The World and Its People Part 37

"Along the west coast of Africa there are now about two hundred and twenty-five churches, forty thousand converts, one hundred thousand adherents, three hundred schools, forty thousand pupils. Thirty-five languages or dialects have been mastered, and parts of the Bible and other books have been printed in these languages, while it is estimated that eight million of the natives have more or less knowledge of the gospel of Christ."

CHAPTER L.

THE CLIMATE OF AFRICA.

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 connection with the form of the continent.

While Africa lies almost entirely within the torrid zone, and is therefore the hottest country known to us, yet it presents three great varieties of climate. These correspond with its physical structure.

Hence, we find the plateaus, the terraces which lead to them, and the coasts, showing great varieties of climate, though lying very nearly in the same lat.i.tude.

The highest temperature is to the north of the equator. In Nubia and in Upper Egypt the intense heat of the sun, acting upon the sands, renders it possible to roast eggs in them; while, along the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean the influence of the sea makes the climate much more temperate.

In the vast desert of Sahara, which has an area equal in extent to that of the Mediterranean Sea, and yet is almost dest.i.tute of water and well-nigh barren of vegetation, we find the climate showing a uniform yet striking contrast between the heat of the day and the coldness of the night. Towards the south of the Sahara the country is more elevated and consequently somewhat cooler. Some of the more elevated portions near the equator reach the alt.i.tude of perpetual snow.

There is no regular fall of snow even in the northern or southern portions of the continent. Radiation of the heat is very great in some parts of Africa, as in the northern sections. The soil of the Sahara, for instance, absorbs heat very rapidly during the day, but during the night it radiates the heat still more rapidly, thus making a great fall in temperature. So rapid is this radiation of heat that ice is said to be formed sometimes during the night when water is left exposed to the atmosphere.

In strong contrast to the hot days and cool nights of the Sahara is the climate of the terraces of Limbu, situated behind the region of the Sierra Leone. Here we find the climate not only temperate but wholesome; while in the region behind the Slave Coast there are beautiful landscapes, abundant springs, new forms of vegetation to delight eye or palate, and an atmosphere as mild and balmy as that of sunny Italy.

In the regions of the Congo the natives call their terrace lands, which are under cultivation and thickly populated, "The Paradise of the World," suggestive of every detail of the beauty of the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve were permitted to dwell in it.

The flat coasts of Africa are often flooded over in the rainy season.

This renders the climate very oppressive, owing to the humidity of the atmosphere. From the mora.s.ses found around the mouths of the rivers a malarious vapor arises, which is most destructive to health. Malarial fever, when it attacks Europeans, is much of the nature of a pestilence in its destruction of life.

This pestilential air along the coast region is supposed to be caused by the decaying vegetable matter brought down from the dense mangrove woods through which the rivers take their course in their journey to the sea.

As this decaying vegetable matter mingles with the salt water of the sea, it forms a poisonous gas, sulphureted hydrogen, most fatal to health. The air of these regions, freighted with this pestilential gas, often extends for one hundred miles inland.

Out at sea we find this gas poisoning the air for about forty miles from the coast, while it affects the atmosphere for about four hundred feet above sea level. Hence, it would seem desirable to take up one's abode either in the interior of such regions, far out at sea, or even in a balloon, were it possible, rather than to breathe the pestilential atmosphere of these coast terraces.

The influence of the regular winds is felt very little in Africa, with the exception of what comes from the monsoons of the Indian Ocean. These extend over possibly a third of the eastern sh.o.r.es, but they affect to a considerable extent the whole of Africa. Hurricanes are sometimes felt in the southeastern extremity, but rarely in any other portion.

The northern part of Africa is exposed to the hot winds and the storms which sweep from the Sahara. These winds have a distinctive character and are noted for their extreme dryness and heat. They often prove to be most disagreeable and disastrous; for they not only lift the sand in great volumes and fill the air with dust, but they prove fatal to animal life and vegetation in any region over which they sweep.

The supply of rain in Africa is very scanty. As we have seen, the Sahara is almost rainless, as is also the Kalahari Desert.

The clearness of the atmosphere of Africa exceeds that of any other known parts of the globe. It has been a constant surprise and delight to European astronomers, when making their explorations. With wonder and amazement they have beheld the glory and the splendor of the African heavens. With awe and admiration they have gazed at the planets s.h.i.+ning with great brilliancy and often making well-defined shadows, such as we are accustomed to look for from our nearest neighbor, the moon, when it is most brilliant during the harvest months.

The amount of rain which falls in Africa varies not only in the different sections of the continent, as we have seen, but with the season of the year.

To the regions between the Kawara and the Senegal the southeast trade winds bring copious rains. It has been stated that at Sierra Leone as much as one hundred and thirteen inches of rain have been known to fall during the year. These summer monsoons, however, bring the largest supply of rain to Africa upon its eastern coast. They last from April till October, and bring rain to drench the extensive plains and elevated grounds of the great eastern extremity of Africa.

The force of these winds becomes somewhat broken, and their influence diminished, by the vast table-lands of Abyssinia. When the monsoon comes from the Asiatic continent no rain falls in these regions.

The southeast monsoon extends north as far as Lake Tchad and Kordofan, and even farther north. The influence of this monsoon is felt in May, though along the coast it is usually felt a month later in the season.

This fact, it is believed, disproves the old theory that Central Africa has a connected chain of high mountains. For, at the east, where lofty mountains do exist, these same rain-bearing winds become seriously interrupted and r.e.t.a.r.ded. Hence, they do not reach the most northern portions of Abyssinia until fully a month later than they reach Lake Tchad.

The upper basin of the Nile, not far from the coast, no doubt receives its supply of water with the beginning of the monsoon, and continues to rise till September.

The many extremes of climate necessarily affect the vegetation of Africa. In connection with such views of Africa as we have had, we have gained some little knowledge of the vegetation, but it will be interesting to gain a broader and more comprehensive knowledge in order to understand the great diversity of animal life to be found in Africa.

CHAPTER LI.

THE VEGETATION OF AFRICA.

The vegetation of Africa presents less variety than that of Europe or Asia, yet it has many peculiarities.

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 difference in the vegetation, and might suppose he was still in sunny Spain or France. Groves of orange and olive trees would greet him; wide plains covered with waving grain and barley, thick woods of evergreen and oak, would appear like familiar friends in nature. Even the cork trees and sea pines would not be unknown to him.

Intermixed with these he would find the cypress and the myrtle, the arbutus and the fragrant tree heath, pleasant reminders of home scenes; while plains covered with rock roses or with palmetto trees and the wild caper would all tend to remind him of his European home.

In the early part of the year the weather seems very much like late spring in New England. The meadows are gra.s.sy and bright with myriads of beautiful wild flowers, and the gardens blossom with fresh beauty. The almond, apricot, and peach trees are then in full bloom.

In the summer season a few flowers may still be found along the river banks, although the intense heat in most sections has burned and withered almost every form of vegetable life.

The tropical regions of Africa are not so rich in the variety of plants as those of South America, but they present several kinds peculiar to Africa alone.

As the traveler leaves the sultry coast regions and ascends to the higher portions of land in the interior, he perceives a change in the character of the productions; for they present all the gradual changes noticeable in pa.s.sing from a torrid to a temperate zone.

The forests of Africa cannot be said to rival those of Brazil, but they are rich in valuable woods, particularly the harder species. Many of them furnish excellent timber, suitable for s.h.i.+pbuilding. In these tropical forests, ebony, certain kinds of rosewood, and the timber called African teak, are produced. The gigantic baobab is also peculiar to these sections of woodland. Livingstone mentions instances where the gigantic trunks of some of these trees had become hollow from old age and served as natural cisterns for rain water.

The branches of the baobab make a canopy of a hemispherical form, often from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, the outermost branches drooping till they touch the ground. The leaves of this tree are five-fingered or seven-fingered. The flowers are white in color and extremely large, suspended on drooping stems often a yard in length.

The fruit, sometimes called monkey-bread, is about the size of a citron melon. Its pulp is slightly acid and agreeable to the taste, so that it may be eaten with or without sugar. The juice of the fruit, when mixed with sugar, makes a refres.h.i.+ng drink. It is not only effective in quenching thirst, but it is used largely in the treatment of pestilential fevers caused by the malarial vapors arising from many sections of Africa.

The natives of tropical Africa mix the bruised leaves of the tree with their daily food. Travelers use them for fevers and other sicknesses.

The bark, too, is used for medicinal purposes.

In the central portions of Africa a most remarkable three, called the b.u.t.ter tree, is found. The fruit of this tree yields a species of oil, which has much the appearance of b.u.t.ter and serves the same purpose for food.

Some of the extensive level plains of Africa are covered with acacias.

From the stalks of these trees the sap exudes in large drops, or beads, which, when hardened, form the gum arabic of commerce.

In different sections of Africa there are species of palm trees, characteristic of special localities. These are of the greatest value and importance to the natives.

In the north the date palm, in particular, is a never-failing means of sustenance, and seems to be a special provision of Providence for the wants of man, flouris.h.i.+ng in regions of comparatively barren, and often surrounded by the hot, arid sands of the desert.

THE ARAB TO THE PALM

BAYARD TAYLOR.