Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1885-04-01
Climate Of the SOudan.
from the Pail Mall Gazette. !


We published few days ago an interview
with Sir Henry Green OH the subject Of the
employment of Indian sepoys in the Sou
dan. The following remarks by Sir Henry
upon climatic influences, which We had not
space to print then, may be Of interest
now:
"And what about the climate, Sir Henry
said our representative. Well those who
have been in Scinde are not likely to be
scared by the Soudan. As spent most of
my Ii in those baking deserts, can not
share the alarm expressed by many concern
ing the prospects of summer in the Sou
dan. In Scinde We have heat so terrible
that sometimes you may see horses roll
over with sunstroke in all direc-
tons, but / have very seldom seen
any European down with sunstroke. The
cause IL the excessive dryn of the heat.
When the air is SO dry You perspire pro-
fusely, and the pcrspiration saves your life.
When the atmosphere is damp, the per-
spiration is checked, and after sunset men
die like rotten sheep of heat-apoplexy. In
the Persian campaign We camped out from
October to October near Peshawur, one Of
the hottest places you can find in all Asia,
and our sick was only 2 per cent; while on
board the ships ia the roads it was almost
impossible to live. Dry heat can be borne
to almost any extent with comparative inn
punity. l have seen French regiments
come in from the desert with nothing on
their heads but kepis, under a blazing sun
which would have decimated the ranks
had there been the least humidity in the
atmosphere
"As regards the making Of the railway
between Suakin and Berber, that railway
would probably have been made long ago
but for Lord Granville. Everything was
arranged; the Duke Of Teck was to be the
Chairman: we had very powerful and In.
Auential directorate financial house had
agreed to raise all the money that was need
ed, the Egyptian Government was to guar
nntee per cent, the whole work was COM
pleted on paper, when it was suddenly
brought to nothing by the antipathy OF the
Pashas Of Car to any scheme which di-
yerted the Soudan traffic from the Nile to
the Red Seq. You have taken away half
our trade BY. making the canal, they said,
and now you want to take away the rest by
your railway The scheme was stihed; but
one word from the Government would have
secured its execution. That word Lord
Granville emphatically refused to say.
The Soudan lay altogether beyond the
sphere Of our interests. they said. So the
railway was never commenced, With results
which you know only too well. NATURALLY
lisbelieve the stories as to the necessity for
running through tubular tannels On account
Of the sand storms and moving sand hills.
The sand hills Of the desert do not march
about like huge snowballs sixty feet high.
They drift in Africa as they do in India, q
little at q time, and IL the rails are kept
swept and the more exposed places protect
ed BY wall there need be no fear AZ to the
safety Of the railway. In one place, while
making railway in Scinde, We ran ninety
miles without ono drop Of water; and in all
Scinde We have not one single tubular tun-
mel to protect the track from being Jsilted
up."