April 7 / [18]71
Tangier
Dearest F[rances]*1
I despatched a letter to you yesterday from Gibraltar. We had no sooner taken places in the Hotel there & carted up our voluminous luggage, than we heard that a steamer had was go on the eve of sailing for Tangier & Mogador [Essaouira] & after a confab. with our extremely uncivil agent, who seemed to want to prevent our going, would but take our names down as passengers & gave us only 1/2 an hour to go to the Hotel, recart our 15 packages & pull a mile to the ship -- however we determined to try it & got off just before the fortress gates were closed, pulled of in the Lady Havelock & were gladly received by the most civil Captain, who

told us we should not sail till 2 am! -- However as the we only just got out of the place before the gates close for the night, we lost nothing by this. The ship is one of the line that plies from London, but of which we had heard nothing. She was clean & comfortable, left London on the Wednesday before we did! (the day the Clifton sailed via the Canaries.) Her Capt[ain]. is a Hammersmith man who knows Kew well.--
Before leaving Massilia, I made 3 more acquaintances, a Skip Edwards who called on us with Madame Bodichon, & a niece of Mark Prestwich who was with her, both going to travel in Greece. Also Mr & Mrs Marsh, Australians and friends of G. Macleay*2 whom my father knew well, & I too at one of the exhibitions.
I enjoyed the quiet evening night on board the Lady Havelock; the night was calm, the water sparkled with

white fluorescence, the moon, planets & stars were brilliant, & the music of the regimental band, & the Bugle calls, & the thunder of the sunset & 9 PM Guns were all delightful reminiscences of old times.
I began to enjoy my Massilia life very much indeed. So many Indian Officers who are always pleasant loitering & sauntering companions, eager to give information & good listeners too -- Indeed take them for all in all there is no class of society I like so much as Indians.
After a very slow passage we got to Tangiers at 7 this morning, landed on the wreck of an old hull opposite this miserable town & went to a very tolerable Hotel where we sent our cards to Sir J. Hay*3 & asked an early interview: so that we had left all our things on board lest he should advise us to go on to Mogador. Sir J. H sent for us at 10 & told us that Mrs Sultan had ordered our journey to the Atlas, but had not issued the,

instructions where to get in & that we had best wait, take the next boat for Mogador. Sir J. H. had applied for Mr Ball*4 having permission to join the party -- but and hoped would be no difficulty. -- He then proposed to arrange for our visiting Cape Spartel & Tetuan -- & said he would call for us in the afternoon & take us a walk to his country house 3 miles off. We went on round, annoyed to leave half our baggage, & send the rest on to Mogador to wait our arrival.
At 3 Sir J. Hay came & we had a delightful botanizing walk: the vegetation is inconceivably rich. The climate much damper than east of this, & such a luxuriance of flowers as you can scarce imagine. The country consists of low hills dotted with brushwood of Quercus pseudo-coccifera, Lentisucus, Laurustinus, Bay, Cork-oak, Honey suckle, Phillyrea, Myrtle, beautiful Heath, Arbutus Unedo, & Hawthorn. The Ivy has enormous leaves, & those

of Cotyledon umbilicus were twice as large as the palm of my hands -- there were 13 -- 14 species of bulbous plants, huge masses of Agave & Asphodel, Palmetto, Opuntia, lovely Iris -- & hundreds of Luguminosae. Gigantic Convolvuli & so forth. Sir J. Hay''s country house garden is a wilderness on a firm slope facing the N. W. & thus overlooking the Atlantic. It has Apples, Pears, Mandarins, peaches, Apricots, Oranges citrus, Lemons, Limes, Raspberries, but no Gooseberries or Currents.
Tomorrow we go to Cape Spartel, when Sir J. H has arranged that we shall have the guard''s-rooms of the Light House & where we shall spend Sunday, quietly, returning in the evening to dine with Sir J. H! -- On Monday we go to Tetuan a long day''s ride. & sleep at the Spanish Consuls'', spend 2 days, & return.
Sir J. H is brother-in-law of Mr Carstensen, Consul at Mogadore.
And now I think I have done -- this is a bright green country, never very hot

but the mosquitoes have begun to hum. The people are quiet enough, & accustomed to Europeans & there is no rudeness to Christians hereabouts.
Please address to care of Sir J. D. Hay and send by Southampton.
Love to the children & kind regards to your uncle. My Mother understands that my letters are round-robins.
Ever affectionately | Jos. D Hooker [signature]