﻿FROM 
  ALGIERS 
  TO 
  THE 
  SAHARA. 
  123 
  

  

  Prof. 
  Ramsay 
  asked 
  for 
  information 
  as 
  to 
  whether 
  there 
  was 
  

   evidence 
  of 
  a 
  great 
  sea 
  having 
  extended 
  across 
  the 
  north 
  of 
  Africa 
  

   at 
  a 
  comparatively 
  recent 
  period, 
  as 
  he 
  thought 
  that 
  this 
  would 
  

   explain 
  certain 
  ethnological 
  phenomena. 
  He 
  was 
  struck 
  by 
  the 
  

   difference 
  of 
  the 
  elevation 
  of 
  that 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  Sahara 
  visited 
  by 
  the 
  

   author 
  from 
  that 
  described 
  by 
  Prof. 
  Desor. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Prestwich 
  considered 
  the 
  occurrence 
  of 
  recent 
  shells 
  at 
  so 
  

   great 
  a 
  height 
  something 
  quite 
  new. 
  The 
  former 
  French 
  observers 
  

   had 
  referred 
  to 
  their 
  occurrence 
  on 
  the 
  Sahara 
  itself, 
  and 
  below 
  the 
  

   level 
  of 
  the 
  sea. 
  Subsidence 
  appeared 
  to 
  be 
  still 
  going 
  on. 
  

  

  The 
  Rev. 
  Mr. 
  Housman 
  remarked 
  that 
  the 
  eastern 
  coast 
  of 
  Spain 
  

   was 
  still 
  rising. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Evans 
  observed 
  that 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  such 
  tracts 
  of 
  high 
  and 
  

   absorbent 
  soil 
  as 
  those 
  described 
  might, 
  with 
  even 
  a 
  moderate 
  amount 
  

   of 
  rainfall, 
  account 
  for 
  the 
  supply 
  of 
  water 
  to 
  the 
  Artesian 
  wells 
  

   with 
  which 
  the 
  lower 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  Sahara 
  is 
  dotted. 
  He 
  mentioned 
  

   that 
  Cardium 
  edule 
  and 
  Buccinum 
  gibberulum 
  had 
  been 
  found 
  in 
  

   the 
  Sahara 
  by 
  Desor, 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  latter 
  had 
  been 
  considered 
  iden- 
  

   tical 
  with 
  a 
  shell 
  now 
  found 
  on 
  the 
  N.W. 
  coast 
  of 
  Africa. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Maav 
  briefly 
  replied, 
  and 
  stated 
  that 
  the 
  sandy 
  plain 
  near 
  

   L'Aghouat 
  referred 
  to 
  in 
  his 
  paper 
  was 
  a 
  tongue 
  of 
  elevated 
  land, 
  

   east 
  of 
  which, 
  at 
  all 
  events, 
  the 
  desert 
  stretched 
  away 
  at 
  or 
  near 
  

   the 
  sea-level 
  ; 
  and 
  this 
  was 
  imdoubtedly 
  submerged 
  during 
  the 
  period 
  

   of 
  depression. 
  He 
  thought 
  that 
  the 
  sea 
  also 
  probably 
  extended 
  

   westward 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  time, 
  perhaps 
  to 
  the 
  Gulf 
  of 
  Guinea. 
  

  

  