LESSON'S IN 



LESSONS IN GEOGRAPHY. XXXIII. 



AFEICJL 



AFRICA, the mystery of ancient and the problem of modern 

 times, is the south-western part of the Old World. Thin oon- 

 ti iif nt is situated chiefly in the torrid zone, the exceptions 

 ''ffypt, Barbary, and the Uriti.ih colonies at the Cape of 

 Good Hope. The central regions and the coast on the eastern 

 and western sides were considered as almost wholly uninhabit- 

 iil'l.' liy the ancients, as far as they chanced to be acquainted 

 with them, and with regard to Europeans these districts hare 

 not greatly improved in character in this respect at the present 

 day; although, judging by the accounts of all the recent explor- 

 ing expeditions into its interior, there is a bright future yet in 

 store for the negro races of Africa, who are fitted to endure the 

 intense heat, the heavy periodical rains, and the fever-fraught 

 exhalations of the marshy 

 districts of the land in 

 which an oil-wise Creator 

 has placed them, when 

 intercourse with English 

 traders shall have awa- 

 kened them to the bene- 

 fits that civilisation and 

 the arts of peace, agricul- 

 ture, and commerce bring 

 to every land that uses 

 them aright. 



Extent. Africa extends 

 from north to south about 

 5,000 miles ; the most nor- 

 thern point being a head- 

 land of Tunis, called Ras- 

 al-Krun, in lat. 37 20' N., 

 and long. 9 48' E. ; and 

 the most southern point, 

 Cape Agulhos, in lat. 34 

 50' S. and long. 19 57' E. 

 It extends also from west 

 to east about 4,600 miles ; 

 the most western point 

 being Cape Verd, in hit. 

 14 45' N. and long. 17 

 S2f W. ; and the most 

 eastern point, Cape Guar- 

 dafui, in lat. 11 41' N., 

 and long. 51 2V E. The 

 equator, passing over the 

 Gulf of Guinea, crosses 

 this continent over Lower 

 Guinea on the west, near 

 the island of St. Thomas 

 and mouth of the Gaboon 

 Eiver, and over Zangue- 

 bar on the east, near the 

 month of the river Juba ; 

 it thus cuts off about one- 

 third of this continent to 



the south in the form of a peninsula ; the Tropic of Capricorn 

 outs off from this peninsula, in like manner, a smaller one, con- 

 taining Cape Colony and Kaffraria. The Tropic of Cancer 

 cuts off Northern Africa, crossing Sahara, or the Great Desert, 

 and the Libyan Desert, and dividing Egypt from Nubia. Be- 

 tween the two tropics, and between the meridians of 10 and 

 30 E. that is, nearly those of Tunis and Alexandria there 

 is a vast tract of unexplored country, especially south of 

 the equator, which is little less than one-half of the con- 

 tinent; the only parts of this vast region which have been 

 partially explored being, firstly, the countrias that lie around 

 Lake Tchad ; secondly, the regions in which lie the great equa- 

 torial lakes of Africa namely, Lake Victoria Nyanza, dis- 

 covered by Captain Speke ; Lake Albert Nyanz-a, discovered 

 by Sir Samuel Baker ; and Lake Tanganyika, discovered by 

 Captains Burton and Speke ; and thirdly, the countries between 

 the parallels of 5 and 25 S. latitude, which have been 

 traversed in their breadth from the Indian Ocean to the 

 Atlantic Ocean, and in their length from the Kalahari Desert 

 to the equatorial districts west of the great lakes about which 



72 X.K. 



Lon. p from 



we hare yet no ranch to learn by the indefatigable and ad- 

 venturous Livingstone, by Stanley, and by other explorer*. 



The surface of the whole continent i reckoned to contain 

 nearly 11,000,000 square mile*, and about 200,000,000 in- 

 habitants ; which give* on an average about eighteen to every 

 square mile. 



Boundaries. Africa is bounded on the north by toe Medi- 

 terranean Sea ; on the south by the great Southern Ocean, or 

 rather the waste of waters in which the South Atlantic Ocean 

 and Indian Ocean meet, lying to the north of the Antarctic 

 < .-.-.in ; on the west by the South Atlantic Ocean ; and on the 

 east by the Indian Ooean. 



Oceans, Beat, Gulfs, etc. The Bed Sea and the Golf of Aden 

 lie to the north-east of this continent ; and the Mozambique 

 Channel, 250 miles in width at its narrowest part, to the east, 

 between the south-east coast and Madagascar. The South 



Atlantic and the Indian 



Oceans commingle their 

 waters south of the Cape 

 of Good Hope ; the At- 

 lantic washes the shores of 

 Guinea and Lower Guinea, 

 in the Gulf of Guinea, and 

 the Bights or Bays of 

 Benin and Biafra. The 

 Strait of Gibraltar sepa- 

 rates the rooky coast of 

 Marocco and Spain. In 

 the Mediterranean are the 

 Gulfs of Sidra and Cabes, 

 on the north of Tripoli 

 and Tunis ; and in the 

 south, on the shores of 

 Cape Colony, are 8t Helena 

 Bay, Table Bay, False Bay, 

 Algoa Bay, etc. ; while on 

 the east coast are Delagoa 

 Bay, Sofala Bay, and many 

 others of less extent and 

 importance. 



Islands. The principal 

 of the African islands, Ma- 

 dagascar of course being ex- 

 cepted, lie in small groups 

 and clusters. The Azores, 

 which are usually reckoned 

 as African islands, though 

 they lie above the latitude 

 of the most northerly point 

 of Africa, and in the lati- 

 tude of Portugal, to which 

 they belong, are about 800 

 miles to the west of the 

 last-named part of the 

 mainland of Europe. Ma- 

 deira, which also belongs 

 to Portugal, and Porto 

 Santo, li j off the west coast 



of Marocco. The Canaries, belonging to Spain, of which the 

 chief are Teneriffe and Grand Canary the former remarkable 

 for its high mountain, called the Peak of Teneriffe, which 

 rises to the altitude of 12,180 feet above the level of the 

 sea, or rather more than 2$ miles of perpendicular height 

 lie off the north-western corner of that port of the Sahara that 

 abuts on the Atlantic. Of the Cape Verd Islands, the chief 

 are Santiago and St. Vincent; the chief town of the former 

 being Porto Praya, formerly the seat of government, which has 

 been transferred to Porto Grande, the chief town in the latter. 

 Among the tropical islands should be reckoned Fernando Po, 

 Prince Island, St. Thomas Island, and Annabon, all in the Gulf 

 of Guinea. Ascension Island and St. Helena the spot on which 

 the Emperor Napoleon fretted through the last few years of his 

 existence lie out in the midst of the South Atlantic Ooean. 

 Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, is about 1.050 miles long, and 

 about 360 miles broad in its widest part ; it is reckoned to 

 contain about 228,000 square miles. The population is 

 reckoned to be about 3,000,000. The Isle of Bourbon, or 

 Reunion, belonging to France, lies about 400 miles eastward of 



