ABSTRACT
Nature has marked out, in a plain and peremptory manner, the chief lines of communication between the maritime regions of North Africa and the fertile Interior beyond the great desert. The Oasis, or habitable tract of Fezzán, south of Tripoli, projects far into the barren waste, and a journey of not more than forty days conducts thence to Kánem or Bornú. In the west, a route of equal length connects the last traces of cultivation at the back of Atlas, with the Great River of Negroland, where, winding in a long circuit towards the north, it seems to drive back desolation, and narrows the limits of the desert. The two routes here described, are those chiefly frequented at the present day by caravans proceeding to Central Africa; and the preference given to them is due to their combining such advantages of convenience and security, as must have constituted them the chief routes in all ages.
