File:Africa of to-day (1912) (14595189060).jpg

Identifier: africaoftoday00good (find matches)
Title: Africa of to-day
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Goodrich, Joseph King, 1876-1948
Subjects:
Publisher: Chicago, A.C. McClurg & co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
sea-level; and third, that great section, north of the Senegaland Niger Rivers, that trends away into the SaharaDesert. The most elevated districts are far away in thewest, the Futa Jallon territory, back of French Guinea,where we find the ultimate sources of the Niger, theSenegal, and the Gambia Rivers, and in the Gon (orGona) region, both presenting mountain ranges alongthe southern edge of the desert plateau and in which arepeaks rising to six thousand feet or more. The chief towns of this French West Africa are Tim-buctoo, Jenne, and Segu, on the Niger, Porto Novo, inDahomey, St. Louis and Dakai, in Senegal. The lastnamed is probably the most important from the Frenchpoint of view, because it is a naval base besides being athriving commercial seaport. The majority of theinhabitants of this western region are typical negroes,although in Senegal and the Sahara there is a strongadmixture of Berber and Arab blood; and yet a mostliberal estimate of the population puts the total at only
Text Appearing After Image:
Copyright, Underwood 6° Underwood, N. Y. Throne Room in the Sultans Palace at Zanzibar WESTERN AFRICA 165 about thirteen millions, of whom some twelve thousandare Europeans. In the upper lands the flora is often magnificent. Thefertile hillsides are covered with baobab, tamarind, andother valuable forest trees. Some of the baobab (Adan-sonia digitata) at twenty-four feet from the ground arethirty-four feet in diameter. There are, too, many vari-eties of the acacia; one of them (Acacia Adansonia)makes excellent ship timber. Palms are numerous, ofcourse. The wood of the ronier (palm) resists moistureand the attacks of insects most wonderfully. In someplaces, Cayor for example, this tree forms magnificentforests. There are, too, many rubber plants. Thesoil in a goodly part of Upper Senegal and Niger isremarkably fertile, producing rice, Indian corn, millet,melons, manioc, grapes, bananas, and other fruits.There is, too, rich pasturage of guinea-grass, and thepeople own large herds of ca

Note About Images