visit Marocco, knew nothing of the work of Leo
Africanus beyond the fact that he is occasionally referred to
by writers on North Africa. The time for preparation was far too
short for extensive reading, and we took with us only the works
of Jackson and Gerhard Rohlfs. It has, however, since that time
been a matter of frequent regret that we had not the opportunity,
while travelling in the country, of referring to the only writer
who had actually seen the greater part of it with his own eyes, and
as to whose general truthfulness there is no room for suspicion. It
is impossible here to enter into the many interesting details that
abound throughout the text; but it is worth while to point out the
more important changes that are disclosed between the condition of
South Marocco as it was more than three and a half centuries ago,
and that of the present day.

So far as regards the manners, ideas, habits, and mode of living
of the inhabitants, the changes are quite insignificant, save
in so far as these are affected by a general decline in material
prosperity. The central authority was at that period much weaker,
and the separate tribes led a more independent existence. Amongst
the Bereber people of the mountains, and even in many of the larger
towns, such government as existed was ordinarily of the democratic
type. Thus we read that in Tarudant four chiefs were elected to
manage the affairs of the city, holding office for only six months
at a time.

If it were possible to doubt the results of the establishment of a
system of grinding despotism, administered by officials who enjoy
practical impunity so long as they satisfy the pecuniary demands of
their master, the pages of Leo Africanus bring ample evidence. It is,
indeed, true that a slight improvement has ensued as regards internal
tranquillity. There is now rather less of habitual turbulence;
the mutual encounters between neighbouring tribes may be somewhat
less frequent; and brigandage, which appears to have been not
uncommon in the open country, is now comparatively rare. It may
be doubted whether this advantage, such as it is, is not as much
due to diminished population as to the successful administration
of the Moorish Sultans.

On the other hand, there is overwhelming evidence of a general
and progressive decline in prosperity. Throughout the southern
provinces, and especially in Haha and Sous, Leo Africanus found
numerous flourishing towns, most of them visited and described by
him. In each one of these he found people living in comparative ease,
inhabiting good houses with gardens, and possessing, according to the
standard of the age, some literary education. From the towns, and
even from the inner valleys of the Atlas, students flocked to Fez,
then the head-quarters of Arabic knowledge and civilisation. All
the principal places were then local centres of production, the
artificers being principally Jews.

It is notable that excepting the city of Marocco, then full of a
numerous and active population, none of the towns mentioned owed
their foundation to the conquering race. Leo, not likely to detract
from the achievements of his own people, expressly attributes the
origin of most of them to the ‘antichi Africani,’ by which
designation he commonly speaks of the primitive Bereber stock;
and, as regards the smaller towns lying in the low country north
of the Atlas, he frequently speaks of the population being harassed
by the Arabs, then, as at this day, leading a semi-nomad existence
in the plains.

If we confront his description with the present state of the country
we find comparative ruin and desolation. In all the southern
provinces we now find but two inland cities of any importance,
Marocco and Tarudant, and these dwindled to a mere tithe of their
ancient wealth and population. Where the traveller in the sixteenth
century found thriving towns at intervals of ten or twelve miles,
there are now miserable villages whose wretched inhabitants maintain
a bare existence, and are often unable to pay the imposts which
leave no surplus behind. It does not appear that in the great
province of Haha there is now a single place that can be called a
town except the ruined seaport of Agadir, destined by nature to be
the chief port of South Marocco, but closed to trade by the caprice
of a Sultan. Throughout the interior we saw or heard of but two
places that could by courtesy be called towns, Amsmiz and Moulai
Ibrahim. Although no statistics are available, it seems a moderate
estimate if we reckon that the present population of South Marocco
cannot exceed one-third of what it was when Leo wrote.

Along with the decay of wealth and population, we naturally find
that of everything that could raise the people in the scale of
existence. In Leo’s day iron and copper mines were worked in
many places in the Atlas, and various handicrafts exercised, of
which there is now no trace. Education, such as it was, was widely
spread; and in some parts of the Atlas where it was absent, the
traveller noted the fact as a proof of the low condition of the
population. He notes as a curious incident that when he visited
the mountain district of Semele, where the people were ignorant of
reading and writing, they forced him to remain nine days, hearing
and deciding all pending cases of litigation; in doing which, as
he records, he had to act both as judge and notary, there being no
one competent to write down the decisions of the court.

Several incidental statements in the work of Leo Africanus suggest an
inquiry of considerable interest. There is nothing in the published
annals of the Portuguese wars with the Moors to suggest a belief that
the former at any time established their authority in the interior
of South Marocco, or even undertook any inland expeditions. From
Leo’s narrative it appears, however, that, at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, they had, at least occasionally, penetrated much
farther into the interior than has commonly been supposed, and that
the authority of the Portuguese king was in some places paramount. At
Tumeglast, a place in the plain of Marocco, probably not far from
the present village of Frouga, Leo lodged in the house with a Moor,
named Sidi Yehie, who had come in the name of the king of Portugal
to levy tribute, the same Moor having been made by the king chief
(capitano) of the district of Azasi. Elsewhere he relates that the
king of Marocco sent an expeditionary force against an independent
chief in the district of Hanimmei, forty miles east of the city of
Marocco (apparently in the present province of Demnet), and which
force was accompanied by 300 Portuguese cavalry. The expedition was
unsuccessful, the Sultan’s troops were defeated, and, according
to the narrative, not one of the Christian horsemen returned from
the disaster. It seems highly improbable that the Portuguese should
have taken part in such an affair if their troops had not at the
time been stationed somewhere in the interior.

After Leo Africanus but little of a definite kind is to be learned
from subsequent writers as to the geography of South Marocco. In
1791 the reigning Sultan applied to General O’Hara, then Governor
of Gibraltar, for the assistance of an English physician to treat
his favourite son, Mouley Absalom, who was at the time governing
the province of Sous. Mr. Lempriere, an army-surgeon, undertook
the office, and travelled by the west coast to Agadir, and thence
to Tarudant. After successfully treating his patient, he was partly
induced, and partly forced, to travel to the city of Marocco, whence,
after considerable delay and difficulty, he succeeded in returning
to Gibraltar. Mr. Lempriere probably travelled across the Atlas by
the road from Tarudant to Imintanout, but his narrative supplies
little information to the geographer. He speaks of the distance
from Tarudant to the northern foot of the Atlas as an easy journey
of three days, and describes the track as leading beneath and along
tremendous precipices.

Frequent reference is made in the text to Jackson’s ‘Account
of the Empire of Marocco,’ of which the first edition appeared
in 1809, and the third in 1814. This is undoubtedly the fullest and
most correct modern work on Southern Marocco. Jackson spent sixteen
years in the country, chiefly at Mogador and Agadir; he acquired
the familiar use of the Moorish Arabic, and seems to have obtained
merited influence among the natives. Either because he had but little
taste for exploration, or because he found the difficulties too
serious, Jackson has added little to our knowledge of the geography
of the country. His map, though it contains some corrections, is on
the whole inferior to that of Chénier, published a century earlier.

A definite contribution to the slight existing amount of positive
knowledge was made by the late Admiral Washington, then a lieutenant
in the navy, who accompanied the late Sir J. Drummond Hay on his
mission to the city of Marocco in the winter of 1829-1830. His
paper, published in the first volume of the ‘Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society,’ is frequently referred to in our text;
and in the accompanying map the positions of several points in the
interior of the country were accurately laid down from astronomical
observation.

A most important step towards extending our knowledge of the entire
empire of Marocco was made in 1848, when the French War Department
published the map compiled by Captain Beaudouin. Whatever errors it
may contain—and these were unavoidably numerous—this must be
regarded as a monument of intelligence and industry. Recognising
the fact that the greater part of the territory is likely long to
remain inaccessible to Europeans, the author applied himself to
obtaining information from natives who were personally acquainted
with various portions of the country. Hundreds of such informants,
as we were assured, were separately examined by Captain Beaudouin;
the information supplied by each was laid down on a skeleton map;
and by the careful comparison of the separate materials the general
map was compiled.

Without noticing minor errors, which are, of course, inevitable
in such a work, the most serious objection to be made to this map
is that the orography is exhibited in a fashion _primâ facie_
improbable, and which has been to a great extent negatived by
subsequent evidence. The main range of the Southern Atlas is
represented as a nearly straight wall, over 400 miles in length,
with few and short diverging ridges, and, parallel to this on the
south side, another equally straight and narrow ridge is made to
stretch for nearly 300 miles. From near the eastern extremity of the
main range two other straight ridges are shown, diverging abruptly
at an acute angle, and enclosing a trench-like valley that extends
north-west for fully 120 miles. If this were even approximately
correct, we should be led to conclude that the structure of the Great
Atlas is quite unlike that of any other known mountain region. The
tendency of mountain ranges to follow a uniform general direction
is always modified by the numerous secondary causes that have helped
to fashion the earth’s surface.

The first recent traveller who succeeded in penetrating some
considerable portions of the Marocco territory was M. Gerhard
Rohlfs. Assuming the garb and professing the faith of a Mussulman,
he traversed many districts where no Christian dare present himself;
but the care necessary to prevent his real character from becoming
known imposed severe restrictions on M. Rohlfs. Produced under
conditions where it was impossible to be seen taking notes or using
any scientific instrument, it is not surprising that the narrative
of his adventurous journey is extremely meagre; but even for the
little that he is told about a region so little known the reader
is thankful. The chief geographical results of these journeys
were embodied in the map annexed to G. Rohlfs’ first work[10]
by the eminent geographer, M. Petermann. The scale of that map
is small and admits of little detail; but, so far as regards the
mountain country, I am disposed to think that the direct evidence,
supplemented in some points by native report, requires us to depart
more widely from the orographic features of Beaudouin’s map than
M. Petermann has thought it fit to do.

In the map accompanying this volume I have ventured, in addition
to the changes for which I had direct authority, to introduce a few
others, avowedly conjectural, which must await further exploration
before they can be either adopted or condemned. It is difficult
to believe that in an age when the barriers that have closed the
other least known regions of the earth are successively removed,
Marocco, so close to Europe and so attractive, can alone resist
the progress of modern exploration.[11]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The phrase used is κατῳκίσαμεν πόλεις πρὸς τῇ
θαλάττῃ καλουμένας Καριχόν τε Γύττην καὶ Ἄκραν καὶ Μέλιτταν
καὶ Ἄραμβυν. When the author speaks of Thymiaterium, founded
by Hanno in this expedition, he says, ἐκτίσαμεν πρώτην πόλιν.]

[Footnote 2: See Pliny, V. 1, § 8. His account is vague and
confused, and the distances not to be reconciled with those given
by him elsewhere.]

[Footnote 3: Not content with the indication afforded by the
identity of the two terminal syllables in each name, C. Müller
conjectures that the ancient name of the promontory near Agadir
was Râs adir, Râs being the common Arabic designation for a
headland. He apparently supposes that the natives spoke Arabic in
the time of Polybius. Even now none of the headlands on this coast
have the designation Râs.]

[Footnote 4: I am indebted for information as to several passages
in Pliny’s writings to my friend, Mr. E. Bunbury, who will
doubtless throw further light on the subject in an important work,
‘An Historical View of Ancient Geography’ which he is preparing
for publication.]

[Footnote 5: ‘Indigenæ tamen tradunt in ora ab Sala CL
m. p. flumen Asanam, marino haustu sed portu spectabile: mox
amnem quem vocant Fut: ab eo ad Dyrin (hoc enim Atlanti nomen esse
eorum lingua convenit) CC m. p., interveniente flumine cui nomen
est Vior. Ibi fama exstare circa vestigia habitati quondam soli
vinearum palmetorumque reliquias.’]

[Footnote 6: This must have been from native report, as the
expedition was made in winter. If he had said that the snow never
quite disappears, and sometimes falls heavily, even in summer,
his statement would have been accurate enough.]

[Footnote 7: Mentioned in the text at p. 294.]

[Footnote 8: This is evidently the river Ziz of Leo Africanus;
and in his time, as at the present day, travellers going from Fez
to Segelmese (modern Tafilelt) followed the course of the Ziz, or
Siss. He also speaks of a river Ghir, which may possibly have been
the affluent of the Siss mentioned by Rohlfs; but the particulars
given are vague and scanty. It is interesting to remark that in
Leo’s day the valley of the Siss was inhabited by a hardy and
energetic Bereber tribe named Zanaga, probably the same as the
Azanegues whom Cà da Mosto found about Oued Noun. They have since
migrated across the Sahara, and still calling themselves Zanega,
and speaking a Bereber dialect, are dangerous neighbours to the
negro tribes of the Senegal.]

[Footnote 9: A portion of this map, containing the coast of Africa
from the Straits of Gibraltar to the latitude of the Canary Islands,
was published (in facsimile) by Count Baldelli Boni of Florence
in his edition of Marco Polo, and is reproduced in Mr. Major’s
valuable work, ‘The Life of Prince Henry the Navigator.’ London,
1868.]

[Footnote 10: Afrikanische Reisen, von Gerhard Rohlfs. Bremen, 1867.]

[Footnote 11: The scope of these remarks being limited to the
geography of South Marocco, I have not noticed several recent
publications, not devoid of interest and value, but in which no
important contribution is made to our geographical knowledge. We
have referred in the text to papers by MM. Beaumier, Balansa,
and Lambert, in the Bulletin of the French Geographical Society. A
more considerable work, entitled ‘Morocco and the Moors,’ by
Arthur Leared, M.D., appeared in 1874. It contains much information
carefully collected by the author, along with a lively account of
his own experiences, but circumstances prevented him from entering
on new ground.]

                              APPENDIX D.

              ON SOME OF THE ECONOMIC PLANTS OF MAROCCO.

                       BY JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER.

                           _Gum Ammoniacum._

Our endeavours to obtain accurate information regarding the Marocco
gum ammoniac plant were ceaseless and fruitless. Jackson, who
gives a rude figure of a portion of a leaf and a scanty description
(‘Account of the Empire of Marocco,’ 136, t. 7), says that it is
the produce of a plant like Fennel, but larger, and called Fashook in
Arabic, and that it grows in the plains of the interior provinces,
abounding in the north of the city of Marocco, in a sandy light
soil. Jackson further states that neither bird nor beast is seen
where this plant grows, the vulture only excepted, and that it is
attacked by a beetle having a long horn proceeding from its nose,
with which it perforates the plant, and makes the incisions whence
the gum oozes out. Under his description of the vulture, he states
that, with the exception of the ostrich, this is the largest bird
in Marocco; that it is common in all places where the gum ammoniac
grows, as in the plains east of El Araiche,[1] where he has seen
at least twenty of these birds in the air at once, darting down on
the insects with astonishing rapidity (p. 118). Jackson’s figure
(t. 8) of the so-called beetle apparently represents a dipterous
insect resembling a Bombylius, with a very long straight proboscis.

Lindley (‘Flora Medica,’ 46) doubtfully refers Jackson’s
Fashook to the eastern _Ferula orientalis_ L.; and Flückiger
and Hanbury (‘Pharmacographie,’ 289) say that, according to
Lindley, the _Ferula tingitana_ yields a milky gum resin, having
some resemblance to Ammoniacum, which is an object of traffic with
Egypt and Arabia, where it is employed like the ancient drug in
fumigations. The authors go on to say that there can be but little
doubt that the Maroccan Ammoniacum is identical with that of the
ancients, and that it may well have been imported by way of Cyrene
from regions lying farther westward.

Pliny and Dioscorides say that the Ammoniacum is the juice of a
Narthex growing about Cyrene and Libya, and that it is produced in
the neighbourhood of the temple of Ammon.

Dr. Leared (‘Morocco and the Moors,’ 356) was informed that the
Fashook grows at a place two days’ journey from Mogador, on the
road to the city of Marocco,[2] but states that the exudation from
the roots of specimens which he obtained differed from the African
Ammoniacum. We, on the other hand, were persistently assured that
it grew nowhere along that route, nor nearer to it than El Araiche,
north of Marocco city. And this is confirmed by information obtained
by Mr. R. Drummond Hay to the effect that it is found near Marocco,
and chiefly around Tedla. The Moors who gave us this information at
once recognised the figure by Jackson, and called the plant Kilch
(Kelth according to Leared). The roots presented to Kew by the
kindness of Dr. Leared did not make any indications of growth.

The Maroccan Ammoniacum plant must not be confounded with the Persian
_Dorema Ammoniacum_, or ‘Ushak,’ which is also bled by insects.

The Fashook gum is used by the Moors and by some Orientals as a
depilatory, and in skin diseases; it is exported to the East from
Mazagan, _viâ_ Gibraltar and Alexandria.

                  _Euphorbium, Furbiune or Dergmuse._

_Euphorbia resinifera_.—Berg. und Schmidt, Officinelle
Gerwächse, v. iv. (1863) xxxiv. d.; Flückiger and Hanbury,
Pharmacographia, 502; Cosson, in Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. xxi. 163;
Ball, in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. xvi. 661; Euphorbium, Jackson’s
‘Account of the Empire of Marocco,’ 134, t. 6 (left-hand
figure only).

We have little to add to the description of the Euphorbium tree given
by Jackson, and that in the ‘Pharmacographia’ cited above. As
stated in the body of this work it is confined to the interior of
the empire, and the only living specimens we met with were from
a garden in Mesfiouia (see p. 163). Jackson confounded two plants
under this name; one, the true species, growing in the Atlas, with
3-4-angled branches, the other a sea-coast plant, with 9-10-angled
branches, which is carried to Marocco for tanning purposes, and
of which he says, that during the three years of his residence at
Agadir he never saw any gum upon it.

The true plant is figured and described by Jackson as an erect tree,
with a stout short woody trunk, and very numerous upcurved long
sparingly divided branches, the whole resembling a candelabrum. The
angles of the branches are armed with short spines, and the flowers
are produced from the tips of the young shoots. The thorns adhere
to everything that touches them, and he supposes them to have been
intended by nature ‘to prevent cattle from eating this caustic
plant, which they always avoid on account of its prickles.’ The
juice flows from incisions made with a knife, and hardens and drops
off in September. The plants, he says, produce abundantly once only
in four years, and the fourth year’s produce is more than all
Europe can consume. The people who collect the gum are obliged to tie
a cloth over their mouths and nostrils, to prevent the small dusty
particles from annoying them, as they produce incessant sneezing.

The history of the Euphorbium as given in the ‘Pharmacographia’
is, that it was known to both Dioscorides and Pliny as a native of
the Atlas, and was named in honour of Euphorbus, physician to the
learned King Juba II. of Mauritania, himself the author of treatises
on Opium and Euphorbium.

The prevalence of cactoid _Euphorbiæ_ in Marocco, of which there
are three species in the southern districts, is a similar instance
to that of the Argan, of tropical forms advancing far north in the
extreme west of the old world; and as the Argan has its nearest ally
in Madeira, so have the Maroccan Euphorbiums close congeners in
the Canary Islands. All these belong to the section _Diacanthium_
of Boissier, of which the other species are Abyssinian, Arabian,
Indian, and South African.

Gum Euphorbium was extensively used by early practitioners as an
emetic and purgative, and was exported in large quantities; now,
however, the trade in it is rapidly declining, and we were informed
that it is chiefly used in veterinary practice, and as an ingredient
in a paint for the preservation of ships’ bottoms.

_Euphorbia resinifera_ is in cultivation at Kew, where specimens may
be seen both in the Succulent-plant House and Economic-plant House.

                _The Arar, Thuja or Gum Sandrac Tree._

_Callitris quadrivalvis_.—Ventenat, Nov. Gen. Decad. 10; Richard,
Conif. 46, t. 8, f. 1; Endlich, Synops. Conif. 41; Parlatore, in
DC. Prod. xvi. pars 2, 452; Ball, in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. xvi.,
670.

_Thuja articulata_.—Shaw’s ‘Travels in Barbary,’ 462, with
a plate; Vahl, Symb. ii. 96, t. 48; Desf. Flor. Atlant. ii. 353,
t. 252.

_Frenela Fontanesii_.—Mirbel, in Mem. Mus. xiii. 74.

This tree is a native of the mountains of North Africa, from
the Atlantic to Eastern Algeria; but we are not aware whether
its eastern limit has ever been accurately determined. It has no
congener, its nearest ally being a South African genus of Cypresses
(_Widdringtonia_), of which several species are recorded from the
Cape Colony, Natal, and Madagascar, and which differ in having
alternate leaves and many ovules to each scale.

The great interest attached to this plant arises from the beauty and
durability of the wood, which, there is every reason to believe,
was known to the ancients from the earliest times, under the
name of Thuja. It is thus hypothetically, but probably correctly,
identified with the θυῖον[3] of the Odyssey (ii. 6), with the θυῖον
and θυία of Theophrastus (‘Hist. Pl.’ v. 5), and the thyine wood of
the Revelations (xviii. 12). It is undoubtedly the Citrus wood of
the Romans, and the Alerce of the Spaniards; the latter name being
derived from the Moors of Marocco, for it is not a native of Spain.

The first botanical notice of the Callitris is in Shaw’s
‘Travels in Barbary,’ where it is figured and briefly described
as _Thuja articulata_ (462); and for its identification with the
Alerce we are indebted to the late Mr. Drummond Hay when Consul
of Tangier, who, further, sent a plank of the wood to the Royal
Horticultural Society.[4] At about the same time, the attention of
a most intelligent traveller, the late Capt. S. E. Cook (afterwards
Widdrington), was attracted by the wood of the cathedral of Cordova
(formerly a mosque built by the Moors in the ninth century) called
Alerce, which differed from any Spanish wood, or any other wood
now used in Spain. Coupling this name with the communication made
by Mr. Drummond Hay to the Horticultural Society, Capt. Cook was
enabled to identify the Cordova wood with the Callitris, which,
as he assumes, was brought from Marocco, to roof a mosque intended
to be second in sanctity only to that of Mecca.

Except in a garden at Tangier, we saw no specimen of the Callitris
approaching a large size, or capable of yielding the beams which we
were shown in the ceilings and roofs of buildings in that town and
elsewhere, and which are considered to be indestructible. On the
contrary, most of the native specimens we saw in Southern Marocco
resembled small Cypresses, with very sparse foliage and branches,
and were apparently shoots from the stumps of trees that had been
cut or burnt down, though possibly their impoverished habit may
have been due to the sterility of the soil. The largest were in the
Ourika valley, and were about thirty feet high (see p. 177). In
many cases the stem swelled out at the very base into a roundish
mass half buried in soil, which is said to attain even four feet
in diameter, though we saw none approaching that size.

It is the basal portion, whether the result of mutilation or natural
growth, that affords the wood so prized by ancients and moderns,
and which forms a most valuable article of export from Algiers to
Paris, where small articles of furniture, &c., are made of it and
sold at very high prices.

Under the name of Citrus wood, it is alluded to, according
to Daubeny, by Martial and Lucan, and by Horace (‘Carm.’
lib. iv. Od. 1), who suggests its employment as the most precious
commodity that could be selected for a temple in which a marble
statue of Venus should be placed:—

    Albanos, prope te, lacus
      Ponet marmoream sub trabe citrea;

Also Petronius Arbiter, descanting upon the luxury of the Romans,
seems to represent it as worth more than its weight in gold, when
he says—

      Ecce Afris eruta terris
  Ponitur, ac maculis imitatur vilius aurum
  Citrea mensa.

For a detailed description of what was known of this tree to the
ancients, and of its value, we must refer to the description in Pliny
(‘Nat. Hist.’ book xiii. chaps. 29, 30). This author describes
it as the thyion and thyia of Homer and the Greeks, and adds that
its wood was used with the unguents burnt for their pleasant odour
by Circe; as also that Theophrastus awarded a high rank to it, the
timber being used for roofing temples and being indestructible; as
also that it is produced in the lower part of Cyrenaica, and that
the finest kind grows in the vicinity of the temple of Jupiter Ammon.

Pliny himself gives Mount Atlas as the native country of the wood;
in the vicinity of which, he says, is Mauritania, a country in which
abounds a tree which has given rise to the mania for fine tables,
an extravagance with which women reproach the men when they complain
of their vast outlay upon pearls. He attributes the knots from which
the tables are made to a disease or excrescence of the roots, of
which the most esteemed are entirely concealed under ground, these
being much more rare than those which are produced above ground,
and that are to be found on the branches also.

The principal merits of the tables were to have veins arranged in
waving lines, or forming spirals like whirlpools. The former they
called ‘tiger’ and the latter ‘panther’ tables; whilst
others, which are highly esteemed, have markings resembling the
eyes on a peacock’s tail. In others, again, called ‘apiatæ,’
the wood appears as if covered with dense masses of grain. The most
esteemed colour was that of wine mixed with honey.

In respect of their size, Pliny gives a little over 4 ft. as
the average maximum, though one that belonged to Ptolemæus,
King of Mauritania, was 4½ ft. in diameter and ¼ of a foot in
thickness. It was formed of two semi-diameters so skilfully united
that the joining was concealed. Another, made of a single piece,
was named after Nonius, a freedman of Tiberius Cæsar, and was 4
ft. less ¾ in. in diameter, and 5¼ inches in thickness. And with
regard to the price, Cicero paid a million sesterces (9,000_l_.) for
one; two belonging to King Juba were sold by auction, one for one
million two hundred thousand sesterces, and the other for somewhat
less. Some of Pliny’s statements are probably fabulous; as that
the barbarians bury the wood when green, first giving it a coating
of wax, and that the workmen, when it comes into their hands, put
it for seven days beneath a heap of corn, and then take it out for
as many more, after which it is surprising to find how much it has
lost in weight. More apocryphal still is his statement that it is
dried by the action of sea-water, and thereby acquires a hardness
and density that render it proof against corruption; also that, as
if created for the behoof of wine, it receives no injury from it.[5]

In Marocco, where no ornament or article of luxury is known,
it need hardly be said that the Alerce wood is employed only for
building purposes and fire-wood; though the resin called Sandarach,
which was once a reputed medicine, is collected by the Moors and
exported from Mogador to Europe, where it is used as a varnish.

                             _Gum Arabic._

_Acacia gummifera_.—Willd. Sp. Pl. iv. 1056; DC. Prod. ii. 455;
Hayne, Arzneigew. x. t. 8; Benth. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 509;
Ball, in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. xvi. 442.

_Mimosa gummifera_.—Brouss. in Poir. Dict. Suppl. i. 164.

_Acacia coronillæfolia_.—Desf. Cat. Hort. Par. ed. ii. 207.

_Mimosa coronillæfolia_.—Pers. Encheirid. n. 44.

_Sassa gummifera_.—Gmel Syst. ex DC. 1. c.

Of this plant very little indeed is known, and we were unfortunately
unable to find either flower or fruit of the only Acacia which we
met with on our visit to Marocco, and which we were assured was
the Gum Arabic plant (Alk Tlah) of that country. It is interesting
as representing the northern limit of distribution of the immense
genus Acacia in Africa. Our specimens, such as they are, coincide
perfectly with the description of _Acacia gummifera_ in Willdenow,
and with the excellent figure in Hayne, which was taken from
specimens collected by Broussonet near Mogador. We found the plant
abundantly in the lower region of Southern and Western Marocco,
occurring as a thorny bush, along with _Rhus pentaphylla_ and other
shrubs. That it was the plant producing the Marocco Gum Arabic the
natives consistently testified, though this could not be inferred
from the description in Jackson’s ‘Account of the Empire of
Marocco’ p. 136, who says of the gum that it ‘is produced from a
high thorny tree called Attalet, having leaves similar to the Arar,
or gum Sandarac tree, and the Juniper.’ Jackson goes on to say:—

‘The best kind of Barbary gum is procured from the trees
of Marocco, Ras-el-wed, in the province of Abda; the secondary
qualities are the produce of Shedma, Duquella, and other provinces;
the tree grows abundantly in the Atlas mountains, and is found also
in Bled-el-jerrêde. The gum, when new, emits a faint smell, and,
when stowed in the warehouse, it is heard to crack spontaneously
for several weeks; and this cracking is the surest criterion of new
gum, as it never does so when old; there is, however, scarcely any
difference in the quality. The Attaleh is not so large a tree as the
Arar, which produces the Sandarac gum, nor does it reach the size
of the Auwar tree, which produces the gum Senegal. It has a low
crooked stem, and its branches, from the narrowness of its leaves
(long and scanty), have a harsh, withered, and unhealthy appearance
at the time it yields the most gum—that is, during the hot and
parching months of July and August; but although not an ornamental
tree, it is a most useful plant, and will always be considered
valuable. Its wood is hard, and takes a good polish; its seeds,
which are enclosed in a pericarpium, resemble those of the Lupin,
yield a reddish dye, and are used by the tanners in the preparation
of leather. These seeds attract goats, who are very fond of eating
them. The more sickly the tree appears, the more gum it yields; and
the hotter the weather, the more prolific it is. A wet winter and
a cool or mild summer are unfavourable to the production of gum.’

As observed in the body of this work, the gum does not seem to be
collected in the western portion of its range in South Marocco, but
in Demnet, whence it is brought to Mogador; and it may very well be
that it is only in the hotter and drier regions of the interior that
the gum is produced in sufficient quantities to be worth collecting.

It is remarkable that no notice whatever of _Acacia gummifera_ occurs
in Flückiger and Hanbury’s invaluable ‘Pharmacographia’
(1874), where the Marocco gum is supposed to be the produce of
_Acacia arabica_ Willd., a plant which extends from Nubia to
Natal, and eastward to Central India, but which is not known as a
native of Marocco. In another passage of the above work (p. 211),
the ‘Marocco, Mogador, or brown Barbary gum,’ is described
as consisting ‘of tears of moderate size, often vermiform, and
of a rather uniform light dusky brown tint. The tears, which are
internally glassy, become cracked on the surface and brittle if
kept in a warm room; they are perfectly soluble in water.’

It is possible that the _Acacia arabica_, which is found in Senegal,
may extend to the Sous Valley, and be the source of some of the
Marocco gum; and that more than one species producing gum are
confounded together by the Moors; this is the natural inference from
Jackson’s account, itself anything but explicit. On the other hand,
I am informed in a letter lately received from Mr. R. Drummond Hay,
H.B.M. Consul at Mogador, who has kindly had inquiries made for
me, that the _Acacia arabica_ (Alk Awarwhal) is not found in Sous,
no tree of the kind existing either north or south of the Atlas,
but that its gum is brought from Soodan by Arabs, and is of inferior
quality to that of the _Acacia gummifera_. Mr. Hay further informs
me that the _Acacia gummifera_ grows chiefly in the provinces of
Blad Hamar, Rahamma, and Sous.

As stated above, the specimens which we collected of _Acacia
gummifera_ precisely accord with the published description and
drawing; but we have others under this name from Mr. Cosson’s
collector, Ibrahim, gathered near Mogador and at Ouanyna, which
differ in having very short spines, ⅙ to ¼ in. long, whilst
those of our plant are from ⅔ to ¾ in. long and much stouter.

Very small plants of _Acacia gummifera_ are living at Kew, raised
from seeds obligingly presented by Mr. Cosson. They grow exceedingly
slowly, and several have been lost by damping off. They are not in
a state fit for exhibition.

                           _The Argan Tree._

_Argania Sideroxylon_.—Roem. and Sch. Syst. Veg. iv. 502;
Alph. DC. Prod. viii. 187; Hook. in Kew Journ. Bot. vi. (1854)
97, t. iii. iv.; De Noé, in Rev. Hort. 1853, 125; Ball, in
Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. xvi. 563.

_Sideroxylon spinosum_.—Linn. Hort. Cliff. 69 (excl. syn. et loc.);
Correa, in Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. viii. 393.

_Rhamnus siculus_.—Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, iii. 227, excl. syn.,
non Bocc.

_R. pentaphyllus_.—Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. Gmel. 398,
fid. Dryandr. excl. syn. Bocc.

_Elæodendron Argan_.—Retz Obs. Bot. vi. 26;
Willd. Sp. Pl. i. 1148, excl. syn. Jacq. and Bocc.; Schousboe,
Iagttag. over væxtrig. in Marocc. 89.

_Argan_.—Dryandr. in Trans. Linn. Soc. ii. 225.

This tree is rightly regarded as the most interesting vegetable
production of Marocco, being confined to that empire and to a very
circumscribed area in it, belonging to an almost exclusively tropical
natural family, yielding a most important article of diet to the
inhabitants, and a wood that for hardness and durability rivals any
hitherto described. The earliest account of the Argan tree known to
us is a brief one by the celebrated African traveller Leo Africanus,
who visited Marocco in 1510. Speaking of some of the customs of the
Moors, Leo Africanus says: ‘Unto their Argans (for so they call
a kind of olive which they have) they put nuts; out of which two
simples they express a very bitter oil, using it for a sauce to some
of their meats, and pouring it into their lamps’ (‘Purchas,’
ii. 772). And in another passage he describes the oil correctly,
as ‘of a fulsome and strong savour.’ The further history of
the Argan tree is given in a very full and careful account by the
late Sir W. Hooker, in the ‘London Journal of Botany’ for 1854
(vol. vi. p. 97, Tab. iii. iv.), which, as the work is of limited
circulation, we here introduce.

‘Through the kindness and by the exertions of the Earl of
Clarendon, Chief Secretary for Foreign Affairs, the Royal Gardens
of Kew have been put in possession of living plants and fresh seeds
of a tree or shrub very little known in Europe, little known even
to botanists, but highly esteemed by the Moors, in those parts of
Marocco where it is a native, for its useful qualities, viz. the
“Argan.” Its economical properties are best explained by the
copy of a letter which his Lordship did me the favour to communicate
along with the plants and seeds, from Henry Grace, Esq., British
Acting Vice-Consul at Mogador, addressed to J. H. Drummond Hay,
Esq., Her Britannic Majesty’s Agent and Consul-General at Tangier;
both of which gentlemen spared no pains in procuring the information
and seeds and living specimens; an example we should be glad to
see followed by our consuls in other countries abounding in new
and useful plants.

                                           ‘“Mogador, November 7, 1853.

‘“Sir,—The Argan tree grows more or less throughout the states
of Western Barbary, but principally in the province of Haha, and
south of this town. The soil in which it is found is light, sandy,
and very strong; it is usually seen upon the hills, which are barren
of all else, and where irrigation is impossible.

‘“I should imagine, from the appearance of some of the
trees, that they are from one to two hundred years old; and a
remarkably large one in this neighbourhood is probably at least
three hundred. This individual measures 26 ft. round the trunk;
at the height of three feet it branches off; the branches (one
of which measures 11 ft. in circumference near the trunk) rest
upon the ground, extending about 15 ft. from the trunk, and again
ascend. The highest branch of this tree is not more than 16 ft. to
18 ft. from the ground, while the outer branches spread so as to
give a circumference of 220 ft.: this is the largest I am aware of.

‘“The mode of propagation, in this vicinity, is mostly by
seed. When sowing this, a little manure is placed with it, and it is
well watered until it shoots; from which period it requires nothing
further. In from three to five years after sowing it bears fruit,
which ripens between May and August (according to the situation of
the tree). The roots extend a great distance underground, and shoots
make their appearance at intervals, which are allowed to remain,
thus doing away with the necessity of transplanting or sowing. When
the fruit ripens, herds of goats, sheep, and cows are driven thither;
a man beats the tree with a long pole, and the fruits fall and are
devoured voraciously by the cattle. In the evening they are led home,
and, when comfortably settled in their yards, they commence chewing
the cud and throw out the nuts, which are collected each morning
as soon as the animals have departed upon their daily excursion. I
have heard it remarked that the nut passes through the stomach; but
this is only a casualty, and not a general rule. Large quantities
of the fruit are likewise collected by women and children: they are
well dried, and the hull is taken off, and stored for the camels
and mules travelling in the winter, being considered very nutritious.

‘“The process of extracting the oil is very simple. The nuts
are cracked by the women and children (and not a few fingers
suffer at the same time, owing to the want of proper tools, for
the nuts are very hard, and a stone is the only implement used);
the kernels are then parched in a common earthen vessel, ground
in handmills of this country, and put into a pan; a little cold
water is sprinkled upon them, and they are well worked up by the
hand (much the same as kneading dough) until the oil separates,
when the refuse is well pressed in the hand, which completes the
process. The oil is left to stand, and the sediment removed. The
cake (in which a great deal of oil remains, owing to the want of
a proper press) is generally given to the milch cows or goats.

‘“I never heard of any part being used as manure, but I have
no doubt it would form an excellent one.

‘“Some of these Argans grow in clusters, others are in single
trees.

                                        ‘“I have, &c.,

                          (Signed)‘“                      HENRY GRACE.

_‘“To J. H. Drummond Hay, Esq., &c. &c.”’_

‘Except a brief notice of the exportation into Europe of Argan
oil by the Danish Councillor of State, Georges Höst, who travelled
in the kingdoms of Marocco and Fez during the years 1766-1768, the
only published account of the uses of the Argan is given in a very
little known Danish work, published by P. K. A. Schousboe, entitled
“Iagttagelser over Væxtriget i Marokko. Forste Stycke. Kiobnhavn,
1800, 4, 7 Tab.,” of which a German edition appeared in 1801,
in 8vo, by J. A. Markussen. It gives an account of some Marocco
plants; and, after an introductory sketch of the physical geography
of Marocco, it contains descriptions of the plants of the country
in Latin and German, with occasional observations in German. The
account of the Argan under Retz’s name of _Elæodendron Argan_
is long: first comes a technical description, followed by a history
of its synonymy, and then the following notes (kindly translated
for us by Mr. Bentham):—

‘“It is surprising that this tree should hitherto have been so
little known; as it is found in a country near Europe, and visited
by many travellers, who speak in their diaries and descriptions
of oil of Argan and of Argan trees, these last as constituting
a considerable proportion of the forests of the country. It is,
however, not to be met with in the northern provinces, but only
towards the south. All those persons, from whom I have sought more
accurate information on the subject, are unanimous in stating that it
only grows between the rivers Tansif and Sus—that is, between the
29° and 32° N. lat.—and there constitutes forests of considerable
extent. It flowers in the middle of June, and the fruit remains on
the tree the greater part of the year. The young fruit sets in the
end of July or beginning of August, and grows slowly till the rainy
season commences, towards the end of September. It now enlarges
rapidly and attains its full size during that season, so as that
by the middle or end of March it is ripe enough to be gathered
for economical uses. Both the fruit and the wood are serviceable,
but especially the former; for from the kernel an oil is extracted
which is much employed for domestic purposes by the Moors, and is
an important production of the country, as it saves much olive oil,
which can thus be thrown into commerce, and made to bring money into
the country. It is calculated that in the whole Argan region one
thousand hundredweight of oil is annually consumed, thus setting
free an equal quantity of olive oil for exportation to Europe. Our
countryman, Höst, in his ‘Efterretninger om Marokos,’ p. 285,
says that the Argan oil is exported to Europe, where it is used in
manufactures. Such may have been the case in former times when it
might be cheaper; but now there would be no advantage in doing so,
as it costs almost as much as olive oil. At present, no Argan oil
whatever is exported.

‘“As the practice in preparing this oil is somewhat different
from that of common olive oil, it may be useful to enter into some
details on the subject. I have myself been present during the whole
operation, and consequently speak from experience.

‘“In the end of March the countryman goes into the wood,
where the fruits are shaken down from the trees and stripped of
their husks on the spot. The green fleshy pericarp, which is good
for nothing else, is greedily eaten by ruminating animals, such
as camels, goats, sheep, and cows, but especially by the first
two. Therefore, when the Arab goes into the woods to collect Argan
nuts, he gladly takes with him his herds of the above animals,
that they may eat their fill of the green husks whilst he and
his family are collecting and shelling the nuts. The horse, the
ass, and the mule, on the contrary, do not like this food. When a
sufficient quantity of nuts are collected they are brought home,
the hard wooden shell is cracked between stones, and the inner white
kernels are carefully extracted. These are roasted or burnt like
coffee on earthen, stone, or iron plates; in order that they may not
be too much done, they are constantly stirred with a stick. When
properly roasted they should be all over of a brown colour, but
not charred on the outside. The smoke, which is disengaged during
the process, has a very agreeable odour. As soon as the kernels
have cooled, they are ground in a handmill into a thick meal, not
unlike that of pounded almonds, only that it is of a brown colour,
and the meal is put into a vessel in which the oil is separated,
which is done by sprinkling the mass now and then with hot water,
and keeping it constantly stirred and kneaded with the hand. This
process is carried on until the mass becomes so hard that it can no
longer be kneaded: the harder and firmer are the residuary coarse
parts, the more completely is the oil extracted. At the last,
cold water is sprinkled upon it, in order, as they say, to expel
the last particles of the oil. During the operation the oil runs
out at the sides, and is from time to time poured into a clean
vessel. The main point to be attended to in order to extract the
greatest quantity and the best quality of oil, is that it should
be well kneaded, and that the proper proportion of hot water for
the extraction of the oil should be used; it is always safer to be
sparing of it than to be too profuse. The residuary mass, often as
hard as a stone, is of a black-brown colour, and has a disagreeable
bitter flavour. The oil itself, when it has settled, is clear, of
a light brown colour, and has a rancid smell and flavour. When it
is used without other preparations in cooking, it has a stimulating
and pungent taste which is long felt on the gums. The vapour which
arises when anything is fried in it, affects the lungs and occasions
coughing. The common people use it generally without preparation;
but in better houses it is the custom, in order to take off that
pungency, to mix it previously with water, or to put a bit of bread
into it and let it simmer before the fire.

‘“The wood, which is hard, tough, fine-grained, and of a yellow
colour, is used in house carpentry, and for other purposes.”’

‘We have been at some pains to distribute the seeds of this plant,
with which we have been liberally supplied, to various parts of the
East Indies, and to such of our Colonies as appeared suited to the
growth of this tree, in respect of climate, &c. It is impossible
for seeds to be in better condition; and though the surrounding
hard portion of the nut is as thick and solid as that of hickory,
those which we ourselves sowed sprouted in less than a month from
the time they were put in the ground. The young trees bore the rough
treatment of the voyage in midwinter remarkably well; and it is easy
to see that this is a plant of ready culture in favourable climates.

‘The value of the husks of the fruit as food for cattle, and the
uses of the wood, are mentioned in the above extracts. The nature
of the oil seems only to have been considered in relation to olive
oil. But vegetable oils are now so much in demand, especially by
Messrs. Price & Co., for their great candle-works at Vauxhall, as
well as at Birkenhead, near Liverpool, that I was anxious to know
the opinion of Mr. G. F. Wilson, the scientific director of those
vast establishments, on the nature of Argan oil. Some seeds were
consequently communicated to that gentleman, and he lost no time
in experimenting upon them, and assuring me that “they contain a
large percentage of a very fine oil. We have tried it in several
ways, in each case with a favourable result. Some is now being
exposed to a severe test, to show how the air acts upon it: I have,
however, little fear but that it will answer. Our city friends are
inquiring for us the best means of getting a ton or two of the nuts
for experiments on a large scale. The only unfavourable point I
see is the small weight of kernel to that of hard shell:—

  6 Nuts gave—kernel 30 grains
    „    „    hard shell 350 grains
    „    „    outer husk 193 grains.

The hard shell probably should be sent home with the seed when
the kernels are required to yield a sweet oil; for unless prepared
with great care, hardly to be expected in a wild country, the oil
would not be nearly so sweet if sent home expressed, instead of in
its kernel and shell. Perhaps if the kernel is pounded and rammed
tightly into casks, we might obtain sweet oil without great waste
in freight.”

‘In a botanical point of view this plant is scarcely of less
interest than in an economical. It has had the hard fate, often
the consequence of being with difficulty procured, to be much
misunderstood, and, except by Schousboe, to be imperfectly described;
and references are given in works to plants as being identical which
have no relationship with it; or to descriptions which, if the same,
exhibit little or no resemblance.

‘The first botanist who appears to have noticed this plant
is Linnæus, who, in the _Hortus Cliffortianus_, in 1737,
described it, from dried specimens, under the name of _Sideroxylon
spinosum_. “From Clifford’s Herbarium,” observes Mr. Dryander,
“now in the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, the Argan was taken up
by Linné in his _Hortus Cliffortianus_; though most of the synonyms
are wrong, and consequently the _locus natalis_ (_utraque India_)
which is deduced from them. The specimen in Linné’s Herbarium,
under the name of _Sideroxylon spinosum_, is without flowers, and it
is impossible to tell you with any certainty what it is. Clifford’s
Herbarium is therefore the only authority by which this species can
be ascertained.” Linnæus’s _Rhamnus siculus_, in the Appendix
to the third volume of the twelfth edition of the _Systema Naturæ_,
is, we are assured by Mr. Dryander, “the Argan, or Olive-tree of
Marocco (see Höst’s ‘Efterretninger om Marokos,’ p. 284),
as appears from the specimen in Linné’s Herbarium, which has a
ticket affixed, with the name of Argan of Marocco, and which I have
also compared with specimens in Sir Joseph Banks’s Herbarium from
Marocco.” The description, too, of Linnæus is very correct. He
errs only in considering the plant to be the same as the _Rhamnus
Siculus pentaphyllos_ of Boccone (_Rhus pentaphyllum_, Desf.), which
has _folia quinata_, which latter he introduces into the specific
character, but not into the description; and he erroneously followed
Boccone in giving Sicily as the native country in addition to Africa,
and in adopting the specific name _Siculus_.

‘In the _Species Plantarum_ of Linnæus, Malabar alone is mentioned
as the native country of the _Sideroxylon spinosum_. Nevertheless,
with the exception of Willdenow, who rejects it altogether as
“planta valde dubia, forte nullibi obvia,” most of the older
authors adopt this name for the Argan of Marocco. Under it,
it appears in the first edition of _Hortus Kewensis_, with the
reference to _Species Plantarum_ of Linnæus, and to Commelyn,
_Hortus Amstelod_. tab. 83, where, however, nothing is said of its
native country, further than may be surmised by the name adopted
from Breynius’s “Lycio similis frutex Indicus spinosus, Buxi
folio” (which, as already observed, Willdenow considered to be
his _Flacourtia sepiaria_, from India), and of which the flowers
and fruit were unknown to the author. If this were the Argan,
it was in cultivation in Holland as early as 1697. At a period not
much later, viz. in 1711, according to the _Hortus Kewensis_, it was
introduced into England: “Cult. 1711, by the Duchess of Beaufort,
Br. Mus. H.S. 141, fol. 39.” It is indicated as a stove-plant.

‘Sir James Smith, article _Sideroxylon spinosum_ in Rees’s
“Cyclopædia” (1819), throws no new light upon the subject;
he omits the reference to Commelyn. Retz, in “Obs. Bot.”
vol. vi. p. 26, refers the plant to _Elæodendron_, in which he is
followed by Willdenow, and by Schousboe, which latter author has
given by far the fullest and best account of the plant botanically
and economically.

‘M. Corréa de Serra, “Annales du Museum d’Histoire
Naturelle,” 1809, tom. viii. p. 393, tab. v. f. l., has published
a very good analysis of the fruit, with very brief characters
and no observations. At length Mr. Brown, “Botanicorum facile
princeps,” in his invaluable Prodromus, under his Observations
on Sapoteæ, says, “_Sideroxylon spinosum_, L., fructu valde
diversum proprium hujus ordinis genus efficit;” and, acting upon
his suggestion, Rœmer and Schultes, “Systema Vegetabilium,”
vol. iv. pp. xlvi. and 502, have formed of this plant a new genus,
_Argania_, in which they have been followed by Endlicher and Alphonse
De Candolle. In this latter work a very full generic character is
given, which need not here be repeated.’

‘It is singular that no further allusion to this tree should
appear in Jackson’s “Account of the Empire of Marocco” than the
following: “Oil Arganic is also in abundance in Suse; it is much
used for frying fish and burning-lamps. When used for frying fish,
a quart of it should be boiled with a large onion cut in quarters;
and when it boils, a piece of the inside of a loaf, about the size
of an orange, should be put in; after which it should be taken
off the fire and let stand to cool, and when quite cold should be
strained through a sieve; without this precaution it is supposed
to possess qualities which promote leprosy.”—Dr. Barretta.’

The limited distribution of the Argan is one of its most noticeable
features, for as a genus it is not far removed from _Sideroxylon_,
a very widely spread tropical and subtropical genus of both
hemispheres, and which reaches its northern limit in Madeira
(in the same latitude as that attained by the Argan), where one
species, _S. Mermulana_, Lowe, is found on the rocky heights of
the interior. The order is not found in the Canary Islands, but
reappears in the Cape de Verdes in a species of _Sapota_, and
is well represented in the humid regions of Western Africa. It
would thus appear that _Argania_ and the Madeiran _Sideroxylon_
are two outlying representatives of a very tropical order; and,
considering the proximity of the areas they inhabit, and their
position in the extreme west of the Old World, they are, in a
Botanico-Geographical point of view, plants of a very high interest,
as evidences of a relationship between the Floras of these areas,
which must originally have been established under very different
conditions from those which now prevail.

The Argan was, as stated above, introduced into England in 1811,
and was long established on a south wall, but ultimately was killed
in an unusually severe winter. Numerous plants were raised, from seed
sent by Sir John Hay, by Mr. Grace, and from those brought by myself,
and the plant may be seen in the Economic-plant House at Kew. It is
of very slow growth, which has disappointed colonists and others,
to whom the fruits have been largely distributed from Kew.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Not El Araisch, SSW. of Tangier on the Atlantic coast,
but some place in the interior, and N. of the city of Marocco.]

[Footnote 2: This is no doubt _Elæoselinum humile_ (Ball), which
we found near or at the above defined locality. Ball formed a very
decided opinion that Jackson’s plant, whether the true Ammoniacum
or not, was a species of _Elæoselinum_.]

[Footnote 3: It is mentioned under this name by Homer in his
description of the Island of Calypso. See Daubeny _On the Trees
and Shrubs of the Ancients_, p. 42.]

[Footnote 4: See Cook’s _Sketches in Spain_, vol. i. p. 5 (1831);
and Loudon’s _Gardener’s Magazine_, Ser. ii. vol. iii. p. 522.]

[Footnote 5: See Bostock’s translation of Pliny, vol. iii. p. 194,
&c.]

                              APPENDIX E.

        _On the Canarian Flora as compared with the Maroccan._

                       By JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER.

In respect of their botanical relationship to neighbouring
Continents, Islands or Archipelagos may be roughly classed under
two divisions: namely, those which are situated within a moderate
distance of continents, and whose Floras are manifestly derived
from them or have had a common origin with theirs; and those which
are situated very far from any continents, and whose Floras differ
so much either from that of the neighbouring continent or from that
of those parts of the continent that are nearest to them, that their
origin is a matter of speculation. Of the first division, the British
Isles, and probably Vancouver’s Island, in North-West America,
are conspicuous instances, their Floras being almost identical with
those of the neighbouring continents. St. Helena, the Galapagos,
Mauritius, and the Sandwich Islands are instances of the opposite
extreme, for their Floras differ widely from those of any continents.

Between these extreme cases there are many intermediate ones; and
there are others of an exceptional character, as Iceland, which,
though far removed from any part of Europe, has but one flowering
plant not found on that continent (_Platanthera hyperborea_);
and Ceylon, which though it is almost united to the Peninsula of
Hindostan, yet in many respects differs greatly from that peninsula
in its Flora.

Amongst the exceptional cases to continental proximity being
accompanied by close botanical relationship is the Flora of the
Canarian Archipelago, which differs so greatly from that of the
northern part of its neighbouring continent, namely, from that
of Marocco,[1] that it demands notice in any work treating of the
vegetation of the latter country.

This diversity between the Maroccan and Canarian Floras has
been pointed out in Ball’s ‘Introductory Observations to the
Spicilegium Floræ Maroccanæ,’[2] where it appears that whilst
Marocco, out of 1,627 species of flowering plants, contains 165
endemic plants, it has only 15 which are confined to it and to the
Canaries, or to it and Madeira. And Ball goes on to remark (p. 301),
in respect of these few species common to both Floras: ‘I think
it is safe to say that the facts rather tend to show the accidental
diffusion of a few Macaronesian[3] species on the adjacent coast of
Africa, than to indicate the direct connection between the continent
and those islands within a geological period at all recent.’

Were this diversity due solely or chiefly to the Canaries wanting
many Maroccan plants, the inquiry would not be a pressing one;
but as to this deficiency is to be added the presence in the
Canaries of many indigenous species, and even several genera[4]
which are absent in Marocco, and in Marocco the great rarity of
endemic genera, of which _Argania_ only is arboreous, the inquiry
becomes a very important one, inviting a much closer study than
can here be given to it.

The Flora of the Canarian Archipelago, though consisting, like the
Maroccan, for the most part of Mediterranean species, yet differs
from that of Marocco, in containing many plants that may be classed
under the following categories:—

I. It contains many non-Maroccan plants, obviously introduced by man,
and not from Europe only, but from various parts of both the Old and
New Worlds. This will not appear surprising when it is remembered
that Teneriffe was for several centuries the Prime Meridian of
Geographers and the resort of all the European ocean-navigators,
who took their departure from it on their outward voyages, and made
for it on their homeward ones. The _Alternanthera achyrantha_, a
tropical American plant, was no doubt imported into the Canaries,
and possibly from thence introduced into Spain (where it is now
naturalised). _Argemone mexicana_ is another, and there are still
other as conspicuous examples of such foreign introductions. This
maritime intercourse can, however, only partially account for the
remarkable disproportion between the number of probably introduced
plants in the Canaries and in Marocco; and we must take into account
the isolation, barbarism, and exclusiveness of the latter country,
and the absence of any commercial intercourse between it and the
Canaries or the rest of the world.

In Webb and Berthelot’s ‘Phytographia Canariensis’ upwards
of fifty plants are enumerated as to which we have little doubt
that all have been introduced by man, and none of which have
hitherto been found in Marocco. The list includes many weeds of the
widest tropical and temperate distribution, as species of _Sida_,
_Waltheria_, _Siegesbeckia_, _Bidens_, _Lippia_, _Physalis_,
_Nicandra_, _Euphorbia_, _Alternanthera_, _Commelyna_, and various
_Cyperaceæ_, and Grasses.

II. The Canaries contain many apparently indigenous plants, which,
though not Maroccan, are widely distributed elsewhere; these form
a large class, and the following are some of the most prominent
of them:—

  Delphinium Staphysagria | Fragaria vesca
  Hypecoum procumbens     | Pyrus Aria
  Biscutella auriculata   | Prunus lusitanica
  Viola canina            | Epilobium palustre
  Silene Behen            | Anthemis fœtida
    „    nutans           |  „       coronopifolia
  Rhus Coriaria           | Cynara horrida
  Spartium junceum        | Lactuca sylvestris
  Ulex europæus           | Cressa cretica
  Medicago arborea        | Calamintha Nepeta
  Trigonella hamosa       | Atriplex glauca
  Trifolium striatum      | Euphorbia serrata
    „       squarrosum    |   „       obliquata
    „       suffocatum    |   „       Lagascæ
    „       filiforme     | Orchis longibracteata
  Lotus angustissimus     | Ophrys tabanifera
  Vicia hirsuta           | Iris pallida
  Lathyrus odoratus       | Lilium candidum
  Alchemilla arvensis     |

together with various _Cyperaceæ_, Grasses and water-plants, some of
which, and of the above, will no doubt hereafter be found in Marocco.

III. They contain some quite peculiar plants which are more
closely allied to endemic species of Marocco than to those of
any other country, and may have been derived from species that
originally were transported from that country. These are but few,
and are almost confined to species of the genus _Monanthes_, which
is limited to these countries and the Cape de Verde Islands, of
Cactoid _Euphorbiæ_, of succulent _Sonchi_, and of the _Kleinia_
division of _Senecio_.

IV. They contain plants not found hitherto in Marocco, and which are
more closely allied to Mediterranean species than to any others;
and these form a very large class. The data for a complete list
would require a very careful comparison of the Maroccan species
with the species described in the ‘Phytographia’ and discovered
since, many of which are unquestionably founded on too slight or
too variable characters.[5]

It will be sufficient for present purposes to contrast the results
obtained from a selection of genera[6] taken for comparison
from Ball’s ‘Spicilegium’ with the same from Webb’s
‘Phytographia’:—

  +----------------------------+----------------+----------------+
  |                            | Canary Islands |    Marocco     |
  |                            +-------+--------+-------+--------+
  |          Genera            |Number |Species |Number |Species |
  |                            |  of   |confined|  of   |confined|
  |                            |species|   to   |species|   to   |
  |                            |in each|Canaries|in each|Marocco |
  +----------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
  |Hypericum                   |      8|       7|      7|       0|
  |Matthiola                   |      4|       3|      3|       0|
  |Cistus                      |      2|       1|      7|       0|
  |Helianthemum                |      6|       3|     14|       0|
  |Polycarpia                  |      6|       4|      1|       0|
  |Sempervivum                 |     23|      23|      1|       1|
  |Cytisus                     |     11|       9|     11|       4|
  |Lotus                       |     10|       6|     14|       2|
  |Dorycnium                   |      3|       3|      1|       0|
  |Rhamnus                     |      3|       3|      3|       0|
  |Ilex                        |      2|       2|      0|       0|
  |Chrysanthemum               |     12|      12|     11|       4|
  |Senecio                     |      9|       5|     11|       1|
  |Doronicum                   |      5|       5|      0|       0|
  |Tolpis                      |      5|       4|      2|       0|
  |Sonchus                     |     17|      12|      6|       0|
  |Convolvulus sect. Rhodorhiza|      5|       5|      0|       0|
  |Echium                      |     12|      10|      9|       1|
  |Micromeria[7]               |     17|      17|      1|       0|
  |Sideritis                   |      6|       5|      7|       2|
  |Teucrium                    |      3|       1|     11|       4|
  |Solanum                     |      6|       2|      2|       0|
  |Scrophularia                |      5|       3|      9|       1|
  |Digitalis                   |      2|       2|      2|       0|
  |Statice                     |      9|       9|     13|       3|
  |Plantago                    |     10|       3|     11|       1|
  |Beta                        |      3|       2|      1|       0|
  |Euphorbia                   |     19|       9|     22|       6|
  |Ephedra                     |      3|       2|      2|       0|
  |Juniperus                   |      2|       1|      4|       0|
  |Pinus                       |      1|       1|      1|       0|
  |Ruscus                      |      2|       2|      1|       0|
  |Asparagus                   |      5|       4|      6|       1|
  |Scilla                      |      4|       4|      9|       0|
  |Luzula                      |      3|       3|      1|       0|
  |                            +-------+--------+-------+--------+
  |                            |    243|  187=¾ |    204|   31=⅙ |
  +----------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+

The disproportion between the two Floras in the case of these
selected genera is thus well shown. It is most remarkable; the number
of endemic species being in the Canaries three-fourths of the whole
and in Marocco only one-sixth; and were the peculiar genera of the
Canaries added, the disproportion would of course be increased.

The total number of Canarian species enumerated by Webb and Berthelot
is about 1,000, of which 367,[8] or more than one-third, are regarded
as peculiar to the Archipelago (a very few only of these being also
Madeiran); whereas out of 1,627 Maroccan species only 165, or a
little over one-tenth, are peculiar. Future discoveries will probably
not materially increase the Maroccan proportion of peculiar species;
whereas since the publication of Webb’s ‘Phytographia’ many
peculiar species (especially of _Statice_ and _Crassulaceæ_) have
been discovered in the Canaries, and but few species common to other
countries; and these additions will go far to neutralise any error
introduced into the estimate, due to the great number of new species
founded on insufficient data which the ‘Phytographia’ includes.

Under this head also should be included the peculiar Canarian genera
that appear to be modifications of continental ones. They are
_Bencomia_, closely allied to _Poterium_, of which there are two
species, both confined to one Island (Teneriffe); one of these is
also a native of Madeira, where only two individual trees, a male and
a female, have ever been seen! _Gesnouinia_, allied to _Parietaria_;
and _Canarina_, a monotypic genus allied to _Campanula_, but having a
baccate fruit. _Bosea_, also a monotypic plant, is wholly unlike any
known genus, and is, in some respects, intermediate between the two
very distinct natural families—_Chenopodiaceæ_ and _Phytolacceæ_.

V. Many Canarian plants are representatives of Floras more distant
than those of Marocco or Western Europe, and are not found in those
countries. These form an exceedingly interesting group, and may be
classed according to countries thus:—

_a. Oriental._—These are chiefly Arabo-Egyptian, but some of them
extend even into Western India, and a few are representatives of
tropical India. Some will no doubt yet be discovered in Marocco,
especially south of the Atlas; and it is not unreasonable to suppose
that such have crossed Africa in a subtropical latitude, and thus
reached the Canaries under conditions now operating.

The most remarkable are the following. The genera in capitals have
not hitherto been found in Marocco:—

  Polycarpon succulentum   |  CAMPYLANTHUS salsoloides
  VISNEA Moccanera         |  TRAGANUM nudatum
  GYMNOSPORIA cassinoides  |  APOLLONIAS barbusana
  Trigonella hamosa        |  Euphorbia Forskählii
  Senecio flavus           |  DRACÆNA Draco
  CEROPEGIA dichotoma      |

Of the above hardly any have been found west of the Levant, or
anywhere between Egypt and the Canaries, except, possibly, in
Southern Algeria. _Traganum_ must be reckoned as an African and
Oriental desert type, and will probably be found in South Marocco;
but _Ceropegia_ is mainly Indian, as is _Gymnosporia_ (_Catha
cassinoides_, Webb). _Campylanthus_ consists of the Canarian species,
of a variety or closely allied one in the Cape de Verde Islands,
and of a third which extends from Southern Arabia to Scinde. The
nearest ally of the _Apollonias_ (_Phœbe barbusana_, Webb) is a
Ceylon tree; and _Visnea_ is nearly allied to the Malayan genus
_Anneslea_. _Dracæna Draco_ is the most interesting of all in the
list; for, though the genus abounds in tropical Africa, the Canarian
form, which is also a native of the mountains of the Cape de Verde
Islands, has only one near ally, the _D. Ombet_, which is confined
to Abyssinia, Southern Arabia, and the intervening Island of Socotra.

_b._ The peculiar species representing American types inhabiting
the Canaries or Madeira, but not found in Marocco, are in some
respects even more remarkable than the Oriental.

They belong to the following genera:—

_Bowlesia_[9] (_Drusa oppositifolia_, DC.), _Clethra_, five
species of _Bystropogon_, and _Cedronella_. Of these _Bowlesia_
is otherwise confined to the tropical Andes of America, one species
only extending as far north as Mexico; the Canarian species, which
according to Webb is found on rocky shaded places in Teneriffe,
from the sea-level to the wooded region, is most closely allied
to a Peruvian one. _Clethra_ is a genus which extends from South
Brazil to the Northern United States, and is also found in Japan and
the Malayan Archipelago. The Macaronesian species most resembles a
North American; it is found also in Madeira. _Bystropogon_ is, like
_Bowlesia_, an Andean genus, extending from Peru to Columbia. All the
Canarian species belong to a different section from the Andean, and
there is one species of the same section in Madeira. _Cedronella_ is
a North American and Mexican genus, and the Canarian species differs
from all its congeners in its trisect leaves; it is also Madeiran.

Of the Canarian _Laurineæ_, _Persea indica_, also a native of
Madeira and the Azores, belongs to an American section of that
large genus.

_c._ Tropical and South African types in the Canaries. Of these the
most noticeable are two forest trees, belonging to the large tropical
genus _Myrsine_. One of these, _M. excelsa_ (_Heberdenia excelsa_,
Banks) is also found in Madeira; the other, _M. canariensis_,
is confined to the island whose name it bears. The tropical order
_Sapotaceæ_, to which _Argania_ belongs, has no representative in
the Canaries, but has one in the _Sideroxylon Mermulana_ of Madeira.

The only almost exclusively South African genus[10] in the Canaries
is a species of _Lyperia_, of which there are numerous Cape of Good
Hope species, and one doubtful one in the Somali country (North-East
Africa). The widely diffused Cape shrub, _Myrsine africana_, is
found in the Azores and in Abyssinia, but not in the Canaries, Cape
de Verdes, Madeira, or Marocco. The two singular shrubs _Phyllis_
and _Plocama_, consisting each of a single species, of which the
_Phyllis_ is found also in Madeira, are representatives of the
_Anthospermeæ_, a very large and conspicuously South African and
Australian tribe of _Rubiaceæ_, and of which the only Maroccan
representative is _Putoria_, a Mediterranean genus of a single
species, and which is not Canarian.

The _Oreodaphne fœtens_ of the Canaries and Maderia is now[11]
referred to the American, Madagascar, and South African genus
_Ocotea_, and is most nearly allied to a species found in the
latter country.

The Maroccan flowering plants are thus grouped by Ball in his
‘Spicilegium Maroccanum’[12]:—

  Total number of Maroccan species                        1,627

  Species widely diffused, temperate or tropical            467

  Of which there are common to Marocco and the Islands      300

  Maroccan, but not Insular                                 167

  Mediterranean species in Marocco                          995

  Of which there are widely spread species common to the    254
  Islands and Marocco

  Confined to Marocco and the Islands                        15

  Mediterranean species in Marocco, but not in the          726
  Islands

  Maroccan species exclusively                              165

The proportion of _Monocotyledons_ to _Dicotyledons_ is in Marocco
1 to 4·6, in the Canaries 1 to 6—a very great difference.

The leading natural orders in Marocco and the Canaries respectively
are:—

                Marocco Canaries
                Species Species
  Compositæ       208     143
  Leguminosæ      189     104
  Gramineæ        134      77
  Umbelliferæ      86      27
  Labiatæ          81      59
  Cruciferæ        73      29
  Caryophylleæ     69      38

In each country these seven natural orders include nearly half the
Dicotyledonous plants. But in the Canaries the _Crassulaceæ_ with
31 species should replace the _Cruciferæ_, and the _Umbelliferæ_
be excluded.

The natural orders which are indigenous to the three Archipelagos
of the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores, but which are absent in
Marocco, and the reverse are:—

  In the Archipelago, but not   | In Marocco, but not in the
  in Marocco.                   | Archipelago.
  Simarubeæ (Cneorum)           |  Berberideæ
  Pittosporeæ                   |  Capparideæ
  Ternstrœmiaceæ                |  Polygaleæ
  Ilicineæ                      |  Ampelideæ
  Myrsineæ                      |  Coriarieæ
  Phytolacceæ (Bosea)           |  Saxifrageæ
  Myriceæ                       |  Apocyneæ
  Commelyneæ (introduced?)      |  Lentibularieæ
                                |  Nyctagineæ
                                |  Ulmaceæ
                                |  Cupuliferæ
                                |  Ceratophylleæ
                                |  Alismaceæ
                                |  Juncagineæ
                                |  Melanthaceæ

In the above lists the _Commelyneæ_ are most probably introduced
by man into the Canaries, and the absence of _Lentibularineæ_,
_Ceratophylleæ_, _Alismaceæ_, and _Juncagineæ_ in the Archipelago
may be due to the want of suitable localities. The total absence of
_Cupuliferæ_ in all the Macaronesian Archipelago is inexplicable;
and of _Quercus_ especially, a genus so prominently developed in
number of species and individuals on both continents, and which
further abounds in both the Pliocene and Miocene beds of Europe.

The apparently indigenous Macaronesian genera which are wanting in
Marocco are the following. Those in capitals are confined to the
Canaries, or to the Canaries and Madeira:—

  Malvaceæ
      Abutilon
  Cruciferæ
      PAROLINIA
      Barbarea
  Simarubeæ
      Cneorum
  Celastrineæ
      Gymnosporia
  Sapindaceæ
      Melianthus?
  Leguminosæ
      Spartium
      Ulex
  Rosaceæ
      BENCOMIA
      Alchemilla
      Fragaria
  Aquifoliaceæ
      Ilex
  Pittosporeæ
      Pittosporum
  Ternstrœmiaceæ
      VISNEA
  Umbelliferæ
      Todaroa
  Rubiaceæ
      PHYLLIS
      PLOCAMA
  Compositæ
      Chrysocoma
      Allagopappus
      Vieræa
      Doronicum
      Serratula
      Prenanthes
  Campanulaceæ
      MUSSCHIA
      CANARINA
      Wahlenbergia
  Ericeæ
      Clethra
  Asclepiadeæ
      Ceropegia
  Convolvulaceæ
      Cressa
  Boragineæ
      Tournefortia
  Labiatæ
      Bystropogon
      Cedronella
  Verbenaceæ
      Lippia
  Solaneæ
      Nicandra
  Scrophularineæ
      Campylanthus
      Lyperia
  Acanthaceæ
      Justicia
  Oleineæ
      Notelæa
  Myrsineæ
      Myrsine
  Sapotaceæ
      Sideroxylon
  Primulaceæ
      Pelletiera
  Chenopodieæ
      Traganum
  Laurineæ
      Persea
      Apollonias
      Ocotea
  Phytolacceæ
      BOSEA
  Urticeæ
      GESNOUINIA
  Myriceæ
      Myrica
  Aroideæ
      Dracunculus
  Liliaceæ
      Dracæna
  Cyperaceæ
      Fimbristylis
      Cladium
  Gramineæ
      Chloris
      Tricholæna

There are in Marocco, out of a total of 517 genera, 202, included
under 67 orders, that have no indigenous species in the Canaries
or Madeira. Many of these, about a quarter, being North Maroccan,
_i.e._ only found in parts of Marocco farthest from the Canaries,
would not be expected to occur in those islands, were it not that the
vegetation of islands near to large continents often most resembles
that of a higher latitude on the continent than that in which the
islands are situated.

The following is a list of the Maroccan genera which are absent
in Macaronesia;—those confined to North Marocco marked *; those
which have been found in Macaronesia, but certainly introduced,
marked ‖; those in italics have been discovered since our return
from Marocco.[13]

  Clematis
  Thalictrum
  *Anemone
  _Aconitum_
  Berberis
  Rœmeria
  Corydalis
  Cardamine
  _Morettia_
  _Anastatica_
  Draba
  *Erophila
  Malcolmia
  Diplotaxis
  _Moricandia_
  ‖Lepidium
  Thlaspi
  Iberis
  Hutchinsia
  Isatis
  Ceratocnemum
  *Cakile
  *Hemicrambe
  _Cleome_
  Capparis
  _Caylusea_
  Fumana
  Polygala
  Velezia
  Dianthus
  Holosteum
  Buffonia
  Lœfflingia
  Montia
  Althæa
  Malope
  *Radiola
  Peganum
  Celastrus
  Zizyphus
  Acer
  *Coriaria
  Lotononis
  _Crotalaria_
  Argyrolobium
  *Calycotome
  Anthyllis
  *Securigera
  Coronilla
  Colutea
  *Glycyrhiza
  Hedysarum
  Ornithopus
  Ebenus
  *Pisum
  Ceratonia
  ‖Acacia
  Saxifraga
  _Parnassia_
  Ribes
  *Drosophyllum
  *Peplis
  *Ecbalium
  *Hydrocotyle
  Eryngium
  Deverra
  Hippomarathrum
  Kundmannia
  *Magydaris
  Sclerosciadium
  Meum
  Heracleum
  *Peucedanum
  ‖*Coriandrum?
  Thapsia
  Elæoselinum
  _Gaillonia_
  Putoria
  Callipeltis
  Asperula
  Crucianella
  *Valeriana
  ‖Centranthus
  *Fedia
  Nidorella
  Nolletia
  Micropus
  Leysera
  _Grantia_
  _Anvillea_
  *‖Xanthium
  Achillea
  Cladanthus
  Echinops
  Xeranthemum
  Onopordon
  Stæhelina
  Crupina
  *Leuzea
  Carduncellus
  Catananche
  Hyoseris
  Phœcasium
  Hieracium
  Scorzonera
  Jasione
  Trachelium
  *Calluna
  Armeria
  Limoniastrum
  Plumbago
  Coris
  Argania
  Fraxinus
  Phyllyrea
  *Vinca
  Nerium
  _Dæmia_
  _Glossonema_
  Boucerosia
  *Microcala
  Cicendia
  _Trichodesma_
  Echinospermum
  Rochelia
  Nonnea
  Cerinthe
  Calystegia
  *Mandragora
  Anarrhinum
  *Pinguicula
  ‖*Acanthus
  Vitex
  Lycopus
  *Satureja
  Hyssopus
  Cleonia
  Zizyphora
  *Betonica
  Ballota
  Boerhavia
  Corrigiola
  Scleranthus
  _Sclerocephalus_
  Polycnemum
  _Telephium_
  *Obione
  Salicornia
  Caroxylon
  Passerina
  Osyris
  Andrachne
  *Ulmus?
  Celtis
  Quercus
  Populus
  Ceratophyllum
  Callitris
  Cedrus
  Aceras
  *Serapias
  *Cephalanthera
  *Crocus
  Leucojum
  *Lapiedra
  *Tapeinanthus
  *Corbularia
  Narcissus
  Aurelia
  *Alisma
  Damasonium
  *Triglochin
  Chamærops
  Gagea
  *Hyacinthus
  Anthericum
  *Simethis
  *Aphyllanthes
  Colchicum
  Erythrostictus
  *Convallaria
  *Schœnus
  *Leersia
  Lygeum
  *Crypsis
  *Alopecurus
  Macrochloa
  *Sporobolus
  Ammophila
  ‖Arundo
  *Ampelodesmos
  Phragmites
  _Pappophorum_
  Echinaria
  *Spartina
  *Airopsis
  Gaudinia
  Glyceria
  Secale
  Elymus
  *Lepturus
  Anthistiria

These 202 genera, which are absent in the Canaries, comprise upwards
of 300 Maroccan species, including _Eryngium_, with eleven species,
_Coronilla_ with eight, _Diplotaxis_ with seven, _Narcissus_,
_Anthyllis_, _Polygala_, _Passerina_, and _Quercus_ five each,
besides twenty other genera with three or four each. Not a few of
them contain very common and wide-spread species, as do all the
above-named, as well as _Clematis_, _Malcolmia_, _Cardamine_,
_Dianthus_, _Hedysarum_, _Heracleum_, _Asperula_, _Achillea_,
_Onopordon_, _Hyoseris_, _Scorzonera_, _Phyllyrea_, _Fraxinus_,
_Calystegia_, _Anarrhinum_, _Ballota_, _Populus_, _Chamærops_. That
no species of these or of many of the other genera should exist in
the Canaries is inexplicable, considering the position and extent
of the Archipelago, and the means of migration which must exist
between it and the mainland.

The species common to Macaronesia and Marocco exclusively, are in
so far as is at present known:—

  Helianthemum canariense, _Jacq._

  Polycarpia nivea, _Ait._ (also occurs in C. de Verde)

  Zygophyllum Fontanesii, _Webb_

  ?Cytisus albidus, _DC._

  Ononis angustissima, _Lam._ (?A form of _0. Natrix_)

  Astragalus Solandri, _Lowe_ (Madeira only)

  Astydamia canariensis, _DC._

  Bowlesia oppositifolia

  Odontospermum odorum, _Schousb._

  Sonchus acidus, _Schousb._ (In Lancerotte, only a single plant,
   possibly introduced)

  Lithospermum microspermum, _Boiss._

  Linaria sagittata, _Poir._

  Chenolea canariensis, _Moq._

  Salix canariensis, _Chr. Sm._ (rather uncertain)

  Romulea grandiscapa, _Webb._ (Perhaps only a var., but Baker keeps
   it)

  Asparagus scoparius, _Lowe._ (Not quite certain)

Although it would be out of place here to discuss all the questions
raised by this slight sketch of the peculiarities of the Canarian
Flora, there are some of them which so intimately bear upon the
Maroccan as to awaken attention.

The wonderful development in the Canaries of endemic species
belonging for the most part to Mediterranean types, points to the
very early introduction of the parent forms of these, and the long
isolation both of the Archipelago and its separate islets. It is
in accordance with generally accepted views, to assume that the
endemic species of each genus have been derived from parent forms
originally introduced into one or more of the islets; and that as
the descendants of these species spread over the Archipelago they
were exposed to different conditions in each islet, resulting in
their varying, and in the segregation and conservation of different
local varieties each in its own insular birth-place; a supposition
which is in accordance with the fact that those endemic species
are really very local, many being confined to a single islet. In
Marocco the parent forms of its Flora would be exposed to no such
diverse conditions, and the areas in which varieties occurred,
not being isolated, would be exposed both to invasion on all sides
by other plants, and to destruction by agencies that affected the
whole surrounding country, as drought, floods, insects, and birds.

The tropical types in the Canaries, with the exception of the
Egypto-Arabian and the trees mentioned under V. _c._, are chiefly
weeds of wide distribution, which have not reached Marocco, because
of its want of ports and its limited commerce.

Finally the _Dracæna_, together with the tropical trees of
_Myrsineæ_, _Sapotaceæ_ (in Madeira), and _Laurineæ_, and the
Egypto-Arabian types, suggest the hypothesis that at a very remote
period these and many other plants of warmer and damper regions
flourished in the area included in North-West Africa and its adjacent
islands, and that they have been expelled from the continent by
altered conditions of climate, but have been preserved in the more
equable climate and more protected area of the Atlantic Islands.

Ball, who has given me valuable aid on many points discussed in this
article, directs my attention to the important differences that
exist between the vegetation of the eastern group of the Canary
Islands—Fuertaventura, Lanzarote, and the adjacent islets—the
‘Purpurariæ’ of authors, and the western group, including
Teneriffe, Grand Canary, &c.

In the first place, nearly all the characteristic Canarian types
are absent in the eastern group. Out of fifty-four genera above
enumerated as present in the Canaries but wanting in Marocco, two
are in the Canaries confined to the eastern islands: one of these,
_Traganum_, is an African desert type, probably to be found in
South Marocco; the other, _Melianthus_, a Southern African plant,
and scarcely indigenous. Of the remainder _Plocama_ alone is
certainly present, and three other generic types probably exist in
that group; while forty-eight genera, including eight out of nine
peculiar to the Canaries, are apparently absent. In the next place
several characteristic desert plants, such as _Oligomeris subulata_,
_Ononis vaginalis_, _Convolvulus Hystrix_, and _Traganum nudatum_,
are present in the ‘Purpurariæ,’ but absent from the western
islands.

Although the Flora of the Purpurariæ is incompletely known, and
our acquaintance with that of the neighbouring African coast between
the rivers Sous and Draha is extremely imperfect, these facts tend
to prove that there is a closer botanical relationship between the
eastern islands and the adjoining continent than there is between
them and the western portion of the Canarian Archipelago. Such
relationship might be brought about in three different ways.

1. The greater dryness and heat of the eastern islands may have
favoured the immigration of African forms, and at the same time
led to the destruction, or weeding out, of the characteristic
Canarian types. In this case the cause would be of a purely local
and climatic character.

2. We may believe in the trans-oceanic migration of some African
species to the nearer islands, along with the transport of some
Canarian species (those enumerated in p. 416, and others which may
be hereafter found) to the neighbouring continent.

3. An ancient extension of the continent to the Purpurariæ,
leaving the other islands separated by deep sea.

It is an objection to the latter hypothesis that a profoundly deep
ocean bed lies between the lines of 100 fathom soundings that girdle
the islands and the African coast respectively; and that while the
100 fathom line extends about thirty miles from the coast of the
continent, it is never more than five miles, rarely more than one
or two, from those of the islands.

In favour of the hypothesis of trans-oceanic transport it may
be remarked that the distance between the African coast and
Fuertaventura is not more than seventy miles, and that a moderate
change of level of about 600 feet would reduce that distance by
one-half, while it would but slightly affect the interval that
separates the Purpurariæ from the other islands.

Among the possible causes leading to an interchange of species
between the Purpurariæ and the African coast the agency of man
must not be omitted. The fishermen of those islands were formerly
in the habit of visiting some points on the opposite coast, although
intercourse of this kind has almost ceased in recent times.

It must be observed that our knowledge of the vegetation of the
Canary Islands is yet incomplete. Although several additions to the
Flora have been published by C. Bolle and others, no supplement to
Webb’s ‘Phytographia’ has been published. Several additional
species exist in herbaria, besides those that may be hereafter found.

So little is known of the geology of Marocco, that there are no
data for ascertaining whether during antecedent geological periods
it contained a more tropical Flora than now; but evidence in support
of such a hypothesis is forthcoming in Madeira, where fossiliferous
beds which have been referred to ‘some part of the Pliocene
period’[14] have been discovered, containing leaves referable
in part to existing species of Madeiran plants, and in part to
extinct ones of tropical aspect;[15] and it is well ascertained
that during preceding geological periods Western Europe was clothed
with a vegetation that suggests a very much warmer climate than
now prevails, and of which vegetation the _Laurus nobilis_ in the
south-west of the continent has been supposed to be a surviving
representative.

In Grand Canary, also, Upper Miocene beds exist, containing numerous
species of fossil shells, of which one is an Oregon species, and
another tropical African; and in more recent deposits of the same
Archipelago many shells have been found which no longer inhabit
the adjacent seas, including tropical West African, Mozambique,
and Mediterranean species.

We can form no conception of means of transport from the American
continent that would transfer the parent species of _Bowlesia_ and
of the _Bystropogons_ from the Andes to the Atlantic islands; and we
can but hazard the assumption that, at some very distant date, these
genera existed in more eastern parts of America, from whence seeds
were transported across the ocean. On the other hand, the transport
of parent forms or existing species from the continents of Europe
and Africa to the Atlantic islands may have been much facilitated by
greater extensions of land in bygone ages. Madeira, the Canaries,
and the Cape de Verde Islands, are all supposed to stand on a
submarine platform which skirts the coasts of Western Europe and
North-Western Africa, and whose submerged margin immediately to
the westward of the position of the islands descends rapidly to a
profound depth. The westward margin of this platform was possibly
the coast-line in Miocene times. An elevation of its surface of
a few hundred feet would approximate the islands to the mainland
very materially, and greatly facilitate transport. That they were,
however, ever united to the continent is opposed to the views of most
competent geologists. Lyell, speaking of this, says: ‘The general
abruptness of the cliffs of all the Atlantic islands, coupled with
the rapid deepening of the sea outside the 100 fathom line, are
characters which favour the opinion that each island was formed
separately by igneous eruptions, and in a sea of great depth.’
Moreover, the Azores, whose botany in so many respects resembles
that of the other Atlantic islands, as distinguished from that of
the continent, are enormously more distant from the mainland; and
these islands stand on a platform of their own, separated from the
continental one by an ocean of profound depth; so that any theory of
transport which applies to the Canarian and Madeiran Archipelagos,
should apply also to the Azorean.

It remains a point of some nicety to decide whether the Macaronesian
islands should be regarded as a Botanical province apart from the
Mediterranean, or a sub-division of the latter. The assemblage of
American and Oriental genera which their Flora contains, together
with the arboreous representatives of tropical _Laurineæ_, all so
entirely foreign to the European Flora, would give it a title to be
called a Botanical province; and to this as a further title is the
prevalence of a considerable proportion of North European plants,
in the Northern Archipelago especially. On the other hand, fully
two-thirds of the species are typical of the Mediterranean Flora, and
by far the majority of the remainder are derivative species of the
same origin; so that, on the whole, I am disposed to regard it as a
very distinct sub-division of the Mediterranean province, which owes
its peculiarities partly to the conservation of types once common
to West Europe and North Africa, but which have been eliminated in
those regions, and partly to the effect of isolation and climate
on the progeny of species still existing in those regions.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The Canary Islands are situated about 3° farther
south, and 280 miles distant from Mogador. They are thus opposite
a much more hot and arid part of the African coast than that north
of the Atlas. The large island of Fuertaventura is only about 70
miles from the continent south of Oued Noun.]

[Footnote 2: _Journ. Linn. Soc._ vol. xvi. p. 297.]

[Footnote 3: A term first applied by Webb to the Flora of the
Canarian Archipelago, but which should also include the Flora of
Madeira (as Ball makes it do in the above mention of it), the Azores,
and perhaps also of the Cape de Verde Islands, which together form
either a distinct botanical province, or a marked subdivision of
the Mediterranean province.]

[Footnote 4: No less than nine very distinct genera are confined
to the Canaries or Madeira or both:—_Parolinia_, _Bencomia_,
_Visnea_, _Phyllis_, _Plocama_, _Canarina_, _Musschia_, _Bosea_,
and _Gesnouinia_. The only endemic genera in Marocco are _Argania_,
_Hemicrambe_, _Ceratocnemum_, and _Sclerosciadium_.]

[Footnote 5: On the other hand, many peculiar species have been
added to the Canarian Flora since the date of the publication of
the _Phytographia_ (1836-50).]

[Footnote 6: The genera, which are unduly multiplied in the
_Phytographia_, are here reduced to the standard adopted in the
_Spicilegium_. The species are, unfortunately, also inordinately
multiplied in the former work, which seriously vitiates the table:
this, however, it is impossible to set right. On the other hand,
some of the Canarian genera have been largely added to by later
explorers.]

[Footnote 7: In this, the most curious case of all, the species
were elaborated by Bentham, and may, therefore, be depended upon. A
second Maroccan _Micromeria_, allied to a Canarian one, has been
found by M. Cosson’s collectors, as I am informed by Ball, whilst
this sheet was passing through the press.]

[Footnote 8: This estimate is subject to the same deductions as I
have referred to in note 2, p. 407. On the other hand, were the
many obviously introduced species to be struck out of Webb and
Berthelot’s enumeration, the proportion of peculiar species would
be considerably augmented.]

[Footnote 9: Whilst this sheet was passing through the press,
I am informed that M. Cosson’s collectors have found _Bowlesia_
in South Marocco. No doubt this is another case of that accidental
diffusion of Macaronesian species alluded to by Ball. (See p. 405.)]

[Footnote 10: The Cape of Good Hope mountain plant, _Melianthus
comosus_, found at the south end of Fuertaventura, must be assumed
to have been introduced by man into that island.]

[Footnote 11: In Bentham and Hook, f., _Gen. Plant._
(vol. iii. ined.), the _Laurineæ_ are described by Bentham, who
has determined, for the first time, the proper position of the
Canarian Laurels.]

[Footnote 12: _Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot._ vol. xvi.]

[Footnote 13: M. Cosson has published in the 22nd volume of the
‘Bulletin of the Botanical Society of France’ a list including
the plants received from his collectors in South Marocco up to the
year 1874.]

[Footnote 14: Lyell’s _Principles of Geology_, ed. 11,
vol. ii. p. 410.]

[Footnote 15: Lyell’s _Student’s Elements of Geology_, ed. 2,
pp. 538, 539.]

                              APPENDIX F.

    _Comparison of the Maroccan Flora with that of the Mountains of
                           Tropical Africa._

                       By JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER.

As was to have been anticipated, the Maroccan Flora contains most of
the European species which have been collected on the mountains of
Abyssinia and of the Bight of Biafra, which alone of the tropical
African Alps have been botanically explored. Of these the former
have been visited by Schimper and various collectors; whilst the
mountains of the pestilential West African coast, of Fernando Po,
9,500 feet, and the Cameroons Mountains, upwards of 13,000 feet,
have been ascended for botanical purposes only by Gustav Mann,
when employed for the Royal Gardens of Kew.

The results of the latter were published by myself in the ‘Journal
of the Linnæan Society of London’ (vol. vii. p. 171), from whence
the following observations are for the most part extracted. They
included 26 European species, gathered at elevations between 5,000
and 10,000 feet. Most of them are also natives of the Abyssinian
Alps, and two-thirds of them are also Maroccan, whilst others will
probably yet be found in the latter country.

The following is a catalogue of all the European plants found in
the upper regions of the Cameroons Mountains and Fernando Po:—

  +-----------------------+--------------+-----------------------+
  |                       |    Height    |     Where found       |
  |                       +--------------+-----------------------+
  |                       |     feet     |                       |
  |Cardamine hirsuta      | 7,000-10,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Cerastium vulgatum     |    8,000     |    „          „       |
  |(viscosum Fr.)         |              |                       |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Radiola Millegrana     |    7,000     | Marocco               |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Oxalis corniculata     | 7,000-8,500  | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Umbilicus pendulinus   | 7,000-10,000 |    „          „       |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Sanicula europæa       | 4,000-7,500  | Abyssinia             |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Galium rotundifolium   | 7,000-12,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Galium Aparine         | 7,000-10,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Scabiosa succisa       |   10,500?    |                       |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Myosotis stricta       | 8,000-10,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Limosella aquatica     | 9,000-10,000 | Abyssinia             |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Sibthorpia europæa     | 7,000-7,500  |    „                  |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Solanum nigrum         | 7,000-11,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Rumex obtusifolius     |    7,000     | Abyssinia             |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Parietaria mauritanica | 7,000-8,000  | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Trichonema Bulbocodium | 7,000-9,000  |    „          „       |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Juncus capitatus       |    7,000     | Marocco               |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Luzula campestris      | 8,000-10,000 | Abyssinia             |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Deschampsia cæspitosa  | 9,000-12,000 |    „                  |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Aira caryophyllea      | 7,000-8,000  | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Poa nemoralis          | 7,000-10,000 | Abyssinia             |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Kœleria cristata       | 8,000-12,000 |    „                  |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Vulpia bromoides       | 7,000-10,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Festuca gigantea       |    8,500     | Marocco               |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Brachypodium sylvaticum|    7,000     | Abyssinia             |
  |                       |              |                       |
  |Andropogon distachyus  |    7,000     | Marocco and Abyssinia |
  +-----------------------+--------------+-----------------------+

The most remarkable features of the Temperate vegetation of these
West African tropical mountains are:—

1. Its poverty.

2. The preponderance of Abyssinian genera and species.

3. The considerable proportion of European plants.

4. The paucity of South African genera and species.

5. The great rarity of new genera.

6. The absence of St. Helena and Canarian types.

Upon each of these propositions I have a few general remarks
to offer.

In the poverty of their Flora the Cameroons range and Peak of
Fernando Po seem to partake of the characteristics of the Abyssinian
Alps. We know far too little of the physical geography of either of
these districts to hazard many conjectures upon this point, which
must to a certain extent be dependent on the arid volcanic nature
of the soil and the limited area of the Temperate region. Mr. Mann
spent many weeks, and at various seasons, in his explorations, and
yet 237 flowering plants were all that rewarded his toil. Geological
causes have probably had, in the case of the Cameroons Mountains,
much to do with the dearth of species, some parts of the range even
now presenting evidence of subterranean heat.

The preponderance of Abyssinian forms is proved by almost all of
the genera and half the species being natives of Abyssinia, and
by many other species being very closely related to, or obvious
representatives of, plants of that country. There are, further,
several of the genera and many of the species peculiar to Abyssinia
and the peaks of Biafra.

The number of European genera amounts to 43, and species to 26,
the greater part of which are British. Very few of them extend
into South Africa. The greater part are Abyssinian; the remarkable
exceptions being _Radiola_, _Scabiosa succisa_, _Luzula campestris_,
and _Festuca gigantea_, all of which, however, may have been hitherto
overlooked in Abyssinia.

I find no other evidence of relationship between the Biafran mountain
Flora and that of Marocco than what is afforded by the European
species common to both. In most other respects the Floras differ
totally, the other mountain plants of Biafra being Abyssinian or
Cape types, or more nearly related to tropical African ones.

                              APPENDIX G

 _On the Mountain Flora of Two Valleys in the Great Atlas of Marocco._

                             By JOHN BALL.

Although an attempt to discuss the character and relations of the
Flora of a region so wide and so little known as the mountain region
of the Great Atlas would as yet be quite premature, it appears that
the materials at our disposal suffice for an examination of the
vegetation of the valleys lying south and south-west of the city
of Marocco, which may be an acceptable contribution to botanical
geography. For this purpose it seems best to limit the discussion to
the two valleys where our collections were sufficiently extensive
to give a tolerably complete representation of the vegetation,
as far as this was developed at the season of our visit, and to
exclude altogether the plants found along the skirts of the great
range below the level of about 1,200 metres above the sea. The Flora
of the zone below that level is largely mixed up with extraneous
elements, represented by plants of the low country that reach the
base of the mountains, but do not penetrate the interior valleys,
and if these had been admitted the special features of the mountain
Flora would have become less apparent. The plants collected in the
course of a somewhat hurried excursion from Seksaoua, when we reached
a height of about 1,600 metres, have been designedly omitted. On
such occasions attention is to a great extent monopolised by the
new and rare species not hitherto seen in the same region, while
comparatively familiar forms are less carefully noted. Collections
made under such circumstances rarely give a moderately complete
report of the vegetable population.

In ascending to the higher region of mountains that approach to
the limit of vegetation the absolute number of species is so much
smaller that this source of error is far less apparent; and it is
not likely that in the two ascents which we made to the dividing
ridge of the Atlas many species that came within our range of vision
were overlooked. The following tabular arrangement shows that in
the Aït Mesan valley, where we spent the greater part of six days,
we collected 375 species of phænogamous plants, to which have been
added three subsequently found there by MM. Rein and Fritsch; while
in the Amsmiz valley only 223 species—or less than three-fifths of
the above number—were collected. Of these 146 species are common
to both valleys; so that our list does not in all exceed 455 species
of flowering plants, to which I have added 10 vascular cryptogams,
of which two only were found in the Amsmiz valley.

In the following list I distinguish a middle zone, extending from
1,200 to 2,000 metres above the sea, and a superior zone including
all above that limit; the latter corresponding pretty nearly with the
sub-alpine and alpine zones of the higher mountains of Europe. With
reference to their distribution I have divided the species into four
categories: 1, Mid-European, those extending to Central Europe,
of which more than three-fourths belong to the British Flora: 2,
wide-spread Mediterranean, extending beyond the bounds of the three
adjoining regions, Algeria, the Spanish peninsula, and the Canary
Islands: 3, confined to adjoining regions; that is, to one or more
of those just enumerated: 4, endemic, known only in the Great Atlas,
or the neighbouring provinces of Marocco.

  _Tabular View of the Mountain Flora of the Great Atlas, showing the
   distribution of the Species found in the Valleys of Aït Mesan and
 Amsmiz. S indicates the superior zone from 2,000 m. to 3,500 m. above
 the sea; M the middle (or mountain) zone, from 1,200 m. to 2,000 m._

  [A: Aït Mesan
   B: Amsmiz
   C: Mid-European
   D: Wide-spread Mediterranean
   E: Confined to adjoining regions
   F: Endemic]

  +----------------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  |           Name of Species              | A | B | C | D | E | F |
  +----------------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  |Ranunculus spicatus, L. var.            | — | S | — | — | * | — |
  | „  atlanticus, Ball                    | M | M | — | — |   | * |
  | „  bulbosus, L. var.                   | M | M | * | — | — |   |
  | „  arvensis, L.                        |M S| — | * | — | — |   |
  | „  muricatus, L.                       | — | M | — | * | — | — |
  | „  Reinii, nov. sp.                    | S | — | — | — | — | * |
  |Aquilegia vulgaris, L. var.             | — | M | * | — | — | — |
  |Delphinium Balansæ, B. et R. var.?      | S | S | — | — | * | — |
  |Berberis cretica, L. var.               | — | S | — | * | — | — |
  |Papaver tenue, Ball                     |M S|M S| — | — | — | * |
  | „  rupifragum, B. et R. var.           | S | S | — | — | * | — |
  |Rœmeria hybrida, D.C.                   | — | M | — | * | — | — |
  |Hypecoum pendulum, L.                   |   | M | — | * |   | — |
  |Corydalis heterocarpa (Dur.)            | M | — | — | — | * |   |
  |Fumaria officinalis, L.                 | S | — | * | — | — | — |
  | „  parviflora, Lam.                    | M | M | * | — | — | — |
  | „  media, Lois var.                    | M | — | * | — | — | — |
  | „  agraria, Lag. var.                  | M | — | — | * | — | — |
  | „  tenuisecta, Ball.                   | M | — | — | — | — | * |
  |Nasturtium officinale, R. Br.           | S | — | * | — | — | — |
  | „  atlanticum, Ball                    | S | — | — | — | — | * |
  |Arabis albida, Stev.                    | S | — | — | * | — | — |
  | „  erubescens, Ball                    | S |   |   | — | — | * |
  | „  auriculata, Lam.                    | S | S | * | — | — | — |
  | „  decumbens, Ball                     | S | S |   | — | — | * |
  | „  conringioides, Ball                 | S | S |   |   | — | * |
  |Cardamine hirsuta, L. var.              | — | S | * |   | — | — |
  |Alyssum alpestre, L. vars.              | M | M | * |   |   | — |
  | „  montanum, L. var.                   |   | S | * | — |   | — |
  | „  campestre, L.                       |M S| — | * | — |   |   |
  | „  calycinum, L.                       |M S| — | * | — | — |   |
  | „  spinosum, L.                        | S | — | — | * | — |   |