1 62 The National Geographic Magazine 



and mark out this far northwest bound- 

 ary an expedition is now being organ- 

 ized by the Geological Survey, at the 

 direction of the State Department. It 

 is probable that the Canadian authori- 

 ties will cooperate with the Americans 

 in definitely indicating the exact bound- 

 ary. Much of this region is still with- 

 out roads and trails. The work will 

 be difficult, as it must be prosecuted in 

 part through the wildest region of the 

 Rockies and Cascades, where impassable 

 streams and lofty cliffs make direct ad- 

 vance impossible. The necessary sur- 

 veys will require three or four years. 



After the work is completed it must 

 be approved -by a treaty between the 

 British and American governments, de- 

 scribing in detail the location of this 

 part of the northwest boundary and the 

 monuments by which it is indicated. 



Mr. E. C. Barnard, the well-known 

 topographer of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, will run the line, in cooperation 

 with Mr. C. H. Sinclair, of the Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey. Messrs. Bailey 

 Willis, F. L. Ransom, andG. O. Smith 

 accompany the party as geologists to 

 study the geology of the country in the 

 vicinit}^ of the dividing line. 



SUSPENSION RAELROAD IN 

 GERMANY 



A SUSPENSION railroad of novel 

 construction has recently been 

 opened at Elberfeld, in Germany. It 

 is about eight miles in length and runs 

 through the towns of Barmen and El- 

 berfeld, following the course of the river 

 Wupper. The up-and-down lines have 

 only a single rail apiece, supported by 

 an iron framework of a kind hitherto 

 unknown in railroad engineering. Each 

 car hangs from two supports 25 feet 

 apart, fitted with double wheels, which 

 run upon the overhead rail. These sup- 

 ports are so shaped that it is believed 

 to be impossible for them to leave the 



line, even though an axle or a wheel 

 should break. 



The motive power is electricity, sup- 

 plied by a wire attached to the rail. 

 Each pair of wheels is operated by an 

 electric motor controlled by a motorman 

 in the front car. The railroad is the in- 

 vention of the late Herr Eugene Langer, 

 of Cologne, who died in 1895. The 

 chief advantage claimed is cheapness of 

 construction, for the line can be built 

 over public roads and rivers, where no 

 ground need be' purchased. 



CAPE TO CAIRO TELEGRAPH 



WORK is progressing on the tele- 

 graph line from Cairo to the 

 Cape, although little has been heard 

 about it of late, owing to the war in 

 South Africa and the great distance 

 from civilization the engineers have 

 penetrated. The line of poles and wire 

 now stretches 3,000 miles up from the 

 Cape to a point 50 miles north of the 

 town of Kasanga, on the shore of Tan- 

 ganyika, in German East Africa. Only 

 1,200 miles remain between Kasanga 

 and the southern end of the Egyptian 

 telegraph line. This last link will be 

 traversed more easily, as the apparatus 

 and supplies can be brought by water 

 instead of by native porters. Porters 

 have to be continually engaged, as the 

 men refuse to go more than a few hun- 

 dred miles from their homes. Horses, . 

 mules, and cattle cannot be employed, 

 as they cannot survive the bite of the 

 tsetse fly. 



The country just traversed between 

 Lake Tanganyika and Salisbury is the 

 hardest bit of ground to be met with, 

 for it is mountainous, heavily wOoded, 

 and malarious. Mr. E. S. Grogan, the 

 explorer, reports having seen engineers 

 supervising the work from litters while ,> 

 racked with fever and the thermometer 

 standing at 104°. 



The rinderpest and the war with the 



