Tafilet; the narrative of a journey of exploration in the Atlas mountains and the oases of the north-west Sahara . h takingthe form of high perpendicular cliffs of remarkablyfine appearance. But little vegetation w^as to befound here, a few oleanders along the bed of thestream being almost all there was. Again passinga small watershed, we descended toward the river ofAgurzga, parallel to the two we had passed, both ofwhich crossed the road, wdiich jDroceeded between theparallel ranges of mountains on the north and hillson the south, at right angles. I could hear of butfew inhabitants in these
Tafilet; the narrative of a journey of exploration in the Atlas mountains and the oases of the north-west Sahara . h takingthe form of high perpendicular cliffs of remarkablyfine appearance. But little vegetation w^as to befound here, a few oleanders along the bed of thestream being almost all there was. Again passinga small watershed, we descended toward the river ofAgurzga, parallel to the two we had passed, both ofwhich crossed the road, wdiich jDroceeded between theparallel ranges of mountains on the north and hillson the south, at right angles. I could hear of butfew inhabitants in these districts, though our mensaid that a small tribe of Ait Minzeru lived higherup in the mountains, near the eastern slopes of JibelUnila. Where the road runs under the high clifis the nameof Kaiserieh has been given to the spot, the sameimplying the narrow streets of the bazaars of a town. 124 THE DESCENT FROM THE ATLAS. At Agurzga, on the banks of the river of the samename, we spent the night of November 6. Of all the picturesque and romantic spots we passedon the entire journey, I think Agurzga deserves to be. Agtirzga. considered the first, for not only is its situation, shutin with high precipices of bare stone, fine in the ex-treme, but the hand of man has done much to addto the scene by perching strange great castles, richin decorated towers, on every pinnacle of rock that AGUKZGA. 125 juts up in the narrow valley, and by terracing a suffi-cient quantity of land to allow of a strip of gardensalong the edge of the river. The stream entersthis portion of the valley by a narrow gorge, betweenprecipices some thousands of feet high, and taking asemicircular bend, still between high walls of rock,opens out into a stony bed, one bank rising sheer inbroken boulders to some height, while on the otherside are the gardens of walnut, almond, and fig trees,terraced one above the other. Eising again highabove these gardens are rocky eminences on whichthe great castles are perched, in one
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1895
