The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1872-01-06
To Central Africa by Rail.

:.
While European engineers are
debating the practicabilty of a
direct railway from London to
Bombay-the project being ridi-
culed in Germany as Strenuously
as it is advocated in England
the Khedive of Egypt is reported
to be quietly setting about the
execution OF a scheme little less
bold. This is railroad connect
ing Upper cand Lower Egypt, a
distance of six hundred miles. To
us who are in the habit of being
carried over that eXtcnt of road
in less than a day, the undertak
ing may seem comparatively un-
| Important. But considering tho
| difficulties to be overcome, and
| tho facilities for overcoming them,
our own Pacific Railroad was in
reality scarcely a more gigantic
enterprise. Like this, the propos-
ed Egyptian railway must cross q
mighty desert, hitherto found in-
accessible. Indeed, through it's
whole extent, from the starting
point at the second cataract of
the Nile, it will traverse u region
| unknown to civilizations, and
crowded with every conceivable
obstacle to its progress. In addi-
| ton to all engineering troubles,
nature will here present series
of most formidable novelties
The shifting sand of the desert
will offer but a treacherous road
bed, and sudden simeon may at
any time sweep both track and
workmen out of sight. The saw
age beasts that roam the Nubian
wilderness will resent fiercely this
intrusion on their right of emil
nent domain, and they will have
coadjutors in the scarcely less
savage tribes that share with them
the empire of the Jungle. An
army will probably be required
for the protection of the track
layers, and the progress of the
| trackiwill represent a real march
of conquest.
| Yet, in spite of all danger and
difficulty, the road, if seriously
begun and earnestly pushed. will,
no doubt, be completed. The
| Khcdive has shown himself to he
q man of energy and resolution,
and has already in his service an
abundance of foreign engineering
talent. Undoubtedly, if he is
bent on carrying out his design
and is not thwarted by the Sultan
/ the road will be built. Yet even
as the words are written, it sounds
almost q picture of romance
Fancy the tourist of the future
going by rail to the source of the
| Nile, once the vague undertaking
of all scientific curiosity, then be
come a mere vulgar watering
place. Or picture bridal trip tt
Jordan, with an extension, per
haps, to the Mountains of the
Moon, or a fishing excursion tc
Lake Victoria N'yanZa. Ant
having got so far, what limit shall
be put to the restlessness of mod
ern progress Given the Khe
dives road, who shall say that i
/ will not be continued until the
whistle of the locomotive is hearc
| on the Zambesi, and all the mys
+, teriouS unknown land OF Oentra
l Africa lies as open and familia
as England itself. Some chilt
g., who reads these lines may yc
1 live to go by rail from Cairo t'
the Cape of Good Hope.
Y These are, perhaps, idle specu
D Iations. Yet in the light of pas
v achievmcnt, it is not easy to fl!
the limits of the possible. What
!. ever may be its usefulness t
commerce, the opening of tn
Khedive's road will certainl
+ mark an era in geographical Pre-
: gress. Its results may be mos
easily overestimated, but it open
j. up a most liberal field of conjeC
s ture.-W. Y. Times.