The Irish standard., 1893-07-15
OWING THE I Il All
An African Railroad where ira 49,
4 i.sS Have to Work Their Passag .. 81. 81


An African Railroad Where@ Trav
Sss4s5 Have to Work Their Passage 5 \. g5##2
The first railroad built in the in-
ter Of tropical Africa was the little
line ninety mil les long which connects
the towns Of Hayes and Bafoulabe on
the Senegal river in. Senegambia.
Steamers run up the Senegal from the
ocean to Hayes, 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
very shabby condition. Atone part OF
the line a force Of one hundred ma
tives, supplied with long ropes, was
employed to give q helpful tow to
trains.
Lieut. Jaime, of the French navy,
who made a name by his trip to linn
buktu in a gunboat, confirms the re-
port that the natives are used for
draught purposes to exc out the insult
ficient 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
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.. james party were eklng 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. 1t will be an
important event when this railroad is
completed, for then Timbuktu can be
reached from every center of sciviliza-
ton 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 DIR. LEM twelve
years ago. --.. -..... :..-
The news comes that Col. Archinard
has completely established the SOW
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 a 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 it's gates to
the world.