the ocean, Gape Ger, the Mous Barca of Polybius, cutting
off Lower Souse and Tarudant.* This part of Atlantica is occupied
by warlike tribes of Shelahs, some of whom still
preserve their independence. From the promontory of Ger,
already known in the time of Hanno, begin the low, sandy
plains of Sahara : the neighbouring gulf of Agadir is termed by
the Arabs, Bab-Soudan, or the Gate of the Country, of Blacks.
SecondlyyThe- lesser Atlas reaches, according to Strabo, from
Cape Kotes, near Gibraltar, parallel to the. coast as far. as the
Syrtis. The lower littoral chain, which is often described as
the Lesser Atlas, is but a part of it. " The higher lands of the
interior, eastward of Algiers, bend towards the south from the
chain of Jurjura, and form, in the interior of Tunis, the mountains
of Wellad-Selim, of Auress, and of Tipasa. To this chain
belongs Cape Ceuta, termed, by the Berbers, Jibbel-d’-Zatute,
or the Mountain of Monkeys. Thirdly, the Middle Atlas,, or
the table-land, consists of highlands and ranges of hills in the
jnterior, which run between, and parallel to the> greater and
lesser Atlantic chains. They form a wide, mountainous region,
intersected by valleys and rivers, rising more and more in the
form of terrasses towards the higher Atlas, and preserving, a
temperate climate, which Edrisi reckoned as the finest in ; the
world by its fertility and the greatness of its population. The
heights and valleys support vast forests of pine and oak, and
the magnificent oleander. The vegetation. of the . Atlantic
region in general bears a near relation to that of southern
Europe; The maritime tract of the Algerine country displays
nearly the same vegetable forms as the coast of Andalusia
and Valencia. The olive, the orange-tree, the arborescent
ricinus, the ehamærops humilis, and the date-tree flourish on
both sides of the Mediterranean ; and, when the warmer sun
of northern Africa produces different species, they are generally
belonging to thé same families as the European tribes.T
* Ritter, Erdkunde, loc. cit.
•f* Flora Atlantica de M. Desfontaines. Voyage dans la Régence d’Alger et Description
du Pays, &c. Par M. Rozet, Capitaine, &c. Ingénieur-Géographe.
Balbi, Abrégé de Géographie. De CandoUe, Géographie Botanique, Diet, des
Sciences Hat.
. Even further to the eastward, the hills of the Cyrenaica exhibit a similar analogy
in their vegetation to the opposite coasts of the Mediterranean; and, in
SECTifif III.—Highlands of Central Africa.
The mountainous' region of .«Mitral Africa to the southward
of Sahara and* the countries watered:by the Niger still remains,
the “ terra incognita- t'èf the wori‘4^' The vast space
which intervenes- betweeivthe Bight of - Benin and the coast
jb# Ajan is the only* great track of'- the earth which has never
yet been exploredvby the-eyes of eirilried:men. In the failure
of actual knowledge, Some writers hawenribavoared, by conjectures
drawn from other; parts iôfôSrh.eîwOTld ifi Similar géor
graphical positions, and by the observation -phenomena
discovered in the neighbouring ' lands) -to form to thêihséîvës
an id eu-of whâtexists' in the unknown centre of Africa,'1 Buffon
imagined that-region'to '’0ontain: gfek#«40tigitudinal chains of
mountains, apd conjectured’- their g^nerri-GOurtee and’ elevation
in.aceôrdanfce with his theory of the earth: Lacépèd^with
much greater pretension to accuracy,Uttehiptedto lay downOvfen
the numbhrliand* the particular direction of th’éfeb*mOuntain-
cha'ipfè-and to ascertain the extént ànd' limit -of STgrefet Tableland,
of which he supposed the interior ofdthe AfrictÉ#è‘ëlÈti-
, neuf to consist.* Accordingto-'Lacépèdè^thodiigh plateau extends
from the^2bf~of -south eririatitudfe? to thb 10° on this side
of the eqhatox; its length is upwards of • b@®Klb&|^feSy. or equal
to the breadth-of Europe from the port of Brest to the near-
'-plst land in Asia; it is supported by numerous ranges of hills,
situated nearly in the direction of tie axis5 of the plateau;
which, inclined toward the west, forms, with the equator, an
angle of nearly 60° ; ' the outline of its? configuration's tracèd
by the agréât waters which descend-from it on every sidé. Iii
some parts it approaches the sea-coast ; in others, its boundaries
are environed by vaSt deserts of sand. -These wilder-
Egypt, though possessing some peculiar plants,. scientific travellers have been
surprised at the want of any striking and characteristic physiognomy distinguishing
the vegetable tribes of'that country^ See.Ehrenberg & Hemprich, Reisen in
Aegypten, Dybien, Nubien,' und Dongola, 1 B. 154 s. I
.* Mémoire sur le Grand Plateau de- l ’intérieure de l’Afrique. Annales du
Mus. d’Hist. Naturelle. .'Pome vi. Par Dacépède.