''The Barsac Mission'' (french: L'Étonnante Aventure de la Mission Barsac) is a novel attributed to

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

and written (with inspiration from two unfinished Verne manuscripts) by his son

Michel Verne Michel Jean Pierre Verne (August 3, 1861 – March 5, 1925) was a writer, editor, and the son of Jules Verne. Michel was born in Paris, France. Because of his wayward behaviour, he was sent by his father to Mettray Penal Colony for six month ...

. First serialized in 1914, it was published in book form by

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

in 1919. An English adaptation by I. O. Evans was published in 1960 in two volumes, ''Into the Niger Bend'' and ''The City in the Sahara''. It includes a hidden city, called in English "Blackland", in the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. Because of the interest of Jules Vernes in

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

, the original draft, by himself, called ''"Voyage d'étude"'', contained references to the language.about that: Abel Montagut, ''Jules Verne kaj esperanto (la lasta romano)'', Beletra Almanako, number 5, June 2009,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, pages 78-95. When his son finished the work, he removed those references.

References

1914 French novels 1919 French novels Novels by Jules Verne Novels published posthumously Novels first published in serial form Novels set in Africa Hachette (publisher) books 1914 science fiction novels {{1910s-adventure-novel-stub