Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-10-09

geographically, almost the whole
northern half of Africa is a desert, in
which Egypt and fertile mountainous
tracts along the Mediterranean may
be- regarded as large GASES. Geographi-
cally, there are three deserts-the Nu-
hian, bordering the Red Sea and re-
appearing across the sea in Asia in
the Arabian Desert the Libyan be-
tween FeZzan and Egypt, and Sa-
hara or the Great Desert, which in
Guides a number of small arid tracts
that extend like long arms far into the
fertile regions north and south of its
principal body. The last presents a
vast undivided waste almost two
thousand miles in length from east to
west. and nearly one thousand in av
erage breadth from north to SOUTH
This means an approximate area of
3.595.500 square miles, one equal to
the whole of Europe, without the
scandinavian peninsula. Politically.
the Sahara belongs to the various
countries which border it or which ex-
ercise a protectorate over lands that
lie near. Hence, Morocco, the Turkish
empire. Italy. and. through Algeria
and Tunis, France own each its neigh
boring portion: but by far the larger
part of the territory belongs to France,
along with the French Congo and the
colony on the Senegal
Chief among the remarkable fea-
lures of the great Sahara is, perhaps.
its distinctness of outline. Standing
on the southern slope of the Atlas
range, one looks out upon what has
almost the appearance of a boundless
sea, which forms, as it We're, a bold
coastine along its northern edge,
whose sheltered bays and commanding
promontories are occupied by a series
of towns ana villages. Toward the
south, as in Morocco and Algeria, the
desert comes to a close in some local
tiles as suddenly as If it had been cut
off with a knife: in others it merges
gradually into the -watered and
fertile lands % the SoHdan. This sea-
like aspect of certain portions of the
Sahara has given rise to much popu-
lar misconeeption as to its general APP
pearanee, and has even affected the
ideas and phraseology of some scien-
tific writer's. 1t is not at all the low
sand plain that it is widely supposed
to be. 1t is rather a region of the
most varied surface and irregular re-
lief. Rugged hills OF barren rocky
formation, known as hammada, plat
eaus of firm clay, mighty fields OF
loose stones and water-worn pebbles,
shallow basins filed with very salt
water, and arid stepes covered with
sage brush are interspersed with the
famous sanddunes which give char
acter to this remarkable region. Those
terrible expanses of shifting sand so
fine that it actually penetrates the
skin Of the traveller and makes
breathing distressful, lie chiefly to-
ward the east, in the Eastern Erg, as
it is called. In the Libyan Desert
there are such expanses of vast and
unknown limit. In the Western Erg
from the Atlantic coast to south OF
Cape Blanco a broad belt of dunes
called Igidi or Gidi-from the Berper
word for dunes-extends thirteen hun
dred miles northeast with a, breadth of
from fifty to three hundred miles.
This is the region which from the
highlands of Algeria and Morocco
looks So much like a storm tossed sea.
The dunes in all parts OF the Sahara
lie generally in long undulating lines,
very like the pillows of the ocean.
with gradual slopes to windward and
an abrupt descent leeward. They are
usually sixty to seventy feet in height,
but are said to attain in some places
fully three hundred feet. The sand
that forms them is exceedingly fine,
being, in fact, the dust of rock bat
tered and powdered by the action or
centuries of fierce winds and rainiess
heat by day and sharp chill by night.
In this condition every slightest breeze
is sufficient to raise 1t in choking
clouds, though the amazing reports Oh
frightful sand storms which over
whelm whole caravans being the com
mon thing in the desert are mere falry
tales. Under the influence OF the
winds, all the dunes are subject TO u
certain amount of continual change, OF
course, but their equilibrium is sucn
that in topographic distribution they
are comparatively permanent. some
of them even have names of their own.
In any discussion of the recognition
of this great waste it must be borne
in mind that, since by far the greater
part of the Sahara is from seventy
feet to more than a mile in elevation
above ocean level, and those tracts
which lie below ocean level are emery
valleys between the hills and noun
tains or the basins Of ancient lakes
never very extended in area, sahara
Sea would consist only of an eXceeo-
ingly irregular body of water contain
ing many islands and extending INTO
the unflooded districts in multltude
of bays and coves. 1t would be consld-
eiably less than one third the size Oh
the Mediterranean. And now there
recurs the question of the possible
physical influences of such sea. IN
the view of G. A. Thompson, VINO de-
bates the subject learnedly and at
length in the Scientific American,
these could not be disastrous.
If the Sahara Sea should have an
entire area of 250,000 square miles
With mean depth of 200 feet-and
both estimates are generous-it would
contain about thirty-five billion tons
of water. Whether the canal were
cut to the north coast of Africa, or
TO the west, the flooding would De
gradual and the level Of the Atlantic
would speedily be. reestabllilshed.. oil