Using Oil Fuel in the Desert
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ASCIENTIFIC expedition of rather special interest has just left Algiers for three months' work in the Sahara Desert and the French Soudan. This expedition, which is
under the leadership of Commandant 136nard Le Pontoise, has been organized in connection with the great French Colonial Exhibition to be held in Paris next summer. In addition to survey work, mapmaking, etc., ethnographical and geological specimens are to be collected, and the vehicles selected for this work comprise three Laffiy oilengined three-toruaers.
It may be remembered that the Lafily concern adopted the C.L.M. (Peugeot Junkers) oil engine some two years ago, and the chassis employed for the expedition are standard catalogued models, apart from a hand-controlled reduction gear, which, in connection with the fourspeed gearbox, gives eightspeeds, and the fitting of specially largecapacity radiators.
The C.L.M. two-cylindered engine employing opposed pistons and working on the two-stroke principle, is too well known to need description here, but it may be mentioned that this excellent engine has achieved great success in France and the Compagnie Lilloise de Moteurs, a branch of the Peugeot concern, is turning the units out on a quantityproduction basis. An important feature of the expedition is the avoidance of the need for the establishment of petrol dumps, as the lorries will carry their own fuel. The usual method employed when exploring by motor vehicle,little-known districts of the Sahara is to send petrol ahead by camel caravan. This is, an expensive and often unsatisfactory arrangement, because when the dumps are reached half the fuel is often found to have evaporated, owing to the intense heat and dryness of the atmosphere.
The three Lally vehicles will carry 800 litres of heavy oil, and in the Soudan various vegetable oils are available which can be used quite satisfactorily in the Peugeot
engine. A special aeroplane which is accompanying the Benard Le Pontoise expedition should prove of great value in the cartographical work to be undertaken and useful results are expected, for, in spite of the " motorization " of a certain track across the desert from Algeria to the Niger, enormous tracts of French African territory remain unmapped.
In the three months 12,000 kiloms. are to be covered, and, in view of the immense amount of scientific work to be done at the various halts, this will mean maintaining a fairly high average speed. The expedition Will halt for several days in the centre of the dreaded, waterless Tanezrouft Desert, a district through which most Sahara expeditions go "all out." The stop will be made for investigations in magnetism.
On the return journey from the Soudan the expedition will visit the eastern portion of the famous Hoggar mountain district, 600 kilorns. away from the beaten track. This district is particularly rich in ethnographical interest and the eastern portion is scarcely known at all.
Here the curious table-land of Gora El Djenoun is to •be visited, involving a climb of more than 9,000 ft. for the lorries. The Gora El Djenoun is rarely visited by human beings, for the Tuareg regard it as a place of mystery—best left alone. Hence the wonderful legends of Atlantide, etc.
The scientific scope of the expedition may be gathered from a list of the subjects to be covered. Geology, zoology, meteorology, survey, prehistoric research, microscopic biological research, ethnography, an investigation of the history of Sahara tribes and the collection of fossils, in which certain dis tricts are particularly rich. The commercial history of the Sahara is also to be studied.