New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-01-18

r. Prince Eorrhese. With 100 Illustrations
So. pT si5. Mitcasn Kennerley.
one does not need ever 10 have ridden in
automobile in order to enjoy this book Even
fire rahid hater of the machine must find him
SELF warming to the subject as Signor Barzini
,ufolds his narrative and brings out the merely
human interest Of the journey which he made
with Prince Borghese It is not alone the
length or the difficulty of that journey which
makes il q matter for sympathetic reflection.
II is the Oddly of the whole enterprise, the
passage OF the modern spirit in OF its very
newest embodiments through lands still lying
more or less in the sleep Of ages
There is a passage in one of the earlier chap
tiers Of this book which gives the reader a sharp
sense Of the psychological interest Of Prince
Borgheses tour de force. The travellers have
left Picking far behind them, and are rolling
along at some thirty thirty-hve miles an
hour on the Mongolian prairie. Their mood is
thus recorded:
That speed inebriated and dazed Not so
much for the mad joy OF fight, which IS
rather through deep. fun and inexpressible lntel-
lectual satisfaction that came from BENG IHere-
the lucidity OF thought was yelled as IN q
Of our PERCEPTION we forgot ourselves and then
remembered suddenly. and interrupted the long
silence, saying 10 one another
We are in Mongolia!
once Prince Borghese suddenly turned to me.
7 Try TO realize that we are soon TO cross the
Cob Desert: well, ! cannot believe it!
1t is this incongruity which. more than any
thing else. lends TO essentially prosaic al
venture something Of the charm OF romance
Prince Borghese undertook TO go IN an : Il
mobile from Picking to Paris because the "oIlU
had been challenged by the Partisan journal Il
Matin'' 10 make this test Of the endurance OF d
10 -Sr7T
with the utmost practically, but once on chi
r,ess soil he rereed in an excitement far enough
removed from that Of the ordinary race OF any
kind He had an ideal historian in Signor Bar
zinf q Roman Journalist who had already done
good work as q foreign correspondent The two
pursued their task with a joyous enthusiasm
characteristic Of their Latin blood, and they had
with them in Ettore Guizzardi a chauffeur evil
deutly born 10 preside over an automobile on
Just such a fantastic venture The party, in
fact was constituted TO win success.
Il profted by preparations worthy Of the
soned general planning whirlwind campaign
Some idea Of the care taken to facilitate the
journey in regions totally untitled 10 smooth the
path Of the automobiIist is given by Prince
Borghese himself in the following Introductory
words:
The oil and beuzne necessary for our journey
across China and Mongolia came 70 Picking from
Shanghai; that for Siberia and Russia was provld-
cd from ST. Petersburg by the Nobel firm, which
distributed i along our rOad through the immense
convoys brought to the solitary well Of Udde and
for our conquest OF the Cobb Desert. and the con
guest was thereby made easy
Our tires from Italy awaited US at measured
te-vals- and al Omsk we had arranged for
spTiEgs, which We expected TO be obliged TO change
5or r The supply i Of oil and benzne was cai
c1Iated upon this plan; we had on board room for
Iantrg6 of OIL. which Would Euffce for over six
hundred miles, At each deposit there was always
enough for complete refill. and these deposits
which owing 70 the difficulties S OF tTansP9Tt were
distributed at intervals of 80 or outside 300
the Russian territory, where places were more
onEaTd a fresh relay of PireIG tires awaited US
every six OF ten hundred miles.
On the whole these arrangements were
-ied out with surprising thoroughness, and the
departure from Pekin in an Itala car was made
with z confidence fairly justified by the event
For all the details relating 10 the special manu-
factUre Of the car, its unusual weight and
CT the reader is referred 70 the book itself
OF greater general interest are the episodes Of
travel described, the lights flashed here and
there upon the attitude Of the East toward the
amazing product OF Western invention thrown
like some portent out Of the night across unac-
custoned eyes II is curious 10 observe that the
Chinese, having long made up their minds about
the miraculous powers Of the civilized European
were al once puzzled by the automobile and in
different 10 il. Speaking Of some Of the peas
ants who served the party a village passed
the way 10 the Great Wall, the author says
They paid no more attention motor car
than they would have paid 10 mule" When,
now and then, the natives were fearful Of their
visitors il would seem that they were alarmed
by the strange faces. not by the machine Or
araazernent cast out terror, in the case Of one
old man encountered in the midst OF the Cobb
Desert we approached him, did him rever-
enoe photographed him, spoke TO him. He
neither moved nor answered He showed
surprise and no fear. He seemed simply alb
s0rbed IN q deep meditation upon the mystery
Of our being and Of our presence in these places.
He looked al Us without being able to under
stand In his eyes was the effort Of concentra-
ton" So might some venerable chief have
looked upon Columbus and his fellows when
they first set foot upon our shores.
One incident Illustrating the bewtlderment OF
the remote peoples whose lands were invaded
By Prince Borghese touches the imagination
with sense OF something eerie and fan
tastic- Abiding to the iaughable behavior Of
some Of the peasants. Signor Barzini goes on to
tel this story OF a r1ouJik guarding roadside
gate through which the travellers had to pass:
lie young man with short, fair beard
inove@en OPEN aa15 h fe sound Of the ap-
preaching motor. he opened the gate tnpetuously'
himself 70 The side with a desperate bound. lean
Ing pressing with his arms against the open gate,
1noW tsreeteine onsser when we looked
a his face that ne blind. Opaque
eager desire 70 see On his pale face dweIt fear.
de had felt that something swift and powerful
touching him ia the great terrible. dawnless dark
ness We felt sense Of rernorse for that tragic