It appeared that our refusal was felt by the Kaïd as a slight; so, by way of offering an irresistible attraction, a cow was led out and slaughtered on the spot, close to the _kasbah_. Fresh beef is a delicacy rarely found in Marocco; but even this failed to move us. Our greedy soldiers were furious at being baulked of the opportunity for feasting and idling, which they evidently considered the main object of their mission, and our departure from Gurgouri was accompanied by the surly faces and muttered grumblings of our escort. It was only on the following day that, owing to the continuing feud between the two men, we learned, through our Mogador captain, that Kaïd el Hasbi had here once more been scheming to frustrate the objects of our journey. In announcing our arrival, he at once prejudiced the Governor of Gurgouri against the intrusive Christians, who had come to visit his district, and directly advised him not to let us enter the mountain valleys. It is likely that this conduct was as much prompted by a keen recollection of the discomfort of his recent five days’ stay in the Aït Mesan valley, and the poorer fare there available, as by mere fanatic dislike to Christians and strangers; but we all know how readily fanaticism allies itself with the baser passions of human nature, and neither were wanting in Kaïd el Hasbi. In any case, it was only natural that a local Governor should take his cue from the man who seemed to be the personal representative of the authorities in Marocco. If our soldiers were disappointed at missing a feast, we were in no better humour at being foiled in what appeared a hopeful project. We silently rode for nearly an hour amidst well-cultivated fields and gardens before we finally reached the banks of the Oued Nfys, at a village called Nurzam. The channel was some 300 yards in width, cut out from the soft limestone strata that rose on either side in steep banks about thirty feet high; while, in spite of the recent rains, the stream was only about twenty yards in width, and everywhere shallow. The day was so far advanced that we could not linger here—a fact the more to be regretted as we found, on the dry gravelly bed of the stream, several plants not before seen during our journey. Among these were _Salvia ægyptiaca_, and a curious _Antirrhinum_, nearly allied to, but different from, the Algerian _A. ramosissimum_. On the west side of the Oued Nfys, the ground rises gradually, but not nearly to so high a level as the plateau of Sektana. The underlying rock throughout the space between this and the next valley descending from the Atlas appears to be covered with a thick red earthy deposit, sometimes of the consistence of clay, sometimes of a more friable character, doubtless formed at the expense of the portion of the Atlas at the head of the valley of the Oued Nfys.