Maryland Independent

LIBYA DIGS DEEPER INTO NORTH AFRICA

Given Additional Territory by Three Nations.

Washington.—Libya, Italy's colonial possession in northern Africa, has been enlarged by a British-Egyptian gift of land adjoining it in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. News dispatches from Rome also indicate that France will cede to Italy her Saharan territory of Tibesti, bordering on southern Libya and touching the new accession from Great Britain and Egypt.

Libya, without the additional territory, is more than twice as large as the state of Texas," says the National Geographic Society. "While official limits of the African territory ceded by Great Britain and Egypt have not been announced, it lies approximately between the 19th and 24th degrees of east longitude, and the 19th and 22nd degrees of north latitude. The area is triangular-shaped desert land, 300 miles long on its northern, and 200 on its eastern edge.

Largely Uninhabited.

"Tibesti is a mountainous region south of the Tropic of Cancer, lying just west and south of the triangle. It is now a part of French Sudan and is situated approximately between the 15th and 20th degrees of east longitude, and the 20th and 24th degrees of north latitude. The effect of these joint cessions will be to extend Italian Libya some 200 miles deeper into central Africa.

"Emi Kusi, the highest mountain in the Sahara, towers over surrounding Tibesti peaks in the region proposed to be ceded to Italy by France. The Tibestian massif comprises a succession of peaks, gaps, and dried-up river beds rather than a mountain chain, extending into the desert region ceded by Great Britain and Egypt.

"Water sources in Tibesti are frequent but good pasturage areas are rare. Temperatures are mild near the base of mountains and icy-cold near the summits—seldom, if ever, below freezing, however. Date and palm trees grow in Tibesti and besides camels there are goats and donkeys. Except for a few nomadic tribes—Koussa, Toubou, and some Senussi—the region is for the most part uninhabited.

Lack Water and Pastures.

"Presenting a more orthodox desert aspect than the proposed French cession, the Anglo-Egyptian territorial gift is a broad tableland of shifting sands, occasional mountain regions, little pasturage, practically no rain, a hot climate, long caravan routes broken by scattered wells, oases at widely separated points, and few habitations. Water supplies may be replenished at the well of Sarra, located in a stretch of hard, reddish sandstone 160 miles south and west of Kufra in Italian Libya. Let southeast-bound caravans drink deeply, however, because it is 500 miles to the next oasis at Uianga, French Sudan, over a route containing no pasturage. Many camels have been sacrificed on this journey. Pasturage has been found 90 miles to the east of Sarra in an unexplored mountain mass not exceeding 150 to 200 square miles, and estimated to reach a height of 4,000 feet.

"Oases are nearer on routes north of Sarra. The Arkenu, in the southwest corner of Egypt, and the Ouenat in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, are not far away, although it is believed that the latter has not been included in the British-Egyptian cession. Still farther north is the oasis of Kufra, Italian Libya, the last stronghold of a once powerful religious sect, the Senussi.

"Industrious, the Senussi have succeeded in growing melons, grapes, bananas, and some vegetables at Kufra. Olive trees and many date trees are grown while chickens and pigeons are raised, and camels, sheep, donkeys, and a few horses are bred. Kufra once was the trading center for camel caravans from the south. South and west of the Sarra well, the new accession comprises desert, sand dunes, zones of occasional dry grass affording meager grazing for camels, shifting sands, and no habitations."