[French Army Libyan Desert / Kufara Oasis exploration] Two adjacent 1:2,000,000 sheets: Afrique (Region septentrionale) Flle No. 13 Kebabo; Flle No. 20 Yayo Service Geographique de l'Armee (SGA)

Two adjoining French military Sahara / Libyan Desert exploration and colonisation maps, one above the other. Each 66x54cm, printed in 3 colours (black, brown and blue), with the circular ink stamp of publisher Service Geographique de l'Armee, and sticker of distributor Edward Stanford (Whitehall House SW1) to the lower corners. Both sheets good, neatly folded, foxed, hole punched to the edges with 3 punctures minimally affecting the Yayo image. The Service Geographique de l'Armee (SGA) was formed from the Depot de la Guerre in 1887. The Yayo sheet is dated "Revise et complete en 1896", the other undated but contemporary. The Kebabo sheet centres on Kufra Oasis with other locations to the W (including Tebou Dirki, today Toubou) and NE. Kufra is divided into smaller oases clearly defined by "Limite de la vegetation" lines. These include Taiserbo, Zirhen, Bouzeima, and Kebabo (or Febabo) itself. Details include ancient caravan routes, and the dated routes taken by numerous explorers. The former include the Route des caravanes de Koufara, Route des Grandes Caravanes de Ouadai, an unnamed "Vestiges d'une route allant en Egypte", and a route heading south estimating a duration of 9 days based on "Nombreuses sources". Among the explorers are Rohlfs' pioneering Kufra journeys (1874) and with Stecker (1879) approaching from the north. In the vicinity are those for Hornemann (1792), Van Beurmann (1862), Jordan (1874), and Bere (Barth), Brel (Fresnel), Bra (Lyon), Bahr (Burckhardt). Human features include inhabited or ruined settlements. Natural features include water, palms, black rocks, an inhabited oasis (Nezla), dune chains, a region of high dunes, dunes over 100 metres, etc, with several descriptive notes, eg, "Desert entierement nu et sans eau". The Yayo sheet continues as far south as Dar Tokonaoui, including the mountainous areas of Tibesti, Borkou and Ennedi. There is a dense web of unnamed mountain routes, with a long desert route named "Route de Caravanes de Selimeh a Ouara apres le Dr Cuny". Those of explorers include Browne (1793-96), Mohammed el Tounsy (1804), Vogel (1856), Nachtigal (1869).