| Show ANOTHER cenal CAHAL SCHEME DE the great ditch digger having started his scheme for the panama canal BO no far as to organize a financial company for its construction has turned his attention to another big project in the line of I 1 hia hla peculiar genius he ile now proposes to cut a channel through which the ilea cea may flow into the desert sahara restoring it to its alleged ancient condition as a great balt salt water lake inke the benefits expected to result from this scheme are a southern sea coast to algeria and tunis a change which will be of groat great advantage to france prance and of value to the surrounding country by hy reason of the moisture moistures which is expected to make fruitful a region now arid and incapable of cultivation the idea is not now de lesseps does not figure as an originator of ideas so much mum as a practical organizer of means to give long considered ideas effect the suez canal which he built and which has proved successful was talked of for scores of years before he took hold of the work of digging the great ditch which has made such a change in the worlds commercial navigation the panama canal has engaged the attention of both E europeans europeans uro and americans for a long along period but ho he has taken hold of it in earnest as something to be done and BO so with his latest scheme which he hag managed to impress upon the minds of his countrymen enough to enlist the aid of the french government the desert of sahara spreads out below the level cf of tho the sea and it is claimed was once a great ealine lake fed from the ocean communication with which was cut off by accumulations of sand and evaporation without supply caused the transformation into a dry and cheerless desert de do less lesseps eps proposes bro Ero proposes poses to cut a channel fro from the gulf guif ulf of gabes in tunis to the desert and turn in the waters of the mediterranean of courne the pian plan has its opponents the theory of the former inland sea is denied by some scientists and others declare that if the scheme should prove so far successful as to flood the desert it would not prove of any practical use but would merely be a succession of vast marshes which would dry up enough to become stagnant pools breeding disease instead of or a sea or lake on which vessels could float or from which the surround ing country would receive the tho benefits fit suggested whatever ver may be the result it is quite likely that the project will be the started and that france will find the mil mii millions liong necessary to perform the latest work laid out dut by its world famous engineer and thus turn torn a desert into a sea by turning the soa sea into a desert |
