en the coun-
penetrated in
. lat.; and in
i) northward
crossing the
n the Portu-
retraced his
m which he
1ext followed
vard, till he
is still (1859)
hat rich and
e geography,
nts of Abys-
during late
e efforts of
lled thither
of the Nile.
ed researches
eding by the
vpperton and
l0re compre-
he continent,
nd lead us to
y i3 not far
this land of
ht of science
phere, to the
ia, and lies
S., and long.
an irregular
rards the S.,
the Isthmus
on the E.,
thus almost
ing only 72
ove the sea-
1t lakes and
very facility
wnd Mediter-
rked by few
st important
; and Capes
, the extreme
3., and 'E.
taken from
its greatest
nd its area,
5 less than
avbures of A.
ywing heads :
uardafui and
h table-land,
g ity edges.
the elevation
m 50 to 300
seen running
tern crest of
t., it reaches,
.~ Kenia, the
ved to be the
1ave hitherto
ontinent from
of Abyssinia
tean and its
ba Yared, at
)00 feet. At
ise in stages
1e Nieuwveld
olony, which
aces between
valleys, and
From the
e west coast
AFRICA.
from Cape Colony to Valfish Bay, Mr Galton
describes the country as sloping both W. and E.,
thus giving a cup or basin-shaped appearance to
the interior of the continent. Towards the N.W.
the border of the table-land rises in the Came-
roons to the height of 13,000 feet. Its northern
boundary is not determined; but it is likely that
the valley of the western branch of the Nile pene-
trates into it, dividing it into two portions, an
eastern and a western. A mountain seen lying
south from Lake Tchad is supposed to be one of its
northern outposts.
2. North of the great triangular table-land lies
Sudan or Central Nigritia, under which name may be
comprehended the countries watered by the Senegal,
Gambia, and Niger, along with the coast of Lower
Guinea ; and the basin of Lake Tchad. In the west
of this section is a mountainous table-land of no
great clevation, in which the rivers above mamed
take their rise; the Kong Mountains, which run
parallel to the Guinea coast, are a branch of this
elevation. Eastward of the Niger, the country is
hilly, alternating with rich, often swampy plains.
In the basin of Take Tchad is a vast alluvial plain,
one of the largest on the globe, and of great fertility.
3. Between Budan and the cultivated tract which
borders the Mediterranean, stretches the Sahara or
Great Desert. It extends south nearly to the
Senegal, the northern bend of the Niger, and Lake
Tchad, northward to the Atlas range in Marocco
and Algeria, and towards Egypt it reaches to the
Mediterranean. Tts average breadth from N. to
S. is about 1000 miles. Its length from the
Atlantic to the western edge of the valley of the
Nile is 2000. Over a great part of this region, rain
never falls, and eyerywhere it is rare; it is thus
condemned to sterility. It consists partly of tracts
of fine shifting sand, which frequent storms of
wind raise into the air, so as often to overwhelm
travellers. But the greater part of the surface
consists of naked but firm soil, composed of
indurated sand, sandstone, granite, and quartz-rocks,
often rising into ridges or hills. The desolation is
interrupted at intervals by patches, sometimes of
considerable extent, covered with bushes and coarse
grass, and often of great beauty and fertility. These
oases, or wadies, as they are called, which are occa-
sioned by subterranean springs, are most numerous
and fertile in the eastern portion of the Desert.
The easiest route across the Desert to Sudan runs
from Tripoli through the kingdom of Fezzan to
Lake Tchad. Fezzan enjoys periodic rain from the
moist winds of the Mediterranean, which extend
further into the continent here than elsewhere.
The portion of the Desert lying east of the route
above described is called " the Libyan Desert.
It is chiefly in this region that the oases are
susceptible of cultivation ; the tracts of vegetation
in the western portion are fit for little else than
pasture, mainly for goats and sheep. The principal
production of the more fertile oases is dates; but
other fruits and grain are also cultivated. Gum-
arabic is another production. Some of the larger
oases support thousands of inhabitants living in
villages. Commerce is carried on across the Desert
by various routes by means of caravans, consisting
of from 500 to 2000 camels, with their attendants,
The distance between the wells sometimes exceeds
ten days’ journey; and when a well is found dry,
men and animals are in danger of perishing. The
inhabitants consist of independent fribes of Moors,
Berbers, and Arabs.
4. The Atlas region, comprehending the mountain-
ous countries of Marocco, Algeria, and Tunis. The
northern slope towards the Mediterranean, called | known to us than its rivers,
similar to the opposite coast of Europe ; the southern
side merges gradually into the Sahara. Some parts
of the chain are considerably above the snow-line,
and the highest summits may reach 15,000 feet.
5. The region bordering on the Red Sea, consisting
of Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt. Abyssinia, we
have seen, is the mountainous termination of the
great southern plateau. Between this and the
Mediterranean extends the low valley of the Nile,
separated from the Red Sea on the east by a rugged
mountainous region, and from the Libyan Desert on
the west by a low ridge of limestone and sandstone.
Regarding the hydrography of A., much is still
to be ascertained. The portion which, until recently,
was termed the ¢ unexplored territory, seems to be
anything but the barren and riverless desert that
we imagined ; still it may be safely stated that A
as a whole, is far from being a well-watered con-
tinent, though hardly one of its streams has been
traced throughout its entire course, while nearly the
entire tributaries of these, if (as is probable) such
exist in abundance, are almost wholly unknown.
Those of the south, which mostly rise in the neigh-
bouring highlands, are, in many instances, little
better than mountain-torrents, having short and
rapid courses ; and the embouchure, generally in the
delta form, is commonly obstructed by a bar of
sand. 'The Orange River, for instance, is filled with
sand at its mouth.
Rivers.—The great rivers of A. are the Nile, the
Niger, the Zambesi, the Orange, the Congo, the
Senegal, and the Gambia. See arts. Nire, Nigegr,
&c. The first of these is formed by the junction of
two rivers—the White Nile (Bahr-el-Abiad) and the
Blue Nile (Bahr-el-Asrak). The former flows from
an unknown source near the equator, through a
region as_yet unvisited by Europeans, skirts the
eastern edge of Kordofan, and passes into Nubia,
where it is joined by the Blue Nile at Khartum,
after the latter has broken through the highlands of
Abyssinia. The single stream then sweeps circuit-
ously through Nubia in a succession of cataracts,
and descending into Egypt, reaches the Mediter-
ranean through the far-famed Delta. The second
of the great rivers the Niger, Joliba, or Quorra—
for it goes by these and other names in different
parts of its course—rises in the Kong Mountains of
Guinea, about 9° 25’ N. lat., 9° 45' W, long., and flows
first N.E. till it reaches Timbuktu, where it bends
E. for a short distance, and then descends in a S.E.
direction into the Gulf of Guinea. Its length i |
estimated at 2500 miles; and its na vigability has
been ascertained for a distance of upwards of 400
miles; but its banks are very pestilential. Its
principal tributary is the Tchadda or Benus., At
the extreme west of the mountains of Kong, and not
far from the source of the Niger, rises the Senegal,
which flows with a crescent sweep to the N.W.
through Senegambia, and enters the Atlantic north
of Cape Verde. The Gambia, 8 smaller river, runs
in 3 similar direction through the same country, and
falls into the sea south of Cape Verde. The Congo,
which has its origin somewhere in that great division |
of A. south of the equator that has recently been
opened to us, is very imperfectly known. It empties
its waters into the Atlantic at Cape Padrone, in
South Guinea. The Orange River flows from east
to west with many windings through what is
popularly termed ¢the country of the Hottentots i
while the Zambesi, though only partially explored,
seems rich in affluents, and runs’in a general easterly
direction, entering the channel of Mozambique about
18° 8. Iat.
Lakes.—The lakes of A. are, as yet, no better
Tchad, Chad, or more
the Tell, is, in aspect, climate, and productions,
correctly, according to Dr Barth, Zsad, the chief 1ake
67
