er foal lying down amid a family group, the children absolutely
between the mother's legs, who was untethered, and the colt also
extended on the ground with them, at our request the guide asked of the
sober old Arab, who sat cross-legged, smoking by the entrance of the
tent, what he would sell us the horse and colt for. "Tell your chief,"
was his answer, "there is not enough money coined to purchase them."
This was a good and independent response. "But," added the guide, "he
will sell you his wife, or any of the children!" We were contented with
purchasing some fresh dates from an itinerant, who cried them in good,
sonorous Arabic, "O dates, in the name of the Prophet!" and got most
iniquitously cheated, both in quality and in price, according to the
guide.

At sunrise, on the morning following our arrival, mules were ready at
the door, and we started off, laughing merrily over the crude saddlery
and other untoward fittings of the animals. Ladies' side-saddles are yet
a myth in Morocco. We were bound for Washington Mount, a league or two
outside the city walls, where the American Minister, several foreign
consuls, and a few rich merchants of European birth make their homes, in
handsome modern villas, surrounded by perennial gardens and orchards.
The vegetation was often so rank as to overhang the narrow and steep
roads up which we wended our way. They were so thick with agave and
prickly pear, that we could hardly keep upright in the saddle. The
trefoil, honeysuckle, myrtle, and white convolvulus grew in rank
profusion, with occasional pale pink, single-leaved roses. Over the
hedges in the private grounds, though it was early in March, we saw the
orange-trees and pomegranates, the former laden with large, yellow
fruit, and the latter blushing crimson with flowers among companion
palms, figs, and olives. On the way through the meadow, before coming to
the ascent, the ground was enameled with a pale blue daisy, which the
guide told us was perennial here. After an hour's ride, emerging upon
the high, open plateau, there burst upon our eyes a most enchanting
view. The far-reaching waters of the Mediterranean seemed to surround
the land upon which we were. Looking off towards the Spanish coast, a
few white sails intervened to give character to the maritime scene;
while a large steamship was making the passage of the straits, leaving
behind her a long line of dense smoke. How suggestive was that expanse
of waters, the most in