Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/271

more recent journeys, still being continued, he has proved the existence of an outflowing river from Lake Chad, which has hitherto been believed to be a terminal lake, the freshness of its waters having on this account appeared an anomaly in physical geography.

With the double purpose of affording support to Dr Livingstone, and of adding to the geography of Equatorial Africa, two expeditions were fitted out by the Royal Geographical Society in 1872. One of these, led by Lieut. Cameron, was planned to follow to footsteps of Livingstone in his present journey from the eastern side, entering the country by the ordinary trade route from Zanzibar towards the Tanganyika. This expedition started from Zanzibar early in 1873, under the auspices of Sir Bartle Frere's mission, and has now made considerable progress towards the interior. The other, named the "Livingstone Congo Expedition," under Lieuts. Grandy, is to pass from the Expedition," under Lieuts. Grandy, is to pass from the west coast to the interior, by following the river Congo, which is almost without doubt the lower course of the great Lualaba river, about to be further explored by Dr Livingstone coming to it from the eastern side. The latest accounts from this expedition are also in the highest degree favourable, and an advance of upwards of 150 miles has already been made from Loanda. A new expedition, under the leadership of the indefatigable traveller Rohlfs, is now in preparation, and is destined to explore the unknown portions of the Libyan desert.

Thus the exploration of the great continent is slowly advancing year by year, but with earnest and unceasing progress. As yet the only portions of Africa of which we possess any approach to an accurate topographical knowledge are, the Cape Colony and Natal under British rule in the south, the French colony of Algeria, the Portuguese possession of Angola, and Egypt and Tunis, dependent on the Turkish Empire, in the north.

Throughout the rest of the continent, a network of routes accomplished by travellers gives in most parts the great outline of its features; where these lines interlace more closely, as in the South African Republics, and in Abyssinia, the general aspect of the land is now so well known as to preclude the possibility of any important geographical discovery there; elsewhere, however, the gaps between the tracks are wider. In the vast inhospitable region of the Sahara there are great areas still unknown to civilised man, and the equatorial region of dense forests in Central Africa is still one of the greatest terræ incognitæ of the globe.

The origin and meaning of the name of this great continent has been a fertile subject for conjecture among philologists and antiquaries. By the Greeks it was called Libya, Λιβύη, and by the Romans Africa. Varrio believed he had found the etymology of the former in Libs, the Greek name of the south wind; and Servius, the scholiast on Virgil, proposed to derive the other from the Latin word aprica (sunny), or the Greek word a-phriké (without cold). It is more probable that the name Libya was derived by the Greeks from the name of the people whom they found in possession of the country to the westward of Egypt, and who are belived to have been those that are called in the Hebrew Scriptures Lehabim or Lubim. With respect to the word Africa, Suidas tells us that it was the proper name of that great city which the Romans called Carthago, and the Greeks, Karchedon. It is certain, at least, that it was applied originally to the country in the immediate neighbourhood of Carthage, that part of the continent first known to the Romans, and that it was subsequently extended with their increasing knowledge, till it came at last to include the whole continent. Of the meaning of the name, the language of Carthage itself supplies a simple and natural explanation; the word Afrygah, signifying a separate establishment, or in other words a colony, as Carthage was of Tyre. So that the Phœnicians of old, at home, may have spoken of their Afrygah, just as we speak of our colonies. Be that as it may, the Arabs of the present day still give the name of Afrygah or Afrikiyah to the territory of the Tunis. It may also be remarked, that the name seems not to have been used by the Romans till after the time of the first Punic war, when they became first acquainted with what they afterwards called Africa Propria.

Africa lies between the latitudes of 38° N. and 35° S., and is of all the continents the most truly tropical. It is, strictly speaking, an enormous peninsula attached to Asia by the isthmus of Suez. The most northern point is the cape, situated a little to the west of Cabo Blanco, and opposite Sicily, which lies in lat. 37° 20' 40" N., long. 9° 41' E. Its southernmost point is Cabo d'Agulhas, in 34° 49' 15" S.; the distance between these two point being 4330 geographical, or about 5000 English miles. The westernmost point is Cabo Verde, in long. 17° 33' W., its easternmost Cape Jerdaffun, in long. 51° 21' E., lat. 10° 25' N., the distance between the two points being about the same as its length. The western coasts are washed by the Atlantic, the northern by the Mediterranean, and the eastern by the Indian Ocean.

The form has been likened to a triangle, or to an oval, but such a comparison is scarcely warranted, it being of an irregular shape, the northern half rounding off, the southern one contracting and terminating in a point.

The superficial extent of Africa has never been accurately determined, but may be taken at 9,858,000 geographical square miles, exclusive of the islands. It is larger than either Europe or Australia, but smaller than Asia and the New World.

The coast line of Africa is very regular and unbrokwn, presenting few bays and peninsulas. The chief indentation is formed by the Gulf of Guinea, with its two secondary divisions, the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra. On the northern coast, the Gulf of Sidra and the Gulf of Kabes must be mentioned, and on the eastern coast the Gulf of Arabia.

The physical configuration may be considered under two heads, the great lower-lands and plains of Northern Africa, and the great table-lands, with their mountain ranges and groups, of Central and Southern Africa. The great northern lower-land comprises the Sahara, the Lake Chad region, and the valley of the Lower Nile. The Sahara is by no means a plain throughout, but for the greater part it rises into table-lands, interspersed with mountain groups of 6000 feet elevation, and probably more, and the term lower-lands can only be applied to it in a general way, to distinguish it from the more elevated region to the south.

The Sahara has often been pictured as a monotonous and immense expanse of sand; but nothing could be more erroneous, as the greatest variety exists in the physical configuration of its surface, as well as in its geological features. Our knowledge is as yet too scanty to enable us to trace its features in every part. On the north, this great desert is fringed with extensive table-lands, which in some places rise abruptly from the Mediterranea, as the great plateau of Barbary, extending through Marocco, Algeria, and Tunis, and the table-land of Barca, elevated 1500 feet, and gradually descending towards the Delta of the Nile. This elevated ground is succeeded to the south by a depressed region, which extends from the Great Syrtis or Gulf of Sidra, in a general direction as far as Middle Egypt, and comprises the oases of Augila and Siwah. So greatly depressed is this region, that the level of the oasis of Siwah is 100 feet, and in one place (Bahrein) even 167 feet below the level of the sea. The western portions of this country, between the oases of Augila and Siwah, explored in