AFRICA. 



811 



CHAPTER CXXVII. GENERAL VIEW OF AFRICA. 



^.l.:</.\ mvii, 



1. Boundaries and Extent. Africa is a vast peninsula joined to the Asiatic continent on 

 t\ie northeast, by the narrow isthmus of Suez. It is bounded north by the Mediterranean Sea, 

 east by the Red Sea and Indian Ocean ; south by the Southern Ocean, and west by the At- 

 lantic Ocean. It extends from 38° N. to 35° S. latitude, and from 17° W. to 51° E. longi- 

 tude ; greatest length, from 

 Cape Blanc, in Tunis, to Cape 

 Agulhas, 5,000 miles ; great- 

 est breadth from Cape Verd to 

 Cape Guardafui, 4,600 miles ; 

 area, 1 1 ,500,000 square miles ; 

 population, 60,000,000. From 

 about 5° north to 25° south, 

 the interior of this country, com- 

 prising a tract of about 3 mil- 

 lions square miles, is wholly 

 unknown, and with much of 

 the remainder we are imper- 

 fectly acquainted. 



2. Mountains. Our igno- 

 rance of this vast division of 

 the globe renders it impossible 

 to describe these great natural 

 features with any accuracy. But 

 Africa seems to have neither 

 the lofty mountain chains nor 

 the magnificent rivers of Asia 

 and America. In general, the 

 African mountains appear to be 

 more remarkable for breadth 

 than height. In the north is 

 the Atlas range, rising in some 

 places to the height of above 

 12,000feet, The Kong Moun- 



Map of .Africa. 



