Why Does Darfur Not Give Rise To Great Rivers,
Like Londa And The Country East Of It?
The prevailing winds in the ocean
opposite the territory pointed out are said to be from the N.E.
And S.E.
during a great part of the year; they extend their currents
on one side at least of the equator quite beyond the middle of the continent,
and even until in Angola they meet the sea-breeze from the Atlantic.
If the reader remembers the explanation given at page 109,*
that the comparative want of rain on the Kalahari Desert is caused
by the mass of air losing its humidity as it passes up and glides over
the subtending ridge, and will turn to the map, he may perceive
that the same cause is in operation in an intense degree
by the mountains of Abyssinia to render the region about Darfur
still more arid, and that the flanking ranges mentioned
lie much nearer the equator than those which rob the Kalahari of humidity.
The Nile, even while running through a part of that region,
receives remarkably few branches. Observing also that there is
no known abrupt lateral mountain-range between 6 Deg. and 12 Deg. S.,
but that there is an elevated partition there, and that
the southing and northing of the southeasters and northeasters
probably cause a confluence of the two great atmospheric currents,
he will perceive an accumulation of humidity on the flanks and crown
of the partition, instead of, as elsewhere, opposite the Kalahari and Darfur,
a deposition of the atmospheric moisture on the eastern slopes
of the subtending ridges.
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