The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-12

~ -ENN
GEA%k g. CARPENTER.
5-. e.. s3rm the mighty stream which
ra- built up the land OF Egypt. I
have gone on the railroad through the
Rich regions Of the lower Nile Valley,
and am now i'm the upper end Of Eubia
al the railroad station Of ii&.fa~l,
which lies Just opposite Khartum. My
distance from the Mediterranean Is
equ.f to q straisht line from the At
Irrt.e ocean to the borders of Colo
RADIO. ana / am Just about as far south
Of Alexandria as New Orleans is south
Of the booming Winnipeg. From here
can get steamer which viii take me
nm I'm the White Nile for more than a
Thousand miles, and there are some
thing like soc miles of available water
WAYS between that point and the other
end ot the TOad which has been con-
structed from Cape Town northward
"a TAR beyond the Zambesi i've
BY Steam from Cairo to the Cape.
lu thinking of the Cape to Cairo
continuous railway system or OF one
iron track running north and south
through Africa from one end to the
other. This it will never be. We shall
60 by steam from Cairo to the Cape;
hut almost o~ne-third of the way viii
20 tfEi H1FlSCp1S ilNetS dIt 1oNIS-
This was the idea of Cecil Rhodes,
and it is tire idea Of every practical
engineer who has examined h coun-
Try and its traffic possibilities. There
will be n railroad line running from
Cape Town as far north as Lake Tan
g~sGyiI1a, and another practically con-
rGpus rail system from here to Alex
a ria. The rest of the route Will be
I I'D of rail and water. Fae White
Nile above Khartum may be paral-
leei mere and there by iron tracks,
but for a generation or so, at least, the
taflc will be by steamers as tar as
the belgian Congo, at GOrdOkOrO, a
distance Of owe LOO miles. Al that
point there will be u railroad strip Of
100 miles or SO to Duffie, Il then
the Nile viii again be used and steam
es VIII so up it to LAX Albert and
across that lake to its southern shores.
Between Lakes Albert and T~anganyika
VIII &c Il little more than 500 miles Of
railroad, with q siXty-miies ferryage
across Lake Kivu, which lies between.
Then viii come the long stretch OF
Like Tangauyika. consisting CT a deep
waterway 400 miles long, and then the
roGtaeII; section Of the road, going al
most straight south TO Cape Town.
So far more than 5000 miles OF iron
track have been laid on the northern
and southern ends OF the system. The
southern section - now about 1000
49, 1870 - -AII' ~
Cape Town n~orthWard q distance CT
almost 400 miles above the Zambesi
river, and there remain only 400 miles
to construct Before the trains can con-
meet with the little now on
Lake T~Gug1nEika. This section Will
probably pc completed in the near flu
ture, as the late Mr.. Belt. n of Cecil
Rhodes partners, set aside in his
will a least 5000 O0 for that pur-
pose. | ave before me Il diagram re
- IT,. G-,,n - tbn \ -, w. =
which shows the line Of the route, and
the extent of water and rail it will
contain when completed. According
to this the total distance viii be about
300 miles, OF which about 1000 miles
viii be railway and the balance taken
uD by the rivers and lakes to which ]
have referred.
Up the Nile ny Railway.
/ should like to take you with me
over this first great section OF ttH
cape to Cairo railway. We shaIl need
fpur days. to go from the Medite1ran-
can to the junction of the Waite and
FIue Niles, where | now am. but the
trip will be comfortable ana there are
great sights all the way. We start
at Alexandria, the chief seaport Of the
Nile valley, and, in three hours. on:
express train carries us across THROUGH
the delta to Cairo. Both Alexandra
mo Cairo have good railroad depots.
the first city contains more than "a
GOO people, and the second more than
4h0, 600. so that there is a rapid and
frequent train service between them.
We take the express, and as we go
first class we must DAY three cents a
mile. The second class fare IS only
half as much as the first, and the thlrG
is still cheaper. Every train has first.
second and third class cars. Those OF
the first are divided up into compart-
mentS and are ~patrOnized by tourists
and officials. The second class cars
are much like those of our American
TRAINS. having an aisle through the
leu-er. they are used by merchants,
commercial travellers and well-to-do
natives The third class cars ara
rHcaply gotten up and their seats are
wood benches; they are always tlled
VITA the Egyptians, n TOR
el@ners seldom ravel in them. our
tickets are little blue cards with the
price printed upon them in English
and Arabic. We have to show them
u the guard as we enter the tram,
and they are not examined again until
~ are taken up at the gates at the
'5L"t as we go out.
We have some trouble with our bag
gag, for. like the ordinary American,
We are loaded with trunks. Only nifty
.,t pounds can be checked without
aura charge. n M trunks often cost
we more than my are Ne notlce
.a} the English and Egyptian pas
RS put the most OF their h@lonS-
* INTO bundles and bags, which they
w. allowed to bring into the cars
t.'A Them. Many a single passenger
SarryI1g fOur or five yal-ses, each
dung as muc as a small steamer
I'M and the compartments are MAJ
81 with such luggage. Every mrs.
III mas a guard or porter WIZ