Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne

The forest of gum-trees -- The blue antelope -- The rallying-signal -- An unexpected attack -- The Kanyemé -- A night in the open air -- The Mabunguru -- Jihoue-la-Mkoa -- A supply of water -- Arrival at Kazeh.

The country, dry and parched as it was, consisting of a clayey soil that cracked open with the heat, seemed, indeed, a desert: here and there were a few traces of caravans; the bones of men and animals, that had been half-gnawed away, mouldering together in the same dust.