Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/256

 206 NOETH-WEST AFRICA. South of the Great Sebkha, at the foot of the Oran coast range/stretches the cretaceous Tessale range, terminating in the Jebel Tafarawi (3,540 feet), which is skirted north and south by the railway between Oran and Sidi-Bel- Abbes. Farther east the coast chain, interrupted by the extensive bay sweeping round from Arzen to Mostao-anem, reappears east of the Shelif river in the hilly Dahra plateau, with a mean elevation of 1,600 to 2,000 feet. The Dahra system, rising gradually east- wards, culminates in the two Mounts Zakkar (5,000 and 5,200 feet.) Farther on, these uplands fall abruptly towards the Mitija valley, but are continued east of the Shenua headland (3,000 feet) by a narrow ridge, which is separated eastwards by the winding ;Mazafran river valley from the Sahel, or terminal heights of the Algerian coast range. The Southern Ranges. South of the coast range, the first important heights on the Marocco frontier are those of Tlemcen, one of the most regular orographic systems in Algeria. Here the highest point is Mount Tenushfi (6,120 feet) ; but several other crests exceed 5,000 feet, and the route from Tlemcen to Sebdu, although following the lowest level, maintains an elevation of 4,800 feet. Fur to the south rise the crests of the Arisha chain, dominated by the pyramidal limestone peak of the Mekaidu, 4,900 feet high. The valley of the Sig, east of the Sidi-Bel- Abbes, is limited southwards by the IJcui-Shugrau mountains, forming a prolongation of the Tlemcen Atlas, and cul- minating in the Daya and Beguira peaks, 4,630 and 4,660 feet respectively. This system is continued eastwards by the Warsenis (Wansherish, Warensenis), one of the loftiest ranges in Algeria, whose chief crest, terminating in a double peak, rises to a height of 6,600 feet. These highlands, which arc pierced by streams flowing northwards, and skirted on the east by the deep valley of the Shelif, present a less symmetrical outline than the western groups. Abd-el-Kader had established his chief strongholds amid their inaccessible recesses, and in their turn the French have erected fortresses to command the lofty plateaux and passes leading to the Tell. Still less unifonnity of relief is presented by the border ranges of the " Little Atlas " stretching south of the Mitija Valley. These uplands are broken by ravines, plains, and broad transverse fissures into several 'distinct groups, all dis- posed in a line with the main axis of the Atlas system. Here the Gontas, Muzaia, Zima, Bu-Zegza and other rugged masses are approached by military routes winding through narrow gorges like those of the Shiffa, or ascending their steep slopes in /igzHg lines, like those of the highway between Algiers and Aumale, which attains a height of 3,300 feet at the culminating point of the road leading to the territory of the Bcni-Muca tribe. The famous Tenia, or " Pass " in a pre-eminent sense, which was the scene of so many conflicts in the early years of the conquest, traverses the Muzaia hills at an altitude of 3,470 feet. For the whole of this orographic system M. Niox has proposed the collective name of the ".Titteri