nes8^|| which impede * all approach to the céotrQ&ff Africa,
lying between the ti-opic&parid-'Só situated, that the ea^fe wind
reaches them-after traversing the1 burning?plains of Ajan and
Zanzibar, are, of all parts of the earth, scorched by the most
intolerable heats; by them the tabledand is surrounded as by
a.seafiof fire. The central region itself is 'ndt'a tegnlat c
vex,- but a vast aggregate of ihountains, consisting- of numerous
parallel chains, whencé rivers? escape- by longitudinal
valleys; but the quantity of waters which flow through the
channels of the Guama and the Zaire is- so Small in propórf.
tion to a surface 200 leagues in breadth, as to afford" sttbhg
ground; for an opinion, that the intëriómof Africa ^ th in s
great lakes, ora mediterranean sea, which must be situatefebei'
tween the equator and the 10° of southern latitude. WitH^kb
gular precision, this author proceeds to trace out the direction
of rays issuing on every side from the central nucleus;
form nine chains, according to Lacépède,, which proceed to-
wards different; quarters, and send forth the- waterS^df ^the
Zambesi, the, rivers of Zanzibar, those which flow into the
straits of Babelmandeb, the Nile, the Nigêr; iKfe-^amhoens,
the Zaire, and the rivers of Loanda and Cape N ^ ^ S
Malte-Brun, whose work is vast in details, but sfilflewhat
defective in generalisation, doubts the exist&ïcép ór at lWi?'
the continuity, of the system of central-mountainsröfVhièïJ”
Lacépède attempted so ambitiously to describe thff wMe:
aggregate and thé particular parts. A more Accurate analysis
óf the facts really known, and an estimate of probabilities
drawn from a careful comparison of these facts with the phenomena
discoverable in other regions, led Professor Ritter to
adopt a modification of Lacépède^ opinion. According ;tö;
Ritter, central Africa is a highland region bounded on each'
side by chains of mountains. The form and structure ascribed
to this region may, perhaps, be mosf easily understood, though
Ritter has not happened to select this particular analogy, by
comparing it to the Indian peninsula: the wide valley of the
Niger and. the low, marshy plains of Wangarra and Baghermi
lie before the northern boundary of the plateau, as the valleys
of the Jumna and the Ganges Skirt the highlands of Hindustan
on the same quarter, and chains of mountains extend on each
side .ofi Africa^nearly« paralkl^xtheteastern and western coasts,
along w h i c h - t h e i r <#prsetat various distances from
th%] ' s laQ^ 4 i ; . th e southern. extremity, as in India the
^■site-rn and$%fef|^esf e-riy^érhatiis ^descending on each’side of
the Daechn>r#óiaï^%JN Hindfisitfah-towafês' Gape Comorin,
j|epaiiaijte{i^^o^v|*Cj^0Ê^e^^^Malabar and>Gbr©mandel fïOÉi
the highjplairi ,of|the Ifefeïremarked by Ritter, that
thórh-igh tabl^and«'|@fi’Africa* is traversed! by no" great iriver.
Then Wflej andvfhe^ J^lka^pre ‘insignificant, when compared
with the vast .streams which dië^ènd^fro®''the, steppes of
central Asiafi, It musf be infeiféd, either that snow and rain
faJLkin but small quantities, in thé interior; orfhat the'heights
.regiion f Qontailhsgreat -lakes which absorb the
running waters. If thef^rmer b^'the'se^suppósitions be*cofc-
r§ct,i it n|s> plain that.-., the^ .elevation ;©f the»mountains in this
coptioentH must he much inferior .to fhfe ‘height ©fi the great
Himmalaya;. ^
(^Section I ^ f ^-Lowlands of Africamg
. The low countries of Africa, which expend along \tjie northern
margiju of .the central highlands ,and ; reach northward to
the borders of Atlas^ andy'in some parts, to |f è Mediterranean
eoas%/are"partly fertile valleys\p^plains watted, by streams
falling from the mouiitams, and, in greatpart, a vast ocean of
sand. The fertile plains are in the immediate vicinity of the
mountain-chains, which supply, them with rivers, the-sources
of vegetation.. They are,s principally the extensive region
watered by the Niger, and other streams in the same latitude,
reaching from east -fo west across half the continent,
and the Biledulgerid, or Land of Dates, which has been compared
to a verdant zone extending along the southern border
of the greater Atlas, j Between these fertile tracts, which are its
boundaries both on the north and south, the Sahara-bela-ma,
or the great Dry Ocean of Africa, stretches from east ta.west.
It is a vast region of sand, traversed by chains of rocky
mountains, a sterile and desolate: wilderness, interspersed
however by innumerable oases, or islands of verdure, which