Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-07-22
About the Sahara.

1 uStu 10 luluk Wnou L was cullu Nuat
the Great African Desert, called the Sahara,
was one vast plain Of hot sand extending up
and down and over and across more miles
than anybody knew anything about, unless
il might be the cames and as for the cam
els, always thought Of them as walking
patiently with their great soft feet oyer the
sands until they walked their lives away
and Law down to die, and then that some
time somebody passing over the desert
would find a skeleton Of white bones lying
by the-well, had to think Of it, after all,
as a roadside.
| wonder if the children Of to-day do not
think as | did, or pretty nearly So
The books that mentioned GASES always
referred to them as being little mites Of
green, as it we're, in a wide ocean Of sand,
with a clump or two Of palm trees in their
midst and it seemed extremely doubtful to
me whether or not, if were to cross the
desert of Sahara, should ever chance to
find one
Now, we are told that the wonderful
land Of Egypt, into which so many years
ago the lad Joseph went down, is big
oasis, and that the smallest Of the green
spots in the desert contains about forty |
square miles The oasis Of 1hebes is sixty |
miles long and nine miles wide; while that |
of Asbon, sometimes called Air, is one hun |
drcd and eighty miles long and wide. How
comforting that sounds think we should
find one Of the dear, friendly bits Of green,
after all, if we were to journey across Sa-
hara.
We should find other surprising things.
! When we came somewhere near to the mid
die Of it we should SEQ the desert beginning
to rise up a little, and it would keep on ris-
ing gradually until We should find ourselves
on a high broad place 1000 feet above the
desert level, and in the midst Of this table
land we should find mountains as high as
Mount Washington, aud that mountain,
New Hampshire folks think, is Of a very
decent, respectable height. They quito
look up to It,
The air in the oasis Of Air is very pure
and fresh The maneless lion roams over
the dense portions Of this oasis, and the
leopard the ape antelope ostrich and even
pigeons live there.
The Arabs say that q" God made man and
this because they have no idea that man
b, could live without the palm-trec 1t lis the
springs of water that make the palms grow
aud thrive, and then the trees make shade
from the sun, aud that shade makes it pos
: sible for other things to grow, and so the
y. little oasis grows to be big one in fash
: ion not very unlike the growth Of the coral
y island in the seas Of water.
y The deserts and the oceans have many
. things in common The waves Of both roll
along and are tossed alike by the winds, the
y one into pillows Of water, the other into bill
- lows of sand; and travellers tell us that they
70 have seen the sand.waves emit phosphores
y cent CLEANS like the waters Of the oceans
y The camel has long been known as the
= ship of the desert, and sometimes he glide'
= away with that soft unduating motion Of
~ his at a speed that is wonderful. The Ma
hari is the most valuable camel known
= Its swiltness is such that it has been known
=, to travel three hundred miles in twenty
~ four hours, the journey length from Tripod
~ to Rh'adamos but it has made its last voy
age, for at the harbor it lies down and dies
One hundred and twenty miles is the ordi
~ nary journey of the Mahari. The caravans
y direct their steps, oftentimes, in the other
wise painless wastes, by piles Of stones, anc
these stones tell where springs may b'
l. found Every man who passes by throw
i stone upon the heap out Of gratitude t
~ those men who have gone before him, ant
in thought of the travellers who are to come
~ after him.
The Saharian loves the palm-tree, fol
, what it is to him--his food, his shelter, ant
~ his best frend-next to the spring of waite
~ that causes it to flourish. II an Aral
y wishes to start an oasis he digs hole il
- the sand thirty feet or more deep into thi
:. hole be puts palm tree. The roots g
. searching down toward the water, whicl
everywhere underlies the desert, and ifthe
can find it, the tree Aourishes. Sometime
=. the palm tree hole gets filed in. Then tn
poor Arab goes to work and opens it again
Several trees planted near together will il
= time form quite an oasis; for, as soon a
" their roots reach water, they can furnis
~ shelter under which other things can grow
- The desert Of sand is very unlike tn
wv desert of waters in one respect; there al
, no fish within it, unless we call the ostric
'u' and the lizard the fish of the desert; fc
40 the ostrich is the only living thing thi
~ ventures, without being obliged to CO. int
-, the desert; and the ostrich finds only in h
.o "a, swiftest flight across the sands the gre
~" lizard who dwells there-the shot he
called, and sometimes the salamander Of ii
desert.
100 The lion is popularity spoken Of as Il
.,. king of the desert" but traveller tells
:" that if you were to ask an Arab, "Whe
WI are the lions of the Sahara2" he would al
~" you; "Are there, then, lions in 20
~ country which drink air aud eat sand ~
Christian Union.