French explorer Rene Caillie (1799 1838) was the first European to document a successful expedition to Timbuktu, Africa's elusive 'city of gold'. Europeans were not welcome there, and until Caillie's expedition no explorer had returned alive. Encouraged by the 10,000 francs offered by the Societe de Geographie to the first non-Muslim to bring back information on the city, he set out from Senegal in 1824 and eventually reached Timbuktu in 1828. His travels are recounted here in this two-volume work, first published in English in 1830. Volume 2 covers the final part of his journey to Timbuktu,...