Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-14
Copyright. 1907. by Frank G. Carpenter.)
Special Correspondence of The Star
.ATBARA.

ATBARA.
HAVE come to Attbara to describe
the new railroad which the British
have built from here to to the Red
sea. The road begins two hundred
miles north of Khartum. in the
heart of the Nubian desert. and goes
over the sand and rock. up hill and down.
for distance of 49, miles to Port Sudan.
IL crosses one of the bleakast deserts on
earth. There is no vegetation at all be
tween here and the Red sea. until within
about nine miles of the coast, where there
Is a scanty growth of thorn bush and
scrub. which feeds small focks of camels
and shep. The only inhabitants of the
desert are some Nu1ian tribes. who go
about from place to place. living in tents
OF mating seeking pasture for the il
fiocks and camping down by the ccca-
sional wells.
The Red Sea road was opened a little
more than a year ago; it began doing
business soon as it was finished
and it now has more freight than cars
All the trade of the Sudan Will proba bly,
go over 1t, and. it is believed. much of
the tourist travel as well. Already the
/ Mohammedan pilgrims. from central At
RIGA and the whole Upper Nile valley
are taking this railroad on their way
to and from Mecca; some of the tourists
who go up the Nile are returning by the
Red sea and ships are now sailing regu-
iarly from Port Sudan to Suez.
A Great Freight Route.
This road is bound to make a great
change in the freight rates to the Sudan
All the goods of the past have been land
ed at Alexandria and carried by rail or
boat up the Nile to Shellal, a distance al
most as great as from New York to Chi
cago There it has been taken on steam
ers to Wady Halfa. and thence on trains
10 khartum. The railroad freight had to
De transferred on its way to Shellal. be-
ing taken from the broad-guage cars at
Luxor and placed on the narrow gauge
from Luxor to Assouan. All of these
transfers were costly. and the freight
rates were high and the traffic slow. Now
shlps go right through the Suez canal to
Port sudan. on the Red sea. and there
Iand their goods for the Sudan There are
excellent shipping facilities and the
freight is transferred almost direct to the
cars. which by one continuous five hum
dred mile haul land them in Khartum. In
the past wheat could be sent from Chjca-
go to Liverpool at a lower freight than
that which formerly prevailed between
khartum and Wady Halfa The cause
for this was the high price of coal, as it
all had to be brought up the Nile from
road. The coal in now coming in from
the Red sea and the English are erecting
shipping facilities to accommodate the
traffic.
The Atbara River,
But first let me give you some idea of
the station which forms the terminus
OF the Red Sea railroad. Atbara is right
In the heart of the Libyan desert 1t is
about 200 miles north of Khartum at the
junction of the Atbara river and the Nile
III is also at the junction of the Red Sea
road with the great trunk line which is
10 go from Cairo to the Cape The MOTH
ern section of the latter starts at Alex
andria and runs northward through here
70 hhartum, where the Blue and White
Mics come together and form the main
stream.
The Atbara river. which can be plainly
seen from TINS station. is the last branch
tilat the Nile has between this point and
the sea. The Atbara rises in the Abys-
slnlan mountains and it carries down to
the Nile every year millions of tons of
the rich Abyssinian mud which makes so
fertile the Lower Nile valley. During a
part of the year this river has a volume
which compares with that of the grea test
rivers of the world and at other times
much of II is as dry as a bone. From
March until June you can walk across it
In most places without wetting your feet
and there is only water here and there
Neglected in the depressions and pools.
XrhsSe contain hippopotami. crocodes.
lAeSsles and FISH. This is the case of about
oSs hundred and fifty miles above Atbara.
Ihe great floods begin in July and last
u4il October. Then the waters are about
-fh1rty reef deep and they roll down in a
-s|eat river from quarter to half
mile wide They are of a reddish color
and are loaded with the volcanic dust of
which the Abyssinian highlands are made
WhsE the hoods come they bring down
n~Sses of driftwood, upon which are