AN HISTORIC MOTOR JOURNEY

Otago Witness, Issue 3828, 26 July 1927, Page 71

AN HISTORIC MOTOR JOURNEY

“ Cape to Cairo.” By Stella Court Treatt, F.R.G.S., with a foreword by the Earl of Clarendon. Illustrated with 6-1 photogravures from photographs by T. A. Glover, F.R.G.S., F.R.P.S.. and a map. (Cloth. 21s net.) London: George G. Harrup and Co., Ltd. (per Angus and Robertson, Sydney). Mrs Court Treatt, who, to judge from her photograph, is a very charming, feminine, and pretty woman, was lying seriously ill in a nursing home in South Africa, when her young husband, Major Court Treatt, who had been in Africa for two years and a-half selecting and preparing aerodromes for the TransAfrican air route, informed her that, when she was well enough to travel, they would make a motor ear trip from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo, and thus be the first to accomplish the feat. In these days of anxiety to secure records in the geographical field before all the

prizes are gone, the prospect was an ex- ’ citing one, and before long the expedi- s tion was under way. The party con- ■ sisted of Major and Mrs Court Treatt: < Mr T. A. Glover, the initiator and < leader, who had been through the | Sahara as photographer to Captain Angus , Buchanan’s expedition: Mr F. Law, special correspondent of the Daily’ Express and an experienced traveller; Errol Hinds, Mrs Court Treatt's young brother, a good shot, and a hunter; and Julius, a native cook and interpreter. The party left Capetown on September 23, 1924, in two Crossley motor cars, and reached Cairo on January 24. 1926. The route taken until Egypt was reached at Wadi Haifa included the Transvaal,

Matabeleland, Tanganyika, -Kenya, and the Sudan. It was a hazardous adventure. and particularly so with a woman in th e party, but Mrs Court Treatt was nothing if not plucky, and all got through in perfect safety. How they managed makes one realise why the same journey has not been made a common one with motorists, for it was not until they' had been driven, dragged, or pushed there that the two cars finally’ arrived at Cairo along roads possible and impossible. Ways had to be cut through bush and elephant grass, bridges repaired, floats for rivers devised, rains and fevers suffered, and hunger ami mosquitoes endured. The journey’ was a succession of mishaps and difficulties, and called for the utmost initiative and pluck. Preparations in the way of “ dumps ” of spare parts and petrol had been made beforehand, and assistance from officials and private persons was given from one end of Africa to the other. But there were always the “ in-between ” times, and only those who read Mrs Court Treatt’s accouut of them will be able to judge how “ in-between ” they were. What was the justification of the expedition? Many people will consider that the loss of time and comfort and money involved, and the fact that the party gained no special facilities for taking photographs or film studies of wild animals or of natives are sufficient reasons for saying that the whole expedition was useless. They forget, however, the experience gained by the five young people concerned, and the realisation of the truth that life can be lived splendidly under all conditions. The narrative is charming and interesting to a degree. Very often in diary form, it conveys to the reader a true impression of the trip, and. supplemented with excellent photographs, makes a moving tale. It tells, as the Earl of Clarendon says in the foreword, of human endeavour under Natures frowns and smiles in remote places where so I many of our race are working for the

Empire in Africa; it is quickened with q lively power of observation, and will commaud interest and admiration as a tale well told of a great adventure carried through in the true spirit of adventure.