El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-08-19
By
Rene Bache

edge Of the desert would be seaports
of consequence their loca-
ton had sufficient altitude.
The mysterious" city Of Timbuctoo
was all of that to seOgraphers cen
fury ago. It was reported tand prob
ably the Arabs encouraged the delu-
SION TO be the metropolis of a vastly
wealthy kingdom. ruled over by p
monarch TO whom fabulous powers and
riches were ascribed. Today II be
longs to France, which took possession
of it in 1898. II is a town mostly OF
mud-huts. with about 10000 inhabit-
ants. though anciently il possessed
many more people and greater impor-
lance.
Is Important Town.
Even so. Timbuctoo is today an i'm
portant African city; for it is the Drin-
cipal market place sort Of com
mericaI exchanEe-of the region Of the
Upper Niger. There the wares brought
from the Mediterranean coast are bar
tered for products delivered by boat
from the south-EOld-d dust, ivory. vast
variety Of merchandise II is at Tim
buctoo that camel and "pirosue" meet
The camel can go no further south than
Timbuctoo. and survive; the Niger boat,
called A pirogue. meets IL there
ID the Niger from the Gulf OF
Guinea come the pirOCue in flotillas-
They bring their trade-stuff with them.
and exchange il by barter for the goods
fetched by the camel from the far
north. : wonderful traffic IS that Of
the Niger-a river which. because OF
its many mouths. was never followed
TO its upper waters until a few years
All are MiIIionarfes.
Timbuctoo is an oasis Situated not
on the Myers bank. but eight miles
north Of that river ton which It main
tains a subsidiary town, with docks
and other commercial conveniences
fairly adequate. though prim tive), il
holds its importance by reason of its
springs of fresh water. One Of its
points of remarkableness is that nearly
every one of its citizens is a million
aire.
The reason for the latter fact is
that in TimbuctOo the cowrie shell is
still money once upon time II was
current as medium Of exchange over
a large part of the world. but else
where II has been demOnetized- The
crime Of 1873" was antedated by many
crimes of the same sort. reaching away
back TO prehistoric ages. Demoneti-
cation OF silver is one OF = long line
of similar outrages. such as the de
monetiZation OF waUlpum, Of iron, OF
oxen. of sheep fmemOry Of that crime
is perpetuated in the word ''peCuniary.
from pecus. a flock. and OF cow~ies.
In Timbuctoo. however. 10000 cowries
are still worth a dollar. and few
hundred dollars will make a man q mil
lionaire-
The Sahara is not all desert. and by
no means the whole Of it is plain. As
already stated. there are high ranges
of mountains in the eastern part
and in the east and middle are many
green and fertile Gases rendered pro-
ductive and hahitable by springs
utilized for purposes OF irriEation-
Considered as geographical whole,
the Sahara extends from the Atlantic
ocean on the west to the Nile Valley
on the east and from the Soudan on
the south TO the Atlas Mountains on the
north. But the most sterile and impOs-
sibie part of tits the vast basin called
Fl Juf or the Great Hollow-the area
which IL is now proposed to reconvert
into an arm Of the Atlantic by the
simple e0pedient Of letting into II the
waters of the ocean.