Atlas

a chain of mountains in the north-west Africa extending from Cape Nun on the Atlantic to the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean, traversing Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and It consists of three or four parallel rising stage by stage from the basin of Mediterranean and increasing in altitude from to west. The two larger of these ranges are the Great (N.) and the Little (S.) Atlas. In the average height is 2,000 feet, in Tunis in Algeria 7,700, but in Morocco Mount (anc. Atlas) reaches 11,400 feet, Jebel 13,000 feet, and Mount Henleb, near the frontier, rivals these two peaks. Several spurs are thrown out north and south from main ridges, one of these terminating in Cape opposite Gibraltar. The entire chain serves a barrier between the cultivated district on the and the barren sands of the interior.