

AKi: 



AKIIICA. 



obeai is of south-eaetern Africa. From Cape 



Mill n ' at ibe'Bambarougne to the Orange River, we have a coast of 

 M*er MO oile* almoat without fresh water. The Orange River is a 

 )_,, jTpt^ pfrf-p. DM fourth or fifth among African rivers, whose 

 gg2>* to the AUantio M determined, though ite numerous tributaries 

 rise far in the interior, the general slope of this part of the surface 



ftasMlns* f. 



The Cape Colony, within the limite now aiaigned to it, U now so 

 far known, that iu geographical feature* need not be noticed in thu 

 ml (ketch; but we may remark that the common notion of Africa 

 tsrnunattttf in a point require* correction. The mountain-ranges and 

 the exteoeiTe plains which run eaet and welt within the limit* of the 

 ootoor. form a eerie, of height* and terrace* which are bounded on 

 the eouth by an extensive line of ooa*t running in the lame direction. 

 From Pake Bay to the extremity of Algoa Bay we have a line of coot 

 abort 400 mile* long, running nearly due east and went, and present- 

 ing to the southern ocean a* broad a front a* the Spanish peninsula 

 often to the Atlantic. 



The gnat known rirer of the eactorn coast U the Zambezi, which, 

 though law in the dry season, U provided with prodigious channels to 

 receive the floods of the rainy month*. Farther north on this coast, 

 near the site of Melinda, we find the outlet* of streams from the inte- 

 rior, and it is poeable that the Zebee here find* ite way to the ocean ; 

 bat, "Ufc the other South African stream*, we are acquainted, from 

 the narrative of Fernandez, with ite upper course, which lie* north of 

 the equator, but not with ite lower course, near the ooaste of the 

 Indian Ocean. 



The great currents on the coasts of Africa are too remarkable to be 

 entirely passed over ; but as those which are best known belong to the 

 North and South Atlantic [ATLANTIC OCTUK], a brief notice of that 

 I the Cape will be all that is necessary here. 



The great bank which lies off the coast of South Africa, and take* 

 ite name of Agulha*, or, as it is often incorrectly called, Lagulhas, from 

 the eape of that name, has probably been partly formed by the action 

 of currenU. It is indeed probable that the main mass of it owes ite 

 existence to the MOM phenomena which produced the terraced lands 

 of the Cape ; bat it ha* also received great accessions of sand and 

 wesd from the action of the current*. Two main streams, one from 

 the atoaunbique Channel, the other from the open Indian Ocean, 

 impelled by the south-east trade-wind, unite nearly oppoaite to Point 

 Padrone <W W E. long.). From the meridian of Cape Kecif (25 36' 

 E. long.) the main stream gradually turns to the west, and strikes on 

 the gnat bank (in about 35* SO' a lat, 23* E. long.), by which ite course 

 b lessngsil sooceasively to W. 36" & to S.W., and finally (in lat. 38) it 

 becomes rather E. of 8. The greatest portion of this current is 

 actually turned round by the east edge of the bank, anil finally 

 mmgiir with a South Atlantic eastern current, anil, impelled by it, 

 thus return* into the Indian Ocean by a line nearly parallel to ite 

 original course. A part of the stream paves over the deep water at 

 the outhern extremity of the bank and turn* towards the N.W., 

 aad then uniting opposite the Cape of Good Hope with another part 

 of the main stream (which crone* the northern part of the bank in a 

 wsatsni direction, between 34* 45' and 35 4(0. form* a wide stream 

 running to the N.W. as far as 25* R. laL, where it joins the north-west 

 current funned by the south-east trade-wind. The existence and course 

 of the** current* are indicated not only by their actual motion, but 

 also by their temperature. Off Cape lUcif (Reef), where the tempo- 

 rature of the Mozambique stream wa* found (in June) to be somewhat 

 than it was farther north and oast, it was still 68, or 8* above 

 aan temperature. On the bank, in lat 36* 45' a, it ha* been found 

 T above oceau temperature ; and diminishing westward toward the 

 dfe of the bank, it become* of the ocean temperature for some dis- 



dfe of the bank, it b 

 tance before sttsinmg 

 aad confirm* the *tete 



ite 



extremity. But what is singular, 

 above made a* to the current Aat rounds 

 the Agulha* Bank joining that which crosses it, the temperature rises 

 gam to 4* above the ocean temperature, west of the bank, a* soon a* 

 the junction with the southern branch is effected. For further 

 lafiiliissttKi on this current the reader may refer to our authority 

 Major BeoaeU ('On the Current* of the Atlantic,' I. ..... l..n, 1832). 



Hah, in hi* voyage up the Mozambique Channel, found the current 

 between Capes CorrWntes and Sebastian, setting strong to the smith, 

 so a* "to impede the course not lea* than 00 mile* in 24 hours." And 

 farther north (IS' ST 8. Ut, 41 ' 24' E. long.), Mr. Salt speak* of 



current uNing to the southward at the rate of 80 miles in 



O doubling Cap* Quardafui the same writer experienced along 

 tk* coast a strong current that beaded the ship, but the information 

 *** * ft*** about it leads to no conclusions. This current ha* 

 no mumrni* iuei whh that Just described. 



Tfc. only other phenomenon of African currents that require* a 



short ttoOo. ban, is that part of the North African current, a. Major 



Hall call, it, which sete Into the Mediterranean through the Strait 



Oibralter Th. great In. which the Mediterranean experiences 



u . V H S trti S5.J* "PI>U> by a constant current pouring ii, 



the Atlantic. This current I* mo*t obioutotheea*tof aline joining 



'oant to Spain and Cap* Cantin <8J' M' N. Ut) in Africa! 



The form of the cwte i. Uk* the wide part of a funnel, and the Strait 



of Oibralter is the pipe. It it nrvbablyowing to this rush of water 



towards the strait that an eastward current ha* been perceived, in 

 mimmer, as far as the Azores, increasing in velocity eastward from the 

 meridian of Cape 8t Vincent. South of the latitude of the Canaries 

 and Cape Bojador the current, instead of pointing to the mouth of the 

 trait, aete upon the coast of the Great Desert, which is Handy and 

 low. This current, from whatever cause it arises, is that which ha* 

 brought so many ships on this inhospitable shore, navigators having 

 been deceived in their reckoning by not estimating the force of the 

 stream. Ship*' crews that have had the misfortune to be cast on this 

 savage coast, inhabited by a brutish race of barbarians, have frequently 

 either perished of hunger, or been sold to slavery. 



The physical configuration of the African continent has been vari- 

 ously described by African geographer*. Some have attempted to trace 

 a system of terrace*, which, as they have maintained, this continent 

 presented on all aide* ; others have filled the maps of the south, m 

 naif with numerous mountain-ranges, leaving uncertain whether the 

 intervening portion* are table-lands or lowlands. The celebrated 

 ' Mountains of the Moon ' have ever played an exciting part in the 

 history of African geography, and they have given rise to many curious 

 hypotheses. It is only very recently that the*e great natural feature* 

 of Africa hare begun to be elucidated on a system based on known 

 facts, and corresponding with them. It is chiefly to Dr. Beke's labour* 

 that we owe much of our present notions of the geography of that 

 continent There are two chief divisions which claim our attention : 

 the African Lowlands, comprising the Sahara, and the African Table- 

 Lands, extending from the Cape Colony to Nubia and the southern 

 confines of the Sahara, the latter comprising about double the area of 

 the former, or at least 7,000,000 square miles. Thi* great table-land 

 forms a very compact mass, ite edges being for the greater part parallel 

 with the coasts, and distant from them between 100 and 300 miles ; 

 it ia of different elevations, the higher elevations approaching the coast* 

 in some parts, and occupying the more central regions in others ; .mr 

 information being as yet, however, too scanty to form any correct iilra 

 of the interior respecting this point This much we may safely con- 

 clude, that this great elevated mass is probably nowhere interrupted 

 by any considerable depressions, or extensive valleys, except in the 

 north, where the basin of the Nile splits it into two branches, the 

 eastern one of which continues towards Abyssinia, where it in termi- 

 nated very abruptly in about 1 4 and 15 N. lat The western portion 

 of the table-land stretches towards Lake Tchad, and has as ite extreme 

 northern outpost the Mendefi, a very conspicuous isolated mountain, 

 first seen by Major Denham, and more recently by Dr. Barth. 



This table-land is the grandest of our globe in superficial extent, 

 and in many portions rise* to very considerable heights. Along ite 

 edges rise in many parts very conspicuous isolated peak*. Thus the 

 Mendefi, already named, is probably between 8000 and 10,000 feet 

 high ; the Abba Yared, near the northern edge of the Abyssinian 

 table-land, rises to the height of 15,000 feet; the Cameroon*, on the 

 west, to 13,760 feet ; and the Konia and Kilimandjaro, on the east, 

 to at least 20,000 feet The last two peaks are the highest known 

 mountains of Africa, and are probably part of the Mountains of the 

 Moon. Since the time of Ptolenucus of Alexandria geographers have 

 continued to shift these mountains from one latitude to another 

 from 12 8. of the equator to 10 north of it but all seem to have 

 agreed in one point, namely, to give them a direction from west to 

 east. Rennell, one of the ablest geographers, argued that a very high 

 central chain must cross Africa from east to west, in about 10 N. lat, 

 beginning at Cape Ouardafui and ending at Sierra Leone ; an. I in 

 some of the most recent maps this direction is still to be seen. When 

 therefore the Egyptian expeditions up the Bahr-el-Abiad not only 

 advanced as far as the fourth parallel of N. latitude, but actually 

 sailed over the alleged lite of the Mountains of the Moon, and did not 

 see any derations whatever which could claim the title of mount iin*. 

 that favourite hypothesis fell completely to the ground. Ur. Iteke 

 wa* the first who, from his own personal researches combined with 

 extensive studies of the geography of Eastern Africa, propound.-,! 

 the opinion that the Mountains of the Moon have a direction from 

 north to south, and run parallel to the eastern coast, and that they 

 form in furl the southern continuation of the Abyssinian table land. 

 Thin direction also agree* much better with what is known of the 

 basin of the Nile, some of the head-waters of which undoubtedly 

 descend from the Ketiiu and Kilimnndj.'iro. In Southern Africa, Lake 

 Ngami, with the rivers to the north of it, form a very important 

 feature. Some of the rivers which flow into Lake Ngami undoubtedly 

 have their origin in a group of snowy mountains, the position of which 

 in as yet quite unknown, but which are probably identical with the 

 ' Monti Freddi,' and ' Monti Nevosi,' of Carazzi, which form the south- 

 eastern boundaries of Benguela in about 1 5 8. lat Between this region 

 and the equator the valuable researches of Cooley have made us 

 acquainted with the Lake Nyassi. Much definite and accurate infor- 

 mation is however wanted, to fill up the many blanks in our maps of 

 Africa. With Lake Tchad, the most important lake of Northern 

 Africa, the expeditions of Denham and Clappcrton firxt mode IIH partly 

 acquainted ; and era long the whole region of thin remarkable 

 lake will IK- more accurately laid down from the discoveries of 

 Messrs. Iliirl.h and Ovorweg. 



The interior country watered by the Qtiorra, by the tributaries of 

 Lake Tchad, and by other unknown streams that probably exist, tuny 



