The Washington herald., 1908-08-16
ERASING THE BLANK SPOTS FROM THE WORLDS MAPS

Ike the Duke. IS stiu single Il ever he
had a love romance he has been success
ful in keeping the details from the public.
a feat which the conqueror Of Mount -.
Elias vainly tried hard 10 do
Another coincidence connected with this
eminent quartet IS this Each man start
ed in life well educated. Peary. Nansen,
and Hedin are college graduates. while
the Duke Of the Abruzzi received what
amounted 10 a college education from nu-
merous tutors. Among their educational
accomplishments the duke and Nanseu
number that OF languages: each is pro
hcient in four Hedin IS master Of an IN
usual list Of languages Besides speaking
English. French. and German fiuently, he
is at ease in Russia, Tartaric. and Per
sian, these tongues being picked Up by
him when he was tutor az Baku- on the
Caspian Later, when his travels carried
him still farther away from the fjords OF
his native land. he got a good knowledge
Of Chinese and TIbetan. and there IS not
a dialect spoken in OF around the deserts
Of Asia Of which he remains ignorant.
Tutor on Caspian shores
When Hedin went down 10 the shores
Of the Caspian 10 be tutor TO the children
q the brother OF the late Alfred Nobel.
inventor Of dynamite and founder Of the
Nobel prizes. he had formed no definite
ldea Of just what portion Of the earth he
some day would explore. But he had not
been teaching long before he awo'le 20
the realization OF the fact that. though
asia is popUIarly supposed 70 have been
the first continent 90 behold man and his
works. great stretches of e were va
mapped. Hedin at Cuce saw his oppor-
tunity and began 70 prepare for sIa=pils
Il by studying Rus=izn and the native
languages OF Western and Central Asia
Then as he Travelled farther and farther
east through Central Asia. making the
great deserts peculiarly his own. Hedir
naturally came under The spell ut Tt-=-.
and was not content until le had lzne-
trated % the very heart sf that long
guarded land of the Dalai lana
Hedin vas mere youth -u years when
he went on his Ersr exploring expedition
being only twenty He financed the ex-
pedition. which went through Persia and
1Iesopotauia. with his savings from his
position as tutor. This sum amounted %
less than S3d'- Al KeruausLaI. about so
miles 80 the south Of BaEu. as a bird
flies. Hed.n found himself peuuiless. and
sought out the English agent IN Persia.
wealthy Arabian merchant. Tor assist
auCe- incidentally. he told the old fellow
that he was country man 1t Charles
XII Now. all Islam knows Of the deeds
Of that great Swedish King. SO no sooner
had Hedin spoken his name than the
Arabian began sh1weriUg him with hon
ors- He put his house az the young
Swede-s disposal mlu.st=-=5 lavis1Iy 10
his smallest need. and when the time
came sped him on his journey Of discov-
cry with a bllEinE sack Cf silver and a
picturesque guard OF honor.
The Duke Of the Ah--zzl Is said 20 have
spent a fortune on his three great eX-
pl1-trE expeditions. their combined cost
has been set down ar a quarter ~ mill
lion dollars Ee1l-- on The other hand.
has opened the gr5a- deserts nj Asia and
Tihec 60 the knowledge ~ The world with
sin-ula~fv little cost No other modern
explorer. II IS safe % say. has achieved
such startling results with So small eN-
pend 5t1re ~ money The expedition that
made him famous. which lasted four
years and took him across Tibet for the
first time. was carried on az aE actual
cost 1f only 500 a vea-. A large p1r-
rio1 OF the money spent b- H=5-1 1r his
various expeditions has been secured by
him from his savings and through his
books and articles or his travels and dis
Coverles
Victims Of Explorer Fever.
Peary's passion Tor polar exploration IS
Wen known 20 his teI-ov-Ea a-Eees- EIe5i-.
too Is an apparently chronic victim of
explorers fever De has acEuoWIe5sed
that he IS happiesr when DO IS sAeepl1E
in a tent pitched s1uew1e---n-eferaal
In des-r--vle-e the maps show a blank.
0r, ar best broken lines, indicating GHeN-
pio-ed territory T. was his passion for
Tioetan exploration that caused him -r
slip into that country a short time after
England and Russia had entered into an
agreement 20 keep al explorers OF the
worlds root" this agreement following
the s0-csIed opening ND OF Tibet by the
English punitive expedition under Col.
Y NoCrghg-sas1d. which reached LlaSa. the
capital city, four years ago Hedi1
slipped into Tibet Just after the treaty
was ratified. and he has recently told the