CHANGES IN SAHARA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 79

CHANGES IN SAHARA.

FARMING MAKING PROGRESS IN THE DESERT.

Several Fren.-h explorers specially trained in route-surveying and- the natural sciences are now at work in the Sahara or have completed studies that have taken them across the desert or required long journeys i in various parts of it. They are writing reports of their work, which are full of j novel interest because they are finding I many things that are changing >ur preconceptions of the desert. ~ The latest of these reports is by R. Chudeau, and is printed in "La Geographic," and it throws new light upon the occupations and conditions of the groups of inhabitants scattered over the southern part of the desert south of Algeria and Tuni6. One of the most interesting of Cbudeau's deductions is that slow climatic changes are gradually increasing the water supply in the southern part of the desert, and he finds that the suppiession by the French of the slave trade across the desert has turned the inhabitants, who "were formerly middlemen between the slave catchers of the south and the slave buyers of the northern oases and of Morocco and Tripoli, toi the better utilisation of their water supply> the raising of morft oamels and other domestic animals and larger crops. The mountain country of Air, covered' with extinct volcanoes, is far out in the desert, about —390 Miles North of the Soudan,— but it Tains there eveTy year between June and October, and in 1905 there -were 17 rainstorms. <)n an average there are five or six of them a year, but i» some years there are only two. The regime of the Soudan practically prevails in Air. The rain drains from the mountain slopes into the valleys, where vegetation flourishes finely, including several varieties of palms and other trees, and the date is grown, though inferior in quality. There are lions, monkeys, and -other tropical animals here, and, by way of contrast, fields of millet and wheat, and gardens of tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and other vegetables. Some of the village groups do not till the soil, and most of the cereals are imported from Damergu, nuuch farther south, but still in the desert 100 milts north of the Soudan. In the depressions of Damergu are marshes and little lakes, and an abundance of millet is grown. This is one of the tnest ■miniate parts of the Sahara. The security which the French now give to life and property has enabled many of the people to leave the large villages and to build little -hamlets at points favourable for —Tilling the Soil.— Weekly fairs are held, and the principal articles for sale are millet, cattle, potteiy, and soap. The giraffe, which feeds wholly on vegetation, is found in this part of the deseit, about 150 miles north of the Soudan. Another great group of mountains is in

the Ahaggar, in the middle Sahara, about 900 miles south of the Mediterranean and 600 miles north of the Soudan. -From August 1 to September 11, 1905, Chudeau noted 11 days of Tain, aoid there were storms in July; but there are years of dryness also, as in 1903-4, though ac the impermeable soil keeps the water within reach of the roots the country does not suffer much unless the drought covers a series of years. Sometimes the wa>ter is deep enough in the ■wadye for swimming. There are cattle, sheep, goats, and horses, as well as camels, in this heart of the Sahara, a region which only one white men ever saw until tlnree or four years ago. Nearly all the European vegetables are now there, and are thriving. With the French extending agriculture and fruit-raising southward from the northern edge. of the desert, by means of tapping the underground water supply, and the discovery of many new places far south, where much food may be produced, the economic prospects of the Sahara now appear in a more favourable light than ever before.