CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 



Among the peculiar physical conditions of this 

 great continent are its remarkable compactness, 

 the coast-line being marked by few indentations 

 or projections ; its insular position ; and its lying 

 for the greater part within the torrid zone. It has 

 three main characteristics of physical conforma- 

 tion. These are : its mountain-system, which at 

 a distance of from 50 to 300 miles from the 

 shore, surrounds nearly the whole of the con- 

 tinent ; the great raised plateau of which the 

 interior of its triangular portion, south of Cape 

 Guardafui and the Gulf of Guinea, consists ; 

 and the Sahara, or Great Desert. 



The Atlas Mountains in the north, between the 

 Mediterranean and the Sahara, and stretching 

 from the Atlantic to Tripoli, are connected geo- 

 logically with Southern Europe, and comprise 

 several ranges, which ascend from the sea-board in 

 successive terraces, and increase in height from 

 Tripoli, where they are 2000 feet high, to Mount 

 Miltsin (11,400 feet) and Jebel Tedla (13,000 

 feet) in Morocco. Between the spurs abutting 

 to the north, lie the valleys which constitute 

 the fertile region of the Tell. The low ground 

 along the Atlantic, marked by a tropical luxuri- 

 ance of vegetation, but with an unhealthy climate, 

 is backed by the Kong Mountains, between the 

 Gulf of Guinea and the Niger ; the Cameroon 

 Mountains, stretching eastward into the interior ; 

 and by several chains southward to Damara Land, 

 the country in front rising in terraces. Similarly, 

 in South Africa, the land rises in sandstone 

 terraces intersected by granitic rocks, and hav- 

 ing the Zwellendam range 20 miles inland, and 

 200 miles in length, whose crest is Table Moun- 

 tain, 3816 feet in height ; the Zwarte range, 30 

 miles farther back; and the range comprising 

 Sneeuwveld (10,000 feet), Nieuwveld, &c. Along 

 the east coast, at a certain distance from the sea, 

 a continuous system of parallel ranges extends, 

 increasing in height towards the equator, and 

 bearing the names of the Drakenberg Mountains 

 (10,000 feet), the Lupata Mountains in Mozam- 

 bique (8000 feet), the Kenia and Kilimandjaro 

 in Zanzibar (17,000 and 20,000 feet). The high 

 table-land of Abyssinia and Upper Ethiopia forms 

 the north-eastern crest of this system. Inside of 

 this mountainous border the interior of the con- 

 tinent consists of an immense plateau, with a cup 

 or basin shaped appearance, sloping on the whole 

 from east to west. This table-land, by which the 

 climate of Central Africa is to some extent modi- 

 fied, is of a diversified character, having undu- 

 lations, mountains, valleys, plains, swamps, wastes, 

 hollows, as well as immense lakes and rivers. 



The Sahara, or Great Desert, stretches from 

 Morocco on the west to the valley of the Nile on 

 the east, and from the southern base of the Atlas 

 range to Sudan. Its length, from the Atlantic 

 to the western edge of the valley of the Nile, 

 is about 3000 miles, and its average breadth from 

 north to south 1000 miles. The surface of the 

 Sahara is varied by depressions and broad plateaux 

 from loco to 3000 feet above the surrounding 

 ground. A remarkable feature of the Sahara is 

 the Wed Mzi, which, rising in Djebel Amour, 

 flows during almost its entire course of 400 miles 

 underground. After an east, north-east, and finally 

 south-east course, it falls into Chott Melrliir. Over 



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a great part of the Sahara, rain never falls, and 

 everywhere it is rare ; it is thus condemned to 

 sterility. It consists partly of tracts of fine shifting 

 sand, which frequent storms of wind raise into 

 the air, so as often to overwhelm travellers. But 

 the greater part of the surface consists of naked 

 but firm soil, composed of indurated sand, sand- 

 stone, granite, and quartz rocks, often rising into 

 ridges or hills. The desolation is interrupted at 

 intervals by patches, sometimes of considerable 

 extent, covered with bushes and coarse grass, and 

 often of great beauty and fertility. These oases, 

 or wadies, as they are called, are valleys lying 

 below the general level of the Desert, having the 

 water-bearing stratum, which is below the usual 

 level of the Sahara, at or close to their surface. 

 They are most numerous and fertile in the eastern 

 portion of the Desert. The easiest route across 

 the Desert to Sudan runs from Tripoli through 

 the kingdom of Fezzan to Lake Tchad. The por- 

 tion of the Desert lying east of the route above 

 described is called the Libyan Desert ; and it is 

 chiefly in this region that the oases are susceptible 

 of cultivation : the tracts of vegetation in the 

 western portion are fit for little else than pasture, 

 chiefly for goats and sheep. The chief production 

 of the more fertile oases is dates ; but other fruits 

 and grain are also cultivated. Gum-arabic is 

 another production. Some of the larger oases 

 support thousands of inhabitants living in villages. 

 Commerce is carried on across the Desert by 

 various routes by means of caravans, consisting 

 of from 500 to 2000 camels, with their attendants. 

 The distance between the wells sometimes exceeds 

 ten days' journey ; and when a well is found dry, 

 men and animals are in danger of perishing. The 

 inhabitants consist of independent tribes of Moors, 

 Berbers, and Arabs. 



The geology of Africa is yet but imperfectly 

 known. The sections recently traversed present a 

 variety of schists, shales, limestone, syenite, sand- 

 stone, tufa, with protruding granite and trap rocks. 

 ' The whole of the Sahara is but the upheaved 

 bed of a tertiary, or even quaternary ocean ; 

 the deltas of the Nile, Niger, and other great 

 rivers consist of recent alluvia ; the formations 

 of the Cape are chiefly mesozoic sandstones; 

 the northern belt consists largely of soft tertiary 

 limestone ; the primary hills of Abyssinia and 

 Nubia are known chiefly for their granites and 

 porphyries ; and most of the islands, whether in 

 the Atlantic or Indian Ocean, are of recent vol- 

 canic origin.' 



The islands connected with Africa are with one 

 exception small, and generally far removed from 

 the mainland. In the Indian Ocean are Mada- 

 gascar, separated from the continent by the 

 channel of Mozambique, having an area of 230,000 

 square miles, or more than that of France, rich in 

 mineral and vegetable produce, and with a popu- 

 lation of upwards of 5,000,000; the important 

 islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, the minor 

 groups of Comoro, Amirante, and Seychelles, 

 north of Madagascar; and Socotra, off Cape 

 Guardafui. In the Atlantic are Ichaboe and 

 other islets along the south-west coast; St 

 Helena, Ascension, Annobon, St Thomas, and 

 Fernando Po, in the Gulf of Guinea ; the Cape 

 Verdes ; the Canaries, which rise in Teneriffe to an 

 altitude of 12,182 feet ; Madeira, celebrated for its 

 delightiul climate and wines and lastly, the Azores. 





