Railroading In The Desert

The steady progresa of the British up the Nile has been recorded. Wady Halfa, Dongola, Abu Hamed and Berber have one after the other fallen into their hands. Khartoum and Omdurman will donbtless follow, and the Father of Waters, from the delta to the lakes, be freed from savage tlirall. It is a great work, and is being well performed. But Dot to the soldiers alone is credit to be given. Another work has been proceeding, concurrently with theirs, of commensurable value and of even more strikiiig interest. It is, as is tlie militiary campaign, directed by the Strdar. But it is executed by engineers and artisans, instead of soldiers, and it marks not inerely the breaking down of btirbarism, but also the upbuilding of civilization in its place. Tliat work is the building of the desert railroad, which is now nearing Abu IJ ritiïïftfl 4u, ■ i il 1 ' . I I 1 .' 1 1 ■ uauieu iniiii vruuy nana, and will one day be pusheil on to join tliat frotn Uganiln to tlie sea, and h'nally to connectwith tliat now ureeping up from tlie south, giving in unbroken lino from Cape Town to Alexamlria. In all tliat long line Hiere will be no link more noteworthy tl.an tlmt acrosa the Nubian Desert. lis uppeal lo memory and to imagiuation is irresistible. It folluws tbe very track pm-Mied by Ibe annv oí King Cambyses acroes f lic aucient plain. It inakes au irou liighway wbere Said Pucha rodo in a camel-carriage, uilh ten thousnnd men marchiug ahead with water-pots to sprinkle the desert sauds and Iay tbe dust. ]s traverses the very regiou in whieli Ismail Pacha's two thousand men vauished mter.'y from sight and knowledge. A railroad, with screamiug whistle and clauging bell, in such a country ! Scarcely less noteworthy than the place is the manner of construction. Of course, all the material has to be brought up from Egypt and carried forward on the railroad itself, as fast as it is built. So do all the provisions for the men. There is no liviug on the country, for the country is an absolute desert of rock and sand. Even the water, for drinking and for the engines, had at flrst to be carted up from Wady Halfa, tliough now some wells have beeu successfully sunk in rnid-desert. Tlie result is that, insteadof workiugsinuiltaneously at various points along the line, the uien began work at one end, and are finishing the road as they go toward the other. There are two thousaud of them at work. The train loaded with material is run to the end of the completed portion of the road. The men unload ties, carry them forward and lay them down ; then they carry rails forward and spike them fast; but long before half the spikes are driven and the flsliplates bolted the train moves forward over the new bit of road, and some of the men go 011 laying more track aliead of it, while others fiuish the work behind. Thns all the operations of railroad building, trom surveying the route to putting on tiie top-dressing of ballast, are proceediug together on the same mile of road, and the construction-train creeps forward at the rute of tvvo miles a day. What it will mean when flnished is easy to preceive. The distance by rail from Wady Halfa to Abu Hamed will be 230 miles, and the time eight hours. The distance by river is 700 miles and the time by carnel-train eight days. To the army the road will be ofgreat valué. To peaceful industry and trade, loDg after the army's work is done, its valué will be incalculable.