Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
FRENCHMAN MAKES
/ AVIATION RECORD
Made Trip to Madagascar,
Flying Over Widest and
Widest Africa.


tor to Marseille, after round trip
through the air to Madagascar of the
southeast coast of Africa, completes
one of the longest airplane trips OF
modern times and gives the French
record comparable to those neld by
British distance flyers. The route Oh
the seaplane over the sands OF the
Sahara, the tropical forests or the
interior, and the Great Lakes or East
Africa, is dealt with in bulletin from
the headquarters of the National Geo
graphic Society.
Taking the air near MarSelile, the
two French navy planes skirted the
Spanish west coast of Africa. landing
at Dakar the westernmost city of the
Dark Continent" says the bulletin.
Dakar Is Thriving City.
They found Dakar. port of call for
vessels plying between European.
South African and South American
ports, a thriving city of about 5000
schools, hospitals and workshops.
They might have imagined themselves
in France at times had it not been for
the prepondera nee of swarthy natives
as compared with representatives OF
! Dakar's $500 Frenchmen seen on the
!. city's thoroughfares.
'Dakar owes its Importance as a
port to it's nearness to South America.
While LIVERPOOL is more than 5000
miles from New York, Dakar is only
slightly more than half that distance
from Pernambuco. Brazil, the eastern
most port of South America. When
trade between the two Southern con-
tinents develops, Baker may rival
some of the larger European ports in
volume of commerce. Dakar Is also
the seat of administration for all
French possessions III West Africa.
The Berbers and F'ulas represented
In the clty's population We're met with
at every stop in the Sudan and Nj
geria after the flyers turned inland,
for both races are scattered over the
north and northwest portion of Africa.
Mysterious Timbuktu.
AT Bamako, on the Niger River,
one of the planes became disabled
and was left for repairs. The other
plane followed the Niger to Timbuktu,
so.called city of mystery which lies
8 miles from the river proper, on
the edge of the Sahara. This was one
of the most interesting stopping
places on the flight.
'.Timbuktu has been called the city
where the canoe and camel meet, 1or
canoes are the only craft that can
reach the city, and the camel seldom
tricks farther south. A description
Just as appropriate, perhaps, Wouiu
be the city of ugly. low-lying mud
houses and narrow streets or ankle
deem sand for the first impression OF
the visitor to Timbuktu Is the decay
of the buildings and the sandy thor
oughfares. Here and there the ruins
of the Timbuktu Of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries can De Cd.
served. They are mute evidence OF
the one-time center OF negro Moslem
culture which existed until the occu-
IAtion of the city by the Moors IN
1921.
Reach British Territory.
"From Timbuktu the planes follow
ed the Niger to Lokoja, Nigeria, at
the confluence of the Niger ana
Bonue Rivers i'll British territory
Lokoia is the Oldest white settlement
In the interior of Nigeria ana was once
the seat of administration for the IN
land provinces. At the meeting place
of two great rivers, 1t was. too, the
doorway to the north. Something OF
this function still survives, but the
completion Of a railway III recelI
wears. running from Logos on the
coast of the relatively healthy uplanos
Of northern Nigeria, and passing Iaf
west of Lokoja, has decreased the an
portance of the latter town.
From Lokoja the aviators new up
the Renue River and into French
F,uuatorial Africa, in the heart Oh
which lay another stopping place,
Fort Archambault There the flyers
had passed from Mohammedan terri
tory into a region of fetishism.
sarurning southwark on leaving
Fort Archambault, the flyers again lett
French territory at the Ubangi River
and entered the Belgian Congo. rms
huge Belgian possession is more tnan
II times the size of Belgium On
their way to Stanleyville. metropolis
of the Congo and of Central Africa.
the aviators few over vast forests.
Busy Little Town on Congo.
"At Stanleyville the aviators found
a busy little town built on both sides OF
the Congo River. On the east bank Is
the headquarters of the vice governor
and many up-to-date residences. Whiie
the left bank is occupied by railway
terminals and workshops. Palm trees
lining the long avenues in the residen'
tial section remind one OK a south
modernization has come about since
the eighties, when Stanleyville was
little more than native village.
Flying in a southeasterly direction,
the plane reached the African Great
Lakes, passed over it's second stretch
of British territory, and came to the
Indian Ocean at Kilimane, a small
town about midway along the coast
of Mozambique, Portuguese territory
The city of Mozambique. the next
stop, is situated on small island
about miles off the coast. 1t
was once the headquarters Of the
Portuguese East African Government
and the center of the East African
slave trade.
Slave Markets Disappear.
The slave markets have disap-
peared, yet Mozambique has changed
little during the last few hundred
years. About 1000 people inhabit the
city. Most of them are Mohammedar
negroes and half-caste Portuguese
Sixteenth century barred windows and
bolted doors are still to be seen anC
occasionally one observes origina
mica windows, placed in the frames
before glass was obtainable.
"Majunga. largest port on the west
coast of Madagascar, required long
hop across the Mozambique channel
Here they reached the third largest
of the worlds islands (outside the Arc
tic regions). thus ending the first hal
of their trip
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