The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-21
NAMING OCEANS no oRpEn.
What Engineers Propose to DO with
the Worlds Deserts.

From the Chicago Chronicle.
Few people realize how completely OF
late years the surface aspect of this weaz-
ened old globe of ours has been altered
and improved
The world Of to-day, in fact, differs from
the world Of our ancestor. much as so
cIely lady in all the glory of fold and
friil and furbelow differs from her savage
sister running wild in pestilential woods
As art has transformed the one, so has
il the other.
Only the Mime. Rachel who has made
the earth II not exactly beautiful for
ever" at least a pleasant and healthful
place wherein to dwell, Is no chariatan
with a dray load of cosmetics and a glib
tongue, but a civil engineer owning moth
ing more harmful than few mysterious
looking instruments and measuring tape
Aud the marvel of il all Is this-that
what has been done is but an infnitesi-
NAL fraction OF that which may and
doubtless Will, be done. Who can doubt,
for instance, that the great Sahara deS-
ert-that mole upon the worlds face-will
one day be but a memory II was an in
land sea once II would not be a very
difficult matter to convert 1t into one
again.
A canal sixty miles long, connecting with
the Atlantic the vast depression which
runs close up TO the coast nearly midway
between the twentieth and thlrdeth paraI-
beautifully. The water would not. of coui Sc
cover the entire surface OF the desert
Here and there are portions lying above
sea level These would boone the islands
Of The new Sahara ocean.
What would be the result that would en-
sue upon tbs stupendOus transformation?
Some would be good and some would be
bad. Among the latter may be mentioned
the probable destruction Of the vineyards
Of Southern Europe, which depend for
their existence upon he warm dry winds
from the great African desert
AS some compensation for this, however,
the mercantile marines OF the nations af-
fected would be enabled 20 gain immed ate
and easy access TO vast regions now given
over TO barbarism, and a series of more
or less fourishlng seaport towns would
spring up all along the Southern borders
of Morocco and Algeria, where The west
ern watershed Of the Nile sinks into the
desert, and on the northern frontier of
the Congo Free State.
In a similar manner the greater portion
of the Central Australian desert, covering
an area Of fully 100000 square miles.
might be flooded The island continent
would thea be reconverted into a gigan-
tic atoH, and would resemble, roughly an
oval dish Of which the depressed central
portion would be covered with water ana
only the rim" inhabited. In this con-
nection 1t may be interesting TO note that
"A company has actually been formed for
submerglng the Yuma desert. in Southern
California. If the plan as at present pro-
posed, is carried out, a tract OF absolutely
uninhabitable territory, comprising nearly
1900 square miles, and the greater por-
ton of which lies between 800 and 1000
feet below sea level, will be submerged.
A few OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES as little
Englanders" -still blame the government
for Insisting upon the reconquest of the
fuIf Lar.
they. Perhaps
But capable judges believe that IL would
have been little less than suicidal TO have
allowed these regions TO fall into tho
hands Of France: for the simple reason
that her engineers by diverting the course
Of the Nile at Abu Hamed or Berber-no
very difficult task-Gould at any time turn
all upper Egypt into a desert.
1t has even been suggested that IL
might be possible-by turning its waters
into one of the many lateral ravines which
run at right angles to the present course
Of the river-to find a new outlet for IL
into the Red sea, and thereby to trans
form, in process OF time, that sheet OF
water into great fresh water lake
To accomplish this, It would OF course
be necessary to build a giant dam across
It's southern neck" near Perrin and 10
regulate, or rather stop altogether, the in
ward flow of the Mediterranean through
the SueZ canal-a big task, but one not
entirely impossible of accomplishment.
The above are examples Of big schemes.
There are many Others that might be men
toned, including, of course, the Panama
and Nicaraguan canals, and the French
war canal" between the mouths of the
Loire and the Rhene, which, when COM
pleted, win enable their ironclads 20 dodge
round behind Gibraltar when passing from
the Atlantic to the Mediterranean or vice
versa,
But ii Is the comparatively little en-
cheering feats which have slowly but
surely altered in the past and will alter
in the future the face of the earth Even
so small a matter, for instance, as the
proposed seawali at Southend win GER
tainly deepen the estuary of the Thames.
and may conceivably do away with the
Goodwin sands. -
A scheme was recently mooted TO cut a
ship canal through the center of Ireland
beginning al Dublin aud finishing at Gal
way. It would be no very dificult feat
10 accomplish, for most OF the country
through WHICH Il would pass is fiat ana
boggy.