1931-02-05 — Page 11

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THURSDAY, 'FEBRUARY 5, 1931.

DEPTHS OF DUNES.

From Saharan Capital

to Civilisation.

feet high, then, gaining the summit! with a lurch paused to allow pag- sengers to look at a beautiful and rest, ridge after ridge with sharp- absolutely unique view. Crest after

ly serrated edges, as if the sand concealed some rocky precipicea, the waves rolled to the farthest horizon Dawn was breaking when we a petrifed tempest of silvery sand were called, in the hotel at Toug-summits. Far away rose a guemira, gourt-140 miles south of Biskra to start on our journey across the Sahara to the Tumisian coast. By

QUICK WORK.

Building A Car Body.

THE CHINA MAIL.

There is a romance in seeing Krow from rough

higher dune by which the children anything

of the desert can steer their course materials into the finished product. out of this maze of hills.

In the body building plant of the

But chauffeur, guide, and Arab

the time we had breakfasted, and coolie are not admiring the view. Graham Paige Company at Wayne,

it

Autocar).

is the Saharan breeze which ripples the surface of the dunes just an waves mark the shore. It seemed as If we had never really breathed before, 30 revivifying Was the ethereal atmosphere.

which

car.

were

of a

takes

en a сол

is,

were installed with our suitcases in the twelve-wheel desert car, a rosy they look for the cement cones rais-Michigan, this transition sunrise tinted sky and sands with ed on piles of brushwood which are place before the observer's eyes.

promise of warmth

(writes some idea of route and of where he First, the trim and upholstery, Grave 1. Morrow, P.R.G.S., in the can find firmer sands for his giant bales of material, automatic cut-

Never have I seen A better But there was no warmth in the example of the control of mind over ting machines, sewing machines wind! Bitterly cold at that hour matter than the steering of the that are big brothers of the sew- ten-acater car down into the depths Ing machine in homes, and orderly of the dunes. Pitching, rolling activity.

The magnetised tack from side to side as if the waves hammer, simple though of sand

indeed a tempest always attracts attention, Imagine steadily we came down without a man with a mouth full of tacks. sudden jolt or jar.

Every time the tack hammer goes; At noon we stopped by an isolated to his lips, it comes away with the Only a few years ago it was ad- yenture enough for some people to fort, the caretakers an Arab family tack held to the head of the ham- Fisit the Garden of Allah at Biskra far from their kind. A tiny orange mer, allowing him full use of both and view from the height of a min-kitten, starved and shivering came hands. A few minutes and the aret that awe-inspiring immensity mewing pitifully for the milk it has materiais have taken new form, the Sahara, which looks so like a probably never tasted. For milk, and are now upholstered seats and dark blue ocean spreading to theeious than gold to the desert people. veyor destined to meet and become

like wood and water, is more present backs, travelling southern, horizon. Probably it is

It is indeed, the mainstay this remoteness, vastness,

part of the body, when the body in given a feeling of dread of making people often practically starving. ready to receive them. eloser acquaintance with those de- Supplied by the hotel at Toug-i sert wastes, while tales of wander-Kourt with luncheon boxes, we took

a meal in the shelter of the car, for motor body building passes from ing Touaregs and their attacks on isolated onses or unprotected cara-

the wind had risen, blowing up machine to machine, and is com- clouds of sand. Then on we sped bined into shapes and frames that vans inspire a thrill of feur,

quickly, to arrive at the next stop-are recognised as some part of the Travel and war have Alled in many gaps on the map of Northern ping-place before sunset.

body. From the mill, conveyors "What to you Africa, which a century ago showed

do if the cartake the small parts to the master breaks down "I asked the guide. magician a great blank stretching across

among machines, the From the Atlantic to the Nile. The smiling. "If we do not arrive, they metal bones that seem to follow no "Wait till help comes," he said "big jig"-n weird skeleton, having French have quietly extended their|

car to look for us. anatomical rule, and clamps that: conquests, pushing farther into de-send a relief sert lands, by improving existing But always we carry a large ease seem to grow on the bones for no of food and mineral water for reason, The "big jig" stands with emergencies."

its attendant "doctors." Into the Domes, is right in the heart of the seen in the mill. Each part exact.

El Qued. City of a Thousand skeleton are put the wooden parts; "Oued Soul," or district of palmly fits its "bones," the clamps hold: baskets-circular gardens excavated it in place. The sides, onde and from hollows in the sand.

For roof of the "big jig" mysteriously palm tree will grow if there is sinse up. Humans like ants awarm water at the roots, and to reach lover it. pneumatic screw drivers that water the Arabs will dig down buzz, a fow hand hammers strike to 11 tremendous

depth. Then, a

minute, and the "doctors"

bases and crenting new ones, tap- ping those underground rivers which still dow far beneath the aur face of the sands. Where the artesian bore has penetrated new plantations of Highly profitable date-palms surround the villages. and the French trienlour rifles from the walls of forts enclosing that modern safety guard, the wireless

masts.

In the mill, timber that seems to

bear no relation to anything in

As for the Touaregs? "It is well when the water is found, they ex-stand back from the "skeleton." trs kiss the hund you cannot cut off,"cavate hundreds of tons of sand. The "big jig" disintegrates into says their proverb. Succumbing to piling it up in a great wall crowned separate sides, ends and top, and persistent pressure the Touareg by a fence of dried palms to keep there stands the framework of the raiders have been driven far south garden where they grow vegetables motor body or its own wheeled to their own country among the lava underneath the towering tree. But, platform. fields of Ahoggar and the mountains of Air. but Touareg traders are still seen with caravans coming north to the markets of Touggourt and Ouargls. And whose imagination is not thrilled by the sight of mysterious veiled тел

tall as they are, the palms rarely high

Apparently from thin air, the, come much above the floor of the metal grows on the frame. Down desert, so deep is the circular hole the line the body goes. Inspectors of cultivated sand.

are waiting to detect any un-

lives in. Those who come to the

From the City of Domes we evenness in the metal of the body- crossed another tract of dures, and work. It seems unbelievable that entered Tunisia, staying at Tozeur, an unevenness in the surface is

from: some such distant region? A picturesque town with wonderful easier to detect through a glove MORRIS'S LOW LINES

But like all wild creatures the architecture and fascinating native than with the bare hand, but it is Touareg reflects the atmosphere he customs. From Tozeur, the annd true. Each inspector wears a dunes were left behind, and we glove оп one hand, in the market are not alert "children of the motored once more on hard-baked other he has a piece of chalk. A Great Comfort For sands." as are their brothers of the steppes," then crossed the Schott movement of his gloved hand finds "eross-handled sword" who live hid-Djerid, a vast salt lake now nearly an uneven or rough place-a chalk ing among the great dunes. Yet all dry. But for at least ten miles mark, and as the body moves on, their tribes have fire features, there was salt water up to the axles men administer a tap here with a small heads, and delicate hands and of the car.

hammer, a rub there with a file,

feet. Although of Semitic origin Emerging from the Desert at El and the chalk mark, is no longer and fair complexion, the Touaregs Hamma, a hamlet with extensive needed. The acid bath cleans all

Passengers.

FAST GETAWAY.

are no longer of pure blood, for Roman baths and natural hot dirt and grease from the metal. Although luxury is the keynote they have intermarried with the springs of sulphur water, we drove Then an oven of moderate heat, of the new 1931 Morris Oxford Six negro women they made their through olive orchards and fertile and brushes take away the acid, modela which are being exhibited slaves. And now they wander, land, along the Tunisian coast, now powder. In the spraying at the Auto Palace Showroome, un- has been taken by the nomads ever, seeking food for them- staying a night at Sfax, an old ram- booths, the body has its first prim-sual care selves and fodder for their beasts. parted city; the next was spent at ing coat, before it goes into an- Morris engineers in designing this The Sahara in anticipation and Sousse to visit El Jem, one of the other oven, considerably hotter, group of Morris Oxford cars to in reality proved surprisingly dif- finest Roman amphitheatres in the which bakes the priming cont into provide for comfort, smoothness and ferent. For it covers every type of world. Good roads along level coun- the metal. Two priming costs, two safety.

country. Tufted steppes and baro try took us to Tunis, and in that lacquer coats, and the body passes Sturdy cross members are em sandstone ridges glittering in the interesting duplex city, ancient and into view again. This time deft ployed on the chassis to secure low sun; salt marah, where the elusive modern, our unorthodox motoring hands are touching up spots that swung weight, this method of en mirage hangs continually, depicting came to a successful end.

tall trees reflected in mirror-like;

lakes, water and wood uissolving in

mist on a closer approach; districts;

of flat loam with sparse cultivation,

THOSE LITTLE FAULTS.

seem to have been neglected, and gineering carrying the body, close those spots are not discernible to to the ground to provide riding the uninitiated eye. Steady hands smoothness and at the same time put the thin lines on mouldings giving road atobility to the car. and window reveals. By this time This method of construction permita the body is ready for the uphol- fast driving without the dangers

monotonous and dreary; and others You can rely upon the modern with cathedral-like rocks and car, even the cheap one, not to let stering. Wizardry again appears, that are apparent in cars where the stretches of boulders, completely you down in a big way, but you and velour, mohair, and leather bodies are carried higher in the sterile, yet there you could not find cannot guarantee that you will be seem to go into their appointed air. An additional safety factor is a tea-cupful of sand!

free from little bothers, writes the places as if of their own will, and provided in the 4-wheel lockheed But of all the forms the desert Evening News Motoring correspon- the body is ready for the chassis. brakes, which is standard on .assumes there is none so beautiful dent. My car is just en the point In the body plant in 30 minutes, Morrla Oxford and Morris Isis cars. as the giant erg, the Arab name of completing its first 80,000 miles, Graham-Paige body has grown for dune. The biggest sandhills in and I have found it instructive, and from raw material to the finished! the world, six hundred feet high, entertaining, too, as to make a list product.

are found in the northern Sahara in of all the little bothers I have had.

・

the district called Occidental, while The first spot of bother" I can

recall east of Touggourt is the erg

all

New Shock Absorbers, Hydraulle shock-absorbers also form part of the standard equip. ment on the Morris. Oxford which absorb all road shocks and permit minimum the wear on every part free springing, reducing to a

Was a nasty noise in the brakes made odd noises and were Oriental, which is considered the clutch. It was the result of bad dangerously ineffective in wet wea most characteristic part of the whole design on early models of the car, ther, though they had recently been of the car. desert. For there the disintegre- which had an unsatisfactory system re-lined.

The Morris Oxford is powered by tion of the surface of our earth is of lubrication of the clutch with- At last I located the source of the a six cylinder engine, that has a quite complete, the last pebble re-drawal race. That was properly trouble. Mounted on the front stubbore of 63.5 mm. and a stroke of solved into graina of, sand. It all dealt with, and I have had no more axle is an aluminium flanged disc 102 mm, giving a cubic capacity of bears witness to the power of burn-trouble.

which fits along the inner side of 1938 c.c. (just under two litres) the

As the great desert car left Toug gourt a well-marked track led out of the Baharan metropolis, the home

ing sun by day and bitter cold at But two minor bothers I have not the brake drum. From the frant Morris Oxford is capable of main- night to split into fragments the been able to cure yet. One is the edge of one of these discs, the offtaining a very decent rate of speed bardest structure, and to the per- leakage of oll through the faints of side one, a piece of the aluminium hour after hour with a total absence sistence of the desert winds in the plates covering the valve rocker flange, about the size of a safety of vibration at practically all speed. grinding those morsels into powder. gear. These are held on by a spring razor blade, had been chipped clean ranges.

A Short Road.

clip, and though I have fitted paper off, presumably by a atone flung up The car has an unusually fast washers, the leakage continues. by the wheels of a car in front. getaway which is a great factor in The actual waste of oil is negl Through the hole mud and water the recognition of this car as an gible; what I object to Is the mess squirted right on to the brake shoes ideal type for driving in heavy, town of the Rouares Chief the Arabs still it makes all over the cylinder block. whenever the weather was bad, but trafic like Shanghal. Owners point call "Bultan." Yet within half an The other bother is a peralatant | plece of metal riveted over the out that the Morrie Oxford six has hour of our leaving the hotel all rattling buzz from the ratchet of gap settled it...

Sample power and speed to meet all algns of a road had disappeared. the hand brake. I have had this We were right in the depths of the dealt with several times, but the developed a slight tendency to fam is built to sustain a good number A little later the self-starter demands, operates silently, efficient- Iy, smoothly and economically," and dunes--ovon the marks made by eix curo has never lasted for more than That Is a very common fault and twin wheels completely obliterated couple of hundred miles, so I not serious in itself. But when I

of years. by shifting sands.

have given it up as a bad job. Two tried to use the starting handle 1 The body lines of the various Hour after hour, as bitter cold or three months after I took de found that the claws of it had worn models in the Morris Oxford lina orning changed to radiant noon, livers of the car the manufacturers to such an extent that they would are low and graceful, while the we motored over hills of sand, introduced a new design of ratchet not grip on the front end of the interior appointments carry out the Camel caravana wend their way altogether. I am told that mine is crank-shaft, so that it was impos. aim of Morris engineers tending to

• round the bass of such hills, but the incurable pible to "swing" the engine by luxurious appointments, dash and desert car took all in its stride as, Early thin your a very odd little hand. Ten minutes with a file made the utmost serviceability. The rich engine roaring, the great ten-seater mishap worried, me lot until I the handle as good as new.

colour combinations blend with the rushed up steep slopes hundreds of Zound out what had happened. My “JUST LIKE A LITTLE LAMBÍ" Interior upholstery._--

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