350 THE ALGERIAN TELL. 



The Algerian Tell begins on the Mediterranean, 

 and extends to the foot of the Middle Atlas, of French 

 geographers, " with an area computed at about 54,000 

 square miles and an average breadth of not more 

 than 47 miles. " * It becomes wider, however, towards 

 the west. Behind and south of the Tell is the 

 "Region des Plateaux," sometimes called the middle 

 range of the Tell, a region consisting of mountainous 

 table lands, rising to a height of 3800 feet above sea- 

 level, interspersed with a series of brackish lakes, or 

 salt marshes, called " Shotts. " Most of this country is 

 pasture land, corn being only grown in favoured spots, 

 and the land is generally covered with dwarf aromatic 

 herbs and high grasses, supplying good fodder for cattle ; 

 but after the wet season is over difficulties arise about 

 water, the stagnant pools, etc., being named " Ghedir " 

 (traitor) by the Arabs, on account of their uncertain 

 nature, as no dependence can be placed upon their 

 supply, and most of them dry up entirely. 



These table lands are bounded on the South by the 

 " Chaine Saharienne " or " Great Atlas " of the French 

 geographers, which form " a series of detached eleva- 

 tions some forty or forty-five miles broad, rising here 

 and there to considerable heights, which are usually 

 covered with snow till the end of March " f and we 

 have seen snow there at the end of April the winds at 

 this season being also intensely cold and penetrating. 

 From tjiese mountains numerous streams flow down to 

 the southwards into the Sahara, which gradually become 

 lost in the sand, or terminate in salt lakes. But the same 

 difficulty in ascertaining the exact limits of the desert 



* Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel for Africa, 2nd 

 Edition, 1880, edited by Keith Johnston, pp. 18 and 19. 

 f Ibid., p. 21. 



