. The lake regions of central Africa. A record of modern discovery . eedinform us that the Sahara is the bed of an ancient and its whole appearance and condition bear outthe theory. There i- no regular rainfall or perennialBtreams there are mountains, hut no mountainm and there are, as has been said, depressions;but no permanent lake-. Lastly, in the Sahara pro-there are no stationary habitations, and fewof animal or vegetable life. In all these re-Bpecta it nol only differs from, bui is a complete con- ! to, the high, luxuriant, well-watered table-landbelow the picturesque Bights
. The lake regions of central Africa. A record of modern discovery . eedinform us that the Sahara is the bed of an ancient and its whole appearance and condition bear outthe theory. There i- no regular rainfall or perennialBtreams there are mountains, hut no mountainm and there are, as has been said, depressions;but no permanent lake-. Lastly, in the Sahara pro-there are no stationary habitations, and fewof animal or vegetable life. In all these re-Bpecta it nol only differs from, bui is a complete con- ! to, the high, luxuriant, well-watered table-landbelow the picturesque Bights of the desert have keen le familiar enough to us by description: the longline of laden camels threading their way across thebe between the white blaze of the buu andthe yellow glare of the and past the bleached skele-1 man and a i thai strew the track the vividcontra I of the flowing white robes and tawny facesr ,1 Arab driver and the ebony limbs of the uegroBl*ve and attendant the flight of a party of Moorish • in. n with then- gay caparisons and glittering. (i iiiiii,];: IlilWiLiiiiil i II A TERRA INCOGNITA. 13 spears; the sand pillars, leagued to fight with war-ring winds ; the oases with their green palm-grovesand cool fountains ; and the brilliant hues of a stormysunset. These, however, are but the accidents ofdesert-life. Its characteristic aspect is silence, mon-otony, desolation. Even the beasts of prey avoid for man, who finds an intellectual pleasurein overcoming difficulty and facing Nature in hersternest mood, can it have attractions ; and the edgeof his appetite for travel is soon blunted by actualexperience of desert dangers and fatigues, when thereis no hope ahead to allure his steps forward. Such was the main cause that discouraged Africanexploration down to about the middle of the fifteenthcentury. A new motive then came strongly intoplay,—the rivalry of the European nations for thetrade of the East. There is a circumstantial ancientstory of a P
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1881
