Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-18

building. One is the long stretches over
which the track must go without water, and
another is the enormous cost Of hauling
the fuel. At Colomb Bechar. the terminus
, Of the road which the French are building
southwark toward Timbuktu, coal is now
worth $40 a ton; and unless mines can
, cheaper fuel must be obtained or the ex-
tension abandoned. The stations at pres
ent are chiefly at the GASES; but even there
the pipes which supply the water tanks
are wrapped with straw to retard eyapora-
ton and every means is used to increase
the water supply.
The Sahara itself can furnish but little
support for railroad. It is peppered with
GASES, but the fertile spots are far apart.
and it is only in such regions as the Fez-
Ean, Twat and Tablet, where there are a
large number of cases together. that
there will be many passengers or much
freight. The Sahara has, all told about
$1,000 square miles of GASES, but these
are scattered over a region larger than
Europe and many of them are inaccessible
except to eamels.
The freight of the desert is chiefly made
up of dates, grain and alta grass. Some
tobacco and cotton are raised in the south
ern Sahara, but not enough to form a
freight item; and the salt mines, which
now suppiy/a part of the caravan loads,
would not make a great traffic.
The Soudan.
The Soudan, at the south of the Sahara,
Is far different. 1t has an enormous popu-
lation of native blacks No one knows how
many there are, but the probability is that
they number. between fifty and one hum
dred million souls. There are something
like twenty-five millions in Nigeria alone,
and the French and German provinces con-
tain many millions more. There are big
towns there, such as Kuka and Kano,
which are acw caravan centers and others.
such rs T.mbuktu. which were cities once,
and VIII en- would be great again If a rail-
road could be built to them.
At present the caravan trade is falling
off. The trains of one thousand or more
cameis, guarded by soldiers, which used
to start across the Sahara with perhaps a
half million dollars worth of goods. con-
sistng of ivory, gold dust and slaves. have
dwindled to trains containing one hundred
clmels or less, and the caravan trade Iii
ninishes every year. 1t still carEies some
European merchandise across from Tripoli.
Tunisa and Algeria to the Soudan. but
most of the goods for that section go to the
ports Of west Africa by steamer and are
taken by railroad and rivers to the head
waters of the Niger.
The Route to Timbuktu.
Indeed, one can now go from the United
States by steam vessels to Senegal, and
thence by trains and steamer to Timbuktu.
That city is not far from the Niger. and is
the terminus of the caravan routes from
Tripoli, Morocco and Algeria. It lies a
thousand miles almost directly south Of
Colomb Bechar, the end of the Western
Algeria road into the Sahara, and the
French have surveyed route to 1t. If
this is completed 1t will give the vast Niger
system direct railroad connection with tho
Mediterranean.
The Niger Is navigable during a large
part Of its course. 1t Is as long as the
Mississippi proper. and its basin is one
third the size of the whole United States.
The French are building several other
roads, in addition to the one which connects
Senegal with Timbuktu, to reach that river.
One of these Is through French Guinea,
another goes through Dahomey, and third
goes inland from the Ivory coast. Alto
gether they will unite the Atlantic with the
Niger, and If the Colomb Bechar desert
road is extended Timbuktu may become
the Chicago of the Soudan.
Roads to Kuka and Kano.
Another railroad center will be at Kuka.
That city lies on Lake Chad, perhaps q
thousand miles farther eastward. Surveys
have been made to extend the Biskra road
to that point, but so far less than two hun
dred miles have been built. and almost two
thousand remain to be constructed. This
road would go through a number OF GASES,
and would largely follow the lines Of the
present caravan routes.
Another Trans Sahara road is planned to
start at Blidah, in Algeria, and terminate
at one of the bends of the Niger In Bornu
or Hausaland. The distance in this case
would be less than seventeen hundred miles
and the road would parallel the Biskra
line until it reached the center of the
desert.
do not mean to say that any of these
roads will soon be completed. They are all
dependent on water. cheap fuel and other
conditions. The Biskra and the Colomb
Bechar roads have already been built far
down into the sands, but their extensions
are as yet uncertain. The French sur
veyors have gone carefully over the two
routes, and they have furnished not only