He had no doubt of foul play having been used; but some months later received further assurance, when, on taxing the Governor’s son (our fat friend) with his suspicions, the latter answered: ‘Well, the fact is that my papa did not know what to do with them, so he had them poisoned.’ It seems strange at the present day to find so near to Europe a condition of society in some respects so like that of Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, wherein no deed of atrocity committed by men in authority awakens the slightest feeling of moral reprobation. In the present instance local ideas had so far prevailed that Mr. Carstensen did not consider it expedient to allow what had occurred to interrupt his amicable relations with the Governor. To lessen our regret for having failed to see something of the western extremity of the Great Atlas, Mr. Carstensen proposed that we should visit the Djebel Hadid, or Iron Mountain, a range of hills, about 2,000 feet in height, that approaches the sea about fourteen miles NE. of Mogador, and extends inland in a NE. direction for a distance of some five-and-twenty miles. So far as we knew, this had not been visited by any European naturalist except M. Balansa, and we willingly accepted the suggestion, and, following Mr. Carstensen’s advice, arranged to fix our camp next day at Aïn el Hadjar, a spot where some copious springs burst forth at the SW. extremity of the range. The forenoon of June 1 was spent in the _kasbah_, and in a short ramble on the adjoining slopes. The appearance of the country was much altered since we had passed here at the end of April. The spring vegetation was then far advanced, and many annuals had ripened their seeds; but, thanks to the rain which had fallen at intervals during May, a new crop of young plants had sprung up; and during this and the following days we were able to gather several species in flower that we had before seen only in fruit. The fields where, at our last visit, the corn was being cut, had been ploughed up, and pumpkins had been extensively sown round the _kasbah_. There was more appearance of a taste for ornamental plants than we had seen anywhere among the Moors. The Governor had transactions with many of the foreign merchants at Mogador, and in that way had no difficulty in obtaining seeds or cuttings of many garden flowers. Amongst these we noted roses, pinks, garden-stock, geraniums, dahlias, _Tagetes_, and _Coreopsis_. Oranges and bananas were also cultivated; but it seemed doubtful whether in ordinary seasons the climate is suitable. The spring rains had recently extended over a wide tract of country, but they seem to be more often limited to the zone surrounding the higher mountains.