Though the distance overland was not prohibitive, the belt of desert country that intervened, upon which Warburton to his sorrow was the first to venture, forbade the passage of stock.

This belt of Sahara extended, roughly speaking, from the eastern border of the colony to the head waters of the western coastal rivers.

North and south it lay between the parallels of 19 degrees and 31 degrees south.

As yet no daring attempt had been made to traverse its barren confines from south to north.

But, to the born explorer, difficulty and danger give an added zest to geographical research; and in the year 1896 two separate expeditions sought to cross this dreadful zone.