The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-04-23
CONQUEST OF THE SAHARA.
EXPLORING THE GREAT DES-
ERT.
The Plan to Connect Algeria with the
Soudan by Great Line of Railway.

While public attention has been at
tracted elsewhere by the stirring events
Of the last two or three years, the
French have pushed forward their
scheme of consolidating the French en-
pire in the northwestern portion Of At
RIGA, and now the limits of French influ-
ence extend from Tunis in line to the
southeast, considerably beyond the re-
gion of Lake Tchad, thence to the south
west, and. with the exception of Moroc-
co, Liberia and the English and Ger
man claims, the dominion of France
comprises nearly all of this portion of
Africa as far as the Congo
The progress during the last two years
has been quite marked and the recent
fighting which resulted in the occupa-
ton of In Salah by the French forces is
but one incident of many in the history
of the conquest of Sahara. For, 1T
should be understood, until the coming
of the French, the desert tribes were
Independent, the little communities
which inhabit the scattered GASES We're
governed by their own shieks and ac-
knowledged no other authority. They
were, naturally, therefore, strongly OPP
posed to the French occupation, which
they resented by force In every instance,
and through from the character of their
weapons their resistance was feeble, the
conuest has given the French no little
trouble, from the immense distances it
was necessary to traverse in order to
reach the habitations of the few and
widely scattered tribes. Over a year
IL. >ie,c, of
In Salah by a company of fifty men,
Saharan troops In the pay of the French
government. The band travelled ON
dromedaries from Iimassanine, on the
border of Algeria, almost directly west
to In Salah, distance of three hundred
and fifty. miles, going and returning in
Xix days. Careful observations We're
made of the route; the villages of the
oasis of In Salah were inspected from
distance, and, after all available infor-
nation had been obtained, the company
returned, and, a few months later a
strong expedition went out and, after
some fighting, occupied and garrisoned
the oasis. The act was In the nature Of
reprisal for the murder of French
explorer over two years ago, and Illus
trates the manner of growth of civil
lized nation with barbarous neighbors.
A much more important expedition
has recently been made to the south, for
the purpose of locating the line Of the
proposed railroad, the Transsaharan
road, which is to, connect Algeria with
the vast fertile regions grouped under
the general name of the Soudan. The
road is designed to furnish a CONNER
ioI to he Of ba in tpy,ihr
and finally connect, by a direct and ex-
peditious route, the French Congo with
Algiria. When completed it will be
over two thousand miles in length, and
will furnish the main line for the two or
three French roads already constructed
in the Niger valley.
The expedition already mentioned
started more than year ago. 1t was
composed of nearly three hundred SOL
Sdiers drawn from various Algerian reg
iments, and commanded by French Off
GERS -Four Hotchkiss guns constituted
the artillery arm, and the baggage and
provision train was composed of entrly
one thousand camels, with about the
same number of drivers, servants and
camp followers. Commanded by Cap
tain Lamy, the expedition was known as
the Fourneau-Lamy, from the hyphena-
ton of the names of the protector and
commander. The troops were mounted
on dromedaries, but very few horses
were taken along, as water on the route
was scarce, and while camel or a
dromedary could live without water for
twenty or thirty days, a horse must be
watered at least twice every twenty
four hours. The expedition started
from Timassanine in December, 1898,
and pushed directly south, along the
principal caravan route, from Algeria
to Bornou, making surveys, turning
oside from time to time to visit the
principal GASES along the route and
gather such information as would be
useful in determining the line of the
proposed railroad.
The character of the Western Sahara
is very different from the popular i'm
preston of that vast region. The great
African desert, while over two thou
sand miles from east to west and twelve
to fifteen hundred from north to south,
is by no means the level, sandy plain
that schoolboys suppose. The Sahara
has it's mountain ranges, it's plains, it's
valleys. The cause of the extreme dry
ness of the region is the fact that north
ern Africa is guarded by range Of very
high mountains running parallel with
the coast. These defect the warm north
winds from the Mediterranean, thus
clouds from forming and
rain from falling. Where there is a
break in the mountain range, as to the
east of Tunis, the northern winds pene-
trate to the interior and GASES are
formed extending in line almost across
the desert. There is no such break in
the Algerian range consequently green
spots are few in the south of Algeria.
There is, however diversity. Just
south of Algeria lies the Grand Erg, a !
region several hundred miles in extent, |
of shifting sands. The Erg is a district |
Of dunes or ranges of hills of dry sand, |
thrown up by the wind. 1t is believed |
by some scientific men that the sand |
tunes are by no means as transitory and |
as some suppose. The prin- |
cipal dunes in the Erg have names, |
which they have retained for many gen.
arations, and the belief among the Sa-
hara jewellers is that, while the wind |
storms sometimes add to the size of the |
lunes sometimes subtract from its di
mansions, it's general shape and proper
tons remain unchanged. Under the in
Huence of the wind the sand acts much |
ilya c,,nJy. drifts niles iDVp nAAnS al. J