part I propose, through my narrative, to refer only to the country

as Aïr, which is the correct name in the language of the Tuaregs who inhabit the region, whereas Asben is a Hausa name, and would appear to have no particular claim to recognition since it is not Hausa country in the present era, whatever it may have been in the distant past, when tribal and religious wars were continually forcing territories to change hands.

The altitude readings, which I note during the narrative, since many of them have not been previously recorded, were taken with an aneroid barometer set to sea level before starting on the expedition.

Although the expedition was to a French colony, I feel that it was foreign only so far as concerned the difference of language, for the few officers I encountered, who so ably helped me on my way, if help I needed, were big-hearted men of the Lone Places among whom one could not feel a stranger. To all I owe thanks for such success as I gained, and gladly give it should any old comrade of the open road read this humble work.

I am indebted, also, to the administrative officials in charge of the Kano district who kindly rendered me many services ere I set out to cross the boundary.

Collecting in the field is one side of Natural History research, but there is, as you are aware, another side—the painstaking study of the specimens after they are unpacked on the museum benches at home. And I am much indebted to Lord Rothschild, Dr. Hartert, and the British Museum for having most kindly furnished me with the full results of the skilled studies of research to which the collections have been subjected since my return, for in so doing they have placed most valuable records at my disposal, so that I may draw from that large fund of knowledge when desired and enhance the value of this work.

ANGUS BUCHANAN.

CONTENTS

PAGE Introduction (by Lord Rothschild) xxi CHAPTER I Engaging Boys—Lagos 1 II Kano, Northern Nigeria 13 III Hausa—Currency—Camels—Travelling 33 IV A Day’s Work Collecting 60 V Zinder 73 VI The Shores of Bushland and Desert 82 VII Ostrich Hunting 95 VIII Leaving the Bushland Behind—Aïr Entered 121 IX Agades 134 X Aïr: North to Baguezan Mountains and Hunting Barbary Sheep 148 XI In Baguezan Mountains 164 XII The Northern Regions of Aïr: Part I 177 XIII The Northern Regions of Aïr: Part II 197 XIV East of Baguezan: Aouderas and Tarrouaji 215 XV The Tuaregs of Aïr 232 XVI Heading for Home 241 APPENDIX: NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED 247 INDEX 255

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

OUT OF THE WORLD _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE THE AUTHOR 12 VIEW OF KANO CITY 12 A STREET-LANE IN KANO 28 AN ENTRANCE IN THE MUD WALLS OF KANO 28 A HAUSA NATIVE RIDING AN OX, KANO 42 CATTLE OF HAUSALAND 42 NATIVES DRAWING WATER AT BABAN TUBKI WELLS, ZINDER 76 AMONG THE ROCKS OF ZINDER 76 BERI-BERI BUSHMEN, DAMERGOU 92 TANOUT VILLAGE 92 YOUNG OSTRICHES 104 DORCAS GAZELLE 104 A LONELY TUAREG CAMP IN THE BUSH 124 SUNDOWN IN THE DESERT 124 VIEW OF AGADES 142 THRONE-ROOM OF THE SULTAN OF AGADES 142 MY CARAVAN ON THE ARRAJUBJUB RIVER 150 TYPICAL AÏR LANDSCAPE 150 TYPICAL BOULDER COMPOSITION OF MANY AÏR MOUNTAINS AND HILLS 168 MINEROU, CHIEF OF BAGUEZAN, AND SAIDI, MY GOUMIER 168 WILD MEN, NORTHERN AÏR 190 APPROACHING IFEROUAN 190 IN AGUELLAL MOUNTAINS AT 3,100 FEET 202 WE FIND A PRECIOUS POOL OF WATER S.E. OF AGUELLAL, AÏR 202 TEOUAR, A TYPICAL DESERTED VILLAGE OF AÏR 218 TUAREG BOYS OF BAGUEZAN MOUNTAINS 234 “ATAGOOM,” A TUAREG NATIVE OF AÏR IN TYPICAL DRESS 234 AGADES FORT, BUILT WITH CLAY-MUD 242 CAUGHT IN FLOOD RAINS BELOW TEGGUIDI 242 MAP OF AUTHOR’S ROUTE _At End_

INTRODUCTION

Ever since Dr. Hartert[1] came to Tring, twenty-nine years ago, I have been keenly interested in the isolated mountains of Asben or Aïr in the middle of the Sahara, and the country surrounding them. This was chiefly owing to Dr. Hartert’s account of his interview with some Tuareg traders who had come down into Nigeria to sell salt. This interest was intensified by our own explorations in Algeria and “Les Territoires du Sud,” and Geyr von Schweppenburg and Spatz’s journeys in the Ahaggar Mountains, all of which yielded many zoological treasures. Therefore, Dr. Hartert and I felt much satisfaction when, after his strenuous labours in the war in East Africa, Captain Angus Buchanan fell in with our views and undertook to explore Asben and the country between it and Kano, in North Nigeria, the terminus of the new railway. The eleven months occupied in the undertaking have proved most fruitful, for, besides the interesting ethnological and other facts recorded in the subsequent pages of this book, the zoological results have been most valuable. These latter results have been published in _Novitates Zoologicæ_, the journal of the Tring Museum, in a series of articles by Messrs. O. Thomas and M. A. C. Hinton,[2] Dr. Hartert and myself.

The number of new species and sub-species is very large, especially among the Mammals; Mr. Thomas indeed says that he has never known a collection of Mammals, from a limited area such as this, with so large a proportion of novelties. Among the new Mammals, the most interesting are undoubtedly the “Gundi” (_Massoutiera_), the Rock-Dassy (_Procavia_), and the “Mouflon” (_Ammotragus_), because of the immense stretches of desert which separate them from allied species and sub-species.

Among the Birds, one of the most interesting is the beautiful goatsucker (_Caprimulgus eximius simplicior_), for, although a slightly different subspecies, it illustrates once more the fact that many species inhabit a belt south of the Sahara from N.E. Africa across the African Continent to West Africa, while most of the forms north and south of that belt do not show such a wide range from east to west.

Among the Lepidoptera, the most interesting species are all true “desert” forms, with a wide range reaching through Arabia into India, although several new species and sub-species of butterflies and moths of great interest are also in the collection.

From a zoo-geographical point of view the collection is most valuable, for we now know zoologically a complete section of the “Great Saharan Desert,” with the exception of the small portion between the Ahaggar Mountains and Asben, and although the region of the Sahara south of the former is undoubtedly tropical, and not palæarctic, in its fauna, it is very remarkable what a large number of palæarctic species and genera are still to be found there. Unlike most of the collecting-grounds of the Old World, which can still yield new and undescribed forms, Asben and its neighbourhood were absolutely virgin soil zoologically, and Captain Buchanan’s specimens are the first to reach the hands of scientific workers. Considering the long journey by camel and the fact that Captain Buchanan was working absolutely single-handed, the collecting of over 1,100 Birds and Mammals and over 2,000 Lepidoptera, in a region notorious for its paucity, both of species and individuals, is a remarkable achievement, and proves him to be a most efficient explorer and naturalist.

ROTHSCHILD.

TRING MUSEUM, _March 22nd_, 1921.

OUT OF THE WORLD