Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/444

 362 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. belong also to the archipelagoes. Thus the botanical evidence alone suffices to show that, notwithstanding their proximity to the mainland, the Canaries are of independent origin. Eather more than ten of its vegetable species are altogether peculiar to Marocco, and are mostly confined to the Atlas uplands. In this central region the few indigenous species have become specialised by the process of gradually adapting themselves to the environment. Towards the summits of the Atlas have also taken refuge the European species, which appear in isolated groups on the crests of the Ethiopian ranges. Such is a variety of the pine, which emits a pleasant odour, and which is employed in the manufacture of costly cabinet pieces. On the other hand, many of the Sahara species have penetrated far northwards, being found not only on the southern slopes of the Anti- Atlas, but also in the Sus basin and along the seaboard as far as the Wed Tensif t. Such are the gummiferous acacias and several large euphorbite, also yielding valuable gums. The date-palm, which may be included in the number of tropical species that have migrated northwards, grows in the Tangier district on the Mediterranean coast, but bears no fruit, and even at Mogador the crop is of inferior quality. But the dates of the Draa basin are said by the natives to be unrivalled in flavour even by those of the Jerid oasis itself. The dwarf -palm, so common in Algeria, is somewhat rare in Marocco, being found in thickets only in the province of Haha, round about Mogador. One of the most remarkable of the indigenous species is the argania sideroxylon, a tree which has often been compared to the olive, and which is found only in the southern districts beyond the Wed Tensif t. It grows in the most arid soil, and needs no irrigation. All domestic animals except the horse and ass eat its berries eagerly, while from the kernel the natives extract a peculiar oil, disagreeable to the European palate. Its wood is extremely hard, and but for its excessively slow growth the argania, of which mention is first made by Leo Africanus, might be successfully cultivated in Algeria. Another indigenous plant, found nowhere else, and described by Jackson and Leard, yields the gum " ammoniac " of commerce — a resin with a pungent odour, used in Egypt and Arabia for the purpose of fumigation. Fauna. The Marocco fauna differs little from that of Algeria, at least so far as it has hitherto been studied. Large carnivora, such as the lion and pai^ther, appear to be confined mainly to the Rif highlands, towards the Algerian frontier. The bear, extinct in Algeria, has not yet disappeared ; rabbits swarm in the Tangier peninsula, diminishing gradually southwards to the Bu-Regrag, beyond which they are not found. Monkeys are rare, being restricted to the northern regions and to the single species which survives also on the Rock of Gibraltar. Wild boars, justly dreaded by the peasantry, infest all the thickets. The better classes have the curious practice of keeping them in their stables, in order to conjure the evil bpirits, and induce them to pass from their horses into the " impure animal." In