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FORBES, Rosita. The Secret of the Sahara: Kufara. With an introduction by Sir Harry Johnston.
New York: Doran, (1921). First U.S. edition. 8vo., orig. grey cloth, xxx, 356pp. With illustrations from photos by the author and with a large folding map. Spine ends a bit worn, some light soiling o/w very good.
Born in Lincolnshire, Rosita Forbes was the consummate traveller: "she went everywhere and saw everything. She was to become a glamorous figurehead of daring modern womanhood and one of the most prolific travel writers." It was her journey outlined in the above work that made her famous: a trek through the Libyan desert to the forbidden city of Kufara, the sacred place of the Senussi, a fanatical Moslem sect. After six months of careful preparations she joined a camel caravan, dressed as an Arab, but with a camera hidden under her veil. She was only the second European to visit Kufara, the first "white woman" to do so. Forbes taught herself the basics of surveying and from Kufara she travelled on, charting a "new" route into Egypt. Throughout her life Forbes continued to travel, making a trip around the world in which she visited 70 countries in 13 months, trips to Abyssinia, India, Africa, Cochin China and in 1934 she flew her own plane 14,000 miles around Central and South America. (Robinson p.91).