About two hours after starting, the great tower of the chief mosque came into view, and one of our soldiers rode on ahead to announce our approach. Not long afterwards we met a courier bound for Mogador with letters for Mr. Carstensen, and we took the opportunity of reporting progress and sending him a few details as to our journey. In default of regular postal communication, which is not to be thought of in such a country, the facility for forwarding letters in Marocco is far greater than could be expected. For a few shillings a native is easily induced to make a journey of many days, and take care of letters, which always reach their destination. The reverence with which Mohammedan people generally regard all written communications—which may perchance contain the name of Allah—serves as a protection so effectual, that the loss of letters and despatches is scarcely ever heard of. These couriers travel forty or even fifty miles a day, and after a day’s rest are ready to return to the place whence they came. The chief object of Mr. Carstensen’s letter to Marocco had been to recommend us to the good offices of some wealthy and influential Moors, correspondents of English mercantile houses, and we were not long before experiencing the benefit of this piece of kindly attention. The heat of the sun was much felt as we rode over the open plain, and it was suggested that we should do well to halt awhile, and await the return of the soldier who was to report to us the state of affairs in the city. The only spot on the way affording the slightest shelter is under the reclining trunk of a fine tree of _Tamarix articulata_, which had apparently been blown down, though still adhering to the ground by its roots, and throwing out vigorous shoots and branches. The remaining portion of the trunk was 24 feet long, and at 8 feet from the roots the girth was 7 feet 7 inches (2·32 m.) We saw no other specimen of this tree, characteristic of the semi-tropical region of Northern Africa; but our opportunities for exploring the country surrounding the city were very limited, and it seems probable that it is here indigenous, though the extreme scarcity of fuel may have led to its partial extermination. The slender twigs into which the branches are divided gave no protection from the sun; but, by throwing a carpet overhead, we extemporised a serviceable roof, whose shade was most welcome. Though bare to the eye, this part of the plain produced many small herbaceous plants, such as _Notoceras canariensis_, our native _Coronopus Ruellii_, _Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum_, and _Schismus calycinus_. The _Mesembryanthemum_ is as common here as it is in the East; but the last-named grass, so characteristic of the skirts of the desert in Egypt and Arabia, seems to be rare in South Marocco.