fine sand, so that the painted parts look as if covered with sand-paper. 8. It is to these hot winds, accompanied by drifting sands, that the dangers of travelling in the desert are mainly due. A French traveller gives the following vivid description of a sand-storm:"As I was travelling on a fine July night through the desert of the Bisharin, I was astonished at the extraordinary clearness of the unclouded starry sky. The atmosphere was perfectly calm; suddenly it took a different aspect. In the east a black cloud began to rise with frightful rapidity, and soon covered half the heavens. Immediately afterwards a strong puff of wind covered us with sand, and threw up little stones of the size of peas into our faces. Soon we were surrounded by a dense sand cloud, and stood still in the deepest darkness. We had quickly covered up our eyes; but in spite of that they filled with sand every time we opened them. The camels sank down on their knees and groaned, and then lay down; and my servants, battered with the sand and gravel, did the same. I leant myself against my camel, whose high saddle afforded some protection, but did not dare to lie down for fear of being buried in sand. The storm passed, and by daybreak the sky was again clear, and the air at rest; but the camels and their drivers lay up to their necks in sand." 9. Over the boundless Sahara wander various tribes numbering altogether a population of four or five million souls. In the west the tribes are chiefly Arabs and Berbers, and in the south-west the Berbers have settled down into semi-civilised communities. In the central region dwell the Tuareg (Tuarij) tribes. These are a finely-formed race of Berber horsemen, who escort the caravans, but the tribes are constantly at feud with each other. Eastern Sahara is the domain of the Tibbus tribes, a pastoral people allied to the Negroes, or who have at some period become amalgamated with them. The northern portion of the eastern division is occupied by the Libyan Desert, the most desert part of the whole of the Sahara-a veritable ocean of sand covering a dis trict nearly as large as France. There are many separate states, most of them under the despotic government of Sultans, but their geography is but vaguely known. 10. The date-tree is the chief food supply of all the tribes, but in the oases maize, wheat, barley, and rice, are cultivated. The camel can subsist on the thorny shrubs which are to be found in most parts; but beyond a few gazelles, antelopes, hares, and foxes, and many lizards and vipers, but very few animals can find a living. The ostrich, it is true, may be seen scudding across the sands, shimmering in the hot sun; and the vulture and raven hovering over the dying camel, waiting for the moment when they may feast on its carrion. But these birds only add to the dolefulness of the scene. 11. The commerce of the Sahara is necessarily limited. It is carried on mostly by caravans of camels. Salt is found in many places, and is the chief article taken southwards, with which to purchase grain, &c., in the Soudan. But ostrich feathers, gold dust, slaves, and ivory, are also carried by the traders going northwards to the ports on the Mediterranean with which to buy calico, trinkets, and cutlery. The chief caravan towns are Timbuctoo, near the northern bend of the Niger river, Tafilet, in Southern Morocco; Tidikelt, on the extreme south-east border of Morocco; and Murzuk, in Fezzan. SOUDAN.-CENTRAL SOUDAN, THE NIGER STATES. 1. Southwards from the Sahara there is a second broad belt of country spreading from the Atlantic seaboard on the west to the mountains of Abyssinia on the east. It is called by the general name of Soudan, and is the true home of the Negro races. This broad belt, six or seven hundred miles wide, presents in almost every respect a striking contrast to the Sahara. "Instead of a waterless desert, with its dried-up river beds, scanty vegetation, wide uninhabited plains, and scattered nomad tribes, Soudan presents the picture of a richly-watered, diversified, fertile, and highly cultivated land, with a varied fauna and tropical flora, wherein dwell many populous and settled nations, who have arrived at a certain degree of civilisation.” * 2. The change from the sandy and stony wastes of the Sahara to the tropical verdure of the Soudan, however, is almost imperceptible. A little grass just appears here and there, followed by pastoral steppes; then parklike mimosa forests interspersed by grassy tracts, and beyond again are a series of uplands and mountainous regions crossed by many streams and rivers. 3. The great mountain range of the west is the Kong range. These mountains run from west to east, and follow the Guinea coast at distances varying from two to four hundred miles. In the western part of this range rises the Senegal river, which flows north and west into the Atlantic Ocean, and the mighty Niger, which, after flowing in an enormous curve inland, pours its waters by many mouths into the Gulf of Guinea. The Cameroon Mountains near the Bight of Biafra, reach a height of 13,000 feet, and further inland are Mounts Labul, Alantika, and Mendif. 4. Nearly 800 miles in a north-east direction from the mouth of the Niger is Lake Chad. "This is a great sweet-water lake, about which for many years the most opposite opinions were held by European geographers. Shaped like an irregular triangle, the base of which is invaded by the delta of the Shari, the Chad has an area of 10,000 square miles in the dry season, and in the rainy season is probably five times more extensive. At this period alone it can be looked on as a lake in the full sense of the term. It begins to swell in the month of August, and at its highest stage in the end of November, its level is raised by from 20 to 30 feet. In the dry season, before the rains begin in June, its shores for miles present rather the appearance of an immense swamp. * Keith Johnston. This is overgrown with reeds and the papyrus, the haunt of the hippopotami, that may be seen in herds of a hundred and upwards. Here also we, of course, meet the crocodile, and, less frequently, the elephant and rhinoceros. Water-fowl of all sorts would appear to be more abundant than in almost any other part of the world; and the extraordinary quantity of fish has been dwelt upon by all travellers who have visited the lake. the centre of the lake is an archipelago of numerous islands, in summer connected together, and also partly with the mainland." This lake receives the waters of numerous streams from the east, south, and west, the most important being the Shari, the largest stream in Central Africa which does not reach the sea. In 5. The Atlantic Ocean forms the southern boundary of Soudan as far as the coast runs eastward, beyond this there is no definite boundary. Western Soudan includes Senegambia, the country west of the Senegal, the states and settlements along the Guinea coast, and the kingdoms on the River Niger. Eastern Soudan includes the provinces of Darfur, Kordofan, and Senaar, and the regions of the upper Nile, but as all this country is claimed by Egypt, it has been conveniently named Egyptian Soudan. Central Soudan includes the kingdoms of Bornu, Baghirmi, and Wadaï, all situated in the basin of Lake Chad. 6. Though the three kingdoms of Central Soudan embrace an area of not less than 300,000 square miles, and contains a population of upwards of ten millions, and though the tribes inhabiting them are the most prosperous, the most advanced in civilisation, and the best governed of all the Negro nations, yet, owing to the jealousy of the inhabitants, these countries have been little visited by Europeans, and our knowledge of them is very limited. Bornu is said to be a "lovely and fruitful kingdom," and to present, in a surprising degree, a remarkable state of negro civilisation.' Kuka, the capital, on the western shore of Lake Chad, contains a population of 60,000. It has one of the greatest markets 66 * Egyptian Soudan has already been described under Egypt and the Nile valley. J |