PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC FEATURES 47 



appointed by the President of the Republic; and that it has for 

 its boundaries the Sahara desert on the south, on the east Tunisia, 

 on the north the Mediterranean, and on the west Morocco. 



Algeria occupies an area of about 456,000 square kilometres 

 (176,000 square miles). 



Topography. — Topographically Algeria is divided into four 

 regions: The Tell Atlas, the Hauts-Plateaux, the Sahara Atlas, 

 and the Sahara. 



According to an authoritative source these regions are: 



''I. The Tell Atlas (Atlas Tellien), the most important 

 part of this territory, consists of two parallel ranges of folded 

 hills of recent origin, which intersect a great basin stretching 

 from the Atlantic to the Bay of Tunis. The highest points 

 of range next the coast are the Traras, 11,359 metres (3727 

 feet); the Dahra, 1579 metres (5181 feet); the Atlas of Blida, 

 1629 metres (5345 feet); the Jurjura Chain, 2307.8 metres 

 (7552 feet) in Great Kabylia; and the Babor range, 

 2034.4 metres (6675 feet) in Little KabiHa. In the interior 

 rises the Tlemcen Group, 1843 metres (6047 feet); the 

 Ouarsenis, 1984 metres (6512 feet); the Jebel Dira, 1809.8 

 metres (5938 feet); and the Hodna Mountains, 1862.8 

 metres (61 12 feet), which last form the only considerable 

 link between the Tell and the Sahara Atlas. The Littoral, 

 842 metres (920 yards) in length, with long, precipitous 

 and almost inaccessible stretches, is broken by the bays of 

 Oran, Arzew, Algiers, Bougie, Philippeville, and Bona, but 

 does not possess a single good natural harbor. Flank- 

 ing the coast, in front of the Tell Atlas, are several ranges 

 of lower hill (Sahel), as the Sahel of Oran, between Lourmel 

 and the mouth of the Chelifif, the Sahel of Algiers, and the 

 Sahel of Collo, while the Edough Group, 1007.9 metres (3307 

 feet), composed of crystalline rock, forms an independent 

 mountain. The extensive plains behind the Sahels, which at 

 Oran are marshy (Marais de la Macta) and have besides the 

 remains of great salt lagoons, Sebkha d'Oran and Salines 

 d'Arzew, and especially the Mitidja near Algiers, once a bay 

 of the sea, and the Plaine de Bone are the most fertile and 

 richly cultivated parts of Algeria. Tell region embraces an 

 area of 14,000,000 hectares (35,000,000 acres). 



"II. High Plateau. — The Hauts-Plateaux or Great Steppe, 

 an almost unwatered region, of about eleven million hectares, 



