Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/391

 THE BENUE BASIN. 827 through a transverse valley lying north of the highest part of the uplands, beyond which, under the name of the Gongola, it pierces the divide at its narrowest and lowest part, ultimately joining the Upper Benue below Yola. In the Kalam country and on the Bornu frontier, the surface is diversified only by low rouTided heights rising above the sea of verdure; but in the Bauchi district, source of the great river Kaddera flowing to the Middle Benue, the hills again rise and merge in a magnificent Alpine system. Domes, needles, or quad- rangular blocks with vertical walls, red, grey, or blackish granite crags, assume stupendous forms, towering 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the gorges, their slopes clothed with impenetrable primeval forests. Mount Saranda rises to a height of 7,000 feet immediately to the west of the great city of Yakoba, w^hile farther west other granite chains run north and south, or north-west and south-east, crossed by the Grora Pass (4,500 feet), which leads down to the gently sloping plains about the head waters of the Kaduna. Explorers have given English names to most of the mountains and hills skirting the right bank of the Benue. Thus a sharp cone above Yola, dominating all the surrounding heights, has been named Mac-Iver Peak. On the same river occur Mount Forbes, the Murchison chain culminating in Mount Roderick (1,650 feet), and lower down the EUesmere range along the southern section of its course. But the loftiest border range, running parallel with the Upper Benue for a space of 120 miles, has retained its native name of Muri. The scarcely less elevated hills on the opposite side are also still known by their African designations — Kwana, Morinu, Bak n' Dutchi. Below these the hills, rising in one of their peaks to an altitude of 4,650 feet, again take the English name of Albermarle Range, their peaks being provisionally named after Biot, Herschell, and other astronomers. The border chain near the Niger-Benue confluence is called the Oldfield Range, and all the hills encircling the confluence, with the single exception of the superb Mount Saracte, have similarly been named after British worthies. Flora and Fauna. The upland valleys of the Saranda and neighbouring mountains have a climate like that of Southern Italy, suitable for the cultivation of all the plants of the south temperate zone. But towards the east stretches the domain of the dum and date-palms, and westwards that of the deleb, oil- palm, and cocoanut. In the western forests is found the Una or runa, the fruit of which yields a kind of honey highly appreciated by the natives and even in Marocco, where it takes the name of ia mulei dris. In the Benue basin the most widely cultivated plant is cotton, whose fibre is remarkably firm, and so glossy that the woven material might readily be taken for silk. In the Upper Benue basin there are said to exist two species of the elephant, one with a yellowish coat ; and large herds of this animal are still met in the forests on both slopes. The upland woodlands afford cover to the rhinoceros and wild buffalo, and all the gorges are infested by the panther. The civet, though seldom