Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/335

  (terms themselves far from definite), but that it even extends, in some places (as in Tunis), beyond the latter chain; that the Sahara or sandy desert, spreads itself, in patches of greater or lesser extent, far to the N. of the great desert table-land, which the name is commonly understood to denote; that the palm-growing oases (wadys) are found in all parts of the Sahara, on both sides of the Atlas, but chiefly in aeries of detached oases, not only on the N., but also in the S. margin of the main chain of mountains; and that, where any continuous tract can be marked out as a belt of demarcation between the Tell and the Sahara, its physical character is that of pasture-land with numerous fruit-trees of various species. The Tell is formed by a series of valleys or river-basins, lying for the most part in the mountains near the coast, which form what is called the Lesser Atlas; and opening out, in the NW. of Morocco, into extensive plains, which, however, the larger they become, assume more and more of the desert character, for the obvious reason that they are less completely irrigated by the streams flowing through them. The lower mountain ridges, which divide these basins, seem generally well wooded; but, as they form the strongholds of the Berbers, they are little known to the Europeans, or even to the Arabs. The southern limit of the Tell cannot be defined by any one marked chain of mountain; but in proportion as the main chain retires from the sea, so does the Sahara gain upon the Tell; and, on the other hand, where, as in Tunis, the main chain approaches the sea, the Tell even reaches its southern side.

To the S. of the Tell, the Sahara, in the Arab sense of the word, extends over a space which can be toerably well defined on the S. by a chain of oases, running in the general direction of WSW. to ENE. from the extreme S. of the empire of Marocco, in about 28° or 29° N. lat., to the bottom of the Lesser Syrtis, between 33° and 34°. As far as can be judged from the very imperfect data we possess, this series of oases marks a depression between the S. slopes of the Athas system and the high tableland of the Great Desert. It thus forms a natural boundary between the "Barbary States," or that portion of North Africa which has always fallen more or less within the history of the civilized world, and the vast regions of Central Africa, peopled by the indigenous black tribes included under the general names of Ethiopians or Negroes. To the S. of this boundary lies the great sandy desert which we commonly call the Sahara; to the N., the Sahara of the Arabs of Barbary: the physical distinction being as clearly marked as that between an ocean, with here and there an island, and an archipelago. The Great Desert is such an ocean of sand, with here and there an oasis. The Sahara of Barbary is "a vast archipelago of oases, each of which presents to the eye a lively group of towns and villages. Each village is surrounded by a large circuit of fruit-trees. The palm is the king of these plantations, as much by the height of its stature as the value of its products; but it does not exclude other species; the pomegranate, the fig, the apricot, the peach, the vine, grow by its side." (Carette, l'Algérie Meridionale, in the Exploration Scientifique de l'Algérie, vol. ii. p. 7.) Such is the region confounded by some writers with the Desert, and vaguely described by others as the Country of Palms, a term, by the bye, which the Arabs confine to the Tunisian Sahara and its oases. As for Herodotus's "Country of Wild Beasts", whatever may have been the case in his time, the lion and other beasts of prey are now confined to the mountains, and do not venture down into the plains. The inhabitants of the Sahara are connected with the peoples N. of them by race and by the interchange of the first necessaries of life, receiving the corn of the Tell, and giving their fruits in return; while they are severed from the peoples of the S. by race, habits, and the great barrier of the true sandy desert. A particular description of the oases of the Sahara, and of the other points only indicated here, will be found in the work just quoted.

The only delimitation that can be made between the Tell and the Sahara is assigned by the difference of their products. But, even thus, there are some intervening regions which partake of the character of both. Carette traces three principal basins of this kind in Algeria: the eastern, or basin of lake Melrir, S. of Tunis and the E. part of Algeria, and W. of the Lesser Syrtis, characterized by the culture both of com and fruits; the central, or basin of El-Hodna, far NW. of the former, where both kinds of culture are mixed with pastures; and the W., or basin of the upper Shelif (the ancient Chinalaph), where cultivation is almost superseded by pasturage.

Such is a general view of the country formed by what we now call the Atlas system of mountains, the main chain of which defines the S. margin of the basin of the Mediterranean. The precise determination of this main chain is somewhat difficult. Its general direction is not parallel to that of the whole system; but it forms a sort of diagonal, running about WSW. and ENE., and nearly parallel to the line of oases mentioned above as the southern limit of the system. The true W. extremity seems to be a C. Ghir or Ras Aferni, about 80° 35' N. lat; and the E. extremity is formed by the NE. point of Tunis, Ras Addar or C. Bon. At this end it communicates, by branches thrown off to the S., with the mountain chain which skirts the eastern half of the Mediterranean coast from the Lesser Syrtis to the Nile valley; but this latter range is regarded by the best geographers as a distinct system, and not a part of the Atlas. The first part of the main chain, here called the High Atlas, proceeds in the direction above indicated as for as Jebel Miltsin, S. of the city of Marocco, where it attains its greatest height, and whence it sends off an important branch to the S., under the name of Jebel Hadrar, of the Southern Atlas, which terminates on the Atlantic between C. Nun and C. Jubi. The main chain proceeds till it reaches a sort of knot or focus, whence several ranges branch out, in 31° 30' N. lat and 4° 50' W. long. It here divides into two parts; one of which, retaining the name of the High Atlas, runs N. and NE. along the W. margin of the river Mulvia (the ancient Malva or Molochath), terminating on the W. of the mouth of that river and on the frontier of Marocco. From this range several lateral chains are thrown off to the N. and W., enclosing the plains of N. Marocco, and most of them reaching a common termination on the S. side of the Straits of Gibraltar: the one skirting the N. coast is considered as the W. portion of the Lesser Atlas chain, to be spoken of presently. From the usage of the ancient writers, as well as the modern inhabitants of the country, this so-called High Atlas has the best claim to be regarded as the prolongation of the main chain. But, on the ground of uniformity of direction, and to preserve a continuity through the whole system, geographers assign that 