Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/575

 TUE lOUIDI DUNES— JUF—ADRAB. 478 South of this Saharian Wed Sub, other dreary waittos have still to be truvencd, forming a vast sea of sands, which is prolonged for hundreds of mile*, in the direction of the west. This region is indicated on the maps by the name of Juf, or •* Depression," although Lenz heard no mention of this term, except as applied to a ravine or small watercourse known as the Wed-el-Juf. Possibly the Juf may be less elevated towards the west, but there is no reason to supjjosc that it falls any- where below the level of the Atlantic. Hence the project put forward bv the English speculator, Donald Mackenzie, of cutting a canal in order to create in this region an " inland sea," with an estimated 8uj)crticial area of 22o,000,000 acres, or nearly twice the size of PVance, is based on a flight of the imagination destitute of the least geographical foundation.* The region of the Juf is the least kno^ii section of the Western Sahara, and like the Libyan desert in the extreme east, it still remains a blank space on our maps. This vast wilderness, covering an extent of over 1 '.^0,000 square miles, has hitherto been traversed by no European explorer, nor crossed by any caravan route. West of the Juf and of the dreaded Maghtor dunes, the monotony of the desert is broken by a group of rocky heights, to which the general name of Adrar (Aderer), or the "Mountain," has been aj)plied, as to so many similar eminences in the Berber country. But this " mountain " of the Westtrn Sahara, which is more specially known by the designation of Temar, cannot be compared with the other Adrars of Mauritania and the central regions of the desert. It is in fuct little more than a mere stony tract connected towards its southern extremity with the rugged plateaux of Tagant, and rising here und there to heights of from 250 to 300 feet above the surrounding sandy wastes. According to the statement made to M. Masqueray by three young pilgrims from Adrar, it is *' a long island hennned in between sandy plains, which present the ap]>earunco of a sea, and whose restless surface rolls away like the ocean waves." t liut these sandy spaces, above which rises the "mountain," would seem to stand at a considerable altitude, at least if the statement can be credited that at the declivity of the El-Aksabi plateau, to the north of Adrar, the outer escarpments present elevations of fn)m 1,350 to l,(>.jO feet. During the descent down these abrupt inclines, the camels often stumble, and rolling over, get killed at the foot of the cliff. Several other eminoncos, either isolated or develo])ing contiinious ranges, are scattered to the north and west of the Adrar heights. The most remarkable of these eminences, which are composed mainly of st nit i tied sandstones, are the rock* of El-Guenater, that is to say, the "Bridges" or "Archways," situated about midway between Adrar and the Wed Draa Valley. They consist of Ui.«^lt cliflTs between which huge blocks remain su.spended, like the keystones of immense vaulted roofs or arches. West of Adrar the highest group is the so-calltnl Adrar Settuf, or " Shell Moun- tain," round which is developed the most advanced section of the Suharian coast- • Donald Mnokorzio. "The Flooding of the Sahara." t " BuUetin of the Paris CommercUl Geograihical Society," March and Arn., 1880. 62— AF