The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-27

and by striking out of the beaten paths
of the caravans, made discoveries of
an equally surprising nature regarding
the existence Of numerous large river
beds, which are flooded in the spring,
and also of the probable existence OF
subterranean sheet of water underlying
a large portion of this vast gray waste.
which may be tapped by the artesian
drill.
Almost coincident with the publica
ton of these reports a British traveller,
J. c. Robertson, related at the recent
meeting of the British association his
visit to the great market city OF kano,
in the central Soudan, which is fairly
within the limits of the desert. Here,
in a region popularity supposed TO be
almost as devoid of inhabitants as of
vegetation and rain, is a city whose
daily market is attended. according to
this Englishman, by 5000 people, Who
trade in cloths and other products of
their own and their kindred. 1t is the
largest market in the world.
THE LATEST TERRA INCOG-
NITA"
Although some years ago consider
able attention was drawn to the Sa-
hara by the proposition of a French
engineer. NJ. Roudire, TO flood" the
desert. and in this way reclaim a large
area of rich land, and little later the
project for a trans-Siberian railway
was exploited with much yigor, the
great African desert remains today
probably the least known and most
misunderstood portion of the globe.
And this is true, not only as regards
the popular impression. but even of
such standard textbooks as HuXley's
photography. Even to the well in
formed the Sahara is still a colossal
,,Fc CHI nd lorOl
and there by little GASES and occasion
ally crossed by caravans Of camels.
which are often swallowed up and
buried under the sandstorms. There
are many. too, who have gained the
impression from NJ. Roudire's scheme
TO dig channel from the sea into the
desert that a large portion. at least, of
the Sahara is below the level of the
ocean, and that it would only take a
short canal to introduce a large lake
into the very midst of this forbidding
waste. it is true that a portion of the
Sahara is actually something like 100
feet below sea level. but il Would cost
$50, 200, 600 at a very low estimate to
establish a lake not nearly so large as
our own Great Salt Lake. and in the
estimation of scientific men the eli
matte effect of this lake would he no
eater than the big salt sea of our
own desert. That is why nothing ever
came of the Frenchman'S daring pro-
ject.
But far larger portion of the Sa-
hara consists of vast plateaus. whose
altitude ranges from 1000 to 5000 and
5000 feet: and although the southern
edge of the Sahara lies very near to the
equator, yet snow falls in the higher
attitudes and remains for at least
three months in the year, giving rise
to large rivers. whose courses may be
traced for hundreds of miles until they
are lost in the sands.
1t is upon this latter fact that the
feasibility of artesian wells and irri-
eating systems and the actual reclaim
alton of the desert is based How
r,uch of t.iis wonderful region NAV
thus be made hahitable it is as vet
impossible to tell The wells estab-
lished by the French thirty years ago
in the district of Oued Rir. something
like 200 miles south of Biskra. have
developed a region Of great fertility.
and the groves and gardens there to
no found seera r promise of what may
be accomplished over wide portions of
me feserI. Far to the south of the
Oaed Rir the. date palms planted By
re French officer. Flatters, and his
Inflated expedition of 1877. developed
into a fine grove without any care
whatever.
II is the belief of NJ. de Mezieres that
large number of such valleys exist in
the northern portion of the desert.
where water is to be had in abundance
while the find of the long chain of
lakes by the engineering party, north
ward of Timbuctoo. indicates the avail
ability for the settlement of a large
region very near TO the center of the
desert. Farther eastward. of course.
in the region Of Kano and Lake Tehad'
where the desert tapers off into the