STEPPES AND DESERTS. 3 



South America, or even with the Prairies of the Missouri ( 5 ) 

 and the Barrens of the Coppermine river, where range 

 countless herds of the shaggy buffalo and musk ox. 



A grander and severer aspect characterises the plains of 

 the interior of Africa. Like the wide expanse of the Pacific 

 Ocean, it is only in recent times that attempts have been 

 made to explore them thoroughly. They are parts of a sea 

 of sand, which, stretching eastward, separates fruitful regions 

 from each other, or encloses them like islands ; as where the 

 Desert, near the basaltic mountains of Harudsh, ( 6 ) surrounds 

 the Oasis of Siwah rich in date trees, and in which the ruins 

 of the temple of Ammon mark the venerable site of an 

 ancient civilisation. Neither dew nor rain bathe these 

 desolate plains, or develope on their glowing surface the 

 germs of vegetable life; for heated columns of air, every 

 where ascending, dissolve the vapours, and disperse each 

 swiftly vanishing cloud. 



Where the Desert approaches the Atlantic Ocean, as be- 

 tween the Wadi Nun and Cape Blanco, the moist sea air 

 pours in to supply the void left by these upward currents. 

 The mariner, steering towards the mouth of the Gambia 

 through a sea covered with weed, when suddenly deserted 

 by the east trade wind of the tropics, ( 7 ) infers the vicinity 

 of the widely extended heat-radiating desert. Herds of ante- 

 lopes and swift-footed ostriches roam through these vast 

 regions; but, with the exception of the watered Oases or 

 islands in the sea of sand, some groups of which have 

 recently been discovered, and whose verdant shores are 

 frequented by nomade Tibbos and Tuaricks, ( 8 ) the African 



