80 
ZONES RAIN IN THE DESERT. 
3d zone. The limestone hills and broad valleys, 
gradually assuming the aridity of the Sahara as 
you proceed southward, between the tovvn of Ka- 
leebah and Ghareeah; the olive plantations and corn- 
fields disappear, entirely in this tract. 
4th zone. The Hamadah, an immense desert 
plateau, separating Tripoli from Fezzan. 
5th zone. The sandy valleys and limestone rocks 
between El-Hasee and Es-Shaty, where herbage and 
trees are found, affording food to numerous gazelles, 
hares, and the wadan. 
6th. The sand between Shaty and El-Wady, 
piled in masses, or heaps, extending in undulating- 
plains, and occasionally opening in small valleys 
with herbage and trees. 
7th. The sandy valleys of El-Wady, covered 
with forests of date-palms, through which peep a 
number of small villages. 
8th. The plateau of Mourzuk, consisting of shal- 
low valleys, ridges of lov/ sandstone hills, and naked 
flats, or plains, sometimes of sand, at others covered 
with pebbles and small stones. 
All these zones beyond the Atlas are visited by 
only occasional showers, or are entirely without rain, 
the vegetation depending upon irrigation from wells. 
I do not go into further detail on this subject, be- 
cause, although our line of route was new, this stretch 
of country is tolerably well known to the geogra- 
phical reader. 
I have omitted to mention, or to lay much stress 
