290 NATURAL HISTORY OF AFRICA. 



gines of the New World,) will be effected from these two 

 quarters, through the energy, enterprise, and perseverance of 

 missionaries, well instructed in the various useful arts of life, 

 and in the simple and pure principles of Christianity. 



5. That its springs, lakes, rivers, bays, and arms of the 

 sea are fewer m number, and present more uniformity of 

 aspect than is generally the case in other parts of the 

 world. 



6. That it is eminently characterized by its vast central 

 and sandy deserts, its great southern table-land, and the 

 vast expanses of Karroo ground. 



7. That of all the rock formations, those of limestone 

 and sandstone are the most frequent and most widely dis- 

 tributed : that natron, a rare deposite in other countries, is 

 comparatively abundant in Africa ; that salt is very widely 

 distributed, though in some districts it is wholly deficient ; 

 but coal is wanting. And the precious stones, so frequent 

 in other tropical regions, are here of rare occurrence. 



8. That the metals, although met with in different quar- 

 ters, are nowhere abundant ; and that, of all the different 

 metals, gold is the most generally distributed. 



9. That no active or extinct volcanoes have hitherto been 

 met with. 



10. Lastly, that Africa is less frequently agitated by 

 earthquakes than the other continents. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Africa.* 



A KNOWLEDGE of the geographical distribution of animalis 

 and of the laws which regulate that distribution, has excited 

 a considerable degree of attention since the time of Buffon, 

 whose writings may fairly be regarded as the first to create 

 an interest in favour of this branch of natural history. The 



* I think it proppr to apprize the reader that in the three following 

 chapters, devoted to the Zooiocy of Africa, several well-knorwn and in- 

 leresting species, such &u the Egyptian Ichneumon, the Fennec of Bruce, 



