Metifu of Re ci firs, fOfi/06. 



Leading Articles. 



395 



THE SAHARA CIVILISED! 



Mr. Cyrus C. Adams contributes to the American 

 Review of RevieTvs a vivid sketch of what he calls 

 the most remarkable journey across the Sahara. It 

 was made last year by Professor E. F. Gautier, of 

 the School of Letters, Algiers. He crossed the de- 

 sert, travelled about 600 miles in the Sudan, and re- 

 turned to France in less than five months. Four 

 years ago that would have been impossible. The 

 Tuareg bandits and warriors then were in the habit 

 of swooping down on French outposts and caravans, 

 killing, plundering, and disappearing. They rode 

 on swift camels which defied the pursuit of the 

 French troops. But the French authorities, bent on 

 suppressing these disorders, revolutionised their 

 military service: — 



They ransacked all the northern camel-herds, and among 

 the thou8;inds of animaU picked out those that were 

 built for fast travel. These Heet camels are called 

 • meharis." The French also enlisted bands of youner men, 

 tlie best camel-drivers they could find, and for niontlis 

 thev were drilled in tlie use of the best modern rifles, 

 and were raced at top speed on their fast animals from 

 one oasis to anotlier. Thus, bands of higlily-efBcient 

 native troops were formed. These companies of light camel 

 cavalry are called " meharists." and are under the com- 

 mand of French officers. 



From that day the French were equal to the Tiiaregs in 

 siieed and mobility, and the superiority of their arms 

 insured victory every time they met the enemy. But the 

 Tuaregs are no lonuer enemies. They found that they 

 oould not get away from the meharists. Every time tliey 

 "were guilty of outlawry they were chased, overtaken, and 

 soundly trounced. They were caught in their rugged 

 fastnesses among the Hoggar Mountains and suffered a 

 terrible defeat. 



To-day they are humbled and broken. They sue<l for 

 pe.ace. and are now content to live quietly in the central 

 and southern parts of the desert, tending tlieir camels 

 and cattle. 



The meharists are the vigorous police of the Sahara. 

 They have established peace and introduced a new era. 



VAST STRETCHES OF GRASSLAND IN THE SAHARA. 



That Gautier and his two companions crossed the 

 Sahara practically unarmed and scatheless is not the 

 Tiic/st rem irkabie feature of their journey, but the dis- 

 coveries he made: — 



Gautier found tliat the Sahara, viewed as a desert, is 

 2nuch less extensive than has generally been believed. 

 Marching across the Adrar plateau, which stands about 

 half a mile above sea level, he was surprised to find many 

 of the wadys bordered by grass, and grassy expanses in 

 the valleys, with a thin sprinkling of vegetation over the 

 flat parts of the plateau. He says that this great high- 

 land can by no means be viewed as a waste. 



His astonishment was still greater, however, farther 

 south, where he entered, one day. a region covered with 

 considerable grass, which he found to extend in a belt 

 three hundred and sixty miles wide, till it finally merges 

 with the Sudan. This appears to be a great steppe region 

 that we have not heard of before. It has its rainy season, 

 with from six to twelve inches of rain, every year. This 

 is a small amount, as agriculture needs at least twenty 

 inches of annual rainfall ; but the quantity is sufficient to 

 make a steppe of a large region that was thought to be 

 desert. The land is covered with little ponds and grasses, 

 and animal life is everywhere abundant, the explorer find- 

 ing many varieties of antelope, and also wild hogs, 

 giraffes, lions and elephants, 



THE SAHARA ONCE POPULOUS. 



It is surprising to find the Sahara largely grass- 

 lands, tenanted with animal life, more remarkable to 

 know that it was formerly populous: — 



Gautier found absolute proof that long before the present 

 age of rainfall, in what is known as the Neolithic or later 



Stone Age, a very large population inhabited this part of 

 the Sahara. He found there graves scattered over the 

 grassy plain; he found many hundreds of their drawings 

 on tlie rocks, where tliey had pictured animal forms and 

 other objects. He discovered the flattened stones which 

 thev had used for grinding prain. These millstones show 

 tliat agriculture was then developed in that region, and 

 tile grinding of grain into flour indicates considerable 

 advance of civilisation. Here and there were many arrow- 

 points, axes of polished stone and other implements. It 

 was many hundreds of years ago that human ueings in- 

 habited this region, but. as time is reckoned in geological 

 epochs, thousands of farmers were tilling this part of the 

 Sahara at a comparatively recent period. They were finally 

 driven back into the Sudan by the increasing drought, 

 and the world forgot that tliis region had ever been in- 

 liabited by man. 



VILLAGE CHOIRS OF THE PAST. 



In an article on Church Bands and Village Choirs 

 of the Past Century, contributed to the Antiquary 

 for March by Rev. F. W. Galpin, we are told that 

 after the year 1644 the Psalmody of the village 

 churches was for 150 years entirely dejiendent on the 

 musical knowledge of the parish clerk. 



Towards the end of the eighteenth century, how- 

 ever, the pitch-pipes were discarded, and the musi- 

 cal part of the services was undertaken by a choir, 

 a company of singers and musicians who usually oc- 

 cupied the western gallery of the church. It is only 

 ten years, writes Mr. Galpin, since the last of these 

 bands in its original form disappeared. It was the 

 band of Winterborne Abbas in Dorsetshire. There 

 were three performers — the thatcher, who was clerk 

 and player of the clarinet ; a farm labourer, who 

 ]ilaved the flute ; and a shepherd, who undertook 

 the bass. 



When the rector had given out the Psalm, the 

 band struck up in unison a four-note phrase with 

 elaborate variations. This was called "sounding off 

 the tune." When the singing liegan, the clarinet 

 played the air, the flute took the tenor (an octave 

 above the voice), and the 'cello the bass. In the 

 second verse the clarinet played an octaxe higher, 

 and at certain places executed original variations. 



Harmonium.« and barrel-organs proved the death 

 of the gallery-men, and only ver\- few of the old 

 musicians' galleries remain in their original condi- 

 tion. Mr. Galpin doubts whether the suppression of 

 these village bands has been an unmixed good. The 

 practice of the music provided recreation and occu- 

 pation for the peasant folk, and their performances 

 brightened village life and cheered the long even- 

 ings. 



The \n of Madame Amalia Kiissner Coudert, the 

 miniature-painter, is the subject of an article in the 

 W'pmai! at Home for March. Madame Coudert is 

 an American lady. She has never had any ambition 

 to paint pictures, but she has always been fascinated 

 by faces. Her sitters include the King when Prince 

 of Wales, the Tsar, and various members of the 

 Russian Imperial family, Cecib Rhodes, etc. 



