The St. Johns herald., 1893-12-07
TOWING THE TRAIN.
An African Railroad Where Traveller
 Have to Work Their Passage.


 An African Railroad Where Travellers
 Have to Work Their Passage.
 The first railroad built in the in- terior of tropical Africa was the little line ninety miles long which connects the towns of Raves and Bafoulabe on the Senegal river in Senegambia. Steamers run up the Senegal from the ocean to Raves, where the river be- comes unnavigable; and the railroad line to Bafoulabe is the first section of the extension of steam facilities to the Niger river, which in time will give uninterrupted steam communication between the sea and the upper Niger. Awhile ago, according to the New York Sun, a gentleman who travelled over this railroad said that it was in a very shabby condition. At one part of the line force of one hundred na- tives, supplied with long ropes, was employed to give helpful tow to trains.
 Lieut.. Jaime, of the French navy, who made name by his trip to Tim buktu in a gunboat, confirms the re- port that the natives are used for draught purposes to eke out the insuf- fcient power of the locomotives. A picture in the book just published by Lieut.. Jaime shows the train that took his party over the road. He says that several times dur ing the journey the locomotive or one of the cars was derailed, and hours were lost in boosting them upon the track again. Once in awhile every body on the cars would jump off, in order to take pull at the tow line or apply their shoulders to the train.
 The roadbed has not been kept in good condition. The locomotives are more or less out of repair, and for a distance of six miles most of the motive force was supplied by the natives with their long rope. The picture shows a place where only the members of Lieut.. Jaime's party were eking out the motive power. Some of them are seen in front of the engine, hauling on the rope, and others are at the sides of the cars, applying all their strength toward forward movement.
 Though the condition of this little railroad is something to excite hilar- ity there is no doubt that it is the be- ginning of an important railroad en- terprise The line has been surveyed all the way to the Niger river, and, without stopping to repair the section of the road now in operation, engineers and workmen have begun to grade the line beyond Bafoulabe, and in the course of a year or so it will be ad- vanced thirty or forty miles further beyond the Niger river. It will be an important event when this railroad is completed, for then Timbuhtu can be reached from every center of civiliza- tion by steam; and by the time the rail road reaches the Niger there is little doubt that white men will be admitted freely into the famous and fanatical city which so long has excluded for eign intercourse. The last white man to enter Timbuktu was Dr. Lenz twelve years ago.
 The news comes that Col. Archinard has completely established the sov- ereignty of France in the great country of Macina, south of Timbuktu, and has placed on the throne one of the royal heirs who can be wholly con- trolled by French influences. The most important result of this great success is that Archinard has thus opened way by the Niger to Tim buktu, for this city is dependent, com mercially speaking, upon Macina. The French expect to induce the chief of Timbuktu to accept protectorate, and as they now control the region that gives to Timbuktu all the com merce and wealth it possesses, there is no doubt that Timbuktu will be forced to come to terms and open its gates to the world.