The porphyry rocks appeared to be very hard, and far less yielding to erosion than those of somewhat similar character in South Tyrol. Hence the gullies and ravines cut by the water channels, round which the track wound, were not nearly so deep as those that add so much to the picturesqueness of the scenery, and at the same time to the length of the way for a traveller traversing the valleys near Botzen. After winding along the slopes for several miles, our track descended a little to approach once more the channel of the torrent. The valley was still narrow; but the inclination of its bed was much less, and the ground on either bank left space for a track, and in places even for a strip of cultivation. The natives seem to be quick at availing themselves of every spot possible for agriculture. Rye and barley were here seen in ear, and the olive extends very nearly to 5,000 feet above the sea, or considerably higher than it does on the flanks of the Lebanon. As our track ran along the bank of a slender watercourse, it was completely overarched by a row of elder trees in full flower, that forced us to lay our heads upon our horses’ necks, one of many instances of the meeting of the common plants of Northern Europe with very different endemic forms that characterise the upper region of the Great Atlas. Some conspicuous plants of the lower country, and notably _Adenocarpus anagyrifolius_ and _Linaria ventricosa_, extended thus far up the valley; and these, together with a wild _Isatis_, scarcely different from the dyer’s woad, gave a prevailing golden hue to the neighbouring slopes. A reach of the valley now opened before us, backed by a stern range of dark red bare rocky peaks. On our own (the eastern) flank, the enclosing wall receded somewhat, and above a high and rather steep convex acclivity stood a village whose people had brought the whole slope into cultivation. The torrent ran through a cleft on the right of this knoll, and our course lay directly up it, amidst fields and meadows, gay with spring flowers, all enclosed within stiff hedges of thorny bushes, among which our common gooseberry was abundant. As if because the natives would spare no space that could be turned to profit, we soon found that on the steeper portion of the ascent the only way was up the bed of a brawling stream that had for irrigation’s sake been diverted from the upper course of the torrent. The track lay over big blocks of porphyry, with deep holes between, over which the water leaped and tumbled, between straggling branches of spiny bushes, that left many a mark on the faces and clothing of the passing horsemen. Up to this we had little experience of what the horses and mules of Marocco can do in the way of getting over rough ground, and it was not without surprise that we saw how successfully they managed to scramble up the slippery channel over blocks worn smooth by the constant passage of men and animals.