Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/533

 DIliUELA— AOADEM. 487 and the Tibcsti country, while the trade with Kancin and Bomu in in the handa of the kindred Daza tribes. Hut uU the regionn west and north-west of Kawar are supplied by the Tuureg curuvun inorchuntH, who exercise a sort of suzerainty over the inhubit^intt) of the uusis, even furbiddiu)^ them to cultivate wheat, in order to keep them ulwuys de{)endent ou themselves for this indispi^uHiible commodity. East and west of Kawur caravan stations and settlements occur only at long intervals. The first vilIugt>H of Tibesti lie 240 miles to the east ; the distance ia 500 miles to Ilhat in the north-west and 420 to Agades in the Air district. On the difficult route to this place, which tru versos a stony and watcrh'sn hamachi, the chief station is the Aflram oasis, an out]x)st of the Tibbus towards the west. But immigrants from Bornu also share the narrow settlement in the desert with them. Di HHEi.A — Agadem. The region intervening between Kawur and the border zone of Sudan is one of the most desolate in the Sahara. Here dune follows dune, rolling away in great waves some 50 feet high, and uU dis]X)st><l from east to west, that is, in the same direction as the regular winds of the desert. The boundless waste of shifting sands is interrupted only at one point by the Kau Tilo, or " Isolated Ilock." After passing the small oasis of Zau, the caravan again enters the limitlesa region of dunes, where for a space of 60 miles the convoys are continually ascend- ing and descending the interminable series of sandhills. Here esiMHsially the camel, constantly appearing and di8ai)pearing, like a storm-tossed vessel, may best be called the " ship of the desert." The southern limit of this region of dunea is marked by the rocks of Dibbela, where the English explorer Warrington perished. This point already lies beyond the limits of the Sahara properly so called, and the traveller now enters the zone of steppes everywhere skirting the northern verge of the well-watered Sudanese regions. Here grass grows in abundance, at first in the depressions between the undulations of the land, then on the rising grounds them- selves. The grey or yellowish tints of the desert give place to the verdant huea of vegetation, and iu the Agadem oasis is met the first tree which is neither a palm nor an acacia. This is the tundub (rappariM sodadit), distinguished by ito twisted and gnarled trunk and its widespread hanging branches. Few regions iu the world more abound in animal life than this zone of Saharian steppe lands. Here the gazelles graze together in flocks of tens and hundreds, and in many places the traveller might fancy himself in the midst of a vast park well stocked with domestic animals. He fw.ls that he ha« already crossed the desert. Jebel Ahagcar and SiRRouNDixo Plateau (North Tvareg Domain). West and north-west of the " Gates " traversed by the route between Fezian and Lake Tsad, the main axis of the Sahara is prolonged through a line of rugged rocks, which gradually rise to heights of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet The ravincd