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U>-t
i£ dlucT ^o :iv-y , 07 , S<^ I
l^ai&arti College Ubnxz
THE GIFT OF
GINN AND COMPANY
Iplack'd §lchool (Seographs.
3 2044 102 874 666
/
A GEOGRAPHY OF AFRICA.
BLACK'S SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY.
By Prop. L. W. LYDE, M.A., F.R.S.G.S.
In small Crown 8w, bound in cloth, la. 4d. per volume.
AFRICA. srdBdn. AUSTRALASIA & THE
AMERICA, NORTH. 2iidBdn. EAST INDIES.
AMERICA, SOUTH. todBdn. BRITISH EMPIRE. 5th BdD.
ASIA. srdiidiL BRITISH ISLES, ethsdn.
EUROPE. 5th Edition.
THE WORLD. 4th Edition. Pri^ 3a. 6d.
A SHORT COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY.
Second Edition.
In small Crown 8vo, bound in clothe price 3a.,
or interleaved for Noies^ price 4a.
ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY.
SmaU Crotrn 8vo, limp cloth, price Ad. net per volume.
AMERICA. BRITISH ISLES.
ASIA. EUROPE.
THE WORLD. 2nd Edition. Price la. 4d.
Also
ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY READERS.
SmaU Crown 8t'o, cloUiy IllustixUed, price la. 4d.
per volume.
No. IIL ENGLAND AND WALES.
rVft. BRITISH ISLES. Va. AFRICA.
IVb. EUROPE. Vb. ASIA.
IVc. BRITISH EMPIRE. Vc. THE AMERICAS.
A GEOGRAPHY OP
AFRICA
BY
LIONEL W. LYDE
PROFESSOR OF ECONOMIC OEOORAFHY IN UNIVSRiilTy COLLEGE, LONDON
THIRD EDITION
COMPLETING FOURTEEN THOUSAND
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1907
tckic/ ^itH?,o7.SH/
harva::d c^r.-''^ Li-.^rtf
\PR 11 1940
Firet Edition, published January, 18D9
Second Edition. September, 1004.
Third Edition, January, 1907.
X^/"
y^
PREFACE
In this Series I have tried to embody the experience
of a teacher and of an examlDer. This experience has
led me to several conclusions, which will, I believe,
be confirmed by most practical teachers who are in-
terested in Geography as a subject of real educational
value : —
1. That maps in text- books cannot generally be used directly
uith the text, as it is impracticable to have the book
open in more than one place at a time ; but that their
presence in the book leads to a regrettable neglect of
the Atlas.
2. That an excessive variety of type and other mechanical
devices for classification confuse the average pupil.
3. That most text books contain much which would be better
learned from the Atlas, or which is only an unnecessary
tax on the memory.
Consequently, this Series contains no maps and
little variety of type ; and I have intentionally avoided
mentioning, e,g. exact heights, distances or sizes, small
industries, and unimportant places. Wherever any
definite comparisons are made, they are intended only
for reference, and not to be learnt ; and comparisons
between the size of African and British cities have
been avoided, as the conditions of native life make
them only misleading.
L. W. L
CONTENTS
Introductory
<
FACE
I
SURROUKDINGS
•
3
Surface . . . .
1
7
Rivers and Lakes
4
15
Climate and Productions
1
1
26
North Africa . ,
1 1
34
Calms of Cancer . ,
t (
39
Sudan . . . ,
) <
42
Nile Region
• •
49
North-East Africa
> 1
65
East Africa
1 «
60
West Central Africa .
1 <
66
Zambesi Region .
» •
75
Calms of Capricorn
• 1
82
South Africa .
» 1
89
African Islands
1 1
98
Problem Paper .
■ <
105
Area of Principal Countries
■ 1
106
Population of Chief Towns
•
106
Index of Chief Subjects
■
107
Index of Chief Towns .
•
108
AFRICA.
Lesson 1. Introductory.
1. Africa is part of the ** Old World," and was the
scene of some of the earliest civilisations ; but it has
been so little known until within the last twenty
years that it is appropriately called ''The Dark
Continent."
(1) Its geographical conditions have been a tremendous
obstacle to its exploration.
(2) All its natives are more or less dark-skinned, and it
is the home of the Black Man.
(3) It is shrouded in moral darkness ; for it is the land of
the slave-dealer, the fetich, and the human sacrifice.
2. Many of the chief features of the continent
were known to Ptolemy (a.d. 150) and even to
Herodotus (b.g. 450), and the Portuguese pioneers
paved the way for further knowledge by their dis-
covery and partial settlement of the Cape at the
end of the fifteenth century.
(1) Bartholomew Diaz discovered the Cape of Good Hope —
or Cape of Storms, as he caUed it — in 1486, and Yasoo
de Gama discovered the Cape route to India in 1497.
Cf . p. 6.
H.B. — The number of islands and bays called after saints is due to
the good old custom of giving to places the names of the saints on
whose festivals they were oiscovered. Of. the coast of South America.
A
2 AFRICA
3. The scientific exploration was begun by Bruce
towards the end of the eighteenth century by his
famous expedition to the sources of the Blue Nile,
and falls roughly into three epochs —
(1) The Niger problem, with which are associated the names
of Mungo Park and Clapperton (1778-1830);
(2) The Nile and Zambesi problems, associated specially
with the names of Livingstone, Burton, Speke, and
Baker (1860-1862);
(3) The Congo problem, solved by Stanley in a single
journey (1874-77).
N,B, — The northern and southern portions of Equatorial Africa
became connected with each other through (2), and the eastern and
western portions through (3).
4. The non-European population belongs mainly to
one of two races, the White and the Black, but there
are at least two sub-divisions of each race.
(1) The White men are either Semitic or Hamitic, the
former {e,g, Arabs and Abyssinians) being * foreigners,'
while the latter {e.g, Berbers and Tuaregs, Masai and
Somalis) are * natives,' %,e. an earlier population than
the Semites.
(2) The Black men are either Sudanese, i.e, pure or ' black '
Negroes {B,g. Hausas and Denkas), or Bantus, t^«. mixed
or * brown ' Negroes {e.g, Zulus and Mashonas).
(3) The south-west area contains in the Hottentots and
Bushmen probably 'yellow' Negro races, and the
Hottentots are certainly of Bushman-Bantu descent ;
but perhaps the stunted Bushmen and their kinsmen of
the Congo Forests, the * Akka ' Dwarfs, represent an
aboriginal population which was driven into the forests
and the Kalahari Desert by 'stronger intruders,
especially the Zulu-Kafir peoples.
JV.B.— The dividing line between White and Black is ronghlv the north
or Saharan edge of the Beled-es-Sudan (* Land of the Blacks % and that
between Negro and Bantu is roughly the south or peninsular edge of th9
Sudan.
SURROUNDINGS 3
SUEEOUNDINGS.
Lesson 2. General Sarroandings.
1. Africa is surrounded by sea everywhere, which
ought to have a very beneficial effect on its climate,
commerce, and defence.
(1) It ought to make the climate more moist, and therefore
more even, than it would otherwise be ; but much
will depend on the character of the surrounding sea,
the direction of the prevailing winds, and the size
and position of anj mountaina
(2) It ought to tempt the inhabitants into various sea in-
dustries, such as lead on to ocean traffic.
(3) It ought to protect them from the wars and pestilences
of other continents.
2. Africa has, however, less benefit from its sur-
roundings than any other continent on the face of
the earth.
(1) Its coast has very few commercial advantages.
(2) The Bed Sea is very narrow, and has little or no
effect on the climate.
(3) The latitude largely counteracts the few advantages
which do exist
3. Africa has less coast-line in proportion to its
size than any other continent.
(1) For instance, North America has twice, and Europe has
three times, as much in proportion to their size.
Indeed, Europe has actually some 3000 miles more
coast than Africa, though the latter is three times
as large as the former.
4 AFRICA
4. The reason for this is the extraordinary simplicity
of its outline, which entirely prevents the interior of
the continent from enjoying either the commercial or
the climatic advantages of the sea.
(1) The double Sidra-Gkibes and Beniu-Biafra gulfs are really
not exceptions to this, nor are the isolated inlets such
as Dekgoa Bay, Walvisch Bay, and False Bay.
(2) The Sidra-Gabes recess, the ancient Syrtes or quicksands,
has almost no value for commerce, and is backed by
the Sahara. Gf. p. 37, § 6 (1).
(3) The division of the Gulf of Guinea into two is merely a
nominal division caused by the protrusion of the Niger
Delta.
5. The want of bays, gulfs, and inland seas, is
not the only disadvantage of the coast; disease and
deserts are still more formidable.
(1) For hundreds of miles along the west coast north of
Cape Blanco, and along the east coast between Cape
Guardafui and Suez, the shore breaks immediately on
to desert.
(2) For hundreds of miles along the west coast between
Cape Verde and Cape Frio, and along the east coast
north of Cape Corieutes, the flat marshy shore is a
hot-bed of disease and death.
•
(3) Where climate and coast are most favourable, as in the
extreme south-west and the extreme north-west, com-
munication inland is seriously hampered by mountains,
e.g. the Atlas.
(4) At the other two points where Africa comes nearest to
its neighbours, the Isthmus of Suez and the Bab-el-
Mandeb Straits, it faces only desert
(6) These two points, however, like the Straits of Gibraltar,
mark the natural connection of Africa with the Old
SURROUNDINGS 5
World; for, while the Mediterranean and the Red
Sea are comparatiyely shallow and narrow, broad and
deep oceans wash Africa everywhere else.
Jf.B.— The Straits of Gibraltar are 8 miles wide, and the Bab-el-
Mandeb are 20 miles.
6. The coast of Africa is also remarkably deficient
in islands ; and those which really belong to the con-
tinent are of little value.
(1) The only large island is Madagascar, which is separated
from the mainland by the 250 miles of the deep
Mozambique Channel.
(2) The small islands, almost all of which are of volcanic
origin, are either in groups — the Canary, Cape Verde,
and Comoro Islands — or isolated, like Ascension, St.
Helena, and Sokotra.
(3) There are a number of islets along the coast of the Red
Sea ; but the only important African islands that are
really continental are Sokotra, Fernando Po, and
Zanzibar. The distance from the mainland and the
depth of the intervening sea make even the Canaries
really oceanic islands, and the Azores and Mascarenhas
have practically nothing to do with Africa at all.
N,B. — These outlying islands were, however, of very great use to the
early explorers as bases of operations.
7. Again, the winds and currents are not very
favourable; the most regular winds blow on the
Atlantic over a cold 'current and away from land,
while the winds that blow landward over warm cur-
rents (especially the Mozambique current) are the
least regular.
(1) Off the west coast there is the cold Benguela current,
and the westward course of the Trades carries them
seaward towards the Equator ; but, even if they blew
shoreward, they would carry very little moisture off
the cold current.
6 AFRICA
(2) Off the east coast both the northward and the southward
currents are warm, and the westward course of the
Trades does carry them shoreward; but the S.K
Trades are terriblj checked by the great height and
length of the Madagascar Mountains, and the N.E.
Trades blow for only half the year.
(3) In summer the intense heat of the Sahara draws the
'Etesian' winds inland from the Mediterranean, and
S.W. monsoons inland from the Gulf of Guinea ; but
the Mediterranean is too narrow to saturate any winds
that pass over it, and the monsoons blow off the cold
Benguela current.
N,B, — ^It is the meeting of this oold current with the warm Agulhu
current that causes the frequent fogs and storms off the Cape of Good
Hope, which was originally called the Cape of Storms. Cf. p. 1, § 2 (1).
SURFACE
SUEFACE.
Lesson 3. Oeneral Surface.
1. Africa is an enormous plateau divided into two
parts by the Equator, very much as India is divided
by the Tropic of Cancer.
(1) As in India, the shape of the country makes the northern
part larger than the southern.
(2) As in India, too, the northern part is an obloDg run-
ning east and west, and the southern part is a triangle
running north and south.
(3) As in India, again, the northern or continental part is
lower, drier, and hotter than the southern or penin-
sular part.
2. Not only is the whole continent an enormous
plateau, but it is essentially a continent of plateaus
(1) There are no huge low plains or high mountain ranges
like those of Asia and America, but the whole mass
has a more or less uniformly high level, rising sud-
denly from the coast in terraces to a saucer-shaped
depression inland.
(2) The plateaus are higher in the east than in the west^
reaching in Kilima Njaro and Kenia a height of
18,000 to 19,000 feet, i.e. half a dozen times as high
as Helv^elljn or Ben Lomond.
(3) This eastern ridge of the plateau consists mainly of
very old rock, and may be called the backbone of
the continent.
3. As has been said, the north is lower, drier,
and hotter than the south.
8 AFRICA
• _
(1) The isolated Atlas Mountains. in the north-west rise to
a height of 12,000 to 14,000 feet, i.e, four times as
high as HelvellTn or Ben Lomond ; but elsewhere the
plateau level is broken onlj bj a few comparativelj
low ranges running across it from the south.
(2) The most important of these low ranges are the Tibesti,
which runs up to the oasis of Ghat — the ranges which
skirt the Bed Sea — and those which shut in the two
banks of the Niger.
(3) Shut in between the Atlas and these spurs from the
southern plateau is the huge Sahara Desert, which
is verj nearly as large as Europe ; and in the south
between the two central spurs, where the desert
merges in the narrower and better- watered peninsula,
there is the inland basin of Lake Chad.
4. The longest slope of the southern half, like
that of the northern, is from the south-east down to
the north-west; but such a huge mass can hardly
be expected to have a single general slope.
(1) The Kamerun, like the Atlas, is an isolated height in
the north-west
(2) The Zambesi, like the Niger, empties towards the
south-east.
(3) The water-parting between the Congo and the Zambesi
is as yague as that between the Nile and the
SharL
6. The eastern portion of the peninsula is, how-
ever, distinctly the higher, and has a very marked
character.
(1) Its highest ridge runs almost due north and south, fol-
lowing a line of volcanoes, extinct and active, the
chief peaks of which are those of Kilima Njaro and
Kenia ; and there is a similar ridge farther west, the
highest peak of which is Ruwenzori (16,700 feet).
SURFACE 9
(2) Between each ridge and the general surface of the inter-
vening plateau there is a corresponding line of deep
valley, which is even continued beyond the Bed Sea
in the Gulf of Akaba and the Jordan valley.
(3) The whole area between the ridges is full of lakes,
some of which are broad, like the Sea of Galilee,
e,g. Victoria Nyanza and Lake Tsana, while others
are long and narrow, like the Dead Sea, e,g. Lake
Nyasa and Lake Tanganyika.
6. The western half of the peninsula is almost
entirely occupied by the huge basin of the Congo.
(1) This basin, like that of Lake Chad, is one of the t3rpical
saucer-shaped depressions of Africa ; and it is enclosed
almost everywhere by the typical plateau rim.
(2) The basin extends on both sides of the Equator, and
owes its volume of water partly to the narrowness
of the peninsula in the latitude of Zanzibar, i,e, the
point to which the N.E. Trades reach in winter.
Of. p. la
(3) From the southern limit of the basin the plateau-level
extends practically to the south of the continent.
7. The presence of mountains on or near the edge
of the plateau has greatly affected both climate and
inland communication.
(1) All the rivers are spoilt by cataracts, many also by
steep banks.
(2) All the mountains have comparatively heavy rainfall
on their seaward slopes, and prevent rain from being
carried inland.
(3) The difficulties of river navigation increase the need for
railways, to the construction of which the mountain
rim is a great obstacle.
N.B. — The coastal strip is very seldom more than 300 miles in
width, and generally very much less*
10 AFRICA
Lesson 4. Mountains (1).
1. There are throe distinct mountain systems in
Africa — ^the East Coast, the West Coast, and the
Atlas.
(1) Like the mountains ot Australia, they all run along
the coast.
(2) Like the Australian mountains, too, they rise abruptly
from the coast and break off inland on to great
plateaus.
(3) And like the Australian mountains, again, but unlike
the mountains of the rest of the Old World, they run
north and south, not east and west.
2. The Atlas Mountains fill up the whole of
North-west Africa between the ocean and the desert,
from the mouth of the Draa to Cape Bon.
(1) Like the other African systems, the Atlas rises abruptly
from the sea, and sinks gradually inland — to the
plateau of the Sahara.
(2) Like the East Equatorial Eauge, it runs in parallel lines
with lakes between.
(3) There are, howerer, some marked differences between its
western and eastern portions
3. The western portion, which is generally known
as the Great Atlas, is confined to Marocco, and is
a real mountain range.
(1) It is much the highest part of the whole system, having
for a considerable distance a height of from 10,000
to 13,000 feet. Cf. p. 16, N.B,
(2) The highest peaks, Aiashi and Tamjurt, are probably
over 14,000 feet, %.e. four times as high as SnowdoD.
MOUNTAINS 11
(8) It is thus a great obstacle to the passage of wet winds
inland ; and such winds as do penetrate through the
lower passes, e,g, the Telremt (about 7000 feet high),
have still to face the parallel chain of the Anti- Atlas.
4. The eastern portion, which extends through
Algeria and Tunis, is really a plateau with high but-
tresses along its northern and southern edges.
(1) The northern' buttress, or Maritime Atlas, is sometimes
included in the 'Tell' of Algeria, and is crossed by
some fertile valleys; it varies in height from about
7500 feet in the west, e,g, the Jurjura peaks, to
6000 in the east, e,g, the Setif peaks.
(2) The Haifa Steppe, or plateau between the two buttresses,
is covered with salt lakes called Shotts ; and similar
lakes occur again on the landward side of the southern
buttress, or Saharan Atlas, which is even higher
than the northern one.
(3) In Tunis the plateau gradually sinks eastward until
only the two buttresses remain in the capes of Blanco
and Bon.
5. The West Coast liange consists of three detached
and discontinuous sections — the Southern, the Central,
and the Northern.
(1) The Northern section consists of the Futa-Jallon High-
lands, which are simply the steep face or buttress of
the plateau — so steep that from the sea they have
the appearance of a mountain range, though they are
no higher than Ben Nevis.
(2) The Southern section consists of the Lower Guinea High-
lands, of which the Serra do Crystal is the most
marked ; and these, like the Northern, are simply the
steep outer edge or escarpment of the plateau, though
they are a little higher than the Northern.
12 AFRICA
(3) Mount Kamerun is an isolated peak, 13,000 feet high,
and belongs to a volcanic chain, the other summits
of which appear as islands, e.g, Fernando Po, Prince's
Island, St Thomas. Of. p. 104.
Lesson 6. Mountains (2).
1. The East Coast Bange is by far the most im-
portant; it consists, like the West Coast Bange,
of three detached and discontinuous sections — ^the
Southern, the Central, and the Northern.
(1) The Southern section runs from Cape Town to the
Limpopo under yarious names, e.g. Nieuw-veld,
Sneeuw-Berge, Storm-Berge, Draken-Berge ; and it
varies in height from about 6000 feet in the Nieuw-
veld to nearly 8000 feet in the Sneeuw-Berge
(Compass Berg = 7800), and about 11,000 feet in the
Draken-Berge (Mont auz Sources, 11,150 feet).
(2) The Central section consists of the eastern buttresses of
the East Equatorial plateau, and its characteristic
feature is the series of huge volcanic peaks which
overlook the Great Lakes at a height of 16,000 to
19,000 feet^ e,g. Buwenzori, Kilima Njaro, and Kenia.
(3) The Northern or Abyssinian section has no peaks above
16,000 feet, but no other equal area in Africa has
such a great average height as Abyssinia. Cf. Tibet.
2. The longest and most important part of the
Southern system is the Draken-Berge, which cuts off
from the sea the great pastoral plateau of the Transvaal
and Orange Biver Colonies ; but the broadest part is
the triple range which runs through Cape Colony, and
contains the pastoral plateau of the Great Karroo.
(I) The whole system rises abruptly from the coast, and
sinks gradually inland ; and the height of the moun-
MOUNTAINS 13
tains and their nearness to the sea canse the precipita-
tion of rain to be very sudden and violent on the
seaward slopes. Cf. p. 15, § 2 (3).
(2) Consequently, the seaward rivers, e.g. the Tugela and
the Gamtoos, compared with the inland rivers, e.g.
the Orange and the Vaal, are short and rapid and
subject to sudden and dangerous floods ; and the most
important of each class, the Orange and the Tugela,
rise on opposite sides of the crest of the system in
Mont auz Sources and Mount CSathkin.
(3) As the system is not strictly continuous, the gaps have
been extremely useful for communication inland.
For instance, the main line of rail from CSape Town
to Eimberley and Bulawayo creeps between the Nieuw-
veld and the Sneeuw-Berge ; that from Durban and
Pietermaritzburg to Pretoria creeps between the
Draken-Berge proper and the Band-Berge.
3. The Central or East Equatorial section contains
the highest peaks on the continent and nearly all the
Great Lakes, and consists mainly of two parallel lines
of volcanic heights and lake-filled valleys.
(1) It stretches from the Zambesi to the borders of Abyssinia,
and is in the shape of a catapult ; the handle is the
Livingstone Mountains, the right fork extends along
the line of Ealima Njaro and Kenia, and the left fork
along the line of Mfumbiro and RuwenzorL
(2) On the east side the system rises in abrupt terraces from
the coastal plain, only to fall abruptly into the deep
trough marked by the long narrow lakes of Eyaasi,
Baringo, and Eudolf ; on the west side it rises much
more gradually, but only again to fall abruptly into
the deep trough marked by the long narrow lakes
of Rukwa, Tanganyika, and Albert Nyanza.
(3) Both troughs converge on the long narrow Nyasa, which
lies parallel to the catapult-handle of the Livingstone
U AFRICA
MountaiDB ; and the character of the ground between
them is marked by the broad Victoria Nyanza.
N,B, — Nyanza meana 'water.'
4. The Abyssinian system, like the other two
systems, rises abruptly from the coastal plain, and
falls gradually inland.
(1) The seaward face is in two terraces, the lower of which
is simply the precipitous outer edge of the plateau —
from 6000 to 8000 feet higL
(2) From the plateau itself the two mountain groups of
Simen and Gojam rise abruptly another 6000 feet,
and overhang the broad shallow trough marked by
Lake Tsana,
(3) As the snow-line in the latitude of Abyssinia is only
13,000 feet, the chief peaks, e.g. Has Dajan and Abba
Yared, are quite high enough to have reservoirs of
snow from which to feed the Abbara and Blue Nile
for at least eight months in the year.
N,B, — The line of mountains is continued northward at a much lower
height in the Coastal Range above the Red Sea.
RIVERS AND LAKES 15
EIVERS AND LAKES.
Lesson 6. Rivers (1).
1. The rivers of a continent have, of course, a very
close connection with its mountain systems.
(1) On the one hand, the distribution of the great land
masses is practically the key to the watersheds of the
continent.
(2) On the other hand, the course of the rivers is practically
the key to the general configuration of the land.
2. The African rivers fall into two classes — coastal
and continental
(1) The coastal rivers are those that rise on the steep seaward
slope of the huge plateau-formation of the continent ;
and, as the slope is almost everywhere very near to
the sea, they are generally too short and far too japid
for navigation.
(2) The continental rivers are those that rise on the land-
ward slope of the mountains which buttress the
plateau ; and, as this slope is almost everywhere very
slight, they are generally very much longer than the
coastal rivers, and extremely valuable for navigation.
(3) The nearness of their watershed to the sea causes the
coastal rivers also to flood so suddenly and violently
that they plough very deep channels, which greatly
lessens their value for irrigation ; and the difficulty
of cutting through the mountain rim to the sea causes
the continental rivers to be terribly obstructed by
falls and rapids.
3. The continental rivers may be subdivided into
two further classes — oceanic and inland; and this
subdivision depends more or less upon the character
of the watershed.
16 AFRICA
(1) The western watershed has a very much heavier rainfall
than any other part of the continent, and the eastern
practically monopolises the 'perpetual snow'; while the
centre of the continent has no snow and little rain.
(2) The only important inland basin is that of Lake Chad ;
and, of the important oceanic rivers, the Niger and
the Zambesi proper are entirely rain fed.
(3) The difficulty of cutting through the mountainous rim of
the plateau generally causes the oceanic rivers to make
a very circuitous course, like the Niger, or to empty
on the side of the continent opposite to their source,
like the Zambesi, or to do both, like the Congo.
4. The whole river system can, therefore, be arranged
under three oceanic and three inland drainage areas.
(1) The oceanic areas take their names from the Atlantic,
the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean, and the
inland areas from the Sahara, the Kalahari Desert,
and the Eastern Horn.
(2) The three oceanic areas, as represented by the Nile, the
Congo, and the Zambesi, all have their chief sources
in the narrowest part of tropical Africa, i.e, the only
part of the continent which has mountains over 15,000
feet high, and into which Trade Winds blow.
N.B.—A. few lofty peaks are, however, less important than a general
ridge elevation.
(3) In Africa, as in Europe and the Americas, the Atlantic
area is enormously the most important. Indeed, about
half the land in the whole world drains into the
Atlantic.
5. Not only is the Atlantic area by far the most
important, but it also has very typical rivers of each
kind. For instance:
(1) Outside the Tropics in the extreme north, the Draa is
a typical desert torrent, running dry except when the
snows on the Atlas are melting.
RIVERS 17
(2) Outside the Tropics in the extreme south, the Orange
is a typical semi-desert river; and, like the Nile, it
loses so much water by eyaporation and ^ibsorption
that it actually decreases in volume as it approaches
the sea.
(3) Between the Tropics there are hundreds of typical coastal
rivers, especially along the Grain and Ivory coasts.
(4) There are also, on the curious low plain of Senegambia,
the only real lowland rivers of Africa, the Senegal
and the Qambia.
(5) And round the Gulf of Guinea there are several rivers
which combine the features of both the coastal and
the continental types, e,g, the Volta, the Ogowe, and
the Kwanza.
Lesson 7. Bivers (2).
1. The four principal rivers of Africa are the
Congo, the Nile, the Niger, and the Zambesi.
(1) The Congo is the most important in every respect
except length ; and, in regard to the area of its
basin and the volume of its water, it is surpassed
by no other river in the world except the Amazon.
(2) The Nile, with its 4000 miles, is 1000 miles longer
than the Congo, and second only to the Mississippi-
Missouri amongst the rivers of the world.
(3) The Niger is nearly as long as the Congo, and comes
next to it amongst African rivers for volume of
water.
(4) The Zambesi is only half the length of the Nile, but
also ranks above it for volume.
2. The Congo, like the Amazon, has a large basin
which includes an area of constant equatorial rainfall.
(1) No other rivers in the world combine these two
advantages.
18 AFRICA
(2) In each case the great area of the basin ^ves room
for a huge number of tributaries.
(3) In each case, too, the constant heavy rainfall accounts
for the enormous volume of water. Cf. p. 9.
3. The Congo basin contains a wide depression
which stretches along the Equator for several hundred
miles west of the Stanley Falls, and is encircled by
a higher level of the great plateau.
(1) This depression is the bed of an old lake or inland
sea, the shores of which are represented by the rim
of the plateau ; and it was the tremendous weight
of the water thus enclosed that enabled the ' Congo '
to originally break through the rim on the west at
its lowest point.
(2) The rivers which originally fed this sea, now form a
number of parallel tributaries of the Congo ; and all
of them are obstructed by falls and rapids where
they tumble over the old shore rim.
(3) Thus the Kwaugo, Kassai, Lulua, Sankuru, and Lomami,
all run northward parallel to each other, and all are
obstructed by falls and rapids about latitude 5** S.
4. The Upper Congo is known by various names.
(1) The main stream, under the name of Chambezi, rises
south of Lake Tanganyika, and descends gradually to
the south-west, but is diverted into Lake Bangweolo
by the Lokinga Mountains.
(2) Issuing from Lake Bangweolo as the Luapula, it turns
due north, and passes through Lake Mwero to join
the Lualaba.
(3) Then it flows on north under the name of the Lualaba
to the important Arab mart of Nyangwe, where at
last it becomes the Congo.
5. The Middle Congo is a magnificent waterway
of nearly 2000 miles in length between Nyangwe
and Leopoldville.
RIVBRS 19
(1) Near Nyangwe it drops on to a great forest-clad plain,
and at once broadens out to about a mUe in width.
(2) Just on the Equator navigation is completely stopped
hj the Stanley Falls, where the river again drops to
a lower leveL
(3) From the Stanley Falls it makes a magnificent sweep
westward to Stanley Pool, crossing the Equator again
just aboTe its confluence with its great northern
tributary, the Mobangi.
6. Below Stanley Pool, in order to force its way
to the sea, the Lower Congo has to compress itself
into the winding channel of the Livingstone Sapids.
(1) Ocean vessels can navigate the 100 miles up to Yivi,
though most of them stop at Boma; and the 88
miles between Isaugila and Manyanga are navigable.
(2) The 50 miles from Yivi to Isangila is a series of boil-
ing cataracts, and the same is true of the 85 miles
from Manyanga to Leopoldville.
(3) The force of the current may be estimated from the
fact that the mud is carried out into the Atlantic
for 300 miles.
7. The most important part of the whole river is
the 1000 miles of unbroken navigation between
Stanley Falls and Stanley PooL
(1) Between these two points the river broadens out from
15 to 20 miles in width, and is joined by at least
twenty magnificent tributaries, including the Aru-
wimi from the dense forests below Mount BuwenzorL
(2) Consequently, about 7000 miles of waterway converge
on Stanley Pool, giving access in various directions
to an area a dozen times the size of Great Britain.
(3) The whole of this enormous area is rich in palm oil,
rubber, and ivory.
20 AFRICA
8. The Congo basin is practically confined to the
Congo State, which is therefore a natural whole, but
it has great facilities for trade beyond its own limits.
(1) In the south, the Kassai, which is navigable for 1000
miles, gives easy access to the Zambesi. Indeed,
Lake Dilolo sends streams into both rivers.
(2) In the north, the Mobangi- Welle, which is navigable
for 600 miles, gives easy access to the Nile and the
Southern Sudan.
(3) In the east, the Lukuga valley gives easy access to
Lake Tanganyika, one of the great trade areas of
the future.
Lesson 8. Rivers (3).
1. The Nile is the longest river in the Old World.
Its history is fascinating, and it has immense political
and commercial importance; but, simply as a river,
it cannot compare with the Congo.
(1) Egypt has been called Hhe gift of the River,' and the
name is significant of the part played by the Nile in
the history of the country.
(2) Politically, the Nile is the link between Egypt and
the Sudan, and its great eastward bend puts Berber
into direct political relation to Sudkin.
(3) Commercially, it is the one highway northwards from
the Equator to the Mediterranean ; its current is
always strong enough to carry a boat down stream,
and from April to October the Etesian gales blow
steadily up stream.
2. Like the Congo, the Nile has its source among
the lakes of the eastern plateau, and has two great
source streams.
RIVERS 21
(1) The Victoria Nyanza is just under, and Lake Bang-
weolo is just over, 4000 feet above the sea.
(2) The White or 'Clear' Nile, like the Lualaba, flows
northward from its very source, and unites all its
headwaters in Lake Albert, as the Lualaba does in
Lake Lanji
(3) The Blue or Muddj' Nile, like the Luapula, is the
eastern branch, and flows at first southward from
Lake Tsana, as the Luapula does from Lake Bang-
weolo.
3. Like the Congo, too, the Nile is terribly spoilt
by hostile climate and physical obstacles.
(1) The climatic difficulty, however, is desert, not fever-
haunted forest; and the obstacles are in the middle,
not the lower, course.
(2) For instance, in the 1500 miles between Alexandria
and Berber, where the Nile enters the desert, not
a single permanent tributary joins the river; and
between Khartum and Assuau there are as manj
. as six cataracts, which more or less hinder or actually
stop navigation.
(3) On the other liand, the Lower Nile provides 800 miles
of unbroken navigation outside the Tropics toward
the great markets of Europe ; and the fertilising
mud brought down by the Blue Nile and the Atbara
is deposited along the banks of the river instead of
being carried out to sea. Cf. p. 31.
4. The Niger rises in forest-clad hills quite close
to the Sierra Leone coast, and flows directly inland
for 1000 miles — to the latitude of Timbuktu and
the longitude of London — before the edge of the
Sahara plateau diverts it to the south-east.
(1) These hills have one of the heaviest rainfalls in Africa,
which accounts for the river's volume.
22 AFRICA
^ (2) The proximity of the desert^ as in the case of the Nile,
accounts for the deficiency of tributaries.
(3) The lowness of the watershed accounts for the compara-
tive absence of cataracts except near Babba, where
the river breaks through the West Ck)a8t Bange to the
sea.
5. The commercial and political importance of the
river is, therefore, immense.
(1) The main stream commands the Western Sudan, and
its Benu6 tributary commands the Central Sudan, as
the Nile commands the Eastern Sudan.
(2) It also commands a huge area of tropical forest^ which
must be of untold value, quite apart from the value
of the river itself as a highway of commerce.
(3) Consequently, the Niger, like the Nile, is the centre of
some very difficult political problems; and, like the
Congo, it will be the centre of an enormous and
most valuable trade.
6. The Zambesi has been called the 'Congo' of
the East Coast, and it certainly is much the most im-
portant river along the coast, especially to Europeans.
(1) Like the Congo, it flows right across the plateau ; it is
entirely within the Tropics; and the northern and
southern limits of its basin are very vague — streams
flowing indifferently and according to the season into
the Zambesi or into the Congo and Lake Ngami.
(2) Unlike the Congo, it flows eastward ; it has a much
larger proportion of its basin north of its course than
south of it; and the level is uniformly very high —
owing to the general slope of the African plateau
from east to west.
(3) This slope causes its chief central tributary, the Loangwa,
and all the tributaries from the Matoppo Hills, to
flow from the east, as the main stream itself does at
first, under the name of the Liba.
(4) The Zambesi gives easy access to the high-level lake
region, which is the healthiest part of Tropical Africa,
and therefore the part of most value to Europeans ;
and this region also connects the Zambesi with the
Nile, vid the Stevenson Boad and the Great Lakea
(6) The obstacles to navigation are mainlj, the silting up
and shifting of all the delta channels except the
Chind6, the dangerous rapids at the edge of the
plateau above Tete, the 60 miles of the Murchison
Eapids on the Shir6, and the wonderful Victoria Falls,
where a mile's width of water drops suddenly 400 feet
into a chink of 100 yards in width.
7. The Orange Biver and the Limpopo are not
much more than feeble caricatures of the Nile and
the Niger.
(1) The Orange Biver rises in two main streams amongst
the Draken-Berge heights, where the rainfall is abund-
ant, and flows right across the continent for 1200
miles; but it suffers so much loss of volume in the
desert that it would be practically useless for navi-
gation, even if its course were not broken by the
Great Anghrabies rapids and its mouth blocked by a
bar.
(2) The Limpopo rises on the famous Witwatersrand, and
empties near enough to the fine harbour of Delagoa
Bay for its 60 miles of navigable water to be very
useful for commerce ; but its chief use is as an india*
putable political boundary to the TransvaaL Like
the Niger, it makes a great curve back on itself, and
all its main tributaries drain the plateau within the
curve.
a AFRICA
Lesson 9. Lakes.
1. The African lakes are of two main classes —
those which have, and those which have not, any
permanent outlet.
(1) The former are fresb, and are generally connected with
one of the four great oceanic rivers ; ,tbe latter are
saline, and are generally connected with one of the
three large areas of inland drainage.
2. The saline lakes may again be divided into two
kinds.
(1) The larger, e,g. Lake Chad and Lake Ngami, are in the
heart of the continent along the tropic edge of the
Sahara and Kalaliari Deserts ; and, as they have
outlets when they are very full, their salinity varies.
(2) The smaller, e.g. Lake Rudolf and Shott Melrikr, are
along the outside rim of the general plateau, most
of them being along the Mediterranean and Red
Sea coast«.
(3) Both kinds vary immensely in size. For instance, in
the rainy season Lake Chad rises from 20 to 30 feet,
and expands into an inland sea as large as Switzerland
or Greece ; and its chief tributary, the Shari, becomes
a navigable waterway.
3. The fresh-water lakes are also subdivided into
two classes.
(1) All the most important, e.g, the Victoria Nyanza and
Iiake Tanganyika, lie along the continental axis of
the high eastern plateau, where they form large
reservoirs for the great rivers, especially the Nile.
(2) The less important ones, e.g, Stanley Pool and Lake
Delu, are simply expansions of the great rivers, and
are common in the Niger and Congo basins, where
they are very useful in regulating the currents and
controlling floods.
LAKES 25
(3) The former are evidently destined to plaj an important
part in any trans-continental trade route from north
to south, and the equatorial group are generally
called the Great Lakes.
4. The Great Lakes 'radiate' at various heights from
the Victoria Nyanza, which stands actually on the
Equator, at a height of nearly 4000 feet.
(1) In the Nile system, Lake Alhert Edward is 800 feet
lower than the Victoria Nyanza, and the Alhert
Nyanza is 800 feet lower than Lake Albert Edward.
(2) In the Congo and Zambesi systems, Lake Tanganyika
is 1300 feet lower than the Victoria Nyanza, and Lake
Nyasa is 1100 feet lower than Lake Tanganyika.
(3) The highest lake in Airica, however, is Lake Tsana,
from which the Blue Nile issuer nearly 2000 feet
higher than the White Nile issues from the Victoria
Nyanza; and Lake Bangweolo comes third.
5. By far the most important of these Great
Lakes are Victoria Nyanza, Tanganyika, and Nyasa.
(1) The Victoria Nyanza, the largest fresh -'water lake in
the world except Lake Superior, is nearly as large as
Scotland ; its circular basin is about 200 miles across,
and has gently sloping sides ; its chief feeder is the
Kagera, and its chief outlet is the Somerset Nile.
(2) Lake Tanganyika has not quite half the area of the
Victoria Nyanza, but it is the longest fresh-water
lake in the world ; it runs in a deep, steep-walled
trench for nearly 400 miles ; its chief feeder is the
Malagarazi, and any surplus waters escape into the
Congo tna the Lukuga.
(3) Lake Nyasa, which is similar to Lake Tanganyika both
in shape and shores, though smaller, is still twice
• the size of Lake Ladoga (= Wales); it is joined to
Lake Tanganyika by the famous Stevenson Boad, and
discharges its surplus into the Zambesi, via the Shir6.
26 AFRICA
CLIMATE AND PEODUCTIONa
Lesson 10. Olimate.
1. Africa extends over 70° of latitude, i.e. twice
as many as Europa
(1) Tunis is in the latitude of Tokio, and Algeria in that of
North Carolina; Cape Town is in about the same
latitude as Buenos Aires, and Natal is in the same
as New South Wales.
2. The size of the continent is, therefore, so enor-
mous that there must be great differences of climate ;
but so much of the surface is within the Tropics
that the actual heat of the sun does not vary
greatly, and the main differences are due to height
and moisture.
(1) Owing to the shape of the country, much more land
falls within the Tropics in the north than in the
south.
(2) The continental northern area is, therefore, both hotter
and drier than the peninsular southern area.
(3) The proximity of Europe and Asia further increases the
drought and the heat in the north, while the greater
height of the south diminishes both.
3. The word climate means 'slope,' and the slope
has a great effect on what we call ' climate.'
(1) The heat of the sun's rays varies with tlie angle at
which they fall upon the earth — a direct ray being
warmer than an indirect one, both because it Tx)yer8
less ground and because it comes through less atmo-
sphere.
CLIMATB 27
(2) The best Algerian grapes are grown on slopes that look
southward, while the best Cape grapes are grown on
slopes that look northward ; and, generally, the extreme
north and the extreme south of the continent owe
their temperate climate partly to the fact that they
slope away from the sun.
4. Height itself, of course, affects temperature very
much whatever the slope.
(1) Very few areas of the continent north of the Equator
have an average temperature of less than 70% while
very few areas south of the Equator have an average
of more than 80".
(2) Euwenzori and Kenia, though practically on the
Equator, are covered with perpetual snow for 2000 or
3000 feet downwards from their summits ; and all
the Abyssinian peaks which are above 13,000 feet
are snow-capped.
(3) There are belts of vegetation up the sides of all these
mountains, changing with the height— from indigo-
beds and coffee-plantations to fields of wheat and
barley, and then on to forests, strips of bamboo, and,
lastly, 'Alpine' grasses.
5. The moisture depends mainly on the distance
from large areas of water, the direction of the pre-
vailing winds, and the presence of a condensing
medium.
(1) Besides providing vapour for rain, these large areas of
water equalise the temperature of summer and winter
and of day and night, and prevent sudden changes.
(2) The average rainfall on the seaward slopes of the Niger
watershed is over 100 inches a year, while at Tim-
buktu it is under 10 inches.
(3) The dii¥erence between the hottest and the coldest
months and between night and day is enormously
greater in the Sahara, €,g, in Tuat or Kufra, than
28 AFRICA
along the coast, e,g, at Sierra Leone or Mombasa;
and the extremes generally are much greater through-
out the continental north than in the peninsula.
(4) Bagamoyo, to which the Trade Winds blow off the
Indian Ocean, has four times as much rain as Loanda,
from which the Trade Winds blow on to the Atlantic.
(6) The forests of the Congo basin, themselves caused by
the heavy rainfall, attract clouds and increase the
rainfall; the sandy Sahara, itself caused by the want
of rain, tends to evaporate rather than to precipitate
moisture.
G. The particular amount of moisture carried in-
land depends mainly on the character of the winds.
(1) The Trade Winds, of course, blow only to the east
coast and practically within the Tropics ; the N.K
Trades deposit about 100 inches of rain every year
at Mombasa, and the S.E. Trades deposit a similar
amount at Tamatave—both blowing off a very warm
ocean.
(2) The Anti-Trades, on the other hand, can blow only to
the west coast and outside the Tropics, and there-
fore 'they can reach only the north-west and south-
west comers of the country ; the south-westers deposit
50 inches of rain in parts of Marocco, and the north-
westers do the same behind Cape Town, but both are
prevented by mountains, e.g. the Atlas and Table
Mountain, from penetrating inland.
(3) The great heat of the Sahara in summer causes a S.W.
monsoon to blow inland off the Gulf of Guinea; but
the latter is not nearly so warm, and therefore does
not evaporate nearly so much water, as the Indian
Ocean. There is also a S.E. monsoon in summer off
the Bed Sea.
(4) As each Tropic in turn is for half the year the centre
of a belt of calms, no regular supplies of moisture can
CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS 29
be carried to it during that half ; and, therefore, the
one Tropic is marked by the Sahara, and the other
by the Kalahari Desert. Cf. the Australian and
Chile Deserts.
(5) The narrow triangular peninsula naturally gets a much
larger proportion of rain than the broad continental
oblong, and therefore has much more forest and much
less desert For the same reason it is also much more
unhealthy except up on the plateaus.
7. The west coast of the peninsula gets much less
rain than the east coast, partly because the regular
winds blow off shore, and partly because the cold
Benguela current evaporates very slowly.
(1) Inhambane gets seven or eight times as much rain off
the warm Mozambique current as Walvisch Bay gets
off the cold Benguela current, though at neither place
are there regular winds blowing landwards.
(2) Owing to the same cause, the average temperature of
Walvisch Bay is 10"* colder than that of Inhambaue,
and the average temperature of Benguela is about 20**
colder than that of Mozambique.
(3) Where cold and warm currents meet, as off Gape Agulhas,
*The Needles,' there are constant fogs. Cf. the New-
foundland Banks and the MalstrOm.
Lesson 11. Frodnctions.
1. The vegetation, of course, depends on soil and
climate ; and it may be roughly classified as temperate
and tropical.
(I) In both cases there are strong contrasts owing to differ-
ences of rainfall.
2. The Temperate regions of the extreme north
and the extreme south have a very similar climate —
with winter rains, and produce very similar plants.
30 AFRICA
(1) For instance, the vine flourifihes as well in Algeria as
in Cape Colonj ; the pastures of Marocco produce as
good wool and mohair as the Karroos; the forests
on the seaward face of the Atlas correspond to those
on the seaward face of the Storm-Berge ; and the
semi-desert alfa (esparto) of Algeria and Tunis has
its counterpart in the heaths of the Orange basin.
3. The Tropical vegetation varies immensely — with
the rainfall.
(1) The desert and semi-desert regions have a very limited
flora of their own — various species of mimosa and
acacia being most common, and the date palm being
the most valuable.
(2) In the low West-Equatorial region, where heat and
rain are evenly distributed throughout the year,
there is typical * Tropical* vegetation or *wet jungle'
— dense forest, with the oil palm and the numerous
creepers which yield india-rubber.
(3) In the high East-Equatorial region, the typical forma-
tion is the savannah — wide stretches of grass, with
or without trees ; and the typical tree is the euphorbia
or the baobab.
4. The whole continent may, therefore, be roughly
divided into seven natural regions.
(1) The Mediterranean region produces the olive, the fig,
and the vine, and — in the drier areas — large quanti-
ties of alfa, which is exported mainly to the French
paper mills. The rainfall, as in South Europe, is
practically confined to the winter and spring.
(2) The Sahara region produces the date palm, and supplies
sufficient pasture for the various nomadic tribes —
Hamitic and Semitic — whose nomadic habits are the
result of their wanderings in search of pasture.
Except in a few specially favoured places, the pastoral
PRODUCTIONS 31
wealth is limited to camels, because^ as the region is
almost rainless, the vegetation is generally limited to
plants with leaves so small, or so leathery, or so
thorny, that there is little or no evaporation from
their surface, e,g. gum-acacias and tamarisks. Cf. p. 40.
N.B. — ^There are also plants which store water in bulbous roots. Of.
the Kalahari Desert, p. 06.
(3) The soil and climate of the continental Sudan admit
of both pasture and agriculture — the ruling Hiimitic
race being devoted to cattle-rearing, while the sub-
ject Negroes cultivate durra and other plants.
(4) The Nile valley forms naturally a separate region,
dependent for moisture on the annual inundation of
the river; and its resources are almost entirely
agricultural, especially cotton, wheat, and pulse. Its
most typical native plant is the papyrus, which
grows round lakes and along sluggish streams.
N.B, — The average rise of the Nile is 24 feet ; less than 22 feet is
not sufficient, and more than 26 feet does great damage. Gf . p. 64, § 5.
(5) Western Equatorial Africa, with its intense humidity
and even heat, is the home of the pure Negro and
the anthropoid apes. The high even temperature
and the constant rain make it a region of dense
forest, with dark tangled undergrowth; among its
most valuable plants are the oil palm, the banana,
the ebony, the coffee-shrub, and various rubber-
producing creepers.
(6) The Great Eastern Plateau consists largely of savan-
nahs, the home of 'big game,' and equally suitable
for pasture or agriculture. The facilities for pasture
tempted the Hamitic nomads to expand south-
wards over the plateau ; the western savannahs pro-
duce, under Negro cultivation, large crops of millet,
cassava, or other food-plants ; and Europeans have
introduced coffee. The year is divided into dry and
wet seasons.
(7) The extreme south reproduces more or less the con-
ditions of the extreme north, with the same contrast
32 AFRICA
of semi-desert pasture inland and agriculture along
the coast. Sheep, goats, and the vine flourish in
both areas ; but in the south the ostrich replaces
the camel, and maize and tobacco replace the olive
and the fig. The area of desert in the south is also
comparatively insignificant
5. The vegetation thus reflects some of the physical
characteristics which have made Africa historically
'The Dark Continent/
(1) The most fertile parts are the most unhealthy, and
the difficulty of getting food in the healthier parts
sometimes led to cannibalism.
(2) The physical uniformity of large areas did not favour
the growth of clearly-defined states with political
and commercial organization. Cf. the Guachos of
the Pampa.
(3) A savage population, with no instinct for political
combination, naturally made no demand for foreign
goods ; and there were no vegetable products to
support any extensive export trade, commerce being
practically confined to slaves, ivory, and gold.
6. The characteristic fauna of Africa may be
roughly classified under three heads.
(1) The desert regions produce the camel and the ostrich,
and in Egypt there are also many varieties of
aquatic birds, e,g, the stork, pelican, and fiamingo.
(2) The West-Equatorial forest region is unfavourable to
animal life, but is the home of the gorilla and the
chimpanzee, the elephant and the hippopotamus.
(3) The Great Eastern Plateau has an abundance of large
animals, including the lion and the elephant, the
giraffe and the zebra, the crocodile and the rhino-
ceros ; and * big game ' are generally attended by the
dreaded tsetse fly.
N.B. — The animal products include, therefore, ivorj, ostrich-feathers,
and skins. North and South Africa also export wool, and Madagascar
and West Africa export wax.
PRODUCTIONS S3
7. The mineral products include coal and iron,
gold, copper, diamonds, and salt.
(1) Coal has heen found in the Zambesi basin, but is
scarcely worked except in Natal, Cape Colony, and the
Transvaal.
(2) Iron is known to exist in considerable quantities over
most of Tropical Africa, and there are rich deposits
of it in the Atlas Region. It is worked mainlj in
Algeria, and is exported from Benisaff.
(3) Qold is exported from South and South-East Africa,
and from the Gold Coast ; and the deposits in the
south-east are verj rich, especially in the TransvaaL
(4) Copper is worked mainly in Cape Colony, Darfur, and
the Atlas Region.
(5) The diamonds are practically confined to the Kimberley
district of Cape Colony, and the salt 'shotts' are
roost productive in the Western Sahara.
84 NORTH AFRICA
NORTH AFRICA.
Lesson 12. The Barbary States.
1. North Africa may be divided into two parts —
a mountainous western part and a low eastern part.
(1) The height and the nearness to the Atlantic give the
western part a much better rainfall than the eastern ;
but in both parts the Mediterranean slope has mach
more rain than the Sahara slope.
(2) The Maroooo Range, or Great Atlas, is a real mountain
range, with a lower parallel chain in the Anti-Athis ;
it is much the highest land in North Africa, and forms
a distinct water-parting, e,g. between the Draa and
the Sebu.
(3) In Algeria and Tunis the formation is really a broad
plateau with buttress ranges. The plateau is covered
with salt-swamps, or shotts, between which there are
laige areas of alfa (esparto); the seaward buttress
contains a number of fertile valleys, known collectively
as the Tell, amongst which the ordinary south Euro-
pean fruits and cereals are grown.
(4) Tripoli is a stiQ lower plateau, descending to the Jefara
Plain and rising to the Barka Peninsula.
2. The products of the region correspond to its
physical features.
(1) The sheep and goats of the Great Atlas support the
characteristic leather and carpet industries of Marocco.
(2) The Tell valleys produce excellent wheat and barley,
olives and grapes, oranges and lemons, while the
plateau produces salt and esparto. The latter, how-
ever, is becoming less and less important, owing to
the increasing use of wood-pulp in the paper trade.
THE BARBARY STATES 35
(3) The oases of Tafilet and Fezzan produce famous dates.
N.B. — Many artificial oases haye been made by boring Artesian wells.
3. The Marocco towns maj be classified'as centres
of commerce and centres of government.
(1) The commercial centres are generally ports. Thus,
Tangier is the medium of communication with the
outside world for the North of Marocco, as Dar
el Beida and Mazagan are for the centre, and as
Mogador is for the south. Tangier, as the nearest
to Europe, is much the most important.
N.B. — Spain owns the fortified port of Ceuta.
(2) The political centres generally command inland com-
munication from sites of military strength or agricul-
tural wealth. Thus, Fez and Mequinez command
the upper basin of the chief river of the country, the
Sebu, while Marocco (=Marakesh, 'The Adorned,')
commands the fertile plain of the Tensift.
(3) Fez, the largest city in the country, occupies a fine
strategic position up amongst the spurs of the Atlas,
from which it collects the materials for its leather
and 'Fez' cap industries. The carmine colour of
the caps is due to the presence on the Atlas slopes
of the species of oak which supports the kermes insect.
N.B. — The charge for transport (by mule or camel) from Tangier or
Laraiohe to Fez, or from Mogador or Safi to Marocco, varies enormously ;
dear grain, a heavy track, or a flooded river, is enough to cause at once
a rise in prices.
4. The Algerian towns are all found in the narrow
strip between the outer terrace of the Atlas and
the sea ; but most of the people are scattered over
the fertile Tell in agricultural^ villages, and do not
live in towns at all.
(1) Oran and Mostaganem are commercial centres in the
west, as Bona and Philippeville are in the east ; and
owing to the nearness of the outer terrace to the
36 NORTH AFRICA
sea, the railway syBtem connecting them with Algiers
runs entirely inland parallel to the terraces, e.g, along
th^ valley of the Shelif.
N.B, — BoDa is the old EQppo, and Oran is the old Portiu Divinns
(go-oalled from its sheltered harbour).
(2) Constantine, on the top of an almost impregnable rock,
is the largest inland town ; and there are important
centres at Biskra and Tlemcen, and in the oases of
Wargla and Tuggurt, which command the traffic con-
verging on Tuat for Timbuktu. Constantine has a
soap industry in connection with the residue from
the olive-oil mills.
(3) Algiers, or 'The Islands,' is an extremely important
place. It divides the distance between Port Said and
London better than either Malta or Gibraltar ; it
has a safer anchorage than Gibraltar, and gives
greater facilities to shipping. For instance, it has
a small basin specially reserved for men of- war ; its
large area makes it very useful as a fishing-port and
a refuge ; and it has the advantage to merchantmen
of two docks for repairs, abundance of fresh fruit
and other provisions, and ample room for such bulky
items as timber, coal, and wine casks.
6. Tunis has no town of great importance except
its capital.
(1) Bizerta and Goletta are commercial centres on the
north coast, as Susa and Sfax are on the east coast,
exporting mainly cork and esparto.
(2) Susa commands the railway inland to the sacred city of
Kairwan and the phosphate deposits of Gafsa.
(3) Tunis, like the ancient Carthage,- owes its importance,
not to the wretched harbour of Goletta, but to its
position in the most central and narrowest part of
the Mediterranean, with easy communication inland
up the Mejerda Valley. It has also now a ship-canal
to the sea.
THE BARBARY STATES 37
6. Tripolitana owes its importance to the number
of caravan routes which converge on it.
(1) The reason for this is that, owing to the deep indenta-
tion of the Sidra-Gabes Gulf, the starting-points of
the caravans — ^Tripoli, Khoms, and Benghazi — ^are 250
miles nearer to the Sudan than Oran, Algiers, Philippe-
ville, or Tunis ; and even the railways from Oran and
Philippeville to Ain-Sefra and Biskra cannot compete
with the Tripolitan routes, which might themselves
be immensely improved by railways from Tripoli to
Ghadames and Murzuk.
(2) Ghadames is the most important inland centre in the
country, and has trade routes diverging from it in
all directions — to Wargla, Ain-Sala, Ideles, Ghat, Mur-
zuk, etc.; and Murzuk comes next in importance, with
the same staples of trade — ostrich feathers, skins,
and ivory. None of these, however, are as important
as the barley of the coastal districts.
(3) As both the Ghadames and the Murzuk routes converge
on Tripoli, it naturally does most of the foreign trade
(in barley, feathers, skins, ivory, and esparto), and
is the natural site for a political capital; but its
harbour is shallow and dangerous. Its local indus-
tries are concerned with the preparation of feathers
for the Paris, ivory for the London, and goat-skins
for the New Tork markets.
(4) The only other harbour of any importance along the
surf -beaten coast is Benghazi, which commands the
trade-route to Lake Chad, via the oases of Aujila and
Eufra.
(5) The other large towns, e,g, Zavia, Misrata, Zeliten, and
Gharian, are concerned, like Tripoli, with the pre-
paration of ivory, skins, and feathers. The skins
come entirely from Kano, via Agades and Ghat, and
the best ivory and feathers come also by the same
route ; but an inferior ivory, full of crevices and very
brittle, comes from the open park-land of Wadai.
38 NORTH AFRICA
7. Under the French flag Algeria and Tunis have
made more progress than Marocco and Tripoli
(1) Apart from its political importance, Algeria is most
useful to France aa a great wine-producing country
onlj one day's sail from Marseilles; and the oork-
oak forests of the Atlas supply abundance of cork
excellently suited to bottling purposes.
(2) Marocco is still under an independent Sultan only be-
cause none of the European Powers will allow it to
be annexed by any other Power, but French influence
is gradually spreading over it
(3) Tripoli is still a Turkish province ; and the Mutessarif of
Benghazi (Barka) is responsible directly to The Porte,
not to the Yali of Tripoli.
THB SAHARA 89
THE CALMS OF CANCEE.
Lesson 13. The Sahara.
1. The Sahara forms the western terminus of the
great belt of deserts which stretches across the Old
World from Mongolia to the Atlantic.
(I) It is much the largest of the series, being nearly as large
as Europe. The Arabian desert comes next in size,
and the Mongolian third.
2. It is not a dead level; it is not a sea of sand;
and it is not entirely without vegetation.
(1) Most of it is a low plateau ; and one of its characteristics
is the presence of small, isolated, rocky plateaus, with
perpendicular cliffit.
(2) It also contains some mountain ranges ; and those which
shut in Lake Chad to east and west — the Tibesti and
the Air — are between 6000 and 7000 feet high, and
precipitate considerable quantities of rain in summer.
(3) The Libyan Desert, however, is more or less a level
stretch of sand, and there is a similar area in the west —
the Gidi Desert.
3. The cause of the desert is simply the absence
or the deficiency of rain.
(1) The North Tropic is the centre of a belt of calms in
January, as the South Tropic is in July. Cf. p. 28
(2) In summer the intense heat over the sandy Sahara
draws winds inland, but the heat itself tends to
evaporate rather than to precipitate moisture.
(3) On the seaward edge of the desert, where the winds are
naturally wettest, there is either no condensing medium,
e,g. in the Libyan and Gidi Deserts, or the medium is
an absolute barrier to the passage of the winds inland,
9,g, the Atlas.
40 THE SAHARA
4. The amount of sand is due partly to the varia-
tion of temperature and partly to the absence of
vegetation, and it is distributed partly by wind and
partly by water.
(1) The enormous variation in temperature between day
and night splits up the solid rock in all directions —
to be distributed by wind
(2) Besides the storms on the mountains, there are also
summer storms on the southern edges of the desert,
where the dry Saharan air meets the moist equatorial
air; and, as there is no vegetation to bind together
the surface, the consequent torrents carry down with
them immense quantities of loose soiL
(3) The porous nature of these shifting sands, especially
in the Hammada, enables any rain to sink into the
ground before it can be evaporated, and this en-
courages the boring of Artesian wells (cf. p. 36) ; while
the impervious nature of the 'shott' beds allows any
surface water to be evaporated before it can sink,
thus covering the ground for miles with a crust of
salt, especially in the Western Sahara.
5. The vegetation is of two kinds — a real desert
kind and an oasis kind.
(1) The oases supply the date-palm, the most important
product of the Sahara ; and cereals and fibres (cotton
and tobacco) are also grown in them.
(2) The true desert vegetation consists of plants which, by
lengthening their roots or shortening their height or
thickening their bark or limiting the size of their
leaves, have adapted themselves to draw water from
great depths or to resist the evaporating power of
the intensely dry air. Cf. p. 31.
6. The population varies, both in number and in
nationality, with the supply of water.
THE SAHARA 41
(1) The centres of population ivre naturally where the
water supply is most permanent, i,e, in the oases, e.g,
fiilma, Elawar, and Acbar, and on the mountain-slopes,
€.g, Tibesti, Borku, and Air (=Asben).
(2) As the spring-water of the oases is much more reliable
than the summer rains on the mountains, agriculture
is practically confined to the oases; and, therefore,
they have a fixed Negro population. Cf. p. 31.
(3) The typical desert people are not fixed and agricultural,
but nomad and pastoral ; and, therefore, the popula-
tion of the Sahara generally is a wandering Hamitic
one. Cf. p. 30.
If.B. — The dry air of the deiert makes the Hamitio nomads much
healthier and hardier than the fixed Negro population of the moist
oases.
7. The trade of the Sahara is partly a transit trade
and partly local, and it is all done by the camel.
(1) There is a natural exchange of products between the
temperate, coastal Barbary States, and the tropical,
continental Sudan. From the north come the grain,
cheese, and wool of AJgeria and Marocco, and various
European goods, e.g, cotton, tea, sugar. From the
south come gold, slaves, ostrich feathers, ivory, gums,
and wax.
(2) The local trade is in the two desert staples, dates and
salt. The dates come mainly from the northern oases,
e,g. Tafilet and Murzuk, and are exported northwards ;
the salt comes mainly from the really 'desert' parts
of the south-west, and is exported southwards, especi-
ally from Tandeni to Timbuktu.
(3) There are five great trade-routes. The most important
and the most central is from Tripoli, via Ghat and
Air, to Kano. The others are from Mogador, via Ten-
duf, to Timbuktu ; from the Atlas region, via Tuat, to
Timbuktu ; from the Fezzan, via Kawar and Bilma,
to Kuka and Lake Chad ; and from Benghazi, via
Aujila and Kufra, to the Wadai country.
42 THE SUDAN
THE SUDAN.
Lesson 14. General Features.
1. The Sudan stretches across the continent from
the Atlantic to the Nile Valley, between the Sahara
and the peninsular plateau.
(1) The proper name for the region is BUad-es-Sudan^ i,e.
Hhe Land of the Blacks.'
2. It may be roughly divided into two very dis-
tinct areas — a continental plateau and a coastal plain.
(1) The continental area consists mainly of open savannahs
at least 1000 feet above the sea, bat includes also
the low basins of the Senegal and the Gambia.
(2) The coastal area consists mainly of a narrow strip of
low-lying forest-clad land along the Gulf of Guinea,
but includes also the forested escarpment of the
plateau.
N,B, — ^The name Sudan is often restricted to the continental area,
the coastal area being called Upper Guinea. The 'Eastern Sudan* falls
under the Nile Region. Cf. p. 49.
3. The continental area consists of three drainage
systems — the basins of the Senegal and the Qambia,
of the Niger, and of Lake Chad.
(1) These three areas represent the typical African features
of a coastal watershed, a great continental waterway,
and an area of inland drainage.
(2) All these are composed mainly of old crystaUine rock,
but the fertility and the rainfall vary with the
distance from the Sahara.
(3) The northern border is a series of sand-dunes ; the
southern is a strip of forest ; and, between the two,
durra, cotton, beans, rice, and indigo are widely
cultivated — the product varying with the rainfaU.
GENERAL FBATX7BES 43
4. The coast-lands are divided by Cape Palmas
into two distinct regions.
(1) The eastward region is natorally sheltered from the
western gales which cause such devastation between
Cape Palmas and the Senegal.
(2) The Guinea current has carried so much sand shore-
ward, and the Atlantic tides have so completely
checked the course of the coastal rivers seaward, that
a false shore has been built up, backed by lagoons,
along most of the eastern coast
(3) Between these lagoons and the old shore there is a
belt of dismal «8wamp, to which the Ivory and the
Slave Coasts mainly owed the particular products
that gave them their names; but the wealth of the
country now lies in the oil-palms and rubber-creepers
which grow to perfection in the deadly moist^ hot,
even climate.
5. The distribution of people and their occupations
are characteristic of Africa.
(1) The Black Man is the product of the intense heat and
moisture of the Guinea Coast, which — by greatly in-
creasing the supply of blood — increase the supply of
colouring matter in the body ; and he is naturally
stationary and agricultural, growing bananas and
maize on the forest-clad lowlands. There the dense
masses of dark, damp forest have overwhelmed him,
physically and morally, and left him — except in the
open Yoruba country— passive and superstitious.
(2) The Hamitic races are essentially nomadic and pastoral,
but are not found pure in the Sudan. In their place
there is a mixed race with mixed habits, of whom
the Fulbe and the Hausas are the best types. They
are hardy and sanguine, agricultural and pastoral,
nomadic and stationary, traders and settlers.
(3) The Fulbe were cattle-rearers in the Futa-Jallon high-
lands before, like the Arabs elsewhere, they con-
44 THB SUDAN
qnered the Negro tillers of the soil ; and the Hausas
were local carriers along the Benu6 before they be-
came the great traders of the Sudan, and made their
language the great commercial medium throughout the
Sudan and even over part of the Sahara.
6. The Trade routes in bhe Sudan, unlike those
in the Sahara, run east and west.
(1) The reason for this is that commerce was impeded by
the sand-dunes along the north and by the dense
forest along the south, but was encouraged by the
savannah plateau in the centre and by the general
east-and-west direction of the rivers.
(2) Consequently, too, nearly all the old commercial centres
lie along the Sahara border, 'e.g, Kuka, Kano, and
Sokoto, or along the southern forest-belt, 0.^. Kong,
Sulaga, and Uorin.
7. The productions vary with the moisture, the
heat being everywhere excessive.
(1) The heavy damp heat of the coast-lands and the Lower
Niger produces the oil-palm, rubber-creepers, and
ebony.
(2) The broad central strip of the interior produces durra^
millet, sorghum, cotton, and indigo, and contains
splendid cattle pasture on the Upper Niger and equally
good horse pasture in Borna.
(3) The arid northern strip produces ostrich-feathers and
goat-skins, while the forested southern strip produces
ivory.
Lesson 16. Political Divisioxui.
1. The Sudan illustrates three very important terms
in political geography — 'Sphere of Influence,' 'Hinter-
land,' and ' Line of Least Besistance.'
POLITICAL DIVISIONS 45
(1) The mass of Africa is held or * influenced' bj Tarions
European nations, mainly the French and the British ;
and the Sphere of Influence is the area within which
the missionary or mercantile interests of any par-
ticular nation are predominant, e,g, French interests
in the Sudan and North Africa, and British in Egypt
and South Africa.
(2) The term * Hinterland' applies to such part of the
interior as may fairly be said to go naturally with any
particular strip of coast; but its meaning has been
terribly strained by the French, e,g. along and behind
the Guinea Coast.
(3) Occupation of such a strip of coast is essential to any
claim on the Hinterland, but European colonisation
of the African coast — at least, within the Tropics — is
practically impossible; and, therefore, European dom-
ination needs a good harbour and easy access inland.
Such access follows the line of Least Resistance,
which is generally a river valley (cf. the Senegal,
Niger, BenuS) ; and the influence of the particular
nation is focused at the harbour (cf. Massawa,
Mombasa, Louren^o-Marquez).
2. The mass* of the Sudan is divided between
France and Britain.
(1) (Germany owns the little colony of Togoland, which
trades, via Bismarckburg, with the great continental
markets of Sulaga and Yendi, and the unexplored
E^merun country. Lome is the capital.
(2) Portuguese Guinea has easy access up the Rio Grande
valley to the Futa-Jallon highlands ; its capital and
chief harbour, Bissao, is on an island (cf. Konakri,
Grand Bassam, and Lagos).
(3) The independent State of Liberia has given its name to
a lowland species of coffee which is exported from
Monrovia.
46 THE SUDAN
3. The British domains include the Gambia, Sierra
Leone, Gtold Coast, Northern and Southern Nigeria.
0) The Gambia Colony has an estnary which admits the
largest yenels, and the river is navigable for 250
miles; but Bathurst is the only town, and ground
nuts are the only important product.
(2) Sierra Leone, like the Ghimbia, is entirely cut off from
the interior by French Territory ; but the shelter of
the Freetown Peninsula makes the Bokelle estuary
the best harbour along the whole coast, the position
half-way between England and the Cape gives it
political importance, and the deadly damp heat and
the volcanic soil produce in luxuriance such products
as oil-palms, kola, rubber, gum-copal, and pepper.
There is a light railway from Freetown to Songotown
and Botifunk.
N.B. — The 'Grain' Coast takes its name from the kind of pepper
known as * Grains of Paradise. '
(3) The Gold Coast is not nearly so famous for gold as it
was in the days when it gave a name to the English
guinea coin, though it produces actually more gold-
dust. Its most valuable products now are palm-oil,
rubber, and ebony. Accra is its capital and its largest
town, and Cape Coast Castle commands the best road
inland (to Kumasi and Bontuku) ; but the new Ptal
Valley railway to Kumasi will make Sekondi the most
important place.
(4) Lagos itself is an island-town on the sandbank which
separates the coastal lagoons from the sea ; but, as it
is the outlet for the palm-oil and palm-kernels of the
Toruba district, and has a safe harbour and a railway
to Ibadan (122 miles) and Abeokuta, it has become the
most important town on the Gulf of Guinea.
(5) Nigeria comprises the whole of the British sphere in the
Niger basin, t.e. some 400,000 square miles below Ho
and between the Bight of Benin and Lake Chad ; but
it also includes areas, not technically within that basin,
THE SUDAN 47
e.g, the old Lagos Colony, and the Old Calabar district.
It is divided into two unequal political units, Northern
(or Continental) and Southern (or Coastal) Nigeria.
The old Lagos Colony is now called the South Nigeria
Colony, and includes the old South Nigeria Pro-
tectorate.'
(6) The political centre of Southern Nigeria is at present
the port of Old Calabar, but Asaba — on the main
stream near the apex of the delta — would be a better
site for it (cf. Cairo). Each of the numerous deltaic
channels, or distributaries, has its own port; some
stand at the head of the channel, e.g, Wari and Opobo,
while others are at the mouth, e.g, the great naval
centre of AJoisa, on the Nun or main mouth, and the
telegraph-stations of Brass (or Bento) and Bonnytown.
The Niger is, of course, the natural outlet for the
Central Sudan ; but the local products of the delta are
more or less limited to oil, rubber, and ebony.
(7) The Northern Nigeria Protectorate, which is administered
from Zungeru, includes the old ^continental' domains
of the Royal Niger Company, e.g, the Sokoto Empire.
There are four typical kinds of towns — old native
capitals, e.g, Bida, Yakoba, Zaria, — great caravan
termini, e.g, Kuka, Katsena, and Sokoto, — river ports,
e.g. Habba, with a portage round the Niger rapids, and
Yola, commanding the ivory trade of the Adamawa
forests, — great land or water junctions, such as Lokoja
and Kano.
Kano is the commercial capital of the Central Sudan,
being the terminus of the chief Saharan route, and
manufactures blue cottons from the product of the
surrounding cotton and indigo lands.
4. The French domains include Senegambia, French
Guinea, and the French Sudan.
(1) The colony of Senegambia includes all the lower basins
of the Senegal and the Gambia except the British strip
48 THE SUDAN
along the Ckunbia; but its commercial value is not
very great, the products being more or less limited to
ground-nuts and some rubber and gum. The capital,
St. Louis, stands on an island in the Senegal estuary ;
but it is so much impeded by a shifting bar that a
railway has been built from it to Dakar Bay under the
shelter of Cape Yerde, and Dakar is now the capital of
all French West Africa.
(2) French Guinea (which now includes the French Slave
Coast and the Ivory Coast) produces rubber, palm-oil,
sesame, and gum. The chief towns are — Konakri, the
capital of the old Guinea colony, Bingerville (or Ad-
jam6), the present capital of the Ivory Coast, and its
old capital, Grand Bassam, with a lagoon which forms
a good harbour of refuge off the Akba river. The
Dahomey products used to be exported from Whyda
(the port of the old capital of Abome) and Grand
Popo ; but the capital has been moved to Porto Novo,
near the north shore of the Denham Lake, and so
Kotonu, near the south shore of the lake, is being
developed into a harbour.
(3) The French Sudan includes the old ' Military Territories,'
which connected the Niger with Lake Chad — Timbuktu
being the most important, though it is connected with
its port of Kabara only at high water — and the old
Territories of Senegambia and the Niger, with their
three important centres — Kaye8,Bafulab6,and Bamako.
Most of the foreign traffic at present converges on
Kayes, which is (in the rainy season) at the head of
navigation on the Senegal, and the western terminus
of the ' Baf ulab6-Bamako ' railway. Bafulab^ stands
at an important confluence of the Bafing, or Upper
Senegal, with the Bakhoi, which rises near Bamako,
and the valley of which was therefore a natural route
to the nearest point on the Niger.
N,B. — An Anglo-French convention recognises the claims of France to
all land west of the Lower Nile basin, inoludiug Wadai (Abeshr). Of.
Bagirmi (Masenga), p. 69.
THE EASTERN SUDAN. 49
THE NILE EEGIOK
Lesson 16. The Eastern Sudan.
1. The Nile valley may be divided into five
natural zones — of delta, desert, steppe, savanna, and
lake.
(1) The Lake zone belongs entirely to the Great Eastern
Plateau (cf. p. 60), but its importance to Egypt is
very great, because it is to the lake reservoirs that
the Nile owes the constant and reliable part of its
volume. The White or * Clear* Nile also owes its
clearness to the filtering of its mud in the lakes.
(2) The Savannah zone lies between Lado and Eashoda ;
and its general surface is so level that the current
becomes very slow, and the river is often choked with
enormous masses of floating vegetation. Similar
^masses are brought down from the Nile-Congo water-
parting by the Bahr-el-Ghazal and its numerous
tributaries ; and it is partly the impact of the latter,
though mainly the abrupt rise of the Bagara plateau,
that makes the Nile curve so sharply eastward.
(3) The Steppe zone lies between Fashoda and Berber, and
shows a gradual transition from a fertile rainy district
to a barren dry one. The zone is, however, very
important, because it is to the torrential rains round
the sources of the Blue or * Muddy * Nile that Egypt
owes its fertilising inundations.
(4) From its confluence with the Atbara, its last permanent
tributary, the Nile enters on its desert course, during
which it loses so much water by evaporation that its
volume actually diminishes as it approaches the sea
(cf. The Orange, p. 23). The five cataracts between
Berber and Assuan are a succession of rapids caused
50 THE NILE REGION
by rocks which impede or prohibit navigation except
at very high water.
(5) The Delta proper begins just below Gairo with the
Barrage weir, which controls the irrigation of all the
deltaic lands ; the Fayum has so much in common
with the Delta that they may be classed together.
2. The Savanna zone has ordinary 'Tropical'
climate and vegetation, and its importance is mainly
commercial
(1) The year is divided into two long rainy seasons, with
a short dry season between them ; and, therefore,
the products include rubber, gums, cotton, and
ivory (from the forest area). All the export trade
converges on Fashoda.
(2) The Nile is so much choked with floating vegetation
above Sobat that continuous navigation is quite im-
possible ; but the splendid river-side pasture has made
even the Negro tribe of Denkas forsake their cus-
tomary agriculture for cattle-rearing.
(3) The Nile-Congo waterparting is so rich in iron ore that
the Bongo Negroes have also forsaken their ordinary
occupation of tillage for that of skilled mechanics ;
and the prevailing ruddy colour of the iron-impreg-
nated soil is even reflected in the reddish tinge of
their skins.
3. The Steppes zone is characterized by thorny
scrub and rugged heights, and its importance is mainly
political.
(1) The position of Berber or Kassala would enable any
hostile Power on the Upper Nile to divert all the
transit trade of Egypt to Su&kin and Massawa.
(2) The possession of Khartum (Omdurman) would enable
such a Power to command three great waterways —
north, south, and south-east — and to control the whole
supply of water and mud which alone makes agricul-
ture possible in EgypU
THE EASTERN SUDAN 61
(3) In the aame way the Kordo£an capital of El-Obeid
commands the caravan trade, via El-Fashr, with the
rich wheat and tobacco lands of Darfur, the copper
mines of Hofrat, and the general trade of the Eastern
Sadan«
Lesson 17. Eg]rpt.
1. The most important feature of the Desert zone
is the long narrow trough hollowed out by the river,
which is the key to the history of the whole country.
(1) It has been the one great highway of commerce and
communication through a land naturally isolated by
barriers of desert or sea on every side ; and thus it
helped to keep the inhabitants united, and facilitated
the access of the White Man into the domain of the
Black Man.
(2) On the other hand, it divided Egypt naturally into two
parts. Upper and Lower, Valley and Delta ; and the
country is so long in comparison with its breadth that
it was always very difficult to govern from a single
centre (cf. Italy and Chile). Thus, three different sites
have been tried for capitals : Thebes (near Keneh)
commanded the valley, Alexandria guarded the
approach from the sea, and Cairo keeps the balance of
power where valley and delta meet.
N,B. — ^The old name of Egypt was Mizraim, 'the ttoo lands of red
mnd,' and its old kings even wore two crowns.
(3) The banks of the river are covered with the ruins of old
cities and with oasis-like vegetation. The most im-
portant products are wheat, pulse, and sugar ; and the
wonderful preservation of the antiquities, e.g. the
Sphinx and the Pyramids of Gizeh or the temples
and other buildings of Memphis, Thebes, and Ibsambul,
is due to the intensely dry air.
N.B, — Contrast the 'weathering' of Cleopatra's Needle since its
removal to the banks of the Thames.
52 THB NILE REGION
(4) The important centres now are either where there
are special facilities for irrigation, 9,g, Siut, or where
cataracts break regular navigation, e.g. Asanan and
the great railway junction of Wadj Haifa, or where
a sudden bend in the course of the river offers a ' short
cut' by rail or caravan, 9,g, Keneh, Korosko, and
Abu Hammad.
2. The Desert zone has three other important
features — the Northern Oases, the Eed Sea Littoral,
and the Suez Canal.
(1) Important pilgrim or commercial routes follow the Imes
of the various oases which lie between Assuan and
the Tripoli frontier. For instance, there is a great
pilgrim route to Siut (for Mecca) via the Siwa and the
Bahrieh oasis ; and great commercial routes from Siut
and from the Farafrah oasis converge on the Dakhel
and Khargheh oases for Darfur.
(2) The Bed Sea Littoral consists mainly of a high system
of barren mountains, attaining in the Jebel Zebara a
height of 7500 feet and in the Jebel Gharib one of nearly
8000 feet ; and it includes politically the interesting
Asiatic peninsula of Sinai. But its only important
centres are the ports of Kosseir and Sudkin. The
latter, which is the best harbour on the Bed Sea,
stands on an island in a natural basin of coraL
(3) The 100 miles of the Canal save 3000 miles on the
Cape route from Liverpool to Bombay, and three-
quarters of the steamer tonnage using it is British;
but, as the * canal ' type of steamer is by no means
suited to the stormy Cape route, any block in the canal
would completely disorganize our Eastern traffic except
via the Canadian Pacific Eailway — fortunately, a safe
and quick route, and entirely in British territory.
Port Said and Ismailia, of course, owe their very
existence to the canal; but Suez has not benefited
much by it.
KOYPT 53
3. The Delta consists of the refuse of the Abys-
sinian Mountains, and the whole of it is irrigated
by artificial canals or by back-waters of the Nile.
(1) It is, therefore, bj far the most fertile and most
important part of Egypt, and contains more than
half the total population — employed in raising cotton,
maize, and rice; and, as the climate is distinctly
continental, it is quite healthy except during the
subsidence of the floods.
(2) The only branches of the Nile that still reach the sea
are those from which the little towns of Bosetta
and Damietta take their names. Damietta, the eighth
largest town in the whole country, has nearly 40,000
inhabitants ; but Bosetta, which is overwhelmed by
its nearness to Alexandria, has scarcely 20,000.
(3) Alexandria (about 350,000), with its fine artificial har-
bour, ia the chief port of Egypt, and commands all
trafiic from or to the west. It is joined by a ship-
canal to the Bosetta mouth of the Nile, and by rail to
every important town in Egypt
(4) Cairo (about 600,000), however, is the most important
city in the country. It stands above the river on
the most northerly spur of the eastern plateau, where
all traffic must converge to enter or leave the Nile
Valley; and it commands the whole rail, river, and
canal system, including the Fresh-Water Canal to
Tsmailia. It is, therefore, the natural site for a
political capital.
(5) The only other towns of any importance are agricultural
centres which have become railway junctions, e,g.
Tanta, Mansourah, Zagazig, and Damanhur.
4. The Fayum is the bed of an old lake, which
is irrigated from the old canal of Bahr Yusuf.
(1) As the formation is limestone, the water-supply suffi-
cient, and the level extremely low, the district is one
of the most fertile in Africa.
54 THE NILE REGION
(2) The products are the same as those of the Delta ; and
they are exported bj a branch line from Medinet-el-
Ftkyxun. to the river-side junction of Wasta.
(3) The surplus waters collect in the lowest part of the
old lake-bed, the Birket-el-Kerun, which is 140 feet
below sea-leveL
5, The prosperity of the country is largely bound
up with two great * engineering * exploits.
(1) The supply of water for irrigation has been enormously ^
increased by extensive reservoir works, consisting of a
daid at Assuan and a barrage and locks at Siut, and
by the cutting of the floating weed ('sudd') south of
Khartum.
(2) The latter operation, besides saving a great waste of
water, has facilitated navigation so much that the
Upper Nile is now the quickest route to the north-
east of the Ck>ngo Free State. Of. p. 70, § 6 (3).
^N.B. — The storage oapadtj is now considerably over 1,000,000,000
oubic yards 1
SOMALILAND 55
NOETH-EAST AFEICA.
Lesson 18. SomalilancL
1. North-East Africa may be roughly divided into
two parts — the Ethiopian Highlands and the Somali
Peninsula.
(1) The Highlands, which are mainly occupied by Abyssinia,
are broad, have a very great average height^ and run
from north to south ; while the Peninsula, or ' Horn '
of Africa, is much lower, and runs from east to west.
(2) Except for a strip of coast along the Gulf of Aden, the
whole area is nominally Italian; but, owing to the
mountain ramparts, which have caused it to be called
the African 'Switzerland,' Abyssinia is still inde-
pendent
(3) The great average height makes the climate so much
cooler than that of the Sudan that it does not at all
suit the Negro.
2. The Ethiopian Highlands include Abyssinia
proper and the Galla countries to the south.
(1) The most important of the latter are Kaffa and Lieka,
which practically form the basin of the Upper Omo>
and have important markets at Bonga and Sobso
respectively. Bonga has easy access, via the Qmo
valley, to Lake Budolf, and Sobso commands the cross-
trade between Gojam, Shoa, and Kaffa.
N.B. — ^The oojfee plant is a native of the region, and poesibly derives
its name from Kaj/a,
3. The backbone of the Somali peninsula runs
eastward along the Gulf of Aden from the Upper
Hawash valley to Cape Guardafui, and the whole
country slopes southward from it.
66 NORTH.BAST AFRICA
(1) As the mountains are thus confined to the north and
the west, the country becomes drier and more barren
towards the east and the south, ending in the rain-
less desert of Nogal or 'The Stony Land.'
(2) At the same time, the height of the watershed guaran-
tees a considerable volume of water to the chief
rivers, though they shrink terribly in the dry season ;
and the only fertile lands are in the mountain
valleys and along the Webi Shabeli and the Juba,
Ogaden being noted for its camel pastures.
N.B, — The curious appearance of the Webi Shabeli on the map is
due to the fact that, after flowing parallel to the coast for 160
miles, it empties into a lake 12 miles from the sea.
(3) There are small towns along the chief rivers, 6,g, Bardera
and Logh on the Juba and Gelidi and Barri on the
Webi Shabeli ; but the only place of real importance
is Harar, which commands the best route between the
Ghilla countries and Zeila or Jibuti, and the trade
of which has been greatly improved by the new French
railway from Jibuti (Jibutil).
(4) The characteristic products of the country are very excel-
lent coffee, myrrh, and frankincense. The two latter are
largely* collected at the important caravan junction
of Jerlogubi, and exported via the port of Berbera or
via one of the El Benadar roadsteads (Magadoxa,
Marka, Barava) ceded to Italy by the Sultan of
Zanzibar.
4. Italian influence is focused in Eritrea, where
the island harbour of Massawa occupies an extremely
important position.
(1) It is the natural outlet for all the Abyssinian trade, and
commands in Kassala a very convenient outpost for
tapping the Sudan trade.
5. Britain and France divide the Gulf coast
between them, Britain having the laiger and more
important part
SOMALILAND 57
(1) French Somaliland has at present only political import-
ance, though its three ports of Jibuti, Tajura, and
Obok do a certain amount of transit trade ; but the
new railway to Harar is developing Jibuti at the
expense of Zeila.
(2) British Somaliland is in somewhat a similar position,
its three ports being Berbera, Zeila, and Bulbar.
(3) Britain also possesses an important strategic position
in the island of Sokotra, with some commercial im-
portance, cattle and aloes being exported from the
port of Tamarida.
Lesson 19. Abyssinia.
1. Abyssinia is a volcanic plateau, nearly twice
the size of Great Britain, averaging 8000 feet in
height, and buttressed by very steep escarpments on
the east and the west.
(1) The east edge is steeper and higher than the west,
rising to about 15,000 feet in the Simen and Gojam
ranges; and, as the prevailing wind in summer is a
monsoon drawn o£f the Indian Ocean towards the
fiery Sahara, the rainfall on these eastern peaks is
very heavy.
(2) The heavy rain, the friable volcanic soil, and the great
height from which the rivers fall, cause them to plough
very deep, canon-like beds, the excavated soil being
carried down the Nile to fertilise Egypt ; the sides of
these gorges, where not too precipitous, are clothed
with dense, fever-haunted forests; and, therefore,
communication becomes almost impossible except in
the Tsana basin.
(3) The surface is thus cut up into a number of small island-
like plateaus, which, owing to the volcanic soil and
the heavy rainfall, are extremely fertile, and tempt
even the non-negro population into agriculture, while
the mountain slopes supply splendid pasture.
58 NORTHEAST AFKICA
2. The political divisions of the country and its
economic isolation are, therefore, the direct result of
its surface features.
(1) Thus, the Takazze separates Tigr6 from Amhara, and the
Blue Nile separates Gojam from Shoa; and each of
these divisions is cut up into hundreds of smalier ones.
(2) The economic isolation of the country is both maritime
and fluvial ; it is almost inaccessible from the sea, and
its rivers have rather hindered than helped communi-
cation with neighbouring countries.
(3) There is one fairly good trade-route, however, which
both unites the greater part of the country internally
and gives access to the sea ; it runs from Lake Tsana
through Debra Tabor and Adua to Massawa.
3. Abyssinia may be divided into three climatic
zones, with corresponding zones of vegetation.
(1) The purely Hropical' zone is all the land below 6000
feet, i.e. the outer slopes of the plateau and the
river valleys. They are largely covered with dense
elephant-haunted forests ; but in the more open parts,
coffee, cotton, sugar, bananas, and indigo are culti-
vated.
(2) The 'warm-temperate' zone includes the ordinary
plateau lands, and produces all the cereals and fruits
of South Europe as well as excellent cattle pasture.
(3) The * cool- temperate ' zone includes all the land above
8000 feet; and its most valuable product is probably
the musk deer, which accounts for the presence of
musk in the exports of the country.
4. Almost all the chief towns lie in the middle
of agricultural areas or on trade-routes.
(1) Gk)ndar, the religious capital, and Korata are on the
Tsana plain; Ankobar and the political capital of
Addis Abeba are in the Blue Nile Basin ; and Adua
and Sokota are in. the Takazze basin.
ABYSSINIA 59
(8) Adua and Ankobar command the foreign trade via
the Bed Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the most im-
portant exports being coffee, gold, and ivory.
(3) The fortress of Magdala stands on an almost impreg-
nable peak, more than 9000 feet high, above the
ravine cut by the Bashilo river.
K.B. — With the exoeption of Addis Abeba, the present, and Ankobar,
the former, capital (of Shoa), none of the numeroiu towns has a resident
population of more than about 6000.
60 BAST AFRICA
EAST AFRICA.
Lesson 20. Physical Features.
1. East Africa consists mainly of a broad, high
F-shaped plateau, running from the depression marked
by Lake Rudolf southward to the Zambesi gorge.
(1) Its average elevation is about 4000 feet (nearly = Ben
Nevis), and its average breadth north of Lake Eukwa
is between 700 and 800 miles.
2. Like the Abyssinian plateau, it is buttressed
by high mountains which overhang deep valleys.
(1) The outward edge of the eastern buttress rises in
distinct steps from a strip of low coast-land, while
that of the western buttress falls almost unbroken
to the Congo forests.
(2) The broad central plateau between Lake Rukwa and
the Victoria Njanza is formed of very old crystal-
line rock; but the mountain buttresses and the deep
troughs below them are of much newer volcanic
formation.
(3) The highest peaks are in the eastern, i,e. the seaward
range, where Mount Kenia and Kilima Njaro rise
to a height of 18,400 and 19,700 feet respectively ;
the longest and deepest lakes are in the western
valley, e.g. Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa.
(4) The highest elevation of the central plateau, like its
greatest breadth, lies between Mount Ruwenzori and
Mfumbiro on the west and Mount Kenia and Kilima
Njaro on the east; and it forms the water-parting
between the Nile and the Zambesi.
(5) As this water-parting is just on the Equator, it catches
both the N.E. and the S.E. Trades; and, as even
the western buttress is not 800 miles from the sefti
PHYSIOAL FEATURES 61
and attains in Monnt Buwenzori a height of nearly
17,000 feet, the watershed has a very heavy rainfall,
and is crowned with perpetual snow.
(6) Where the two buttresses and the two lines of lakes
meet, in the Livingstone Mountains and Lake Nyasa,
the highest peaks do not exceed more than about
11,000 feet, and they are terribly cut off from the
S.E. Trades ; but they are not 400 miles from the
sea, which is some compensation.
N.S.— The S.K Trades are largely interoepted by the high mouniaiiiB
of Madagaioar.
3. The lakes are the characteristic feature of
East Africa, and they are of two distinct types —
elongated and circular.
(1) The former occur in the great valleys ; and, like the
typical Alpine lakes in Europe, they are long, nar-
row, and deep. For instance. Lake Nyasa is nearly
350, and Lake Tanganyika is nearly 400, miles long
— the latter being the longest fresh-water lake in
the world,
(2) The circular lakes occur on the plateau ; and, like
the typical Baltic lakes in Europe, they are broad
and shallow.
(3) There is a further distinction between the eastern and
the western valleys. The lakes in the eastern valley
have generally no outlet, and are therefore gradu-
ally becoming salt; e.g. Lakes Rudolf, Baringo, and
Eyassi ; while all those in the western valley have
an outlet to one of the three great rivers, e.g. Lake
Tanganyika to the Congo, Lake Nyasa to the Zam-
besi, and the Albert Nyanza to the Nile.
4. The diflferent types of lakes have, therefore,
a very different economic value.
(1) The circular type has the greater effect on climate ;
for instance, the Victoria Nyanza — which is as large
as Scotland— is quite large enough to have a distinct
62 BAST AFRICA
effect both in equalising temperature and in causing
*land' and 'sea' breezes.
(8) As reseryoirs for large rivers, the long, narrow type
is the better ; their nearness to the mountains in-
creases the rainfall and causes them to be snow-fed
in summer, while their small expanse of surface and
the much lower elevation decrease the evaporation.
i^T.J?.— The Nile leavei the Vietoria Nyansa at a height of 4000 feet,
while the Shir^ leares Lake Nyaaa at a height of only 1300 feet.
(3) As highways of commerce, the long narrow lakes are
much the more useful, owing mainly to the distance
over which they extend, but partly also to their
lower elevation. The greater depth is a further
advantage, especially in the matter of harbours; for
the circular lakes have generally swampy reed-choked
shores, e,g. Lake Bangweolo, while the long lakes
have steep rocky banks.
5. Compared with the lakes, the rivers are
absolutely unimportant ; but several that flow seaward
from the eastern buttress have considerable length
and volume.
(1) For instance, both the Tana and the Sabaki draw a
large volume of water from the snowy peaks of
Kenia and Kilima Njaro ; and the Tana, though
made difficult and dangerous by the trunks of up-
rooted trees, is navigable for about 200 miles, while
the Sabaki valley is the natural route for the railway
from Mombasa to Lake Naivasha and the plateau
generally.
(2) The Bufiji and the Bovuma, rising in the Livingstone
Mountains, have more variable volume ; but each has
a tributary — the Ulanga and the Lujenda— drawing
its water from a swampy reed-choked valley, which
helps to regulate the volume. Both of the rivers
are partially navigable ; and the Bovuma, like the
Juba in the far north, is also a convenient political
boundary.
PRODUCTS AND POLITICAL DIVISIONS 63
Lesson 21. Products and Political Divisions.
1. The climate varies with the height and the
distance from the sea.
(1) The coast-lands have the greatest heat and heavy ram^
except towards the Somali desert; and thej are
therefore covered with rank tropical vegetation,
including hananas, gum-copal, and rubber-creepers.
The latter are most abundant in the Wanga, Malindi,
and Tana districts.
(2) The lower steps of the plateau are dry and barren,
except for strong scrub and euphorbias, especially
between Kilima Njaro and Ugogo.
(3) Those parts of the mountain slopes which are exposed
to regular sea-winds, are covered with a belt of
forest below a belt of bamboos. And there is still
a large export of ivory from the Uganda forests.
(4) On the plateau generally millet and cassava are the
most important cultivated plants, and there are
magnificent cattle pastures.
(5) In the western trough, where the heat is very great
owing to the low elevation, the rainfall heavy, and
the soil very fertile, whole districts are covered with
groves of bananas.
N.B» — Ivory, rubber, and cattle are the most valuable exports.
2. The occupations of the people vary with race
and situation.
(1) The cattle-rearing is mainly in the hands of Hamitic
intruders from the north — especially the Masai, who
live to the east of the Victoria Nyanza — and Zulu
intruders from the south ; and the inroads of these
two bodies of intruders have greatly discouraged
the more settled, %,e, agricultural, modes of life.
(2) The Arab and Hindu population on the coast is com-
posed entirely of traders — mainly in ivory and
64 BAST AFRICA
fllayes; uid their example has been followed by
their nearest Bantu neighbours, ue. the tribes who
live between Tabora and Lake Bukwa.
(3) In the west, where the population consists almost
entirely of Bantu negroes, e.g, Uganda, and on the
coast-lands, where the climate is so favourable,
agriculture is the more usual occupation; but both
the races and their occupations are mixed, the British
territory being healthier and more settled than the
German.
8. British East Africa dominates the head waters
of the Nile, and — through Zanzibar — almost all the
coast trade.
(1) Uganda is not very healthy, but is remarkably fertile,
and produces excellent coffee; and the new railway
to Kisumur from Kilindini (one port of Mombasa) will
convert its political centres, e.g, Mengo, Kampala, and
Entebbe, into really important commercial centres.
1^,3,— The railway is entirely in the East Afrioa Proteoiorate area.
(2) All the centre of the country abounds in magnificent
pasture, especially between Mount Kenia and the Vic-
toria Nyanza ; and the double advantage of lake navi-
gation and railway transport will give a great impulse
to places like Ukassa and Ukala.
(3) The coast-lands, especially between Taveta and Yitu,
produce large quantities of rubber, which is exported
via Wanga, Malindi, and Lamu ; but most of the trade
of the country goes through Kismayu northward, or
Mombasa southward.
(4) Mombasa, on a coral island joined to the mainland by a
railway bridge, is the best natural harbour on the East
African coast, and will be further benefited by the
Uganda railway. As the bulk of trade still gravitates
instinctively to Zanzibar, the old centre, Mombasa is,
in the meantime, much more important than Kis-
ma3ru ; but the Juba Valley is a natural 'Line of Least
Besistance.'
PRODUCTS AND POLITICAL DIVISIONS 66
(5) The importance of Zanzibar is largely due to its long
monopoly of the East African slave-trade ; but it has
a splendid central position opposite some of the best
natural routes inland, and is extremely fertile. The
city of Zanzibar stands on the west side facing the
mainland, where its shallow roadstead is sufSciently
sheltered by the island itself to make a fairly good
harbour.
N.B. — ^The revenue of Zanzibar— as of its neighbour and dependency,
Peniba— is mainly derived at present from a single crop, cloves, which
are umisnally risky to cultivate ; but copra and chillies are becoming
Important.
4. German East Africa is much less healthy than
fche British territory, but has better routes inland.
(1) The healthiest parts are the E[aragwe highlands, which
have the advantage of the lake port of Bukoba, and
the Livingstone highlands, which have a similar advan-
tage in Langenburg.
(2) The best route inland is the old slave-track from
Bagamoyo to Lake Tanganyika (Ujiji), via Mpuapua
and Tabora; but there are also good routes from
lindi and Kilwa to Langenburg and the fertile Konde
district, and from Fangani and Tanga to the Victoria
Nyanza via the fertile Buva valley and the natural
sanatorium of Kilima Njaro. Indeed, Tanga already
has some 50 miles of railway open for traffic inland
(to Muhesa and Korogwe).
(3) Bagamoyo owes its importance only to its position
between Zanzibar and the end of the old slave-route ;
its rival, Dar-es-Salaam, has a much better harbour,
and is bound to become the more important railway
terminus.
N.B. — ^The slave-trade was intimately bound up with the ivory-trade,
and is dying a natural death with the exterminatioin of the elephants.
8
66 WEST CENTRAL AFRICA
YTEST CENTRAL AFRICA.
Lesson 22. Physical Features.
1. West Central Africa may be roughly divided
into three areas.
(1) A narrow strip of lowland along the Atlantic, generally
known as Lower Guinea ;
(2) The wide circular basin of the Congo, one of the most
clearly marked natural divisions of the whole
continent ;
(3) The continuous belt of higher land which encloses this
basin.
2. The coast strip extends from the Old Calabar
to the Kunene Eiver, and is very narrow at the two-
extremities.
(1) This is the only point of resemblance between the two :
the north has a very hot, damp, even climate, with
rivers of permanent volume flowing through richly-
wooded valleys, e.g, the Lom ; the south has a much
cooler, dry climate, with rivers of very variable volume
flowing through semi-desert regions, e,g. the Kunene.
(2) The greater width of the lowlands between the Kwanza
and the Ogowe is due mainly to the deltas deposited
by those rivers, which have not, like the Congo, pace
and volume sufScient to carry their burden of mud
far out to sea. Consequently, the greatest width is at
the mouth of the Ogowe, in the Lopez Delta-pro-
montory.
(3) The vegetation corresponds exactly to that of the rest
of the Guinea coast, except in the dry southern
section— the oil-palm not being found south of the
Kwanza.
PHYSICAL FEATURES 67
3. The enclosing belt of highland that forms the
water-parting is much higher in the west and the
east than in the north and the south.
(1) The southern highlands are much higher than the
northern, but in both places the actual water-parting
is extremely slight. Tributaries to the Zambesi or the
inland drainage area of Lake Ngami rise quite close to,
but north of, tributaries of the Congo ; and tributaries
to the Nile or the inland drainage area of Lake Chad
rise quite close to, but south of, tributaries of the
Congo.
(2) On the east the enclosing highlands form the western
edge of the Great Eastern Plateau, while in the west
they rise to a height of 6500 feet in the Bih6
plateau.
(3) This Bih6 plateau is marked by parallel ridges of
mountains, which make communication with the sea
very difficult ; the rivers are, except the Kwanza,
absolutely useless for navigation owing to rapids, and
the gradients are very trying for railways.
4. The Congo basin is the largest and much the
most important area of low land in Africa, being
the dried up bed of an inland sea, which must
have been at least half the size of the Mediter-
ranean.
(1) The lowest part of this area lies between 5*^8. and
S^'N., where the low elevation, the equatorial heat,
and the abundance of water, produce dense tropical
vegetation and an almost impossible climate.
N.B. — Out. of every ten European officials in the Congo State, nine
die or are invalided home within three years.
(2) On either side of this area of equatorial rainfall and
unvarying temperature, the elevation rises, and the
rainfall decreases; and, as the forest consequently
becomes much thinner, the climate improves both for
man and beast.
68 WEST CENTRAL AFRICA
(3) The vile climate, the labyrinth of waterways, and the
dense forests, make this area extremely difficult to
govern ; and the difficulty is increased by the absence
of a common native language. The unfavourable
conditions of forest life have also produced a most
degraded type of people, dwarfish in stature and
treacherous in conduct.
Lesson 23. The 'Oonffo' States.
1. The 'Congo' States include the German
Kamerun, the French Congo, and the Congo Free
State, the latter being much the most important.
(1) The Congo Government professes to have restricted the
liquor traffic, checked cannibalism, suppressed inter-
tribal massacres, greatly impeded the slave-trade, and
introduced regular work and education; but it is a
commercial failure, mainly because it has been ad-
ministered with too direct a view to profits.
2. The Kamerun district consists of a coastal
area of dense forest and a fertile open plateau
inland.
(1) In addition to the dense forest and the hostility of the
natives, communication inland has been made very
difficult by the fact that all the rivers are ruined
for navigation by rapids; and Eui-opean settlement
costs too many lives, even the Kamerun peak
(13,000 feet) being haunted with malarial fever.
(2) The climate and the volcanic soil produce, however,
most luxuriant vegetation, the oil-palm and rubber-
creepers being the chief natural products ; and cacao
and coffee have been planted with great success, 9.g,
between Batanga and Yaunde.
(3) The Adamawa district is famous for ivory, its forest-
grown tusks being much more perfect and less brittle
than those grown in open country; but the product
THE 'CONGO STATES 69
is exported mainlj via the Beaa6 or the Saharan
caraTans.
(4) The trade of the country is done almost entirely through
Yictoria^ on the fine natural harbour of Ambas Bay,
the site of an old British Mission ; but the seat of
Qovermuent is at Bu^ ou the Kamerun estuary.
(ft) The name of the country, as of the volcanic peak
is derived from a tidal estuary which the early
Portuguese explorers christened Bio dos Camerones,
'The River of Shrimps.'
3. The French Congo is joined, via the Upper
Ubangi and the Bagirmi district, to Lake Chad and
the French Sudan.
(1) LibreviUe is the capital, and has a fine harbour on
Qabun Bay; but the best routes inland are via the
Ogowe and the Kwilu rivers, and the latter makes
Loango a more important harbour than Libreville.
(2) All the inland towns of any importance are along the
river valleys, e,g, Lambarene, Bu6, Franceville, and
Brazzaville ; and, therefore, they are all centres for
collecting palm-oil, rubber, and various dye-woods.
(3) The chief centres towards the Sudan are Tagiisu,
Mbanga, and Abu C&er, which export ivory and
ostrich featherSj via the Sahara.
N.B.— The strip of Spanish territory round Coriaoo Bay is unimportant.
4. The Congo Free State is at present more
interesting politically than commerciallj.
(1) Until 1877 it was an entirely unknown land, and in 1884
it was a fully organised State, with an area of nearly
900,000 square miles.
5. It has, however, enormous natural supplies of
vegetable wealth; and, outside the forest area, its
climate and soil offer every inducement to cultivation.
(1) The vegetable wealth at present consists mainly in
oil-palms, rubber-creepers, and orchilia.
70 WB8T CENTRAL AFRICA
(8) CSoffiBe caltrration has already proyed saooesBful ; and
the Bftnta inhabitaiitB are naturally tillerB of the
son, aad eoltivate the nataral producti of the area —
hananaa, manioc, and cereals.
(3) The forest area has heen so recently opened ap that
it still ptodaoes ahnndance of ivory.
6. The development of the country depends
almost entirely on the waterways; and, therefore,
the most important centres are on the great arteries.
(1) The most important is the harhour of Leopoldville on
Stanley Pool, where all these arteries meet; and
next in importance come New Antwerp or Bangala
(=IiihokoX on the great north-west hend of the main
stream, and Kihonge, Nyangwe, and Kasongo, on the
Upper Congo.
(2) The most important tributary is the Kaasai, partly
because it gives such direct access, via its Sankum
tributary, to the head waters of the main stream,
and partly because it drains the rich alluvial plain
south of the line of rapids (cf. p. 18). Its chief
centre is Luluaburg.
(3) In the extreme south-east there is the important copper
region of Katanga; and in the extreme north-east
King Leopold leases an important political area
along the Nile, including Wadelai, Dufile, and Lada
7. The development of the waterways depends
in turn on access from the sea.
(1) The Congo is navigable for the largest merchant vessels
from the out-port of Banana up to the in-port (and
capital) of Soma ; and large vessels can reach Yivi
(2) Between Yivi and Stanley Pool navi^tion is absolutely
impossible ; and, therefore, a railway has been built
from Matadi to Dolo (—ELinshasa).
(3) Much trade goes via Cabinda. Cf. p. 74.
ANGOLA 71
Lesson 24. Angola.
1. Angola is the name now given ^o all the
Portuguese possessions in West Central Africa.
(1) The old territory of Angola was simply the coast
hetween the Dande and the Kwanza, with the accom-
panying Hinterland.
(2) The other old provinces now included under the
general name of Angola are Loanda, Benguela,
and Mossamedes.
(3) There are also two new territories included under the
term — Ambriz and Portuguese Congo.
2. The surface is exceedingly uneven, and most
of it is at a considerable elevation.
(1) The northern part, between the Congo and Kwanza,
is fuUy 3000 feet high throughout almost the entire
distance from the coast to the Kwango.
(2) The southern part, between the Kwanza and the
Kunene, is even higher, attaining in the Bih6 Moun-
tains a height of fully 6500 feet.
(3) In both areas the surface is ridged with parallel
mountain ranges running from north to south ; and
in both the plateau falls in a single steep slope to
the Congo, but in three terraces to the Atlantic.
3. This arrangement obviously ruins the rivers for
navigation; and no roads have been made to supply
the want of waterways.
(1) The Kwanza, though not so long as the Kunene, is the
only navigable river, having continuous navigation for
small steamers up to Bondo (about 125 miles from
Loanda); but the volume of water is very variable,
and a company has a monopoly of the trade.
4. For this variable volume the climate is re-
sponsible, — ^tbe variation of temperature increasing
72 WEST CENTRAL AFRICA
with the distance from the Equator and from the sea,
while the rainfall decreases from north to south.
(1) The Congo districts, hoth north and aoath of the river,
are very warm and damp, and therefore ooyered with
dense forest ; and the climate is deadlj.
(2) Up on the Bih6 plateau the temperature ranges from
86* to helow freezing point, and the climate is qoite
healthj for Europeans, 9,g. at Humpata, Huilla, and
Sa du Bandeira.
(3) As the regular winds in the latitude of Angola are S.K
Trades blowing seaward, the humidity cannot be
measured by the rainfall — at least, on the coast. For
instance, at Loanda, the rainfall is scarcely 6 inches a
year, and yet the sky is generally covered with clouds
for 350 out of the 365 days in the year.
N.B. — Even at San Salvador, where the plateau la quite high enough
to make a fairljr good condeniing medium, the rainfall ia only 35 inchea
a year.
5. Under such circumstances the natural products
ai-e entirely * tropical,' e,g. oil-palms, rubber-creepers,
cofTee, cotton, sugar-cane ; but only two, the coffee and
the sugar-cane, have hitherto been cultivated.
(1) The coffee grows wild over all the northern area,
especially in the Kwango and Kwanza basins ; and it
is cultivated in the Encoje district, in Cazengo and
Golungo Alta The great hindrance to the develop-
ment of the industry is the cost of human porterage
to Dondo. When the Ambaca railway is extended
through Malanje, the healthier plateau between
Cazengo and Cassan je will certainly be planted.
(2) The sugar is mostly grown for the distillation of rum
for which the excessive humidity is very favourable —
the proportion of molasses made in crystallising 1 cwt.
of sugar varying with the humidity from 50 to 90
gallons, which produce an equal number of gallons of
proof rum The cane, of course, requires more heat
ANGOLA 73
luid moisture and a lower elevation than the coffee,
and is grown mainly along the coast and on the right
bank of the Kwanza below Dondo.
(3) In the drier and higher south there is excellent cattle-
pasture, for the riyers are subject to regular floods,
which cover their banks with rich mud ; and in
the lower reaches of the Kunene the mud grows
good cotton.
6. In addition to the extreme fertility of the soil,
there is also undoubted mineral wealth ; but it is still
undeveloped, mainly owing to expense of working.
(1) Iron has been worked from time immemorial by the
natives of Gazengo; gold is known to exist in the
Kwanza basin, and copper in the Loge basin.
7. There are five chief outlets for the produce
of Angola — the Congo, Ambriz, Loanda, Benguela, and
Mossamedes.
(1) Mossamedes exports the cattle and other wealth of the
European settlers in the Kunene basin — guano and
nitrate of soda from the semi-desert strip immediately
behind the town — and several thousand tons of fish,
which are brought to the excellent harbour of Little
Ilsh Bay by the cold Benguela Current.
(2) Benguela has only an open roadstead, but is the terminus
of a good route to the fertile and healthy Bih6 plateau.
Its principal exports at present are simply the spon-
taneous products of the coast, e,g, india-rubber and
wax ; and it is likely to be entirely superseded by the
good neighbouring harbour of Lobito Bay, the ter-
minus chosen for the * Benguela '-Katanga railway.
(3) Ambriz, like Benguela, is an open roadstead which
would be useless except for the fact that tempests
are very rare. It owes its importance entirely to its
good route up the Loge Valley to the coffee plantations
of Eucoje.
74 WBST CENTRAL AFRICA
(4) The 'Congo' ports naturally export palm-oil, rabber,
and ivory from the lowlands of San Salvador, Cazengo^
and Oabinda, mainly from the ports of Landana,
Oabinda, and Ambrizette.
(5) Loanda is the natural capital It is much the best
harbour on the whole coast, being protected from the
ocean swell and the dangerous winds (S.W.) by a
small island ; it commands both the railway route to
Malanje, via Ambaca, and the river route, via Dondo ;
and the coffee of the Kwanza valley is at present th<«
only important cultivated product of the country.
PHYSICAL FEATURES 75
THE ZAMBESI EEGION.
Lesson 26. Physical Features.
1. The Zambesi Begion is simply a continuation
of the Great Eastern Plateau, and includes part of
that area already noticed; but the characteristic
features are all on a smaller scale:
(1) The lake formation is still of two kinds — the shallaive,
circular kind, e.g. Lake Mwero and Lake Bangweolo,
and the deep^ elongated kind, e,g. Lake Njasa and
the old lake-bed of the Loangwa Valley.
(2) The eastern buttress is stiU the higher and much the
steeper, rising in Mount Mlanji to nearly 10,000
feet^ while the Congo-Zambesi water-parting in the
west can be scarcely distinguished by the eye from
the uniform surface of the plateau.
(3) The wet winds stiU come from the east^ and the
shorter distance from the sea compensates for the
lower elevation of the mountains for condensing pur-
poses.
2. The general slope of the plateau is marked by
the general trend of the rivers and by the vague-
ness of the water-parting.
(1) It is so level in the west that branches of the Kwando
seem to drain indifferently into Lake Ngami or the
Zambesi, as streams between Lake Mwero and Lake
Bangweolo drain indifferently into the Congo or the
Zambesi.
(2) All the main tributaries, e.g. the Kafue and the
Loangwa, the Sanyati and the Fanyami, have a
distinct westward trend for a large part of their
course ; and even the main stream, under the name
of the Liba, at first flows westward.
76 THE ZAMBESI REGION
(3) In the east not only is the surface broken by numer-
ous isolated hills or 'kopjes,' but there is a definite
mountain system running north and south (cf. the
Matoppo Hills).
3. The Zambesi itself may be naturally divided
into three portions of distinctly different level.
(1) The Upper Valley ends at the Victoria Falls. Above
the falls there is a magnificent waterway, especially
after the confluence of the Kwando and on the
'Liambai' portion of the river; but navigation is
* completely stopped by the €rony6 Falls.
(2) The Central Valley, between the Victoria Falls and the
Kebra-basa Rapids, is less useful than the upper one,
mainly owing to the pace of the tributaries from
the high escarpment on each side, and to the number
of rapids which become unnavigable at low water.
It is also the area most infested with the dreaded
tsetse fly.
y.B,—Th\B pest is harmless to men, but fatal to horses and cattle,
and has therefore encouraged the slave-trade; but it has disappeared
elsewhere in Africa with the disappearance of big game, and may do
so I) ere.
(3) The lower reach of the river from the Kebra-basa
Rapids to the sea is a fairly good waterway, but the
low level and the abundance of alluvium cause it to be
obstructed by shifting sand-bRnks — the residue going
to make the deadly delta. This section is, however,
the most important because it receives the great
Shir6 tributary, which is itself navigable up to Lake
Nyasa except for one series of rapids. It also con-
tains the important Portuguese stations of Sena,
Tete, and the frontier-post of Zumbo.
N.B. — ^The Ghind^ is the only really useful passage through the delta,
but it is yery unhealthy and simply alive with mosquitoes.
4. The coast-land is naturally divided by the
Zambesi into two dissimilar areas.
PHYSICAL FEATURES 77
(1) The northern area is much the broader and the higher;
it is broken by steep hills and mountain ridges ; and
it is crossed hy rapid shallow streams, e,g. the Lurio.
(2) The southern area has a more or less uniform low
level, which greatly affects the character of the
riyers, e,g. the Pungwe, the Sabi, and the Lower
Limpopo— the Pungwe providing much the easiest
access to the Mashona plateau.
(3) These lowlands have, of course, much more Iniuriant
vegetation than the dry elevated plateau behind
them, which in the south-west becomes mere arid
steppe ; but their latitude puts them beyond the
influence of the Equatorial rainfall, and therefore
the jungle is nowhere very dense.
Lesson 26. Political Divisions (1).
1. Most of the coast-land does not strictly belong
to the Zambesi basin, but it has a political unity —
belonging entirely to Portugal.
(1) Like the corresponding long strip of Angola, it has
been utterly neglected by the Portugese ; and all its
old centres are being replaced by new ones that are
being developed by the transit trade to British
Central Africa. Thus Quilimane is being replaced by
Ghind6, Sofala by Beira, and Inhambaue — except for
rubber — by Louren^o Marques.
(2) Mozambique is the most impoi-tant town in the north,
and gives its name to the whole province north of
the Zambesi Like so many African ports, it is on
an island; and the island shelters the harbour of
Mosuril Bay (cf. Mombasa). Besides its through trade
to British Central Africa, it ooUects oil, rubber,
corpa, wax, eta, from neighbouring ports, e.g. Ibo.
JT.B.— The Momnbique Company adminiBten Manica and Sofala.
(3) Louren^o Marques, which gives its name to the whole
province south of the Zambesi, has a magnificent
78 THE ZAMBESI REGION
harbour on Delagoa Bay, skeltered hj a tongue of
land from the 8.E. gales, and with easy access to
the Transvaal ; and it is the terminus of the most
important railway in East Africa. Beira also owes
its importance to its easy access inland by rail — ^up
the Puugwe valley to the Mashona gold-fields, via
(JmtalL
(4) The intermediate riverine district, 'Zambesia,' like the
military district of Gaza, is nominally distinct from
both Mozambique and Lonreu^o Marques.
2. British Central Africa has been developed from
the comparatively healthy Nyasa highlands, via the
Shir^ River southwards and the Stevenson Boad north-
wards.
(1) The Stevenson Boad was the natural result of Dr.
Livingstone's work, but the whole expense of it from
Lake Nyasa to Lake Tangauyik^t was defrayed by
Mr. James Stevenson.
(2) The earliest settlement was at Blantyre, but the capital
is now Zomba; the trade ports of Port Herald and
Chiromo are connected with Blantyre by rail, and the
Portuguese have granted a * Free-zone' at Chinde in
connection with the trade.
(3) The native trade in spontaneous products, especially the
rubber of Baudawe, has been developed, and various
other plants have been cultivated, e,g. sugar and
cotton ; but the finest product is coffee.
3. ISTyasaland produces the best coffee in the
market, but the area for it is limited.
(1) In most parts the plant is not flourishing, owing to
the absence of trees to shade the young shrubs, and
to the fact that the rain falls at the wrong time.
Moreover, the demand for labour on the plai^tations
attracts the natives from porterage, and yet cartage
is impossible through the tsetse-fly district.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS 79
(2) The Bandawe coffee is, however, the best in the world ;
there is abundaoce of shade between Mount Kowirwi
and Laka Nyasa, the average rainfall is about 7 feet
and well distributed throughout the year, and the
rich fibrous soil is exactly suited to the plant. There
is also a first-rate harbour close at hand in Nkata
Bay.
(3) Even in the Bandawe district, however, there is great
need of a railway to get the coffee out of the country
before the rains, which have spoilt many a fine crop ;
. and meantime the industry is languishing.
N.B, — Facilities for ex])ort are a very important consideration with
regard to coffee ever j- where, as it is seldom largely used where it is
grown.
Lesson 27. Political Divisions (2).
1. Bhodesia is the unofficial name usually given
to the important Matabili and Mashona plateaus, —
which form Southern Zambesia, — and two other areas
farther north.
(1) The importance of this area is due mainly to the fact
that its height and its latitude make it more suitable
for Europeaus than any other equal area of tropical
Afiica.
2. The surface is mainly one continuous plateau
ridged in the south by the Matoppo and the Umvukwe
Mountains, and rising towards the east, though the
Zambesi itself, of course, drains eastward.
(!) The natural slope makes the platean fall much more
steeply towards the sea than inland ; and, as the
seaward face, of course, also gets the heaviest rains,
the deep eastern valleys, e.g, those of the Mazoe and
80 THE ZAMBESI REGION
the Sabi, are covered with very fertile allavium
washed down from the steep escarpment.
(2) The gentle westward slope ends towards both the
Zambesi and the Limpopo in low veld, which is
magnificent nataral pasture, though the presence of
the tsetse-fly makes the Zambesi veld useless in the
meantime.
(3) The rest of the country is between 4000 and 5000 feet
above the sea, which makes it particularly healthy,
and is well watered, fertile, and rich in minerals.
3. The wealth of the area lies at present mainlj
in grain and gold, but the north is undeveloped
(1) The rich alluvial valleys along the eastern escarpment
produce wonderful crops of all kinds of tropical plants,
especially rice, sugar, and cotton ; but the staple
products of the country are maize and Kafir corn.
(2) The presence of hemp and tobacco, as well as the cotton,
growing wild, e,g. in the Hanyani, Umquadzi, and
Mazoe valleys, proves that both soil and climate must
be admirably adapted to fibres; and, as the coun-
try is being developed mainly by a mining popu-
lation, the tobacco will probably become extremely
important, especially along the Quay ('Tobacco') river.
N.B. — The natives smoke the hemp as well as the tobaooo, bat hemp-
smoking causes certain death within quite a few years.
(3) The watershed is mainly granite, but is intersected by
areas of the best possible formation for gold, ue. quartz
and blue slate; the chief rivers have abundance of
water, and the ' mopani ' bush provides sufficient tim-
ber for successful mining ; and there is good transport
by rail via Bulawayo and the Cape, and via Umtali and
Beira, Salisbury being the junction of the two lines.
4. The Mashona plateau is rather the higher,
healthier, more fertile, better watered, and richer in
minerals; and its natives are distinctly the more
peaceful and industrious.
POUnOAL DIVISIONS 81
(1) The Matabili are savage warriors who did not allow
any real prospecting for gold, and who drove the
Mashonas up into the lonely vaUeys of the north- east,
where they ooald build cities of refuge on impregnable
peaks of granite.
(2) The Mashonas are peaceful to cowardice, and have
worked both the mineral and the agricultural wealth.
For instance^ they manufactured at Mchesa the excel-
lent hematite iron found in the Umquadzi valley ;
they wqve ' blankets ' out of the wild cotton, and dyed
them with the wild indigo ; they even made string
out of one kind of bark, and mixed another kind
with saltpetre to make a poor sort of gunpowder.
5. The towns are mainly centres of mineral wealth.
(1) The two great political centres are Bulawayo and
Salisbury, at opposite ends of the water-partiug ; and
other important towns are Selukwe, Gwanda, Victoria,
Qwelo, and Hartley.
(2) The newer towns are springing up mainly along the
Guay Valley Eailway from Bulawayo, which taps the
important Waukie coalfield on its way to the Victoria
Falls.
(3) In the undeveloped north— officially known as North-
Western Ehodesia (Barotseland) and North-Eastem
Rhodesia — there are administrative centres at Kalomo
and Fort Jameson ; but the most important places are
on the Stevenson Road, e.g, Fife and Abercom.
N.B. — ^The rains of Zimbabye are probably of Persian origin, bnt the
wide-apread traces of old gold-workings have caused them to be identified
with the Ophir of King Solomon.
82 CALMS OF CAPRICORN
CALMS OF CAPRIOOEN.
Lesson 28. DamaralancL
1. The Calms of Capricorn, like the Calms of
Cancer, are marked hj a stretch of desert
(1) The Kalahari desert, like the Sahara, is caused entirely
bj the absence of rain ; and its sandy surface, like
that of the Sahara, is dae to the disintegrating force
of the great changes of temperature from day to
night
(2) It is comparatively small, because the breadth of Africa
at the South Tropic is not much more than one-third
of its breadth at the North Tropic ; but it extends
actually over an area as large as England, and its
influence is practically felt from Lake Ngami to the
Orange River, and from Palapye to Walvisch Bay.
(3) like the Sahara, it. merges towards the Equator in an
area of inland drainage, which is connected with a
series of salt pans ; and Lake Ngami, like Lake
Chad, is fed by a stream which ^ows from the moister
regions nearer the Equator.
. (4) Like the Sahara, it extends westward in desert or semi-
desert form to the very shore of the Atlantic ; but the
Limpopo, like the Nile, wins from the desert its own
valley in the east
(5) On the other hand, the Kalahari desert is not only much
smaller, but also distinctly less arid, than the Sahara ;
it has larger supplies of subterranean water, and is
widely covered with coarse grass between the stretches
of sand.
2. The whole area between the Limpopo and the
sea is divided between Britain and Germany.
DAMARALAND 83
(1) The most important part of the German territory is the
atrip through the British territory by which Damara-
land has access to the ZambesL
(2) The most important part of the British territory is the
hinterland of Walvisch Bay, which completely domi-
nates the trade of German South- West Africa.
3. German South- West Africa consist? of a series
of terraces rising eastward into a definite mountain
range.
(1) The highest summit, Mount Omutako, is about 7500
feet high ; aud the considerable average height of the
whole country gives it more rain (about 18 inches
a year) than might be expected in such a latitude
off the cold Benguela current.
(2) The rainfall is, however, practically too small every-
where for agriculture, though the Damara highlands
encroach on the moister regions of constant equa-
torial rainfall ; and, therefore, cattle-rearing is the
only hopeful industry except the copper-mining in
Great Namaqualand.
(3) Thanks to its central position, the fairly permanent
volume of the Swakop Biver, and the command
of the trade-routes converging on Walvisch Bay,
Otyimbingue is the most important centre; mission-
aries have established stations all over the healthy
highlands, e.g, Kehoboth, Beersheba, Bethany ; and
an attempt has been made to develop the harbours
of Sandwich and Angra Fequena (=Luderiz Bay).
(4) Walvisch Bay is, however, the only good harbour, and
commands all the best routes into the interior— up
the two watercourses of the Swakop and the Kuisip.
Moreover, as the distance from the Bay to Yryburg
is less than 800 miles, a railway between the two
places via Sandfontein would save two days' journey
by sea and one day's journey by rail over the present
Cape route to the Witwatersrand goldfield.
84 GALMS OF CSAPRIOORN
(6) Ab the Knisip is unceasingly silting up the Sandwicb
harbour, and Angra Pequena only serves the southern
or Namaland(NaniaquaIand) area, an artificial harbour
has been constructed at Swakopmund, from which a
railway runs via Otyimbingue to the present adminis-
trative centre of Windhoek, situated about 200 miles
inland among the Damara hills (over 6000 feet).
These (' Awass ') hills throw off an important ' creek '
southward to the Aub river, which gives a natural
route from Windhoek to Gibeon and Keetmanshoop,
Lesson 29. BachnanalancL
1. The importance of Bechuanaland is due to
the fact that it contains part of the great trans-
continental route from north to south along the
Eastern Plateau.
(1) This communication is made ezceptionaUy easy by the
level surface and by the artificial character of the
boundaries ; but, though the latter present no physical
obstacle to commerce, the Orange, the Limpopo, and
the Marico rivers form very convenient political
boundaries.
(2) The Molopo performs a similar service between the
old Crown Colony, or British Bechuanaland, in the
south and the Protectorate in the north.
2. British Bechuanaland is a fine plateau about
the size of England, rising to a height of 5000
feet.
(1) This height and the dry air make it very healthy;
and, as there is also excellent pasture, the plateau
forms an important basis for the British position
northwards to the Zambesi.
(2) PoliticaUy, it is now part of Cape Colony; but, geo-
graphically, it has more in common with the Bechu-
BECHUANALAND 85
analand Protectorate^ and falls natarally under the
area of the Capricorn Calms.
3. The country is divided into two unequal
parts by the line of hills which run due north
from Kheis to the Molopo.
(1) West of the hills the land is a waiste, forming part
of the Kalahari desert ; it has no rain except during
occasional thunderstorms ; and its vegetation is largely
limited to plants with deep tuberous roots, in which
they can store up the little rain that does fall. (Cf. p. 31.)
(2) The eastern part is also very dry ; but the soil is
naturally fertile, the summer rains (26 inches) might
be stored, and irrigation produces very large crops
of maize and millet, especially in the Hart basin*
(3) The political capital is Yryburg ; hut both Taungs
and Mafeking are more important^ as they have the
advantage of rivers — the Hart and the Molopo— as*
well as the railway. Taungs trades (in maize, wool,
hides, cattle, etc.) with Kimberley ; and Mafeking,
which is the largest town, controls the trade with
the Protectorate and the Transvaal Colony.
N,B, — The only town of any aise away from this OMtem border is
Kumman, whioh oollects salt from the desert. CL Tandeni in the
Sahara.
4. The Protectorate, like the Colony, is divided
into two unequal parts by a continuation north-
wards of the same line of hills.
(1) West of the hills stretches the Kalahari desert, in
which the bushmen manage to keep herds of native
sheep and goats. There is also some mineral wealth,
including salt and gold.
(2) Eastward the country gradually changes from desert
into valuable pasture, e,g, between Molepolole and
Palapye, and then into valuable agricultural land,
e.^. between the Notwani and Limpopo rivers, where
there are special facilities for irrigation.
86 CAIiBfS OF CAPRICORN
(3) There are only two towns of importance, tbe frontier
market of Kan ja and the political centre of Falapye.
The latter, King Elhama's capital, is qnite a new
town, but has a population of over 30,000. Shoshong
used to be the capital, but in 1889 Khama trans-
ferred his town bodily to the healthier site of Balapje,
(or Fkdachwe) where both the air and the water are of
the purest) and where the porous sand and the dry air
materially assist sanitation.
Lesson 80. Vaal-Orange Territory.
1. This Vaal-Orange Territory consists of a broad
high plateau, with an undulating surface, entirely cut
off from the sea by the Draken-Berge.
(1) The plateau is known as the Yeld ; the soil is generally
sandy, the surface is grassy, and the climate is
extremely healthy.
(2) Two-thirds of the whole area is occupied by the Trans-
vaal Colony, which is about the same size as the
United Kingdom, while the Oi-ange River Colony is
about the size of England alone.
(3) Though most of the area falls within the belt of Capri-
corn Calms, its nearness to the ocean and the height
of the Draken-Berge give it a far better water supply
than Bechuanaland.
2. The Transvaal Colony is naturally divided into
three areas — the High, the Middle, and the Low Veld.
(1) Tlie High, or Hooge, Veld is an area, about the size of
Ireland, between the Yaal River and the Magalies
Mountains ; it is destitute of trees, and very dry during
the winter months ; but it is wonderfully bracing and
healthy, and has splendid sheep pasture. It is also
extremely rich in gold.
(8) The Middle Yeld, or < Garden of the Transvaal,' is a
rather smaller area of lower elevation, crossed by
VAAL-ORANGE TERRITORY 87
detached ranges, €.g, Waterberg and Hanglip, broken
hj wooded 'kloofs' or guUeys, and drained hj the
headwaters both of the Limpopo and of the Olifant.
(3) The Low, or Bosch (BushX Veld averages nearly 2000
feet' lower than the Middle Veld. ; and, as it is also
mach better watered than the rest of the country, it is
densely forested. This makes it distinctly unhealthy ;
and, as the bush is haunted by the tsetse fij, stock-
rearing is impossible.
3. The occupations of the people vary with nation-
ality and with the different Yelds.
(1) On the High Veld the Dutch are almost entirely
ooea[»ed with sheep and horse farming; on the Middle
Yeld they raise cattle and grain, especially maize
(mealies); and in the Bush Yeld they are mainly
engaged in planting cofifee and sugar-cane.
N^B, — Swaziland may be reckoned as a Middle Yeld region.
(2) The various foreigners, mainly British, were attracted to
the country by its mineral wealth, which is largely
confined to the High Yeld. Coal exists in considerable
quantities, €.g, round Boksburg, and is very useful in
the almost complete absence of timber; but gold Ib
the great staple— over £16,000,000 worth having been
produced in 1904.
(3) The richest gold-fields lie along the Witwatersrand, i,e.
the hilly ridge which divides the Orange basin from
that of the Limpopo ; and the great centre is Johannes-
burg, which since 1885 has sprung up into a city of
160,000 inhabitants. There arc also rich fields amongst
the Draken-Berge valleys, e.g, the De Kaap, on which
the towns of Barberton and Lydenburg have sprung up.
4. The towns, therefore, are of two kinds — mining
and farming.
(1) The political centres are generally little pastoral towns
on the High Yeld, like the old and present capitals of
Sd CALMS OF CAPRIOOfiK
Potchefstroom and Pretoria; the centres of mixed
fanning are even sinaller and generally on the Middle
Veld, €,g, Bustenbnrg and Nylstroom (Utrecht and
Yryheid); the plantation settlementa are entirely in
the low land north of the TrojMc^ e,g, Yaldesia.
Cf. p. 97.
(2) The mining and railway centres, on the other hand, are
already big cities or rapidly becoming so, e.g. Heidel-
berg and Middlebnrg, Leydsdorp and Krugersdorp,
Komati Poort and Elaudsfontein.
(3) The commercial capital is Johannesburg, which has
direct connection by rail with five different railway
termini round the South African coast — Gape Town
(about 1000 miles). Port Elizabeth (about 700), East
London (665), Durban (437), and Louren9o-Marques
(about 400).
N,B. — ^All these railways have a oommon trunk, the eleven miles
of rial between Johannesburg and Elaudsfontein.
6. The Orange Siver doloiiy is almost a dead level,
broken only by kopjes in the south, and it is entirely
pastoral and mining.
(1) The dry air and want of water, which practically prohibit
agriculture, make the climate exceedingly healthy,
especially for persons with weak lungs ; and, for the
same reason, the country produces magnificent wool
and ostrich-feathers.
(2) There is also considerable mineral wealth, including
diamonds to the west of Fauresmith and coal between
Kroonstad and Heilbron.
(3) The chief centres of population are Bloemfontein, the
capital, and Winburg, both on the main line north
from Port Elizabeth and East London to Johannes-
burg ; Harrismith is an important frontier junction on
a branch of the main line from Durban to Johannesburg ;
and Ladybrand and Smithfield are cattle-markets
amongst the rich pastures of the Caledon valley.
SOUTH AFRICA.
Lesson SL Oape Colony (Physical).
1. Cape Colony is of immense value to the
British Empire, because it commands the most im-
portant trade-route in the water hemisphere.
(1) Gape Town is the only harbour of real importance
between St. Helena and Mauritius for India-bound
vesaels, and between St Helena and Albany for
▼easels in the Australasian trade.
(2) It is, therefore, the only convenient coaling-station for
vessels before they enter the latitudes of *The Boaring
Forties.'
(3) These two facts make the possession of Cape Town a
sheer necessity for an empire which has the greatest
navy in the world, and the security of which depends
on its naval supremacy.
2. Cape Colony is three times as large as Great
Britain, but has not as much coast as England
alone; and very few of the existing harbours are
naturally good.
(1) The reason for this is the immense amount of alluvium
brought down by the great rivers of the continent,
and distributed by various currents along the coast
(2) The best natural harbour is Saldanha Bay, about 60
miles north of Cape Town ; but, as it has neither
supplies of fresh water nor communication inland, it
has no value except as a refuge.
(3) Table Bay \b exposed towards the north-west, and is
therefore not quite safe during ' Anti-Trade ' gales ;
but it is of so much importance to the British mer-
cantile marine that extensive harbour works have
been constructed, and it has good (Communication
inland.
89
90 BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA
(4) Simon's Baj, bj which also there is a good approach
to Gape Town, is large and sheltered; but the
entrance is dangerous, because Gkpe Agulhas extends
a long way seaward beneath the surface of the water,
strong carrents sweep round the Gape, and the
meeting of the cold Benguela current with the warm
Mozambique current causes dense fogs.
(5) The best harbours on the rest of the Cape coast are
Algoa Bay — ^though even that is exposed towards tiie
south-east, tJie stonny quarter, and does not admit
the largest vessels to Port Elizabeth — and East JLoudou.
Port Alfred and Mossel Bay are simply roadsteada
8. Cape Colony is of typical African formation —
a laige plateau rising abruptly in parallel terraces
from a moist coast-strip to dry flat-topped moun-
tains like Table Mountain.
(1) These so-called mountains are really the steep escarpment
of the plateau, and run from east to west across the
Colony.
(2) The lowest terrace is very near the sea in the west
and south, but towards the east retreats from 20 to
60 miles.
(3) The third terrace leads to a plateau nearly half the
size of England, called the Great Karroo— from the
Hottentot uame for a shrub that grows on it ; and,
as the average elevation of it is 3000 feet, the rain-
fall is too slight for anything except sheep pasture.
4. The Nieuwveld Mountains, a continuation west-
wards of the Draken-Berge, form the water-parting
of the country.
(1) The rivers that flow northward from them are fed
mainly by thunder-rain ; and they are, therefore,
very variable in volume. Gf. the Orange.
(2) The southward rivers, €.g, the Gauritz, Gamtoos, and
Sunday, vary much less, and might be very useful
CAPE COIX)NY (PHYSICAL) 91
for irrigation ; but the sudden and violent floods to
which tbej are subject, cause them to plough such
deep channels that irrigation by gniTitation — the only
cheap method — is practically impossible.
(3) The range rises in height (under different names —
Winter-Berge, Sneeuw-Berge, and Storm-Berge) to-
wards the east; and this increase in height is
accompanied by an increase in the amount of vapour
brought landwards— off the warm Mozambique cur-
rent Consequently, the rivers, e.g. the Great Fish
Eiver, begin to have more permanent volume.
6. The climate naturally changes with the height
and the distance from the sea, and changes still more
importantly with the longitude.
(1) The rains in the east fall in summer, while those in
the west fall in winter ; and, therefore, e,g, at Grahams-
town, the rain cools the heated air, and the clouds
temper the sun's rays.
(2) The damp heat of the south-east coast, e.g, at Port
Elizabeth and East London, is as bad for Europeans
as the consequent sour grass is for stock ; but the
pure dry air of the inland heights, e,g. at Colesberg
and Aiiwal North, is magnificently healthy.
(3) The cold Benguela current affects the climate unpleasantly
in the west, and decreases the rainfall ; and, therefore,
most of the towns are in the south-east, where the
rainfall is sufficient for general agriculture.
(4) The actual rainfall varies from about 40 inches at
Grahamstown to about 5 in the north-west of the
Great Karroo ; but there is a local rainfall of 30 inches
at Gape Town owing to the height of the condensing
medium (Table Mountain » 3600 feet) and its near-
ness to the sea.
(6) In connection with this rainfall there is an extensive
and valuable salt industry. Of. the salt-pans in the
Sahara and the Kalahari deserts.
93 BRmSH SOUTH AIBIGA
Lesson S2. Gape Oolony (Commercial).
1. With such a scanty nunfall, it is obvious that
agricaltaie must be extremely limited.
(1) Hie aTenge nin&U OTer the rich wheat lands in the
Eastern Cbnntiea of England is not more than 90
inches; bat on a platean in the latitude of Gape
Golonj, where both filtration and evaporation are
Tery rapid, GO indies would not be too much.
(8) Even in the districts which have the heaviest rainfall,
irrigation is a neoessitj ; and this is rendered difficult
and expensive bj the depth of the river-beds.
(3) Wheat and maize are the onlj grain-crops^ the wheat
being natnrallj grown in the drier and colder south-
west^ while the maize is grown in the damper and
hotter soath-eastw The best wheat comes from the
Malmesbniy plain ; most of the maize, or ' mealies,'
comes from the district between Uitenhage and King
(William's Town). Large areas are under oats.
(4) The vine is, however, eminently adapted to such a dry
dimate, and is said to grow more luxuriantly in the
south-west than in any other part of the world. The
most productive vineyards are on the warm, dry slopes
of the lowest terrace, e.g, at Paarl, Stellenbosch, Con-
stantia, and Wynberg (' wineburg '). The proximity of
these places to Cape Town, the ease with which cork-
dust can be imported from Lisbon, and the nearness
of Cape Town itself to London, have caused a large
export of grapea Cf. p. 103.
(6) Tobacco also grows well in the south, especially in the
rich limestone valley of Oudtshoom, where the shelter
of the Zwarte-Berge and the Lauge-Berge on the
north and the south, the number of streams, the
proximity to the sea, and the presence of extensive
forests between the Lange-Berge and the sea, seem
to guarantee permanent success to the planters.
K,B.—Jn such a treelesa country these forests are speoiAlly valnaUsb
ftnd supply wood for wagon-building.
GAPE OOLONT (COMMERCIAL) 93
2. The pastoral wealth is much greater, therefore,
than the agricaltural, and is mainly in sheep and goats.
(1) The coast-lands, however, are snitahle for cattle, esped-
tJlj in Transkei and Fondoland ; and there is a large
demand for transport oxen for the wagon-traffic over
the roadless plains of the interior.
(2) The goats are much more nnmerons than the cattle,
and are of two kinds — ^native and -Angora. The
former are yery hardj, hut the latter are much the
. more valuahle. Most of them are kept on the Upper
Karroo and the eastern half of the Great Eiirroo,
especiallj round Bichmond and Graaf Beinet; and
mohair to the value of over £600,000 is exported
annually via Port Elizabeth.
(3) The sheep, like the goats, are of two kinds— native
and Merino ; and in the very dry north-west the
native is even preferred. Elsewhere the Merino is
the most valuable animal in the country, and wool
is exported to the value of nearly £2,000,000. The
most important sheep farms are also on the Great
Karroo, and there is great mortality amongst the
sheep in a dry season ; but this is mainly due to bad
farming — e.g. overstocking the land, keeping the
kraals dirty, or wearing out large areas of good
pasture by always bringing the sheep to the same
kraal by exactly the same route.
(4) Ostrich-farming requires special knowledge and experi-
ence ; and, as profits are peculiarly dependent on the
caprices of fashion, only wealthy capitalists can risk
the possible heavy losses or the long waiting for
gains. The centres of the industry are Uitenhage
and Grahamstown.
3. The scarcity of fuel, which will probably prevent
the Colony ever having any important manufacturing
industries except tanning, has also hindered the
development of the mineral wealth.
94 BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA
(1) CcmJ does exut in oonndenble quantities in the Storm-
Berge, •.g, at Molteno and GTphergat, and can be
easily quarried out of the hillsides ; but it is of very
poor quality.
(S) Copper is also found in various parts, and exists in
valuable quantities in the old rock of Namaqualand.
The richest deposits are at Ookiep, which is connected
by a tramway with the roadstead of Nolloth.
(3) Diamonds are, however, the great mineral product
and realized nearly £6,500,000 in 1904. The chief
mines are in the blue day of Griqualand West^ where
archaic and mesosoic formations meet in the valley of
the Vaal Kimberley is the centre of the industry,
and lies in the natural Line of Least Besistanoe for
the transcontinental railway traffic.
4. The other important towns of the Colony are
generally stations on the great trunk lines, which
run from the various ports to the diamond and gold
fields of the north.
(1) In the North-Eastern Province, where all these lines
converge, De Aar, Naauw Poort, Middleburg, and
Cradock are all important junctions ; the lines of the
Cape Town district converge on Worcester, as those
of Port Elizabeth and Port Alfred converge on Alice-
dale ; and Tulbagh, Beaufort West, and Gathcart
command various passes by which the railways climb
the terraces.
Lesson 33. Natal and Basntoland.
1. Natal (not including Zululand and the Transvaal
annex) is two-thirds the size of Scotland, but has only
200 miles of coast and only one good harbour— on
Port Natal.
This bay, however, is by no means an ideal harbour, as
it has a shifting bar and is quite shallow ; but, as
it is the best harbour on the coast, it monopolises
NATAL AND BASUTOLAND 95
the trade of Natal, and does a large share of the
Free State and Transvaal trade. Durban itaelf is
well sheltered by a spur of land that juts out south-
eastward into the baj.
2. The western boundary is the natural obstacle
of the Draken-Berge, which vary from 6000 to 10,000
feet in height
(1) The passes across the range, though few and steep,
have therefore become very important The Van
Reenens Pass gives railway access to the Orange Free
State, and the pass below Majuba Hill gives rail-
way access to the Transvaal ; and there is, fortunately,
a valuable coalfield between the two along the Natal
slope of the Draken-Berge.
3. The surface both of Natal proper and of Zulu-
land, like that of Cape Colony, rises in steep terraces.
(1) The lowest terrace makes Pietermaritzburg 2000 feet
higher than Durban, and the highest terrace gives
the Tugela Biver a fall of 2000 feet (in thi^e plunges).
N,B, — ^Zululand is about one-third the size of Scotland.
(2) The height of this innermost terrace, which is practi-
cally the Draken-Berge, and its nearness to the
warm Mozambique current, guarantee much more
rain than in Cape Colony. Even at Ladysmith,
which is 100 miles from the sea, there are at least
24 inches annually.
(3) The steejmess and the frequency of the terraces, though
they make continuous navigation impossible even on
the Tugela, offer special facilities for motive power
and irrigation.
4. The climate is not nearly so healthy as in
Gape Colony; the heat is great, especially in Zulu-
land, and the rain comes mainly in the hottest
season.
96 BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA
(1) The tDmller rainfall in winter is nsnallj saffieient, aa
the sun's heat is less ; and the snmmer storms bring
with them densely-clonded skies, which shade joong
plants from the sunshine.
(S) The torrential character of the. rains, however, has cut
up the surface, as in Gape Colony, with deep 'kloofs';
but, as the soil is neither so bare nor so diy as in
Gape Golony, it is not washed awaj so easilj.
(3) Of course, the varied surface and latitude cause Yxtiety
of climate. The coast-strip is distinctly unhealthy,
especially in Tongaland, and has a very even
temperature ; the uplands are perfectly healthy, and
have snow and ice.
6. Tlie products and occupations vary with the soil
and the climate.
(1) The coast-lands have semi-tropical climate and vege-
tation, and are generally richly charged with organic
matter in the form of decayed vegetation ; this helps
to keep the soil moist, to assimilate plant-food from
the air, and to add to this by generating carbonic acid.
(2) These conditions are inimical to Europeans ; but the
plants which they suit, e.g. maize, sugar, aud tea, are
such as necessitate the use of cheap coloured labour.
And, as most of the Bantus are either too proud or too
lazy to work, coolies are imported ; but wide planting
of eucalyptus is greatly improving the climate for
Europeans, and the natives do keep cattle.
N,B, — ^Muoh of the sugar is used as fodder.
(3) The ' Midlands ' contain a wide stretch of rich loamy soil
from Greyton to Richmond, which is adapted to mixed
farming. Horses and cattle are raised in large
numbers, and are quite free from the lung diseases
which affect them on the sugar plantations, and which
necessitate the use of mules there; the soil is damp
enough for maize, especially round Pietermaritzburg,
aud the climate is dry enough for wheat.
NATAL AND BASUTOLAND 97
(4) The * Uplands ' are naturally most suited to sheep and
goats, the goats thriving on the rougher land and
requiring the less attention. The climate is, however,
not suited to the natives ; and, therefore, the mohair
trade is — unlike the cattle trade^entirely in the hands
of Europeans.
(6) These Uplands are, however, most important for the
coal which is found in their palaeozoic formation.
The most valuable mines are on the upper waters of
of the Buffalo basin, especially at Newcastle and
Dundee, and in the new Yryheid-Utrecht district.
If.B. — ^The Buffalo basin also contains the historic sites of Majnha
Hill, Borke*s Drift, and Isandlhana.
6. The chief commercial centres are, therefore, on
the coast, while the chief political centres are on the
first terrace.
(1) Besides the port of Durban, Isipingo and Yerulam are
sugar centres, Stanger and Port Dumford are in-
terested in the tea-planting along the Lower Tugela,
and villages are springing up round the fertile shores
of Lake St. Lucia.
(2) Besides the political capital of Pietermaritzburg, Ulundi
fe the old capital of Zululand, and Etshowe (or Ekowe)
is the residence of the Chief Magistrate.
(3) Lady smith is the junction for the Orange River and
Transvaal ttallic, and the commercial centre of the
mining district.
7. Basutoland, a high plain about twice the size
of Yorkshire, produces the best wheat in Africa.
(1) The reasons for this are that the soil is naturally fertile
especially round Maseru ; the country is very well
watered by the Caledon and the Orange rivers ; and
the height of the Draken-Berge entirely keeps olF the
summer storms from the sea.
o
98 AnaCAK ISLANDS
AFRICAN ISLANDS.
Lesson 84. Madagascar.
1. Madagascar is not only much the largest of
the Afiican islands, but also one of the laigest islands
in the whole world.
(1) It u nearly three tbnee the size of Great Britain, and —
exdadmg Greenland — is sorpaaaed in area onlj bj
New Guinea and Borneo.
(2) The Mozambique Channel is 250 miles wide, and reaches
a depth of 1600 fathoms; and, as the island has several
species of plant and animal peculiar to itself, e.g. the
TraTeller's Tree and the Lemur, it must have been
separated from the mainland at a very distant date.
(3) At the same time, the much greater oceanic depths
beyond the ishind and elsewhere round the Continent,
and the general structure of the island itself, prove
that it must have been once united to the mainland ;
and the Comoro Islands supply a link.
2. Its structure is typically African, and repro-
duces the characteristic features of the Great Eastern
Plateau.
(1) It consists, generally, of a high plateau, surrounded by a
low coastal plain ; and the plateau is of old granite
formation broken by volcanic peaks, while the plain is
of new sedimentary formation.
(2) The plateau rises towards the east, and then falls
abruptly in terraces to a very narrow plain ; while
on the west it falls gradually to a much wider plain.
(3) The water-parting runs north and south for about 1000
miles, and is marked by a line of extinct volcanoes,
attaining, in Ankaratra, a height of nearly 10,000 feet ;
and, as it is so much nearer the east coast than the
MADAGASCAR 99
west, all the longest rivers, e.g, the Ikopa, Mangoka,
and Ongnlaki, flow westward.
(4) To the west of this water-parting there is a deep
parallel vaUey enclosed by steep cliffs of horizontal
sedimentary rock ; and amongst the most important
group of volcanoes there are large lakes, e.g, Itasy and
Alaotra.
(6) The granite plateau is generally covered with grascfy
savannahs or park-land, while the coastal plain and
the escarpment of the plateau are densely forested.
3. The climate varies with the height and with
exposure to the S.E. Trade-winds.
(1) The height of the plateau and the protection of the
water-parting make the climate of the interior tem-
perate and healthy ; trees are rare, and sheep and
cattle flourish.
(2) As the east coast-lands face the S.E. Trades, they have a
very hot, damp, deadly climate, which suits sugar and
cotton admirably, e,g, between Makanoro and Tama-
tave ; and the coral formation along the shore produces
splendid pine-apples. Sugar also flourishes in the
' Comoro ' islands, especially in Mazotte. Cf . p. 103.
N.B. — The French are planting encalyptus round Tamatave to improye
the climate.
(3) The forested eastern escarpment, with its heavy tropical
rains and abundance of iron in the soil, is an ideal site
for coffee and tea ; and the forest, generally, produces
rubber, ebony, and gum -copal.
(4) In the south the island falls within the belt of the Capri-
corn Calms, and is comparatively barren ; it is also
comparatively healthy, even on the lower levels, e,g.
south of the native centre of Fianarantsoa.
(5) Outside the plateau and the forested region, agriculture
is the universal occupation, rice and maize being the
chief crops ; and it is mainly carried on by tribes of
Negro extraction, who are greatly despised by the
Hovas of the plateau — a yellow Malayan people.
100 AFRICAN ISLANDS
4. TTie mineral wealth includes copper, snlphnr,
galena, and gold, as well as an abundance of iron.
(1) This accoants for the skill of the people in metal work,
especially in gold and silver ; and such skill implies
the existence of the metals in considerable abundance,
though mining is still undeveloped.
5. The towns are mainly ports, and all the good
ports are in the north.
(1) The reason for this is that the coasts of the southern
part of the island, like so much of the African coast,
are singularly unbroken ; but in the north there are
several fine harbours, the finest being the land-locked
bay of Diego Suarez.
(2) The chief port at present is Tamatave, as most of the
trade is done with the Mascarenhas ; but Mojanga,
with its 60 miles of navigation up the Ikopa, is rising
in importance.
(3) The French still keep Antananarivo as the capital ; but
its site— high up amongst inaccessible peaks on
the head waters of the Ikopa— is more appropriate to
the capital of the Hovas than to that of a European
power.
Lesson 36. North Atlantic Islands.
1. These islands, especially the Azores and the
Canaries, were of great importance in the early days
of geographical exploration.
(1) They afforded ports of shelter, they supplied fresh
water and food, and they tempted the explorers
seaward.
2. The Canaries were known to the Greeks as * the
Fortunate Islands/ and they certainly are fortunate
in scenery and climate.
NORTH ATLANTIC ISLANDS 101
(1) They are mountainous volcanic islands, rising to about
6400 feet in Gran Canaria, 7700 iu Palma, and
12,200 in Teneriffe ; and their nearness to the main-
land is marked not only by their dry climate, but
also by such a typical African plant as the euphorbia
(2) Their lofty peaks make them famous for goats, their
warm volcanic slopes grow splendid grapes, their
coast-lands grow early potatoes and tomatoes for the
London market, and the cochineal insect flourishes
on the euphorbias and various kinds of cactus in the
dry eastern islands.
(3) Santa Cruz, the seat of the Spanish Government, is on
the largest island, TenerifFe, which is nearly four times
the size of the Isle of Man ; but Gran Canaria contains
the important coaling-station of Las Palmas. Ferro, as
the most westerly land in the' Old World, was used
for a long time as the site of longitude 0**.
N.B. — The islands take their name from the number of wild dogs
(Ijatin, ca/nis) which were originally found in them.
3. The Cape Verde Islands are of little com-
mercial importance, but have a fine harbour and
convenient coaling-station on the barren island of
St. Vincent.
(I) Their latitude and the nearness of the Sahara cause them
to suffer from drought, though they rise to a height
of nearly 9000 feet in Fogo and Santiago. The latter
island contains the political capital of Villa da Praia,
the seat of the Portuguese Governor.
4. As Madeira does not rise above 6000 feet, and
is much farther out to sea than the Canaries, it was
not discovered till much later.
(1) Its dry air and volcanic soil produce splendid grapes
and other fruit ; and its mild climate atti*acts in-
valids, especially to the chief town of Funchal on the
sheltered, sunny south coast.
102 AFRICAN ISLANDS
(8) This influx of yiutora led to a great industrj in em-
broideiy and wicker goodB, and thousands of pounds'
worth are exported annually; but the chief exports
are 'Madeira' wine and fruit, and cork dust for the
latler is easily imported from Lisbon.
N.B. — Cork dust is the best material for packing grapes in beoanae
it is very light, it has no taste or smell, and it does not transmit the
moisture of any broken grapes. Of. p. ^.
(3) The word Madeira is Portuguese, and means 'forested';
it was given to the island because of the mass oi
timber with which it was originaUy covered.
5. The Azores, like Madeira, belong to Portugal,
and are so far from Africa that they ought not to
be called African islands at all.
(I) They are rugged and mountainous, the mountains of
Flores being considerably more than 9000 feet. They
are typical fruit islands, with a mild even climate and
fertile volcanic soil ; and their chief exports are
oranges and pine-apples, the oranges coming mainly
from the island of St. Michael.
Lesson 36. Mascarene and South Atlantic Islands.
1. B^union, Mauritius (with its dependency of
Bodriguez), and the Seychelles are the highest
points of a submarine bank.
(1) Mauritius is a coral-girt, well-wooded area of volcanio
hills, about three times the size of the Isle of Man, in
the path of frequent cyclones ; and it has, therefore,
a heavy rainfall, and is an ideal site for sugar. All its
towns are ports, and distil rum— Savanna, Mahebourg,
Grand Biver, and the capital of Port Louis ; Curepipe,
on the water-parting of the Black Biver Hills, which
run due north and south through the middle of the
island, is a sanatorium during the summer rains.
MASCARENE AND SOUTH ATLANTIC ISLANDS 103
(2) Reunion is rather larger and considerably higher than
Mauritius, rising in Piton des Neiges to 10,000 feet,
and it has a very active volcano in Piton de Four-
naise ; but it is otherwise very similar. Like
Mauritius, it grows various tropical products, includ-
ing coffee, aloes (for fibre), and vanilla ; but, as in
Mauritius, the staple is sugar. The great height and
the deep gorges of the interior compel each coast-land
to export its own product, though there is a railway
along the coast ; St. Denis is the French capital, and
the chief port is Pointe-des-Galets near St. Pierre.
N,B. — Mayotte and tho Comoro islands are governed from Reunion.
(3) The Seychelles are a very beautiful archipelago, the
home of the double coco-de-mer, which supplies their
export of oil and copra. On the largest island, Mah6,
vanilla is now being widely grown, and is exported
from Port Victoria. Like the neighbouring coral
group of the Amirante, the Seychelles have a de-
lightful, if not very healthy, climate.
- 2. Ascension, St. Helena, and Tristan da Cunha
are the peaks of solitary submarine volcanoes.
(1) Tristan da Cunha and Ascension rise from the sub-
marine ridge which divides the South Atlantic into
an east and a west basin ; but, while Ascension, like
St. Helena, is not 3000 feet high, Tristan da Cunha
is more than 8000. All three are British.
(2) Ascension is so devoid of water, that it is practically
barren ; but it is noted for its turtles, which support
a ' tortoise-shell ' industry ; and its little port of
Georgetown is used as a naval depot for the British
West African squadron.
(3) St. Helena is well within the area of the S.E. Trades,
and has plenty of rain ; but reckless destruction of
timber has partly caused and greatly helped the
washing away of soil by the rain, so that large areas
are practically barren. The chief crop— as in Tristan
da Cunha — is potatoes, and the chief industry is
104 AFRICAN ISLANDS
fishing. Jamestown, the capital, on the leeward —
ue. north-west— coast, is a coaling station.
3. There are four volcanic islands of considerahle
importance in the Gulf of Guinea — ^Fernando Po,
Annobon, Prince's Island, and St Thomaa
(I) The first two belong to Spain, and the last two to Portu-
gal. The largest and highest is Fernando R>, which
rises to a height of 10,000 feet ; the next in size, St
Thomas, is not more than 7000. The aoU is fertile,
aud the moist, hot, even cb'mate produces all kinds of
tropical plants. The chief towns are Sauta Isabel on
Fernando Pu, aud Cidade on St. Thomaa.
PROBLEM PAPER 105
PROBLEM PAPER.
1. Discuss the probable history of Africa if the peninsula had
beeu in the north and the continental part in the south.
2. Illustrate the connection between race and occupation, and
the connection of both with elevation.
3w What difference would it make to Africa if the Equaibr
was where the North Tropic is ?
4. Estimate the effect of planting large strips round the edge
of the Sahara with trees.
5. Why, and how, wiU the distribution of population prob-
ably be altered by the wide planting of Eucalyptus ?
6. Discuss the suitability of Africa for industries that demand
local supplies of coloured labour.
7. Illustrate the circumstances which determine the position,
growth, and characteristic industries of an important town.
8. Estimate the effect of flooding the El Juf area of the
Sahara from the headwaters of the Niger.
9. What physical features may aid the development of Africa
in the future which have hindered it hitherto ?
10. How have geographical conditions favoured the growth
of debased forms of religion in Africa ?
11. What difference would it have made if Madagascar had
been situated (in the same latitude) 260 miles icest of Africa ?
12. Compare the political and commercial value of the various
European * spheres of influence.'
106
AREA OP PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES
AEEA OF PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES.
Abyssinia,
Algeria,
Cape Colony,
Congo Free State,
Egypt,
Madagascar,
Marocco,
Orange River Colony,
Sahara,
Sudan,
Transvaal,
Tunisia,
about 160,000 square miles
310,000
220,000
900,000
400,000
230,000
220,000
60,000
1,700,000
2,000,000
110,000
60,000
»f
>t
»»
»i
fi
)»
It
t»
>>
=3 England,
=2 Sweden.
=2 Italy.
=2 Peru,
=2 France.';
(rather larger than
Gtermany.
= England.
= Argentine.
= European Russia.
= Italy.
=2 Greece.
N.B. — United Kingdom = about 120,000 square miles.
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
Cairo, -
■
about 570,000.
Alexandria, -
-
320,000.
Tunis,
-
170,000.
Johannesburg,
-
160,000.
Fez, -
-
140,000.
Algiers,
-
100 000.
Oran, -
-
90,000.
Cape Town, -
m
87,600.
Durban,
m
68,000.
Antananarivo,
-
60,000.
Marocco,
-
60,000.
Zanzibar,
-
60,000.
Port Said, -
-
40,000.
Freetown,
-
36,000.
Pietermaritzburg,
-
31,000.
Kimberley, -
-
30,000.
Tangier,
-
30,000.
Port Elizabeth,
m
26,000.
INDEX OF CHIEF SUBJECTS.
Agriculture, 30-32, 34, 35, 42-44,
63, 64, 72, 78, 87, 92, 96, 99.
Cataracts, 9, 15, 18, 19, 21-23.
Climate, 7, 26'-29, 58, 63, 67, 91,
96,99.
Coast, 3-6.
Coflfee, 31, 45, 55, 58, 64, 68, 72,
78,99.
Communications, 9, 13, 18-25,
35-37, 41, 44, 46, 47, 50-52, 62,
65, 70, 78, 84, 88, 94, 95.
Cotton, 31, 53, 81, 99.
Currents (ocean), 5, 6, 29, 83, 89,
90,95.
Dates, 30, 35, 40, 41.
Deserts, 28-32, 39-41, 51, 52, 82.
Diamonds, 33, 88, 94.
Esparto, 30, 34, 36.
Fauna, 31, 32.
Feathers, 37, 41, 44, 88, 93.
Forests, 19, 22, 27, 28, 30-32, 35,
42-44, 47, 67, 68.
Gold, 33, 41, 46, 78, 80, 87.
History, 1, 2, 78, 96.
Industries, 34-38, 43, 47, 50, 53,
63, 72, 73, 77, 81, 87, 88,
92-94, 100.
Islands, 5, 98-104.
Ivory, 19, 37, 41, 44, 47, 48, 50,
59, 63, 68, 73, 78.
Lakes, 9, 11, 13, 24, 25, 49,
60-62, 76.
Minerals, 33, 50, 51, 59, 73, 80,
83, 87, 88, 94, 97, 100.
Mountains, 8-14.
Oases, 35, 37, 40, 41, 52.
Oil, 19, 30, 31, 36, 43, 44, 46-48,
68, 69, 73.
Pasture, 12, 30-32, 43, 44, 79, 84,
86-88, 93.
Plateaus, 7, 11, 12, 14, 57, 60,
75, 79.
Politics, 20, 22, 23, 32, 35, 38,
45-47, 50, 55-57, 64, 68, 77, 81,
84 87.
Population, 30-32, 35-37, 41, 43,
63, 68, 81, 85, 87, 97, 106.
Rainfall, 13, 16, 18, 21, 23, 27-31,
34, etc.
Rapids (cataracts), 49, 52, 67,
68,76.
Rivers, 9, 13, 15-23, 49, 70, 76,
84,91.
Rubber, 19, 30, 31, 43-48, 50, 63,
64, 68, 69, 73, 78.
Salt, 11, 33, 34, 40, 41, 82, 85, 91.
Slaves, 32, 43, 46, 65.
Snow, 14, 16, 27.
Surface, 7-25, 106.
Surroundings, 3-6.
Vegetation, 27, 29-32, 34, 40,
42-44, 58, ete.
Vine, 27, 30, 92, 102.
Volcanoes, 8, 12, 101.
Winds, 5, 6, 9, 28.
Wool, 30, 41, 88, 93.
107
INDEX OF PLACES.
AbbreTiatlons : a scape, g.«gu]|, i.= island, L=lake, nuBmoautain, r.= river.
Abeokuta, 46.
beahr, 48.
Abome, 48.
Abu Gher, 69.
Abu Ham mad, 52.
Abyssinia. 12, 14, 57
59.
Acca, 46.
Adamawa, 47, 68.
Addis Abeba, 58.
Aden, g. 55, 59.
Adrar, 41.
Adua, 58, 59.
Agades, 37.
Agulhas, c. 6, 29, 90.
Ain-Sala, 37.
Ain-Sefra, 37.
Air, m. 39, 41.
Akasa, 47.
Alaotra, I. 99.
Albert Edward, 1. 25.
Albert Nyauza, 1. 13,
25.61
Alexandria, 51, 53.
Algeria, 11, 30, S4-X
Algiers, 36.
Algoa Bay, 90.
Alicedale, 94.
Aliwal, North, 91.
Anibaca, 74.
Ambas Bay, ()9.
Ambriz, 73.
Ambrizette, 74.
Amhara, 58.
Amirante, i. 103.
Angola, 71-74.
Anera Pequena, 83.
AnKaratra, m. 98.
Ankobar, 58, 59.
Annobon, i. 104.
Antananarivo, 100.
Aruwimi, r. 19.
Asaba, 47.
Ascension, i. 5, 103.
Assuan, 49, 52.
Atbara, r. 14, 49.
Atlas, m. 4, 8, 10, 11,
28,34.
Aujila, 37, 41.
Azores, i. 5, 100, 102.
Bab-el- Mandeb straits,
4,5.
Bafulabe, 47.
Bagamoyo, 28, 65.
Bagara, 49.
Bagirmi, 69.
Bahr-el-Ghazal, 49.
Bahr-el-Yusuf, 53.
Bahrieh, 52.
Bamako, 47.
Banana, 70.
Bandawe, 78, 79.
Bangala, 70.
Bangweolo, 1. 18, 21,
25, 62, 76.
Barbary States, 34-38.
Barberton, 87.
Bardera, 56.
Baringo, 1. 13, 61.
Barka, 34.
Barri, 56.
Basutoland, 97.
Batanga, 68.
Bathurst, 46.
Beaufort, West, 94.
Bechnanaland, 84-86.
Beersheba, 83.
Beira, 77, 78, 80.
Benghazi, 37, 41.
Benguela, 5, 6, 29, 73.
Benin, g. 4.
Benn6, r. 22.
Berber, 20, 49, 50.
Berbera, 56, 57.
Bethany, 83.
Biafra, g. 4.
Bih6, m. 67.
Bilma, 41.
Birket-el-Kerun, 54.
Biskra, 36, 37.
Bissao, 45.
108
Bizerta, 36.
Blanco, o. 4, 11.
Blantyre, 78.
Bloemfontein, 88.
Boksburg, 87.
Boma, 19, 70.
Bon, c. 10, 11.
Bona, 35.
Bonga, 55.
Bontukn, 46.
Borku, 41.
Bomu, 44.
Brazzaville, 69.
Bu^, 69.
Buffalo, r. 97.
Bukoba, 65.
Bulawayo, 80, 81.
Bulbar, 57.
Cabinda, 74.
Cairo, 50-53.
Calabar, Old, r. 66.
Caledon, r. 88, 97.
Canary Islands, 5, 100,
101.
Cancer, Tropic, 28, 39.
Cape Coast Castle, 46.
Cape Colony, 12, 89-94.
Cape of GU)od Hope, 1,
6.
Cape Town, 89, 92.
Cape Verde, 4.
Cape Verde Islands, 5,
101.
Capricorn, Tropic, 28,
39, 82.
Carthage, 36.
Cassanje, 72.
Cathcart, 94.
Cazengo, 72, 73.
Ceuta, 35.
Chad, 1. 8, 9, 16, 24,
41,42.
Chambezi, r. 18.
Charter, Fort, 81.
Chiude, 23, 76, 77.
INDEX OF CHIEF PLACES
109
Cidade, 104.
Coleaberg, 91.
Comoro, i. 5, 98, 99.
Congo, r. 2, 17-20, 67
70.
Congo Free State, 69.
Constantia, 92.
Constantine, 36.
Corientes, c. 4.
Cradock, 94.
Curepipe, 102.
Cyphergat, 94.
Dakhel, 52.
Damanhur, 53.
DamanJand. 8.3.
Damietta, 5S.
Dande, r. 71.
Dar-el-Beida, 35.
Dar-es-Salaam, 65.
Darfur, 33, 61, 52.
De Aar, 94.
Debra Tabor, 58.
De Kaap, 87.
Delagoa Bay, 4, 78.
Diego Suarez, 100.
Dole, 70.
Dondo, 71-73.
Draa, r, 10.
Draken-Berge, m. 12,
86, 95.
Dufile, 70.
Dundee, 97.
Durban, 95, 97.
East London, 88, 90,
91.
Egga, 47.
Egypt, 50-54.
Ekowe, 97.
Elandsfontein. 88.
El Benedar, 56.
El-Fashr, 51.
El-Obeid, 51.
Encoje, 72.
Eritrea, 56.
Eyasal, 1. 13, 61.
False Bay, 4.
Farafrah, 52.
Fashoda, 49, 50.
Pauresmith, 88.
Fayum, 50, 53.
Fernando Po, i. 5, 12,
104.
Ferro, i. 101.
Fez, 35.
Fezzan, 35, 41.
Fianarantsoa, 99.
Flores, i. 102.
Fago, i. 101.
Fort Charter, 81.
Fort Rosebery, 78.
Fort Salisbury, 81.
Fort Tuli, 81.
Franceville, 69.
Freetown, 46.
Frio, c. 4.
Funcbal, 101.
Futa-Jallon, m. 11, 43,
45.
Gabes, g. 4.
Gabun Bay, 69.
Galla, 55, 56.
Gambia, r. 42, 47.
Gambia Colony, 46.
Gamtoos, r. 90.
Gauritz, r. 90.
Gelidi, 56.
Georgetown, 103.
Ghadaiues, 37.
Gharian, 37.
Ghat, 8, 37, 41.
Gibraltar Straits, 4, 5.
Gidi Desert, 39.
Gizeh, 51.
Goiam, 14, 57, 58.
Gold Coast, 46.
Goletta, 36.
Golungo Alto, 72.
Gondar, 58.
Good Hope, c. 1, 6.
Graaf Reinet, 93.
Grahamstown, 91, 93.
Grain Coast, 46.
Gran Canaria, i. 101.
Grand Bassam, 48.
Grand River, 102.
Great Karroo, 90, 91,
93.
Great Lakes, 25, 61.
Great Namaqualand,
83.
Greyton, 96.
Griqualand West, 94.
Gnardafni, c. 4, 55.
Guinea, Gulf, 4, 42,
43,46.
Guinea, Lower, 11, 66.
Guinea, Upper, 42.
Hammada, 40.
Hanyani, r. 80.
Harar, 56, 57.
Harrismith, 88.
Hart, r. 85.
Hartley Hill, 81.
Hawasb, r. 55.
Heidelberg, 88.
Heilbron, 88.
Hotrat, 51.
Humpata, 72.
Huilla, 72.
Ibadan, 46.
Ibsambul, 51.
Ideles, 37.
Ikopa, r. 99, 100.
Ilorm, 44.
Inbambane, 29, 77.
Isandlhana, 97.
Isangila, 19.
Isipingo, 97.
Ismailia, 52, 53.
Itasy, 1. 99.
Ivory Coast, 43.
Jamestown, 104.
Jerlogubi, 56.
Jibuti, 56, 57.
Johannesburg, 87, 88.
Juba, r. 56, 64.
Jurjura, m. 11.
Kabara, 47.
Kaffa, 55.
Kafue, r. 75.
Kaffera, r. 25.
Kairwan, 36.
Kalahari Desert, 16,
82,85.
Kambombo, 78.
no
INDEX OF CBlXr PLAGES
K«menm, m. 8, 12,
68.
Kunenui Colony, 45,
68.
Kunpftla, 64.
Kado, 87, 41, 44, 47.
Kanya, 86.
Karagwe, m. 65.
Karroo, 12, 80, 90,
98.
Kasongo, 70.
Kaaaai, r. 18, 20, 70.
Kastala, 60, 56.
Katanga, 70.
Katsena, 47.
Kawar, 41.
Raves, 47.
Kebra-baaa, 76.
Kenia, m. 7, 8, 12, 13,
27, 60, 62.
Khargheh, .52.
Khartum, 60.
KheiB, 86.
Khoms, 37.
Kibonge, 70.
Kilima Njaro, m. 7,
8, 12, 13, 60.
Kilwa, 65.
Kimberley, 85, 94.
Keneh, 51, 52.
King(Williain'sTowD)
92.
Kismayn, 64.
Komati Poort, 88.
Konakri, 48.
Konde, 65.
Kong, 44, 47.
Korata, 58.
Kordofan, 51.
Koroflko, 62.
KosBoir, 52.
Kroonstad, 88.
Krugersdorp, 88.
Knfra, 27, 37, 41.
Kuisip, r. 83.
Kuka, 41, 44, 47.
Kumasi, 46.
Knnene, r. 66, 71.
Karaman, 85.
Kwando, r. 76, 76.
Kwango, r. 18, 71-73.
Kwanza, r. 17, 66, 71-
78.
Kwiia, r. 69.
Lado, 49, 70.
Ladybrand, 88.
Ladysmith, 95, 97.
Lagos, 46.
Lambarene, 69.
Lama, 64.
Landana, 74.
Lange-Berge, m. 92.
Langenburg, 65.
Laraiohe, S.
Las Palmas, 101.
Leopoldville, 18, 19,
70.
Leydfldorp, 88.
Liberia, 45.
Liboko (= Bangala), 70.
Libreyille, 69.
Libyan Desert, 39.
Lieka, 56.
Limpopo, r. 23, 77, 79,
85.
Lindi, 65.
Livingstone Monnt,
13, 61, 62, 66.
Livingstone Rapids,
19.
Loanda, 28, 71-74.
Loango, 69.
Loangwa, r. 22, 75.
Loge, r. 73.
Loffh, 56.
LoKo, 47.
Lokoja, 47.
Lom, r. 66.
Lomami, r. 18.
Lopez, c. 66.
Louren90 Marques, 77.
Lualaba, r. 18.
Luapula, r. 18.
Lukuga, r. 20, 25.
Lulua, r. 18.
Luluaburg, 70.
Lydenburg, 87.
Madoutsie, 81.
Madagascar, 5, 6, 61,
98100.
Madeira, 101, 102.
Maf eking, 85.
MagaUes, m. 86.
Magdala, 59.
MaH 103.
Mahebourg, 102.
Majuba HOI, 95, 97
Makanoro, 90.
Malagarazi, r. 26.
Malanje, 74.
Malindi, 63, 64.
Malmesbnry, 92.
Mangoka, r. 99.
Manonrah, 63.
Bianyanga, 19.
Marioo, r. 84.
Marooco, 10, 28, 30, 35
Mascarenhas, i 5, 100,
102, 103.
Masenya, 48.
Maseru, 97.
Mashonaland, 79-81.
Massawa, 50, 56,
Matabililand, 79-81.
Matadi, 70.
Matoppo, m. 76, 79.
Mauntius, i. 102.
Mazagan, 35.
Mazoe, r. 79, 80.
Mazotte, i. 99.
Mbanga, 69.
Mchesa, 81.
Medinet-el-Fayum, 64.
Mejerda, r. 36.
Memphis, 61.
Mengo, 64.
Mequinez, 36.
Mfumbiro, m. 13, 60.
Middleburg(G.C.),94.
Middleburg(Tr.), 88.
Misrata, 37.
Mlangi, m. 76.
Mobangi, r. 19, 20.
Mogador, 35.
Moianga, 100.
Molepolole, 85.
Molopo, r. 84, 86.
Molteno, 94.
Mombasa, i. 28, 62, 64.
Monrovia, 46.
Mossamedes, 72.
INDEX OF CmEF PLACES
111
MoBBel Bay, 90.
Mottafpoiam, 36.
Mosunl Bay, 77.
Moumbiqne, 6, 29, 77,
98.
Mpaapna, G5.
Mrnli, 64.
Murchison Rapids, 23.
Mnnak, 37.
Mwero, L 18, 75.
Naanw Poort, 94.
Naiwasha, 1. 62.
Namaqoalaiid, 94.
Namaqaaland, Great,
83.
Natal, 94-97.
Natal, Port, 94.
New Antwerp, 70.
Newcastle, 97.
Ngami, 1. 24.
Nieaw-veld, m. 12,
90.
Niger, r. 2, 4, 16, 17,
21, 22, 42,
Niger Protectorate,
46 47.
Nile,' r. 2, 17, 20, 21,
31, 49-54.
Nkata Bay, 79.
Nolloth, 94.
Notwani, r. 85.
Nyangwe, 18, 19, 70.
Nyasa, L 9, 13, 25,
60-62, 75.
Nyasaland, 78, 79.
Nylstroom, 88.
Obok, 57.
Ogaden, 56.
Ogowe, r. 17, 66, 69.
Old Calabar, r. 66.
Olifant, r. 87.
Omdnrman, 50.
Omo, r. 55.
Omntako, m. 83.
OnKuIaki, r. 99.
Ookiep, 94.
Oram, 35.
Orange, r. 13, 17, 23,
91,97.
Orange Free State, 88.
Otyimbingue, 83.
Ondtshoom, 92.
Oyo, 46.
Paarl, 92.
Palapye, 85, 86.
Palma, 1. 101.
Palmas, c. 43.
Pangani, 65.
Panyami, 75.
Pemba, L 65.
Philippeville, 35.
Pietermaritzbnrg, 95,
97.
Piton deFoumaiBe, m.
103.
Piton des Neiges, m.
103.
Pondoland, 93.
Port Alfred, 90, 94.
Port Dumford, 97.
Port Elizabeth, 88, 90,
Vl, Vo, 94.
Port Louia, 102.
Port Natal, 94.
Port Nolloth, 94.
Port Said, 52.
Port Victoria, 103.
Potchefstroom, 88.
Pretoria, 88.
Prince's Island, 12, 104.
Pungwe, r. 77, 78.
Qina = Keneh, 51.
Quilimane, 77.
Rabba, 22, 47.
Bed Sea, 3, 5.
Rehoboth, 83.
Reunion, i. 102, 103.
Rhodesia, 79-81.
Richmond (C.C), 93.
Richmond (Nat.), 96.
Rio Grande, r. 45.
Rodriguez, i. 102.
Rorke^s Drift, 97.
Rosetta, 53.
EoYuma, r. 62.
Rudolf, 1.13, 24,60,61.
Rufiji, r. 62.
Rukwa, 1. 13, 60, 64.
Rustenburg, 88.
Ruva, r. 65.
Ruwenzori, m. 8, 13,
27, 60, 61.
Sabaki, r. 62.
Sabi, r. 77, 79.
Sa dn Bandeira, 72.
Safi, 35.
Sahara, 6, 8, 16, 28,
30, 39-41.
Saint Denis, 103.
Saint Helena, i. 5, 103.
Saint Louis, 47.
Saint Lucia, 1. 97.
Saint Michael, i. 102.
Saint Paul, 103.
Saint Pierre, 103.
Saint Thomas, i. 12,
104.
Saint Vincent, i. 101.
Saldanha Bay, 89.
Salisbury, 81.
Sandfontein, 83.
Sandwich, 83.
Sankuru, r. 18.
San Salvador, 73.
Santa Cruz, 101.
Santa Isabel, 104.
Santiago, L 101.
Sanyati, r. 75.
Savanna, 102.
Sebu, r. 34, 35.
Sena, 76.
Senegal, r. 42, 47.
Senegambia, 17.
Serra do Crystal, m. 1 1 .
Senga, 78.
Seychelles, i. 102, 103.
Sfax, 36.
Shabeli, r. 56.
Shari, r. 8.
Shelif, r. 35.
Shir^, r. 25, 76, 78.
Shoa, 55, 58.
Shoshong, 86.
Shott Melrikr, 24.
Sidra, e. 4, 37.
Sierra Leone, 28, 46.
Simen, m. 14, 57.
113
INDEX OF CHIEF PLAGES
Simon'i Bay, 90.
Siat, 52.
Siwa,52.
SlaT« CoMt. 43.
Smithfield, 88.
Sneeuw-Berge, m. 12,
91.
Sobao, 55.
Sofala, 77.
Sokota, 58.
Sokoto, 44, 47.
Sokotra, i 6, 57.
Somaliluid, 55-57.
South Africa Republic
s Transvaal, 86-88.
Stauger, 97.
Stuiley Falls, 18, 19.
Stanley Pool, 19, 24,
70.
Stellenboech, 92.
Steyenson Koad, 2«3,
25,78.
Storm-Berge, m. 12,
91 94.
SuAldn, 20, 50, 52.
Sudan, 31, 42-51, 56.
Suez, 52.
Suez Canal, 52.
Sulaffa, 44, 45.
Sunday, r. 90.
Susa, 36.
Swakop, r. 83.
Syrtis, g. 4.
Table Mountain, 28,
91.
Tabora, 64, 65.
Tafilet, 35, 41.
Tajura, 57.
Takazze, r. 58.
Taraatave, 28, 99, 100.
Tamarida, 57.
Tana, r. 62, 63.
Tandeni, 41.
Tanga, 65.
Tanganyika, 1. 9, 13,
18,24,25,60,61,66.
Tangier, 35.
Tanta, 53.
TaungB, 85.
TaTcta, 64.
Tell, 11, 34, 3&
Tenduf, 41.
Teneriffe, m. and i.
101.
Tensif t, r. 35.
Tete, 23, 76.
Thebes, 51.
Tibesti, m. 8, 89, 41.
Tigre, 58.
Timbuktu, 36, 41.
Tiemcen, 36.
Togoland, 45.
Tongaland, 96.
Transkei, 93.
Transvaal, 86-88.
TripoU, 36. 41.
Tripolitana, 34, 36.
Tristan da Cunha, i.
103.
Tropic of Cancer, 28,
39.
Tropic of Capricorn,
28, 39, 82.
Tsana, 1. 9, 14, 21, 57,
58.
Tuat, 27, 36, 41.
Tugela, 2, 13, 95, 97.
Tuggurt, 36.
Tulbagh, 94.
TuU, 81.
Tunis, 36.
Tunisia, 11, 34 36.
nbaogi, r. 69.
Uganda, 63, 64, 84.
Ugogo, 63.
Uitenhage, 92, 93.
Ujiji, 65.
Ukala, 64.
Ukassa, 64.
Ulanga, r. 62.
Ulundi, 97.
Umquaidzi, r. 80, 81.
Umtali, 78, 80.
Umvukwe, m. 79.
Utrecht, 88.
Vaal, r. 13, 94.
Valdesia, 88.
Van Reenens Pass, 95.
Verde, o. 4.
Veruiam, 97.
Victoria Falls, 23, 76.
Victoria Fort, 81.
Victoria Nyanza, 9, 21,
24, 25, 60-63, 65.
Villa da Praia, lOL
Vitu, 64.
Vivi, 19, 7a
Volla, r. 17.
Vryburg, 83.
Vryheid, 88.
Wadai, 37, 41.
Wadelai, 70.
Wady Haifa, 52.
Walvisch Bay, 4, 29,
83,84.
Wanga, 63, 64.
Wargla, 36, 37.
Wasta, 54.
Webi Shabeli, r. 56.
Whyda, 48.
Winburg, 88.
Winter- Berge, m. 91.
Witwatorsrand, 23, 87.
Worcester, 94»
Wurnu, 47.
Wynberg, 92.
Yaffusu, 69.
Yakoba, 47.
Yaunde, 68.
Yendi, 45.
Yola, 47.
Yoruba, 46.
Zagazig, 53.
Zambesi, r. 2, 16, 17,
5^,23,75-81.
Zanzibar, i. 5, 65.
Zavia, 37.
Zeila, 56, 57.
Zeliten, 37.
Zimbabve, 81.
Zomba,*78.
Zululand, 95-97.
Zambo, 76.
Zwarte-Berge, m. 92.
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western District Price id. each.
IRELAND (4 coloured sections), yIz. :
Ulster, Hunster, Leinster, and
Connaught. Price id. each.
UNITED STATES AND BRITISH
POSSESSIONS (8 coloured sections),
viz.:
United States (2 Maps), Canada
(2 Maps), Indian Empire, Aus-
tralia and New Zealand, British
South AMca, Minor Possessions.
Price Id. each.
SYNTHETICAL ATLASES.
EUROPE.
Price Is. 6d.
ENGLAND AND WALES.
Price la id.
SCOTLAND. Price Is.
IRELAND.
Price 9d.
8
BLACK'S EDUCATIONAL SERIES (Continued)
GEOMETRY.
Bt Charles GoDFSBY, M.A.
SOLID OE0METR7, translated and
adapted from the German of Dr. Franz
HocKVAB. With 60 Illustrations.
Price 18. 6d.
GREEK.
By A. Douglas Thomsoit.
0D7SSS7. Book IX.
Price 28. 6d.
By E. G. Wilkinson, M.A.
TEE SISE OF HELLAS. An His-
torical Greek Reading Book. With
8 Maps and 19 Illustrations.
Price 88. 6d.
HISTORY*
By L. W. Lyde, M.A.
THE AGE OF BLAKE. With 14
Illustrations. Price 18. id.
THE AOE OF DKAKE. With 12
Illustrations. Price iB. id.
THE AGE OF HAWKE. With 9
Illustrations. Price 18. 4d.
By H. DE B. GiBBiNS, M.A.,
LiTT.D.
THE ESGLISH PEOPLE IN THE
NINETBENTH CENTUBT. Third
Ed. 86 Illustrations, 4 Maps. Price 28.
HISTORY (Continued)
By John Finnemore.
FAMOUS ENGLISHMEN.
Vol I. King Alfred to Shakespeare.
With 67 Illustrations.
Vol. II. Cromwell to Lord Roberts.
67 niustnitions. Price Is. id. each.
MEN OF BENOWN.
King Alfred to Lord Roberts. With
71 niustrationa. Price 18. 6d.
Similar to "Famous Englishmen," but
containing the principal men uf both
periods in one ▼(dume.
BOYS AND GIBLS OF OTHEB DATS.
VoL I. The Coming of the Romans to
the Battte of Towton Field (B.a 66
to A.D. 1461). Witii 27 Illustrations.
VoL IL The Rising of Lambert Simnel
to the Battie of Sedgemoor (1487 to
1686). With 12 Page lUustrations.
Price 18. id. each.
SOCIAL UFE IN ENGLAND.
Vol. I. From Saxon Times to 1608.
With 78 Illustrations.
Vol. II. From 1606 to the present day.
67 Illustrations. Price Is. Sd. each.
THB BTOBT OF THE ENGLISH
PEOPLE. 6 Coloured, and 38 Black and
White Illustrations. Price Is. 4d.
ENGLISH HISTORY ILLUSTRATED
FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES. About
240 pp. each. Price 28. 6d. each.
Period 1216-1807. N. L. Fbazkb, &A.
With 21 Illustrations.
1S07-1S99. N. L. Frazkr, B. A.
With 14 Illustrations.
1809-1486. F. H. Durham.
With 28 Illustrations.
14851603. N. L. Frazkr, B.A.
[In the prjss.
1603-1660. F. J. Wjcavkr.
With 33 Illustrations.
1660-1716. Rbv. J. N. Fioois.
With 29 Illustrations.
9
BUCK'S EDUCATIONAL SEMES (Continued)
HISTORY <oon«iiiu«tf>
Edited by B. A. Lxis.
HISTOBT or BIOOSAPHT.
Fkir the Um of Junior Fonna. maatnted.
I. Alfred to Edwaid I. With 40
niiutnttlon*. By B. A. Libs. PriceSB.
11. BdwArdlLtoRicbanim. With
M niuatrafeioiii. By A. D. OBsnr-
woool Price li.
III. Henry VIL to BUnbeth. With
41 UhutnttionuL By F. U. W»r.
Price 9i.
lY. Junes L to James II. With 88
niiutrationa. By H. Powkix.
PrloeftL
ByB. A. Lbbs.
A BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBT
BEABEB.
Selected from lives in the "History
in Biography" volmnes.
For use in Primaxy Schools.
WithMIUastrations. Price li. ML
By G. £. MmoN.
THE GLOBT OF LONDON.
With 6 foil-page Illustrations in colour,
and 48 Pictures in the Text
Price 18. 6d.
By J. A. NiCKUS, B.A.
POEMS OF ENGLISH HISTOBT.
VoLL Boadioea to Anne (62 to in4X
With 81 DlustrationsL Price Ul 6d.
Or in 8 Separate Parts, via.:
Boadicea to Richard m. (61 to 1890)l
Henry IV. to Mary (IS99 to 1558)l
KUsabeth to Anne (1558 to 1714).
Price 4d. net each.
By Norman L. Frazkb, B.A.
ASUMHABT OF ENGLISH HISTOBT.
With 53 niiistratious and 12 Maiis.
Grown Svo. Cloth. Price 28^
HISTORY (Continued)
By W. M. Maokhizib, M.A.
OUTLINE OF SCOTTISH HISTOBT,
With 101 Illustrations and Maps.
Price 2B.C1
HYMNS.
By Prof. J. J. FnTDLAT, M.A.
LATTDATE. A Hynm-Book for
Schools. With Music, full score in
Staff Notation, and Soprano and Con*
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EdiUon with WORDS ONLT.
Price 6d.
LATIN.
By E. 6. Wilkinson, M.A.
CK)NQUE8T O F ITAL T AND THE
STRUCiGLB WITH CUkBTHAGE.
(Reader.) With 23 illustrations.
Price li.
By H. W. Atkinson.
FOBEIGN EMPIBE (THE). 200 to
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tions. Price is.
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OLD SE NATE AN D THE NEW
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Price S&
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PUEBOBUM LIBEB ADBEUS. A
First Latin Translation Book. With
15 Dlustrations. Prioe 18. €d.
10
BUCK'S EDUCATIONAL SERIES (Continued)
MATHEMATICS.
By M. S. David.
BEOIHNERS' TBIGONOMETBT.
With 66 Diagrams. Price 28.
See aieo Algebra, Oeometiy, a-nd
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By W. J. DoBBS, M.A.
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PHYSICS.
By A. P. Walden, M.A., P.C.S.,
AND J. J. Man LEY.
IVTBODUGTION TO THE STUDT
OF PHTSIC8.
VoL I. General Phyaioal Mea8iire-
ments.
With 76 Illustratioxia. Price 88. 6d.
VoL II. Heat, Light, and Sound.
(in preparation.
PICTURES.
A Series of PlCtoree in colour suitable
for SCHOOL and HOME decoration
(about 17 X 21} inches).
Framed complete, in two styles. Price
108. 6d. net and 128. 6d. net each ;
or, Mounted only, on 2 inch White
Mounts, price 88. 6d. net.
For List of Pictures see p. 12.
The Menpee Series of Great Masters.
Ten facsimile reproductions in
colour of pictures by
Bbluni, BoTTicicLLi, Oainsboiiough,
(jRSUZB, Fbans Hals, Rbmbbanot,
Rbynolds, Romnxy and Van Dyck.
Special leayufor Schools.
For full particulars see p. 18.
ZOOLOGY.
By Db. Otto Schhbil.
Translated by Rudolf Rosbnstook, M.A.
and edited by J. T. Cunninohak.
TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. Treated
from a Biological Standpoint. For the
use of School and Colleges. Profusely
illustrated. Demy Syo.
Part L UammalS. 58 illustrations.
Part u. Birds, Fishes, and Rep-
tiles. 68 Illustrations.
Part 'in. Invertebrata. 69 illus-
trations. Price Ss. 6d. each.
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON.
11
LIST OF PICTURES
For School and Homo Docoratlon.
A VOLEKDAM QiRL, HOLLAND MorHmtr Menpa.
Mat Blossoics Mortimer Menpa,
A Japanibb Girl with Umbrella ... - Mortimer Menpes.
A VBNsnAN QiRL Mortimer Menpes.
Punting on tbb Thames Mortimer Menpes.
A Kiosk on the Boulevard, Paris - - Mortimer Menpes.
Hatmaking in the Alps A. D. M*Cormiek.
Broad Street, Oxford John Fulleylove.
Syrian Women at a Well John FuUeylove,
A Dutoh Bot on Skates Nico Jungman,
The Scottish Highlands Sutton Palmer.
A GUERNSET Flower-Girl Henry B. Wimbu^
A View in Oapri, Italy A. Fitzgerald.
A Moor and his Servant, Tangier • • - A. S. Forrest.
A Lama Standard Bearer, Tibet- - - - A. H, Savage Landor.
The Thames ; The Upper Pool - - - - W. L. Wyllie.
A Burmese Ladt at the Entrance to a Temple E. Talbot Kelly.
Saint Peter's, Bomb Alberto Pisa,
A Turkish Ladt in Outdoor Dress - - - TT. Chbte,
A Sussex Windmill W. BaU.
An Indian Chief T. Mower Martin.
Passing the Reef, New Hebrides • - • i^. Hardy.
A Boer and his Pont S. E. St. Leger.
PRICES AND SIZES.
♦1. Unframed. On 2-inch White Mount . - - . 2/6 net.
Avera^ outside measurement, about 17^x21^ inches.
2. Framed in White Reed Frame 10/6 i>
Average outside measurement, 19|x23i inches.
3. Framed in Black Scooped Dutch Frame - - - 12/6 „
Average outside measurement, 18^x21} inches.
J^^^ * One unframed specimen of any picture will be sent to any head teacher,
at half price, plus postage —
vijs., 2/6 at 1/3 + postage 8d. = l/6,
on application to the Publishers.
The pictures may be obtained through any bookseller or educational
supply firm, in exactly the same waj- as School Text Books.
PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUAEE, LONDON, W
12
A SPECIAL tSSUB FOR SCHOOLS.
THE MENPES SERIES OF
GREAT MASTERS
Being: Facsimile Reproductions in Colour
of the Original Pictures.
NOW READY.
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE Reynolds.
WILLIAM II., PEINCE OF ORANGE-NASSAU - Vcm Dyck.
LADY HAMILTON AS A BACCHANTE - - - Eomney.
THE LAUGHING CAVALIER Fram Hala.
STUDY OF GRIEF Greme.
PORTRAIT OF MRS. SIDDONS Gainsborough.
NELLY O'BRIEN Reynolds.
PORTRAIT OF THE DOGE LEONARDO LOREDANO BeUini.
PORTRAIT OF AN OLD LADY BemfnxLndt.
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD BoUiceUi.
SIZES.
ON OLIVE OREEN MOUNTS 24 x 19 Inches.
FRAMED PICTURE 21J x 18 „
PRICES.
On Olive Grkkn Mount, Nos. 1 to 10 - • - - each 8/6 net.
In Dark Oak Fbams, Nob. 1 to 8 each 10/6 net.
In Dabk Oak Fkamb, Nob. 9 and 10 • • • • each 13/- net.
THK DAILY MAIL says : — " The claims made on behalf of the ' Menpes Series
of Oreat Masters ' by Messrs. A. & C. Black, the publishers, are more than justified.
Botii in price and quality the facsimiles outstrip all other reprod notions in the past,
and as Rir as we know at present in the market. Colour, crackle, old varnish, and
tone are by this process faithfully rendered."
Mr. P. G. KONODY in The Observer says : — "A series of reproductions in colour
that stand unrivalled for sheer excellence. The most subtle gradations of tone and
colour, the texture of canvas and paint, the luminous transparency of the half-
shadows, the sonorous depth of the deep snadows, the crisp accents of the high lights
—everything is rendered with astonishing accuracy."
THE PRACTICAL TEACHER says:— "* The Age of Innocence,' and the
' Prince of Orange ' ought to be seen on the walls of every school in the land."
PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
18
BOOKS FOR PRIZES
WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR.
Price 6». each.
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF
STARS.
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF
LONDON.
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF
EDINBURGH.
CHILDREN'S TALES from
SCOTTISH BALLADS.
THE ADVENTURES OF
PUNCH.
RED CAP TALES.
SWISS FAMILY ROBIN-
SON.
DON QUIXOTE.
The PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
WILLIAM TELL TOLD
AGAIN.
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS.
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.
THE KINSFOLK AND
FRIENDS OF JESUS.
ANIMAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
THE RAT.
THE DOG.
THE BLACK BEAR.
THE CAT.
THE FOX.
THE SQUIRREL.
Price 5s.
JACK HAYDON'S QUEST.
Price 3e. 6cl. each.
ROBINSON CRUSOE.
COOK'S VOYAGES.
PARK'S TRAVELS IN
AFRICA.
THE DIVERS.
STORIES.
WILLY WIND, Etc
A TALE OF THE TIME OF
THE CAVE MEN.
FROM FAG TO MONITOR.
EXILED FROM SCHOOL.
BY A SCHOOLBOY'S HAND.
Price Is. 6cl. net each.
PEEPS AT MANY LANDS:
Eacb containing 12 fnll-page lUu-
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FRANCE.
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INDIA.
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JAPAN (8 Illustrations).
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14
BOOKS FOR PRIZES
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN BLACK AND WHITE.
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AN ALBUM OF ADVEN-
TURES.
READY MADE ROMANCE.
HERO AND HEROINE.
THE SCHOOLBOY
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DRAMAS IN DUODECIMO.
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By WARREN BELL.
J. O. JONES, AND HOW HE
EARNED HIS LIVING.
TALES OF GREYHOUSE.
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TWO YEARS BEFORE THE
MAST.
By F. W. FARRAR.
ERIC; OR, LITTLE BY
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WORLD OF SCHOOL.
JULIAN HOME. A TALE
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Price 3s. 6d. each {Cont).
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THE STORY OF STORIES :
A Life of Christ for the Young.
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BLACK AND BLUE.
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CAP AND GOWN COMEDY.
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TANGERINE : A Child's Let-
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PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
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t beyond the specified
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