BY THE SAME AUTHOR
OUT OF THE WORLD NORTH OF NIGERIA: EXPLORATIONOF AÏR
WILD LIFE IN CANADA
THREE YEARS OF WAR IN EAST AFRICA
For details see end of book.
All Rights Reserved
THE EDGE OF THE UNKNOWN
SAHARA
BY ANGUS BUCHANAN, M.C.,F.R.S.G.S.
AUTHOR OF “WILD LIFE IN CANADA,”“THREE
YEARS OF WAR IN EAST AFRICA,” “OUT OFTHE
WORLD NORTH OF NIGERIA”
WITH NUMEROUSPHOTOGRAPHS, SKETCHES, AND A MAP
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY,ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1926
TO
FERI N’GASHI
ONLY A CAMEL,
BUTSTEEL-TRUE
AND GREAT OF HEART
[vii]
FOREWORD
By The RT. HON. LORD SALVESEN, P.C.,K.C.
Late President of the Royal ScottishGeographical Society
The author of this book isnot merely an intrepid and successful explorer, but an accomplishedbiologist, who has added many new species of birds and animals tothe ever-growing list of nature’s marvels. The desert of Saharapresents to the explorer many points of resemblance to the frozenwastes which surround the Poles, and to which so much attention hasrecently been directed. Its area is vast, its resources meagre inthe extreme, the perils of travel great, and such as to test thehighest qualities of the explorer. But here the resemblance ends.In the nature of the experiences and the hazards which the explorerencounters there could be no greater contrast, but oddly enough theman who can endure the one seems also fitted to withstand theother—of this Captain Buchanan is a living proof, for he, too, hasbeen a traveller in Arctic regions.
This book is in no sense a diary of day-to-day travel. Only asingle chapter is devoted to the account of the extraordinaryjourney which Captain[viii] Buchanan and his cinematographer, Mr.Glover, made from Kano in Nigeria to Touggourt in Algiers—a journeyof over 3,500 miles through the great desert of Africa. Some ideaof the hardships which they encountered may be gathered from thefact that, while they started with a caravan of thirty-six camelsand fifteen natives, they finished with a single camel and only twonatives, after fifteen months of travel. The reader is n