KALAHARI DESERT CONQUERED

Evening Star, Issue 20138, 1 April 1929, Page 12

KALAHARI DESERT CONQUERED

FIRST’ WHITE MAN TO CROSS. ENGLISHMAN FOUND IN THE DESERT. Mr W. J. Makin, the ‘Daily Mail’s’ special correspondent with the Imperial Government expedition into the Kalahari Desert, South Africa, tells below of tlie thrilling adventures encountered and the remarkable sights witnessed by the jiiembe'- of the expedition—the first white met, to accomplish the 300miles cross-desert journey. The Imperial Government expedition. comprising six white men, a native guide, and a wire-haired terrier, icached Ghana! recently. We have crossed the worst desert in Africa. It is a route from east lowest of 300 miles, Rimmed by all other desert travellers because of ilr. lack of water. Wc are tne first white men to accomplish the journey and our two Mom. commercial trucks have blazed a new trail in Africa. We expected to cross this desert in five days, it lias taken ns twelve. It was gloru fn oni tired eyes to sight these three white huts on the edge of the desert, the Union Jack hanging limply from a flagstaff in tho blazing sunshine. A magistrate, his wife, a sergeant of police, and four native constables rule over this territory of over 200 square miles. REAL OUTPOST OF EMPIRE. Ghanzi is the real outpost of Empire. It has provided ns with water and petrol, of which we were in desperate need. Food they could not spare, for theii own supply consisted of a few tins of baked beans. We brought into this outpost half a buck, which we had shot. It provided a great feast. The magistrate’s wife almost cried with delight when we presented her with a tinned fig pudding from a friend on the other side of the desert. A few hours before reaching Ghanzi wo had come across a lonely mud and grass house around which swarmed bnshraen and a

few cows. A white man, dressed in the moticuloi style of a Victorian oßiitloman. cium* out of this hut to nS us His long grey locks fell across a Dickensian type of collar, but his cravat was tied with care,, and tho excitement th: our appearance must nave causer him was hidden behind a courteous and restrained greeting. _ He was ready enm gli to give ns directions as to emi route, hut curbed our ouriosity regarding h’mself, Wc did, however, discovei that ho had once been a schoolmastei and that lie spent most of'liis time scribbling notes to add to a pile of manuscript hidden away in the hut. He p sscssed a son and daughter. The daughter, a girl of sixpoked hei head out of tho hut at our approach, and then hurriedly hid herself. During our conversation curiosity compelled her to peep from the doorwav. but once any eyes were turned in hei 1 direction she fled into the iU One important discovery of this exnodition is that the desert is not entirely a desert. For the first 300 miles we travelled through scrub and sand. An occasional tree was found, tortured and twisted in its growth as though existence in that desert was continual agony. _ The only living creatures were white ants, packs ol wolves, and wild dogs. It was all the more extraordinary to pass from these plains of desolation to grassy lands which told of water beneath the surface. “ This should make one of the finest ranching countfries in the world, ’’ said Captain Clifford, after a whole* day spent traversing this area. “ It is better land than any to bo found in Rhodesia, which claims to ho a great cattle country.” There is no doubt that if wells are made this part ol tlie desert should see great herds of cattle roaming the long grass in the future. Tho fact that the land is at an altitude of 4,oooffc also makes it a zone where the white man can live. It was in this area, too, that wc found buslimcn and game prolific. These were the hunting grounds of the natives, and we found their pits in the ground everywhere. On our first, day in the grasslands wo sa\( r a herd of giraffe, their long necks turned towards our motor lorries. Lately we passed a, herd of zebra, then some sixty wildebeest galloping madly across the plains At night when we camped the roars of lions were hoard. .It was not a pleasant sound. At a time when wo were, approaching the grasslands onr petrol supply was running short. Wo seriously debated abandoning one truck, draining the petrol from it, and pushing on to Uhanzi. There were days when we could not travel more than two miles an hour owing to the heavy sand. Time became precious. We began to travel day and night, and onr progress was better at night owing to the cold air. For three days not one of the expedition slept. Neither did time permit of more than one meal, a, day. The water we drank was tainted with petrol. Each of the six men became irritable. We soon discovered each other's vices. There came an evening when our guide, Hendriks, loaned over and shouted excitedly: “Camels have been Jiere 1 ” Camels meant that a party of police and some cargo had entered the desert at tin’s spot. We were thirty miles from (thanzi. '1 hen Hendriks saw a shrub with a piece of paper fluttering from one of the twigs. It was obviously an indication of some kind. “ They have buried something here! ” said Hendriks. In a lew moments wc were all digging Irenziodly, and. two drums of petrol were revealed We were saved. They wore part of a dump provided by the Shell Company which had been curried by th police on camels to this point and buried some days previously. _ Moreover, within a few minutes of hmling this petrol we also found onr first supply of water since we entered upon the journey. It was hidden in a clclt of i ocks, 'The next day, refreshed, we set out on the few remaining miles to Chanzi, and we laughed anti shouted to each other as the three white huts came into view. -