THE PROPOSED INLAND SEA IN ALGERIA. 665 



haps the chionis is descended therefrom, and its liking for man is an 

 inhei'ited tendency. 



Mr. Darwin exactly expressed the present attitude of this bird to 

 science, as long ago as the voyage of the Beagle. He found a bird 

 in Patagonia {T hinochorus rumicivorus) which "nearly equally par- 

 takes of the characters, different as they are, of the quail and snipe," 

 and in this connection proceeds to remark : " A bird of another closely- 

 allied genus, CMonis alba^ is an inhabitant of the antarctic regions ; 

 it feeds on seaweed and shells on the tidal rocks. . . . This small fam- 

 ily of birds is one of those which from its varied relations to other 

 families, although at present offering only difficulties to the systematic 

 naturalist, ultimately may assist in revealing the grand scheme, com- 

 mon to the present and past ages, on which organized beings have 

 been created." 



-- 



THE PROPOSED INLAl^D SEA IN ALGEPJA. 



By JOHN D. CHAMPLIN, Jr. 



AMONG the most revolutionary of the geographical schemes of 

 the day are the projects of flooding portions of the African 

 Sahara, and thus restoring to the sea what was once an integral part 

 of it. In the Pliocene period, according to Sir Charles Lyell, the 

 great desert was under water between latitudes 20 and 30 N., so 

 that the southeastern part of the Mediterranean communicated with 

 that portion of the Atlantic now bounded by the west coast of Africa. 

 This is indicated not only by the presence of marine shells and other 

 remains throughout the Sahara, but also by the radical diflerence 

 between the fauna and flora north and south of it. What was for- 

 merly separated by a barrier of water is now separated by a barrier 

 of sand. 



There are two principal depressions in the Sahara, the basin called 

 El-Juf, in the Sahel, north of the Middle Niger, which covers an area 

 of about 126,000 square miles, and that of the shotts in the Algerian 

 Sahara. 



Mr. Donald Mackenzie, a British engineer, who has investigated 

 the former depression, affirms that a long valley extends from its 

 northwest corner to the Atlantic coast opposite the Canary Islands. 

 It is only necessary, he argues, to cut through the accumulated sands 

 at its mouth, which is laid down on the maps as the river Belta, to let 

 in the waters and flood the entire basin. This scheme, advocated by 

 Mr, J. A. Skertchly, General Sir Arthur Cotton, and others, will prob- 

 ably result in a thorough exploration of that part of the Sahara and 

 its alleged outlet. The other project is in a more advanced state. 



The depression of the shotts lies at the foot of the Aures Mountains, 



