The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-16
FACTS ABOUT DESERTS.
The UnbrOlScn Tracts of Sand Not So
Extensive as Generally Supposed.
From KnOw1edpa

Extensive as GENERALLY Supposed.
From knowledge.
Only one degree less Incorrect than the
idea of their submarine origin is the notion
that deserts consist of unbroken tracts of
sand. It is true that such tracts in certain
districts may extend on every side as far
as the eye can reach and even much
farther, but sooner or later ridges and
bands of pebbles or of solid rock will be
met with cropping up among the sand
while frequently, as in the Libyan desert
there are mountain ranges rising to a
hight of several thousand feet above the
level of the plain. And il is these exposed
rocks which form the source whence the
sand was and still is derived Such noun
tains naturally attract what moisture may
remain in the air, and in their valleys are
found more or less luxuriant vegetation
Gases, too, where the soil is more or less
clayey, occur in most deserts, and II is in
such spots that animal and vegetable NE
attains the maximum development possible
in the heart of the desert.
In the most ard and typical part of the
Libyan desert the sand is blown into large
| dunes, which are frequently fiat topped
and show horizontal bands of partly con-
solidated rock, and between these are open
valleys, partly covered with sand and part
~ strewn with blocks or rock polished
and secured by the sand blast. In such
sand wastes the traveller may journey for
days without seeing signs of vegetation or
hearing the call of a bird, or the hum of
an Insects wing. But even In many Of
such districts, 1t is a mistake to suppose
that vegetable and animal life Is entirely
absent throughout the year. In the West
ern Sahara, for instance showers gener-
ally moisten the ground two or three times
year, and after each of these a short
lived vegetation springs suddenly up, and
II no other form of animal life Is OBJ
servable at least few passing birds may
be noticed.
Among the most important and extensive
deserts of the world we have first the
Great Sahara, with an approximate area
of 1900 square miles, nearly connected
with which is the great desert tract ex-
tending through Arabia, Syria, Mespoto-
mia and Persia. By means of the more
or 2ess desert tracts of Baluchistan, Sind
and Kuch this area leads on to the great
RaJputana desert of India. More import
ant is the vast Gobl desert of Mongolia
and other parts of Central Asia. In South
ern Africa there is the great Kalahari
desert, of which more anon. In North
America there Is a large desert tract ly-
ing east of the Rocky mountains and in
Guiding a great part of Sonora while in
the Southern half of the new world there
is the desert of Atacama. on the borders
of Peru and Chill. Lastly, the whole of
the interior of Australia Is desert of the
most arid and typical description.
But among these there are deserts and
deserts. Tracts Of the typica1 barren sandy
type are, as already said, extensively de-
veloped in the Sahara, as they are in the
Cobb and the Australian deserts. Between
such and the plains of the African weld
, there is an almost complete transition SO
that it is sometimes hard to say whether
a given tract rightly comes under the des-
| ignation of a desert at all. A case in point
Is afforded by the South African Kalaha-
RI Although there are endless rolling dunes
Of trackless sand and rivers are unknown,
yet in many places there Is extensive for
est, and after a rain large tracts could
scarcely be called desert at all. II. A.
Dryden, for instance, when describing the
Kaiahari, writes as follows And yet
during the brief weeks of rainfall no land
can assume a fairer or more tempting as
pect. The long grasses shoot up green, sue
culent and elbow deep; flowers spangle the
weld in every direction; the giraffe acacia
forests robed in a fresh dark green re-
mind one Of nothing so much as an Eng
| lish deer park; the bushes blossom and
! flourish; the air is full Of fragrance and
pans of water lie on every side. Another
month and an is drought; the pans are
dry again and travel is fun of difficulty. -
During the grassy season herds of spring.
box used to migrate in the old days TO Kali
ahari, in the northern part of which gi-
RATES. live the whole year, although they
must exist without tasting water for
months.