Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY. 161 r A BRIDGE ON THE RHODESIA RAILWAYS. point at the present terminus at Broken Hill. This line has only recently been suggested, but it bids fair to be constructed first. An inde- pendent railway company is being formed to carry the rails forward from Broken Hill to the mining settlement of Bwone Macubwa, where the copper lodes already discovered, and said to be very valuable, only await the arrival of the railway to make energetic de- velopment possible. Several of these copper lodes are found in caves of shining malachite of surpassing beauty, described by people who have seen them as more like a scene from the Arabian Nights than actual facts. Some of the ore assays up to 37 per cent, of copper. From Macubwa a Belgian company, lately formed in Brussels, will carry the line some 50 miles or so into the interior of the Congo Free State. This will open up A Belgian another district very rich in Line. t . copper. An ambitious scheme has been propounded by the authorities of the Congo Free State to extend the rails right across the hinterland of that vast territory— throwing off several branches towards the sea on the way—past Lake Chad, and on through French possessions to the Mediterranean at Algiers, or some other suitable port. This (1,408) scheme has been very carefully considered by both the Belgian and the French Govern- ments, and it is not anticipated that there will be any difficulty in the way of raising the necessary capital. So far as is known the country through which this line would pass is a very easy one from the point of view of the railway engineer, though there will be several watercourses to cross, includ- ing, of course, those mighty waterways, the Congo and the Niger. It is 'also believed that the line would commence to pay almost as soon as completed. According to Sir Charles Metcalfe, who has been the moving spirit in the “ Cape to Cairo ” line since the death of Mr. Rhodes, the future route of this railway, after it enters German territory to the north of Lake Tanganyika, will be approximately that of the trans-African tele- graph (see vol. i., pp. 193-204). The German Government has had under consideration for some little time past several schemes for the construction of railways right through Ger- man East Africa from the sea. These, accord- ing to the plans that have been drawn up, will all concentrate upon the Cape to Cairo line at Udjidji. Another junction farther 11 vol. n. Another Line.