Most days, i however, we rode in the early morning and
late afternoon, enjoying a much needed mid-day rest
where we could. Jaeger-clad, cap a pie, I was as independent
as could be of changing temperature, though at
night it grew piercing cold in contrast to the heat of
the day. And once, having failed to overtake our man
with his load, when taking refuge in an Arab tent, alongside
of a calf and chicken, we were fain, in the dark,
to roll ourselves on the ground in a native blanket, so
filthy that when day broke we could not look at it.
THE AUTHOR PATCHING A TYRE.
Photograph by D r. Rudduck.
When we got our tent up, and could cook our own
supper, everything went well, but when we had to rely
on what we could get, we needed all the
3 S O T appetite the day had given us. The most
sumptuous fare in the country was a musty
flavoured preparation of barley, interspersed with chunks
of mutton or chicken, and eggs . ad lib. Milk could only
be obtained when we arrived at the moment of milking,
before the new was mixed with the old, though the resulting
sour beverage was almost always to be had, and
the Doctor liked it. Bread we had with us, and water
we carried also. Once or twice we obtained oranges,
and on several occasions we fell in with governors or
other officials who invited us to join them at well-cooked
and well-served repasts, with abundance of sweet green tea.
A t last, after several days, between walking and riding,
we reached Marrakesh, and one morning bowled up to the
door of the Southern Morocco Mission, where we were
most hospitably entertained. The already familiar bazaars
of the city offered a never failing supply of artistic scenes
and interesting studies, with their robed and shrouded
figures, men in colours and women in white, an unending
succession of picturesque types: its narrow, winding
streets, lined with cupboard-like shops, and its extensive
covered markets, were in turn invaded by the bicycle
and camera, as witness these pages.
Such consternation was caused, that rumours of it even
reached the ears of the late Wazeer Regent, who sent a
message to us requesting us not to ride within Comicrnation
the walls, and giving notice that such things at ^ capital.
did not belong to Morocco. But we had
had our ride, and still continued to enjoy ourselves,
although the doctor had determined never again to cycle
in Barbary.
I take occasion to correct here one or two slips in the previous description
of Marrâkesh, discovered after going to press. The main water
supply El Bashîah, which turns the com mills, comes from the Gheghâya
River, and a special supply of red water for irrigation from Tasultant ;
the Sahrti el Bakar (p. 291) is only about 400 feet square. The Mellâh
drinking place has beenrepairedsince I saw it