The Democratic advocate., 1894-06-30
VOL. XXIX.-NO. 35.

A "samum" ever so severe might cover
whole caravan with heavy pail of dust
aud sand, but never throw up such noun
tains of sand as to bury whole caravan.
This is only one of the many fables of the
desert These sandstorms can, it is true,
become dangerous to travellers, but in a
quite different manner. The stock of
water for caravan is generally carried in
goat skins. They are not particularly good
reservoirs, however, for they soon allow an
enormous quantity of their contents to
evaporate, result of the extraordinary
heat sandstorm brings with it. This evap-
oration, now and then, takes such proper
tions that whole caravan might die of
thirst, especially when the hot sandstorm
has dried up all the springs and pools on
the way.
The air of the Sahara is at times so dry
that when rain clouds come up from the
distance the rain cannot fall to the ground,
as it already evaporates in midair, which
phenomenon is accompanied by peculiar
mixes in the atmosphere A "samum"
has been known to reach a temperature of
1859 to 1882 Fahrenheit in the sade The
scorching power of a wind is better illus
trated by the following fact In Central
Australia, near the Hunt River, at one
time hot desert wind destroyed every
wheat field in a radius Of ten miles. In
the Central Asiatic deserts, especially in
the desert of Cobb, these sandstorms are
even fiercer than in the Sahara. At GER
tain periods of the year their appearance
is frequent occurrence, and one has been
know to last even one whole day; then the
disturbed masses of sand and dust are so
thick that even at midday the luminary is
hid from view and darkness reigns su-
preme. But even these severe storms have
never been known to annihilate a caravan
provided it carried good water supply.
Another fable of the desert found in the
school books everywhere is that the camel
carries water reservoir in its stomach, and
that the Bedouins of the desert. when they
are near death from thirst kill the camel and
greedily drink the water supposed to be in
its stomach. In the desert the fable is
unknown. People whose home is in the
desert can bear thirst much easier than we
can. The sons of the desert have peculiar
idea that we live in lakes and swamps, and
that we carry on a semi-amphibious exist
ence, for to the Arabs the great quantities
of liquids we drink are as enigmatical as
their abstenice therefrom is to u.s. To us
a two days existence in the desert without
drink is sure death. Nachtigal relates
that the Tubu tribe of the Sahara think
nothing of it to march four days without
drink of water At night they travel;
in daytime they rest in the shade of some
huge rock, being careful not to multiply
the craving for water by unnecessary move
ment or too much food. But if four days
have passed the Tubu's mind becomes
clouded and he makes one more attempt.
He fastens himself tight to the saddle of
the camel and hopes the instinct of the
animal will lead him to pool of water.
The camel also is real child of the desert,
and can, without doubt, exist from five to
ten days without water.
Another fable, or let us rather call it an
erroneous idea, is the supposition that it
will be possible to transform the Sahara
into sea by connecting it with the Med
iterranean or Atlantic. Scientists have
carefully measured the altitude Of this des-
ert and have found that, with few trivial
exceptions, the Sahara is in its entirety
a complete plateau which can never be
reached artifcially by the waters of any
sea. The idea to ipundate this desert is
simply out of question, and, therefore, the
fear that by so doing the climate of South
ern Europe might change is without foun-
dation.
On the other hand, it is within the reach
of human ingenuity to bore artesian wells,
and by so doing create new oases and re-
claim great portion of the Sahara for
men and civilization. Experiments have
proven successful. One artesian. well in
the Algerian Sahara gives 5000 quarts of
water per minute.