Senegal, 950 miles long, falls into the Atlantic. The Gambia, a deep and wide river, also flows through Senegambia into the Atlantic. The Rio Grande is also in Senegambia. The Rio Volta flows between the Gold and Slave Coasts. The Niger or Quorra falls by many mouths into the Gulph of Guinea. The Zaire flows through Congo: the Coanza, between Angola and Benguela: the Bambarooque, after dividing Benguela from the Mataman Desert, falls into the Atlantic Ocean. The heat of the western coasts of Africa is most intense, and tornadoes are frequent. Forests extend along the marshy coasts and rivers. The palms are gigantic: the baobab is common in Congo; aromatic and nutritive vegetables are abundant; and the Guinea-grass, which covers large tracts, attains the height of from ten to thirty feet. Serpents, elephants, lions, tigers, leopards, panthers, and other wild and dangerous animals, abound in Western Africa. This country is occupied by several independent kingdoms, of which Ashantee and Dahomey are the principal. Their governments are absolute. The slave-trade is still carried on, clandestinely. The Foulahs are the most widely extended tribe. Senegambia is the country of the Foulahs, Yaloffs and Mandingoes. Upper Guinea includes Sierra Leone, Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, Slave Coast, Ashantee, Dahomey, and Benin. Lower Guinea includes Loango, Congo, Angola, and Benguela. The Mataman Desert, south of Benguela, is inhabited by savages.

SECTION VII.

CENTRAL AFRICA.

332. General Description.- Central Africa includes those countries south of the Great Desert, situate on the Niger, Senegal, and around Lake Tchad. These are numerous: the best known are Sangara, Bambarra, Kong, Timbuctoo, Borgoo, Yaouri, Yarriba, Fundah, Benin, Bornou, Darfur, and Fellatah. Central Africa includes Central and Eastern Soudan. These, with the maritime regions of Guinea and Senegambia, compose Soudan or Negro land; whose grand physical characteristics are one great range of mountains-the Mountains of Kong; one great river—the Niger or Quorra; and one great lake the Tchad. Besides the Niger, numerous rivers intersect Central Africa. The Mountains of the Moon are said to traverse this whole region from east to west. Lake Tchad, on the frontier of Bornou, is about 200 miles long and 150 broad. Some portions of Central Africa are fertile, but the greater part is sandy and barren. The zoology is rich and various: the elephant, the hippopotamus or riverhorse, the giraffe, the zebra, monkeys, and antelopes; among birds, the aigrette and parroquet; together with venemous insects and reptiles, including ants and wild bees, are most numerous. The prin

cipal towns are Kankan, Sego, Jenneh, Kong, Timbuctoo, Yaouri, Rabba, Fundah, Bonny, Angornou, Warra, and Saccatoo. The people are chiefly either Pagans or Mahometans.

SECTION VIII.

AFRICAN ISLANDS.

333. Madagascar.-Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, about 240 miles from the coast of Mozambique, is 930 miles long, and from 70 to 330 broad; containing an area of about 235,000 square miles. The population has been estimated at more than 4 millions. Tananarivo is the capital. Madagascar is divided into 28 provinces, each under a separate chief: but the despotic chief of the Ovahs is in fact sovereign of the island.

334. The Comoro Isles.-These are four in number, of which Comoro is the largest.

335. Bourbon. This island belongs to France, and is one of its chief colonial possessions. Its chief town is St. Denis.

336. Mauritius.-This island, formerly called the Isle of France, now belongs to Great Britain. Its capital is Port Louis.

337. Socotra.-This island, east of Cape Guardafui, yields Socotrine aloes and dragon's-blood in great abundance.

338. Cape Verde Islands.-These are a numerous group in the Atlantic Ocean, off the west coast of Africa. They are all of volcanic origin. They belong to Portugal.

339. Fernando Po.-This island, together with Prince's Island, St. Thomas', and Annobon, situate in the Gulph of Guinea, are nominally subject to Portugal.

M

340. St. Helena.-This island, which belongs to England, is celebrated as having been the ocean prison of Napoleon Buonaparte. It is 1200 miles from the African coast, and 1800 from that of America. It presents to the sea, on all sides, an immense perpendicular wall of rock, from 600 to 1200 feet high.

341. Ascension Island, and the Islands of Tristan da Cunha.-These serve as places of refreshment to British vessels. The shores of Ascension

Island abound in turtles.

342. Canary Isles.-These are seven in number, and belong to Spain. Teneriffe is the largest.

343. Madeira Islands.-These are three in number, and belong to Portugal. The principal town is Funchal. The temperature of Madeira is remarkably uniform and mild. Its chief exports are Madeira and Malmsey wines.

CHAPTER V.

NORTH AMERICA.

SECTION I.

GENERAL VIEW.

344. Situation and Limits.-North America lies between 9° and 74° N. lat., and between 55° and 168° W. long. Its length, from north to south, is

4500 miles; its breadth, from east to west, nearly 3000 miles. Area, 9 millions of square miles. Population, 32 millions. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean; west, by the Pacific; south, by the Gulph of Mexico and the Isthmus of Darien which unites it to South America; and east, by the Atlantic.

345. Gulphs and Bays.-The chief of these are Baffin's Bay, north-west of Greenland; Hudson's Bay, in British America; the Gulph of St. Lawrence, between Newfoundland and the continent; Chesapeak Bay on the east, and the Gulph of Mexico on the south of the United States; and the Gulph of California, on the west of Mexico.

346. Straits. The principal of these are Davis' Straits, between Greenland and America; Hudson's Strait, north of Labrador; the Straits of Belleisle, between Newfoundland and Labrador; and Behring's Straits, between Russian America and Asia.

347. Islands.-Iceland and Greenland, in the Northern Ocean; Newfoundland, Prince Edward's Island, and Cape Breton, in the Atlantic; and the Aleutian Islands, with many others, in the North Pacific Ocean.

348. Peninsulas.-Nova Scotia, in British America; Florida, in the United States; and Yucatan and California, in Mexico.

349. Capes.-Cape Farewell, in Greenland; Cape Charles, in British America; Sable Point, in Florida; Cape St. Lucas, in California; and Cape Prince of Wales, at Behring's Straits.

350. Mountains.-The most extensive mountain ranges are the Alleghany Mountains, in the United States; and the Rocky Mountains, extending almost the whole length of the continent.