Tales of Endurance

Fergus Fleming

You have to be a tough nut for inclusion in Fergus Fleming's anthology of travel: no namby-pamby eulogies to ancient architecture or comical character sketches will do - this man wants you to eat a horse, then your shoes (unnecessary baggage anyway after your frostbitten toes fall off). This is travel and exploration as dogged endurance, frequently ending in death, but not necessarily a grave. On John Franklin's 1820 expedition to find the North-West Passage, Michel Teroahauté proved to be the worst kind of travelling companion: a cannibal. He ate two of the team and was just preparing a third for the table - with a bullet through the forehead - when he was caught and killed. Great read.

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