Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/21

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF BARKA. 5 starting-point of the line of demarcation officially laid down between Egypt and Tripolitanu. The headland commanding the Gulf of SoloCim was ever regarded by Salluat, Pomponius Mela, and other ancient authors as the angular limit between Africa and Asia, Egypt being considerocl by them as belonging to the eastern continent. At this point the highest summits of the plateau exceed 1,000 feet, and the coast route has to surmount a projecting ridge by means of a graded track, whence the promontory, as far as the Ras-el-Melah, took its Greek name of Kata- bathmos Mcgas, or "Great Descent." At present the Egyptian Arabs give it the title of Akabct-el-Kebir, or " Great Ascent," and to El-Edrisi it was known as the Akabah-el-Soloum, or " Graded Ascent," whence the present name of the neigh- bouring gulf. It is easy to imderstand how seafarers and caravan traders at all times looked upon these abrupt decli'ities, and the deep indentation formed by the Gulf of Solodm, as a natural limit, although farther inland the plateau is continued on either side without any great differences of level. From the Gulf of Solo dm to the great bend, whose western extremity is occupied by Benghazi, the seaboard is divided into two nearly equal sections by the so-called Gulf of Bomba, which is limited westwards by the Ras-et-Tin, or " Fig-tree Cape." East of this deep inlet, already marked out as the site of a future naval station analogous to that of Spezia, the coast district coincides with the ancient Marmarica, or Marmaridis ; to the west is developed in a graceful curve the shore-line of Cyrenaica, properly so called. The two territories are clearly separated by the bed of the Wady Temmim, which, however, is dry for several months in the year. Some 60 miles long, it is the only torrent in Barka which is anything more than a mere ravine, flushed only for a few hours after each rainfall. On either side of this intermediate depression, the heights present different natural features. The Miocene plateau of Marmarica has an average elevation less than half that of Cyrenaica, and its depressions, nearly all parallel with the shore, are mere folds in the rocky surface rather than true valleys. In the west, on the contrary, the hills of Cyrenaica cons^tute a veritable highland, the so-called Jebel Akhdar, or " Green Mountains," some of whoso crests exceed 3,300 feet in altitude. This term, however, is more specially restricted to the western group of uplands, which, notwithstanding their rounded outlines, bear a closer resemblance to the Apennines than any other African district. The same trees overshadow the same undergrowth ; a mean temperature differing little from that of Italy prevails over hill and dale ; the breeze wafted over the thickets is charged with the same perfumes ; the same blue waters sparkle at the foot of the escarpments. Travelling across the land of Barka, visitors from Italy fancy themselves still sur- rounded by the scenery of their native homes. The Greeks also had converted this region into au African Hellas. In their enthusiasm here they placed the first of those " Gardens of the Hesperides " which their daring navigators, pushing still westwards, had scattered, so to say, from Cyrenaica to the utmost verge of the mainland. The Arabs in their turn bore testimony to their admiration for its natural beauties, by the title of " Green Mountains," which they gave to the Barka highlands. Whether they arrived from