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the lake as a large river, now for the first time known as Jordan, it courses for a few miles through a rich country, and flows into the beautiful lake of Gennesaret, Galilee, or Tiberias. From the lake of Tiberias it flows through the great depression of El Shor, and falls through a mouth bordered with reeds and willows on its right bank, and "a dreary nitrous-crusted tract on the left, into the Dead Sea.

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12 The climate of Syria and Palestine is as varied as its configuration. On the higher slopes of Lebanon, whose peaks lie in the region of perpetual snow, the winter temperature is sharp and bracing, and the summer and autumn much the same as what we have in England. In the plains and ccast-lying regions, and in the valley of the Jordan, the heat in summer is "clammy and oppressive," though highly favourable to crops, and in both summer and winter there are rainy seasons. In Jerusalem July and August are extremely hot months, but so varied is the country that no one need be at a loss at almost any season in Palestine to find the exact climate which suits hi

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1. Arabia is a vast peninsula, bounded on the west and east by the Red Sea and Persian Gulf respectively, and on the south by the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Except in its connection with Mohammedanismthe religion of the East-Arabia is not a country of much importance. The western strip, from 60 to 150 miles wide, is a portion, as we have seen, of the Turkish Empire. It is called the Hedjaz, and consists of a barren and sandy plain, backed inland by a hilly plateau, or low mountain chain. Almost the only vegetation is found in the vicinity of the few scattered wells, which yield a brackish water, the sole means of irrigating the land. Over all this region the only routes of travel are camel tracks, and

these are determined by the number of wells on the line of pilgrimage.

2. Mecca is the principal town. In Mecca was born the Prophet, and one of the most sacred duties of the faith which he founded is that once at least every good Moslem shall make a pilgrimage to the Holy City, either in person or by proxy. And so every year, from all parts of the world—from Central Asia, from the shores of the Indian Ocean, from Kashmere, Sind, Bengal, and the uttermost parts of India, from Afghanistan and Persia, from Timbuctoo and the all but mythical region of the Upper Niger, from Soudan and the sultanate of Zanzibar-arrive crowds of pilgrims to worship at the holy shrine. In the twelfth month of the Mohammedan year, the period fixed for the celebration of the Mecca solemnities, the population of the town is increased from about 30,000 to sometimes over 150,000. Jeddah is the port on the coast through which the majority of the pilgrims and all the supplies for them pass. Medina and Mocha are other towns of Turkish Arabia; the latter being specially noted for its coffee exports. Aden, a fortified town on the south coast, forms a portion of the government of Bombay.

3. The rest of Arabia is but little known. On the whole it must be considered a barren country, consisting in general of an elevated table-land, backed up by low mountains in the west, and rising gradually in the direction of the east and south, in the latter of which portions it is again bounded by a second and loftier range. Behind the mountain chains lies an uninterrupted ring sterile sandy desert, broadest in the south and east, and narrowest towards the west and north, where its burning wastes are here and there broken by a few rocks. Behind this desert belt there exists a series of tablelands, "undulating in long slopes, and intersected with deep valleys, the former rich in pasturage, the latter in field and garden produce." This central plateau constitutes about one-third of the peninsula, the desert ring another third, and the coast ranges make up

the rest.

4. Over the northern desert, or Nefud,* the Simoomt blows at uncertain intervals. A traveller over this desert thus describes his experience of this deadly wind:—“It was about noon when abrupt and burning gusts of wind began to blow by fits from the south. The oppressiveness of the air increased every moment, till my companion and myself asked each other what this could mean, and what was to be its result. We turned to inquire of Salem, our guide, but he had already wrapped up his face in his mantle, and, bowed down and crouching on the neck of his camel, replied not a word. His comrades, also, had adopted a similar position, and were equally silent. At last, Salem pointed to a small black tent at no great distance in front, and said: 'Try to reach that; if we can get there, we are saved.' He added: Take care that your camels do not stop and lie down,' and then, giving his camel several hard blows, relapsed into silence. We looked anxiously towards the tent. It was about one hundred yards distant. Meanwhile the gusts grew hotter and more violent, and it was only by repeated efforts that we could urge our beasts forward. The horizon rapidly darkened to a deep violet hue, and seemed to draw in like a curtain on every side. At the same time a stifling blast, as though from some enormous oven opening right on our path, blew steadily under the gloom. Our camels, too, in spite of all we could do, began to turn round and round, and to bend their knees, preparing to lie down. The simoom was fairly upon us. Following our Arab's example, we

muffled our faces and forced our struggling animals onward to the tent. We were in time. Just as the worst of the blast was coming we were prostrate within the tent, with our heads well wrapped up, almost suffocated, but safe, while our camels lay outside, their long necks stretched out on the sand, awaiting the passing of the gale. We remained thus for about ten minutes, during which a still heat, like that of a red-hot iron slowly passing over us, was alone to be felt. Then the tent

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walls began again to flap in the returning gusts, announcing that the worst of the simoom had gone by. We got up, half dead with exhaustion, and unmuffled our faces. My comrades appeared more like corpses than living men; and so, I suppose, did I. However, I could not forbear, in spite of warnings, to step out and look at the camels. They were still lying flat as though they had been shot. The air was yet darkish, but it soon brightened up to its usual dazzling clearness. During the whole time that the simoom lasted the atmosphere was entirely free from sand or dust, so that I hardly know how to account for its singular obscurity."

5. Independent Arabia is broken up into a number of more or less important Arabic chieftainships. The sultanate of Nejd, with its subordinate sultanate of Jebel Shomer and the kingdom of Oman, are the chief of these petty Arabic governments. Nejd includes all the settled parts of the central plateau, and commands the greater part of the Bedouin tribes. Riadh, the capital, with a population of about 30,000 stands in the midst of fruit gardens. Hayel, the chief town of Jabel Shomer, has a large trade in horses and camels.

6. Oman occupies the extreme south-eastern part of the peninsula, and is a country about as large as England and Wales. The interior is broken up by a plateau-like range of mountains, which give rise to many small streams, few of which, however, reach the coast, being swallowed up by the thirsty soil before they have coursed any great distance. Oman is the richest part of Arabia. Tropical products such as cocoa-nuts, dates, mangoes, coffee, sugarcane, maize, cotton, indigo, grow abundantly both for home use and for exportation. The climate during six months of the year is like an oven, but during the rest of the twelve months it is comparatively cool, and on the hill sides even pleasant all the year round. The country is divided into eight provinces, each of which enjoys almost perfect independence. The sovereign is called the Imam, and Muscat being the capital and chief town he is usually styled by Europeans the "Imam of Muscat."

Section III.-AFRICA.

LESSON XXXI.

AFRICA.-EXTENT, COUNTRIES, SURFACE.

1. Africa is the compact continent. It is by far the most simple in its form and regular in its outline. It projects into the ocean no important peninsula, nor anywhere lets into its bosom the waters of the ocean. It has an area of nearly twelve millions of square miles, but only one mile of coast for every 750 miles of surface. The stormy Atlantic washes its western shores. The Indian Ocean, with its gulf-the Red Sea-forms the eastern boundary. The Mediterranean Sea lies on the north, and separates it from Europe. It is tacked on, as it were, to Asia by the isthmus of Suez. The extreme length of the continent from Ras el Kerun, its most northerly point, to Cape Agulhas, or the Needles, in the south, is about 5,000 miles, and its extreme breadth, from Cape Verde on the west to Cape Guardfui on the east, is only about 400 miles less.

2. With the exception of the Red Sea, the African inlets of the ocean are broad and open, and penetrate but a very short distance into the land. Such are the Gulfs of Cabes and Sidra, parts of the Mediterranean on the north, and the Bights or Bays of Benin and Biafraparts of the broader Gulf of Guinea, on the west coast.

3. The islands considered as belonging to this continent are few in number and situated far from its shores. Three hundred miles of deep sea separate Madagascar from the east coast, and Mauritius, Bourbon, and other smaller islands, are still further distant in the Indian Ocean. Due west of Cape Verd are the Cape Verd Islands, and further north the Canary and Madeira Islands. St. Helena and Ascension are far out in the centre of the South Atlantic.

4. Like the other continents Africa is parcelled out into countries, but the boundaries, especially on the in

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