Yet well has Nature kept the truth A few brief years shall pass away And I shall sleep-and on thy side, Children their early sports shall try, But thou, unchanged from year to year, THE GEOGRAPHY OF AFRICA.*-BANNING. 1. In its general outline, Africa presents the form of a vast triangle, especially if we include the peninsula of Arabia, which is a natural dependency of it. Since the Isthmus of Suez has given place to a canal of seventysix miles in length, it has become an entirely separated island. Its greatest vertical length, from Cape Blanco1 to Cape Agulhas, is 4,809 miles; its greatest breadth, from Cape Verdes to Cape Guardafui, 4,674 miles; its total superficial measurement is nearly 18,000,000 of square miles. 2. A simple glance at the map of this continent immediately shows one of the most prominent characteristics of its conformation. The contour of the African coast follows straight lines. It has no deep indentations, except the Syrtes' on the north, and the Gulf of Guinea on the west, and these gulfs themselves have no spacious healthy bays. The seaboard of Africa is, in proportion, three times less extensive than that of Europe. If we add to this characteristic, the elevation of the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the coast, and nearly always parallel to it, it is easy to recognize the causes of the long isolation of Africa. 3. Draw along the eastern shore of South America a chain of mountains parallel to the Andes, and the physical conditions of Africa are immediately reproduced: the low marshy coast, at unequal distances, but always near the ocean; a vast central plateau traversed by numerous depressions, sometimes transverse, sometimes following the direction of the range; water-courses, sometimes insignificant, like those of Algeria, Morocco, *This le son ought to be read with constant reference to the map of Africa. and the Cape; sometimes singularly imposing and extensive, but reaching the sea only by a succession of cataracts which present extreme difficulties to navigation. 6 4. The Nile is the king of the rivers of the terrestrial globe. The distance in a straight line from its sources to its mouth is 2,340 miles, which supposes a real length, exceeding that of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Amazon. According to the calculations of Schweinfurth, its fluvial basin' extends over a surface of 4,956,000 square miles; the basin of the Amazon measures no more than 4,200,000; that of the Mississippi scarcely exceeds 2,000,000 square miles. The source of this gigantic artery, Lake Victoria Nyanza, is itself an immense reservoir fed by numerous watercourses. Its height above the sea is 3,766 feet, and its surface measures 50,400 square miles-that is to say, an extent nearly triple that of Belgium. The Nile issues from the northern side of this basin, with a breadth of 393 feet, and descends by a series of falls into a second reservoir, the Albert Nyanza, but only traverses its northern part. 5. The Albert Nyanza, according to the most recent observations, is at an elevation of 2,198 feet above the level of the sea; it measures 139 miles in length, and from twenty-one to fifty-four in breadth. At its exit from this second lake, the river, which is there 1,443 feet broad, takes the name of the White Nile (Bahr-el-Abiad). It crosses an uneven country, and its bed is strewn with rocks, which, with the rapids, forbid all navigation. It receives a multitude of affluents, the principal of which are the Bahr-el-Gazal on the left, and the Sobat, which descends from the Abyssinian plateau, on the right. From Gondokoro, the Nile continues to be navigable: but here commences a marshy hollow, which, in the rainy season, converts this region into a vast lake covered with D impenetrable reeds. The putrid miasmas which rise from these submerged and hot lands, have made numerous victims amongst travellers and missionaries. 6. Beyond the point of junction with the Bahr-el-Gazal, the Nile takes its northward direction, but not without describing many curves. It is dotted with islets and floating masses of vegetation as far as Khartoom, where it receives the eastern branch which, under the name of the Blue Nile (Bahr-el-Asrak), brings it the rich tribute of the Abyssinian waters. Farther down, it is joined by another considerable affluent, the Athara or Takazze, also descending from the eastern plateau. The diluvian rains falling every year on these high grounds constitute the principal cause of the periodical rise of the Nile. The rich mud which fertilises the Egyptian Valley is a present from Abyssinia. 7. From Khartoom, the capital of the Egyptian Soudan, and the point of departure of the scientific expeditions which penetrate Africa from the north-east, the river flows northwards, describing vast curves across Nubia. The cataracts which occur again in this second half of its course as far as Assouan only partially interfere with navigation. At Cairo the Nile splits and throws itself into the Mediterranean by several branches, the principal of which are those of Damietta and Rosetta. 8. For length of course and volume of water the Congo takes rank with the Nile. Like it, it is a giant river at its mouth. It measures nearly six miles in breadth, and it is as much as 1,312 feet deep. Such is the force of the current that, at a distance of sixty miles out at sea, its waters are not entirely blended with those of the ocean, and at fifteen miles from the coast the water is quite fresh. The enormous outflow of the Congo (167,000 cubic feet per second) supposes a basin of extreme abundance. course was only known as far as Yellali, but the wonderful voyage of Stanley has now traced it from its source to the ocean. Until recent times, its lower 9. Livingstone discovered in the heart of Central Africa, and ascertained, the sources of the River Lualaba, which Stanley has since shown to be the upper course of the Congo. This river, which, under the name of Chambeze, descends from the western slope of the plateau of Lobisa, traverses a series of great lakes, the Bangweolo, the Moero, and the Kamolondo, in stages one above the other, and fed by numerous streams. The region surrounding them is one of excessive humidity, and has been compared to a sponge constantly charged with water. At every two or three miles Livingstone had to cross a river. At Nyangwe, the northernmost point reached by this traveller, and beyond which Cameron was not able to penetrate, the Lualaba, after a course of more than 180 miles, presents a breadth of from 5,250 to 5,905 feet, and a depth of from nine to thirteen feet. The number of its affluents is considerable; the most important of all, perhaps, being the Lukuga, discovered by Cameron. The vast reservoir of Tanganyika, the first of the great lakes encountered by Burton and Speke in their expedition of 1858, at an elevation of 2,710 feet, measures 402 miles in length, and from twelve to sixtysix miles in breadth, with 22,320 square miles of superficies. It is to this part of its basin that the two great affluents of Kassabi and Quango belong, the sources of which have been explored by Cameron. 10. The Zambesi, the entire examination of which remains one of Livingstone's great titles to glory, is the third of the colossal arteries which descend from Central Africa. The network of which its upper course |