The sun., 1903-11-29
THE CONQUEST OF THE SAHARA
THE FRENCH HAVE LEARNEDTHE
,BT or DESERT TRAVELLING.
n,,cardlng Their Old Methods. They Have
Adopted the Ways OF the Tuaress
Riding on the Swlftest Camels With
Little baggage, They 10 Everywhere.


France has found way to assure her
s,nreuacy over the Sahara. BY treaties
with other nations she is recognized as
snnre,nc in authority over three-fourths Of
,bs great desert; but until recently France
has been almost helpl 81 against her ene-
mics. The Tuaregs. These robbers and war
Il rors of the desert have, time and again,
Il ,wooped north from their mountain homes
in the centre of the Sahara, pounced upon
some litl French outpost with corporal's S
grafd or upon some oasis friendly to France,
Killed, ndered and made of again on
the hcetest of camels TO their Businesses
among the Ahaggar Mountains; and the
French have seen the dust of their enemies
as they disappeared in the distance and
been as helpless as hungry man on
desert island with no boat to take him across
the food to land Of plenty.
Up to twenty months ago every French
caravan entering the desert was heavily
laden with food and water supplies for
long Journey and weighed down with am
munition and guns for defence against the
Tuaregs The camels were the ordinary
slow freighters of the desert. The ex-
peditions therefore were overladen, slow
and unwiedy. The yelled robbers OF the
Sahara could circle all around them, pick
of two or three stragglers, with their loads
Of food or guns scurry away, and the French
could not touch them any more than an
Erie Canal boat could catch the Mary Powell.
1t was the mosquito in light marching order
worrying the giant.
OF all the expeditions which the French
have organized on this system to penetrate
far into the desert or to cross 1t, only one
succeeded in carrying out its mission; and
that was the Foureau-Lamy party with
600 camels and many tons of supplies.
Thanks to the indomitable energy of its
leaders, this party crossed to the Soudan
after long delays and terrible suffering,
About two years ago number of French
army officers in the extreme sout hern part
of the Algerian Sahara came togeth her
10 discuss the unsatisfactory situation
Foremost among them were Commandments
tauvet and Laperine, who had been tudy-
ing the problem and had evolved a plan
which they believed would solve The diff
cury. Laptrine unfolded the scheme.
.Cauvet and l are convinced" he said,
-that we shall fail every time as long as we
attempt to travel with our present methods.
We are like waterlogged ship at sea.
unmanageable and almost stationary. If
We are going to stop the attacks of the
Tu,regs upon caravans and make Saharan
travel safe we must adopt the tactics Of our
enemies.
"We must do just what Nansen did in the
Arctic regions. He learned how to subsst
and to dress like the Esquimaux He
followed their met hods Of dog sledging.
He took along with him Esquimaux boat S
to carry him from one ice foe to anot her.
In short, he was wise enough 70 learn from
the natives how things may be done best
under Arctic conditions.
Now the Tuaregs go lightly laden. They
pick and train their camels and the ami
mails they ride can cover three times as
much ground in day as the ordinary ack
tween them as there is between 1aceborse
and Percheron. Travelling as fast as
they do they are not compelled to weigh
themselves down with supplies. Ihey can
oasis and travel like the devil between
supply stations. If we ic low their tactics
We can travel as fast as they can and with
our superior arms, we can beat them every
time
The idea was perfectly novel but It seemed
TO he good common sense and was heartily
approved by all the officers. The plan was
adopted and measures were taken to test
it, efficiency as soon as possible.
In the oases of Wargla a nd FL GoIea
they enlisted a large band Of young men,
the best camel drivers Of the region, eS-
perts in all the arts of desert travel. At
tn" Same time they ransa cked all the camel
herds OF the Algerian Sahara and among
the many thousands of animals they picked
Oui those that were built for fast travel,
the kind that are used in the courier service
between the French oases. Thes" courier
animals are so trained that they never
ploi along with slow stops like an OK, but
got over the ground with a sort of lope
that leaves an ordinary caravan train in
their wake good deal as an ocean grey
hound would | ass a tramp steamer.
In this wav several bands of native troops
we're organized under the command of
white officers. and for months they were
drilled in the use of the best modern rifles.
were raced at top speed from one oasis to
another and We're rapidly put In condition
0! high efficiency.
the experiment has been great success.
There is now no baggage train in the French
the desert are travelling anywhere theyare
sent Each camel carries from two to three
weeks supply of food and water. A soldier
with his military outfit Is on the back of
every camel. Every French troop in the
SSaharan service now equals the Iuaregs
in .-~'erity of movement and is far their
superior as a fighting force. The enemy
Is no longer unapproachable;
These bands OF light camel cavalry are
called Meharistes. The Tuaregs had a
great surprise when they first net the new
kind of French expedition. Late in the
spring Of 1902 these robbers from The Ahag-
gar mountains attacked some of the native
prot fgfs of France in one of the cases
Lieut. Cottonest was despatched with a
force Of $50 Meharistes to teach them a
lesson in good manners. In about six
weeks this little party travelled 054 miles
over tho desert to the southeast of their
post and one morning fell most uneX-
pec'edlv upon the robbers, who had seated
themselves comfortably for breakfast. The
fgh, was terribly one-sided. Most Of the
Tuaregs had no arms, except lances, and
Of course they were routed and were taught
lesson they will never forget. Before
that time they had been on the offensive,
but on this eventful day the tables were
turned and the robbers were overwhelm-
ingly defeated in their own home.
1t IS the policy of the French not to touch
the Tuaregs il they behave themselves;
and these redoubtabe warriors have been
as peao ,be as their women ever since the
Appearance on their native heath of the
French, who administered the severest
cas'iga ion the desert nomads had ever
rece we'd
The result Of this triumph over the Tua-
fegS was the first of a series OF events which
nave clearly demonstrated that these people
in, OF Uth N