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

the accumulation of sand which long
ago separated FL Juf from the Atlantic
A few miles inland there is a range
Of high mountains. running north and
south and parallel with the coast;
but there is a wide gap in the range
through which the channel passes
Thus. as viewed from the ocean out
side the entrance to the ancient gulf
of FL Juf is picturesquely and striking.
From the coast. the channel tits bed
thickIy encrusted with marine salts)
broaddens out. and can be followed for
a great distance into the basin 1t
forms A valley recognizable as the
northwest arm of the gulf that used
to be In some places the banks
Of the channel rise 10 a height OF
hanging cliffs
Now. Africa possesses rivers of great
magnitude, the most important OF them
being the Nile (Which is the longest
river in the world the Niger. and the
Congo. But none of the mighty
streams of the Dark Continent can be
used as a highway to the interior. on
account of cataracts and other OBJ
structions TO navigation The Nile has
six cataracts. and the Congo 50 catar-
acts and rapids.
Would Give NnvigabIe Highway.
The flooding Of the Sahara, by the
means here described will provide
navigable highway for the commerce
OF the world 1t will open up the
heart Of Africa, develop its enormous
potential resources. which as yet have
hardly been touched. and incidentally
do away with what remains Of the
slave trade The tapping Of the great
Niger Valley will render accessible
sources of wealth of vast Importance.
while bringing civilized conditions to
q region that is even now Though un-
der nominal French controD semi
saVaEe
There IS an incidental result. ex-
pected from the proposed flooding OF
10000 square miles of desert. that
would scarce suggest itself to the
do with climate. So vast an area
covered with water. under tropic sun.
would contribute TO the sky. through
evaporation, an immense quantity OF
moisture, in the form OF clouds. The
clouds would make rain, and by this
means ali Of northern Africa would
be rendered much less dry than at
present 1t is thought that even the
climate OF Europe might be favoraoly
influenced
The people OF the soudan. that IS TO
say OF middle Africa, south Of the
Sahara. receive their supplies of Euro
pean merchandise by way Of the Sa-
hara- from the seaports OF Morocco,
Algiers, Tunis. and Tripod The sys-
TEN of transport employed is the same
a
From the Mediterranean coast cara
vans can make only one journey a
year. to the Soudan and return They
follow the tracks pursued by merchants
of an antiquity that runs back 10
period long antedating the earliest
dawn of history
Would CIviIize Africa
Two conditions. mainly. have given
rise to this state Of affairs-deserts.
and lack Of nagivable rivers II IS
not surprising that under such ctrcum-
stances the Dark Continent should have
remained undeveloped. and to a great 4
extent unknown even to geographers- J
Facilities for getting about in II have 4
been lacking. II (as was the case not /
very anciently. according 70 geologists) I
the Sahara today was, all Of tt covered /
by the sea, Africa would be quite as /
civilized as Australia
Suppose the existence Of such an |
island sea II would have many islands /
Of commercial Importance In the !
eastern part of the Sahara are consi- /
derabIe elevated regions-even chains I
of mountains What is now the uneX- !
plored interior OF the continent would |
be no mystery. Trade. with the help
of steam navigation. would have de-
veloped civilization Towns on the