Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-21
THE GREAT SAHARA DESERT
A Summer Visit TO the Wastes Of Sand
and Rock.
PANORAMA OF ARID DESoLATIoN
various Aspects OF the Great Desert
summer Temperature and Vegetn-
tion-The Dead Lake md
the Perpetual Mirage.

Ms the iron morse nuTrleS tnTOuBh thS h""i
break In the Atlas mountains, writes cor
respondent OF the Philadelphia Ledger, all
eyes are instinctively turned in the direction
OF the desert. The poetry of travel Is now
presumably to be turned into prose, the
soft and smiling picture OF nature into that
hard ruggedness which speaks OF a land
scape not yet finished. And yet the frst
view OF the desert is that OF one OF its oases,
and OF one which is very nearly the fairest
OF them all, for II receives the coolness OF
the north as well as the heat from the south
and the stream that carries the luxury oil
growth into its deeper reccsses has not yet
been sapped OF its vitality by continuous
summer heat.
Long before we reach the fine gardens OF
Mount Kantara we are In the desert Giant
rocks burned brown and red under the glow
of the southern sun, stand out In wlid pm
naces from the gently undulating surface,
their ragged sides buried deep In the SAND
which they themselves have made. rms Is
not the desert that is ordinarily pictured In
the mind-that fiat, endless expanse which
fades off unmoved and unbroken to the llinls
of vison-but II is the desert, nevertheless,
Just as much as the mountain SHOWS OF the
far north are a part OF the great Arctic sea
OF ice." Beyond. however. Is the great plain
Itself, It's swelling undulations hardly reliev-
ing to the eye the appearance or absolute
fatness which the picture presents.
The truth is that the Sahara has double
aspect, that of the fiat and sandy plains and
that OF the rocky ridge or mountain, the So
called Hammada. II Is the latter that is
more particularly dreaded by the caravans,
for among their wind-swept crags there are
no. or but few, oases. and only the blowing
sands and a relentless sun are the com
panions OF the footsore pilgrim In the fiat
desert, at least, where the sand is not too
deep, travelling is moderately easy, for over
long distances the surface has become coated
into a hard, calcareouS crust-a solid base
ment rock, one may call 1t. We saw no sand
dunes OF any magnitude, those along the
southern face of the great Chott Melghigh,
about twenty feet In height being the high
est. But l was informed by competent
authority at Bskra that beyond Tuggurt,
on our route. they rise to the prodigious
height OF 1000 to 400 feet. This is GER
tainly an imposing monument to the power
of the wind-one that speaks far more elo-
quently even than the wind-swept sands OF
coral islands.
II has become custom In certain book
quarters of late to say that the Sahara is
not as fiat 1t is commonly assumed to
be, and that II is almost everywhere torn
into ridges and rents. That is, however,
an imperfect statement Of the truth. The
fiat desert Is almost intermlnably fiat for
days or weeks OF travel with hardly q rise
of perspective. All around is the same eS,
panse; in vain the eye searches for some
special object to give 1t relief; 1t does not
exist unless 1t be the far-off tufts of an
approaching oasis.
am not sure that these endless sands are
truly imposing. Sometimes they certainly
are, but they present most exquisite pic
lures in the varying lights OF the morning
and evening sun. Ii Is then that they seem
TO constitute a world OF their own speaking
II AAIA AI,nN hnIA 30 ,IA ~.
were not to any extent troubled by their
presence, either as impediments to travel
or as freely floating discomforts In the at
mosphere. Only as we approached Mreir,
at the close of hard days journey Of sixty
four miles, did we come in disagreeable con
flict with them. Our horses had more than
their share in the second half of the days
work; for the better part of four miles we
had been dragged through deep sand, and
finally the courage OF the poor animals had
spent itself. We were stuck fast in the Sa-
hara sands at point some seventy feet be-
low sea level. CoaXing and urging had lit
tie effect, and 1t was not until we ourselves
took long hand in pushing and pulling that
we succeeded in extricating ourselves.
Let 1t not for moment be assumed that
tho Sahara even in the parts that do not
belong to the region OF the GASES, is every
where destitute of growing vegetation. Far
from this is really the case. Along the en-
tire length OF our journey generous sup
ply OF terebinth bushes, one to two or three
feet in height, covered most of the sand
elevations, and with them was form of
sickly green salcolaecious plant, the exact
nature of which l was unable to discover
And IL we can fully believe war illustra-
tion that has recently appeared from the
pencil of a staff correspondent, the same
feature must be a characteristic of the Sa-
hara about Timbuctoo as WELL There are,
indeed, number OF spots where the vegeta-
tion Is even more luXuriant-if a scattering
of plants can In any sense be called luXu-
riant-comprising a number of dry herbs
such as the rose OF Jericho, which hardly
rises a few inches above the surface and
again there are large areas where the vege-
tation has been completely stamped out or
where 1t has been buried deep beneath its
canopy of sand.
1t is the oasis that is the redeemng pearl
OF the desert. No poetic temperament is
needed to prepare one for the enjoyments OF
Ats coming From miles OF distance the eve
fastens itself upon the treetops; the dark
green is break in the landscape, and, like
the black shadow OF clouds, II seems TO 90
and come, the gentle undulations OF the
desert throwing 1t now and again out OF
sight We had penetrated but a moderate
distance into the desert, but the coming OF
the oasis was n relief that can hardly be
observation-disclosures dense groves of date palms
and the circulating streams of water. What
must indeed, the oasis be to those who have
weariy plodded its sands for weeks at
time. When we returned to Biskra after
our southerly journey the sun had just set
behind the palm forest, Illuminating the sky
with that soft African yellow. which has
been matched only by the brush OF Edward
Frere. The tall tree trunks rose against this
in specter shadows OF brown. silent mono-
liths, rising as II from a silent grave. An
Arab group appeared here and there, the
flowing waters and the mosque asking each
to his special devotions.
The heat of the desert Is an unquestionable
reality; and yet. perhaps, in the month OF
our travel. the hottest of the North African
1t was not so dreadful as might
have been assumed. 1t is true that the
whether by night or by day, felt
little disposed to leave the region of the
unless II was In the direction
OF an upward journey. During the hours OF
midday II stubbornly clung to the division
line of 40 degrees. passing even beyond 1t
Slightly although perhaps not In the most
perfect shade); at Blsltra, during our brief
absence. 1t stood at 116 degrees IL travel
ing, however, we were subjected to even