Travels in the Atlas and southern MoroccoA narrative of exploration . of an old Portuguese battery, andfarther south lay a half-buried palace of the Moorishsultans. Along this level sand tract, backed on theone side by drifting sandhills and bounded on theother by the sea, were winding townward long strag-gling lines of camels driven by wild Sus Arabs. Foranything we saw ahead of us, we might have been inthe heart of the Sahara. We speedily reached the village of Diabat, on theWad Kseb, where the inhabitants have a hard battlewith the ceaseless encroachments of the wind-blownsand. Ascending a
Travels in the Atlas and southern MoroccoA narrative of exploration . of an old Portuguese battery, andfarther south lay a half-buried palace of the Moorishsultans. Along this level sand tract, backed on theone side by drifting sandhills and bounded on theother by the sea, were winding townward long strag-gling lines of camels driven by wild Sus Arabs. Foranything we saw ahead of us, we might have been inthe heart of the Sahara. We speedily reached the village of Diabat, on theWad Kseb, where the inhabitants have a hard battlewith the ceaseless encroachments of the wind-blownsand. Ascending a steep slope, we found ourselves ina few minutes on a low step or terrace which leads tothe broken platean of the interior. To the south theview was bonnded by the dark elevations of Haha, whilein the distant east the peaks of the Atlas formed abroken skyline. We now continued our way through a brake of thesilky genista, which here flourishes in the sunny sterilesand, and in an hour reached a solitary building knownas the Palm-Tree-House, because of its conspicuous. THE BOAR HUNT. 8l single date tree. This proved to be a country residenceof Mr. llattos father. Here we laid ourselves out tohave a good night of it, with Moorish and Berbermusic and dances provided by the beaters who hadbeen gathered for the morrows hunt. One grizzlyold hunter specially distinguished himself by his perfor-mance on a Shellach reed {SlicUach is the name givento the Berbers of Southern Morocco). It would seemto be no easy task to play this instrument. The mostremarkable twitches of the arms, body, and head,the most extraordinary contortions of the face, wereapparently necessary to produce the required , in spite of all the musicians efforts, some little impof Eblis would ever and anon burst out with the moststartling, ear-piercing squeaks, the unexpectedness oithe effect irresistibly reminding one of the itinerantplayers on tin-whistles who delight country bumpkinsat fairs. One of our party
Size: 1258px × 1986px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorthomsonjoseph18581895, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880
