the Spanish variety of _Berberis cretica_; and lower down, near the base of the mountain, a fine white-flowered columbine, fully four feet high, probably a variety of the common _Aquilegia vulgaris_, widely spread throughout the mountain regions of Europe and Asia, but not, as we believe, before found in the African continent. Ball, who reached the rendezvous half an hour after Hooker, brought down with him a curious little succulent plant, forming a new species of the genus _Monanthes_, hitherto known only in the islands of the Canary and Cape de Verde groups, along with three species of the lily tribe, all of them found in Southern Europe, but not before seen in Marocco. The tree was found to be the belloot oak (_Quercus Ballota_ of Desfontaines), a variety of the evergreen oak, which is spread through North Africa and Spain, where the sweet acorns are commonly roasted and eaten, as chestnuts are elsewhere. Many of the trees are of great age and have thick trunks, and weather-beaten stunted branches, and are apparently the remains of extensive forests that once clothed the flanks of this part of the Atlas up to a height of about 8,500 feet above the sea. Hooker found the sheik in a state of thorough exasperation at our success in defeating his orders, probably aggravated by the tedium of waiting for our return. He discharged volleys of fierce abuse at the guide who had failed to keep us within the prescribed limits, but was not openly disrespectful in his manner towards the Christian _hakim_ who had come to his country under the immediate shadow of imperial protection. Foreseeing future trouble in returning through the valley after dark, he was evidently much annoyed at the necessity for awaiting Ball’s arrival. To calm his impatience, Hooker lent him a field telescope, and the novel experience so much amused him that his ill-humour appeared to vanish for the time. Uncivilised men are like children, rarely remaining long under the same impression; and even when seemingly quite possessed by some strong feeling, are led away from it by the veriest trifle. As required by the inevitable rule of hospitality, a _mona_ was offered by the people of the adjoining hamlet in the shape of a dish of _keskossou_, barely tasted by us, but speedily despatched by our followers, and at 6.15 P.M. we started on horseback to return to our night-quarters at Iminteli. The sun set before 7, and a brief interval of twilight soon gave place to a dark, though star-lit, night. In the open there was no difficulty in following the track along the torrent; but at one place, in riding through a walnut grove, we were reminded of our night-adventure in the Aït Mesan valley. The thicker branches of the walnut do not, however, lie low, as do those of the olive, nor are they beset with the stiff jagged leafless branchlets that made the latter so dangerous in the dark.