Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidationsHumboldt, Alexander von
Science
Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidations
Humboldt, Alexander von
Physical geography; Plant morphology; Science; South America -- Description and travel
As the Heaths formed of socially growing Ericeæ, which stretch from
the mouth of the Scheldt to that of the Elbe and from the point of
Jutland to the Harz, may be regarded as one connected _tract of
vegetation_,--so the seas of sand may be traced through Africa and
Asia, from Cape Blanco to beyond the Indus, or through an extent of
5600 geographical miles. Herodotus’s Sandy Region interrupted by Oases,
called by the Arabs the Desert of Sahara, traverses almost the whole of
Africa, which it intersects like a dried-up arm of the sea. The valley
of the Nile is the eastern limit of the Lybian Desert. Beyond the
Isthmus of Suez, beyond the porphyritic, syenitic, and basaltic rocks
of Sinai, begins the Desert mountain plateau of Nedjid, which occupies
the whole of the interior of the Arabian Peninsula, and is bounded to
the west and south by the fertile and happier coast lands of Hedjaz
and Hadhramaut. The Euphrates bounds the Arabian and Syrian Deserts
towards the east. Immense seas of sand, (bejaban), cross Persia from
the Caspian to the Indian Sea. Among them are the salt and soda Deserts
of Kerman, Seistan, Beloochistan, and Mekran. The latter is separated
from the Desert of Moultan by the Indus.
[22] p. 11.--“_The western part of the Atlas._”
The question respecting the position of the ancient Atlas has been
much discussed in modern times, but the oldest Phœnician legends have
been confounded in this discussion with the later fables of the Greeks
and the Romans. A man who combined deep philological with thorough
mathematical and astronomical knowledge, Professor Ideler, (the
father,) was the first person who explained and dispelled the confusion
of ideas which had previously existed on this subject. I permit myself
to introduce here the remarks that clear-sighted and highly-informed
writer has communicated to me on this important subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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