The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-01-24

"fA is MdhihS AnOrOuGh N5oB1oEt-
 cal and Biological Surveys.
 The French government is building telegraph line across the Desert of Sahara, and in connection with that work is making thorough geogioglcal and biological surveys. Within another year anybody will be able to send a telegram to Timbuctoo, which, to the popular mind, is an imaginary place, beyond the reach of human civiliza- ton. But Timbuctoo promises a com mercial center of great importance, and the reports of the survey of the great desert are correcting may popu- lar delusions concerning that part of the universe.
 While I was in Paris few weeks ago the minister of colonies and his assistants gave me some very interest," ing information about these matters The telegraph line Is being built and the surveys are being conducted un- der the immediate direction of the Governor General of Algeria, and if you will open your atlas and turn to map of Africa you can trace the route. The wires will run from the City of Algeiers across the sandy waste down. to the oasis of Touat, which is very important point From there they will follow caravan trail that has been used for centuries south of the Ahagar mountains, and thence southwestward to Timbuctoo and thence follow the river bank to the port of Dakar on the Atlantic coast, in the province of Senrgal The work began last winter, and has been go- ing on nearly nine months Many pre- cautions and considerable prepara- were necessary but thus far no great difficulties have been encountered All water, provisions, material and every thing that is needed must be carried in on the backs of camels, and supply trains are passing to and fro with great regularity between Algiers and Timbuctoo and the camping grounds or the several parties.
 The manual labor is being done by natives from desert tribes until re- gently in a savage state, and five years ago they would have cheerfully slaughtered any white man or Chris tian who ventured among them. The early explorers used to stain their faces and profess to be followers of Mohammed. In that way they gradual ly gained the confidence of the wan dering tribes and obtained permission to make their explorations and survey d route for the telegraph line. Thirty years ago similar work was done in Siberia. General Anson Stager of Cleveland, superintendent of that di- vision of the Western Union Telegraph line, stretched wire from the Ural mountains to Kamchatka across the snowy steppes of northen Siberia. He followed very nearly the same trial that is now occupied by the great Si- berian railroad. The work was much more difficult and therefore the achi- evement was much greater than that which is now going on in northern Africa. The dangers and difficulties
 
 were several times as great.
 The explorations of the French have deminstrated that the great desert is hot such a. frightful place as has been represented and the world will be com- pelled to revise its ideas, as has been the case with the great American des ert With irrigation everything in the way of plant life will grow with luxu- riance in the desert sands of northern Africa, and, what is even more strange those sands are mixed iwth seeds of a great variety of plants which have been lying dormant for centuries. Loke the grains of wheat found in the sar- cophagi of the Egyptian kings, they will germinate promptly when the soil is moistened. There seems to be to . doubt that the desert of Sahara was once inhabited by large population; that the dry water coursees of today were once great rivers, and the deep basins, many of them serveral hun dred feet below the level of the sea, were formerly lakes which have eva porated in the dry air and in the heat of the sun since their sources of supply were cut off by the drifting sands. The rivers have vanished for similar reasons. The springs which fed them have been checked and filled with sand, and there being no rainfall or at least very little, the water courses have lain dry ever since,
 The present condition of the desert is due entirely to the causes described and the explorers assert that much of it may be reclaimed with comparative ly little trouble and expense Their ex- perimental borings have determined that the entire surface of the desert, at least so far as the investigations have extended, is underlaid with sub terranean streams and reservoirs which can be reached by sinking wells at depth varying from ECO to 2,O00 feet, according to the alttuce of the point where the boring is made Numerous dry springs have been found along the caravan trail, which have been choked I'D with sand so that the water mas been forced to find an outlet below in stead of ab,ve the surface. Theses dis eoveries nave enabled the French eX- plorers to establish camps along the trail for the benefit of the caravans and to introduce the cultivation of dates. which are tn, star!. product of the desert, to a much larger extent than at present. Palm groves are be- ing planted around all the wells and shelterine houses are being erected.
 There are many sheep, goats and
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