Identifier: tafiletnarrative00harr (find matches)
Title: Tafilet; the narrative of a journey of exploration in the Atlas mountains and the oases of the north-west Sahara
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: Harris, Walter, 1866-1933
Subjects:
Publisher: London, W. Blackwood and sons
Contributing Library: Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston University

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e long plains which succeed. From thispoint, however, south and westward they extend inunbroken line to near the ocean, taking; a g;eneraldirection of south-west and then west. The entireportion from Fez, from which the snow-peaks in-habited by the Beni Mgild and Ait Yussi are visible,to but a little way beyond Demnat, some fifty oddmiles to the due east of Marakesh, is unexplored, thenature of the succession of Berber tribes inhabitingits slopes rendering it inaccessible to the traveller.From Demnat to the Atlantic the tribes are less wild,and live in greater fear of punishment from theGovernment in the case of molestation of Europeans,with the result that not only the explorer but eventhe most casual globe-trotter can travel in safety, andenjoy the grand scenery which presents itself. Yethow few Europeans ever go ! I have already described the appearance of theAtlas Mountains from the north, and. farther on inthe narrative of my journey more than one allusion THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS. 85
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The Atlas Mountains from the South. 86 THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS AND THE BERBERS. will be found to the barren scene they present fromthe south. It may be here added, however, as ageneral remark on this portion of the range, thatwhile the northern slopes contain fine wooded valleys,their lower parts rich in olive and fruit trees, thesouth stretches away, a dreary waste of stone andshales, presenting no feature of beauty beyond itsgloomy grandeur. The reason is not far to find, forthe desert wind in summer blows in terrific gusts,drying up what soil does exist, while little or no rainever falls. This very scorching wind it is thatrenders so fertile the northern valleys and the plainbeyond, in wliich Marakesh lies, for, following theslope of the mountains to the altitude of their highestpeaks—and the range must hereabout average nearly11,000 feet above the sea—the wind is transformedby the change of temperature into cloud, and falls inheav)^ showers. The difference as one ascends theluxuri

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