Ail Inland Sea in Africa.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 100, 2 May 1885, Page 5

Ail Inland Sea in Africa.

l Commander Landas left Paris for Africa in February to carry on the work of the late* Col. Koudaire, whose project of forming a sea in the desert of Sahara by admitting the waters of the Mediterranean hai attracted ■ considerable attention for three years past. There seems to be some prospect that the enterprise may really be carried out. 1 This is not a scheme for turning the vast Saharan waste into an ocean, as many have supposed. That idea is impracticable, for there are more elevated plateaus than low-lying plains in the Sahara. The lowest level Dr. Lenz found in his recent journey , across the western desert was 492 feet aboA o the sea, and he had reason to think that the lowest levels of the western Sahara do not fall under 330 feet above the sea. There exists, however, south of the fertile portions of Tunte and Algeria a chain of desiccated lake basins, whoseaandyormuddy bottoms, considerably lower than the Mediterranean, stretch away southward to the Tozeur. It was Col. Roudaire's plan to flood these lake basins or Chotts by digging a canal 150 miles long from the Gulf of Gabes, on the east coast of Tunis. By this means he expected to turn about 9,000 square miles of the Sahara into a navigable sea, convert a wide belt of territory arourd the sea into fertile lands, open a waterway for French commerce far into the country^ improve the climate of Tunis and Algeria, and create a barrier against wild tribes from the Sahara. There is little doubt that Col. Koudaire'a scheme is perfectle feasible, though opinions differ as to its utility. A committee appointed by the French Government reported that the plan was practicable, and could be advantageously executed. The late M. Tissot, the explorer of Tunis, fully agrees with lloudaire's views. The Count de Lesseps and the engineers who went over the ground with him early in 1883 approved the project, and De Lesseps is now one of its chief promoters. "We have no mountains to tunnel or level," he-said a few weeks ago. " The project is perfectly feasible, and we will turn the desert into a garden. 1 ' Those who oppose the project doubt that the inland ocean would revolutionise the climate of that part of the Sahara, and believe the sea would be likely to silt up with saline deposits on account of the rapid evaporation in so dry a climate. All seem to agree, however, that it would give fertility to hundreds of thousands of acres. The promoters of the enterprise ask no assistance from the Treasury of France, but wish only to receive a concession of the bordering tracts, now a sandy waste, which they expect to reclaim. Commander Landas will first take soundings in the Gulf of Gabes and select the most favourable place for a harbour. He then expects to sink an artesian well for the purpose of supplying the workmen on the proposed canal with water.