Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/183

 AFIUM KARA-HISSAR taneh, according to the two main dialects of their language, the Pukhtu and Pushtu, which are spoken in different parts of the country. The Afghani, notwithstanding its peculiar sounds, retains the essential characteristics of the Iranic group of the Indo-European languages. Mixed with various oriental tongues and written in Persian characters, it reveals the defective cul- tivation of the people. There is a tradition that Mohammed described the Pukhtu as the language of hell. Previous to the 15th century there does not seem to have existed any litera- ture at all ; but since that period there have been several poets, who took the high-flown Persian lyrical writers as their models. Abder- rahman of Peshawer was one of the earliest poets. In the 17th century Mirza Khan An- sari and Khushhal Shah Abdali distinguished themselves as Afghan poets ; and Ahmed, the founder of the Durrani dynasty, was remark- able for his literary efforts. Writings on his- torical and religious subjects are extant among the Afghans, but none earlier than within the last four centuries. Raverty published a gram- mar of the Pukhtu language (London, 1860- '68), and a selection from the poetry of the Af- ghans (1862). Among valuable works on Afghanistan are Elphinstone's " Account of the Kingdom of Caubul" (London, 1815); Caye, "History of the War in Afghanistan" (1851); Belly, " Journal of his Political Mission to Af- ghanistan " (1862) ; and the travels of Connolly, Burnes, Ferrier, and Bellew. AFIUM KARA-HISSAR (Black Castle of Opium, so called from its extensive trade in opium, which grows in its vicinity), or simply Kara- hissar, a city in the Turkish eyalet of Khu- davendikiar, in Asia Minor, capital of a sanjak or district, 50 m. S. S. E. of Kutaieh ; pop. about 50,000. It is neatly built upon a moun- tain side, protected by a fortress, which is perched upon a high rock above it. Manufac- tories of carpets, felts, arms, stirrups, and sad- dlery are carried on by the inhabitants. AFRAGOLA, a town of Italy, 5 m. K E. of Naples, on the railroad to Rome; pop. in 1861, 16,129. It has manufactures of straw hats, and a great annual fair commencing on the second Sunday of May. AFRANIUS, Lucius, a Roman orator and writer of comedies, who flourished about 100 B. C. His genius and fluent style are praised by Cicero and Quintilian. In his plays he depicted Roman life, and chiefly its lower features, with admirable accuracy, and was therefore regarded as a worthy imitator of Menander. Only some fragments of his works remain. AFRICA, one of the great continental divis- ions of the globe, situated in the eastern hem- isphere, S. of Europe, from which it is sepa- rated by the Mediterranean sea, and S. W. of Asia, with which it was formerly connected by the isthmus of Suez. Since the opening of the canal between the Mediterranean and the Red sea, Africa may be described as an insular con- tinent. It lies between lat. 37 20' N. and 34 AFRICA 163 50' S., and Ion. 17 30' W. and 51 30' E., being thus almost wholly within the tropics. Its figure resembles that of an irregular triangle. Its greatest length, measured from Cape Agul- has, E. of the Cape of Good Hope, to Cape Bianco, near Bizerta in Tunis, is 4,330 geo- graphical miles ; and its greatest width, from Cape Verd on the Atlantic to Cape Guarda- fui, on the Indian ocean, is 4,000 geographical miles. The entire area of the continent, ex- clusive of Madagascar and the other African islands, is estimated at 11,360,000 statute square miles. The derivation of the name, which was originally applied only to the country around Carthage, is uncertain. Within the last 25 years our knowledge of African geography has been so largely increased that the leading physi- cal features of the country are now pretty well known. Southern Africa is a vast table land, not of great elevation, which on its N. edge slopes down to the rich equatorial plain of Soodan, and thence to the lowland region which constitutes the greater part of northern Africa. The mountain ridges of Senegambia on the west, and the lofty plateau of Abyssinia on the east, are outlying offshoots of the south- ern table land, stretching forth from it like rocky promontories into a sea of level country. The Atlas range in the northwest is the only other elevated region of importance. The coast line of Africa is remarkable for its continuity, as well as for its lack of good harbors. It is about 16,000 m. in length, so that for every 710 sq. m. of continental area, according to the estimate above given, there is only one linear mile of coast, a smaller proportion of seashore to surface than in America, Asia, or Europe. The surrounding seas comprise the Mediterra- nean on the north, the Red sea and Indian ocean on the east, the Southern ocean on the south, and the Atlantic on the west. The island of Madagascar is separated from the S. E. portion of the mainland by the Mozam- bique channel, 250 m. wide. Just above the equator the breadth of the continent is consid- erably narrowed by the westward trend of the Atlantic coast through about 15 degrees of longitude, from Cape Palmas to the head of the bight of Biafra, where it resumes its southerly course. The seaboard of this region is washed by the waters of the gulf of Guinea. The most prominent points on the Mediterranean coast are Cape Bon, in Tunis, opposite Sicily, and Cape Spartel, the extremity of a spur from the Atlas mountains forming the African side of the straits of Gibraltar. At the gulf of Sidra, the Syrtis Major of the ancients, in Tripoli, the sands of the Sahara reach the shore ; and E. of this locality to the delta of the Nile the coast country is flat and unproductive. In Algeria the Atlas foot hills approach the sea, and the contiguous district is well adapted for cultiva- tion. The Sahara desert again borders the shore on the Atlantic coast of northern Africa ; and further S. lie the luxuriant but unhealthy lowland delta districts of Senegambia, whence