S.A. JOURNAT, OF SCIENCE, VOL. XVII. 



PLATE XXIX. 







^^Mi^ffi^ 



PHYSICAL AFRICA ^) t, 



CVII. 



DESCRIPTION 



1 Afnca contTins ibout one half of a I the 

 inncl in tlie Torrid Zone It has a laiger pre 

 1^01 tion of plateau surface more unbioken 

 coasts a hotter and dr^er chmate moie Cvten 

 si\e dcseits and more numeious- and gigantic 

 aniimls than any other of the si\ continents 

 It also has a gi eater numbei of baibanan in 

 habitants than all the rest of the world togethei 



Tlic northern tiopc piSbCb thro ,li the cei tre of tlie 

 Greit Debert i d the southern tropii. tl ro gh the 

 kilah n Desert Between these dcbTt belts is a 

 broid ft-rtile r<.gion most of it being deluged with 

 tropical rains during se\eMl months of the jeir 

 This belt contains the greater part of the population 

 and of the vegetable and animal life. A smiUer 

 fertile belt is found in the Atlas region, and another 

 in Cape Colony. The Great Karroo, in the south 

 ern belt, is a low plateau, similar in character to thi 

 llanos and pampas of South America. The conli 

 nent has therefore five parallel physical belts, three 

 of them broad tracts of fertile land, and two inter/ 

 mediate ones of desert. 



2. Surface. — Nearly the whole surface con m1 

 sists of broad, low plateaus The edges of the - 

 continent are partly bordered and its surface _^if 

 broken by short mountain ranges. ^*^ 



The highcbt plateau is that of .Abyssinia, The longest 

 mountain ranges lie along the eastern coast. These 

 niountams contain the snow-covered peaks K 

 \jaro and Kenia, the highest in Africa. The ,\lhs ss 

 Mountains, near the Mediterranean, and (lie Kong ■^JV 

 near the Gulf of Guinea, are llie only other impomnt ^ 

 r.inges 



^. A narrow strip of lowland extends 

 tween the mountain borders and the coasts and 



Pa.ee from " H;irper's School (iei)^i;ipliy." Piihlished in ['.S.A. in 1876. 

 (Considenihly reduced.) 



