GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTH MABOCCO. 385 



this map is that the orography is exhibited in a fashion primd 

 facie improbable, and which has been to a great extent negatived 

 by subsequent evidence. The main range of the Southern Atlas 

 is represented as a nearly straight wall, over 400 miles in length, 

 with few and short diverging ridges, and, parallel to this on the 

 south side, another equally straight and narrow ridge is made 

 to stretch for nearly 300 miles. From near the eastern ex- 

 tremity of the main range two other straight ridges are shown, 

 diverging abruptly at an acute angle, and enclosing a trench- 

 like valley that extends north-west for fully 120 miles. If this 

 were even approximately correct, we should be led to conclude 

 that the structure of the Great Atlas is quite unlike that of 

 any other known mountain region. The tendency of mountain 

 ranges to follow a uniform general direction is always modified 

 by the numerous secondary causes that have helped to fashion 

 the earth's surface. 



The first recent traveller who succeeded in penetrating 

 some considerable portions of the Marocco territory was M. 

 Grerhard Rohlfs. Assuming the garb and professing the faith 

 of a Mussulman, he traversed many districts where no Christian 

 dare present himself; but the care necessary to prevent his real 

 character from becoming known imposed severe restrictions on 

 M. Rohlfs. Produced under conditions where it was impossible 

 to be seen taking notes or using any scientific instrument, it is 

 not surprising that the narrative of his adventurous journey is 

 extremely meagre ; but even for the little that he is told about 

 a region so little known the reader is thankful. The chief 

 geographical results of these journeys were embodied in the 

 map annexed to G. Rohlfs' first work' by the eminent geographer, 

 M. Petermann. The scale of that map is small and admits of 

 little detail ; but, so far as regards the mountain country, I am 

 disposed to think that the direct evidence, supplemented in 

 some points by native report, requires us to depart more widely 

 from the orographic features of Beaudouin's map than M. Peter- 

 mann has thought it fit to do. 



In the map accompanying this volume I have ventured, in 

 addition to the changes for which I had direct authority, to in- 

 troduce a few others, avowedly conjectural, which must await 

 further exploration before they can be either adopted or con- 



' Afrikanische Eeisen, von Gerhard Kohlfs. Bremen, 1867. 

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