The whole division north of the Motbeya is a fine champaign country, with a rich black and sometimes red soil, without stone or clay, with few trees, but re markably productive in grain. The central provinces are equally fertile, and more abundant in pasturage.
The province of which is of great extent, is more mountainous ; and that of Suse, still more extensive, is more particularly productive of the finest fruits. The more inland districts of Draha and Tafilelt are particu larly fruitful in dates.
No roads are made in the country, and there are very few bridges. Except at the sea-ports, where boats are used, there is no way of passing the rivers, which are too deep to be forded, except by swimming, or on rafts. Deuce, in the wet season, when the rivers are much swelled, travellers are frequently detained several days upon their banks.
Gold and silver mines are found in various parts of l'dorocco, particularly about NIessa, in the province of Suse, and in the plains of NIsegina, near Santa Cruz, which had formerly been worked by the Portuguese, but are now neglected. Gold is found also in the Atlas mountains, mixed with antimony and lead-ore ; and iron, copper, and lead-ore, in Suse. At Tesellerst, near the southern frontier, the copper mines are very abundant ; and in Tafilelt, the mines of antimony are of the finest quality. Immense quantities of sulphur are dug from the foot of the Atlas mountains opposite to Terodant. The saltpetre found at the same place is the purest and strongest ; but it is also procured at Fez and Morocco. Mineral salt of a red colour is dug from quarries in various parts of the country ; and in the province of Abda, there is an extensive lake, which furnishes a kind of salt superior to the mineral ; but the purest of all is found among the rocks on many parts of the coast, where the summer sun has exhaled the salt-water in the cavities.
The principal vegetable productions of Morocco are the palm or date tree, of 30 different kinds, which is found in perfection in the southern parts of Suse, and particularly in Tafilelt ; oaks, and a few other valuable trees, in. the northern districts ; cork trees, some of which are as large as full-grown oaks ; olive-trees, which are of great size and beauty, in the southern dis tricts, where the plantations are very extensive and productive. Various trees which yield the different kinds of gum, viz. Arabic, sandrac, ammoniac, Sene gal, and euphorbium ; wild juniper, which abounds in the Atlas mountains, and from which by burning a kind of pitch is extracted ; various shrubs used in the preparation of leather; fig-trees which abound in every part of the empire, and produce the finest fruit; the Indian fig, or prickly pear, which grows to the height of twenty feet in the driest situations, and affords a pe culiarly cooling fruit; almond trees in great abundance, particularly in Suse ; apples, pears, apricots, plums, pomegranates, lemons, limes, citrons, and the most de licious oranges in the world, in the more northern pro vinces; grapes, melons, strawberries, and water-melons (particularly in the province of Duquella) of a prodi gious size ; sugar-cane, which grows spontaneously in Suse, and stick liquorice in the greatest abundance in that province ; mallows and truffles ; cotton of a supe rior quality ; hemp, chiefly cultivated for the sake of its seeds and flowers, which are smoked for the pur pose of intoxication ; tobacco, of which the best is that of Mequinez; honey, wax, &c. The principal kinds of
grain cultivated in the country are wheat and barley, peas, beans, caravances, and Indian corn ; and these crops are generally so abundant, that the pro,luce of one pro vince, if fully raised, would suffice for the consumption of the whole empire.
The most remarkable of the animal creation in the Empire of Morocco are the horses, which are renowned for fleetness and action, particularly those of Abda, which have a stronger sinew than those of Europe, and with a little management are extremely tractable; the Keirie, or camel of the desert, which can perform in one day an ordinary three days, or seven days, or even a nine days' journey, and one of which is worth 200 camels; the horse of the desert, which lives chiefly on camel's milk, and is principally used in hunting the ostrich ; mules and asses, camels and horned cattle, in all quarters; sheep of various qualities, but those of the southern provinces are remarkable for the fine fla vour of their mutton, owing to the aromatic herbs on which they feed, and those of Tedla are distinguished by the fineness of their wool, which is soft as silk ; goats, which arc very prolific, particularly in Tafilelt, where they have young twice in the year, and some of them six kids in time months. The principal wild beasts are lions, panthers, rhinoceroses, wild boars, hymnas, jackals, foxes, apes, antelopes, hares, squirrels, cameleons. The birds are ostriches, pelicans, eagles, flamingoes, storks, herons, bustards, wild geese, wild ducks, plovers, pi geons, wood-pigeons, turtle-doves, ring-doves, partridges, nightingales, starlings, black-birds, larks, cuckoos, owls, &c. The reptiles are lizards and serpents of various kinds, of which the most remarkable are the Boah, from 20 to 80 feet in length, and the Buskah and Effah, which are full of deadly venom. The insects most worthy of notice, are the locust, the ammoniac fly, and large loud toned crickets. Whales have been sometimes seen on the coast of Morocco ; mullet, brim, anchovies, sardines, herrings, mackarel, rock-cod, skaite, plaice, soles, tur bot, turtle, and most of the fish found in the Mediterra nean, are taken on the western shores of the empire, besides a fish peculiar to the coast, called izgal, which, when dried in ovens, forms a considerable article in com merce with the interior districts of Africa. The prin cipal fresh-water fish of the country is the shebbel, simi lar to the salmon, a rich and delicate fish, which is dried and baked in great quantities for the use of those coun tries where the inhabitants live much on dates. Land tortoises are very abundant, and of a great size. For a fuller description of the animals of the country, see BARBARY.