Surprisingly enough, it is not of excessive horse-power—only about 18 H.P., I believe, according to European rating, though more than double that by American methods of computation. Its limited horse-power, which appeared, however, to be amply sufficient for the purpose, is compensated for by special gearing, the car having six forward speeds and four in reverse. It is provided, moreover, with six pairs of twin wheels—that is, twelve in all—all six pairs being geared to the engine on the principle of the four-wheel drive used by certain American truck manufacturers. The wheels are fitted with enormous balloon-tires, studded with copper rivets as a protection against the flinty stones with which great areas of the desert are strewn, and inflated to a pressure of less than twenty pounds, thus obtaining a maximum of traction in the yielding sand. The body, which is very stoutly built, resembles those of the reconnaissance cars used by staff-officers during the World War, its four leather-covered arm-chairs, and the broad seat which extends right across the rear of the tonneau, providing accommodation for five passengers in addition to the chauffeur and the native guide. Great speed could hardly be looked for in a vehicle of this type; over a smooth, hard surface eighteen to twenty miles an hour is the maximum, while in the dune country, where any speed at all is out of the question, eighty miles is considered a good day’s run. Perhaps the most novel feature of this sand-wagon, however, is the highly ingenious device which has been contrived for enabling it to extricate itself from cups or pockets in the dunes, where the ascent is so steep and the surface so soft that it is impossible to obtain traction. This device consists of a metal hoisting-drum, about the size of a nail-keg, which is fixed between the forward springs just in front of the axle. Wound on this drum, which is operated by the engine, are some fifty feet of stout steel cable. When, as not infrequently happens, the car slides down into one of the craterlike cavities formed by the dunes and is unable to climb out because of lack of traction, the steel cable is unwound, carried up the slopes, and attached to a sort of steel anchor, which is driven deep into the sand. The driver then throws in the clutch, the drum revolves, winding up the cable, and the car lifts itself out of trouble by its own boot-straps, as it were. [Illustration: THE ROAD TO TIMBUKTU It is close on two thousand miles from the Mediterranean to the mysterious city on the Niger, and caravans spend three months upon the way, but already the motor-car has cut the journey down to two weeks. In a day now not far away the caravan will be as extinct as the prairie-schooner]