The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-06-15
THE SAHARA DESERT
ACCOUNT OF VISIT TO THE WASTES
OF SAND AND ROCK.

corning It-More Oases ana vegetation
Than Generally Supposed.
AS the iron horse hurries through the
fnal break in the Atlas mountains all
eyes are instinctively turned in the direc-
ton of the desert. The poetry of travel is
now presumably TO he turned into prose,
the soft aud smiling picture of nature into
that hard ruggedness which speaks of a
landscape not yet finished. And yet the
first view of the desert is that of one of
its Gases, and of one which is very nearly
the fairest of them all, for il receives the
GOODNESS of the north as well as tine heat
from the south, and the stream that carries
the luxury of growth into its deeper re-
eesses has not yet been sapped of its vital
ity by a continuous summer heat.
Long before we reach the fine gardens Of
Fl hantara we are in the desert. Giant
rocks, burned brown and red under the
glow of the southern sun, stand out i'm wild
pinnacles from the gently undulatng
surface, their ragged sides buried deep in
the sand which they themselves have
made. This is not the desert that is or
dinarily pictured In the mind-that fiat,
endless expanse which fades off unmoved
and unbroken to the limits of vision-but
It is the desert nevertheless just rs much
as the mountain SHOWS of the far north
are part of the great arctic ''sea of ice. "
Beyond however, is the great plain itself
its swelling undulations hardly relieving
to the eve the appearance of absolute fiat
ness which the picture presents.
The truth is that the Sahara has dou-
bic aspect, that of the fiat and sandy plains
and that of the rocky ridge or mountain,
the so called hammada. 1t is the latter
that is more particularly dreaded by the
caravans, for among their wind swept
crags there are no, or but few, GASES, and
only the blowing sands and a relentless
sun are the companions Of the foOtsore
pilgrim In the flat desert, at least where
the sand is not too deep, travelling is mod
erately easy, for over long distances the
surface has become coated into hard, cal
careous crust--a solid basement rock, one
may call it. We saw no sand dunes of any
magnitude those along the southern face
OF the great Chott Melghigh about 20 feet
in height, being the highest But l was
informed by competent authority at Biskra
that beyond Tuggurt, on our route, they
rise TO the prodigious height of 1,200 to
/ 400 feet. This is certainly an imposing
monument to the power of the wind-one
that speaks far more eloquently even than
1t has become custom in certain book
quarters of late TO say that the Sahara is
not as fat as it is commonly assumed to
be, and that it is almost everywhere torn
into ridges and rents That is, however,
an imperfect statement of the truth. The
fat desert is almost Unfortunately fat for
days or weeks of travel, with hardly Il rise
of more than "a few feet for mile after mile
of perspective. All around is the same ex-
panse In vain the eye searches for some
special object To give it relief. 1t does not
exist, unless it be the far Oft tufts of an
approaching oasis.
am not sure that these endless sands
are truly imposing. Sometimes they GER
tainly are, but they present most exquisite
pictures in the varying lights of the morn
ing and evening sun. 1t is then that they
seem to constitute a world of their own,
speaking in color that belongs TO them
alone. We were not to any extent troubled
by their presence, either as impcdments
TO travel or as freely floating discomforts
I'm the atmosphere Only as we approached
Mreir, at the close of hard day 5 Journey
of some st miles did we come in disagree
able conflict 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 Sahara sands at point
some 20 feet below sea level Couxing and
urging had little effect and it was not
until we ourselves took long hand in
pushing and pulling that we succeeded in
extricating ourselves.
Let i5 not for moment he assumed that
the Sahara even in the parts that do not
belong 10 the region of the oasis, is every
where destitute Of growing vegetation.
Far from this is really the case. Along
the entire length Of our Journey a gener-
Gus supply of terebinth bushes, one or two
or three feet in height, covered most Of
the sand elevations, and with them was a
form of sickly green salcolHcious plant,
the exact nature of which | was unable to
discover, and if we can fully believe a
war illustration that has recently appeared
from the pencil of a staff correspondent,
the same feature must be a characteristic
of the Sahara about Tmbuktu as we'll
There are, indeed, number OF spots where
the vegetation is even more luxuriant--if
a scattering of plants can in any sense be
called uxuriant--comprising "a number of
dry herbs, such as the rose of Jericho,
which hardly rises few inches above the
surface, and again there are large areas
where the vegetation has been completely
stamped out, or where it has been buried
deep beneath its canopy of sand.
1t is the oasis that is the redeeming pearl
of the desert. No poetic temperament is
needed 20 prepare one for the enioyments
OF its coming. From miles of distance
the eye fastens itself upon the tree tops;
the dark green is u break in the landscape,
and like the black shadow of clouds, it
seems TO go and come, the gentle undula-
tons Of the desert throwing it now and
again out Of sight. We had penetrated
but moderate distance into the desert,
but the coming OF the oasis was 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 YEARLY ploddcd
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