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

ogy and topography of the back yard
of the earth. For the most part the
routes of the caravans lie over the
more sandy portions, where GASES are
few and water is scarce. The guides of
the desert belong mostly to the
Tuaregs, whose interest it is to make
the journey as long and difficult as
possible and keep the caravans in a
state of dependence upon them.
"a DESERT WASTE AS LARGE AS
EUROPE
Then again the Sahara is so vast that
even though the regions to be re-
claimed may some day cover thousands
of square miles and support millions
upon millions of people. yet even they
will seem but little patches upon this
desolate waste. Even if the valley of
the Nile be regarded as the eastern
border of the desert, the Sahara is still
almost as large as Europe. Its area
lion square miles. And in reality it
extends far beyond the valley of the
Nile, as far as Syria indeed, for the
characteristics of the Nubian desert
are almost identically those of the
larger waste. In all this tremendous
area, this area as large as Europe,
there is a population of not more than
two or three millions. This, of course,
is excluding the people of central Sou
dan. Many of these tribes are savage
and warlike and successfully resist the
intrusion of settlers, and for another
thing the heat is unbearable in the
lower attitudes.
For the most part the surface of the
desert is made up of undulating areas
of rock. where nothing ever will grow.
and vast tracts of water-worn pebbles,
equally barren. The sand dunes with
which popular imagination covers the
whole Sahara, do not make up more
than tenth of the total area.
These sand wastes lie in streaks
or belts, some of them of
a great size. That of Igidi is
computed to be 1900 miles long and
from 50 to 900 miles wide. The dunes
or hills are for the most part not more
than 60 or 20 feet high, though some of
them rise to 300 feet. These belts Of
fer, on the whole, a rather level floor
for the passage of the caravans, and
are chosen on this account. The OUT
look from the back CT a camel in cross
ing these barren and waterless oceans
but little invites the explorer to inves-
tigate into what lies on either side For
the most part he is content to get over
them as quickly as possible and with
as little trouble with the pirates of the
desert who roam about in search of
caravans to pillage, as he may The
sand storms, too, sometimes inflict an
enormous amount of suffering, al
though the stories of caravans being
engulfed are mostly myths. A very
slight wind sufflces to make the dunes
smoke, and the singing sands,'' as
they are known, when the wind begins
to stir the fine salt which covers the
surface of these belts, are warning to
the traveller that he is in for an ex-
perience besides which the discomforts
of the jungle are mild.
oUED RIR LIKENED TO NOR
MANDY.
Nevertheless, in spite of the gener-
ally forbidding character of the Sa-
hara there are many GASES and fertile
zones which not only produce good
crops, but where life is anything but
unbearable. Indeed, n native living to
the south of Oued Rir who visited
France this year likened the land of his
birth to Normandy. In q general way.
south from Algeria over the line of the
proposed Saharian railway. which was
also the general direction of the ex-
plorations of NJ. de Mezieres, there are
four distinct belts or zones to be
traversed. The first of these is the
oasis region, from which come the
dates, and camels for caravan use.
second, the desert region proper, in
which palms are few and which is
characterized for the most part by
vast plains Of sand. stones and salt.
over which roam nomadic tribes in
search of victims fer pillage: third, the
gum tree belt, in which cattle, sheep
and horses thrive. and the usual farm
crops may be produced; and fourth,
zone reaching towards the Central Sou
dan, with running water and tropical
vegetation. where the natives are pros
porous and trade is fairly developed
The date is, Of course, by far the