ACROSS THE SAHARA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18341, 6 March 1923, Page 5

ACROSS THE SAHARA.

ATTEMPT IN MOTOR-CARS.

GREAT FRENCH ADVENTURE.

NEW CATERPILLAR WHEEL.

The attempt of a French expedition to reach Tiinbuctoo from Touggort in specially-constructed motor-cars will interest lovers of good adventure and servo the graver interests of their country, writes William Ryall in a London paper. The Sahara sunders two great fragments of the French colonial empire. It excites the French imagination that both are on the same meridian as Paris. Bat no satisfactory way of communication between them "has yet been , found. The desert is a more terrible obstacle than any sea or any forest. The actual journey has been done several times, but it is a long, costly, heroic business; the camel caravan is the only means, as it was in the days of Mahommed and I Pharaoh. Yet the alternative in getting i from Biskra to Timbuctoo means a sea voyage half round Africa, completed by a journey by cart or train a.t both ends for hundreds of miles. Overland the places are 2500 kilometers apart. By the only route at present the distance is more than twice as long. After the war an attempt was made by French aviators to open up the overland route by air. General Laperrine and Major Vuillemin, experienced men, tried to fly over the desert in January, 1920. Vuillemin, after terrible adventures, succeeded, but General Laperrine died miserably half-way after a forced landing. It was found that before this method became anything more than a mad and costly adventure, something like the Atlantic crossing by the English airmen, depots of petrol would have to be constructed all along the route. As it was, Vuillemin only succeeded because of the Aid given by the Government, who at enormous expense and toil had organised part of the route. Tho heavy motor-lorries stuck in the sand, and most of the task of carrying petrol had to bo done by camel transport commandoered from the l atives. Fifteen hundred animals died in this work, and their owners, brought to the brink of ruin, revolted and fled into the desert with what remained of their beasts. Tho sure lesson drawn from the disastrous expedition was that before flying machines could pass the road under them would have to be organised thoroughly. In the future the aviator will have his role in the conquest of the Sahara, but for tho present he must wait for the motor-car. Successful Experiments. At this point the French Colonial Office received an application from two engineers, one of them M. Kermesse, at one time attached to the Russian Ministry of War, who had invented a caterpillar wheel, primarily for use over the snow, but which had been perfected for sand transport by his friend M. Hinstin, a young manufacturer who had already to his credit a well-known cycle-car. The authorities took the matter up, and motorcars fitted with the twin back wheel "caterpillars," similar in look to those used commonly for motor-drawn ploughs, were produced by the Citroen Company and tested. Experiments were made with little 10 h.p. cars fitted in this way over the worst country in France; they succeeded brillianty. and the Kermesse-matin wheel made light of the " sand sea." near the forest of Senlis, and made the ascension — 15 milea an hourof the worst sand dime in the Basque country. An expedition was fitted out with four of the cars and taken to South Algeria by M. Andouin-Dubreuil last year. It started from the terminus of the Biskra railway at Touggort and headed due south over the desert'. In a previous attempt to solve the groat problem a sort of road had been made for some hundreds of kilometers out of Touggort, but the expedition intentionally avoided this road and fursued its way over the open country, t reached In Shalah, a Saharan town roughly half-way to Nigeria, without mishap, and returned safely to Touggort, having ac.-»mplished, almost with ease, 20.(500 kilometers in the open desert, over shifting fine sand and rocky wastes. Tho experiment was thus a complete success, and the new " sand car," which is nothing hut the well-known Citroen touring car fitted with Kermesse- wheels, had proved itself. Elaborate Organisation. The next expedition is being fitted out! and may be - expected to start in a short time. It is being placed under charge of the same leader, M. AndouinDußrcuil. The greatest difficulty remains to the south of In Shalah, for the Great Thirst, 500 kilometers without a single well, has still to be conquered. Careful preparations which made the success of the new expedition an almost foregone conclusion are being made. Both ends of the long route have been organised. On the Algerian side " sand cars" have already begun the task of creating depots of petrol, munitions, provisions, etc. In the south three cars have already arrived at Timbuctoo, under Commander Ceris, each carrying twin litre reservoirs of petrol, with instructions to push up as far as possible, and it is hoped that they will organise supplies through the littleknown country of Northern Nigeria, as far, perhaps, as Tin Zaouta, the last oasis before the Great Thirst. The expedition proper, in charge of Dubreuil, consists of three cars, with specially constructed* body-work. The motor is the same as accomplished the In Shalah trip; tho manufacturer, M. Citroen, insists with pride thjit it is tho ordinary four-cylinder block motor installed on all his 10 h.p. touring cars. In front there are seats for two, and a dickey seat. Over the back axle there are two reservoirs for petrol, containing each 150 litres, and a cheat with two compartments, holding munitions, food, water for the time the chain of wells is passed, tools, and camping equipment. Each car carries two folding beds of Duralumin, and sleeping bags—for the temperature often falls below zero at nightfall in the desert however burning may have been tlxa day. Six Changes of Gear. Two of the cars aro fitted with machineRuns, aviation model, ready for instant use against marauders. In 191S a caravanwas massacred near In Shalah. The most interesting change in the " work.? " of the car ifs the multiple speed gear, allowing of six changes, and giving a speed-range of from 3 to 40 kilometres an hour, according to the ground passed over. * The main part of the new " road " that ha 3 to be traversed is only vaguely known, if at all. It includes every variety of surface, from the fine clinging sand that gets into the axle joints to the rocky stone-bestrewn waste lying under black desolate plateaux whos e sides are scarred with deep chasms. In the best part there is one well every hundred kilometres. At worst there is the 500 kilometres absolutely dry of the Great Thirst that skirts the Hoggar. The expedition will pass the famous table moun-' tain of Gara Krimm, where, in the midst of hundreds of miles of sand, once flourished a prehistoric community who have left their traces in a litter of uncounted flint arrow-heads. For this Sahnra was not always the abomination of desolation. The whole road is 2500 kilometres, and M. Dubreuil expects the crossing to take a fortnight, at an average speed of 200 kilometres a day. If he succeeds a new trade and military route will be opened, for the first time in history. Depots of petrol will be established and maintained all along the route; perhaps later there will be built a railway.