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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



survey, and that line is followed as closely 

 as possible. .The bridges, tunnels, cul- 

 verts, and, in fact, all stone work, is built 

 for centuries. Some of the mountain 

 bridges are master-works of engineering, 

 spanning gorges of great depth. All of 

 the bridges are of stone, very little steel 

 being used anywhere in the colonies. 

 Wherever it is necessary a wall three and 

 a half feet high and a foot and a half 

 wide flanks the roadway to prevent acci- 

 dents. These roads are not merely near 

 the larger cities nor are they confined to 

 the seacoast, but they penetrate far into 

 the great desert to accommodate the cara- 

 vans coming in from the distant oasis of 

 the south. 



Along the Mediterranean Sea the as- 

 pect of the coast is most forbidding. Be- 

 tween Bougie and Jijelli, a distance in a 

 direct coast line of about 100 miles, a 

 road has been cut out of the solid rock 

 face of the cliff, and with its winding and 

 turning, as it follows each turn of the 

 cliff, it has made the length over 200 

 miles, and forms perhaps the most won- 

 derful corniche in the world. I have 

 motored from Naples to Spain, and have 

 followed every foot of the Italian and 

 French Riviera, and I have seen nothing 

 that can compare with this Algerian 

 highway. It should also be noted that 

 this wonderful road connects but two 

 towns, with no intermediate village of 

 any importance, and I doubt if the total 

 population of these two towns is 40,000. 



No soldier in battle shows more 

 bravery than was shown by the French 

 engineers who first conceived that great 

 work. They have built in a manner that 

 equals in wonder the roads of the Ro- 

 mans, who occupied this same land cen- 

 turies ago. This corniche will be in use 

 a thousand years hence, when the whole 

 of northern Africa will be as thickly pop- 

 ulated as southern Europe is today. The 

 French are building for the future ; they 

 are planning a hundred years ahead in 

 everything they do ; they are using these 

 great roads as a means of opening the 

 country just as the railroads have opened 

 our great West. 



From this road along the coast and 

 from all main highways in Tunis and 



Algeria are projected a network of minor 

 roads, equally well built, but a trifle nar- 

 rower, and in the mountain districts trails 

 for animals reach every remote hill and 

 valley. Each one of these trails is as 

 perfectly engineered and as perfectly laid 

 as any of the greater and more important 

 roads. I could not but contrast them 

 with the poor goat paths of our West, 

 dangerous and insecure, to be washed 

 away at every spring freshet. The French 

 government does not wait for a district 

 to become populated before it sends a 

 road or a trail into it, but rather does it 

 invite the settler along a well-laid path 

 into a new field. We have much to learn 

 from France. 



The roads of northern Africa are not 

 only well built in the beginning, but they 

 are kept in perfect repair at all times. 

 They are divided into sections of about 

 six or eight kilometers ; an overseer or 

 section-boss has charge of these divisions. 

 A well-appointed house is built for the ac- 

 commodation of him and his family, and 

 his duty does not carry him beyond his 

 own particular section. Each kilometer 

 of road in the colonies is marked by a 

 large square-cut stone, with the distance 

 from the last important town cut in large 

 plain figures, and beside this each kilo- 

 meter is subdivided by smaller stone 

 markers every ten meters, each one also 

 marked. 



Every few miles there is a watering 

 trough where pure water is supplied to 

 the traveler and to his animals. It is 

 built so that even the goat herds can ob- 

 tain easy access. In the center a spout 

 supplies the drinking water for the people 

 who desire it, and it is no unusual sight, 

 in the dry districts near the desert, to see 

 natives bringing their skin water-bags 

 many miles to carry the water supply 

 back to their houses. These troughs are 

 built of concrete or of stone, and the sup- 

 ply of water is drawn from artesian wells 

 or piped from the mountains. 



In the wilder districts the government 

 has built a sufficient number of folds to 

 protect the herds during the night. 



The American government might well 

 take the lesson afforded by the French as 

 builders of roads, and after sending a 



