Seaton Schroeder

“ A M. Largeau in 1874 visited the valley of the Igharghar, with the intention of branching off to Rhadames to study the commerce of that oasis and test the practicability of diverting to Algeria the caravans that come there by the central route from Soodan. He questioned the chambas on the causes of the drying of the great Saharan streams, and found that all agreed in saying that these dead rivers once ran full through a country more fertile than the Tell (the region north of the Atlas Mountain's crest) , but could only explain it by legends more interesting than satisfactory. ”

“ In 1858 the Algerian Historical Society made a special order of the day a study on the best route and method of reaching Soodan. Finally, in 1873, a company was formed in Algiers, with a capital of thirty thousand francs, and the rather vague name of "Company for the Encouragement of Commercial Explorations in the Sahara." The intention of this company seemed to be to form at Laghouat an entrepot for merchandise suitable to the southern tribes, and to try to draw to Algeria a part of the traffic of Morocco and Tripoli. ”

“ Not a few minds dwelt many years ago upon the possibility of establishing routes across the desert, but that was generally considered chimerical when account was taken of its dangers, known and unknown, the hostility of the races that inhabit it, the length of the marches under a burning sun, over a burning sand, relying upon occasional wells for water, and liable to utter destruction if caught in the path of one of those terrific storms. ”

“ Professor Rohlfs advances the theory that these forests are encroaching on the desert, and that in time the Sahara will disappear under a vegetation of which the mimosas are the forerunner. "Thus," he adds, "while certain timorous spirits fear that the earth may some day be overpeopled, Nature is silently transforming the soil where man will in the future be able to pitch his tent. ”

“ So far facts and discussion alike have been limited to the region bordering upon Algeria and Tunis, This is because explorations have naturally been carried on there somewhat to the exclusion of the Tripolitan neighborhood, and not because similar causes and effects may not be found farther east. There is every reason to believe that the desolate region bordering the south shore of the Mediterranean between the tenth and twenty-fifth meridians is destined to experience an equal improvement with the western Sahara. ”

“ That water is not wanting in the Sahara is proved by the wells dotted along the routes of caravans. These are very shallow, and the water they afford is generally brackish and muddy, showing that they only reached parasitic sources and not the main subterranean sheets; but they are only the hurried work of passing caravans, whose sole thought was to supply the needs of the moment and reach the oases where very old wells have been found having a depth of over two hundred and fifty feet. ”

“ Diodorus, a priest of Tarsus in the fourth century, speaking of the great oasis in the desert forty leagues from the Egyptian frontier, mentions it being irrigated, not by rivers nor by rains, but by springs that issue from the ground not spontaneously, nor in consequence of the rains sinking into the ground, but by great labor on the part of the inhabitants. Several wells alluded to by him have been cleared since 1849 by a French chemist, M, Ayme, who established alum-factories in two Egyptian oases. ”

“ As soon as possible he communicated with Marshal Randon, Governor-General of Algeria, and was authorized by him to commence a systematic search for water in the Sahara.
His project was then twofold: 1. To dig new wells in the Oued Rhir, give new life to the oases then beginning to yield to the invading sterility, and so win the gratitude of their population: 2. To revive the sandy steppes between that river and Biskra, open the desert to commerce as far as Ouargla or possibly Touat, so that French troops or isolated travelers could enter that region without the fear of dying of thirst. ”

“ It may be questioned if there is not another means of improvement, more gradual, perhaps, but more sure and in many ways superior to the creation of an inland sea—superior in point of economy, and more widely diffused as well as more lasting benefits. ”

“ The natural question then arises as to what causes these streams; how the parched desert furnishes rivers? Rains are quite abundant on the summits of the mountains—so much so that, in winter especially, the streams attain considerable proportions. The Sahara experiences at times tremendous storms and torrents of rain that in a few moments cause violent freshets. ”

“ The lowest estimate of the cost of inundating the depressions in the Algerian Sahara being $5,790,000, we see that that sum otherwise appropriated would pay for boring 7,400 wells averaging 154 feet in depth, assuming the cost per foot to be the same as south of the Ziban oases. Allowing the issue to be only one half that of the wells near Biskra, the total flow would be 1,100,000 gallons per minute, which, according to M. Ville, would suffice for the irrigation of about 24,600,000 palms. One tenth of this labor and expense would produce great results. ”

“ England, Germany, and Italy would surely protest against any projects of annexation. But there is still scope for them in the desert. The nomadic tribes will hardly stop the southward course of empire when French industry and capital fan the breeze of progress. ”