benches and books were there, but neither scholars nor teacher. Next, to the blacksmith shop: there were the tools and anvil, but no blacksmith. And so on to the next and the next, all in perfect order, but all empty. A little way off, among the mimosa groves, under a huge granite mountain, were graves: there were the missionaries.

The Niger is the only river in all Africa navigable by small steamers from the ocean; but the Niger does not give access to the interior, as it rises within 100 miles of the ocean, and, after making a great bend around the mountains of the Guinea coast, empties into the ocean only about five degrees south of its source, after a course of 2,500 miles. Its main branch, the Benue (or "Mother of Waters"), is navigable 500 or 600 miles above its junction with the Niger. The country through which it flows is thickly peopled and well cultivated; but the natives are fierce and warlike, and have until recently prevented any exploration of the Benue.

As mountain-ranges determine the course of rivers, influence the rainfall, and temper the climate, we must understand the mountain system of Africa before we can understand the continent as a whole.

Standing on the citadel at Cairo, and looking south, you see a sandstone ridge which gradually grows in altitude and width of base as it runs far away to the south, even to the Cape of Good Hope at the other end of Africa. Successive ranges of mountains follow the coast, sometimes near, at others two or three hundred miles inland; the land, in the latter case, ascending from the coast. The only breaks in this long chain are where the Zambezi and Limpopo force their way to the Indian Ocean.

In Abyssinia, on the Red Sea, there is a range of snowy mountains 14,700 feet in height. A few hundred miles to the southeast, and near Lake Victoria Nyanza, almost under the equator, is another snow-capped mountain, Kilima Njaro, 18,700 feet high,—the highest mountain in Africa,—and the mountains of Massai-Land, a continuation of the Abyssinian Mountains. Another range, apparently an offshoot of the long range from the Red Sea, forms a wall 100 miles long, and 10,000 feet high, on the east of Lake Nyassa, separating the waters of that lake from the Indian Ocean. This range continues to the Zambezi. South of this river the mountains rise 8,000 to 10,000 feet in height. In Cape Colony are several ranges of mountains. The highest peak is Compas Berg, 8,500 feet. In the eastern center of Africa, in the equatorial region, is an elevated plateau in which is the lake region, then there is a sudden rise, and a gradual descent towards the Atlantic. There are few continuous ranges of mountains on the western coast; but at Kamerun there is a cluster of mountains reaching an elevation of 13,100 feet; and south of Morocco some of the peaks of the Atlas Mountains reach an elevation of 12,000 to 13,000 feet, but they have little if any influence on the rainfall or temperature of the country. It will be seen from this statement that eastern Africa has high mountain-ranges rising into an elevated plateau; that the land in Equatorial Africa gradually descends toward the west and north-west until within one or two hundred miles of the Atlantic Ocean, when the descent is rapid to the low and unhealthy coast-lands. Through equatorial Africa runs the Kongo, the land north of the Kongo gradually rising to an elevation of about 2,000 feet, and then descending to 1,200 feet at Lake Chad. South of the Kongo the land rises to an elevation of 3,000 feet, and retains this elevation far south into the Portuguese territory.

Careful computations have been made to ascertain the average elevation of the continent. The mean of the most careful estimates is a little over 2,000 feet. The interior is therefore elevated above the miasmatic influences of the coast, but exactly what effect this elevation has upon the temperature can only be ascertained after careful investigation and a series of observations. North of Guinea and Senegambia the coast is less unhealthy; but, as the Desert of Sahara extends to the ocean, the country is of little value, and is therefore left to the native tribes, unclaimed by Europeans.

In the International Scientific Series it is stated that there are in Africa ten active volcanoes,—four on the west coast, and six on the east,—but I have not found any corroboration of this report, and think it very doubtful if there are any volcanoes now in eruption. The Kilima Njaro and Kamerun were formerly active volcanoes, for the craters still exist. In the south the diamond-fields are of volcanic ash formation.

The lake region of Africa stretches from the head waters of the upper Nile three degrees south, to the waters of the Zambezi, fifteen degrees south,—a lake region unequalled, in extent and volume of water, except by our lakes. Here is the Victoria Nyanza, the queen of inland seas, 4,000 feet above the sea-level; and a long series of lakes, great and small, at equal elevation. The more striking are Bangweolo to the south-west, the grave of Livingstone, and Nyassa on the south-east. In their depths the Nile, the Kongo River, and the Shire (the main branch of the Zambezi) have their source.

The great belt of equatorial Africa, situated between the 15th parallel of north latitude and the 15th parallel of south latitude, has continuous rains, is everywhere well watered, and has a rich and fertile soil. Some portions are thickly populated, and it is capable of sustaining a dense population. North and south of this belt there are two other belts of nearly equal width. In each of these belts there are wet and dry seasons, with abundant rain for the crops. The heaviest rainfall in the north belt is in June, while in the south belt it is in December. The rainfall gradually grows less toward the north, and also toward the south, until it ceases in the Desert of Sahara on the north, and in the Desert of Kalahari on the south. On the edge of these deserts are Lake Chad on the north, and Lake Ngami on the south. North of the Desert of Sahara, and south of the Desert of Kalahari, there is an abundant rainfall, a healthy climate, and fertile soil. Morocco, Algiers, and Tripoli, on the Mediterranean, are in the north region; and Zulu-Land, the Orange Free State, and Cape Colony, in the corresponding region of the south.

That portion of Africa north of the equator is three or four times greater than that south, and the Sahara Desert and Lake Chad are several times greater than the Kalahari Desert and Lake Ngami. The Sahara Desert, the waterless ocean three times as large as the Mediterranean, extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, broken only by the narrow valley of the Nile. It is interspersed with oases, with the valleys of many dry streams, and with some mountains 8,000 feet. It has the hottest climate in the world. Travelers tell us, that, in upper Egypt and Nubia, eggs may be baked in the hot sands; that the soil is like fire, and the wind like a flame; that in other parts of the desert the sand on the rocks is sometimes heated to 200° in the day-time, while in the following night the thermometer falls below freezing-point. In crossing the desert the traveler will hardly need a guide, for the road is too clearly marked by the bones and skeletons that point the way.

Lake Chad receives the drainage of a considerable area of country. In the dry season it has no outlet, and is then about the size of Lake Erie. In the wet season it is said to be five times as large. Its level rises by twenty or thirty feet until it overflows into the Desert of Sahara, forming a stream which runs northward for several hundred miles, and is finally lost in a great depressed plain. In the southern part of Africa the level of Lake Ngami rises and falls in a similar manner.

Through the great equatorial belt runs the Kongo, one of the wonderful rivers of the world.