156 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



for the coveted salt, and their paths become infested 

 with lions, leopards, and other great felines which lie 

 in wait for salt-loving ruminants. A thorough ex- 

 ploration of this desert region will develop features 

 meriting more than the mere mention of them. 



In the Libyan Desert, three hundred miles west 

 of Cairo, is the oasis of Siwah, which, by barometrical 

 measurement, is 120 feet below ocean level, and the 

 oasis of Araj in the same desert is 265 feet below the 

 Mediterranean. These oases contain fresh water 

 springs and brackish sink holes ; and the moisture 

 from them lends growth to palm and other tropical 

 trees. 



To the south of the Barbary plateau is a desert 

 country having wadis and oases here and there, and 

 many saline basins which have water in them a part 

 of the year. To the south of Algeria is the bed of 

 an ancient sea which once communicated with the 

 Mediterranean, but is now 160 feet below the Gulf of 

 Cabes. 



In striking contrast with the general level of the 

 Desert of Sahara is Mount Djebel Haggar, sufficiently 

 elevated to be covered with snow from December to 

 March and in the midst of the Great Desert, where 

 the sun at noon-day is scorching hot, there is an oc- 

 casional frost at night. 



A large portion of the great African desert, from 

 the plains of Senegambia to the Nile, is made up of 

 depressions and dunes fora distance of over two thou- 

 sand miles. To obliterate this vast waste and to 

 modify the torrid climate, it has been proposed to cut 

 through the barriers along the Atlantic coast, and 

 permit the ocean to inundate the sterile plateau. It 



