CHAPTEE XVII. 

 THE HAMITIC AND SEMITIC RACES OF NORTH AFRICA. 



a. THE PEOPLES OF THE SAHARA AND SOUDAN. 



THE vast desert of Northern Africa, bounded by the Atlantic, the Mediterranean states, the 

 Nile Valley, and the Soudan, is the most sparsely populated region in Africa. Most of it is a 

 barren, waterless waste, where cultivation is impossible. But in places there are oases around 

 springs and wells, which render some regions habitable and trade routes practicable across the 

 deserts. The habitable areas are divided between two groups of tribes the Tibbus in the 

 east, and the Tuaregs in the west. 



THE TIBBUS. 



Ethnographically the Tibbu is the less important group. Its headquarters are among 

 the rocky fastnesses of the Tibesti Mountains, east of the caravan road from Fezzan southward 



Photo by 



A GROUP OF TUAREGS, SOUTH ALGERIA. 

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