The sun., 1910-01-12

n extend to ships of the desert the
benevolent system of ship subsidy is
proceeding too logical to be anything
but French. Full details of this novel
ship subsidy are set forth in the recent
report of NJ. JoNNART. GOvernor-Gen-
eral of Algeria. From this report il ap-
pears that no less than s. 600 has been
expended annually for several years in
encouraging the extension of caravan
routes to the French Sudan, and par
ticularly to places east of the Niger and
on the frontier of British Nigeria. The
camel corps start from lnsolah in the
Algerian Sahara and make the journey
to Agades and Finder.
Much OF the route now traversed by
subsidized caravans is still indicated on
commercial maps by the long dotted
line that marks the route of the
future transsaharan railway, which
was frequently talked Of a decade or
two ago. Insolah itself has from a
military point of view replaced Biskia
and even Ain Sefra as the centre Of
operations in the French Sahara. In
former times Insolah was shown in the
maps as the end Of the oases and the
point from which the transsaharan would
plunge into the desert on it's journey TO
Timbuktu.
One little fragment of this great rail-
way has actually been built, a stretch Of
thirty miles from Blidah on the Algiers-
nv~av, linz tsNn y ia,
town a military road traversed now by
a service of automobiles carrying mails
and even stray tourist, reaches
Laghouat, once the limit Of French
occupation. From Laghouat to Insolah
through Ghardaia runs n route pro-
tected by French patrol and used for
military transport, for InsOlah, although
seven hundred miles from Hgiers, is a
garrison town.
Two things are Of at least passing
interest in connection with the ship
subsidy incident First OF all it indi-
Gates the great progress that the French
have made in restoring order over the
whole desert. For many years the
Tuareg, the pirate Of the Sahara, pill
LACED and plundered caravans until
practically all commerce ceased and
the caravan routes, after centuries of
use, we're abandoned Only in The last
decade. by organizing a corps which,
mounted on swift camels, pursued and
exterminated the Tuareg, have the
French been able to restore the safety
Of desert navigation.
Not less interesting IL the strategieal
significance Of the present venture.
The old caravan route from Agades and
Finder runs north through Rhat and
Ghadames TO Tripoli. To TripoL, more
over, has belonged the importance and
the profit incident 20 serving as the port
Of the Sahara. The subsidized caravan
service from Insdah to AGades and
Finder taps this trade and brings TO
Algiers the commerce formerly Tripol-
.itan. Precisely as the French by the
railroad from OraR to Colomb- Bechar
have intercepted the ancient trade
route from the Sudan to Morocco and
DETECTED the commerce 20 Oran, the
Insolah- Agades camel line cuts the
Eastern route.
A subsidized camel SERVICE after all,
lacks much of the grandiose appeal to
the imagination Of a transsaharan rail-
way, yet as an aid to commerce its value
is not insignificant 1t is, moreover, a
further indication Of the fashion in
which French order and French disci-
pline are making themselves felt all over
this frontier of Africa. Not the least
noteworthy phase of the novel under
taking from the point OF view Of the
Governor-G General is the fact that the
service has proved a success and de-
served the~subvention