The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-04-23

| landS Tor the flying SAND, ike running
water, grinds away every angle,
smooths down the rough outline and in
time may reduce to comparative level
the whole of this vast region The St
hara has it's wadis, the natural drainage
courses, generally dry, but through
which the infrequent rains run for a
distance, then disappear in the sand,
Here and there are wells along the great
caravan routes. A spring Of water in
| the desert is precious in proportion to its
rarity. Ages ago these springs were To-
Gated and a cave like excavation made,
sometimes in the solid rock Thus a
| cistern, holding sometimes thousands of
| gallons, was constructed, with a short
flight of steps leading from the surface
down to the water. Over the entrance a
little mosue like building is erected,
| stating the name Of the builder and that
of the Moslem saint in whose honor it
was reared. The entrance is carefully
walled up with hewn stones, made to
fit very exactly each other and the
sides of the doorway. When there is
! clay in the neighborhood every crack is
carefully plastered up caravan ar
irving at one of these wells must re-
move the solid stone doorway are OBJ
tanning access to the water, and it is a
matter of almost religious observance
before departure to close the entrance as
effectively as possible to prevent the
evaporation of the water, for otherwise
the next corners might arrive dying of
thirst and find that the water had dis
appeared.
Some idea of the value of water in the
greatest of all deserts may be gained
from the statement that between Tama-
| sanine and Asben, on the southern Dor
der of Sahara, distance of more than
one thousand miles, there are only three
of these wells and two GASES, so that the
expedition, a slowly moving body, on
account of the great number of heavily
laden camels. was sometimes four or
| five days in marching from one we'll to
another. Throughout the sand district
and in the region of the dunes, progress
was extremely slow, on account of the
| difficulty of travelling in the sand. AS
1 light as snow, the feet sank to the an
kles at every step and made walking
| matter of serious hardship. Another
obstacle to rapid progress was the diff
Guilty experienced in inducing the cam
els to go either directly up or directly
down a dune. 1t was almost impossi-
BILE to compel them to do so. The arri-
val at the bottom and at the top of eve
ry sand hill was the signal for a battle
royal between the camels on the one
side and their drivers on the other, the
former insisting on diagonal course,
by which the ascent was made easier,
and a still longer diagonal from top to
bottom, to Tighten the burden in going
down, for if there is anything that a
camel dislikes more than the labor of
climbing up hill, it is the labor of
climbing down, and sometimes the
whole caravan was compelled to make a
detour Of several miles, in order that the
camels might have their way.
The few cases in the desert are by no
means the bright, green, cheerful places
they have been described. There is al
ways a spring, generally of small d.
mansions compared with the ample vol
umes which pour from American hill
sides. It's waters are collected in a COW
cred reservoir with door, and the first
rule and precept of life in a Saharan GA
sis is always to shut the reservoir door,
for leaving it open means a diminution
in the supply of the liquid that makes
existence a possibility. The presence of
water, however, even in limited quaint
ties, so mitigates the aridity of the soil
of a few acres, that the cultivation of
dates and sometimes also of dhourra be-
comes a possibility. A village of stone
huts, hardly fit for domestic animals,
two or three hundred half starved in
habitants, few parched grain fields, a
grove Of half dried date palms-these
constitute the oasis, and a miserable
place it is.
The men generally act as camel driv-
ers and guides. but their knowledge is
commonly limited, to the route between
their own oasis and the next. Seldom
have they been further but they have
the credit of knowing thoroughly what
they claim to know, and it is marvellous
with what accuracy they are able to
guide caravan over region where the
shifting sands ogliterate in an hour the
tracks of the light footed camels. To
the European one sand dune is as much
like another as two year but the dwell
ers in the desert recognize at a glance
the differences, which to the eye I'M
skilled are imperceptible.
The guides are the pilots of the desert
and the responsibility for the lives of all
in the caravan rests upon their Shout
ders. Should they miss the way to the
next weyy the men and beasts might
perish of thirst. They are indefatiga-
BILE. During the long, weary day march
they may be seen ahead of the camels
Ginning hills and sand dunes and indi-
eating by shaking their robes and point
ing with their hands the proper course
of the journey. They travel the dis
lance twice over, climbing every emf
hence to obtain a view of the land
ahead. With all this labor they are the
most abstemiouS of men; handful of
dates and few sips of water consti-
tute their rations for the day, and they
perfectly the value of main
tanning the abstemiousness, which, in
their desert life has become second ma
ture One guide of the French expedition
refused a glass of water offered to him
by an officer, stating, as he did so, that |
he had drink on the day before. Men
Of this type are a necessity in the des- |
ert; withoue them it would be impossi- !
bic to transverse those weary wastes of |
sand.
Speaking of sand recalls the fact that |
another mistake commonly prevails
wieh regard to the color Of the Sahara
nd 1aSstr 6c,i,, 10 hp