African Adventures of an American Truck

8/7/2019 African Adventures of an American Truck

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OF AN

AfRICANADVENTURES

AM ERICAN TRUCK


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PrologueHERE is a plain, workaday tale of how a plain, workaday Americanmotor truck braved the terrors and bested the trials of a 6,600-milejourney across Equatorial Africa and the dread Sahara desert, all- - without a single failure or a single instant's faltering. It is, as alltruly great stories must be. a tale told with stark simplicity "in straight-flun_gwords and few," a tale that needs no verbal. varnishing. The factsin it provide the thrills; and there are enough of these t::> make it aresounding epic of motor transportation. a matchless Odyssey of our internalcombustion age.

Across Equatorial Africa, Clyde N. King piloted this truck 3,800 adventur-ous miles in 19driving days; and King is just a businessman, a Harvester man-a desk-and-office man, if you please, and a stranger in that strangest of lands,Then, at railhead in Northern Nigeria, Sir Charles Markham, British explorer,bought the truck by teleg.raph "unsighr, unseen," on the strength of what thewilderness had whispered to him abou tits marvelous performance.

North, then, "into the blue." and across the Sahara. Markham steered thissame truck 2,818 heroic miles in 16driving days; across the great Sahara thathas been through the ages the universal sy:tonym of thirst and of death-theSahara that is strewn ,with the bleached bones of man and beast entrapped inits vast treacheries,

Epic and Odyssey, this tale tells of mountains climbed. deep-flowing riversforded an.dtropical forests penetrated; sometimes of good roads, often of badroads and [requerrtly ofno roads atall; ofunpeopled, unmapped, immeasurablewaste spaces traversed under the blistering desert sun, water tank and radiatornearly empty. the way lost and the truck hub-deep in Sahara's sands-andthrough it all the steady, tireless. rhythmic beat of a motor that never misses,never complains.

Eighteen miles and more to the gallon of gasoline, King logged acrossEquatorial Africa. Markham's diary shows 15.05miles per gaIlon across theSahara, and he says, "oil consumption was a perpetual wonder to us."

But the point of this wonder-tale is that these things were done by a stocktruck, without rehearsal, preparation. tuning or special equipment-the firstfour-wheeled stock truck or motor vehicle to CroSS Ahica and the Sahara.

The nub of the story is that from radiator to tail-light-save for the safaribody and top built for King at Nairobi-this truck was and is identic:al withany oneof the thousands ofSpecial Delivery Internationals that are busy doingthe world's prosaic work in every civilized community under the sun, Whatthis truck has done, any of these other trucks could do,

The ultimate essence of this tale is its dramatic illustration of what qualitymeans in manufacture-the quality that underlies endurance, performance,achievement; the quality which is the first article in the Harvester gospel; thequality which. as President Legge has said. "is the foundation of our business. ,.

I I Reprinted hom the Lnternationa] T,.il.published by the I . D t . ernational HarvesterOrganization, 606 South Michigan Avenue.Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A.

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Across Africa by Motor Truck3,800 Miles in 19 Driving Days

C J 3 y Clyde ' N . . King

FINDING myself inNairobi in December,1927, and desiring toreach Nigeria and theGold Coast Colony beforethe rainy season started, Idecided to drive throughKenya, Uganda, and Bel-gian Congo to Stanleyvilleand go by boat down theCongo River to Boma andup the coast to Nigeria.

I t happened that I hadmet Father Thomas Gavan-Duffy on the British Indiaboat coming down fromIndia to Mombasa. FatherDuffy intended to visitmissions inTanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, for Oneextra spare tire and tube. I alsoand the Sudan, and then leave Africa had a rack built on the running boardby the way of the Nile boat from Rejaf to hold one 5-gallon can of lubricatingto Cairo. He expressed the desire to oil and one 5-gallon can of water.make the trip with me and it was While the body was being built I, witharranged that we were to meet at the assistance of Mr. Jacklin, got myKampala, on Lake Victoria Nyanza on equipment together for the journey.December 20. On the evening of December 16 we

Father Duffy speaks French fluently, loaded the truck with the camp equip-and the success of this trip I attribute ment and provisions, and then packedlargely to his knowledge of languages, cases of gasoline into every availabletravel, and his very pleasing person- space. We were successful in loadingality. I also had him to thank in a 64 Imperial gallons (76.8 gallons) inlarge measure for the courteous treat- cases.ment received from the different rnis- At 5:30 A. M., December 17, I le.tsions through whose territory we airobi. The speedometer registered 22passed. miles, 11 of which represented the road

After fully deciding to undertake this test at the factory, which a n Irrterna-trip, I asked J. A. Jacklin, manager of tional trucks undergo. At that time ofthe International Harvester Export the morning, Nairobi (altitude of 5,500Company, Nairobi, to have a Special feet) was uncomfortably cool. After theDelivery truck chassis uncrated and sun came up it grew warmer and by theset up. I had a safari body with full middle of the morning it was very hot.top and side curtains built on this The road toward Naivasha is achassis. making provision for tire carrier, gradual ascent up to about 8,000 feet,

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Mr. King and his International Special Deliverytrucl atButa, Belgian Congo, It is cornman beliefthat the African elephant is untamable, but at theButa mission Mr. King found many of them beingused. for various domestic tasks.


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AFRICAN ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN 'TRUCK

and then there is a verysteep descent. TIllS. es-carpment is a part ofthe Aberdere Mountainsand is reached just be-fore coming to Naivasha.As I reached the topand stopped for a fewmoments to look at thebeautiful panorama withthe mountains in thedistance, and the sunshining on the waters ofLake Naivasha, I knewthat this was only a hintof the beauty and thegrandeur w hi ch layahead of me.

My truck had beenbehaving nicely, handl-ing the very heavy loadwithout apparent diffi-culty. Ihad no need to make anyfurther stops except occasionally toreplenish the water in the radiator. Ikept pushing on, making about 20miles per hour, until late in the eveningwhen Icommenced looking for a placeto camp. Not finding a place to myliking, and being anxious to make asgood time as possible, Ikept driving.Soon after this, the weather turned bad,with lightning and thunder. Icouldnot make very good time but did notwant to stop for the night as it lookedlike the rain might start at any moment.Ihought Iwould be much better off inthe truck than trying to put up a tentby myself.I reached the little town of Mu-horoni at 8 :30, where I stopped for thenight at the Uganda railway rest house.My speedometer showed that I haddriven 192 miles

the first day out.The nextmorning, De-cember lR, I leftMuhoroni aboutdaylight anddrove all day,passing throughKisumu,Munias, Busia,

The Iniernationni Special Delivery trucl:with safari body usedby Mr. King on his tr'ip across Central Africa mid later bySir Charles Markham and Baron uon.Blixen-Finecke in theirremarkable trip across the Sahara Desert from Kana straightnorth to Atg:iers, a 6,618-mile journey ouerroads and trails,through dense forests and across the trackless desert.and arrived at Jinga at about dark,having traveled 196 miles over verypoor roads. At jnga, a beautiful littlecity, there is a very nice little hoteloverlooking Lake Victoria Nyanza,From the hotel one can bear the rumbleof the water flowing out of LakeVictoria Nyanza over Rippon Falls,about a half mile away. The e falls arethe source of the Victoria Nile River-the water flowing northward into LakeKioga, then through another part ofthe Victoria Nile over the MurchisonFills into Lake Albert, then on norththrough the upper Nile to the Mediter-ranean.

At 9 o'clock next morning IleftJinga,crossed a narrow part of the lake on amotor ferry above Rippon Falls, andlanded on the other side at 9 :30. FromJinga to Kampala, 56 miles, there is abeautiful road. Ireached Kampala atnoon, and put up at the hotel to awaitthe arrival of Father Duffy.

He arrived in due course and weleft Kampala about 2 P. M ..December21. We drove until almost dark anddecided to stop and make camp whilethere was still light enough to see.The country in this neighborhood is notall that might be desired for camping,but as this was our first night to spend

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AFRICAN ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN 'fRUCK

in camp, and not having experience inputting up tents, cooking our meals, anddoing other odd jobs necessary in mak-ing camp, we decided to make the bestof it. We drove over to one side of theroad, got our tent and set it up in adump of banana trees on the oppositeside. As soon as we stopped, severalnatives arne through the banana grovesfrom a neighboring village and stoodaround watching our efforts to makecamp. They very good naturedlyhelped us put up our tent, set up ourcamp beds and mosquito nets. WhenI made signs to the Chief that we weregoing to sleep there I noticed he smiledas though he thought it was a goodjoke. The natives stood around whileI cooked supper, going back to theirvillage when it commenced to get dark.Immediately after supper we turnedin, and it was then that I commencedto see why the Chief lauzhed when Itold him we were going to sleep therethat night. The ground on which wepitched our tent was very soft andspongy, and the tent poles sank downuntil it looked as if our tent was goingout of sight. When we lay down onour beds they sank down into thesoft ground. The mosquitos swarmedaround in droves, and in spite of allwe could do they got inside our mos-quito nets in large numbers. We fin-ally got up, packed out equipment andleft before daylight. Next day I foundspots of blood on my pillow where I

had at least wounded some mosquitoes,but on the whole felt they had gottenthe best of the encounter, as we wereboth badly bitten by the insects. Intalking the battle over later, and won-dering how so many mosquitoes gotinto the nets, Father Duffy advancedthe idea that the big mosquitoes pushedthe smaller mosquitoes through thenets; in any event they were successful.We soon left behind the tropical vege-tation of Lake Victoria Nyanza, Wereached Masindi about 1 P. M., thenpushed on, reaching Butiaba on LakeAlbert about 4 P. M. Our first sight ofLake Albert was well worth the effort.vV e were traveling on a very good road,and all at once around a turn in the roadand far below us we saw Lake Albert.At first we mistook the water of the lakefor mist-it was hard to tell where thehaze left off and the water began. Theroad was at least 1,500 feet above thelake. Across the lake the moun tains onthe Congo side seemed to rise almostperpendicularly from the lake. On theUganda side the escarpment was verysteep and the hills were some 5 or 6miles back from the lake. The groundfrom the foot of the escarpment wasvery fIat-no vegetation except a verycoarse grass. I t was very hot and theheat waves seemed fairly to dance overthis desolate bit of sand.

We located a British marine engineerwho evidently had the dual job ofResident as well as that of looking after

Father ThomasGavan-Dlt1fy, at theY J J h .e e l o j the SpecialDelicer, ~vhile Mr.King tookthis photo-graph. The thatchedroof in the back-ground covers a re-mote trading postbetween Toro andDUlIgtt.

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the business of the small steamer whichplies between Butiaba and Kesenyi,Belgian Congo, one week, and Butiabaand Rhino Camp on the Nile the next.This gentleman told us the steamerwas leaving Christmas Eve for Kese-nyi, but he was not sure that it couldtake us across, as word had beenreceived that a party of Boers with twotrucks was due next day, and that theyhad reserved all the space availableon the boat. 'vVedid not know untilalmost time for the boat to leave onChristmas Eve whether we were goingto get across the lake by this steameror not.Next day the party of Boers came in.They had a car and two trucks and toldus they were going into the Congo towork around the gold mines at Kilo.Our chances to get across the lake bythat boat began to look slim, but thecaptain of the boat finally decided totow a barge behind the boat. We gotpermission to go aboard about 5 P. M.and drove our truck on to the boat,where we blocked and roped it downsecurely. The Boers put their trucks

aboard the barge. The little steamerbacked away from the dock about8 P. M" picked up the barge, and wewere off for the Congo.Aboard our boat besides the Boerparty were five young Belgians goingout to the Congo. The marine engineeralso decided, as it was Christmas, thathe would take an outing and go along.We had quite a nice party for dinneraboard the boat that night.

Next morning there was quite a roughsea, and the fact that the barge towingbehind did not want to track did nothelp the situation. The boat, a side-wheeler, had about all she wanted to doto make headway with the barge strain-ing first on one tow line then on theother. We did not reach Kesenyi untilabout 1 P. M. on Christmas Day.At Kesenyi we called on the immi-gration and customs officials, and by thetime we had gone through both thesedepartments found it too late to go anyfarther that day. We were told by theimmigration official, that we wouldhave to go to Irumu, seat of the BelgianGovernment in Eastern Congo, to geta pass through the Kilo mining section,and that there was a very bad escarp-ment, which we would have to go up.He stated that it was seven miles tothe foot of this escarpment and anotherseven miles from the foot to the top ofa very steep grade, with several hairpinturns, and with a rough, loose rockroadway.

A typical natioe village in the Congo, Thehuts are buii: of bamboo, plastered with mud,and thatched with grass.

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A sample oj the roads encountered inUganda. This particular stretch. oftrail is between Busic and Jillga.

We were also told by a Maltesetrader who lived at Bunia, and whowas on his way to Nairobi, that thisroad was very bad, and he expresseda doubt as to whether or not we couldmake it fully loaded. We decided tostart early next day and try to climbthis escarpment while it was yet cool.We started while it was still dark andarrived at the foot of the escarpmentjust after daylight. We started up withno little amount of doubt. The firstbad place we reached Idropped intosecond gear, at thesame time keeping asharp looko ut forvery bad places j. yetafter going a coupleof miles over verysteep and rough roadsand not finding anyroads where it wasnecessary to go intolow gear, we com-menced to breathe abit easier. The roadafter that was somebetter and Ishiftedinto high and wewenton up the hill withoutdifficulty.The little SpecialDelivery fooled us onthis hill, and themotor was not ex-ceedingly hot. AtBunia, about 20milesfarther on, we meet an Englishmannamed Parker, who directed us tolrumu, and he very kindly invited us tocome back to his place and stay allnight. We went on to Irumu for ourvisa. and pass into the Kilo section,returning to Parker's late that evening.

Parker has some 1,500 acres of landon which he raises coffee, oranges,lemons, pineapples, and other fruitsand grains. He has been in the countryfifteen years, and I was surprised to seethat his records show such an evenaverage rainfall. He assured me any-thing could be raised there+-the onlydifficulty was in getting it out of thecountry.

---------On the morning of December 27 weleft Parker after he and his good wife

had loaded down the truck with orangesand pineapples, and several pounds ofcoffee grown and roasted on their farm.We traveled all day through a highplateau country and saw several tribesof very interesting natives. In all thetrip across I did not see any natives whowore as little clothing as these, Nocloth of any kind is worn, and whatlittle in the way of clothing was wornwas made of grass. These natives evi-

dently saw very fewstrangers from theoutside world, as theyappeared very curiousand would run afterour truc.k just as longas they could keep insight of it ..We missedthe road t urn ingtoward Watsa anddrove some 25 milespast the' point whereweshould have turnedto the left. We didnot know this untilwe arrived at Mahajiand made inquiry ofthe Belgian Residentthere.

We arrived atMahaji, just as ameeting of nativechiefs was breakingup. All the chiefs fromthe neighboring villages were there, andthere was quite a variety of make-up.

We passed hundreds of natives on theroad returning from the meeting-s-someof the chiefs were being carried in sedanchairs, and each notable was accom-panied by a boy carrying his officialstool or deck chair. As soon as wefound out we were on the wrong roadwe back-tracked until we found ourroad, and then we camped for the night.

Next morning, December 28, Weleftbright and early for Watsa, and reachedthat point about 6 P. M. after a veryuneventful day-v-during the day wecelebrated the passing of the 1000-milemark on the speedometer.

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AFRICAN ADVENTTJRES OF AN AMERICAN 'TRUCK

We stayed at Watsa that night at themission, where we enjoyed a very-much-needed shower bath. There we metseveral visi ting priests, who told somevery interesting stories of the nativesin that neighborhood.

Next morning we left Watsa, goingback about 7 miles where we took theroad leading north through the villageof Doko. About 15 miles north of Dokothe roads forked, one bearing off in anortheastern direction, the other in anorthwestern direction. Our intentionswere to go straight north to Faradje,where we could connect up with themain east and west road between Butaand Rejaf. We decided to take the lefthand road. Vtlesoon thought, however,we had taken the wrong road, as ourcompass showed the one we were onwas bearing too much to the south andwest. The road we were traveling wastoo narrow, and the vegetation so thickthat we could not turn around, so wekept going on, hoping for the best.About three hours later we reachedthe town of Taro and inquired froma Belgian who runsa store there as tojust where we were.He informed us thata week before therehad been a new roadopened up from Toroto Dungu, which ison the main Buta-Rejaf road. He alsoinformed us thatthis road by way ofTaro was some 40or S O miles shorterthan by the way ofFaradje. We had tocross two streams onthe Taro road, butfound the ferriesworking and reachedDungu in good time.From D ungu toNiangara there is avery good road. Wereached Niangara, alarge native town,just at dark. In the

vicinity of Niangara, we saw a tribeof natives who bind the heads of thebabies in such a manner that as thebaby grows and the skull hardens, thehead is forced back from the foreheadin the shape of a cone. After the skullhardens the binding is removed, thusleaving the child with a cone-shapedhead, the apex being in most cases from3 to 4 inches in diameter.

We left Niangara the next morning,December 30, just after daylight, over arecently completed road. By this timeour truck was thoroughly broken in, andas the roads were very good, we reachedTitule by way of Bambili just beforedark. We decided to travel on to Buta,about 85 miles, reaching there at 8 :30.Our speedometer showed that we hadtraveled 289 miles. We left Buta De-cember 31, at 1 P. M., for Stanleyville,\e drove until dark over very badroads, and finally stopped for the nightat a small native Village.

The chief and tile whole village lookedon while we got supper. We made thechief a present of a porcelain cup filled

with coffee. We leftabout daylight, J an-uary 1, on what wethought was our lastday's journey in thetruck. Most of theroads from Buta toStanleyville, a dis-tance Q f 210 miles,were either trailsthrough dense tropi-cal forests or overnewly built roads,which were veryrough and spongy.The afternoon ofJanuary 1,we passedthrough a small na-tive village wherethe whole popula-tion was evidentlycelebrating the newvear, Several men~ere beating on thetribal drum andother smaller drums,while the women

The International Special Deii'IJc,'yphoto-graphed on the grounds of the mission atButa. The naiwe boy shown ,in the fore-ground is employed at the mission.


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A.FRICAN ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN 'TRUCK

A six-months-old okapi; a veryrare a-n imal ,unknown until1900. wh'ich is[ound only in alimited area inthe great Congoforest. Fe u:white men. have

danced around in a large circle.As we neared Stanleyville the vege-tation became dense and the countryvery low. There were several rivers tobe crossed, an during the journey fromButa to Stanleyville. We had to crossthe Arumiwi River, and the incident ofthis cro sing brought to our attentionfor the first time very forcibly to whatpurpose tribal drums were put. \l.lereached this river which was about amile wide at that point and found theferry was on the opposite side, Downthe river about two or three miles wasthe village. Upon our arrival at theriver the natives, seeing we wished to The natives of this village were verycross, picked up drumsticks which were friendly and very curious.wound with crude rubber and com- The next day wedrove to Bafouaboli,menced to beat a certain rhythm on the the end of the good road, where wedrum, Immediately we heard the reply met a Belgian in charge of some 700from the drums down the river, and natives building this road, He told ussoon saw the natives coming up in their he was clearing the forest at the ratedugout canoes. The ferry consisted of of 4 kilometers, and fiIling up the-gradefour canoes about 40 feet long, each dug and finishing the work at the rate ofout of a single log; on these a platform about 3 kilometers per month. Afteris built. This raft is propelled by the visiting with this gentleman for somenatives standing in the canoes, using hours, we returned to the village wherelong paddles. We drove aboard and we had stayed the night before.were paddled across the river. Two Next day we returned to Stanleyvilleyoung men stood on the stern of two of where we found that news had filteredthe canoes and led off with a native up from the coast that Boma andchant, while the entire crew joined in, Matadi, at the mouth of the CongoThe paddles were dipped into the water River, were quarantined against yellowto the accompaniment of the stamping fever, and that until this quarantineof heels, and the noise of the cowrie shell was lifted, there would be no furtheranklets reminded one of castanets. boats from that point up the river. We

At about 5 o'clock in the evening of then decided that it would be necessaryJanuary 1, we reached Stanleyvi1Ie and for us either to drive back to Nairobi ormade inquiries as to when we would be try and drive on through to the Westable to get a boat down the Congo River Coast, We stocked up our truck withto the 'West Coast. We were informed provisions and taking aboard 70gallonsthat the boat had left StanJeyville De- of gasoline left StanleyviJle on thecember 24, and would not be back for morning of January 13, going back toat least a week. After staying in Stan- Buta where we purchased one drumIeyville several days we decided to drive of 8 Imperial gallons (9.6 gallons) ofeast on a new road which is being built gasoline, as we figured we would notto connect up Stanleyville with Irumu, be able to buy gasoline very readilyand which at that time was finished from that point on west. Vve saw ato a point 136 kilometers (84.5 miles) very interesting and rare animal, tbeeast of Stanleyville in the neighborhood okapi, which was not discovered untilof Bafouaboli. Leaving Stanleyville 1900. This one is in possession of theearly one morning we drove out some mission at Buta, and is thought to be75 kilometers (46.6 miles) to a small the only one in captivity. We left Butavillage where we camped for the night. at 3 o'clock the next day, January 14,

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euer see noneolive; most oJthe specimenstunu -in museums have been speared and deliveredto collectors by the pigmy block men who inhabitthis district, This one is in possession of theBrothers of the mission, at Buta.


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AFRICAN ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN TRUCK

from the Mboma River inFrench Equatorial Africa. Theriver at th:is point is very wideand deep. We procured a nativecanoe, crossed over to Ban-gassou, and made inquiry as tohow we could get our truckacross. We learned that therewas no ferry, and upon askingwhat provisions there were forpeople who wanted to crossthe river we were advised thatno one wanted to cross. 'l\1e,therefore, were forced to pro-cure native canoes, cut poles,and get what pieces of lumberwere available in the neighbor-

camping at Djamba that night. Next hood, and with the aid of a bunch ofday, we drove to Monga over fairly natives we were able to fashion a verygood roads. We left Monga early serviceable raft. We completed theJanuary 16 for Bangassou. From raft about 4 o'clock in the afternoonMonga to Bangassou, a rough country and paddled across to the Bangassouand very sparsely settled, the roads got side, where the natives helped us upvery bad. the steep bank by means of our rope.

About two hours after leaving Mon- After paying the natives we left Ban-ga, we ran into a storm which lasted gassou and drove some 30 miles fartherpractically all day. This storm hit us on over a very good road.just as we were between two very steep Next day, January 17, we drove toclay hills. The rain came down in tor- Bambari over very good roads. Hererents and it was impossible to get up the we bad quite a discussion as to whethersteep, slick, clay hill ahead; therefore, or not we should go south by the way ofwe were forced to stay in that spot until Bangui and try to make it across duelate that evening, until after the rain west toward Duala, or whether wehad ceased. About 5 o'clock two native should go north by the way of Fortboys came by-the first humans we Crampel, Fort Archambault, Forthad seen that day. We made signs to Lamy, and then on to Kana, Norththem that we needed help to get up the Nigeria. At Bambari we learned that ithi.lland the boys went on. In about an was impossible to drive a car or truckhour's time they reappeared, bringing all the way through to Duala, therewith them the entire vi.llage. The being a strip of country between Car-natives, men, women, and children, not, French Equatorial Africa, andassisted us in unloading our equipment Naga Eboko, that was then impassable.and gasoline, took hold of a SO-foot rope This necessitated our going on north bywhich we tied to the front end of the the way of Fort Lamy,truck, and helped us get up this very From Bambari on we drove continu-bad piece of road. They then returned ally from early morning until late atto the bottom of the hill and carried night, only stopping for short periods ofon their heads our equipment to where rest. We arrived at Fert Archambaultthe truck stood and helped us reload. January 20, where, after making in-Itwas then very late and we drove on quiries we finally found a gentlemanabout 10 miles and camped. who consented to sell us a part of his

About 9 the next morning we reached store of gasoline .. ' l\Te bought 24 gallons.a native village opposite Bangassou, a While in Fort Archambault we wereFrench town situated about it miles told by a party of Austrians whom we

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A native tribal dance at one of the villages betweenButa and StanleyviUe. The women, dance whilethe me beat I,i'meoti holl . 0 1 1 1 tog drums which arealso used f D r signaling.


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met there, that two Europeans, SirCharles Markham and Baron Blixen,were in the vicinity but were not inFort Archambault that day. Here wesaw a tribe of natives who were verytall, and it was said that the averageheight of the men of this particulartribe was 6 feet 6 inches. We also sawquite a number of the tribe known asthe Plate Lip people. The women ofthis tribe perforate both upper andlower lip and insert therein woodendisks. In some instances these disksare from 4 to 8 inches in diameter andgive the natives a very' grotesqueappearance.

From Fort Archambault to FortLamy, we drove through a very sparse-ly settled country; the road betweenthese points following a ridge betweentwo rivers. There had been no rainfallin this neighborhood since the firstpart of October, and the country wasvery dry,

The mads were very rough andsandy, and in some places were meretrails. The tall grass of the COUD tryhad been and was still burning as wepassed through, and we saw herds ofall kinds of game congregated near therivers.

In our hurry to get to Kana, we had. completely lost track of the days of theweek, and upon arriving at the river

several miles above Fort Lamy on themorning of January 22, we were underthe impression that the day was Friday,It so happened that a truck belongingto the French Governor of the ChadDistrict was waiting for the ferry whichwas coming up the river to take theGovernor's truck across to Fort Lamy.On account of this we were able to getour truck aero s without losing verymuch time.We drove on into Fort Lamy, and thearrival of this truck from the east coastof Africa created quite a little excite-ment among the French Colony, whichwas comprised mostly of governmentofficials and traders.We immediately called upon theFrench Governor to pay our respectsand inquired when we could get a ferryto put us across the other river, sothat we could be on our way withouttoo much delay. The Governor statedthat they would not be able to furnishus a ferry until the next day, because ofthe fact that this was Sunday and thatthe European population of Fort Lamywere holding a race meet that after-noon. Consequently all of the nativesas well as the Europeans would attendthe meet, and no one would be availableto man the ferry .Vle attended the race meet, metseveral of the French population, and

The ferry boat above carried Mr. King, Father Duffy, and the Special Delivery truck across the WelleRiver i" the Congo. This was the bestJerry found during the entire trip across Central Africa.i9}


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AFRICAN ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN 'fRUCK

returned to Fort Lamy where the Gover- miles, there is hardly anything thatnor instructed that We be domiciled. He could be called a road.sent his orderly with casks of water and We arrived at the Nigerian frontier,a portable bathtub, and did everything which is a small river flowing inte Lakein his power to make our stay in Fort Chad and which is some 6S miles fromLarny as comfortable as possible, He Kousseri, about 6 P. M. S00n after wealso invited us to dinner that night, an reached the river a number of nativesinvitation which was accepted with came up from the neighboring villagemany thanks. He stated during dinner and we made signs to them that wethat he thought possibly we could get wanted to Cross. They procured, froma ferry by lfl o'clcck the next morning. the other side of the river, a very

The next morning the Governor's primitive raft. This raft consisted of aorderly came to us with - few heavy boards nailedan invitation to lunch together to make-the run-with the Governor. We ways for the wheels of thesaw our hopes of a 10 car or truck, with crosso'clock ferry go glimmer- pieces fore and aft to helding. However" at 1P.M., these runways in place.we were told that the The gasoline tins that hadferry was ready _ once been used to' buoy upJust before leaving this raft had long sinceFort Lamy I received a been stove in. Thenativestel egram from Baron took a loek at our truckBlixen at Fort Archam- and seemed to be verybault, in which he stated doubtful that the raftthat Sir Charles Mark- would float us across. Weham, his companion, was insisted, however, thatinterested in buying the they try, and we unloadedtruck we were driving. all of our equipment fromHe inquired as to the the truck to make it ascondition of the truck, Rev. Thomas Gavat,-Datffy was light as possible. Whilethe number of miles on born il~ Nice, France, in 1888, we were doing this thethe speedometer, and the a son of Sir Charles Gooan- natives gathered threeprice, stating that if sat- Dltjfy, a. d'isti~r[u1:shed Irish. large bundles of Guineaa'l1,a A ust1'aliMZ politicia, . .. h b 11if ac tory, they would Father Gavan-Duffy was edu- cornstalks. T ese unuiespick the truck up at aued; in England and Fi ' IJ mc e, were 8 to 10 feet long andKana, North Nigeria. a11.dordained in 1911. Joining 3 feet in diameter, andI replied that the truck the Paris Society of Poreign were tied together withMissions, he.took 1 . I , p his sms-was in perfect condition sionary Z'ife.with headquarters bark. The bundles wereat that time, had 3,550 at TindyuMwm, South Areot, tied, one across the frontmiles on the speedometer, India. . of the raft and one onthat I had one extra tire, each side. They thenand had not had a puncture during procured four long poles which werethe entire trip, and that I would leave put under the raft proper, and weit.in charge of the African & Eastern proceeded to drive the truck onto thisTrading Corporation in Kana. makeshift. The river at the bank wasWe left Fort Lamy at 1o'clock and in very shallow, shelving down graduallyabout an hour's time were landed at until it was about 6 feet deep in theKousseri, which lies up the Logorie center. As soon as we were on theRiver about 5 miles above Fort Lamy, raft they immediately tried to float

The road from Kousseri runs in a it out into deep water by taking holdnorthwesterly direction and is a very of the poles which were under the raftpoor and rough, winding trail. In fact, and rolling it over these poles until itfrom that point on to Kano, some 500 reached deep water. By this method

(10 }


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Kamo, North Nigeria, the end ofMr. King's journey arut the pointfrom 'l1Jh:ichir Charles Markham andhis companion, Baron von Btixen;started their trip across the SaharaDesert. Kana, on the edge of theSahara, the rail-head oj the NigerianRailway, is one of the largest andoldest native cities in Africa, having apopulation of eighty to one hsouired.tho1tsand. It is surrounded by a mudwall a,boutthirty feet high and twentyfeet thick at the base.

we got about 25 feet out. Here thewater was over the running boards ofthe truck, and still the raft rested onbottom.By this time it was dark, and in thishigh altitude as soon as the sun goesdown it immediately becomes very cool.The natives were working in the waterand the cold discouraged them greatly.They insisted on knocking off workuntil the next day, and it was necessaryto put forth some persuasive argumentsto keep them on the job .. Aftertheyhadbuilt huge fires on theopposite bank andhad gotten togethertwo more large bun-dles of cornstalks touse as buoys, we man-aged to be half-car-ried and half-floatedacross to within some15 feet of the Nigeriaside.By this time it waspitch dark and verycold. As soon as wereached the oppositebank the natives allset up a big shout,rushed out of thewater, and crowdedaround the fires on thebank. 'The truck wasstill partly submergedand the raft was com-pletely out of sight.After the natives hadwarmed up a bit, wemanaged to get a fewof them back into theriver, where the corn-stalk bundles were untied, and as wehad no runways or other means ofgetting off the raft, we decided to tryto drive ashore. As the front wheelsleft the raft the front part of thetruck dropped down and the drain plugin the crankcase pan caught on a sub-merged piece of timber which pulled theplug away from the pan, leaving a half-moon-shaped hole, and allowing the oilto run out. The shock of this drop alsobent the pan badly.

We drove up onto the bank, stoppingabout 10 feet from the water, and foundthat the oil was running from the crank-case in a stream. The natives set towork to bring over our equipment, andIcommenced to repair the damage.

Removing the crankcase pan, andusing the jack as an anvil, we beat itback as nearly as possible to its originalshape with a hand axe, By using leatherfrom an old shoe, the end of a spoonand a bolt we completed repairs, and athalf past one in the morning, we were

finally ready to con-tinue our journey.The can dition s

under which we wereworking were nonetoo favorable, as thetruck was on a sandbar. It was verv darkand cold and our onlylight was a smoky oillantern and a smallspotlight; however,this change was madewith only the two orthree wrenches andpliers supplied withthe truck and at theexpense of severalhours of hard laborand a few skinnedknuckles.

At half past one weput up our camp bedsand attached our tentto the side of the truckand lay down for amuch nee led rest.Soon, however, avery bad electrical

storm came up, and after trying forsome time to sleep, gave it up as a badjob, packed our equipment in the truck,and left at about half past four.The road from the bank of this riverwas only a trail through the sand andscrub thornbrush. VIe held this trail fora . short time and then lost it entirely.After traveling around in a circle tryingto pick up the trail for about twenty orthi rty minutes, we came to the concl usionwe would have to wait until daylight.

[ 11]


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.AFRICAN ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN 'TR UCK

However, a native who lived nearby andevidently saw our lights, put in hisappearance and made signs that hewould guide us to the road, which he did,walking ahead of the truck for severalmiles until the road became more plain.We arrived at Dikoa, North Nigeria,about 7 on the morning of January 24where we met the English Resident, thefirst Englishman we had seen sinceleaving Stanleyville, He very kindlygave us tea and cakes, and after visitingwith him for some time and lookingover the extent of our damage by day-light, we drove on to Maidougari, AtMaidougari we met a man in theGovernment service whom I had metgoing down on the ship to Lagos lastyear. He told me that the next day at1 o'clock there was a boat train leavingKana for Lagos, and that there wouldnot be another for two weeks. We hadonly slept two hours the night before,and as Kana was 370 or 380 miles from

Maidougari, and as we were anxious toreach the coast we decided to try toreach Kano in time to catch this train.We left Maidougari at 11 A. M. anddrove continually until midnight,snatched 3 hours' sleep and were offagain, arriving at Kana at 10 o'clockthe next morning.The hardest part of the entire trip, onboth men and truck, was between FortLamy and Kano, The roads betweenthese points were mere trails, verysandy, and there were several dry riverbeds which we had tocross on grass mats.

Our arri val at Kana occasioned agreatdeal of surprise among the residen tswhen theylearned thatwehaddriven thistruck from Najrobi, British East Africa.

We turned the truck over to Mr.Strawn and Mr. Carpenter of the African& Eastern Trading Corporation, dividedthe remnants of our stores betweenthem and caught the train for Lagos,leaving Kano at 1:08 P.M., January 25.

Wa te rfa lls a t M'Bli, 11earBangui.( 12 J


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A Few of Sir Charles Markham's Snapshots

Giant mud fish ca1,tghtin the Shari River.

A Native town h~Algeria.

EZGolea, reached O n April 10.

Repairi,:n,ga tire in the Atlas Mountains.

Elephant, kil led in the Fort Arch-ambaul; district.

Bridg repairing in Africa is strictlya man-power j O Q .


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.~ . . RA . V EL ING . aCTOS .*equa-"l:) i9rial Africa, on what is. believed to be thefirsi tripo} the kind ever made in a four-

.. wheeled stock car or motor lruck.uiasthe recent remarkqble achieve-ment of C. N. King, of thegeneraf.office of the international" Har-ve.#erExpert Company.. StaTting

. from /IlQi' fobi, British. E as . t Africa.' In an Int.emaUonal.spccifiZ1Je-l["very l ruc/~ , M r. K in tJ traveled3,BOO miles in ninetcl!.:It drivingdays> averaging 18.09 miles t~thegallon of gasoline .consumed.Finnlly. after Mr .. King arrtoed

at " Kano in North Nif1.eria, limtruck was sold to Sir CharlesMar/e.ham. who wltli Baton vonBlixen-Finecke; mad.e aniJ.lhr. IJn-:.:ustlal trip init acf'~ss the SaharaDes er t to Algiers. They made this

.. trip of 2,818 miles in 16 driving(Jays at an average of 15.05 mileto the gallon of gasoline consumed.This is also believed to be the first

time a stock. model, four-wheeled quiomoUve vehicle has. traveledo,ross the Sahara Desert;

o C E A N

/NOR T H

ATLANTI

A T L A

GU

SOU

OCt


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18/32

" BaTon Blixen gets OI >t and staggerstow


19/32

From Kano N orthAcross theSaharato Algiers and On to London

Sir eharles 5'rtar~ham's Own Account o f His Drip Across the SaharaDesert with 13aron 'VonCJ3!ixen'Finec~en the Same International1Jriven by C . N . . King in His Journey from N.airobi to KanoII wer.e asked to statewhy we crossed theSahara by car I shouldfind it difficult to answer,

beyond admitting that indoing so we attempted andaccomplished somethingwhich everybody claimedwas impossible.To tell an Englishmanthat some particular featcannot be accomplished isabout the best possible wayto make him attempt it.

Since last August, BaronBlixen and I had beenslowly making our waynorthward to Lake Chadby way of the Congo andShari Rivers ina small boa t.Our difficulties and hard-ships enter into this storyonly in so far as the mentalstrain and physical exhaus-tion had reduced us to astate that, when the ques-tion of getting out of thecountry arose, we werestruck with the possibilityof going all the way homeby Cal'. Although this was first sug- that he proposed to sell his Internationalgested as a. passing joke, the more we truck and continue by train to Lagos.discussed the possibilities the keener Mr ..King is, I believe, the first individ-we became to try it. ual to drive a regular commercial four-

Fate, however, decided for us. At whee.ed vehicle from the East to theFort Archambault on january 21, we West of the African continent.were told that a. Mr. C. N. King, of the As Baron Blixen had already met MeInternational Hal' ester Company, and King in Kenya, we telegraphed to hima companion, bad motored through the to know if he would sell his truck,day before, comingfrom Kenya Colony, delivery at Kano. He wired back. ex-SOme 3,000 miles distant. Mr. King pressing agreement. We thus acquiredtold somebody when he reached Kano, the means of carrying out our project of

117 ]

Sir Charles Markham. EngUsh.soldier, diploma.t , explorer, andbig-gam.e hanter, author of thethrilling account of this tripacross the Sahara Desert in anInter nasioual Special Deliverytruck, photographed in thedesert w'ith an addax, one of therarest of anteZopes. Since leav-ing the diplomatic service hehas devoted his time to his busi-ness interests and to explora-tion and big-game hunting.

Baron.Bror Frederik 'ilonBlixen-Finecke, Swedish nobleman,born. in 1887. Baron Blixenhas resided in Tang'J,ny/:kaTerritory since 1913. Here heowns and operates an eight-thousaud-ecre farm. Baron-B lixe n : is IL noted sportsmanana big-game hunter and isespecially famed throughou!Africa as a lion hunter. Heis an experienced explorer withan extensive knowledge of theAfrican continent.


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attempting what the Frenchmen de-dared to be impossible. Looking backnow, we must have been crazier thanwe imagined; we bought a vehicle thatneither of us had seen, a make we knewnothing about other than its world-widereputation of strength and reliability.Anyhow,wefelt confident that Mr.Kingwould not have wired "first-class condi-tion" had it not been so.Wenowcontinued onour way toChad,where for two months we hunted andfished according to plan. We had severalminor adventures on the Lake; both ofus underrated the magnitude of thissheet of water which is considerablylarger than Belgium. My little boat,though made of steel, and capable ofcarrying a load of three tons, wastossed about like a cork. On two occa-sions it nearly foundered. On ourreturn to Fort Lamy we were able to ob-tain a few details about road conditions.Before we left Fort Lamy, the Gov-ernor, Monsieur de Coppet, endeavoredto persuade us to abandon our projectfor the following reasons:1.Vehicle unsui table,

owing to small tires,and not pas essing onevery low gear, neces-sary (so he said) toplow through the sand.

2. Danger of bandits,who infest the southernSahara, coming fromRio de Oro on the westand Tripolitans fromthe Mediterranean.

3. Our lack of knowledgeof the desert.4. Wrong time of year;water holes, if any,would be dry.S. High winds in April, )which cause terriblesandstorms.We both felt that having gone so far

as buying the International truck (asyet unseen), and our keen desire toshow that it could be clone, we wouldignore his advice and decide to go on.Later we bitterly regretted not listen-ing to him.Monsieur de Coppet is that type ofFrench gentleman usually found inFrench colonies. By wise and carefuladministration, Chad is emerging fromone of the darkest and most primitivecountries into a rich and prosperoucolony.On March 21we said good-bye to ourfriends at Fort Lamy. vVe reachedKana on March 24, where for the firsttime we saw the International truck.

Above: Native fishing canoes and nets,FortLamy onLake Chad. R:ight, above:Native pilot on Lake Chad. Left: Campon the Shari River where Sir Charlesand Baron Blixe spent Christmas, 1927.

[18i


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We were favorably impressed with itfrom the first. It looked just the thingfor our purpose. We examined itwithconsiderable care, for by this time wewere beginning to realize that we werenot embarking on a joy ride. Thoughwe thoroughly examined it, we foundnothing wrong-in fact, as it was then,nobody would have suspected the gruel-ling it had already been through. In nerespect it was defective, if it can be.called a defect. There were practicallyno tools, only one spare rim and tireand no rim tool. Ihould not have beensurprised at the shortage of tools, asAmericans place implicit trust in theircars and trucks.

By Monday afternoon, March 26,all our arrangements were completed.Every item to be carried was carefullyweighed, nothing being taken that wasnot absolutely necessary. It was finallyladen with:2 Rolls Bedding 1001bs.

2 Small Suit Cases 501bs.1 Food and Cooking Box 40 lbs,1Box Sundries, Camera, Etc. 501b .1 Box Tools, Etc. 30 lbs,

120 (Imperial) Gallons Petrol 1,200 lbs.6 (Imperial) Gallons Oil 60 Ibs.1 Native Boy 1201bs.Blixen 1 60 lbs,Self 1 90 lbs.In addition, we carried two new tires,

two already having been put on theback wheels, the old ones carried asspares; thus, in all,six spare tires andeight tubes.We dined with Mr.Spears. the HonorableMember for Kane,prior to moving off.Plenty to eat, and stillmore to drink, result-ed in delaying ourdeparture till 1A.M.,March 27.Out first lap was toZinder, some 300 kil-ometers (186.4 miles) from Kana, afair road without much sand. At4 A. M. we stopped, overcome withsleep, the result of dining too well.

March 27. Up and away at 6:30.Good progress was made all day until3 o'clock, when we had a puncture inthe near back tire. A thorn was re-sponsible. It took two hours to patchthe tube and replace the tire. Thelack of a rim tool and a respectablepump made the job much harder,resulting in some unparliamentarylanguage.We arrived at Zinder at 6:30 P. M.where the Chef de Cercle, correspondingto our Resident Commissioner, wasgood enough to place a house at omdisposal. Zinder in the past was aplace of considerable importance, hav-ing been the base from which the south-ern Sahara and Lake Chad were occu-pied. Today commerce has supersededmilitarism. Natives come and go inabsolute security. The few soldierspresent are in reality policemen.

The Colonel commanding, an olelbard-bitten colonial veteran, told usthat our best route would be to followthe Niger as far 8! 3 Gao, close to Tim-buctoo, thence northward. He furthertold us that at Gao we should find aFrench company which sold petrol. Wetherefore decided to leave 56 gallonsbehind at Zinder, as it was useless tocarry more tha n was necessa ry.March 28. We left Zinder at 10 :30A. M., lighter by nearly a quarter of aLon. Good progress was made, thetrack being hard with little sand,

except in the valleys.The In ternationalboiled badly, which weat first attributed tothe car, but later real-ized that it was due tothe appa lli ng heat,our thermometer reg-istering 125 in theshade. Stopped at 2A. M. and slept by theside of the road.March 29. Offagain at 6A.M.sharp;

no time for breakfast. The road, suchas it is called, or at least marked on themap, "passable for cars,"became worse;up hill, down dale, running sand, and

[ 19!

Native canoe made of papyrus reeds.


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Baron Blixen, Ali, arid the Iniernational Special Dd~!lery photographed on the desert.Reserve tires and water were more important than food.sharp flints. We again had two punc- in the hills. Road-making in thistures. Hot and trying, repairing them. country is a simple matter. Small pilesSlept on roadside, too tired to eat. of stones are heaped together everyMarcb 30.. At 10A. M. we arrived at 100 yards, nothing else. SandstormsNiamey, having covered the 900 kilo- frequently bury these landmarks formeters (559.3 miles) from Zinder in 46 considerable stretches. After wanderinghours, at 110 time exceeding 30kilometers about and going round and round inper hour, at which speed we found the circles, we finally had to stop until theengine consumed the least water. morning. During the night we heard

Niamey, the capital of the Niger two lions calling, which did not improvecolony, is a pretty little town on the our night's rest, as we had no fire.banks of the Niger. The Governor and Aprill ..Next morning w e soon foundhis staff were most kind. He gave us per- the tracks, so difficult to follow the nightmission to use the Public Works Depart, before. Reached Gao at 11:30, havingrnent, "Travaux Publique," inwhich we plowed through deep sand for miles onrepaired our tires and tubes.\Ve also end. Both of us enthusiastic about thethoroughly greased the car. The engine International. Its behavior was magnifi-itself required no oil (oil consumption cent. The resistance of the sand placeswas a perpetual source of wonder to a terriffic strain on the differential andus, as only a gallon. was consumed dur- transmission, yet everything was func-ing the whole trip). tioning perfectly. We called on theM a l f C h 31. Left Niamey at 10A M., Chef de Cercle, who offered us a house.the authorities giving a bad report on This we were forced to decline, as wethe road. Progress during the day hoped to start off into the blue duringwas slow, barely averaging 10miles per the same day.hour. We again intended traveling all Visited the French company, wheretonight, but were forced to stop at llClUr disma:y we were told there was noo'clock, having hopelessly lost our way petrol left. For a time itlooked as though

POJ


23/32


A drah, a typical nativedesert town, just north ojReggan,

we should have to wait until suppliescould be sent up from Bamako, involv-ing a delay of at least a month.Here Fate was kind to us in that oncalling 011 the captain commanding thegarrison, this gallant officer offered tolend us petrol out of the Governmentaviation stock,we undertakingto replacethe amount taken out. We were thussaved from the unpleasant situation ofhaving to sit down and do nothing foranything up to six weeks. The car wasrepacked; several things being aban-doned, owing to weight. In the mean-time, the Chef de Cerde had procured aguide to show us the way as far as InTassit, 130 kilometers (80.8 milesjfromGao. In Tassit, though marked on themap, is in fact only awater hole, nothingelse. From thence onward we were todepend on our own resources. He toldus that we should follow old tracks allthe way, and that we might count ontwo more water holes, one at Tabankortand the other atAsselagh, some hundredkilometers farther on.We 110W madeone of our biggestmistakes in notsen drng our so-called Kana guideback home. He wasmore or Jess useless,not knowing thelocal language, al-though at the timewe engaged him heassured us that he

could speak pure Arabic. Instead ofsending him hack, we decided to takeh im. along and send him home fromMarseilles, via Lagos and Kana.Up till now we had covered 1,680kilometers (1,044 miles) since leavingKano, and with the exception of punc-tured tires, the truck itself had notgiven us a moment's worry.At 5;30 we again set off. Our hewguide took us direct across country,winding our way round thornbrush andavoiding drifting sand banks. At 1A.M-we reached In Tassit, where we found thewater hole. Here we slept the night.April 2. Up at 6 o'clock, paid off theguide and started again into the blue.At 9 :4 5 we reached Tabankort, whichuntil recently was a small military post,and its desolation would drive mostwhite men crazy in a month. One smallsquare enclosure, surrounded by a highmud wall, in which are several smallerbuildings, built of the same material.N at a blade of grass for miles around,This so-called post has now been corn-pleteJy abandoned.How it ever existedcannot be under-stood. The heatis beyond descrip-tion. The waterwas almost as saltyas that in the sea.Five minutes afterdrinking it, you arethirstier than be-fore.Wedecided nothe road leaving Timimoun,


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to fJI our two ten-gallon water drumsa3 according to the Captain we shouldpass another well called Asselagh about60 miles farther on, where the water wassaid to be better. Anyhow, we filled ourtwo four-gallon tins, which v .. ere fixed tothe running board. Owing to the in-tense heat our water consumption, evengoing 15miles an hour, necessitated ourfilling the radiator every ten miles. Wecontinued on our way, no friendly heapsof stones, only old six-wheeler tracks ofcars belonging to the Trans-SaharanCompany, which cross the desert whenpassengers are willing to risk the heatand hardships. In the event of a carnot arriving within a certain date, re-lief cars are sent out from Reggan onthe other side. As a further security,these cars (specially built with verylow gears, six-wheels and tire equip-ment greatly out of proportion to thesize of the car) carry a complete wire-less transmitting and receiving set.They can thus at any time get intocommunication with their ba e.

On we went, the tracks in placesalmost impossible to see. By middaywe had not found a water hole; still wekept going, thinking perhaps the Captainhad made a mistake in the distances.The going, all the way, became steadilyworse; the coun try became more andmore arid, with Jess and less vegetation,sand taking the place of the smallstunted thornbrush.

At 6 :3 0 we came to theconclusion that we hadeither missed the" ell, orthat the tracks did notlead to it.We were thus facedwith the alternative ofeither going on (the go-ing, so the Captain said,was better after the first two hundredmiles), or returning to pick up waterat Tabankort, which in reality meantgoing right back to Gao, as we shouldnot have suf-ficient petrol to re-con-tinue as from Tabankort.We both went through a bad fiveminutes, though neither admitted it atthe time. Either way courted death, adeath so terrible! Returning was, onthe face of it, the simpler plan, but thegoing had been so bad that we doubtedour water supply holding out. 0 carcan travel in that heat without wat.er.We would also have the wind behind us,causi ng the engine tooverheat stiIImore.To go on, we were pushing into theempty spaces of the war t desert in theworld, with no knowledge of what was infront of us beyond what the Captain hadtold us, and his information regardingthe water hole had been so inaccuratethat we doubted whether he knewwhat the conditions really were. We hadonly five gallons ofwater left, instead oftwenty-eight, as we planned to take, abig difference in view of the engine's

Boi, the French fort at Lake Chad.[ 221


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This pMtographwas taken in themiddle oj theTanezru]t Desert.D ue to th e in te nseheat it uias nec-essary [or SirCharles Markhamand Baron vonBlixen. to wearscarfs ouer theirmouths,

requirements. Ali by now was reduced denly tasteel like champagne. Eachto a state of u e1essflesh. He lay at the mouthful to be taken sip by sip, won-bottom of the car, moaning and crying. dering why one ever drank anythingHe would do nothing until a threat of else. On we went, mile after mile.leaving him behind and an occasional no improvement in the going exceptforcible reminder persuaded him to that going at ten miles an hour the carobey orders. consumed the minimum of water. AtBoth wrote our decisions on a bit of 2:30 A. M., overcome by exhaustion,paper, so that neither Call ldsay that the we were compelled to stop. A smallother first suggested what to do. We glass of water each and dry biscuits.both voted to go all, and again aban- However, not a sound of complaintdoned the greater part of our kit and from our wonderful car.food, only keeping what we considered April 3. The sun rose red and angry,vitally necessary. Vie were forced to foretelling a gruelling hot day. Wedispense with food, clothing, and equip- started off at 5:30, neither having muchment, together with our two big water to say to the other. The going becamedrums, so carefully provided. worse, involving the use of corrugated'vVenow fully realized-perhaps for iron sheets under the wheels, whichthe first time-the seriousness of our otherwise would have sunk up to thesituation. We knew that it would be a axles in sand. Forward four feet. Stop.grim tight to get through. We felt so Scratch sand, replace sheets; again for-small, alone in this vast desert, where ward four feet, and 50 on for hundredsnot even man without his own inven- of yards on end through deep drifts oftion "the CaI" could penetrate and loose sand. In spite of these delays,come out alive. A sea of sand all we managed to keep going, slowly butround us, baked by the scorching sun i surely, hoping to find the hard sand ona country hard and relentle s. There which, we were told, a car could gois no mercy from the desert. We passed 100 kilometers an hour.too many tokens, as it At 5 :30 P. M., we lost all signs of thewas, to be pleasant: tracks. We took a wide circle, hoping

ships of the desert - to rejoin them, but no trace could becamels. Their bones found. Twice we circled, the secondtold their own tale-- time a still larger sweep, but with thewater. Water, which same result. We again thought of turningat Tabankort we re- back, but eventually dismissed the idea.garded as filthy, sud- We had not the faintest hope of getting

[23 ]


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back now. Our only hope lay in goingon with the use of the compass. We didnot even possess a decent map; all wehad was a general small cale map ofAfrica, which was slightly better thannothing. We therefore decided that thenext day we should proceed by com-pass, hoping for the best. Too tired andweary to get our blankets out, bothsecretly thought we had come to the endof OUf lat journey. We now had lessthan a gallon and a half of water left.and were still barely half way.April 4. Off,S A. M., setting ourcourse due north. Sand was worse, ifpossible, than yesterday; water dwin-dling. We now ceased drinking. Ourposition was practically hopeless. At12 :30 we again ran into the old tracks.We were glad, but felt that now itscarcely mattered. At 1 : 30 we se e aspeck on the horizon. "What is it?" weask each other. At first curiosity, thenhope;itisadrum. Can it contain water?We accelerate. Hardly can we curb O urimpatience. Empty! We cannot de-scribe our bitter disappointment; new-born hope dashed to the ground. Empty!Onward, mile after mile, parched withthirst; eery drop of water poured intothe radiator felt like parting with ourlife's blood.

At 3.:30 we ran into a deep valleywhere the sand was even deeper than weencountered before. The truck sinks illand stops, this time up to the axle.Only a quart of water left. For whom?The engine, or ourselves? Ali is now In

such a state that nothing can move him.We compromise by taking a mouthfuleach. The car drinks the rest and asksfor more. We jack up the truck andagain place the sheets under the wheels.Progress is terribly slow, the car shud-dering under the terrific sti ain fromthe resistance of the sand. Clouds ofsteam emerging from under the bonnet,but our I IJ ternational comes through asusual with flying colors. We clim b asmall escarpment with considerabledifficulty. What do we see? No, itcannot be, but yes. Five drums,standing in solitary tate barely amile away!The "International" is driven to theutmost. She herself seems anxious toknow if she is to remain for all time amonument over two dead white men.Again we run into a patch of loose sandhalf way to the drums. Blixen gets outand staggers toward them, His pace isslow; at least, sitting in the car, Ifeelit is. What an eternity it takes to coverthat half mile. Isee Blixen shake thenearest drum; it is apparently full but isit water or petrol?With feverish haste he comes backto get a spanner to open the bung. Weagain use the sheets in order to obtaintraction and eventually stop alongsidethe drums. It takes little time to openthe first in order to ascertain our fate.I t is water! We drink and drink, theprecious liquid which sends new lifethrough our veins. We are safe! A tleast, we feel so, although still only half

The Tanezrujt Desert, hard-baked sand and fiin: rocks which with the heat were the chief causesof tire troubles. This picture shows the tracks which the International Special Delivery leftbeltind it.


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RICAN ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN TRUCK

Anether photogmph of the Special Delivery taken in the middle of the desert. The shifting sandsbuiid 1'P many such.dunes as the one appearing in the background.

y. We see the rolling Tanezruftert stretching apparently intermina-, until finally lost on the horizon.od, hard sand. The whole positions changed in the twinkling of ane .. We behave like elated schoolboys.ho could wonder?It took some time to revive poor Ali;tives have neither courage nor sta-Four drums were full and the fiftho-thirds full. This we purloined.ving eaten a hasty meal (by thise we were very hungry), we againrted off full of hope, the sand greatlyproved, enabling us to increase ourerage. Petrol consumption had,turally, been high. Had conditionsntinued as in the past,' e would haveen faced with another danger, thatrunning out of petrol before reachingeggan, No man could walk far inch terrific heat.Through losing the tracks again, weere forced to stop at 1 A. M. Theing for the last four bours had beencellent until the tracks came to aad end in front of a and dune 50 feetgh. This dune must have been formedithin the last twelve months. Wepped here for the night in order toatch a few hours of welcome rest.

April 5. Off at 6 A. M., soon findinga way round the dune. The goingimproved, enabling us to travel in topgearfor miles 00end, the truck hurnrningalong in fine fettle. We are now in themiddle of the great Tanezruft Desertwhere it has never been known to rain.Hard sand with small flints lying on top.We made excellent progress all day inspite of tire trouble, one back tire having"crept," owing to deflationwhile goingthrough sand. The tube bad beenpinched, thus causing the puncture.We again had trouble with the otherback tire, owing to a faulty valve.We drove all through the n.ight andreached civilization, or at least its out-post at 10:30A. M.-Reggan.April 6. ''i/lle had thus covered 3,010kilometers (1,870.4 miles) since leavingKano on March 27, the last 1,200kilometers (745.7 miles) without wateror the sight of a human being.Reggan is the headquarters of theTrans-Saharan Company! from whence,as already stated, specially equippedsix-w heel CHS wi th dual tires On eachwheel, cross the desert. Monsieur andMadame Hardoin received us. Theywere most kind. Madame Hardoin pro-vided food, and her husband welcomedrinks. These attentions thoroughly

[25 ]


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cheered us up. We apologized, and atthe same time thanked them for thewater, without which we should neverhave gotten through. The water we tookmust have stood them at shillings pergallon.After an excellent lunch, we saidgood-bye to our hosts and proceeded onour way. From now onward there is awell-defined track, marked by littleheaps of stones, such as we were ac-customed to before leaving Gao. otthat it was a road, for such things donot exist in the extreme south of Alger.a.We went through bad places as before,involving the use of our iron sheets,but nothing so serious as previouslyexperienced. We now knew that eventhough the car break beyond repairwe should be within walking distanceof water. But our International kepttrue to form and did not fail.At 6:30 P. M. we reached Adrah, thefarthest military outpost in southernAlgeria. The Lieutenant commandingwas most kind, giving us a room and anexcellent dinner.April 7. Next morning we broachedthe subject of petrol (we had only threegallons left). Unfortunately, he had noauthority to supply us. We thereforehad to wait until a reply came to themessage we sent by wireless to theGeneral Officer commanding in Algiers.The answer came days after, grantingour reque t to draw on military supplies,butthis was unnecessary, asthe Lieuten-ant found a four-gallon tin of condem-ned aviation petrol which he placed atour disposal. This proved sufficient toget us to Timimoun, 170 kilometersahead. vVe therefore decided to push

on the lollowing day, having enjoyed agood and welcome rest. which did usboth good as we were beginning to feelthe strain and anxiety of driving anaverage of twenty hours a day underthe most terrible conditions.April 9. Left Adrah at 8 A. M., atrack not very good, resulting in ournot reaching Timirnoun until 1 :30,where we had the greatest surprise ofour lives. Timirnoun, a little garrisonpost, occupied by a handful of whitemen, boasted an hotel, and what anhotel! Spotlessly clean, rooms properlyfurnished, hot and cold water laid intoevery room, a comfortable dining roomsuch as one finds in Europe, properfood, and a wine list that no Lon-don hotel would be ashamed of. Themanager told us that the hotel belongedto the Compagnie Trans-Atlantique,who own a chain of hotels throughoutNorth Africa. Tourists are taken insix-wheel cars on circular tours, callingat Timirnoun so that visitors can saythey have been in the middle of theSahara. He did not like it when wesaid we thought we were already out ofit. "You are not through yet," he said"very few cars, other than six-wheelers.come here. You may have trou ble yet."We laughed. Little did he know whatwe had already been through in theway of sand, or the faith we had in our"International. "After a most excellent lunch we againset off, and by traveling all night wereached Fort McMahon, 190 kilometers(118.1 miles) from Timirnoun, at 5 thefollowing morning.April 10. We stopped only half anhour, a there was nothing to see. The

Reggan, the first outpost oj ciuil izat ion, was reached after twelve hundred kilometers of deserthardship_ This view of the desert, taken from Reggan, a/so shows the old abandoned native fort.[26 n


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A.FRICAN ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN 'TRUCK

"Our .Iniernationai hail brought us safily over 1;71.eost difficult pa,rt of eur journey." Thephotograph above,taken upon their arr'i,'al at Reg~an, shows Sir Charles lIfarkham at theextremeright with Baron va1~Blixe, while Ali, the native guide, is at the rear of the truck,

post was abandoned years ago. At 11 :30we arrived at El Golea, 200 kilometers(136.7 miles) from Fort McMahon,where we found another hotel belong-ing to the Compagnie Trans-Atlantique.

At 3:30 we again started off. About10 o'clock the same night we had reallybad tire trou ble, three tires going flat allat once, two with valve trouble and onepinched tube. The lack of a rim toolmade the job much harder. Our pump,purchased at Kano, broke. The fronttire, as I said before, was due to a wornvalve. These tires had come throughfrom Nairobi, in Kenya Colony, with-out the slightest trouble. This was thefirst time they had even to be pumped.They had thus covered 6,000 miles,most of which were cross countrythrough thorn brush, over hills strewnwith stones, and deserts, where theybecame so hot that One could barelytouch them. Having repaired the tires,we slept by the roadside.Ap1'illl. Off at 4:30 A.M., reachingCardaia, 300 kilometers (186.4 miles)from 1 Galea at 11 :30.. Bad going oversharp flints and boulders. At Gardaiaourtroubles were over. From now onwardwe traveled on the world.famous RouteNationale,Started off again at 2:30 P..M. andreached Laghouat at 9P.M. Laghouat isa town, being a big military depot withhotels, cafes, music halls, etc. Ouren-

trance into the hotel caused a sensa tion.Our clothes were in rags and extremelydirty and we ourselves look little bet-ter than tramps. Anyhow, they fed us,which was all that mattered so far as wewere concerned. The manager sold uspetrol to help us on our way, probablynot liking the idea of having us asguests in the hotel.

We moved off at 10:30 P.M., makinggood progress on a first-class road. Wefinally stopped on the roadside at 2 A.M..and slept till 4 A.M., when, owingto every car that passed inquiring if wewere broken down, thereby disturbingour rest, we again got going, though stillvery tired.April 12. The last day was in a waythe best. The road was a first-class one,permitting a speed of 30 miles an hour,and lay through some of the finestscenery we had ever beheld. The AtlasMountains, once seen, are never to beforgotten, in some way resemblingSwitzerland, and yet far more beautiful,For the first time we really felt thatwe were out of the tropics, Finally, at3 o'clock, we dropped down into Algiersand repaired to the Hotel Algeria,where we found our c'othes, which hadbeen sent out hom home, waiting for us.

We had covered 4,535 kilometers(2,818 miles) in sixteen days, includingone day lost at Adrah. From Kano t oAlgiers the engine consumed 156 Irn-


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.AFRICAN .ADVENTURES OF .AN .AMERICAN TRUCK

perialgallous (187.25 gallons) of petrol,(15.05 miles per gallon) and only onegallon of oil, Our tires gave no reallyserious trouble.The engine itself gave no troublewhatsoever. It certainly boiled, butas already stated, the cause lay in theterrific heat. We tool. the boc t to Mar"seilles, taking our International w ith us.The last lap, from Marseilles toLondon, was accomplished without in-cident. Leaving Marseilles in the eye-ning of 'the 15th at 9:30 o'clock, wereached Paris the following afternoon,having driven through without stop-ping other than for l1et1'ol and meals.The following day] called 011 Ma-demoiselle de Coppet and gave herletters from her brother, the Governorof Chad, entrusted to me 27 days before.Thus ended our journey, begun andcarried out without any previous ex-perience or special preparation of anysort .. All we had was the overwhelmingkindness and help from every French-man we met; they one and all did every-thing possible to help us. I believe theygenuinely enjoy extending hospitalityto travelers, They are proud of theircolonies and like you to see them.

Perhaps at some no-distan t dateexpress trains with sleeping cars andrestaurants willcross the Sahara moreor less the way we came; the traveler,reclining in a comfortable chair, drink-ing an iced drink, will Dot think muchof the country through which he istraveling. Time, wil l enable him toforget the days when it was not soeasy. Such is progress.For our part, we are not only gladto have safely accomplished this diffi-cult journey, but to have done it on aregular four-wheeled stock commercialvehicle, and without any special equip-ment or preparation, other than thecarrying of extra tires, fuel and water.The route followed by the Interna-tional Special Delivery car from EastAfrica to London, England, was as fol-lows: Nairobi, Uganda" across theBelgian Congo, French Equatorial Af-rica, Lake Chad, Nigeria, French WestAfrica, Sahara Desert, Algiers, acrossFrance and on to London.From Nairobi to Algiers the distancecovered was 6,618 miles over roads,tracks, etc., which in. Europe or Ameri-ca would not be classed as roads at all.No spare parts of any sort or descrip-tion were carried; the four original tirescame through from Nairobi to Kanowithout any trouble .. At Kano the backtires were replaced by new tires, but wecarried the old ones as spares .

Adrah, the firs; French military post reached b y Sir Charles lolfarkham and Baron Frederikv on BU I JCB11 .-F in e ck e i n Sout he rn Algeria. Here a day was last i71! securing. gasoline. Isfrontof the International is a tYP'icalFrench soldier, veteran.of many desert campaigns.[28 ]


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Here: Economy for You-and Speed-in theNew INTERNATIONAL

"SPECIAL DELIVERY" TRUCK!

AWAYS .better an d better, is thetrend in International truckdesign. Greater economy.Roomier bodies. Better ap'pearance. Greater driving ease. Morepositive braking. Longer life.. Improve'

merits msde possible by the enterpriseof an alert engineering staff, that keepInternational Trucks a step ahead ofthe current demands of truck users.The N_ew Special Delivery is a resultof this progressive policy. It is apowerful, fast truck for hauling the

lighter loads economica. l ly . All thespeed you need, with fo ur ,w h ee l b ra ~e sfor safety in present-day traffic. Longer,roomier bodies-on the new 124,inchwheelbase. Generous capacity for atruck of this type.

If you are in need of a thrifty, fast,modern truck for light loads, see thenew International Special Delivery.International branches and truckdealers will supply complete informa-tion, or c:rrange for a demonstrationupon request.

The International. Harvester line includes truc~sof the righ t size and type for every hauling an ddeli~ery need. T here are four and sixcylinders pe ed tru c~ s iTl [Ille sizes an d double reductionan d chaindriv~ h ea v y ,du t y mode l . iu r) ,Tee size.-fo ur -w h ee l b ra ~ es on ever1 model.


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African Adventures of an American Truck

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