Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-25
ACROSS SAHARADESERT
NJ. GAUTIER SAYS HIS JOURNEY
WAS PLEASANT.
Found Vast steppes Covered With
Grass-The Country is Not
So Horrible.

The Sahara has no very great intrinsic
value NJ Gautier said to a reporter for lie
Temps. but as an obstacle to communities
ton 1t has been the subject of the most ex-
travasant exaggerations. The Adrar sheep
cross 1t every year to be sold In the GASES
OF the Touat In the same way cattle pass
over into the Hoggar. and they might even
90 as far as In-Saiah were 1t not that they
could get nothing to eat but dates.
ancient authors speak Of the burden-bear-
Ing cattle of the Garamantes. Innumerable
ngures cut In the rocks bear witness to
their FORMER existence. If they no longer
exist 1t Is solely because they have been
replaced by the camel, which Is far superior
as a beast OF burden. During our journey
We encountered only about $50 miles OF
the Tanezrouft. Nor is this all The DIFF
ficulties of the journey were relieved by
the two great pools of Inzize and Timissao.
To tell the truth. the sirocco seemed to
less because the difference between the nor
NAL temperature and that Of the sirocco is
less noticeable in the desert. The sirocco
announces Its approach by huge black
cloud on the horizon. You halt your camel;
you crouch behind IT. the tempest sweeps
over you, dashing the sand in your face
Usually 1t Is all over in half an hour and
you 80 on your way rejoicing. The nights
very healthful-
Width Of the Desert.
Moreover. the true Sahara is not SO
broad as Is commonly supposed. The
Adrar. a mountainous region rising to
height OF from seven hundred to eight hun
dred yards. Is quite another thing from the
desert. At 300 miles from Gao we found
ourselves upon a steppe which stretches
continuously to the Niger There Is reg
ularly recurring rainy season there. Every
year from $50 to 800 millimeters of rain fall
During six months out of the year the
country Is covered with marshes and with
verdure. precisely as Is the case in the
northern regions Of Senegal visited by Cop
poiani. In this country you no longer find
the stunted spruce and spiney plants OF the
sahara, but fine grass real grass, some
what sparse. 1t Is true, but continuous
with several breaks, due probably to
accidents Of geology, this broad band of
steppe country between the true desert
and the Soudan stretches from the Atlantic
TO Egypt. 1t becomes a salient feature of
African geography which, to my way of
thinking, has never been sufficiently ex-
planned This zone has a well-assured eco
nomic future, for sheep raising and cattle
raising are possible there. Just at present
1t would be a perfect paradise for sports
men If they had the nerve to visit it. There
Ihere, Just as In the analogous steppes of
East Africa-antelopes, gazelles wild boar,
giraffes and lions. You even encounter an
occasional elephant"
But the Touaregs-didn't they give YOU
trouble?' =
"They are of two kinds. the Touaregs on
camels and the Toua-egs on horseback
The former live in the desert, properly 80
called. They have been completely sub
dued by Col. Laperrine's splendid Mehar-
istes. When 1 left the Etiennot mission /
took with me guide and servant, but no
arms. No one can call me rash for my
111fi nrc Th> has yk,.,
We're to escort me to Gao, Joined me eigh-
teen days later. My guide halted before
every tent he came to, and while he was
swapping yarns with the natives, they
brought me milk to drink. AS for the
Touaregs on horseback. they Had . nomadic
Life on the steppe. especially along the
Niger: II it is true that our officers have
had their troubles in getting these fellows
themselves are quieting down.
What scientific results are you bringing
home from your trip?"
In country as vacant the Sahara
you can't fatter yourself that you will
| make geographical discoveries of great con-
sequence, and yet, In addition to some five
hundred miles Of new measurements added
by our surveyors to the map of the Adrar,
think have elucidated an important fact
Pray look at the map of the central Sahara.
To the east you will find a well developed
river basin. that of the Igharghar. To the
west, the contrary, there remains an
immense gap, around which are seen the
beginnings of river beds leading down from
the Atlas mountains of Morocco and from
the Hoggar chain.
Where do these river beds go to? No.
body knows. I am convinced that they be-
come lost in a vast depression of which the
salt wells Of Taodeni are the center
followed the Messaund river bed, which
continues that of Saoura. for sixty miles
beyond Touat. Taodeni, according to all
accounts the natives give you, is a place
where there is much water. The extraction
of salt from the water Is extensively carried
on. Ages ago a great lake, a sort of Lake
Tchad, received not only these water
courses of the Sahara, but the Niger river
itself. Probably the course OF the Niger
was obstructed by the sand and forced upon
it's present course by breaking the barrier
of the rocks OF Tosaye.