| Show possibilities OF A DESERT at a time when the nations of the earth stand arrayed against one another in financial and commercial questions as if the globe were too limited to hold its inhabitants it may be well wall to consider that there are vast regions of land yet available for purposes of cultivation ants and civilization there la is at this time really no more occasion for a life 11 fea fe and a nil death struggle between n na aiono tione than there was J thousands 0 of years ago provided now new resources be made use of at present the african continent is being searched arched ee from ocean to ocean and as it becomes better known the probability Is strong that it is destined to play a part in the history of the world similar to that of the american bonti continents dents and for centuries yield now new homes and immense wealth to enterprising individuals of the crowded nations of the earth the great sahara for instance has RODe generally rally been considered an immense barren desert irredeemable for agriculture but it now appears that that notion Is about to be exploded A french missionary writing to the london daily news expresses the opinion that the african desert is in the future will be changed into a fruitful territory he says all the rivers he has crossed there bide a rich subterranean stratum of water on which with but little trouble vegetation can be developed the rivers which Ins in spring prina are full of water are from three to ten wilf mike a wide vide when the water retreats the beds of the riven are chat changed aged into rich meadows the date seeds planted by flatters Flat tere at el blod atod have grown without the least care into A 11 no DO trees and the same la in the fact also of the seeds planted near the cisterns oi 01 in spite of the inconsiderate manner in which the get in the harvest trees are quite frequent but the kravan guide julues always choose the most difficult and nd desolate routes soon however traveling will become more fre buens and then the secrets of the desert will be revealed the writer states oscar lenz crossed the sahara and reached timbuctoo without seeing anything blat desert land and yet he be mentions that behind a chain of hills which he passed there was a place called by the natives the head elead of the waters dr borth who was for months in tau reg camps and was the guest and friend of bf the sheikh el bakey was told innumerable facts about the traditions and manners of the land but its geography was hidden from him when lieutenant bourst and lieutenant blu yet explored the region and an arm of the niger they found a lake nearly miles long and when the officers of the timbuctoo garrisons extended their excursions cur they found that not only one but more than twenty lakes existed all ail very large and stretching far to the north into the very heart of the supposed arid and sahara these obese facts indicate the possibilities of what lias has always been considered an imm immense meuse desert arid and it to Is so nearly everywhere when the earth becomes known she to is found to extend to her ber children a friendly hand ever willing to aid them in the fu fulfillment fulfilment Ifil ment of their brief mission in this life there is a good deal less real cause tor for contention than some of the great men imagine |
