Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

S A H
series (and according to Zittel especially the Nubian sandstone) have
been made to yield the sand which, drifted and sifted by the winds,
has taken on the form of dunes. The slightest breeze is enough
to make the surface “smoke” with dust; and at times the weird
singing of the sands, waxing louder and louder, tells the scientific
traveller that the motion is not confined to the superficial particles.1
How important a part the winds may play in the redistribution of
the lighter particles is probably shown by the clouds of red dust
which were noticed by Edrisi as frequently obscuring the Atlantic
sky between Cape Verd and the American coast, and which have
recently been referred by Dr Gustav Hellemann to the African
Sahara whence Professor Tacchini also derives the similar clouds
of dust observed in many parts of Italy (comp. Tchihatchef).
But even such a river-system as that supposed combined with all
conceivable atmospheric agencies would only account for the minor
phenomena of erosion. Dr Zittel in dealing with the Libyan Desert
finds it necessary to assume violent freshwater floods proceeding
from the south, though, as he confesses, this only shifts the diffi¬
culty a stage further back, as it involves an enormous change of
climate. To render such a change of climate a probable hypothesis
various recent speculations combine ; and Dr Theobald Fischer and
Dr Oscar Fraas agree in believing that the desiccation has markedly
increased in historic times. Evidence derived from ancient monu¬
ments combined with the statements of Herodotus and Pliny are
held to prove that the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the crocodile
existed in North African regions where the environment is now
utterly alien, and on the other hand that the camel is a late intro¬
duction. Humboldt sought to attribute the desiccation of the desert
region of Asia and Africa to the effects of the north-east trade-wind;
but Dr Lenz, wdio points out that in North Africa the wind seldom
blows from the north-east but generally from the north or north¬
west2 (the latter of course from the Atlantic, in the western parts,
but farther east from the European regions of precipitation), argues
that one of the principal causes has been the destruction of the forests
on the highlands. The dry winds from the Sahara are known in
Europe as the Scirocco and the Fohn or Fbn.
Botanically the Sahara is the meeting-ground of representatives
of the “Mediterranean” and the “Tropical” floras which have man¬
aged to accommodate themselves to the peculiar climatic conditions.
The line of demarcation between the two floral areas, almost coin¬
ciding in the west with the Tropic of Cancer and in the east dipping
south towards the meridian of Lake Tchad, assigns by far the greater
portion of the area to “Mediterranean” influences.3 Uniformity,
in spite of differences of altitude and soil, is a general characteristic
of the vegetation, which outside of the oases consists mainly of
plants with a tufty dry stiff habit of growth. The oases are the
special home of the date-palm, of which there are about 4,000,000
in the Algerian oases alone. In company with this tree, without
which life in the Sahara would be practically impossible, are grown
apples, peaches, oranges, citrons, figs, grapes, pomegranates, &c.
During the months from December to March wheat, barley, and
other northern grain crops are successfully cultivated and in the
hotter season rice, dukhn, durra, and other tropical products.
Altogether the oasal flora has considerable variety; thirty-nine
species are known from the Kufra group, forty-eight from the
Aujila group.
Zoologically the Sahara is also a debatable territory, partly
Mediterranean, partly Tropical. Apart from the domestic animals
(camels, asses, &c., and very noticeably a black breed of cattle in
Adrar), the list of fifteen mammals comprises the jerboa, the fennek
or fox, the jackal, the sand rat (Psammomys obesus), the hare, the
wild ass, and three species of antelope. In Borku, Air, &c., baboons,
hyaenas, and mountain sheep are not uncommon. Without count¬
ing migratory visitants, about eighty species of birds have been
registered—the ostrich, the Certhilauda deserti or desert-lark
(which often surprises the traveller with its song), Emberiza
Saharx, three species of Dromolea, &c. Tortoises, lizards, chamse-
leons, geckos, skinks, &c., of fifteen different species were collected
by the single Rohlfs expedition of 1873-74 ; the serpents comprise
the horned viper, PsammopMs sibilans, Coslopeltis lacertina, the
python, and several other species. The edible frog also occurs.
Cyprinodon dispar, a fish not unlike Cyprinodon calaritanus, is
found in all the brackish waters of north Sahara and swarms in the
lake of the Siwa oasis. The brine-shrimp has been described in
the article Fuzz ax.
The present population of the Sahara consists almost exclusively
of Arabs, Berbers, and Negro tribes. The Berbers (Tuareg or
luarik, &c.) occupy the west central region almost exclusively,
appear sporadically in the western, and stretch northwards into
Morocco and Algeria ; the Negro tribes form a compact block in
the east central region northwards and north-eastwards from Lake
1 See Lenz’s chapter on this phenomenon.
" Comp. Derrecagaix, “ Le sud de la province d’Oran,” in Bull, de la
Soc. de Oeogr., Paris, 1873.
3 Comp. Drude, Florenreiche der Erde, 1884; and Cosson, Com¬
pendium Floras Atlantic^, 1881, &c.
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Tchad; and the Arabs are in possession of all the rest of the country.
Politically the Sahara belongs partly to Morocco (Tafilet, &c.),
partly to Algeria and Tunis (and thus to France), and partly to the
Turkish empire (Tripolis, Egypt, &c.). France especially has been
steadily pushing south with the purpose of forming a junction
ultimately with her colony on the Senegal. The spirit of independ¬
ence among the Mohammedan populations has been crystallized
and stimulated by the remarkable confraternity of Sidi Mohammed
ben 'Ali es-Senusi, founded about 1837, and now possessing about
120 convents or zawiga (mostly in the Saharan region), with its
headquarters at Jerabub.4 With this organization the French have
already come into conflict in their southward progress. To estab¬
lish their influence they propose the construction of a trans-Saharan
railway and the opening up of the region to the south of Algeria
and Tunis by the construction of an inland sea. According to
M. Roudaire, the author and protagonist of this scheme, which is
familiarly but deceptively styled the “flooding of the Sahara,”5
it is possible by proper engineering works to create an inland sea
to the south of Algeria and Tunis with an average depth of 78 feet
and an area of 3100 square miles, or about fourteen times the size
of the Lake of Geneva. A Government commission decided that
the excavation of the necessary canal would not be difficult, and
that, in spite of silting-up processes, the work would at least last
1000 to 1500 years. M. de Lesseps, M. Roudaire’s principal sup¬
porter, visited the district in 1883 and reported that the canal
would cost five years’ labour and 150,000,000 francs. The scheme,
which has met with persistent hostility on the part of M. Cosson
and others, is based on the following facts. The Gulf of Gabes
is separated by a ridge 13 miles across and 150 feet high from Shott
al-Fejej, a depression which extends south-west into the Shott
Jerid, which in its turn is separated from the Shott Rharsa only
by a still narrower ridge. Shott Rharsa is succeeded westwards
by a series of smaller depressions and beyond them lies the Shott
Melrir, whose north-west end is not far from the town of Biskra.
What we know about such inland seas as the Caspian and the Aral
seems to cast serious doubt on the probability of any increase of
the rainfall in the Sahara by the formation of Roudaire’s sea.
The commerce of the Sahara is not inconsiderable. Among the
more important trade routes are—(1) from Morocco to Cairo by
Insalah and Ghadames, which' is followed by the pilgrims of
Western Africa bound for Mecca; (2) from Kuka to Murzuk and
Tripolis; (3) from the Sudan to Tripolis by Air and Ghat; (4) from
Timbuktu to Insalah, Ghadames, and Tripolis ; (5) from Timbuktu
to Insalah and thence to Algeria and Tunis ; (6) from Timbuktu
to Morocco. The two great products are dates and salt. Full
details of the date trade will be found in Fischer’s Die Dattelpalme,
1881. The principal sources of salt are the rock-salt deposits of
the Juf (especially Taudeni), the lakes of Kufra, and the rock-salt
and brine of Kawar (Bilma).
See, besides the works already quoted, Vatonne, Mission de Ghadames, 1863 ;
Duveyrier, Les Touaregs du Nord, 1864 ; Ville, Explor. geologique du Mzab, &c.,
1867 ; Pomel, Le Sahara, 1872 ; Eolilfs, Quer durch Afrika (1874), Drei Monate
im libyschen Wiiste (1875), and Kufra (1881) ; Largeau, Le pays de Rirha-Ouargla,
1879; Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, 2 vols., 1879; Holland, “Le Cretace du
Sahara Septentrional ” (with geological map of the Central Sahara), in Bull, de
la Soc. Giol. de France, 1881; Boudaire, Rapport sur la derniere exped. des Choits,
1881 (and other reports by the same author); Tchihatchef, “ The Deserts of
Africa and Asia,” in British Association Reports (Southampton, 1882); Derre¬
cagaix, “Explor. du Sahara; Les deux missions du Lieut.-Colonel Flatters,”
in Bull, de la Soc. de Geogr., 1882 ; Lenz, Timbuktu : Reise durch Marokko, &c.,
1884; and Beclus, Nouv. Geographic TJniv., xi., 1886, which contains an admir¬
able resume. (H. A. W.)
SAHARANPUR, or Sehaeunpook, a British district of
India, in the Meerut division of the lieutenant-governor-
ship of the North-Western Provinces. It lies between
29° 35' and 30° 21' N. lat., and between 77° 9' and 78° 15'
E. long., and is bounded on the N. by the Siwdlik Hills,
separating it from the district of Dehra Dun, on the S. by
the district of Muzaffarnagar, on the E. by the Ganges,
and on the W. by the Jumna. Saharanpur forms the most
northerly portion of the Do&b, or alluvial tableland, which
stretches between the valleys of the Ganges and the Jumna.
The Siwalik Hills rise precipitously on its northern fron¬
tier ; at their base stretches a wild submontane tract, with
much forest and jungle. Cultivation generally in this
part is backward, the surface of the country being broken
by wild and magnificent ravines. South of this tract,
flanked on the east and west by broad alluvial plains, lies
the Dofib, with fertile soil and good natural water-supply.
This portion of the country is divided into parallel tracts
4 See list in Duveyrier’s paper, Bull, de la Soc. de Geogr., 1884.
5 In this connexion it is enough to mention Mr Mackenzie’s scheme
for flooding the Western Sahara; see Flooding Sahara, 1877, and
Ravenstein, “The Western Sahara,” in Geog. Mag., 1876.