MOUNTAINS. 3 



the northern and eastern seas. Its very size, estimated at nearly 12,000,000 square 

 miles, or over three times that of Europe and four times that of Australia, 

 contributes to its heavy uniform aspect. Notwithstanding its greater bulk, its 

 coastline is considerably less than that of Europe. Exclusive of a thousand smaller 

 inlets, such as the Scandinavian fjords and the firths of Scotland, the latter has a 

 periphery of about 19,000 miles, the former not more than 15,000, much of which 

 is unbroken by a single creek or bay. Its general form is that of an ellipsoid, 

 disposed in the direction from north to south, and bulging out westwards in a still 

 less varied semi-elliptical mass between Cape Bon and the Gulf of Guinea. The 

 prevailing uniformity is modified on the east side chiefly by the sharp peninsula 

 terminating at Cape Gardafui, on the west by the retreating curve of the coastline, 

 by which the Atlantic basin is suddenly doubled in width. The eastern projection, 

 which is separated by the Gulf of Aden from Hadramaut, follows the direction 

 of the south-eastern extremity of Arabia, a region which in its climate and other 

 respects forms a land of transition between the two continents. 



Mountains. 



From its regular contour, Africa might seem to be built on a generally uniform 

 and simple plan. But such is not the case. Europe, notwithstanding its countless 

 indentations, may be compared to an organism furnished with a backbone and 

 members ; Asia also groups its boundless plains and peninsulas around a culminat- 

 ing nucleus, the Great Pamir, or " Boof of the World ; " while both Americas have 

 their western Cordilleras, and in the east vast alluvial plains and river basins 

 separated one from the other by scarcely perceptible parting lines. But Africa is 

 comparatively speaking an almost shapeless mass, with a rudimentary organisation 

 destitute alike of central uplands and regular watersheds. Nevertheless the eastern 

 coast ranges, running parallel with the Indian Ocean, may in some respects be 

 regarded as forming, if not a backbone, at least the border chain of one great con- 

 tinental highland system. Spite of the broad gaps pierced by the Limpopo, 

 Zambezi, and Juba rivers, the broken fragments of a vast Cordillera may be recog- 

 nised in the uplands stretching interruptedly from the Cape northwards to the 

 Abj'^ssinian highlands. In this zone of border ranges occur the culminating points 

 of the continent, the extinct Kilima-njaro and Kenia volcanoes, perhaps the 

 summits known to the ancients as the " Mountains of the Moon." West of these 

 peaks the plateau is intersected by a parallel chain of other volcanoes, some of 

 which are said stiU to emit smoke ; while beyond Victoria Nyanza a third range, 

 dominated by Mfumbiro and Gambaragara, would seem to form a western border 

 system or water-parting between the Upper Nile and Congo basins. Here the 

 plateau expands to a breadth of 550 miles, terminating northwards in the Abys- 

 sinian highlands, a rocky citadel whose base exceeds those of all the other continen- 

 tal orographic systems. These Ethiopian heights stand over against those of Yemen, 

 and like them are a remnant of the border range sweeping round the Indian and 



