The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-04-16
BS FRANK G.. CARPENTER.
1iON 1IiE french ARE GUARD
ING TIE WOI;LD'S GREATIsT
DESERT.
Copyright, 1906. by Frank G. Carpenter.

HOW TIE FRENCH ARE GUARD
ING TIE WOI;LD'S GREATEST
DESERT.
1iicy Have Arab Soldiers on CameI,
Which, 60 one Hundred Miles I'm n
DaN-Thc Tuarcg- Scouts. Who
Wear Ncii~-Ihc French Military
isaiiroada-Thc Desert Brieands Of
Noroccn-t Look ut The Military
MISUNDERSTANDING Features Of the
Desert and Its Life.
Bcni Ouuif-I am in one 81 the
Widest parts Of the greatest desert on
Garth. On all sides II me is the Sa-
nara. stretching To tho west, south
auG east. for hundreds Of miles. The
Desert. all told. is larger than the
Iuit"d states. It is 50 big that If YOU
Gould lift up its sandy. rocky surface,
IF" q gum. aud transport il to our
,DuntrE, it would cover every bit Of
81. and hide q part of Canada ana the
'u1f Of Mexico. 1t is longer than the
MrJll"rranenan sea. and bigger than
ADJ Europe In some places it is -
400 miles wide. Where now am is
more than 400 miles south of the
port Of Oran. and about 1900 miles
Irom Tfmbuhtu on the Niger, where
thc Great fertile belt Of Africa begins.
'i INC fLN5c Oh Morocco.
Tar- is on the vcry edge OF the
FIrH. 70 sahara. just west Of it there
are Id rocky mountains as bare as
u.. .-phalt of Pennsylvania venue.
.|H| ms thirsty as was Dives when he
u.-"cj Lazarus to cool his parched
tongue. They mark the boundary be-
tNrCn the possessions Of the French
and those Of the Moorish sultan; but
tG" desert goes farther Westward. and
at the southwest it does not stop until
IL reaches the Atlantic ocean.
Into the Sahara on The French Mill
tury Railroad.
| came here on the military rail-
road. built by the French. to guard
their people from The b%riGands OF No
rocco. 1t is the road which. it is
thought, may some day be continued
clear across the Sahara to Timbuktu.
With possibly a branch going off to
Luke Chad. The road starts at Oran.
and carries u through the rich lands
Of the Tcll. Il country as fat as our
Mississippi VALLEY. which has grain
hcids and orchards. and vineyards
which make millions Of gallons OF
wine every ear. The scenes there
are like those Of the best parts of
California. We left Oran in the even
ing, and as the night fell we were still
in the Tell.
On the Ntias Plateau
Wrapping myself in my blanket,
viii my camera under my head as q
pillow | slept fitfully all night and
awoke on the high plateau of The All
las mountains. beyond which is the
desert. | was passing through Il great
plain of yellow sandy soil. covered
here and there with stones. and spot
tod everywhere With punches of dry
AHA @TaSs. Only in one direction We're
there any hills to be seen. and they
Wrrc bleak. barren and rocky.
The AHA was growing right in the
sands. It is q long Why grass. which
is Gathered by the thousands of tons
ana shipped to Europe for the making
If paper. 1T is. cut by the Arabs n
There are companies with immense
capital which handle it. 1t grows to
'he Hci&ht of my waist in lunches.
SOM" OF which are not bigger tnan
ones fist. while others sprout out Of
mounds which would ill Il half-bushcl
measure. 1t looks tough and dry. but
nevertheless large cocks Of white and
brown sheep. black goats and caInels
feed upon it. 7 saw such animals
scattered over the plains. each flock
watched by Il shepherd in white gown
and turhun. who look a like IL ghost
rs h" stood among his sheep in the
carly morning.
We passed many tent villages occu-
pied by such shepherds and their
t#miIi"s. The tents are Of a oarse
black cloth woven i'll stripes. They
are 50 stretched out that one has to
get down upon his knees and crawl in.
The cloth is made of carnels hair aCd
Sleeps wool by the wives Of the slep-
herds: IT is used as canvas throughout
the desert.
Down luto the Desert.
We soon left the Atlas and came on
fato the sahara itself. There was
still some vegetation. but it was only
in patches. here and there. or along
The banks Of driCd-up streams. Now
he land WAS fl1f and NOW if rose init
rocky mountains which We're black in
the early morning. As looked out
over the plains ! saw the sun rise
There WAS first q faint streak of vel
until ii became a sheet of light over
the horizon. \ few minutes later a
ralc yellow SUD oul be seen through
this veil. rs it rose the veil disap-
peared and I blazing white ball jump
ed out into the Sky. For q time 4
thin ficecy mist lowered Over the
sands. only to b. followed by the clear
air OF the desert.
As We went on With our journey the
Sahara seemed always changing. We
raised for miles over bare rock. al
most as smoth as q floor. and then
through regions where the rocks We're
Jagged and cut up into all sorts OF
shapes. At times there We're bould-
t|s and again small pebbles Of diff
ferent colors, red, brown and black.
Here about Benz Ounif the desert is
largely limestone. while farther south.
along The Iousfana river. | passed
through rolling dunes and plains GOV
red with DoulderS.
Not Il EIat Bed OF sand.
The old descriptions represented the
Sahara as q drearN waste of barren
sand a. Hat as the sea. Il vast wilder
ness where travellers must perish II
they tried to go through it. The real
sahara has vast eXpanSeS of sand. 1t
has plains as big as q ~Sood-Stzed state
Of the Jnion which are covered with
tones. bat a great part Of it Is roll
lI.S. It IS largely Il plateau. broken
up BY lofty mountains and cut up by
water courses called WaddyS which
are dry the greater part of the year.
lis average height above the sea IS
about as greet as that of the Blue
Ridge mountains of Virginia. and in
many places it is as high as the Nile
Thenfcs and higher.
The sand dunes themselves ar"
sometimes six hundred feet high. and