FROM CAPE TO CAIRO

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 287, 26 April 1913, Page 9

FROM CAPE TO CAIRO

THE MAKING OF A GREAT RAILWAY "My railway would be the backbone and spinal cord to direct, consolidate and give life to the numerous systems of side railways which will connect the.vast central road with the seas on either hand." These were the memorable words used by the late Mr. Cecil Rhodes when he first outlined his daring project for a railway that should bring Egypt and the Nile into direct communication with the flourishing states in the southern portion of the African continent. The dream of the great Empire-builder is being rapidly realised, and within the next decade we should certainly be able to travel by rail and steamer direct from Cairo to the Cape. Indeed, only a few hundred miles of rails have now to be laid to render a through communication possible. Northward the line has already crossed into the Congo from i North-west Rhodesia, and is within a ' short distance of Lake Tanganyika. This inland sea is 400 miles in length, and a railway here is unnecessary, as commodious steamers could be placed upon the lake, and the same remark applies to the other lakes to the north, the Albert Xyanza and the Victoria Nyanza, and I the upper reaches of the Nile. Thus, out of a total distance of 5611 miles, at least a thousand or more could be performed by steamer. Already some 2400 miles of track have been laid northward from the Cape, while from Cairo the rails have been pushed southward for a distance of 1400 miles south of Khartoum, right into the heart of the Soudan. Less than 700 miles are needed to join up the two main lines with the various waterways that could be used. But here it is impossible to say what will happen until the engineers come along and decide what course to follow. Indeed, the original route has been repeatedly changed, but sufficient has been said to show that the C'ape-to-Cairo scheme is within reasonable distance of realisation.

AN ENGINEERING FEAT. At Bulawayo the work of reconstruction paused for a time while detailed surveys were carried out northwards to determine the most suitable route. Then hardly had construction work commenced when war broke out with the Boers, and all operations were paralysed owing | to the difficulties of getting up plant and material from the south. It gave the engineers in charge of the undertaking an opportunity to examine the country to the north more carefully than had been possible previously. Their reports showed that the country through which it was proposed to carry the railway would prove a very difficult one from an engineering point of view, much bridging and viaducts being necessary to cross the rivers, gorges and ravines. After careful consideration it was accordingly decided to seek an alternative route. In the end they decided to continue the main line right on to the wonderful and awe-inspiring Victoria Falls, which were reached in 1905. Here the engineers were confronted with a knotty problem —how best to span the Zambesi river. They decided to throw a graceful steel bridge of a single span of 650 feet over the gorge just below the falls. It was built out from each bank simultaneously, and took eighteen months to erect. The chasm here is over 400 feet to the water level, and until quite recently the bridge could claim to be the highest in the world erected for carrying the iron road. Passengers can catch a glimpse of the falls, the largest in the world, as they cross the bridge, and in the wet season the trains are drenched with the spray of the falling waters. The greatest difficulty the engineers had to contend with in the erection of the railway up to this point was the question of water supply. Beyond the falls, however,' troubles of a different character arose—the unfriendly attitude of the natives, encounters with lions, elephants and other wild beasts, the ravages of white ants and other termites, and then as the Congo was approached it entered a region where sleeping sickness is rife. ATTITUDE OF THE NATIVES. . From the northern bank of the Zambesi the railway runs to Kalomo, the capital of North-VVestern Rhodesia, some !)2 miles away. This part of the under- j taking was specially arduous, as the I country was practically unexplored, and the surveying party 9ome hundred or more miles in advance of the railway experienced terrible privations and hardships. They had to cut their way through a thickly-wooded country and dense vegetation infested .with all kinds of wild beasts and subject to attack from hostile natives. Then when the locomotive came along it was doubtful how the natives would act. Till a few years previously a white man had scarcely been seen in this region. At first their attitude was one of pure curiosity. The whistle of the locomotive proved at first a severe trial to their nerves. They could not understand by what means the train travelled along. The only method of transport known to the simple-mind-ed tribes of Central Africa was teams of oxen. It is recorded that when the first train passed the falls, on the journey northwards, a large number of natives assembled at one of the stations to stare at the boiler and watch the animals come out of it! It took some time to convince them that there was not a large train of oxen hidden away somewhere, and that the engine was merely driven by the action of lire and water. Then as camps were established in the more unsettled districts the natives would raid them, not so much with intent to kill the workers, but to secure their cooking utensils and other objects. Armed patrols had to be placed at the camps to guard them, and in one or two instances rebellions were only squashed in the hud by the arrest of the discontented chiefs and medicine men.