Burton, Baker, Speke and Grant are the great names in the search for the sources of the Nile—but one brave Dutchwoman—Alexine Thine—deserves to be remembered too.

In Cairo last October, two cyclists mounted their lightweight, 10-speed bicycles and pedaled east—first stage of a trip to Dubai, final stage of a 6,500-mile trip from Italy to India.

Hidden among the towering, ice-clad peaks of the Karakorum Mountains, astride the ancient Silk Road to China, is Hunza, the highest outpost of Islam in the world.

In the caves and shelters of the Tassili plateau on the edge of Algeria's Saharan sands: some 800 paintings from the primitive past, preserved by an arid climate for all time and for all people.

Stamps from the countries of the Middle East give the armchair traveler a fascinating tour of such wonders of the past as the Pyramids, the ruins at Baalbek, Petra and countless others.