Word: danakils
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Mussolini's cheering troops had to footslog their way into Abyssinia from the blanketing coast of Eritrea, their cheers would not last long after they hit the Danakil. A natural moat, 400 miles long and 150 wide, it roughly parallels the Abyssinian border, sinks to 400 feet below sea level, boasts temperatures as high as 156° in the shade. Before Explorer Nesbitt, no white man had ever succeeded in crossing it, though three expeditions had tried. In Hell-Hole of Creation he tells how he and two Italian companions, with a native caravan, traversed the entire length...
...expedition set out from Addis Ababa in March 1928, reached its destination three and a half months later. The Danakils, especially those who had no feathers in their hair, gave them many an anxious moment. (A feather stuck in a Danakil topknot shows that a year has not elapsed since he killed a man.) Three of the expedition's carriers strayed too far from camp, never came back. Hottest day's temperature recorded was 168°F. Even in the shade it was unwise to touch a rifle-barrel. Because the temperature of the human body is only...