New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-20
FROM CAFE TOWN TO CAIRO.
VAST CONTINENTAL RAILWAY SYS-
TEN IN AFRICA.
.o,,. mil PUSHING L" THE NILE. IN FROM THE
INDIAN OCEAN AND vr FROM THE
.,,ArN OTHER LINES IN THE
PIPER CONGO REGION.
PIPER CONGO REGION.

PIPER CONGO REGION ...s
,r..,,,cb ,xDress trains from the southern ex-
.-..i,v of Africa To the head Of the Nile delta
- m, vet been scheduled and it is Impossible
:. ,-cs,ut To secure sleeping car berth for the
-.oie trim But such rapid progress is being
"a, ,,;,h The several links in this great chain.
- ~, mining Of its branches and connections.
49,, the system is attracting a great deal of at
,,,ior IN account OF the vast commercial. po-
r.i.al and scientific interests which are in
volved.
ras. ,ho valley Of the Nile to begin with.
,,s, NOW active construction is being pushed on
,ns line begun twenty years ago by lSnaii from
vsdy Halfa To KhartOum. Not over thirty
-,aes If road vas finished at that time. In I'M
,,o,he- ATTEMPT was made to build the line. and
,.,hans forty miles more We're added. Military
,syerses checked the al ance however. and for
,sa,,v A dozen years the dervishes used railway
uss for kindhns wood and iOothpicks. The next
ssort. put forth in 1895. carried the road trife
urther and made II serviceabie IN the Dongoia
campaign. but the total length did not greatly
exceed me hundred miles. The railways in
Lower Egypt il may he remarked. did not then.
and 30 not now extend 10 Wady Hafa. hut the
Fans can easily be filled at any time. when ne
cessity dictates Until one ascends the Nile to
tho cataracts however. water transportation is
40 easy that 1 continuous railway line rs not at
present demanded.
Nearly two years ago England proposed TO
Egypt a new departure. Il was suggested that
shor, cut 5e made across the desert from
Wady Halfa o. Abu Hammed. instead of follow
ing the river Such project would shorten the
route from about I'VE hundred To two hundred
and thirty miles inasmuch az the Nile here de-
sc-bes A horseshoe curve But the task was
one of peculiar difficulty because. as soon as the
road builders left The river. IL became necessary
IN carry = large water supply Besides innum-
e-ahle caueis and other animals engaged in the
work there were about twenty thousand
tyes The locomotives required drink. too.
every forty OF fifty miles Happily. after lit
tie two wells were driven in the desert which
yielded supplementary supply. For nearly a
year progress was slow But late last fall and
early during the present winter as much as three
miles Of track a day We're laid
When Abu Hamned was recaptured last year
II was decided 10 extend the line still further
southwark and month ago at least forty
miles % road had been completed beyond that
point Berber western terminus of a proposed
railway from Suakim IN the Red Sea. and the
Atbara River largc tributary of the Nile. will
b. reached in 'ew months Khartoum the
capital Of the Soudan. at the junction of the
Blue Nile and the White Nile. may not have an
aiI-ran route 10 Wady Halfa this year perhaps.
but such a contamination may be expected in
the near future II success attends the military
operations progress in that region.
DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY.
From Khartoum to the Albert Nyanza the dis
lance is eight hundred miles more in a bee
line But more than one thousand miles Of river
stretch between those two points. Aside from
the difficulties which are 20 be met with Cipio-
macy and force u in this region. the enein-
GERS will be confronted with vast extent OF
swamp 1t IS not easy 20 say. therefore. just
bow long the construction Of this part Of the
great transcontinentai line will take The en-
terprise. however. is one 10 which much careful
thought and logged resolution will be devoted
during the few years
PAT Of 4 road six hundred or seven hundred
miles in length. from Mombasa. on the Indian
Ocean. to Uganda just north OF Victoria Ny
ANA has already been built. and work on the
remainder is being pushed vigorously 4 fairly
good water route from Victoria Nyanza TO AL
bert Nyanza Is afforded by the outlet Of the
former lake and therefore il will not be neces-
sary Immediately 10 extend the railway from
Uganda west ard the trunk line. Again. as
Lake Tanganyika. 40 miles long is elIgibly sit
dated ;or through traffic in this region. railroad
construction along its shores can be omitted for
time when once its ends are reached by the
approaching builders Of the northern and south
ern sections of the through line.
Local roads in Cape Colony existed nearly
forty years ago. Yet up 10 1873 there were not
over sxty-thr miles Of road in that part OF the
world There was talk even then OF a railway
line 20 Cairo. and when the special stimulus OF
The discovery ~ gold and diamonds in South