We scarcely had been settled in the house when several applicants for medical advice presented themselves; but these were disposed of soon enough to leave some remaining daylight, which was devoted to a stroll up the left, or SE. branch of the upper valley. The flat ground was parcelled into small fields divided by stone dykes, and intersected by slender irrigation channels. The fields seemed to be carefully tilled, rye, barley, and beans being the only crop now above ground. Maize is sown in the latter part of May and ripens in the course of six weeks. We saw with surprise a few vines in this inclement spot, and also Madder (_Rubia tinctorum_) seemingly wild, but doubtless originally introduced for native use. The mountains, as far as we could see them, looked forbidding, and the scene this evening was even more sombre than it had been two days before. Leaden clouds roofed the valley across, and completely hid the higher ridges; slight gusts of chilling wind blew at intervals, and all the tokens of impending bad weather warned us not to indulge in cheerful anticipations for the morrow. On this occasion we had limited our escort to two soldiers, whose presence showed that we were under the shadow of imperial protection, but who would doubtless have been utterly useless if the natives had harboured hostile designs. Of such, however, there was not the slightest indication. The demeanour of the people was respectful and friendly, rather than the reverse. Our every movement was watched, but from a distance, and there was none of the intrusive curiosity so often complained of by travellers among semi-barbarous people. The men all habitually wear the hooded cloak, of dark-coloured goat’s hair, somewhat looser than the Moorish _jellabia_, which appears to be peculiar to the tribes of the Great Atlas. Whether the slight variations in the triangular patch of coloured stuff with rude embroidery that is inserted at the back, serves to distinguish the men of one tribe from another, we failed to ascertain. The women, who make but a faint show of concealing half the face when approaching strangers, seemed to be rather better favoured than those we had seen in the lower valley. They partly shave the head, and twine the remaining hair into two broad plaits, bringing these forward crosswise over the forehead. With a view to possible difficulties arising with the sheik, we had taken Abraham with us, leaving the camp at Hasni for twenty-four hours in charge of Crump, Hooker’s English attendant; but it was arranged that the former was to return on the following morning, much to his own satisfaction, as the cold and discomfort of this Alpine village seemed to make both him and the Marocco soldiers perfectly miserable.