8
TIIE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN. PORTLAND, NOVEMBER 10, 1907.
CAPE
; How the Great Steam Route thev Length of
HtJ
Africa is Being Constructed
It Will Be Nearly 6000 Miles Long; More
Than 3000 Miles of Track Laid
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TJf CAPE TO CAIRO EOIITE
SEOWIfG EXTENT 'OF
WATER AJW EAL.
BY FRANK O. CARPENTER.
I AM In the Soudan, at the end of the
northern section of the Cape to
Cairo Railroad. This part of the
route Is now completed from the Medi
terranean Sea to where the Blue and
White Nlles join to form 'the mighty
stream which has built up the land of
Egypt. I hare gone on the railroad
through the rich reglon of the Lower
Js'ile Valley, and am now In the upper
end of Nubia at the railroad station
of Halfaya, which lies Just opposite
Khartoum. My , distance from the
Mediterranean la equal to a straight line
from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders
of Colardo, and I am just about as far
south of Alexandria as New Orleans Is
outh of the booming city of Winnipeg.
From here I can get steamers which
will take me up the White Nile for
more than a thousand miles, and there
are something like 800 miles of avail
able waterways between that point and
the other end of the road which has
been constructed from Cape Town
northward to far beyond the Zambesi
Kiver.
By Steam Form Cairo to the Cape.
In thinking of the Cape to Cairo
route most people consider it as a con
tinuous railway system or of one iron
track running north and south through
Africa from one end to the other. This
it will never be. We ehall go by steam
from Cairo to the Cape, but almost one
third of the way will be over navigable
rivers and lakes. This was the idea of
every practical engineer who has ex
amined the country and its traffic pos
sibilities. There will be one railroad
line running from Cape Town as far
north as Lake Tanganyika, and another
practically continuous rail system
from here to Alexandria. The rest of
the route will be made up of rail and
water. The White Nile above Khar
toum may be paralleled here and there
by Iron tracks, but for a generation or
so, at least, the traffic will be by
steamers as far as the Belgian Congo,
at Gondokoro, a distance of over 1100
miles. At that point there will be a
railroad strip of 100 irjlles or so to
Dufile, and then the Nile will again he
used and steamers will go up it to
Lake Albert and across that lake to its
southern shores. Between Lakes Albert
and Tanganyika will be a little more
than 300 miles of railroad, with a 60
mlle ferryage cross Lake Kivu, which
lies between. Then will come the long
stretch of Lake Tanganyika, consist
ing of a deep waterway 400 miles long,
and then the southern section of the
road, going almost straight south to
Cape Town.
So far more than 3000 miles of iron
track have been laid on the northern
and southern ends of she system. The
southern section Is now about 2000
miles long. It has been extended from
Cape Town northward a distance of
almost 400 miles above the Zambesi
River, and there remain only 450 miles
to construct before the trains can con
nect with the little steamers now on
Lake Tangankiya. This section will
probably be completed In the near fu
ture, as the late Mr. Beit, one of Cecil
Rhodes' partners, set aside in his will
at least $6,000,000 for that purpose. I
liave before me a diagram recently is
sued by the African World, which
shows the line of the route and the ex
tent of water and rail It .will contain
when completed. According to this, the
total distance will be about 6900 miles.
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of whlch about 4000 miles will be rail
way and the balance taken up by the
rivers and lakes to which I have re
ferred. I should like to take you with me over
this first great section of the Cape to
Cairo Railway. We shall need four days
to go from the Mediterranean to the Junc
tion of the White and Blue Nlles, where
1 now am, but the trip will be comfort
able and there are great sights all the
way. We start at Alexandria, the chief
seaport of the Nile Valley, and. in three
hours, our express train carries us across
through the delta to Cairo. Both Alex
andria and Cairo have good railroad de
pots. The first city contains more than
400,000 people, and the second more than
1,000,000, so that there Is a rapid and fre
quent train service between them.
We take the express, and as we go
first-class we must pay three cents a
mile. The second-class fare is only half
as much as the first, and the third is still
cheaper. Every train 'has first, second
and third class cars. Those -of the first
are divided up into compartments and are
patronized by tourists and officials. The
second-class cars are much like those of
our American trains, having an aisle
through tha center; they are used by
merchants, commercial travelers and
well-to-do natives. The third-class cars
are cheaply gotten up and their seats are
wood benches; they are always filled with
the common Egyptians, and foreigners
seldom travel In them. Our tffltets are
little blue cards with the price printed
upon them in English and Arabic. We
have to show them to the guard as we
enter the train, and they are not ex
amined again until they are taken up at
the gates at the depot as we bo out.
We have 'some trouble with our bag
gage, for, like the ordinary American,
we are loaded with trunks.' Only 55
pounds can be che'eked without extra
charge, and my trunks often cost me
more than my fare. We notice that the
English and Egyptian passengers put the
most of their belongings into bundles and
bags, which they are allowed to bring
into the cars with. them. Many a single
passenger is carrying four or five valises,
each holding as much as a small steamer
trunk, and the compartments are half
filled with such luggage. Every first-class
car has a guard or porter who helps us
off and on, and there are always fellahs
at the depot ready to carry our stuff for
five cents per piece.
How the Mails Are Guarded.
Most of the Egyptian trains have a
mall car next to the engine, an express
car back of that 'and also cars for ani
mals. Our train carries one, In which are
two blanketed -horses, with Syrian grooms
to take care of them. They probably be
long to some rich nabob of Cairo, and
are going south by express.
The postal cars are carefully watched.
The bags of mail are carried to them on
red tAicks made for the purpose. The
trucks are pushed hy the Arabs and mail
is handled by them; but a dark-faed
soldier, with rifle and sword, marches
along with the mail and watches the bags
taken In and out. When a truck is load
ed the soldier goes with it to the post
office wagons. There Is always a guard
on such Nile steamers as carry mall, and
the letters are never left without soma
armed official to watch over them.
Government Railroads Which Pay.
Before we go on with our trip, let me
tell you how the railroads are managed.
Both those of Egypt and the Soudan are
under the government, and both systems
pay. Those of Egypt, according to Lord
Cromers" last report, are now earning
about 6 per cent on their capital stock and
their working expenses are only about 60
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per cent of the gross receipts. The busi
ness Is rapidly increasing. They will carry
2.500,000 more passengers this year than
last, and more than 1,000.000 tons more
freight. Egypt now has something like
1500 miles of railroads which belong to
the government, and in addition 600 or
700 miles of agricultural roads managed
by private parties. The earnings of the
latter are increasing, and they carry
more freight and passengers from year
to year.
The main lines are managed by Egyp
tian and European officials. The superin
tendents" of departments, who receive
$3000 and upward a year each, are main-'
ly Europeans, and the Inspectors and sub
inspectors, who get from $80 to $240 a
month, are in the main foreigners. Under
these men are the native guards, track
workers and mechanics of various kinds,
who receive less' wages. They are almost
all Egyptians, there being something like
2400 of them to about 150 Europeans.
As to the Soudan roads they go through
a thinly populated country. but the re
ceipts are considerably more than their
working expenses and they are rapidly
Increasing. In 1906 they were double
what they were in 1903. the chief Increase
being from the fourth-class passengers,
who are natives.
Scenes on the Cape to Cairo Road.
This division of the Cape to Cairo road
milks one of the richest countries on
earth. I mean the Delta of Egypt, which
is more thickly populated than any other
part of the globe. The land is as black
as your hat, and it raises two or three
crops a year. It is worth from $500 to
$1000 an acre, and furnishes a heavy
traffic of cotton and grain. The distance
from Alexandria to Cairo is 133 miles,
and all the way is through luxuriant
farms. There Is no desert in sight until
you reach Cairo. Cotton Is piled up at
every depot, there are boat loads of it on
the canals which the track crosses, and
at the stations cars of cotton bales fill
the side tracks. The freight of this region
alone would probably pay the expenses
of the road, and in addition there is( the
big passenger travel from Cairo to
Alexandria and from all parts of the
Delta.
The next division above Cairo goes to
Assiout, which Is iOO or 300 miles fur
ther north. Then comes the road from
Assiout to Luxor, ending up with the
narrow-gauge line from Luxor to As
souan. All of these divisions are through
the narrow Valley of the Nile, with the
desert In sight all the way. For almost
a thousand miles from Cairo the cele
brated Nile strip varies in width from
nothing to- about nine miles. In many
places it Is less than three miles wide.
The river winds this way and that, but
the railroad is comparatively straight,
and it Is often far off from the river amid
the sand and rocks. Such parts of the
strip are uncomfortable. At times the
sands are blinding, the dust fills the
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earn and our eyes smart. These discom
forts are somewhat obviated in the first
class cars. All of them have shutters and
double windows to keep out the dust, and
the -inner window panes are of smoked
glass to lessen the glare. With the shut
ters up it Is almost dark in the cars, and
when down both windows give the inte
rior the appearance of twilight. When
the white glass alone Is used the rays ar.e
blindinar and the sun comes through with
such strength that it is not safe to have 1
It strike the back of one s neck as he
sits in the train.
Through Nubia by Kail.
I found the conditions even worse in
the Nubian desert, which I crossed on
the- railroad from Wady Haifa to Ber
ber. That' region is about the bleakest
and dreariest on earth. It is all sand
and rocks, with here and there a low,
thirsty mountain. The Nubians them
selves call It "the stone belly," and the
name Is well chosen. The cars must be
kept closed to keep out the dust. They
have double windows and shutters, and
in addition wooden hoods over the win
dows, in order that the direct rays of
the sun may not shine In. The cars have
double roofs, and the doors have win
dows of smoked glass. There is so much
dust that it comes in when everything
is shut, and the porter brushes out the
cars every hour.
The scenery Is dreary. The" only water
Is that pumped from artesian wells, and
the stone stations have no green what
ever about them. The stations have not
even a name! They are known by num
bers; and their only Inhabitants are the
railroad employes. This is the condi
tion, all the way from Wady Haifa to
Abu Hamld, which is a port on the Nile
some distance above the fourth cataract.
The Soudan Military Railway.
This road is a part of the Soudan mil
itary railway, which extends from Wady
Haifa to Halfaya. The line all told is
676 miles long, and It has a guage of
only 42 inches. It is the road which was
built by Kitchener during the war with
the MahdI. It was constructed in less
than 18 months by the English engineers
and the soldiers and is one of the most
remarkable examples of railroad build
ing on record. A large part of it was
laid at the rate of J "4 miles per day, and
at one time more than three miles were
laid in one day. The track was con
structed during the hottest time of the
year and the work was so well done that
trains carrying 200 tons and drawn by
engines weighing, without their tender,
50 tons, could travel safely over it at
the rate of 25 miles per hour. It was
built through a waterless desert, which
had never been mapped until the sur
veyors went over it, and . the survey
camp was kept about six miles in ad
vance of the rail head during Its con
struction. There was always danger of
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I'VVT "Vis -:
46
attack by the dervishes and the road
was built through a hostile country.
Today the cars move as smoothly over
Kitchener's tracks as they do over those
of EKypt, and they give that country
regular connection with the Soudan.
There Is now a train de luxe connecting
Khartoum with Wady Haifa, and this
has both sleeping and dining cars.
Soudan Sleepers and Diners.
The sleepers are divided up Into com
partments about seven feet square, with
two berths to each compartment. There Is
an aisle from which the compartments
are entered, running along the side of
the car, and the compartments are large
enough to enable one to have a wicker
chair in them, in addition to the berths.
Each little room has an electric fan and
is lighted by electricity.
ELEPHANT'S CHUM IS
Strange Friendship of an Inhabitant of the
A
friendship existing between an an
imal and a human being has for
some time been engaging the at
tention of the officials of the New York
Zoological Park in Bronx Park as well
as students Interested in animals and
their habits. The animal is a huge Indian
elephant and the human being an aged
woman. That the two are strong friends
any visitor who goes to ,the park on a
pleasant day can easily see, says the New
York Sun. ,
Cunda is the name of the big elephant
and he has figured In print on more than
one occasion when his temper got the best
of him to such an extent that he disre
garded the chastisements of his keepers
and wrecked everything in sight. Still the
little woman Is able to lead him around
at her will and he obeys her Implicitly.
The woman friend of Gunda is Mrs.
Lucretia Hawes, an inmate of the Pea
body Home for Aged Women on Boston
road. West Farms, Just a few minutes
walk from the Zoological Park. Mrs.
Hawes is a frail little woman past 70 and
Is very proud of the fact that she can do
so much with Gunda, who if he wished
could lift her up with his. huge trunk
and crush iier to death.
While this woman can bend Gunda to
her will there are not many times when
the keepers who handle Gunda and make
his case a special study are able to do
much with him. Yet there has never been
a time since the elephant and the woman
became acquainted that Gunda has been
other than kind to his friend, and if
her visits have to be omitted on account
of illness or bad weather Gunda Im
mediately shows his disappointment by
becoming Irritable and troublesome, and
when Gunda decides to make trouble there
surely is trouble for all concerned.
Mrs. Hawes has been making regular
visits to Bronx Park for about two years,
though It was not until lately that the
attitude of Gunda toward her was
brought to the attention of the keepers of
the park. The elephant's friend usually
walks to the park and enters at the Bos
ton road gate. In a small basket swung
over her arm she has always a store of
good things for the elephant.
Arriving at the elephant house the
presence of Mrs. Hawes is soon made-
WHZ ENOWGK, IT WAS A
The dining-car service Is good and' com
paratively cheap. The meals consist of
a cup of tea and some crackers, brought
in by a Nubian porter at daybreak; a
breakfast In the dining-car at 8 o'clock,
a table d'hote luncheon at 1 and a dinner
along In the evening.
I have kept the notes of one luncheon
and dinner. The lunch consisted of maca
roni with cheese, broiled squabs, vege
table oysters, lamb chops and fried pota
toes, a salad, preserved peaches, oranges
and apples and a cup of Turkish coffee.
The dinner began with soup and fish.
These were followed by a salmi of pigeon,
some spinach, roast chicken and fried po
tatoes, a salad, assorted preserves, fruit
and coffee. The breakfast cost 60 cents,
the lunch $1.20. the dinner $1.50 and the
afternoon tea 30 cents. My bill was not
presented until the end of the trip. By
averaging it I find that my eating cost
known to all the visitors in the park,
for the earsplittlng noise which Gunda
makes would wake the dead. This is
the elephant's way of showing his
pleasure, according to Keeper Charley
Snyder.
While frdinary visitors are warned not
to get within range of the swinging trunk
of Gunda this little old woman Is showed
to walk right up to him and feed him
from her -hands. After Gunda has been
fed with sweet things he frequently cir
cles his trunk around the waist of the
woman, and in that manner they walk
around the park.
In this way Mrs. Hawes will spend an
entire morning or afternoon and will only
terminate her visit when sunset comes
and it is time for Keeper Thurman to put
Gunda to bed. Farewells are said at the
gate and Gunda Is unwillingly led back
to his domicile in the antelope house. It
is a strange sight to see elephant and
woman moving around in seemingly per.
fect understanding.
No one at the park can tell just how
this friendship started, for It had almost
reached its present stage before they took
any special notice of it. Mrs. Hawes
herself is very proud of it, and Gunda
seems equally proud.
Mrs. Hawes on her visits to the park
has never shown any fondness for other
animals, and It is certain that Gunda is
not given to making friends, as many
keepers who have tried patiently to win
his regard can testify.
Gunda is considered the finest Indian
elephant .ever shown in captivity and is
also one of the largest. When he was
first brought to the park it was intended
that he should be used part of the time
to carry children and other visitors
around the park, giving them a chance
to enjoy the sensations of an elephant
ride.
Gunda's cross disposition long ago made
that impossible, and since then the only
efforts that have been expended on him
have been those looking to the Improving
of his temper. The only person who
seems able to accomplish anything in
this direction is Mrs. Hawes, and the
keepers would not feel at all sorry if the
officials of the park gave her absolute
control, for' Gunda is hardly a favorite
with them.
Gunda is perhaps the only elephant in
&ALDWV.
me S5 piastres, or $4 .20. per day. The
rates on that road also are dear. During
ordinary seasons the flrst-cla?s passage
costs $35 for the 500 and odd miles, or be
tween 6 and 7 cents a mile. When the
tourist season begins the charges are
raised to $60 one way or to $100 for the
round trip. This is over 9 cents per mile.
'It Was a Baldwin."
In riding over the Sudan military road
we stopped for a tlm at Atbara, where
the Black Nile from Aoyssinia flows into
the main stream and "where is the famous
bridge built by Americans upon ' orders
given by General Kitchener." The contract
was first offered to the English, but tliey
were not able to build the bridge in the
time required, and the Americans took
the job and finished it. Atbara is now
one of the railroad division points, and
it Is where the road across the desert to
the Red Sea branches off. As we stopped
at the station our engine struck me as
being familiar. I walked to the front of
the train and examined it. Sure enough.
It was a Baldwin, Hnd with the name
"Philadelphia" standing out in the full
blaze of the Nubian sun! A few moments
later, as I was crossing the Black Nile
over the steel bridge which our builders
put up, I felt that 1 was not so far from
home, after all. I was being hauled by
an American' engine over an American
bridge, and that In the heart of the Nu
bian desert, more than a thousand miles
up the Nile. The thought makes one
proud of our American mechanics and of
American enterprise.
Where the Queen of Slieha Lived.
About KO miles south of Atbara we
stopped at Shendl. where the Queen of
Sheba is said to have lived. This is a
station on the east hank of the Nile,
about five hours or more from Khartum,
It Is a considerable town with railroad
shops, about which are great. piles of steel
ties such as are used in the construction
of desert railways. They are merely
shells of steel, so made that they can he
half buried in the sand and still hold the
rails. The telegraph poles are also of
steel, the white ants of this region mak
ing it impossible to use wood for such
purposes.
The Shendl of today consists of an old
and new town. The latter has been laid
out by the English and it has a park In
the center watered by the Nile. In an
cient times there was a great city here.
It was the capital of the country and the
residence of the Queen of Sheba. It Is
said that the Queen went from here down
the Nile and crossed to Palestine, where
she had her flirtation with King Solomon.
The Abysslnlnns say that she went back
by the Red Sea and stopped in their coun
try on the way. While she was there she
bore a son, whose father was Solomon
and who Is the head of the line of kings
which rule Abyssinia todaw. The Moham
medans, on the other hand. Bay that the
Queen of Sheba did not live here at all.
They claim that her residence was in
Yemen, Arabia, and that Solomon went
there to visit her. The Queen's name
was Bllkls. She was as witty as she was
beautiful, and she gave the wise Solomon
many a riddle which he was puzzled to
answer.
Halfaya. Oct. 2.
A WOMAN
w York Zoo.
the country who has been educated in
the banking business, and at the park
maintains his own safe deposit vaults
and is the whole thing around his bank.
He has acquired the habit of asking for
cents or other coins of visitors who linger
In front of his cage. After receiving a,
coin he will take It in his trunk and ex
amine it carefully and then lift; it up and
place it in his strong box. When the
money clicks in the box a swing of the
trunk causes a bell which is rigged up at
the top of the cage to ring, showing that
the money has been duly deposited to the
credit of Gunda.
Gunda collects quite a lot of cents and
until a few days ago it was puzzling the '
keepers to discover the probable use he
would make of his wealth. Their curi
osity has been satisfied and at consider
able cost to the park.
During many of Gunda's walks ahout
the park he has been accustomed to eat
ing ice creasi at the booth in front of
the reptile house, which is presided over
by Joe Stanley. Gunda could never get
enough ice cream to satisfy him. The
other day when he was taken out for one
of his regular strolls he refused to move
past the ice cream stand.
According to the keepers who tell the
story, he stood In front of the stand and
dropped on . the counter a quantity of
cents. He then waited for his ire cream.
Stanley gave it to him in a big scoop,
and In reply to demands made forcibly
filled the scoop till the supply- was about
exhausted. Still Gunda would not be sat
isfied and Immediately started to show
his displeasure by making a rough house.
It was with difficulty that he was finally,
forcibly removed from the place and put
on a prison diet for his bad behavior.
Gunda has on several occasions threat
ened his keepers, go that most of them
are afraid of him. It is this fierceness
so often displayed that makes his docility
when handled by Mrs. Hawes all the
more remarkable. The officials are al
ready 'wondering what will happen to
Gunda when his only friend no longer
comes to see him.
' Gunda and his friend are easily the
star attraction at Bronx Park, not only
for visitors but for the members of the
Zoological Society as well.
Fifty thousand dollars a year is spent oa
Regent Park, in London.