Show II- II Wh th Appalling Signs That 4 I the Worlds World's Richest AT AC o l Garden Spots Are Being Turned Into 0 c e BAN Deserts as Our OurO O 0 c E A N Supply of Water Steadily Grows Less On this mal malan ma an and d L Less e s S the of once black fertile patches p regions regions indicate and the whose des Ruins of ancient Palmyra once the center of ofa a most productive five tive region but now surround surround- surrounded ed by a barren wilderness d i y ti t 5 veya Y MA A 4 A M pt a 1 k M iR wl ew ewt t t tv v t w wa k k s B S is I each a universal necee- necee necessity necessity WATER i SATER f sity and for most of us u so 80 o easily obtained that it is ii hard bard to Im- Im Imagine im imagine agno agine a time timo when our supply of mol mois- mois moisture mol tur ture will fall us entirely choking off aU all forms of life lit In the th world and leav leave leaving leaving ing the th earths earth's earth surface c a parched burn bum burning burn ine ing 1 asto aste of desert sands Yet many eminent are r con con- con vinced that In no far f r distant age us hu- hu humanity hu humanity manity must face exactly this dreadful catastrophe They believe that tho th worlds world's world supply of water is 1 steadily growing grow grow- growing grow int ing less and that oe as a a result the th most fertile of our oar garden gard n spots are slowly but surely being transformed into uninhabItable uninhabitable uninhabitable habitable deserts This earth arth of ours oure our they warn ye u is fe drying up and within mthm a comparatively few centuries the human race raca may m y expect ex- ex expect ex expect to be menaced with death from thirst and for tor lack of the tho food which the tho withered crust of the th globe clot will no longer produce Colonel H de d H Haig is one on of th the sCientists who make mak make these gloomy predictions predictions predictions and the reasons on which he h bases them seem teem to be quite incontrovertible According to him our hope of escaping escaping escaping ing ing the th waterless day that threatens us lies in lD establishing some such world world- worldwide worldwide wide system of irritation irrigation as a Professors Lowell and Pickering think has been in m use us for some tome time timo on Mars a rs Mars our nearest planetary neIghbor IS believed to have reached the up dried stage 0 long ago and to have been suf- suf suffering ferm fering for many centuries from lack of water Yet there are abundant evi- evi evidences evidences evi evidences dences of life there and aid it is thought this life is made mado possible only through the use of an irrigation system i more in- in ingenious in rn ingenious genious and more extensive than any ve ae of the th earth have ever dreamed of If we take an atlas says Colonel de in lD a recent issue of Discovery the English sCientific monthly the first thing that strikes us is that the deserts are not where where they might be bo expected to tobe tobe tobe be that is if In the hottest part of the earth on the equator The true deserts lie to the north and andI I I south of the equatorial lands forming roughly two rings around tho the earth north and south of the th tropics tropic of Can Can- Cancer Cancer Cancer and Capricorn This points to some Bome general and world-wide world cause which ma may be bo the circulation of the atmosphere I at the equator under the sun lun and the I descent of the currents which form the tho trade winds wands The sun un heats the air in the tho belt be- be betaken be between I tv taken tween een the tropics and in consequence It expands and rises When it reaches the higher atmosphere it rises above the tha thaI I surrounding air and has to overflow to the north or south This rise rif and conse conse- consequent consequent consequent quent expansion chill It and tho mois mois- moisture moisture ture condenses condne and falls fall as the th well well- well known known tropical rains The Th air thus thu chilled dried and pushed forward flows flow over the warmer air be- be beneath beneath be beneath neath gradually sinking linking on account of Its ta greater density until it reaches the th surface of the th earth in the th regions lust Just outside the th tropics tropic When it meets the th surface the air Is very vary dry 10 so that It greedily absorbs what moisture it encounters If the th surface be bo the th sea lea it becomes a wet wind like liko the rainy southwest winds of Iu- Iu Europe Eu Europe rope but If It first impinges on tho the land It dries up the th surfaces surface and causes cause the deserts which extend roughly in two rings around the earth and which I seem to be b continually tending to extend their boundaries Beginning with the th Sahara we wo have Arabia Syria Syna Mesopotamia Persia the tho Indian desert of Bika Bika- ner BIka-ner ner and the tho Gobi The belt continues In Inthe inthe the same m latitudes latitude in North America in Sout South Souti California Arizona and New Mexico Similarly in the Southern Hemisphere Hemi Hemi- Hemisphere Hemisphere sphere we have hate the tho Australian desert North Chile part of Peru the Atacama Ata- Ata Atacama cama Ata-cama cama Desert and the th Kalahari in lD South Africa It is a significant fact tact that it is in these regions region obviously the very best parts of the earths earth's earth surface in ancient days that the th great nations of antiquity Assyria appeared Assyria Babylonia Persia Ph nicla the Hittites Crete Egypt Carthage India and China and in the New World the Aztecs Aztec and Incas All of these flourished nourished in lands land now suffer suffer- sufferIng suffering suffering ing from insufficient rainfall but 1 which with abundant water ater easily yield two crops a year There seem eem to be three stages through which countries pass The rich and productive one 1 when jen 1 the tho rainfall is abundant at all seasons crops ClOpS are certain grazing is ample throughout the year and In warm arnt climates several crops can be raised railed The irrigation stage when the rain rain- rainfall rainfall fa fall IS 11 Insufficient or badly distributed This necessitates the laborious lifting of water from rivers river or wells 1 a ells the leveling of fields the th terracing of hillsides lengthy canals and multitudinous distri distri- distribution distribution distribution channels The Th desert stage when rains risers and wells well gradually diminish crops are increasingly uncertain a and d the country becomes derelict Practically the whole hole hole of the lands cov- cov covered coy cov covered ered by the ancient empires come now under the last two headings They are deserts or require irrigation but when they were first settled they were no doubt in the th primary stage of ample rainfall for 1 aith ith the th whole world open to him man naturally would first choose the best places place The rhe centers of our modern are arc situated in countries in tho first stage They have ha hav ve sufficient ram rain and irrigation Is restored to only locally locay and on a sma small scale scalo Is it not probable that no country which does doe not also come under that category can stand in inthe inthe the forefront of civilization The evidence that our deserts were not always the tho barren harren wildernesses which they thy now are is overwhelming In Roman days day North Africa was a avast avast avast vast granary divided Into provinces province such uch as liS Cyrene Gyrene Carthage Numidia Mauritania and so 10 forth a all of which possessed numerous large wealthy cities on says sas that there thero were such cities cibes in the district of Carthage alone day To-day a all have disappeared but scores of ruins ruin of towns and vast aque aque- aqueducts aqueducts ducts with forests forest of broken arches dot the plain and rear their lofty walls as though they were the th huge graves of a Banished civilization The danger zone has ha already spread to the countries near the Sahara Spain It cannot be denied has suffered from the vicinity of her dangerous neighbor She was nas one of the tho richest provinces of Carthage and later of the Roman Em- Em Empire Empire Em Empire pire She was wa most prosperous in the tho Middle Ages under the Moors an and inthe in inthe inthe the palmy days of Ferdinand and Isa- Isa Isa Isabella bella Now Spain Spam has reached the second stage Most of her forests have disappeared the the effect or it may be b the tho cause of the drought which necessitates irrigation of her parched slopes to pro pro- produce produce produce duce good returns return France has not suffered so much being further away but there are arc not wanting indications that the climate there has also dried considerably since men have occupied the tho land Italy also being further away has not suffered so o much as Spain but she sho has begun to irrigate and only lately opened the longest aqueduct in the world in Apulia Also Al o It is evidently the fail fail- failure failure ure uro of moisture in the tho Apennines that prevents the enormous production of wool which made Florence for centuries the center of the cloth trade and the banking house of the world Sicily has hns sadly adly deteriorated Once the garden of Europe the coveted prize possessed by tv twelve elve nations in succession succession sion blon and the granary of Rome she he now gro grows s lemons and oranges by means of irrigation and maintains a limited ex- ex existence existence ex existence She Sh is no longer longor a prize to be conquered by the dominant race rac in the I I per 1 4 loC A q l c G AN 1 t i d R e p T t e e o os s yS ti oes I a k f was 1 s li 4 Ada q l lt ll t l t t a y t hei r y F r e p w 1 3 fi y of the world yg x erts which have bave taken the place w areas ate are constantly increasing rF l y e y e eI el E hY t x I it M l wT I e fie fien iI t- t r v n a l i ie N 1 R i Vj w N c- c LM 1 r ry f y yh x I if M u Ju hr a at ay t y 1 w h hr hK r K M- M Mf Mr f r C w A Ac c Ai Ait t The e Desert of Sahara covering a region that centuries ago was u e famous for its ita productivity not always been deserts but have gen i orally eray at some time supported humanity a 5 a wr wrin in many instances very large and civa t populations a a A giant CActus iA one of f the few It seems as It if there must bo be some L forms of vege- vege causo affecting the whole earth reduce tation t hat h ha a t ts s log ing the available quantity of water and r thrive in our gradually turning the fertile portions A Y American Into uninhabitable blo regions If so what IS ws deserts I the cause Can It be met and neutral neutral- neutralized a in any way It is plain that in the making of the earth it received as ItS share sharo a definite I ild tl quantity ot of cater ater which can never bo be a 1 e added to The products of combustion w appear to add water but reay really the ac- ac actions YX bb t- t r of and breathing fire only cause causa w the tho return of what has been l fAb I i abstracted by the processes of I Ii It l fr t life ro p ll I li t Fc isi a X- X k km i Iii I m Ij 5 M r 4 t y Kr y r r i I i f feve eve Fd r f nc rT Lr ail t W YM y F v q K dY JS 4 P Petrified i si sir remains of 4 r rone one of the many forests that long since ceased to store up moisture for our used Mediterranean Her ner uplands are ii deforested either the cause or the tho tk tC r s f L 1 results of drought now so acute is tr w that sometimes for ahole a whole hole year ear scarcely a of rain ram will fa fall Mesopotamia van WI once the most fer- fer fertile fer fertile tile ble region on earth Its Hs possession gave the tho wealth that made the tho great grent kings Sargon Xerxes Da- Da DariUS Darius Da Darius rius Cyrus Cyru and many others down to the Caliph Harun al l of Bagdad Now tho the water of the two Eu rivers river Eu ph rates and Tigris has Tigris has fallen allen so low low that there thero is not enough for both navi navi- navigation navigation navigation gation and irrigation Enormous sums would have to be bo spent to restore the fertility even If it it were ere possible The sources of the rivers of have been deforested and as they lie In Turkish territories the pi plesent owners could not be ba expected to operate co-operate and spend their money and energy for the benefit of another people and another government Persia is the tho next desert country to which wo we tome rome Ono One of the th oldest em em- empires empires pires in the tho world it achieved is e e and civilization many thousands of years cars ago Why has it decayed Why has it now such uch a n sparse spars population where once there aero elO cities such uch as liS and Susa nearly as big as London The curse of drought has haa fallen on it says Colonel de d H Haig Halg and it only exists by Irrigation In the tho center of Asia Is i a group ot o deserts known knon kno n generally as the tho Gobi though locally there are many other names Sven Hedin and Sir Aurel Stein have done don much exploration in m them Both report tho the existence of extensive ruins temples temple shrines inscriptions documents mummies mummie and dried up rivers and lakes It was evidently once a fertile fer- fer fertile fer fertile tile and populous region It would bo he tedious to go through the tho whole I of the earths earth's earth deserts enough has hns been brought forward to show how the tho sameness s of their history They have wy But can this quantity be re- re reI re jIl I i I That is the point f and tho answer according to 1 Colonel do de d H Haig Halg is that both 1 7 its total amount and worse I still its a available quantity can be b very reduced In ini i I jr i r several A glacial ways period for In in- in instance l in 1 1 stance stanco would would lock up an im- im Sm-i Sm III menso men e quantity on the tops of Ift the th mountains and reduce the th I I I ii f amount available a for tor rains jf 1 By chemical action a great 1 f deal of water is i withdrawn into l lf jl vegetation and Into the rocks Ilk Ilki I i of the th I forming the th substance 1111 1 1 earth It may be b broken up upi II II into its constituent gases and I 1 Iii ti lost to the earth as a water J if Water may sink ink into the th Ill q earth further than it now goes goes 1 and bo be out of reach of manH mank man k H and of the tho sun un which now raises it into clouds douds and dis- dis distributes distributes tributes it as a rain The he most dangerous cause causa of reduction Is I the last It is admitted that the th earth was once very hot hot spinning in space and surrounded with masses masse of various vapors as Jupiter now is As A it chilled n a crust formed on which water condensed when hen it was vas cool enough The Tho seas sea collected in the hollows Md and being very hot evaporated rapidly causing torrential rainfall ramfall carved the he surface into moun moon mountain mountain tain taro valley and plain None Non of the tho ater t r could penetrate tho the surface because e it t was as so o hot that It tt was driven out as a steam Thus the whole of the moisture was on the actual sur aco or in the clouds cloud As the earth cooled water was able ablo to penetrate the tho surface moro more and more following tho heated core as closely clo ely as the tho temperature would allow The whole crust cruet is permeable though not equally so All rocks and strata hold water to greater or less le s degree It is not possible to sink a II deep shaft for a mine without encountering water as we no know to our cost t for it has ha to be pumped out at great expense It le Is i common knowledge that if a mine is not worked it is soon eoon flooded reasons reason Colonel Colon do de II H Haig thinks ne we e are in the midst of a gradual progressive drying up of earth due du to causes almost entirely out of our control And sooner or later ho believes believe it must put an end nd to our race rae andall and all other othor life lit in the tho 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