Evening capital. [volume] (Annapolis, Md.) 1922-1981, 1923-04-06

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington. ID. CD
Its ground trayersed since our his
tory began only by camels, the Sahara
desert has inst been conquered by au-
tomUbiles which crossed the 1900 miles
from Algiers to Timbuktu in twenty
nine days-a third of the time camels
would have required. The feat serves
To bring into bold relief some OF the
misconceptions we have been harbor-
ing about the worlds greatest desert.
Phe chief and most persistent fall
lacy about the Sahara is that 1t is a
sea of sand" AS matter of fact.
while there Is much sand, the desert
is predominantly land of rocky
plateaus and mountains.
There is the idea, too, that the
Sahara is tremendously hot, 1t is--by
Cay. But at night the temperature
falls. often to below freezing in few
hours. SO well does this night cool
less balance the extreme heat of day
,hat the mean annual temperature Of
the Sahara is no higher than that of
regions much farther north. s
This great desert is used as a
synonym for dryness. Except f0r.a
FEW tiny GASES itsis ordinarily thought
of as "bone dry throughout its entire
area, But In reality the mountains of
TIE interior receive considerable pre-
clpitation and are even said by some
travellers to be capped with snow dur
iny part of every year. Further
more. area after area, formerly con-
sdered hopelessly dry. is being shown
10 have water available from artesian
-sservoirs In the earth below N
There are good enough reasons for
he prevalent misconceptions and the
general lack of knowledge about the
Sahara. 1t was known first from its
northeastern corner, where 1t stretches
westward from the Nile, and there it
is in truth n "sea of sand" The vast
bilicwy. shifting dunes of the Libyan
desert, then. inspired striking word
picture which came to be applied by
the world to the Sahara. The fact
that band of sand dunes also extends
pretty much along the entire northern
edge of the great desert for hundred
or more miles inland from the Mediter-
ranean coast. furnished further circum-
stantial evidence to convict the Sahara
of being n "sea of sand
Not Easy for Explorers.
The desolate sand dunes were enough
IN themselves 10 discourage most
woaid-hc travellers who might have
found the truth TO. the south. Add TO
this thar the people who came out OF
the sands We're fierce, fanatical war
rlors who early established regulations
Cor masSacring strangers first and won
,lering about their errands afterwards.
and ii is small wonder that the Eu-
rnpean world went on century after
century without Knowing anything
about the Sahara.
Behind the hulwarks Of sand that
stretch in semicircle from the Nile
So1,h Of the Mediterranean, below the
ALIAS mountains and. to the Atlantic.
los the real. and until recently the
mi,sls"vn. sahara. Recent estimates
are shat lcosc sands make up between
only mao-;cuth az one-ninth the area
OF Tho Sahara. South Of Algeria the
northern sands give way to rising.
rocky ground. which leads 10 an extern
s,vc plateau OF massive rock, pebbles
and hnUlders. and finally 900 miles
froM tAc coast are crags OF the Hoggar
mnun,ains. $500 TO 1900 feet high.
This roof-ieak of the Sahara is almost
exactly midway between the Mediter-
rancaa and the Gulf of Guinea. and
nor lar srom the halfway point be-
tween the Nile and the Atlantic. From
il l,ateanS slope in every direction !:
but - The southeast the descent is only
temporary. for further in that direc-
ricn lie other ranges, eliminating In
the 1ihestis with a peak 10000 feet
high.
Ii : the highland portions Of the