Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1892 — LIFE IN THE DESERT. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LIFE IN THE DESERT.

A Typical Caravan Town In the Great Sahara of Africa. The great Sahara Desert of Africa, embracing an areaof 3,293,000 square miles, plays an important part In the intercourse of mankind. Since the far distant day when its mighty rivers dried up and the once productive region became a desert, the Sahara has become only a thoroughfare between commercial points on the Mediterranean and the reed thatched huts amid the dense forests of Negroland. On its broad surface are scattered numerous tow ns and stations, resting places for the weary caravans that tread its shifting sands. One of the most Important of these towns is Arawan, situated in longitude 4 degrees west and a little south of 20

degrees north latitude. It owes its importance to its splendid water supply, an essential requisite for a settlement in, a region where the atmosphere is constantly dry, the heat in summer almost unbearable, and where, whether In summer or winter, the sands, that move over the land like waves on the sea, penetrate the houses, fill the air and make life a torture. Notwithstanding the inexhaustible watei supply which is derived from wells sunk deep in the earth’s bowels, not a blade of grass nor an evidence of vegetable growth is seen around Arawan. The large rectangular houses are scattered irregularly over the sandy plain; there are no streets, as the sands are constantly shifting, now forming hills, now depressions, and unless when caravans visit the place there is little indication that these queer-looking houses are not the relics of a race that has melted from the earth. Inside the rectangular wall, built of clay, are the dwelling rooms. These have only the light and air that reach them from over the wall; even the door that enters to them is kept constantly closed to guard against the blowing sands and the swarms of flies that hover around every settlement in the desert. The supplies of Arawan are brought from Timbuctoo, 120 miles distant. The inhabitants raise only a few hens ami some Soudanese sheep that grow hail instead of wool. In this wrstched manner has life been sustained in Arawan since its establishment ovei 200 years ago and in the same way may life be sustained when anothei 200 years shall have passed away.

A HOUSE IN ARAWAN.