Attack Of The 50 Foot Hooker.epub !EXCLUSIVE!
Clarabella Doom
Even for the ordinary tourist it is a pleasant thing to turn hisface towards the South in the early part of the year, and to feelthat he is about to exchange six or eight weeks of bitter easterlywinds for the bright skies and soft breezes of the Mediterraneanregion. Still more does the botanist rejoice to quit the poverty ofour slowly unfolding spring flora for the wealth of variedvegetation that is spread around the shores of the Inland Sea. Butfor us, the occasion was one of deeper and more special interest.We were starting, under unusually favourable conditions, to explorea country which, though close to Europe, is among the least knownregions of the earth. Although the obstacles we were sure toencounter and the limited time at our disposal, might not allow usto accomplish much,[2] wefelt a confident hope that we should learn something of a greatmountain chain all but absolutely unknown to geographers, and beable to fill up some missing pages in the records of our favouritescience. The thrill of pleasurable anticipation at the prospect ofsetting foot within the boundaries of terra incognita washeightened by the fact that for each of us this land of Marocco hadlong been the object of especial interest and curiosity.
As seen from Tetuan, the ridge above the rocks appeared to leadvery directly to the not distant summit of the mountain; but when,after a short scramble, we had set foot upon it, we clearly saw ourmistake. At about a mile and a half from where we stood, andseparated from us by a rather profound depression, was anotherridge, some three or four hundred feet higher, which might or mightnot be surpassed by more distant prominences in the same range. Itwould have been easy to reach the farther summits, but we thoughtour time better spent in carefully examining the part of themountain within our reach.[45] Various indications, such as thedisappearance of several species that are abundant lower down, andthe much more backward state of the vegetation, went to prove thatthe climate of the upper plateau is sensibly different from that ofits middle region; but there was little to show that we had reachedthe limit of a true mountain, much less that of a subalpine flora.We had, indeed, already found a variety of the large-floweredSenecio Doronicum, which in the Alps and Pyrenees ascendseven to the Alpine region; and near our highest point Ball found aform of Erodium petræum, which in the Pyrenees and NorthernSpain usually attains the subalpine zone. The season was still toolittle advanced; and the naturalist who will follow our footstepsabout the beginning of June may expect a much richer harvest.
On rejoining our so-called escort, we agreed that the track wastoo steep to make riding pleasant; and thus we all descended onfoot till near the foot of the mountain, when a proper care fortheir dignity compelled the soldiers and the guide to remount.
We soon had a specimen of the shape in which official protectiondisplays itself in this country. On a representation from Mr.Carstensen that we should require numerous baggage animals, besideshorses and mules to ride, the order had gone forth a week beforeour arrival that no horses or mules should be sold or hired in thetown of Mogador until we had selected such as we required. Thisaccordingly was one of our first cares, and the embargo[77] was raised in the course of theday. We followed local advice, confirmed by our own previousexperience in warm countries, in choosing mules in preference tohorses. On a long journey they are far less liable to be laid up,and, to a scientific traveller who has frequent occasion todismount, they give less trouble. Their obstinate temper is,however, often annoying, and, though surefooted, they sometimeshave a very unpleasant trick of tripping or stumbling over stonyground.
There was one article of dress as to which no compromise waspossible. The slippers down at heel that are commonly used by allclasses of natives, and even the red or yellow loose boots that aresometimes worn on a journey, were equally unsuited to our habitsand pursuits, and we held fast to our accustomed foot-covering.
Mogador has long been tolerably well known to botanists. It wasvisited by Broussonet at the latter end of the last century, andwas for some time the residence of Schousboë. More recently theneighbourhood has been explored by the late Mr. Lowe and by M.Balansa. We could not, therefore, reasonably expect to find hereanything new to science; but our short excursion was neverthelessfull of interest, though not altogether of an agreeable kind. Wehere saw for the first time a district recently ravaged by locusts;and while we acquired a lively sense of the amount of mischiefeffected by these destructive creatures, we also found out how ithappens that the damage is confined within tolerable limits; how,in short, they fail to turn the country into a desert. When onereads the reports of credible eye-witnesses, who describe thearrival of swarms of locusts that devour every green thing, oneasks oneself how it can be possible for man or animals to survivesuch destruction. In the first place, it may be remarked that, likemost other sweeping statements, these are not strictly true. Thelocusts do not, in point of fact, devour every green thing. In thespots where they were most destructive we alwaysremarked[83] that certainplants escaped untouched. The result of this immunity wouldnaturally be to substitute the latter for the species destroyed bythe locusts, were there not some very efficient agency forrepairing the damage and maintaining the life of the species, ifnot of the individual. An important element in considering thisquestion is the season at which the mischief is effected. The younglocust grows very fast, and it is mainly during the period ofgrowth that it consumes vegetation. When once the animal hasattained its full size, it becomes comparatively inert, and itscapacity for destruction is vastly diminished. If the swarm ofyoung locusts arrives before the middle of April, when the rainyseason is not quite over, the first showers revive the plants thathave been devoured almost to the root with surprising rapidity.Perennial species throw out new buds, and are soon again coveredwith leaf and flower; and the same often happens with annuals,unless these have already shed their seed, and then a new crop soonreappears. It may be supposed that the vast amount of decayinganimal matter left on the surface, even in the most barren spot,contributes not a little to the vigour of the vegetation, and thuscompensates for the destruction effected at an earlier stage. It iswhen the swarms appear late, and attack the wheat or maize afterthe flowers are developed, that the consequences to the populationare very serious, and famines result that periodically affect largedistricts.
Before the gate we found an officer, evidently of inferiorposition, with some ten or twelve ragged fellows on foot, armedwith rusty matchlocks, posted there to receive us, and to conductus to our quarters; and with this sorry escort, we made our entryinto Marocco. It is impossible by any language to convey the senseof utter disappointment and disgust which overpowered us on ourfirst arrival; and though these feelings soon became subordinate toothers connected with our personal position, they are those whichpredominate in our subsequent recollections.
On this night the advantages of a tent of what is known as theAlpine Club pattern, where the floor is made of canvas continuouswith the sides, and the entrance is[135] closed by a flap rising about a foot fromthe ground, were shown in a striking way. In the great tent, wherethe ground underfoot was pierced with scorpion holes and swarmingwith insects, Hooker and Maw did not venture to undress, and had topass the night perched upon the baggage, while Ball was able tospread his mattress regardless of the creatures that might bemoving about under the canvas floor. When his tent was struck nextmorning the ground underneath was absolutely covered with acontinuous mass of creeping things, yet not a single insect enteredthe tent.
With regard to the position of the Jews, there can be no doubtthat the benevolent efforts of Sir Moses Montefiore, backed up bythe representatives of England and other civilised States, haveproduced some permanent[157] effect. In the coast towns, under the eyesof European consular agents, they seem to enjoy security fromviolence, and even from insult. In the city of Marocco, where theyinhabit a separate quarter, walled in and accessible only by twogates, they are safe so long as they keep within those limits; butthey are still forced to walk barefoot when they pass into thecity, and are exposed to derision and insult against which theydare not protest. In the remoter parts of the territory, wheretheir scattered communities are found here and there, theircondition is apparently still worse, and they are frequentlysubjected to brutal ill-usage; but even there their superiorintelligence and skill in industrial crafts, for which the Moor isincompetent, secures them a certain degree of consideration.[2]
We rode along in high spirits, delighted to leave the city, andstill more with the near prospect of setting foot on the mountainchain whose unknown recesses had so long been a fascination for us;and the only drawback on our enjoyment was the shifting veil ofclouds that hung about the higher summits, only now and thenallowing some rugged peak to stand out for a few moments. As wegradually drew nearer, our attention was more and more fixed on theremarkable line of flat-topped bluffs, conspicuous in the view fromthe city, that extends for a distance of fully twenty miles alongthe base of the Atlas chain, and on the east side seems to jut outin a northern direction. From a distance the face appears quiteprecipitous and almost vertical, and there is but one conspicuousbreak in its continuity. This, as we afterwards found, is caused bythe stream running under Tasseremout, which has cut a deep channelthrough the barrier.
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