THRILLS IN A DESERT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 23 July 1929, Page 3

THRILLS IN A DESERT

SANDIIOGUnD IN SAHARA EXPERIENCES OF MOTORIST SEA'ICIi FOii lil'J CAME AREAS Trallie in Ticcadilly recently was held an while a weather-beaten and somewhat diiapidaled-looldng ear crossed in Iron! of the east and west-bound traffic ami turned into Berkeley street. Even more dilapidated than I lie car was the hat worn by the driver, who was muffled In (he ears' in a woolly scarf ami wore a thick leather coal. Alongside him sat an ebony black African, even more stoutly protected Horn the vagaries of the English climate. Except that it was travel-stained and mud-splashed, the car might have passed for an ■ordinary tradesman's delivery van, with the sides removed. And yet there was something different about it. From the uprights at the back of the car were slung twj canvas water carriers. Tie identification plates also had a strange appearance, for in addition to the numerals wero included characters in Arabic. Such was 'he home-coming of Captain 11. C. M. Crofton after an adventurous journey of 5500 miles across Africa, including the sandy wastes of the Sahara. He shoull have been accompanied by Mr Owen Tweedy, but #m fortunately, says the "Daily Telegraph," Mr Tweedy went down with an attack of malaria'at the last moment and was unable to complete the triumphal homecoming. Following an inspection of the ear. Major C. V. d'A. Stewart, a director of Messrs Thos. Cook and Sons, explained to a .small gathering of people that the trip had been undertaken by his firm to see if any new big-game shooting areas could be discovered. He made it plain at the outset that nobody deprecated more than his firm the practice of shooting big game from motor-cars. Their intention, ho explained, was to show how near to a big-game area a car could take a party of hunters, and then to leave them "to their own resources to follow the trail.