AFRICA AND ITS ANIMALS 



If we take a map of the world, and, after tracing upon a 



sheet of thin paper the outline of the British Islands, cut 



out the tracing and lay it upon India, we shall find that it 



covers a mere patch of that great area. Repeating the same 



process with India, and placing the tracing thus obtained 



on Africa in such a manner that the sharp angle on the 



tracing formed by Assam overlies the projecting point of 



Somaliland, which it almost exactly covers, it will be found 



that the whole area embraced in the tracing occupies only 



a small patch in the middle of the eastern side of the Dark 



Continent. As a matter of fact, the patch thus marked 



out ends in a blunt point northwardly some distance above 



Khartum, thence it runs south to the neighbourhood of the 



Victoria Nyanza, from which district it rapidly narrows to 



terminate in a sharp point a little distance to the southward 



of Zanzibar. Allowing some slight overlaps, no less than 



six Indias can indeed be traced on the map of Africa ; 



and as these leave between them and on their margins 



considerable spaces of the country still uncovered, it would 



be but a moderate estimate to say that Africa includes at 



least seven times the area of British India. Some idea, 



especially to those familiar with our vast Indian dominions, 



may in this manner be most readily gained of the huge 



extent of the African continent. 



Having made these comparisons of the actual size of the 



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