character to another range, which they call the Great Atlas, running from the same mountain knot, with an inclination more to the E., forming the SE. margin of the valley of the Mulvia, and, after an apparent depression about the frontier of Marocco, where it is little known, reappearing in the lofty group of Jebel Amour in the meridian of Shershell, and thence continuing, in the direction already indicated, to C. Bon. Parallel to this range, and near the coast of the Mediterranean, from the mouth of the Mulvia to that of the Mejerdah (the ancient Bagradas) in Tunis, runs another chain, commonly called the Lesser Atlas, which may be regarded as an eastern prolongation of the High Atlas of N. Marocco; while its ridges may also be viewed as the walls of the terraces by which the whole system slopes down to the Mediterranean. These ridges are varied in number and direction, and the valleys formed by them constitute the greater portion of the Tell: the varied positions and directions of these valleys may be at once seen by the courses of the rivers on any good map of Algeria. In few places is there any tract of level land between the north side of the Lesser Atlas and the coast. Besides the less marked chains and terraces, which connect the Lesser Atlas with the principal chain, there is one well defined bridge, running WNW. and ESE. from about the meridian of Algier (the city) to that of Constantineh, which is sometimes described as the Middle Atlas; but this term is sometimes applied also to the whole system of terraces between the Great and Lesser Atlas. In the N. of Tunis (the ancient Zeugitana) the two chains coalesce. The principal chain divides the waters which run into the Mediterranean (and partly into the Atlantic) from those which flow southwards towards the Great Desert. The latter, excepting the few which find their way into the Mediterranean about the Lesser Syrtis, are lost in the sands, after watering the oases of the Sahara of Barbary. Of the former, several perform the same office and are absorbed in the same manner; but a few break through the more northern chains and flow into the Mediterranean, thus forming the only considerable rivers of N. Africa: such are the Mulvia (Molochath) and Mejerdah (Bagradas). Of the waters of the Lesser Atlas, some flow S. and form oases in the Sahara; while others find their way into the Mediterranean, after a circuitous course through the longitudinal valleys described above; not to mention the smaller streams along the coast, which fall directly down the N. face of the mountains into the sea. Reference has already been made to the common error, which assumes to determine the physical character of the country by lines of demarcation drawn along the mountain ranges. On this point, Carette remarks (p. 26) that "in the east and in the centre, the region of arable culture passes the limits of the basin of the Mediterranean; while on the west, it does not reach them." As to elevation, the whole system declines considerably from W. to E., the highest summits in Marooco reaching near 13,000 feet; in Tunis, not 5000. In its general formation, it differs from the mountains on the N. margin of the Mediterranean basin, by being less abrupt and having a tendency rather to form extensive table -lands than sharp crests and peaks. The portion of this mountain system E. of the Molochath was known to the ancients by various names. [Maurentania: Numidia.] The name |
As a purely geographical term, the name occurs first in Herodotus, whose Atlas is not a chain of mountains, but an isolated mountain in the line of his imaginary crest of sand, which has been already mentioned, giving name to a people inhabiting one of the oases in that ridge. [Atlantes.] He describes it as narrow and circular, and so steep that its summit was said to be invisible: the snow was said never to leave its top either in summer or winter; and the people of the country called it the pillar of heaven (iv. 184). The description is so far accurate, that the highest summits of the Atlas, in Marocco, are covered with perpetual snow; but the account is avowedly drawn from mere report, and no data are assigned to fix the precise locality. With similar vagueness, and avowedly following ancient legends, Diodorus (iii. 53) speaks of the lake Tritonis as near Ethiopia and the greatest mountain of those parts, which runs forward into the ocean, and which the Greeks call Atlas. It was not till the Jugurthine War brought the Romans into contact with the people W. of the Molochath, that any exact knowledge could be obtained of the mountains of Mauretania; but from that time to the end of the Civil Wars the means of such knowledge were rapidly increased. Accordingly the geographers of the early empire are found speaking of the Atlas as the great mountain range of Mauretania, and they are acquainted with its native name of Dyrin (Δύριν), which it still bears, under the form of Idrâr-n-Deren, in addition to the corrupted form of the ancient name, Jebel-Tedla. The name of Deren is applied especially to the part W. of the great knot. Strabo (xvii. p. 825) says that on the left of a person sailing out of the staits, is a mountain, which the Greeks call Atlas, but the barbarians Dyrin; from which runs out an offset (πρόπους) forming the NW. extremity of Mauretania, and called Cotes. [Ampelusia]. Immediately afterwards, he mentions the mountain-chain extending from Cotes to the Syrtes in such a manner that he may perhaps seem to include it under the name of Atlas, but he does not expressly call it so. Mela is content to copy, almost exactly, the description of Herodotus, with the addition from the mythologers "caelum et sidera non tangere modo vertice, sed sustinere quoque dictus est" (iii. 10. § 1). Pliny (v. 1) places the Atlas in the W. of Mauretania, S. of the river Sala, (or, as he elsewhere says, S. of the river Fut) and the people called Autololes, through whom, he says, is the road "ad montem Africae vel fabulosissinum Atlantem." He describes it as rising up to heaven out of the midst of the sand, rough and rugged, where it looks towards the shores of the ocean to which it gives its name, but on the side looking to Africa delightful for its shady groves, abundant springs, and fruits of all kinds springing up spontaneously. In the day-time its inhabitants were said to conceal themselves, and travellers were filled with a religious horror by the silence of its |
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