Edward Westermarck made twenty-one separate journeys to Morocco between the years 1898 and 1926 which amounted to seven full years, visiting towns and tribes in different parts of the country, meeting local people and learning about their language and culture; his findings are noted in this two-volume set. There is extensive reference material, including Westermarck’s system of transliteration and a comprehensive list of the tribes and districts mentioned in the text. The author explores the ritual and magical beliefs of the Moroccans, with emphasis on Berber tribes, with extensive coverage of the idea of the Jinn (Jnun), curses and omens, Witchcraft, the Evil Eye and other beliefs and superstitions relating to spirits and healing. He also discusses such areas as the rites and beliefs connected with the Islamic calendar, agriculture, and childbirth. A very valuable and sought after work. 

Westermarck (1862 – 1939) was a Finnish philosopher and sociologist. Among other subjects, he studied exogamy and the incest taboo. The phenomenon of reverse sexual imprinting (when two people live in close domestic proximity during the first few years in the life of either one, both are desensitized to sexual attraction), now known as the Westermarck effect, was first formally described by him in his book The History of the Human Marriage (1891). He has been described as the ”first Darwinian sociologist" or "the first sociobiologist.”