Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-11-04
FRANCE ADVANCING 10 TUAT.


PAKls, Nov 3-The French garrison Il
T,enesn, on the easssra ftonsssr CT A.
GERS, have fsceiy sd orders 70 travel Aooas
$50 miles. liz<ss exst Of soath. 70 he oasis
Of Tuat. in order 70 pfesens The Occupation
OF lhss country By the Sultan Of Morocco.
TIE cast, Of ruar 10 Q fertile little affiP
along tie Wsdy Ssura. The name, how
srer, 10 sxssDded 10 half d z=n oases
in taAr resian, stretching from the
GcurxsA 10 the north to the TeEsreg eoua-
~ ia tae esss sai the great ssaay waste CT
Isidi 10 the veal. frAnce's forward move
meni to these GASES msxns that she has be-
arn in sssnss. excessively to eecnpy tie
Sahxrs, . lsrss psr. of which vas Assured
g her b. isst yesf's treaty with Great
Britain. IL wills also p,ecipitate the quss-
ZION Of rsea supremacy in The Sahs-xh AID
Sc the Tat cases are supposed to contain
soms thoasands of fghuns men il 10 pos
ib.e that they will ros submit to Ffereh
domination without 9 struggle.
Tn Sc Gases are very i'm perfecdy known.
hsvi0g been vi.itsd by only two or three
white men. In 1926 Msjor LANG. on b .
journey south to Tlmbucioo. passed throuen
Tlaf. l. was before the fanAfieAl hatf, d
Of these desert uibes had been excite
against Europeans, aud for this reason h-
~As permitted to pass unframed through Q
countfy. 10 1861 France sent two army
fheers, Coionisu and Buiin, on . missi n
to Tuas, but they got no further th, n
Gour.ra, the northern boundary of
;he e.uniry. The natives would permit
them to advance 90 further. Three years
later GerhArdt Rohiss. the distinguished
Sshsran explorer, had the good fortune
10 spend more thsn q month In the osses Of
ruat. He went there in disguise which
was not penetrated. The people bell. we'd
his assertion that he was an envoy from q
powerful shsikh further west. and that he
WAS himself Of Industrious lineage. The
common people then crowded around to
ziss the hem If his garments, and they told
OF toe marvellous cures he had wrought
and even asserted that be had given sishs to
lhe blind. Ten years later Solellet, ap-
preaching the country from the north, was
turned back. He tried il vain to secure
admittsacs.
The only trouble in the way 10 the
fsnslcism Of the inhabitants The routes
from the Mediterranean to Tust are not
difficult. The soldiers Of France, after de-
barking from the railroad in the southwest
corner Of Algeria, will douotless march up
the valley Of the Wsdy Megiden, along
which they can easily advance. finding
water oil the way until they reach Goerara,
where the Tuas Gases begin. Or, il they
chose, they might take . still more direct
route, running almost due south, from FL
Golea to Tidkelt, q caravan route which 10
quite remarkable from the fact that at some
ancient time all the stones, big and little,
~ere carefully removed from the road ADD
piled up into walls on either side, making q
roadway about $50 feet vide. This road
leads clear through shese oasss. The osses
are separated from enc another by stretches
of s1rd dunes or sterile mountainous lands,
but they are closely connected in interest.
and their people are indsntical. Each
oasis is ruled by its dj msa; but the chiefs
of the vsrious communi les WELD much in.
flaence unity over all the cases. The
people are fly Of Berbef extraction,
with q considerable intermixture Of Arab,
Tousreg, and negro elements, and though
they are most hospitaole to all Mohamme-
dams, their fierce hatred Of the
white race, chief y on religious grounds,
has long made them an apparently impas'
sable barrier against the extension Of white
enterprises across the desert; and yet, al
one time, believing that they were to be
snnibiissed by rival tribes, they sent an
embassy to Aleiers to place themseleve.
unde, Frances protection. They would
not, however, accept the terms odsre
them, and four years later, when the gov.
eminent sent Cclonieu and BURN to reopen
negotiations, the French ENJOYS were re
pulsed.
What the Sultan Of Morocco will do about
the matter remains to be seen. He and
France have been INDUCING in war OF
words for some months. 1t IL likely. how.
ever, that he will not think Tuat worth the
cos. OF engssing in pitched battles with q
European poser. as for France, she has
no alternative. sha must occupy Tust il
she is ever to have the control in the great
SAharsn regions, which she Claims. Tust
besises being the richest cluster Of oasis In
The desert, 10 the most important center OF
trade, and is al efectual barrier il France
way a. long as her people sre able to main.
tain their attitude of hostility. 1t is likely
that France will find herself compelled 60
teach the Tuatans q severe lesson before
they bow their necks to the yoke which is
to be imposed upon Them.