possibly even as far as Fez. Affluents of the Sebū are W. Mikkes
and W. Redem (90 m. long). The swift and muddy current of
W. Beht usually loses itself in a swamp before it reaches the
main stream. The Bū Ragrag, which debouches between Rabat
and Salli, is about the same length as the Beht, but of much
more importance. It and the Um er-Rabī‛a (mother of
grass), although their mouths are widely separated, drain the
northern slopes of the central Atlas. The impetuous Um er-Rabī‛a,
with a rocky bed and many rapids, is perhaps as large as
the Sebū, W. el-Abiāḍ, W. Akhdar and W. Tessaūt are the
principal affluents. This last is separated by about 10 m. only
from the valley of the Tansīft, the river which flows to the north
of the city of Marrākesh; and by the W. Nefīs, the Asif el-Māl
(Asif is Berber for river), the W. Usbi, and other smaller tributaries,
receives the waters of about 180 m. of the Atlas range.
The valley between the Atlas and the Anti-Atlas is traversed by the W. Sūs, whose ever-flowing stream is sufficient to turn the whole district into a garden. The Māssa or W. al-Ghās, though its headwaters drain only one or two of the lesser valleys at the south-west end of the Anti-Atlas, is “about 50 yds. from bank to bank at the mouth, with a depth at high water and in the proper channel of something over a fathom.” Farther south is the Assāka, known to European geographers as the W. Nūn; and finally the W. Dra‛ā is reached, which in length exceeds all the rivers of Morocco, but, except in spring, when the snows are melting in the highlands, remains throughout its lower reaches a dry sandy channel. In the upper valleys however innumerable streams from the south side of the main chain of the Atlas, the W. Dādes from the east, and the Asif Marghen, W. el-Molah, or Warzazet from the west, flow through populous and fertile valleys, and uniting to form the Dra‛ā cut their way southward through a gorge in the Jebel Soghār, which, as the name implies, is a lower range running parallel to the Atlas proper. For the next 130 m. the stream holds S.S.E., drained at every step by the irrigation canals which turn this region into a green oasis, till at last its dwindling current bends westward to the sebkha (salt marsh) of Debāya. For a few weeks once a year the thaw-floods fill this shallow but extensive basin and rush onwards to the Atlantic; but in summer it dries up, and, like the bed of the river for some distance below, is covered with flourishing crops. From the south of the Atlas still farther east descend other streams, the W. Zīz (with its tributaries the W. Todgha and W. Gheris), the W. Ghir, the W. Kenatsa, &c., which, after watering the oases of Medghara, Tafīlālt (Sajilmāsa), Kenatsa, &c., lose themselves in the sands of the Sahara.
[Geology.—The Atlas Mountains, which are built up of a series of ridges rising to 12,000 ft. to the east of Morocco, form the backbone of the country. The central and highest portions consist of slates, crystalline limestones and schists of Archean, Pre-Cambrian and possibly of Cambrian ages. They are much folded and broken through by numerous intrusions of basalts and diorites. The mass of Jebel Tezah is composed of mica-schists and porphyries which appear to bear closer resemblances to the metamorphic rocks of Egypt than to the Archean crystalline formation of Central Africa. The strata of the central ridges are succeeded by a great thickness of purple marls, red sandstones, conglomerates and calcareous rocks, occurring in faulted, folded and detached areas and recently considered to range from Silurian to Trias. Later palaeozoic rocks of Devonian and Carboniferous ages also form a broad zone extending into the Sahara on the southern and south-eastern flanks. The whole of the Cretaceous system is represented by the shales and limestones occurring between the coast and the edge of the plateau above Morocco, but do not enter into the composition of the High Atlas.
Moraines, made up largely of unstriated blocks of porphyry, have been reported from the Upper Atlas. At the foot of the mountains, extensive mounds of boulder beds are developed on an immense scale and were considered by Maw to belong to the Glacial Epoch. Between Damnāt and the sea, however, the signs of a former glaciation appear to be insignificant. No moraines occur here, and consequently the glacial origin of the boulder beds described by Maw has been disputed. They are probably alluvial cones brought down from the High Atlas and mountainous regions. From Mogador to 60 m. inland, and over the plains around Marrākesh, a tufaceous deposit forming a hard crust, several feet thick, follows every undulation of the ground. Immense accumulations of tufa are met with in the limestone areas of the mountains. The chief tectonic structures which trend N. 20° E. belong to the Alpine and Mediterranean systems. The Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks are involved in these movements, which, however, were moulded on an earlier folding affecting the palaeozoic rocks of the Atlas region. The sundering of Africa from Europe at the Straits of Gibraltar took place in late Tertiary times; while the elevation of the Barbary coast to a height of 50 to 70 ft. is of Recent date.]
Climate.—The climate is good, and produces a hardy race. Shielded by the Atlas from the hot winds of the Sahara, the coast of the Atlantic offers great attractions to those suffering from chest complaints. Tangier is a recognized health resort, and Mogador and Rabat await development as such. Rain falls only between September and April; on the Atlantic coast it is brought by the south-west wind, and on the Mediterranean sometimes also by the east wind, or sharki, otherwise dry and somewhat trying to invalids. The wonderfully temperate climate of Mogador is due in a great measure to trustworthy trade-winds. In Tangier and Mogador the thermometer seldom rises over 80° F. or sinks below 40°, although inland the extremes are much greater; and while on the plains or in low-lying cities the heat grows intense, snow gleams on the Atlas nearly all the year round. The best months for visiting the interior are September (if rain has fallen), October, November and the early part of December, or May and June.
Fauna.—The absence of woodland keeps wild animals in check. Besides the lion, which exists in very limited numbers—and, according to local proverbs, with diminished courage—the spotted leopard, panther, hyaena, jackal, lynx, fox, wild boar, porcupine, antelope and gazelle are the most important. The audād or wild sheep is found in the more inaccessible parts of the Atlas. Rabbits swarm in the country to the north of the Bū Ragrag, and since 1870 they have crossed this stream. which used to be their southern limit. Hares are generally common. Rats are from time to time a plague to agriculturists, and the jerboa is frequently met with. A kind of ground-squirrel, the sibsib, occurs in the southern provinces. Monkeys of the same species as those of Gibraltar frequent the neighbourhood of Jebel Mūsa or Apes’ Hill. The common wild birds include blackbirds, goldfinches, linnets, greenfinches, robins, wagtails, skylarks and crested larks, swifts, magpies, cuckoos, lapwings, rollers, several shrikes, as well as turtle-doves, nightingales, jays and buff-backed egrets. The house-sparrow is not found; between Marrākesh and Mogador its place is taken by a beautiful bird (Emberiza striolata), locally called tabīb, or “doctor.” The birds of prey include eagles, vultures, ospreys, buzzards, falcons, harriers, kestrels, kites, ravens and hawks. Hawking is still indulged in by some of the country governors, and the Moors are very fond of hunting, many keeping greyhounds. The Barbary partridge is the main resource of the sportsman, though he may also bag several other varieties of partridge, bustards, guinea-fowl, plovers, grouse, snipe, quail, curlew, ducks and other water-fowl. Along the coast there is no lack of gulls, gannets, pelicans, flamingoes, herons, whimbrel, oyster-catchers, &c. Most towns have their colony of storks. Several venomous snakes and two vipers are found, but are not common, and the same may be said of scorpions and tarantulas, but centipedes are more numerous. Human parasites are, however, most to be guarded against. Mosquitoes give little trouble save in towns or near water. Invasions of locusts are serious, but intermittent. Lizards, chameleons, tortoises and frogs are familiar objects; it is from Morocco that the small tortoises hawked about the streets of London are usually obtained.
Of domestic animals the mule is the great beast of burden, though camels, mares and asses are also employed. The horse is usually a sturdy little animal, but far below the ancient reputation of the Barbary steed. It is seldom used as a draught animal. Roughly broken when young, his mouth is soon spoiled by barbarous bits, and his feet by square shoes. The finest animals are said to be bred in Shiādhma and Abda. In form and size the mules are much superior and usually fetch two or three times the price of the horse. The horned cattle are not unlike Alderneys; but being practically untended, and the oxen having to do the ploughing, they furnish a very different quality of milk, yielding it only while the calf looks on; the sheep, for the improvement of which, also, nothing is done, have spiral horns (not infrequently four), rounded foreheads and long, fine wool; the goats, which furnish the famous leather, needing even less care are still more abundant. Domestic fowls are kept in great numbers; they are of the Spanish type, small and prolific.
The bonito and mackerel fishery off the coast of Casablanca and Tangier attracts fishers from Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe. Occasionally a small shoal may be found as far south as Mogador. Soles, turbot, bream, bass, conger eel and mullet are common along the coast, and southern Morocco is visited occasionally by shoals of a large fish called the azlimzah (sciaena aquila), rough scaled and resembling a cod, and the tasargelt (Temnodon saltator), the “blue fish” of North America. Crayfish, prawns, oysters and mussels swarm in the rocky places, but the natives have no proper method of catching them, and edible crabs seem unknown. The tunny, pilchard and sardine, and a kind of shad known as the “Mogador herring,” all prove at times of practical importance. The catching of the shabel, a species of shad, mis-called “Barbary salmon” is a great industry on the principal rivers of the coast, and vast numbers of the fish, which are often from 5 to 15 ℔ in weight are dried and salted. They ascend from the sea in spring. Barbels
