With mingled feelings we cast our eyes on the waters that were so soon to carry us back within the accustomed round of civilised existence. If the prospect before us were in many ways most welcome, there was yet some inevitable regret at the termination of a journey so full of interest, and, in spite of trifling drawbacks, so full of enjoyment. We felt that the time at our disposal had been too limited, and that what we had accomplished in the way of exploration fell far short of what we had expected; but enough had been done to reward us amply for the labour expended, and we indulged, as almost all genuine travellers are wont to do, in the hope of returning again to the country we were now about to leave. We had reached the shore at a point about five miles north of Mogador, which, however, was concealed from view by the lofty sand dunes that have accumulated on the reef of rocks that stretches out seaward on the north side of the town. For more than half the distance we rode along the flat beach, where the sand gave somewhat firmer footing than it did above high water mark. Our soldiers took the opportunity for celebrating the prosperous termination of our journey by an exhibition of ‘powder-play,’ for which the ground was admirably adapted. Starting together, but not attempting to keep line, they urge their horses to their fastest gallop; while at full speed they discharge their long guns at an imaginary foe, fling the gun up in the air, and catch it again; and finally the horse is stopped short, and thrown upon his haunches, by the sudden pressure of the severe bit used in this country. To avoid a long detour our course to Mogador lay over the high sand dunes that encompass the town on the land side. The forms into which the sand is fashioned by the wind here attracted our attention. In many places the appearances were exactly those that are found in the higher region of the Alps immediately after a fall of fresh snow, and in truth the phenomena are nearly identical. At a temperature considerably below freezing point snow commonly falls in the condition of fine grains that do not cohere when they meet, and, in a mechanical sense, differ from those of sand only by being lighter. Our observations on the relation between the form of the larger ridges and the smaller ripple marks, and the direction of the wind, quite agree with those published by Maw.[4]