164 



The National Geographic Magazine 



GRANARY IN THE VALLEY OF THE NIGER 



p or this and the preceding four illustrations this Magazine is indebted to "La Societe d'Etude- 



Coloniales de Belgique," Brussels. 



IN THE VALLEY OF THE NIGER 



THE French during recent years 

 have been sending many expedi- 

 tions across the Sahara Desert and have 

 thoroughly explored Timbuktu, formerly 

 the mysterious city of Africa, and 

 all the country round about it. They 

 have found there queer types of archi- 

 tecture and relics of a civilization which 

 centuries ago was very great. They have 

 also discovered in caves exceedingly 

 ancient human relics, showing that this 

 part of the world was inhabited during 

 the Stone Age by a people not unlike the 

 prehistoric Cliff-dwellers of this country. 



But perhaps the most interesting re- 

 sult of these expeditions is the apparent 

 proof that the Desert of Sahara is con- 

 stantly growing larger by pressing south- 

 ward. The region along the upper Niger 

 and east to Lake Tchad is becoming 

 dryer each year, with the result that the 

 arid belt across Africa is widening. This 

 gradual desiccation resembles that occur- 

 ring in central Asia, and is the prin- 

 cipal reason for the degeneracy of the 

 peoples along the Niger. The National 

 Geographic Magazine has in prepara- 

 tion a large map of Africa, which will 

 be sent to the members of the Society 

 in about two months. 



