Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-27

region and the chief imports come from
France via the Atlantic ocean instead of
across country on camels.
There Is another scheme to extend the
Bisk ra road which runs down into the Al
gerian Sahara from Constantine not far
from Tunisia and in time we may cross the
Sahara by rail.
Surveying the Sahara.
The French are rapidly prospecting the
desert. They have already laid out the
route for telegraph line from Algiers to
T1mbuktu and Lake Chad 1t will be $3.50
miles long. Their civil engineers have also
gone over the desert from here to Timbuktu
and they report that the chief difficulty
in running railroad between the two
points will be the question of fuel. The coal
which is now used on this line is briquettes
made of coal dust, each being the size of an
ordinary building brick. and the expense Of
transportation is such that at Colomb
Bechar good coal costs about $40 a
ton. This cost will be increased as the
railroad goes farther south. At this writ
ing the engineers have discovered no coal
along the route, and / am told that they
will not continue the road unless some
cheaper fuel can be invented. If Thomas
Edison should discover, as he has been try
the full energy of the coal without turning
1t into steam, that may solve the problem.
AS it is now. fully 90 per cent of the
heat energy is lost. so that such an inven-
1t is now. This would make a transsa-
haran railroad a possibility.
A Look at the Caravans.
The caravans which bring goods here
from the GASES are as clumsy a means of
transportation as can be imagined. Each
freight camel on long journey carries
about 800 pounds, and the usual rate of
travel is not more than two miles an hour.
Every dozen camels has to have a driver,
and each caravan Is equipped with water
bottles Of pig skins and provisions for the
people on the journey. The ordinary
caravan has only an hundred or so camels
and some from thirty to sixty, while the
larger ones will have many as 500 and
several hundred men to guard them. In
the past caravans of thousand or more
camels were not uncommon and there are
some such caravans now on their way
from the Soudan to Tripoli.
Many of these caravans stop for the
camels to feed on the thorn bushes as
they go over the desert. Others carry pro-
visions for a part of the way. The routes
are always along the lines Of the GASES.
as camel can only go from three to five
the beasts are kept from drinking for
some time before starting in order that
they may be thirsty and fill the great
reservoirs inside them.
Freight Camels Versus Racing Camels.
l find that there is a great difference in
camels down here in the Sahara. There
are some who go as easy a gated Ken
tuckly horse, and others which jar one
more than a hard trotter. The meharis,
or fast riding camels. make twelve
miles an hour right along; they seem to
be all legs and have the speed of the
winds. They are well cared for and are
as beautiful as camels can be. There are
usually some of these meharis with the
larger caravans. They are ridden by sol
diers the chiefs of the tribes, armed
with guns. Sometimes Tuaregs, SO mount
ed, are employed guards.
The freight camels on the other hand
are SCARED and dingy They always look
sullen and will bite at you as they pass.
They groan. grumbe and even shed tears
every morning when the loads are put on,
and they seem angry from daylight to
dark. 1t takes two three months for a
caravan to cross the Sahara. whereas by
railroad one could make the journey in
three four days. The caravan trade, L
understand, is steadily falling off, and at
present the chief long distance transporta-
ton is between the Soudan and Morocco
and Tripoli. FRANK G. CARPENTER.