Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1904-11-24
THE ADVANCE OF SAHARA.
Progress of the Arid Region South
ward Has Been Ascertained
by Explorers.

Scientists have long disagreed oyei
the question of the antiquity Of the Sa.
hara desert, and over the manner in
which il was formed. They agree, how
ever, states Youths Companion. that
the dryness has much increased in the
centuries since Rome was a mighty en-
pire. Lieut.. Col. Poroz, of the French
army, who has recently made an arduous
journey from the Niger river to Lake
Tchad, has brought back much interest
Ing information regarding the progress
OF the arid region southwark.
The country which extends from the
Niger TO Lake Tchad, he says, between
IL and l6 degrees, north latitude. is com
pietely barren Of permanent water
bodies For more than 500 miles il
Is a tropical region, without a water
course. Only yesterdays biologists
count time-all this was different. The
Niger received from the left immense
ahuents, veritable floods, rising even
In the lofty mountains about the plateau
OF Hogan, the highest region of central
Sahara. Then girafes and elephants.
the colonel believes, wandered even to
the borders of the Mediterranean Nu-
midia, seeking the abundant yegeta-
tion.
Then came the Mohammedan con
quest, with its tribes Of nomadic Arabs
and the invasion Of the Tuaregs from the
east, accelerating the saharan devas-
tation.
These invaders burned over great
tracts Of land. destroying vegetation.
and leaving nothing to hold the fallen
water In check. The hygrometric state
OF the atmosphere was impoverished
The yapor no longer was condensed. The
rain failed, vegetation disappeared. and
the soil and rocks we're left exposed
to the direct action Of heat and cold,
and OF the winds. The decomposition Of
the granite filled the dry river-beds with
sand for great distances.
The advance Of this phenomenon has
not stopped at the edge Of the tropics.
The Sahara, he believes. has gained
toward the south the regions, recently
.verdant, OF Air and Of Azawad. It
now Adar, Gober. Tessawa. and
and even the ~sultanate of Finder. an in
land city which was given to France
in the last settlement of Anglo-French
boundaries in Africa. Ii is established
IN all the northern parts Of Lake Tchad. Z
Although II appears slow. its march is
extremely rapid, compared with other
geologic phenomena. Barth. the Ger
nan, explorer. found water in abund-
lnce 50 years ago. where Col. Peroz's
expedition suffered from thirst. The
I'D men of North Adar showed the {
'renchman rivers which in their youth {
lowed full many months of the year.
'ut are now dry. Lakes yesterday per- {
nanent, which Peroz expected TO find :
ull, were dry. and did not replenish ex-
ept during the two months Of winter. :
As proof hat part. at least, of the
has been wrought by man. Col.
'eroz says that in Iisen. in a corner OF {
valley indicated by a Tuareg. he was
Bile to o the stumps of a forest
.hich the Tuareg said they had de- \
25 years ago in order 10 devote
Re fertile soil covered by il to raising :
Even now our line Of communication
ON the Niger to LakeTchad, he saws, :
IS actually semi-desert. II is cut BY
'aces OF many hundreds OF kilometers
here the desert Is absolute. Ii we 81
not take car the places still free vi
be dried up successfully, just as NJ
ose have been dried up which mark !
e route hat Barth followed from M
II 10 Damerghu 50 years ago" &c