24.2.39.

Pretty heavy rain last night & this morning.

Found sprays of fennel, which evidently grows here. Saw very large slow-moving black & white birds, evidently of hawk tribe. Forgot to mention curious property of human shadows, noticed at Taddert. Sometimes one stands on a crag whose shadow is cast hundreds of feet below. If one stands on the edge of it, naturally one’s shadow is cast beyond that of the crag. But I notice that whereas the shadow of the rock is black & solid, that of the human body, or anything over about 50 feet, is faint & indistinct, like the shadow of a bush. At short distances this is not noticeable, but at long distances, say 200 feet & over, one seems to have almost no shadow at all. At certain distances the body as a whole has a sort of shadow, but, eg., the arm by itself none. I do not know whether this is because, relative to the rock, the human body is not opaque, or whether it is merely a question of size.

22.2.39.

Heavy mist yesterday morning. In general distinctly hotter. A lot of wildflowers now, two of marigold type, a sort of daisy, & various others.

20.2.39

Wallflowers (good specimens) are blooming at the café near here. Pomegranate trees just putting forth their buds, which are brilliant red. Weeds pretty thick everywhere. This is probably as green as the country ever gets, but there are still considerable dried-up patches. Yesterday saw some wheat green but in fairly good ear.

Local method of hobbling cow with grass rope (base of horn to below knee).

Saw two storks nesting today. The nest is enormous, about twice as wide as a heron’s nest & also several feet deep, a huge mass of twigs filling a whole fork of a large tree. The hen was evidently in the act of laying an egg, the cock standing beside her; presently she got up & they stood side by side.
Our hen pigeon laid two more eggs & sat there for some days, then both she & the cock were mysteriously destroyed & disappeared – only a few feathers left. Said to be cats but suspect humans. That makes 4 we have lost &, of course, we shall not have any more. They evidently breed readily here. Three or four of those at the café now have eggs.
It is getting noticeably hotter & flies beginning to be a nuisance again.
Forgot to mention that at Taddert the people had camel’s hair ropes, very pliable & seemed strong.

18.2.39.

Spent a week at Taddert, 1650 m. up in the Atlas, about 95 km. from Marrakech, & since then have been ill for nearly 3 weeks (about 10 days in bed.)
Most essential points about Taddert are noted in the other diary[1]. Birds seen there are as follows: raven (I rather suspect that the so-called crows down here are ravens too), partridge (fairly common), hawk, some other much larger predatory bird, possibly eagle (only seen in the distance), rock dove & wood-pigeon, blue tit, other birds much as down here, but no storks or ibises. No animals. Found in the snow on a peak tracks conceivably of mouflon but probably goat. There was some reference to some animal called blet or billet (presumably Arab word) which was liable to come & kill chickens etc. Tame peacocks kept at the hotel seemed to do well. Breeds of domestic animal much as here, except the sheep, which are quite different with very silky wool. Camels are used, but not taken off the main roads. Donkeys seem able to ascend almost all hills.
Trees etc.: oak (smallish), very tiny dwarf oak, wild broom, kind of heather stuff, as in Spain, blackberry, wild daffodil (or some kind of wild tulip – not in flower now), species of ash, small fir tree, various plants of sedum & saxifrage type at top of peaks, a few with very beautiful flowers daisy[2]. Walnuts grow profusely, but not wild. Almonds are grown & appear to do well. Fig tree will just grow at about 5000 feet, but does not do well. The spring crop is barley, which is cut in June & followed by maize. Grass in places very good, almost like England. This is only in vicinity of streams, & evidently it has to be cultivated. In the grass a kind of edible sorrel, used in salads.
The river again much swollen after the rain of two days ago. The other day the water very clear & could see the fish, small ones about 4” long, of barbell type (grubbing along the bottom). Shall try for them when the water subsides again. Weeds have grown tremendously & the fields are fairly green. One or two of our nasturtiums in bloom, & sweet peas etc. have grown fairly well, but I have quite neglected the garden.
Owing to illness lost count of the eggs. The hens laid 19 in the week we were away. At present only about 1 is laying.
For about 10 consecutive days the cream has tasted of garlic, some days enough to make it uneatable. Evidently the cows have got hold of some wild garlic. Williams[3] says he saw the killing of the last lion in Morocco, in 1924. Panthers & gazelles said to be still fairly common south of the Atlas.

[1] Orwell’s Morocco diary for 27 January 1939.
[2] ‘daisy’ is an interlinear insertion.
[3] Presumably an American serving in the French Foreign Legion, described in Orwell’s Morocco diary, 12 March 1939; see 538. Peter Davison