ACROSS SAHARA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10543, 26 August 1910, Page 6

ACROSS SAHARA.

JOURNEY OF A BRITISH OFFICER That a young British officer should elect to spend a six months' furlough from the West Coast of Africa in crossing the Sahara Desert is one of those things which only those can understand who know the spirit of adventure which Englishmen. Captain A. H. W. Haywood, R.A., a voung officer serving in West Africa, arrived in England from this adventurous trip. Sun-browned and fatigued by the experience, he still looks back upon it with pleasure. He has been where few wilt ever follow. He _ has satisfied his curiosity, and he has «dde<L something to our knowledge of thf> great sandy plain. Leaving Free Town, Sierra Leone, on January 6, Captain Haywood spent two

months in exploring and shooting m the country about the source of the Niger and along that river. Reaching Bamako, on the JNiger, tlie capital of French Senegal and the *-p----per Niger Colony, where he was most Kospitablv received by the Acting Governor "'Captain Haywood' made his wav I)v steamer to Niafunke, passing through Lake Dhe.bo, the great natural reservoir of the river which keeps the navigation open below Tiinbuctoo during the <lrv weather. He was now in the big bend of the river, a grazing district in which lie shot a lion, two elephants, and other big game, awl out of which he 'made his way by a tribntarv of the Niger to Tiinbuctoo. ; In the historic capital of limbuctoo Captain Havwood again met his friends the French,' and set about .finding a way across the. Sahara. . "I meant," lie sadi, "to go straight across from Timbuctoo to Insalah, v Inch is situated on the twenty-eighth

lei in the direction of Algiers, but 1 found that the route was practically closed l>v tlie lieat. It was saul that we should have to go ten days between well' and I could not find a guide filling t'o take the risk 1 was advised to make for Gao, on the Niger, by barge and strike across from that spot. "Travelling night and day for seven daws I reached Gao oil April IS and formed my little party. l;rom die TCounta traders I lured a riding camel and four baggage camels, and with a Hausa bov from Timbuctoo as servant

and 'conk started off witli an escort of .six men of the Senegalese .1 mullein's due north to Kidal. _ "This was my first experience or the desert, and I soon realised the discomforts of it. We went two and three davs between wells, I riding ana mv hoy ' alternately riding a baggage animal and walking. At first we iound considerable Saliaran vegetation lit the • li'ied-np watercourses, which meant good gazelle shooting and pasturage lor the camels, but as we pushed farther "ortli the vegetation grew scantier and the persistent north-east winds, blowii'g tlie sand' in our faces, became more unpleasant. '•At Kidal I said good-bye to my escort, hired five new camels and an Arab guide and began my longest and most difficult trek to lusalah. \Ye had now SI!!) miles of true Saliaran desert 111 front of us, with the possibility of meetiii'' Tonaregs. • the wandering bandits of" the desert*,, always on the - look-out for plunder, and the certainty <;> death from thirst if wr lost our way. "Xorth of Adrar we came into a cun'trv in which there was no sign of water for tlu; camels, .wood lor a camp lire, or vegetation. ' We now had lo carry water for seven days and seven nights, and we marched almost conliiTuouslv. taking but four or live hours

n>si: in ilio t\YO!Uy-i'oiir. nf:er >!;iy \\\* emliirc:! i in* tlnviii'j; s;: nci. which penetrated our nostrils. mi!!v:--tlit'ln bleed. and the wind, bleu M'h!! sue'] violence that ii was imto pitch my small tent or prepare any food. For the last two or three days i ate nothing hut dates and drank as little as possible. The water in our skins became putrid and almost uudrinkahle, and there was always the chance that we might run out of it altogether. In this uncomfortable fashion, starcelv resting at all, we covered 200 miles of the Tanezront't region, and thouglit ourselves lucky to hnish this trek on June 1. . "During this time we met only three Tmiiiregs. mysterious-looking bandits with their faces covered with blue cloth io protect them from the sand a fashion which T adopted myself—who talked to my guide, and .seeing that we were well armed, leit us alone. "Although we were now through the worst of it we still had two or three days between wells until wo reached Insalah on June 12. With my guide as mv sole companion—my cook having struck —T travelled another four hundred miles to Ouragla. and thence another hundred miles to Tongourt- with one hairgage camel, having now eaten most of my stores and used a good part of mv ammunition. On July 5 1 lelt Toiii/ourt by the coach, which runs for the benefit of tourists who' want to see the desert, to Hiskrn. and so by rail, to Algiers. Altogether I had travelled from Free Town 3700 miles, of which l(iOs) were across the Sahara."

Captain Haywood came to several .n----teresting conclusions regarding the Sahara. Fie thinks the evidence that salt water once filled the depressions in ; ts centre fairly conclusive, and lie sees in that fact that portions of the country south of the Niger are true desert evidence that the Sahara is encroaching .u that direction under the influence ol tlu> persistent north-east winds, which he found so trying. He does not believe that the projected Saharan railway will ever pass beyond the visionary stage. The absence of fuel and water and the drifting sand render the railway almost impossible of construction, while there is no traffic which could possibly make it pay even were the line constructed. "For about 3400 miles of my jourout was treated with the greatest courney." added Captain Haywood. "I was in French territory, and throughout was treated with the greatest courtesy by their officials, who were warned in advance of my coming and gave mo everv assistance and much hospitality. ] found everywhere evidence of the great good feeling now existing between England and France."