Public-domain ebook
by Hooker, Joseph Dalton; Ball, John
Language: en1,462 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Adventure·Travel Writing·Science - Biology
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #70700.
The work is a nineteenth‑century travel journal that records a scientific expedition to Morocco and the Great Atlas undertaken in 1871. Its opening pages explain that Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, a leading botanist of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, began the narrative but, because of his duties and his election as President of the Royal Society, asked his companion John Ball to finish the account. The authors combine their own field notes with those of their fellow traveller George Maw, and supplement the narrative with a series of appendices on geology, flora, and local customs. The structure follows a chronological route, starting at Gibraltar, moving through Tangier, Tetuan, Fez, Mogador, and deep into the Atlas, interspersed with botanical observations, diplomatic encounters, and occasional sketches of the region’s physical geography.
Written in a formal, descriptive style typical of Victorian scientific literature, the text balances meticulous botanical detail with vivid travel description. Its voice is that of learned gentlemen‑explorers, attentive to both natural history and the sociopolitical context of their journey. Readers who enjoy historic travel literature, the history of science, or detailed accounts of North‑African geography and flora will find this volume rewarding, while those seeking a fast‑moving adventure narrative may prefer a more contemporary approach.
The opening · free to read
PREFACE.
The expedition of which an account is given in the following pages was undertaken in the year 1871, and it was originally intended that a narrative of the proceedings should be given to the public soon after our return to England. Sir Joseph D. Hooker, who made careful notes throughout the journey, hoped to complete the work without much delay, and actually wrote the greater part of the first two chapters; but the constant demands upon his time arising from his official duties at Kew, and the important botanical works to which he is a chief contributor, further increased by his election, in 1873, to the Presidency of the Royal Society, so far interfered with the completion of the original design as to compel him to request his fellow-traveller, Mr. Ball, to undertake the completion of the work. The latter was at the time engaged in preparing for publication a memoir on the Flora of Marocco, which has since appeared in the Journal of the Linnæan Society, wherein the botanical collections made during the journey are enumerated and described; and his performance of the task allotted to him has been further delayed by several prolonged absences from England.
As regards many countries visited by travellers a delay of several years in publication might seriously affect the accuracy of a narrative intended to represent the existing condition of the country and its inhabitants; but in the case of Marocco, where, from a comparison with the accounts of early travellers, no notable change is apparent during the last two centuries, the effect of a few years’ interval may be considered insensible. Up to the date of our visit the Great Atlas was little better known to geographers than it was in the time of Strabo and Pliny; and it may be hoped that whatever interest belongs to our journey is as great now as it was at the moment of our return.
The narrative now published is mainly founded on the journals kept by Sir J. Hooker and Mr. Ball, supplemented in some particulars by that of our fellow-traveller, Mr. G. Maw. To the latter we owe a sketch of the Geology of Marocco, which appears in the Appendix. Along with this we have published some interesting contributions received from Mr. H. B. Brady and Mr. Freeman Bogers, as well as some papers upon various matters connected with the physical geography and the flora of Marocco.
It is impossible to present these pages to the public without repeating the expression of our obligations to some of those to whose assistance we largely owe whatever success we were able to attain. Foremost amongst these we must name H. E. Sir John Drummond Hay, K.C.B., British Minister Plenipotentiary in Marocco. From the moment when, in compliance with the request of Sir J. Hooker, Lord Granville, then Foreign Secretary, instructed our Minister to apply for the permission of the Sultan to visit the Great Atlas, Sir J. D. Hay, by his extensive knowledge of the country and the people, and by his great personal influence, afforded invaluable assistance to the expedition.
We were also much indebted for assistance and hospitality to the British Consular agents on the Marocco coast, and especially to the late Mr. Carstensen, then Vice-Consul at Mogador. We should not omit our acknowledgments of the courtesy and valuable information received from the late M. Beaumier, French Consul at the same port.
We trust that in the course of the following pages we have not omitted to express our thanks to other friends who have kindly contributed valuable information. The scope of this volume being mainly to give an account of our personal experience and observations, we have used, but sparingly, other materials, which might be in place if we had aimed at the production of a work of a more elaborate character.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE Voyage to Gibraltar — View of Tangier — Interior of the town — Portuguese and English occupation — Hospitable reception by Sir John Drummond Hay — Ravensrock — Government of Marocco — Climate of North Marocco — Exceptional season — The Djebel Kebir and its vegetation — Cistus and Heath region — Cape Spartel — Night at the Lighthouse — Cave of Hercules — Arab village — Return to Tangier 1
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