Abstract
THIS new volume of travels by Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs is a valuable contribution to a knowledge of the southern parts of the Vilayet of Tripolis and of the Lybian Desert. In December 1878, Herr Rohlfs, accompanied by Dr. Stecker, started from Tripoli, and soon reached the interesting oasis of Djofra, or Sokna, already known from the travels of many Europeans. Thence he proceeded east-south-east to Aujila, crossing the formerly quite unknown tracts of the sandy and stony deserts situated at the north-eastern foot of the Black Mountains. He reached the green and pretty oasis of Sella, which is one of the richest of the Eastern Sahara, and has no less than 100,000 palm-trees, and large flocks of camels. Going further east to Abu-Nairn, Herr Rohlfs did not follow the usual route, but, avoiding encounters with robbers, he made a great bend towards the south, having thus the opportunity of visiting the hilly tracts of the spurs of the Harauj-assod Mountains, watered during the rainy season by numerous Wadi. On March 24, 1879, he reached the small but wealthy Abu-Nairn, whose numerous fossils, as well as foraminifera scattered in its sands, will probably attract the attention of future explorers, Herr Rohlfs' collection having been plundered by robbers. A few days later he was in Aujila, which he already had visited in 1869. But his further advance being checked by the fanaticism of the inhabitants, he was compelled to send Dr. Stecker, and one month later to go himself to Bengasi, on the Mediterranean coast, to obtain there some protection for his journey to Kufra. It was only in July that he was enabled to return to Aujila, and to start for Kufra, 350 kilometres distant due south of Aujila. The oasis, situated between 26° and 24° N. lat, and 21° to 24° E. long., is elevated 250 to 400 metres above the sea-level, and is far larger than it was expected, as it covers 17,818 square kilometres. It must have been once a great salt lake, and even now it is covered with brackish marshes, and has a small lake; but sweet water is found everywhere in this oasis at a small depth, and throughout its length and breadth it is covered with vegetation. From Kufra Herr Rohlfs returned to Bengasi, after his caravan had been plundered by the inhabitants.
Kufra. Reise von Tripolis nach der Oase Kufra.
By Gerhard Rohlfs. With Eleven Drawings and Three Maps. (Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1881.)
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Kufra Reise von Tripolis nach der Oase Kufra . Nature 25, 264 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/025264a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025264a0