Arrangements to join the caravan were easily made. The tourists, after hearing his story, readily consented to his request to be allowed to accompany them. In fact they wanted him to come. He had seen the desert from aeroplane and could tell them more about it than even the guides.
After a short chat, during which the success of the journey was toasted by Carl, he excused himself and went to his room to write the following report to the New York newspapers.
“I find that there are no great difficulties to be encountered in building the canal, which has to be about fifty miles long. The waters of the sea, coming through this canal would flood an immense area, forming a great inland sea. The canal could be made sufficiently large to permit the passage of ocean steamers through it into the inland waters.
“While there is a possibility of the canal being silted up with dune sand, it is estimated that it would take from 1,000 to 1,500 years for this to occur.
“The cost of the canal would be at least $100,000,000, and it would take five years or longer to build it. Laborers could be drawn from the interior tribes, such as Senegals, Moroccans, Algerians and Turcoes.
“The Gulf of Gabes is separated by a ridge some forty feet across and perhaps one hundred and fifty feet high, from Shat-al Fejej, a depression which runs southwest into the Shat Jerid, which, in turn, is separated from the Shat Garsa only by a still narrower ridge. Shat Garsa is succeeded westward by a series of smaller depressions and beyond them lies the Shat Melrir, whose northwestern extremity is not far from the town of Biskra, a favorite winter resort of North Africa.
“The original author of this scheme to flood the Sahara was Colonel François Roudaire, who proposed it some fifty years ago to the French Government. Roudaire’s plan was strongly advocated between 1870 and 1885, receiving support from Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French builder of the Suez Canal, now controlled by the English, who acquired it through crafty diplomacy. That plan fell through, because of the adverse criticism and it will fall through once more. While it would have a certain great result for France, the consequences due to the change of climate would not only affect Africa, but would be disastrous to the entire world.
“After having inspected the site of the proposed canal I have been piloted by a French aviator over the mysterious deserts. Contrary to my own and most people’s ideas, I found to my delight, that the desert is not all sand.
“The story my father once told me, when I was a small boy, came to my mind. He said that the easiest way to catch the lions of Africa was to sift the sands of the deserts, and what did not go through the mesh of the sieve were the lions.
“We flew over depressions and mountains, ranging from 100 feet below sea level to 6,000 feet above. In isolated instances, the mountains rose up to a height of 8,000 feet or more. A few of the mountains were of volcanic origin as could be seen from the craters and cones.