374 Messrs. Playfair and Letoumeux on the 



Tho watershed of the Tell is as regular as in other coun- 

 tries ; and its streams all reach the sea. Although the general 

 direction of the mountain-range is from east to west, tlie con- 

 figuration of the ground is very irregular ; and confused moun- 

 tain masses frequently occur, throwing out lateral spurs or 

 buttresses, which in many instances plunge abruptly into the 

 sea. This has caused numerous basins, often naiTOW and 

 tortuous, and has been the means of confining the watercoui-ses 

 between the pei']oendicular Avails of narrow gorges. 



The sources of the principal streams are situated high up, 

 eitlier on the southern border of the Tell, on the first terraces 

 of the High Plateaux*, or on the flanks of the great isolated 

 mountain masses f. 



In spite of the meanderings often necessitated by the nature 

 of the ground, the streams of the Tell are generally short : 

 the Chelif alone has a length of 244 miles ; but a great part of 

 its course is owing to exceptional causes in the regions of the 

 High Plateaux. It follows that the rivers and streams flowing 

 over a steep incline are, in the rainy season or after a storm, 

 foaming torrents, carrying down in their troubled AA'aters huge 

 masses of stone broken from their beds and trees torn from 

 their banks %. During summer, on the other hand, the beds 

 of these rivers are entirely dry in the mountains and in the 

 plains, Avliere their banks are sometimes half a mile distant 

 from each other, inclosing a sandy bed iuA'aded by A'egetation; 

 all tluit remains is a tiny stream in the middle, and here and 

 there a fcAv pools of stagnant Avater. 



The most considerable rivers in Algeria are, the Mafrag, 

 the Seybouse, the Oued-el-Kebir, the Makta, &c., which 

 during flood-time discolour the water for scA-eral miles at sea, 

 and liaA'e not the strength in summer to force themseh'es a 

 passage through the banks of sand accumulated in their 

 estuaries by the currents along the coast. 



Alluvial plains of any considerable extent are rare in Al- 

 geria; they do not form, as elseA\-here, in the estuary of a 

 great river. Parallel to the sea they stretch betAA-een the foot 

 of the mountains and the isolated groups of hills, once proba- 

 bly islands, such as those at La Calle, to the north t>f the plain 

 of Tarf, El-Edough in the plain of Bone, the Sahel at Algiers, 



history. DeCandoUo affirms the existence of the ancient communication 

 between Numidia and tlio Italian ishinds. 



* From 1>')()0 to ;!(X)0 feet above the sea. 



t Jurjura, T.'Wo feet ; Ouarensis, Oa^.") feet ; Batoi-s, 63.36 feet. 



\ Freshets in the Seybouse have frequently been known to cixxry down 

 several liuudred trees to the sea, and even wild boar, surprised by the 

 inundation and vmable to contend acainst the strength of the current. 



