The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-01-12
GREAT SAHARA DESERT.
II. GAUTTER, WHO RECENTLY
 TRAVERSED TT,

Nights are Always Cool and the CIi- mate is HealthfuI-The Sahara Not
 So Broad as Commonly Supposed. The Sahara has no very great in-
 trinsio value" M. Gautier said to re-
 porter for Le Temps. "but as an
 obstacle to communication it has been
 the subject of the most extravagant
 congregations. The Adar sheep cross it
 every year to be sold in the oases of
 the Touat. In the same way cattle
 pass over into the Hoggar and they
 might even go as far as In3alah. ve,,
 it not that they could get to eat
 but dates.
 1 Ancient authors speak of the bur.
 den-bearing cattle of the Garamantes.
 lnnumerable figures cut in the rocks
 bear witness to their former existence
 If they no longer exist, it is solely De-
 cause they have been replaced by the
 camel, which is far superior as a beast
 Of burden, During our journey we en-
 countered only about 250 miles of really
 bad going. That was the trail across
 the Tenezrouft Nor is this all. The 1 difficulties of the journey were relieved
 Dy the two great pools of Inzize and
 Timissao.
 To tell the truth the sirocco seemed
 to me less distressing than in Algeria.
 doubtless because the difference be-
 tween the normal temperature and that
 ot the slrocco is less noticeable in the
 desert. The sirocco announces it's ap- i proaeh by huge black cloud on the
 horizon. You halt. your camel: you crouch behind 1t; the tempest sweeps
 over you, dashing the sand in your face Usually it is all over in half an hour. | and you 80 on your way, rejoicing. The
 nights are always cool and restful, the climate very healthful
 Moreover. the true Sahara is not so ! broad as is commonly supposed. The ! Adar, mountainous region rising to a f height of from seven hundred to eight hundred yards, is quite another thing from she desert At 300 miles from Gao We found ourselves upon a steppe which stretches continuously to the Niger. There is regularly recurring rainy season there Every year from 150 to 300 millimeters of rain fall. During six months out of the year the country is covered with marshes and with yer dure, precisely as is the case in the northern region of Senegal visited by Coppolani In this country you no longer find the stunted spruce and spiney plants of the Sahara, but fine grass, real grass, somewhat sprase 1t is true but continuous.
 With several breaks due probably to accident of geology, this broad band of steppe country between the true desert and the Soudan stretches from the Att lantic to Egypt. It becomes a salient feature of African geography which, to my way of thinking, has never been sufficiently explained This zone has well-assured economic future, for sheep raising and cattle raising are possible there. Just at present 1t would be perfect paradise for sportsmen if they had the nerve to visit it. There is an exuberant profusion of animal life there just as in the analogous steppes of East Africa antelopes, gazelies, wild bear giraffes and lions. You even en- counter an occasional elephant"
 But the Tourarega--didnt they give you trouble?" f
 They are of two kinds, the Touaregs on oamels and the Touaregs on horse back The former live in the desert so called. They have been subdued by Col. Laperrints splendid Meharistes. When I left the Etiennot mission, took with me a l guide and servant but no arms No I one call me rash for my neglect of pre- cautions. The Iforbas. who were to es cort me to Gao, joined me eighteen 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 lead a nomadic life on the steppe especially along the Niger, If 1t is true that our 'fficers have had their troubles in get ting these fellows in hand, 1t is equally rue that the natives themselves are Iuieting down
 What scientific results are you bringing home from your trip?"
 Tn a country as vacant as the Sahara you can't fatter yourself that Fou will make geographical discoveries If great consequence, and yet, in add ion to some five hundred miles of pew added by our surveyors O the map of the Adar, I think have 'ucidated an important fact. Pray ook at the map of Central Sahara. To I he east you will find a well developed iver basin, that of the Igharghar To he west, on the contrary, there re- rains an immense gap around which \ re seen the beginnings of river beds eading down from the Atlas mountains f Morocco and from the Hoggar chain. Where do these river beds go to :? Nobody knows l am convinced that hey become lost in a vast depression f which the salt wells of Taodeni are he centre. followed the Massaund lver bed, which continues that of aouna, for sixty miles beyond Touat. 'aodent, according to all accounts the atives give you, Is a place where there } much water. The extraction of salt rom the water is extensively carried n. Ages ago a great lake, sort of .ake Tohad, received not only these -ater courses of the Sahara, but the riger river itself. Probably the course f the Niger was obstructed by the