The World and Its People, Book VII: Views in Africa

Designed to supplement the ordinary school reading-books with valuable practice in reading, and at the same time to reenforce the instruction in special lines of school study wi...

It is now conceded by all educators that school instruction should be supplemented by reading matter suitable for use by the pupil both in the school and in the home. Whoever lo...

The name "Dark Continent" has been most aptly applied to Africa. Little was known of its geographical features until within the last twenty-five or thirty years. Some knowledge...

Naturally, in looking upon the contour of a country, we wish to consider its general features, that we may call up a mental picture of it. You know how quickly you can recall an...

This desolation of the Sahara would be of such a nature that nothing, either in the animal or vegetable world, could survive, were it not for the fertile tracts, or oases, found...

In its general character this northern section bears a strong resemblance to the opposite coast of Europe, with respect to peculiarities of soil and climate and the variety of i...

Between Abyssinia and the Mediterranean Sea is the low valley of the Nile. This is separated from the Red Sea on the east by a bold, mountainous region. A low ridge of limestone...

For many years Africa was believed to be a land destitute of rivers in its interior sections. The explorations made by Dr. Livingstone proved to the world that what had been for...

The White Nile has its rise in the great equatorial lakes, together with the Victoria and the Albert Nyanza Lakes. It skirts the eastern border of Kordofan and then passes into...

The Niger is the great river of Western Africa. Its name, according to one of the early explorers, is but a contraction from one of the many names given to it by native tribes....

The extensive region in Southeast Africa was described in the geographies of the middle ages under the name of the empire of Monomotapa. It is shown upon the old time maps as be...

Not half a mile from the falls Livingstone left the canoe in which he had started upon his journey, and embarked in a lighter one. This was manned by men well acquainted with th...

As the river descends to the ocean, it takes a southeast course. During the rainy seasons its width increases from five hundred yards to two miles or more, according to the amou...

This section of what we might term semi-deserts lies between 20 deg. and 30 deg. south latitude. It is about one thousand miles long and seven hundred miles wide. The great Kala...

The Orange River flows through South Africa. It rises in the _Mont aux Sources_, at an elevation of about ten thousand feet above sea level. It flows in a westerly direction for...

The Congo River flows into the Gulf of Guinea and is a most magnificent river, more wonderful in some respects than the Nile. It is the only one of the large rivers of Africa wh...

Stanley estimated the population of the Upper Congo basin at forty-three millions. Other explorers testify to the dense population and to the extent of the villages, as they are...

The Congo, as far as Ponta de Lenha, or Wood Point, at a distance of thirty-four miles from Banana Point, is navigable by large seagoing steamers. Above this place the river gro...

Back, stretching far behind the lofty banks of the noble Congo, lies a country rich in its enormous wealth of natural productions. The toil and enterprise of another generation...

On either hand the banks were lined with mile upon mile of the most valuable of the giant growths of the forests. Whole tracts of gum copal trees were seen for hours together. T...

Almost all the lakes of Africa are, comparatively speaking, quite shallow, and bear evidence of being the remains of much greater bodies of water that existed in past ages. It i...

"'The Land of the Moon,' which is the garden of Central Inter-tropical Africa, presents an aspect of peaceful rural beauty, which soothes the eye like a medicine, after the red...

Burton considered the march from the Malagarazi River to Lake Tanganyika the worst part of his journey. It led through a perfect wilderness, with all the diversities of jungle,...

Burton and his companion, Speke, remained for over three months at Ujiji, a small province situated upon Lake Tanganyika. It has a convenient situation as a mart, and was a cent...

One of the last of Burton's explorations, before his return to his native country, was an attempt to ascertain some particulars as to the nature of the countries which lay north...

It was Speke's desire to proceed northward and then to the east, for the purpose of reaching the point where the Nile was supposed to flow out from Victoria Nyanza.

The accounts brought back by Speke of the discovery of Victoria Nyanza and the existence of another lake, which might prove to be a feeder of the Nile, so influenced a friend of...

At a great distance to the northwest could be seen a lofty range of mountains. Baker learned from the natives that these mountains, beyond which he had fancied the lake must lie...

Ten miles from Magungo the river suddenly narrowed, till it was but two hundred and fifty yards broad. The great level tracks of rush banks gradually disappeared as they entered...

No other portion of land on the surface of the globe is so difficult of access as Africa. This is owing to the mountainous character of large portions of its coast line.

In making some of his early explorations Livingstone passed over a country, the firm, compact soil of which was perfectly level. Here he found a little soil covering a limelike...

Gold and silver had been found, but the former was believed to be more abundant than the latter, judging from the amounts brought down in the sands of the great rivers which flo...

Directly south of the Kalahari Desert lies a region familiarly termed the Diamond Fields. This region, which, properly, should be known as Griqualand West, was formerly a separa...

Probably no section of the continent is more interesting in its history than South Africa. The books which have been written upon the subject would make quite a library in thems...

The aborigines of South Africa have been described as savages of a very degraded type. "They were pigmies in size, yellowish-brown in color, hollow-backed, and with skins so loo...

The original colony was settled by the Dutch as early as the middle of the seventeenth century. Near the beginning of the nineteenth century it passed into the hands of the Brit...

About the middle of the present century Cape Colony comprised all the land between the Orange River on the north, the Indian Ocean on the south, the Atlantic Ocean on the west,...

Cape Colony has now a population of three hundred and sixty-six thousand Europeans and seven hundred and fifty-five thousand colored people. This does not include the people occ...

"In all the world there is not a fairer country than the pleasant land of Natal, stretching in steps from the Drachenberg, which bounds it like a mighty wall, downward to the sh...

They occupy a region about twice the size of Greece. Compared with Natal, it about equals it in area. While if we compare it with the Orange Free State, we find its area only ab...

A curious custom prevails among the tribes of South Africa; namely, the so-called making of rain. Each tribe has its rain maker, who pretends, by certain charms, of which he alo...

Their methods of procedure were as simple as they were novel. The tanner took the sheep's skin, warm from the freshly slaughtered carcass, and rubbed as much fat into it as it w...

The Dutch settlers at the Cape had always been strongly in favor of slavery; hence, when Great Britain caused the emancipation of slavery throughout her dependencies in South Af...

The Transvaal was established as early as the year 1841 by Boers, who had become discontented with English rule. It is doubtful whether England would have made any effort to ann...

The toil and the danger in crossing the Drachenberg Mountains with an ox wagon has been admirably described by one writer: "Our wagon is to go up first, being supposed to be the...

The character of the Boers has been strongly impressed by their wanderings and sufferings. Their habits of life, too, have necessarily been greatly modified through adverse circ...

The country is well adapted for grazing grounds, or cattle runs. Agriculture is a success only in limited localities, owing to the scarcity of surface water. With the exception...

It will be remembered that the country east of Cape Colony, extending along the slope of the Drachenberg Mountains to the Indian Ocean, as far as the southern border of the prov...

Senegambia is the country drained, you will remember, by the Senegal and Gambia, hence its name. It is generally understood to include the tract of country from the Senegal sout...

Upper Guinea has several divisions, which still retain the characteristic names first given to them. These names were founded mostly on the productions of different sections, an...

Southern, or Lower Guinea, begins at the equator. It is generally understood to include the maritime coast line of West Africa. For about fifteen hundred miles it extends in a n...

We have considered the climate of Africa but incidentally in connection with the sections which we have viewed. It will be of interest to note the changes in its character in co...

Along the coast of the Mediterranean it bears a close resemblance to that of Southern Europe. A traveler starting from the south of Europe for Tangier would note little differen...

In the Barbary States, which border upon the Mediterranean Sea, there is an extensive cultivation of grain. Wheat, barley, maize, rice, and a variety of corn called Kaffir corn,...

As we study the animal life of Africa, we can but notice the great variety in its species. We find not only those kinds with which we are most familiar, and those which have bec...

In place of the deer, so familiar to us in the study of other countries, we find numerous specimens of the great family of antelopes. Some writers have named as many as twenty v...

Of the ruminants, or cud-chewing animals, of Africa, the giraffe is a most beautiful yet peculiar specimen. It is found in a wild state only in South Africa. Its name is taken d...

Of the thick-skinned animals the elephant is perhaps the most interesting to be found in Africa. The African elephant is much larger than that of Asia, and is rarely, if ever, f...

The hippopotamus is a most peculiar, unwieldy animal, found only in Africa. Numerous fossil remains that have been found in other parts of the globe, would tend to prove that th...

The rhinoceros derives its name from two Greek words meaning _nose-horned_. Like the elephant and the hippopotamus it belongs to the thick-skinned animals. It ranks among the la...

The lion has been called the king of beasts, and his majestic form, noble bearing, stately tread, piercing eye, and dreadful roar not only strike terror to the heart of the othe...

In some parts of Africa great numbers of different kinds of mice exist. The ground is often so pierced with their burrows that the foot sinks in at every step. Little haycocks t...

It would be interesting to view more of the mammals of Africa, did space permit. Certainly the field is a wide one; for out of the three hundred species which are known to exist...

The ostrich may be looked upon as the most peculiar bird of Africa. It is found in almost all sections, and is by far the largest of all living birds, though doubtless many exti...

In the early settlement of Cape Colony, ostriches were found in great numbers. No later than fifty years ago flocks could be seen in almost any section of it. The salty nature o...

It would be delightful to quote without limit from this intensely interesting book, but there is not time to linger over its pages longer than to glean a few items:

The explorer, Paul Du Chaillu, gives some interesting views of sections of Equatorial Africa, which from the western coast, as far as he had been, are covered with an almost imp...

Long before the advent of man upon the globe, there was a period when huge crocodiles swarmed in the rivers of the temperate zones. The diminished heat of the temperate regions...

Probably no insect is of more interest in Africa than the termite, or white ant. It is found in vast numbers and may well be dreaded. The amount of damage an army of termites ca...

Although Africa may well be considered the home of the black man, yet we must not fail, in considering the people of the dark continent, to refer to the annals of history for ma...

Our most interesting descriptions of the people of Africa have been derived from the annals of Egyptian history and from the journals and letters of the many explorers who have...

At break of day a row of boys, about fourteen years of age, stood facing a line of men in preparation for the national dance. All were without clothing. Each boy held a pair of...

When Andersson visited Damaraland he found the natives an exceedingly fine-looking race. They were tall, well-formed, and had a graceful carriage. In color they were dark, but n...

Among the Bechuana tribes the government is patriarchal, and each man is chief over his own children. Livingstone writes of them: "They build their huts around his, and the grea...

Situated a few miles from the edge of a steep descent, Livingstone found a West African village provided with travelers' houses, on the principle of the inns of the East. These...

Livingstone says that among many tribes the mode of salutation was by clapping the hands; and whenever the white man appeared, parties of women came from the several villages, b...

It is difficult, when looking at the map of Africa, to realize that the Straits of Gibraltar are all that separate it from Europe, a continent differing widely from it in every...

Striking off from the empire of Morocco, as we journey eastward into Algeria we come to the town of Tlemcen. A passing glance at the town is, at first, very pleasing. A triple r...

Ancient Carthage included within its territories those of the modern state of Tunis. The ruins of the ancient city may be found about thirteen miles northeast of the walled city...

If we leave the port of Tunis on one of the little Maltese schooners, we can, after a sail of some forty-eight hours with a favorable wind, easily discern the walls of Tripoli r...

As we journey to the south, on the road to the Soudan, we find the great oasis of Fezzan, which extends far into the midst of the Great Desert. The rocky plateau of Hammada form...

Leaving Europe on a luxurious steamer, and possessing the necessary passport, we shall find the port of Alexandria an easy step from the comforts of European life to the picture...

The ancient Egyptians believed that the alluvial deposit at the mouth of their beloved river had been gained from the sea, but modern geographers believe it to have been formed...

Cairo is situated at the head of the Delta of the Nile, where the river emerges from among the hills and makes its course through the alluvial plain formed by the annual deposit...

Attached to the mosque of Ezher is a university, or college, with quite a large Oriental library. Grammar, arithmetic, algebra, rhetoric, and other branches are taught in the un...

On the opposite side of the river from Cairo, about three miles southwest, lies the village of Gizeh. It is situated not far from the boundary of middle Egypt just where the lin...

About ten miles northeast of Cairo lie a few crumbled stones and a single obelisk; these are all that remain of the ancient city of Heliopolis. This obelisk, the oldest in Egypt...

The remarkable success of this new series of Readers has exceeded even the anticipations of those who knew the large experience of its authors in educational work, and their pec...

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