A solo-trip in 1889 took Karl May via the Near Orient and Ceylon all the way to Sumatra, Indonesia. On his return, he met his first wife and a couple of friends, in Egypt to travel there. Only towards the end of his life did he manage to visit the eastern part of the United States.
But in his imagination, in his mind`s eye, this prolific writer roamed the globe! Except for Greenland, Australia and Antarctica, his many novels and short stories take place on every continent. He researched the locations very well, where his heroes and characters, his alter egos, Old Shatterhand and Kara Ben Nemsi, and his friends, Winnetou and Hadshi Halef Omar, as well as many others, some named, some unnamed, performed their various deeds. For this, he relied on travelogues and the research of people who had visited the respective areas.
Some of these characters, Old Shatterhand and Winnetou, and locales, like the Wild West, North & Northeast Africa, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, are featured in this collection of fifteen short stories. Even the prototype of Winnetou, before he was called by this name, will be found here by the name of Inn-nu-woh.