Abstract
THIS little volume is one of a class of books which is much better represented abroad than in this country—one, that is, in which a complete picture is given of a limited part of the earth's surface, under the varied, aspects which make up its geography in the widest sense of the term. It is written on a scientific plan, the broad physical features of the country being taken as the basis of the whole description. In Algeria the authors distinguish three main zones, the Tell (or cultivable region), the Steppe, and the Sahara, holding that the plateaux, which some writers have made into a separate division, do not form a natural region, but fall within the Tell or the Steppe according to the amount of rain which falls. The determining factor, indeed, in the geography of the whole region, is the preponderance of the moist rain-bearing winds from the north-west, or of the parching desert winds from the south and south-east. Each of the zones is in turn described, special attention being given to their natural resources; and the fact that for over twenty years the authors have traversed the country in the prosecution of their botanical researches, enables them to speak with the accurate knowledge which can only be acquired at first hand. The inhabitants, the fauna and the geology of Algeria are also sketched in outline, so that we have in small compass a useful summary of all that is known of the country. The general conclusion arrived at is that Algeria is capable of supporting a large population, and that, in spite of the slow, modification the climate has undergone since the dawn of history, cultivation will still be possible for many centuries to come.
L'Algérie. Le Sol et les Habitants, &c.
Par J. A. Battandier L. Trabut. Pp. viii ' 360. (Paris: Bailliére et fils, 1898.)
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L'Algérie Le Sol et les Habitants, &c. Nature 58, 51 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/058051b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/058051b0