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The Continent of Africa: Senegambia

CHARACTERISTICS. - The S. portion of Africa is a vast tableland, not greatly elevated, sloping on its N. side to the equatorial plain of Soudan, and thence to the low land region which constitutes the greater part of N. Africa. Senegambia on the W. and Abyssinia on the E. are characterized by mountain ridges and plateaus, which "stretch from the S. tableland like rocky promontories into a sea of level country." The only other elevated region of importance is the Atlas range in the N.-W. There is a wonderful lack of good harbors along the coast line, which is about 16,000 m. in extent, or about two-thirds of the entire distance around the globe. Yet the sea line is disproportionate to the size of the continent, as there is but about one linear m. of coast to each 710 sq. m. of continental area, which is much less than is shown in either America, Asia, or Europe. The bodies of water by which Africa is surrounded are the Mediterranean Sea on the N., the Red Sea and Indian Ocean on the E., the Southern Ocean on the S., and the Atlantic on the W. Off the S.-E. coast, at a distance of 250 m., is the island of Madagascar, which is separated from Africa by the Mozambique channel. In the region of the equator, on the W. coast of the continent, and washing the seaboard from Cape Palmas to the bight of Biafra, is the Gulf of Guinea. On the Mediterranean coast the most prominent points are Cape Bon, in Tunis; and Cape Spartel, on the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar. At the Gulf of Sidra in Tripoli, the sands of the Sahara reach the shore. In Algeria the Atlas foothills approach the shore, while the Sahara again borders the shore on the Atlantic coast of N. Africa. Farther S. are the luxurious and unhealthy lowland regions of Senegambia, with Cape Verd. On the Red Sea a range of mountains skirts the shore. The edge of the S. African plateau is bounded largely by mountain chains with shelving plains on their seaward side. Along the Atlantic the country is generally low and miasmatic. From Cape Negro to the mouth of Orange River the coast is low and sandy. Along this 900 m. of seaboard there is not a drop of fresh water, and but one point where there is the least fertility. At Cape Colony the coast is bald and rocky; there are well-watered plains in Zanzibar, while the N. of the country is sterile, and between 40° N. and Cape Gardafui there is an immense sand desert. Africa is separated from Asia at the mouth of the Red Sea by the Straight of Babel-Mandeb, 20 m. broad.