Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-18

SUPPORTED a large population. Everywhere
he went he saw the remains of the Romans.
There were ruined towns and villages and
enough stones in them to build hundred
new settlements. Here and there he crossed
rich GASES, and he has advanced the opin-
Ion that his road will pay. The part al
ready built Is now doing SO, and he has
traffic If 1t should ever be completed to
Tunisia, and the Morocco extension made,
1t would bring Africa within four hours
Of Europe by way Of the Strait Of Gibral-
tar and there will be a probable connection
with Asia by road which might be built
from Cairo to connect with the lines now
going south through Damascus and Jerusa-
lem.
Morocco's Railway Possibilities.
AS to Morocco, that country will eventual
ly form live field for railroad engineers
1t is now in such unsettled state that
the powers will have to take hold of 1t
within short time Both life and prop
erty are unsafe, and it is impossible for
foreigners to travel through it,
Morocco is one of the richest countries of
Africa, and one Of the worst governed and
most backward. 1t has ten or more million
population, and 1t is said to be far richer
than either Algeria or Tunisia Excepting
the French regions of the Desert of Sahara,
Morocco is almost as large as those two
countries put together, and 1t has no roads
nor any highways of communication except
bride paths. 1t has some large cities, such
as Fez Marakech and Mekinez, and eight
or more coastal ports The country is such
that railroads could be easily built through
1t, and am told that the natural resources
would eventually make the roads pay.
One of the first lines to be constructed in
Morocco will be from Tanger, the port OPP
posite Gibraltar, to Fez the capital. The
distance is one hundred and seventy-five
miles, and at present all the freight be-
tween the two cities is carried camels,
donheys and mules. Travellers usually go
upoa horseg, and they mu. always be ac-
conf panied by soldiers CIR pay tribute to
the tribes along the way.
Another scheme is to extend the Western
Algerian road. which now goes to Tlemeen,
on to Fee. This would connect the chief
capital OF the sultan with the French CO.
lonial railway system and give Morocco ac-
cess to almost three thousand miles of rail-
road communication
Still another road proposed is that from
Mogador to Marakech and Fee. This would
furnish Fee with short route to the At
lantic ocean. This was the line favored by
81 Mehdi ell Menebbi, the ex-war minister
of the sultan. Both the French and the
Germans are now after railway concessions
In Morocco.
Railroads Across the Sahara.
More interesting than any Of these
schemes are those which are planned to
connect the rich regions of the Atlas noun
tains with the Soudan, that great fertile
healthy belt of North Central Africa. Tho
Soudan runs clear across the continent from
the Nile to the Atlantic, and 1t Is wonder
fully rich in resources and people The
barrier between the two regions is the great
Desert Of Sahara, which is as long as the
Mediterranean and as wide as from the At
lantic ocean to the Rockies It is in this
desert that 1 am now writing. I have rid
den for many miles over it's rocky wastes
of stone and sand, and have climbed the
mountains and plateaus which are found
here and there In many parts of 1t.
The Sahara itself is neither level nor
low. 1t has vast plains where the sand
stretches out on every side to the horizon,
but there are many places where the coun-
try is rolling. There are gorges along the
beds of dry rivers, there are mighty bluffs
OF stone and no end of hills and noun
tains. / in sight of the chief range
OF the Atlas at Biskra, and its hills are
dryer than the Sahara itself. I rode for
several hundred miles along the range
which separates Algeria and Morocco. The
sands of the desert go to the foothills and
pile up there In great masses, while tho
slopes above are absolutely bare of vege-
tation and altogether arid.
The average level OF the Sahara through
out is as high as that Of the Blue Ridge
places where 1t drops to 500 feet. above the
sea, and only one or two In which 1t fails
below sea level. Lake Chad itself is sew
eral hundred feet above the ocean,
III inc lower part u the c6utTdl Salaras
on the upper edge Of which am now writ.
Ing, there II q plateau extending from
northwest to southeast which IL on tho
average more than 1000 feet high, and
upon it there is q mountain range which
rises in places to almost 10.000 feet The
mountains are 80 high that they arc
crowned with snow in the winter.
In the western Sahara the country Is
almost equally rough, and there Is much
rolling land In the Desert Of Libya, at
the east
A Poor Place for q Railway.
In addition to its rolling character, the
desert offers many obstacles to railroad