Sahara

sa-ha'ra, the great desert region of North Africa. It extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Nile, and from the provinces of the Mediterranean to the drainage basin of the Niger. It includes an area of about 3,500,000 square miles,--a region equal in extent to Europe. Although there are level stretches, the region as a whole is far from being a level, sandy plain. South of Algeria, it dips to a depth of 100 feet below the level of the sea. Elsewhere it rises to heights of 2,000, 4,000, and even 8,000 feet. In fact, half way from the Atlantic to the Nile, there are spots so elevated that the mountains are crowned with snow three months in the year. Indeed, the Sahara, taken as a whole, is a rather rough, stony, mountainous region, traversed by valleys and defiles, yet expanding in places into broad plains or extensive sand dunes. Generally speaking, it is a region of desolation. It is almost a rainless region. The prevailing winds are hot and dry, having been robbed of their moisture. Were there an abundance of rain, the country would be fertile. As it is, wherever streams are present, or springs, having their sources in distant mountains, break forth, fertile valleys and oases are found.

The date-palm is the characteristic plant of the oasis. Olives, apples, peaches, oranges, grapes, wheat, barley, rice, and a great variety of temperate and tropical plants flourish. The population of the oases is chiefly Arab, Moor, negro, and Jew, in all three or four million people. The chief domestic animal is the camel. There are herds of black cattle, tame ostriches, and of goats. There is a considerable caravan trade in ivory, ostrich feathers, gums, spices, gold dust, indigo, palm oil, dates, cotton, salt, alum, musk, hides, weapons, gunpowder, cotton and silk goods. The list of wild animals includes the jackal, hyena, baboon, fox, jerboa, and mountain sheep. There are nearly one hundred different species of birds, including the ostrich and the buzzard. Among reptiles are the horned viper, small pythons, and numerous lizards, chameleons, and tortoises.

As might be expected, civilization is at a low ebb. The fierce looking Arab chieftains who appear at Mediterranean cities, or in Egypt, at the head of long caravans of camels, laden with the productions of the desert, are, at home, robbers and plunderers of their weaker neighbors. They are still ready to carry on a slave trade with any who are willing to buy. The regular routes may be traced by a continuous string of the bones of camels that have fallen by the wayside during literally thousands of years of caravan traffic. It is quite possible that at some future time the sunken portion of the Sahara may be redeemed by a system of irrigation canals and converted into one of the fertile regions of the world. A railroad backed by French money is making its way southward from Algeria across the Sahara to Timbuctoo on the Niger River.

See Caravan; Timbuctoo; Desert; Dune; Oasis