FROM CAPE TO CAIRO.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144084, 1 May 1913, Page 4

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 tho numerous systems of side railways which will connect the vast central road with tho seas on cither hand.” These were tho memorable words used by tho 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.

Tho dream of the great Empirebitilder is being rapidly realised, and within the next decade we should certainly bo able to travel by rail and steamer direct from Cairo to the Capo. Indeed, only a few hundred miles of rails have now to be laid to render a through communication possible. NorthWard the lino has already crossed into tho Congo from North-west Rhodesia, and is within a short distance of Lake Tanganyika. This inland sea is 400 miles in length, and a railway hero is unnecessary, as commodious steamers could be placed upon the lake, and the same remark applies to tho other two lakes to tho north, tho Albert Nyauza and the Victoria Nyanza, and the upper reaches of tho Nile. Thus, out of total distance of 5611 miles at least a thousand or more could he 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 thoheart of the Soudan. Less than 700 miles are needed to join up tho two'main-lines with tho various waterways that could he used. But here it is impossible to say what will happen until the- engineers come along and decide what course to follow, i Indeed, the original route has been repeatedly changed, but sufficient has been said to show that the Cape to Cairo scheme is within measurable distance of realisation.

AN ENGINEERING FEAT

At Bulawayo the work of construction paused lor a time while detailed surveys were carried out northwards to determine the most suitable route, hardly had construction work commenced when the 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, ranch bridging and viaducts being necessary to cross the rivers, gorges, and ravines. After careful con-' siderption 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 aweinspiring Victoria Falls) which were reached in 1905. Here the engineers were confronted with a knotty problem —how best to span the Zambesi Biver. 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 ovtfr 400 feet .to the water level, and-until quite recently this 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 wot 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.tho northern bank of the Zambesi the railway , runs to Kalomo, the capital of North-Western Rhodesia, some 02 miles away. This part of the undertaking was especially arduous, ns tho country was practically unexplored, and the surveying party, some 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 tho natives would act. Til! 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 tho locomotive proved at first rather a severe trial to \ their nerves. ■ They could not understand by what means the train travelled along. ■ The only method of transport known to tho simple-minded 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 bidden away somewhere, and that the engine was merely driven by the action of fire and water. Then as camps were established in tho 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 ho placed at the camps to guard thorn, and in one or two instances rebellions were only squashed in the bud’by the arrest of the discontented chiefs and medicine men.