368 Professor Fournet's Besearches on the 



eymmetrical position with reference to the Sahara. In fact^ 

 the coast of Cimbasia, to the north of the Orange river, as 

 for as 19° S., did not present to the English expedition sent 

 in 1824 any place susceptible of cultivation, or which v»ras not 

 even too dreadful for criminals. The small traces of very 

 spare verdure, the brackish taste of the water of the streams, 

 and the extreme scarcity of every other kind of water, indicate 

 but toa distinctly the absence of rain in that inhospitable re- 

 gion. In the interior, between the countries of the Nama- 

 quas and Damaras, some mountains and water- courses, con- 

 stituting oases, vary a little this solitude ; and then comes in 

 the central portion a terra incognita for positive meteorology, 

 where, however, the immense deserts of Tschallahenga and cf 

 Kalahari are indicated, forming in some measure the northern 

 prolongation of the ochrey argillaceous Karoo grounds, a sort 

 of steppes, whose soil is indurated during the nine months of 

 dryness of their latitude. They are again interrupted in their 

 approach to the oceanic coast by the extension of the moun- 

 tains of Caffraria towards Monomotapa ; but on the eastern 

 side of these mountains, there are the low plains of Inhambana 

 and of Sofala, and there it not only rains as little as in Lower 

 Egypt, but the inhabitants of the Rio del' Agoa have never 

 even seen rain fall. 



In this continent, therefore, the phenomena are identical 

 ©n both sides of the equator, and the first causes are conse- 

 quently the same ; let us, then, pause a moment, and cast 

 a glance over the general configuration. It combines a very 

 simple internal structure, with an outline devoid of articu- 

 lations, and of notable denticulations ; for, according to the 

 observations of Russegger, the whole surface affects a very gra- 

 dual ascending slope, from the north to the plains of Kordofan, 

 which, although separated by an interval of 18° of lat. from 

 the nearest shores of the Mediterranean, have only an eleva- 

 tion of about 1200 feet around El-Obheid (lat. 13° 12' N). 

 This inclination becomes greater between 16° and 13° N., but 

 without forming either terraces or other escarpments; and 

 the plane of slope continuing in the same direction as far as 

 10° N., where it attains an elevation of from 1600 to 2100 



