On the eve of beginning my journey in Morocco, two questions arose: What itinerary should I follow? And what means should I employ, to follow it?

The first question resolved naturally: I would, as much as possible, travel only through lands as yet unexplored and, from among these, choose the most interesting regions, whether for their physical attributes or their inhabitants. After this decision, I determined the following itinerary:

Tangiers, Tetuan; from there, to Fez via a more easterly route than those taken up to this point; from Fez, into the Tadla across the mountainous massif occupied by the Zemmour Chellaha and the Zaïan; travel through the Tadla to the Oued el Abid, passing through Demnat; cross the High Atlas east of the peaks already explored, reach the Moroccan Sahara and chart as well as possible the vast portion of it that remains unknown, that is, the southern side of the Anti-Atlas and the region between this chain, the Oued Drâa and the Sahel; then see the high basin of the Drâa and the tributaries on the right-hand side of the Ziz; from there, return toward the Algerian border, across the High Atlas a second time and along the course of the Oued Mlouia; then the final stages, Debdou, Oujda, and Lalla Maghnia.

This was the goal I put forward. There remained the second question: by what means could I achieve it? Could I travel as a European? Or would I need a disguise? There was good reason to hesitate; on the one hand, I found repugnant the idea of passing myself off as something I was not; on the other, the foremost explorers of Morocco, René Caillié and Mssrs Rohlfs and Lenz, had always traveled in disguise and declared this precaution indispensable. That opinion was shared by many Moroccan Muslims whom I consulted before my departure. I reached the following compromise: I would leave in disguise; once underway, if I felt my disguise necessary I would maintain it; if not, I had only to chuck it aside.

This first point decided, I needed to choose from possible disguises. There are only two religions in Morocco. I must belong to one of them.