The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-21

tbIf CONNECT liit CiiltI ibitdl u ~
sultan with the French colonial rail
way system and give Morocco access 70
almost three thousand miles Of rail-
road communication.
Still another road proposed is that
from Nogador to M~arakech and Fez.
This would furnish Fez with a short
route to the AtIantic ocean. This was
the line favored by ST Mehdi el Men
ebbi, the ex-War minister OF the sui
tan. Both the French and the Ger
mans are now after railway Conces-
siOns in Morocco.
Railroads Across the sahara.
More interesting thar any Of these
schemes are those which are planned
to connect the rich regions Of the At
las mountains with the Soudan. that
great fertile, healthy belt of North
Central Africa. The Soudan runs
clear across the continent from the
Nile to the Atlantic, n it is wonder
fully rich in and people.
The barrier between the two regions
is the great Desert Of Sahara. which
is as long as the Mediterranean and
is wide as from the Atlantic ocean
- the Rockies. 1t is in this desert
that I am now writing. ! have rid
den for many miles over its rocky
wastes of stone and sand. and have
climbed the mountains and plateaus
which are found here and there il
many parts Of it.
The sahara itself is neither level nor
low. 1t has vast plains where me sand
stretches out on very side to .I.e h -
zon. but there are many places. Who're
the country is rolling. Therc arc
gorges along the beds of dr. rivers.
there are mighty bluffs of stone an1
no end of hills and mountains. am
in sight Of the chief range of the At
las at Biskra. and its hills are dryer
than the Sahara itself. | rode for
rny-A~a I-.- 49,
which separates Algeria and Moroc-
co. The sands Of the desert go to the
foothills and pile up there in great
masses, While the slopes above are alb
Solutely bare of vegetation and alto
gether arid.
h average level of the Sahara
throughout is as high as that Of the
Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia.
There are but few places where it
drops to 800 feet above the sea. and
only one or two in which il falls below
sea level. Lake cha itself is several
hundred feet above the ocean.
In the lower part of the central Sa-
hafa, on the upper edge of which /
am now writing. there is a plateau
extending from northwest to southeast.
which IS on the average more than
1000 feet high. and upon it there is
a mountain range which rises in places
to almos 10000 feet. h mountains
are so high that they are crowlel
with snow in the winter.
In the western Sahara the country
is almost equally rough, and there l.
much rolling land in the Desert cf
Libya, at the east.
y Poor Place for a Railway.
IN addition to its rolling charAct"r.
the desert offers many obstacles T..
railroad building. one is the long
stretches over which the track must
go without water, and another IS inc
enormous cost Of hauling the fuel. At
Colcomb Bechar the terminus OF t!c
road which the French are building
southwark toward Timbuktu. cd! Is
now worth $50 a tonm and, untcSs
mines can be found along the line <
the route, q cheaper fuel must I've rb-
tanned or the extension a~bandoa'i1.
stations at present are chiefly at
the GASES; but even there the pipes
which supply the water tanks are
wrapped With straw to retard
ton and ever means is used to in
the water supply.
The sahara itself can furnish but
little support for a railroad. 1t is pep
pered with GASES, but the fertile spots
are far apart. and it is onl, in such
regions as the Fezzan. Twat and Ia
flet. where there are a large number
of GASES together. that there Will be
many passengers or much freight. The
sahara has. all told. about 0 1000
miles of GASES, but these are
scattered owe a region larger han
Europe and many OF them are ina.
cessible except to camels.
The freight of the desert is chiefly
made up of dates. grain ana alta
grass. Some tobacco and cot On are
raised in the southern sahara. but rot
enough to form a, freight item: and
the salt mines. which now supply a
part of the arava loads, would act
make Il great traffic.
Tie So.dan.
The SoudaE. at the south OF the Sa-
hara. is far different. 1t has ia cncr-
RtIus population Of na-i1" hllC;S. No
one knows how many Iliare arc, but
tht probability is that theS number
LctWeen fifty and one iIuIut~t mIillpa
souls. There are something like tW.:H-
t FIVE millions in EigeTii alone. ana
French and German pr Ni1rtS con
tam many millions moe There a.e
| : tow ms there. such :tS '.ka aNu Nd
IL which are now cdrl.tn rrn."rS,
others. such - r~in!oIttI. which
cities once. and WEirn W"u'1 -
great again il L railroad could be built
to them.
At present the caravan trade is fall
off. The trains by soldiers, which
used TO start across the sahara with
perhaps a half million dollars worth
of goods. consisting of ivory, gold dust
and slaves. have dwindled to rains
containing one hundred camels or less,
the caravan trade dininishes eVer>
year. 1t still carries some European
merchandise across from Tripoli, Tun-
isia 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
tho hnoI va tore 90 tho Si,a- tx