The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-02-10
GREAT AFRICAN DESERT
new FACTS DISCOVERED
SAHARA NOT ALL SAND DUNES
HAS HIGH BARREN NOUN
TAlNs--lTS VAST EXTENT.
New York SUM

| About 40 years ago, some English
men proposed to dig canal on the
northwest coast of Africa, south of
Morocco, to admit the waters of the
Atlantic into the Sahara desert. 1t
was argued that a great inland sea
would thus be created and that ocean
vessels might steam into Africa and
pick up cargoes along the western
Sudan.
This fine idea was based upon the
prevalent notion that most of the des-
ert surface was much below sea level
Ii was discovered later that most of
the desert stands high above the sea.
II would take hard pumping to trans
fer much Atlantic water into the Sa-
hara.
The French, who have been the
greatest explorers of the desert have
corrected other false ideas about the
desert. The most conspicuous and
persistent Of these errors has been the
notion that the desert is vast area
of sand. The French have proved that
this is not so. In fact, only fifth Of
the Sahara is covered with sand.
Area of Sahara.
The greatest desert in the world is
about as large as the United States
and Alaska together. The sand areas
in the desert are somewhat larger than
Alaska; and the rocky tablelands
forming most of the desert are some
what smaller than the United States.
In other words, the Sahara is made
up of about 100000 square miles of
rock surface.
| 1t is not surprising that this error
has persisted until recently. For many
years, travellers, standing on the Atlas
mountains or descending to the north
ern edge Of the desert, saw nothing but
sand dunes. Mariners skirting the At
lantic saw nothing but sand stretch
ing away from the ocean. Boatmen on
the Red sea saw endless sand back
Of the high cliffs of northeast Africa.
Many persons have been taught that
the Nile river is the eastern border Of
the Sahara. The Nile and it's fertile
banks. in fact, are only green ribbon
running through the desert which goes
on to the eastern edge Of Africa.
Sand on Three Sides.
Thus the Sahara is fringed on three
sides by wide and sometimes narrow
zones of sand and gradually merges
toward the south into the vast, rocky
tablelands, SCARED with beds of dried
up rivers, diversified by mountain
ranges and deep depressions. AS we
look at some of these mountain ranges
on small atlas maps, we get little idea
Of their great extent.
The Ahaggar mountains cover more
surface than the Alps though they do
not rise above 5000 feet. Here and
there we see important areas of sand,
especially in the south; and it is
serious matter that these sands are
really encroaching upon the fertile
lands of the Sudan.
Most Of the Sahara is part of the
French domain and, south OF the des-
ert British Nigeria begins; the French
and English marked their boundary
in 1898; and this boundary has since
been fixed a little further south so
that the French need not travel
through the encroaching desert in
passing between French West Africa
and Their possessions on Lake Chad.
Land Devoid of Life.
Returning to the vast rocA plateau.
we find that it is just as forbidding as
the sand wastes. In their worst
phases these high tablelands are per-
fectly barren, utterly devoid of life.
On the best maps we see these bare
waterless regions with the name "Ta-
nezruft," a Berber word signifying
their inhospitable character. The
French travelled, three years ago, for
10 days over one of these areas with
out finding water.
But there are brighter phases even
of the mid Sahara. Some of those
mountain ranges, browning the plat
eaus, are high enough to condense a
little water vapor and streamlets come
down the hills, creating bits of wood
land and pasturage at the base. These
are gardens Of Eden amid the sur
rounding desolation and in such places
are the habitations of the desert no.
MAIDS, The Ahaggar mountains are a