Although the air was cooled by a pleasant breeze, the direct rays of the sun were very powerful, and we were glad to make a short halt for luncheon near a well, where a small ruined building of rough masonry gave a narrow fringe of shadow. Resuming our route, we soon after recrossed the sluggish stream of the Oued Kseb, whose banks were fringed with _Vitex Agnus castus_, and with _Cyperaceæ_ not yet in flower. We took this at the time for one of the branches of a river shown on the French map as falling into the Atlantic north of the Djebel Hadid, some twenty miles from Mogador; but we afterwards came to the conclusion that no such river is in existence. At or near the ford is the boundary of the province of Shedma, much less extensive than that of Haha, but apparently more fertile. The soil now sensibly improved, and there were indications of more careful husbandry. At the same time the larger portion of the surface remained in a state of nature, and gratified our botanical appetites by a display of many novelties. The varied species of _Genista_, that are so conspicuous in North Marocco and the Spanish peninsula, were here little seen, but are replaced by several allied genera. _Cytisus albidus_ and _Anagyris fœtida_ are especially prominent. _Withania fruticosa_, a curious Solanaceous shrub, which we had already seen near Casa Blanca and during the morning ride, here became extremely common; but what most interested us was _Linaria ventricosa_ of Cosson, a large species, with stiff erect branches three or four feet in height, first found in the adjoining province of Haha by M. Balansa, and which we afterwards saw to be widely spread through South Marocco, and one of the characteristic features of the flora. The dwarf fan-palm (_Chamærops humilis_, or palmetto of the Spaniards), much less common in Marocco than it is in the hotter parts of Southern Europe, was here rather abundant, perhaps because it is one of the few plants that the locusts are unable or unwilling to devour. As we rode onward, gradually ascending over a gently undulating country, this became constantly more productive. In two or three places the people were cutting tolerable crops of ripe corn; the olive, fig, and pomegranate became frequent, and for the first and last time we saw the former tree cultivated with care, pruned, and apparently manured.