JDH describes to Sir John Hay Drummond Hay the struggle his party has had with the authorities, to get suitable housing in Marocco [Marrakech]. He gives a detailed timeline of events from their reception in the city by a Mr Hunot, formerly of Messrs. Perry & Co. of Liverpool, to their finally getting assigned the house previously occupied by [Moses] Montifiore the following day. He gives the date they took up their quarters as 5 Aug but this should read 5 May. The initial date of the letter on page 1 has been corrected, in pencil, from 4 Aug to 4 May. The Montifiore house was only secured for JDH by the intervention of the Viceroy after Ben Daoud tried to make them stay in houses that were too small or dirty, against the instructions of the Sultan. They spent the night camping near the great mosque, under the protection of soldiers supplied by the more hospitable El Grauoi.

JDH informs his wife Frances that he has arrived in Marocco [Marrakesh] after a 4 day journey from Mogadore [Essaouira]. He, John Ball & George Maw, are not good horsemen. The Argan forest they rode through was hilly with evergreen trees full of flowers & olive like fruit. They rode through a fertile hilly region then a vast stony plain. They saw Artemisia & Salicornia. Zizyphus & Withania frutescens. Springs from underground streams create oasis where some barley fields grow & straw & mud villages develop around them. JDH describes the wildlife. They saw the tower of the great mosque in Marocco from 20 miles away. They saw Atriplex, Zizyphus, Salicornia & Lycium barbarum, & Oleander. Irrigation wells mark subterranean streams but more of the city cannot be seen until it is reached, apart from some date palm groves & a few other mosque towers. Palm tree stems are used for lintels & rafters in mud houses, the leaves used for sweeping. It takes 3 hours to ride around the city walls which have figs, olives, poplars & palms & Celtis growing over them. JDH describes the tile-covered mosques. Inside of the city is mainly ruinous. JDH describes the population as poor, diseased & lame. JDH has been granted an audience with the Governor, El Graoui [El Glaoui], whom the Sultan has ordered to help JDH. JDH describes El Graoui & his palace. They are staying in Sir Moses Montefiore's on-time house, which has a garden with fruit trees. He lists the principal authorities as the Viceroy; El Graoui & Ben Daud, Governor of the City proper. JDH describes the Atlas mountains as lofty but not very rugged. The Sultan is opposed to Europeans, so the access that JDH has been given is unique. He describes the extent of the Sultan's authority & the government. The Sultan will not have the mountains worked for their copper, iron, lead etc. The party are well, although Edward Crump is variable in his work. JDH invites Daniel Oliver to share his letter with General Council.

JDH sends belated birthday wishes to his mother, Lady Maria Hooker. He complains that the officials in Morocco are causing delays so the party's main excursion to the Atlas mountains has only just been organised. The trip will be facilitated by El Graoui, Governor of the Atlas Province, by order of the Sultan. The Sultan has guaranteed them supplies & safe passage, which is able to do in the third of his country that he actually has control over. JDH will spend two or three weeks in the Atlas with the mountain people before returning home to England via Mogadore [Essaouira]. He plans to ingratiate himself to the mountain people with gifts of knives, music boxes & other sundries. The sultan & his ministers are doing their best to 'improve' Morocco by making it more accessible & utilising their natural resources, such as copper, lead, iron, antimony & saltpetre. JDH describes the climate & local people as agreeable & has a good opinion of the local Governors but criticises the corrupt way that the Government is run & the squabbles between chiefs. JDH was received by Sir John Hay Drummond Hay at Tangier, he briefly describes the family; Lady Hay is related to Mr Carstensen [Cazytensen] the V[ice] Consul of Mogadore. JDH is pleased with his traveling companions, John Ball & George Maw. He explains that he could not miss the chance to go to the unexplored regions of the Greater Atlas mountains, especially when it took such diplomatic efforts to persuade the Sultan to give his permission. Hay had to tell the Sultana that JDH was the Queen of England's 'Hakeem & gardener' & that to refuse his request would offend her. JDH explains that they have travelled by mule & camels with additional animals to carry the baggage, and with an escort of black soldiers.

JDH writes to his wife, Frances Hooker, to inform her that he is in a camp at the 'axis' of a high ridge in the Atlas Mountains. The party travelled from Morocco to the place where [John] Washington made an attempted ascent, as described in the JOURNAL OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. The 'Caid' or chief of that part of the mountains hates Christians & tried to persuade them not to go further, however they climbed to 5000 feet & could see enough to establish that it was not a god route to the peaks that Washington had been trying to reach. They then went further West. Their progress that way was hampered by the mules being unable to continue for more than a few hours in the rugged terrain & they were unable to reach the snowline there. Instead they travelled to the province of Reraia on the headwaters of the Oued El Fist [elsewhere spelt Enfisk, possibly referring to Tensift River], & then further south to their current position at 3-4000 feet above sea level in the district of Sheik El Graoui. El Graoui has taken them to the lowest snow bed, at 8000 feet. They will next make camp at the highest village, 7000 feet, & use it as a base for botanising higher. They will then try an ascent of the great peaks to the West en route to Mogadore [Essaouira]. The mountains are inhabited by a race called the Shelloos [Shilhah], to whom JDH is administering medical treatment. JDH saw the first sign of ancient ice action in a moraine at 6000 feet but there were no other indications of glaciation in the surroundings. He describes the landscape. He characterises the vegetation as 'mainly Spanish' & notes the presence of: Cisti, Lentisk, Arbutus, Phillyrea, Roses, Honey-suckle, Willow, Ash, Oak, Laurustinus Juniper, Callitris, Walnut, Olive, Chamerops & Elder. Also many species of unspecified herbaceous plants including new ones. Above 6000 feet: wild Gooseberry, harsh grass, many herbaceous Compositae, 2 or 3 Saxifrages, Cruciferae & Leguminosae. They have seen remarkably few ferns.

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