Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-27
UNKNOWN PARTS OF EARTH.
Rough Work About Finished; But
Much Detail Yet.

KNOW WTlat the pores are like, we lldNe
photographs of the once secret places
Of the deserts; very soon everything
will be mapped, examined, surveyed
Only 200 years ago China and Japan
were, to the people of Europe, little
better known than the moon; the
very names of these lands were po-
tent, creating charming visions of por-
celain bridges and ivory towers OF
esoteric splendors, fabulous treasures
palaces filled with wonderful gems.
Now, the pessimist AYERS, there is
nothing left to explore. and the man
of daring will have to betake himself
to the air. We are asked to compare
the old romance and mystery of trav-
el. comprising far-away countries that
had all the fascination of fairyland
with the journeys Of today by rail OF
boat, when the traveller proceeds to
the remotest parts without danger or
delay. The highest mountains are
conquered by those who still desire
spice of peril the desolate lands OF
snow and ice are travelled.
What. it is asked, is there left to ex-
plore?
Reply may be made-a good deal
II is well that the rough work of eX-
ploralon is finished, or very nearly
finished. While it was left undone
the brave and ambitious spirits, who
in all countries and all periods, have
sought to SurpasS their fellows, to GO
where they might be the first to pene-
trate. to show themselves noble and
long enduring, have been attracted by
those unknown and perilous ultimate
parts of the earth. Now all this is al
an end. 1t might be added that now
since the explorers have nothing else
to do, they will do something really
worth while.
What a tremendous. what a fasci-
mating field is before them. 1t is
field that offers infinite possibilities
glorious rewards. Knowledge. skill
daring, intuition, sympathy. enthusl-
asm-all these are needed by the man
who enters this field. The exploration
of the future will have for its purpose
not the discovery Of wastes of unin-
teresting sand or ice, but the recovery
of treasures of learning, of art, OF
poetry, or beauty in every form, that
the world once possessed but has lost
The PearyS, the SCOTS, and the
Shackletons will seek, in ruined city
and desert waste, in wild, remote
places that savage tribesmen guard
in regions that once were populous
and are now bare-in these places
they will seek the songs that Sappho
the genius of the Old World, sang in
Lesbos long ago. They will search the
PLAYS of Menander; they will look for
the histories. PHILOSOPHERS, poems. the
works in gold and ivory, marble and
bronze that we know must be conceal
ed somewhere in the world, awaiting
enterprising research.
Surely the man who found those di-
vine Sapphics and restored them 70
mankind would deserve as rich a re-
ward as he who goes few miles fur
ther than his predecessors In some
uninteresting desert. At any rate
they thought some 500 years ago
when the heroic italian humanists
hraved dreadful perils on sea and
land, travelled disguised, in hostile
countries submitted to almost incred-
ible hardships in order to carry home
a poem or a gem, a palimpsest or a
bronze. to be added to the sum OF
knowledge that the Renaissance sc
painfully acquired for us. In 1923
Giovanni Aurispa returned from the
east to Venice with hundreds OF
manuscripts, the triumphs Of single
expedition. Poggio Bracciolini found
Cicero's "Orations" in the dustbin OF
monastery.
Marvellous stores of gold and silver
and gems are awaiting discovery. too
Where is the loot of ancient Rome
worth, perhaps. 500.000,000, that
was buried with Alaric? Where is
is the wealth of Antioch? Where
IS the treasure of Samarcand? What
became of the wonders of art, accu-
mulated by three civilizations during
a period Of 900 years in Constantine
ple? The Turks cannot have destroy
ed everything. and we know that many
of the inhabitants concealed their
treasures from the invader.
1t is not however, in the cities, even
he most ancient of them, that the
"reatest discoveries will be made
These may be looked for in Central
'sia. in the Sahara. in the desert
places of the earth that we know were
formerly the sites of great civiliza-
tions. Indeed. it would appear that
tNe very evis.ence of a desert indi-
-ates the existence at some time. more
~ less remote. Of a great population
.hore-a population that cut down
he trees and so made the waste
\ SLIGHT indication of the possibil'-
ties is afforded by the results of DR.
ven He6in's Journeys in Centra
'sia. What extraordinary finds he
made, Greek gems in what was once
~hirese territory. showing that Hell
'onistic culture spread in its day to
the uttermOSt nartS Of the then known
.vorld. Certainly if gems and bronZes
we're carried thither it is not too i'm
acinative to suppose that manuscripts
700 were taken there. SO it is not be-
yond the bounds of possibilities that
come of the lost literary masterpieces
If the ancients will be found in Tibet
pekin. too. offers a magnificent
~hance for the new kind of explorer
Cor among the ancient treasures OF
that city it is likely that many un-
known masterpieces lie buried.
Another rich field for investigation
IS to be found in Morocco. where the
Moors who were driven from Spain
took their civilization and many OF
their treasures. We know what a CEN
ter of learning Granada was in the
DAYS that the Orientals ruled south
ern Spain. The Mohammedan. even
If he does destroy pictures anu SIdlu-
ary. usually respects books and manu-
scripts. Sicily, with its remains OF
the Phoenicians. the Greeks, the Ro.
mans. the Normans. four wonderful
civilizations. has so far only been
scratched.
Then. too. there is that well-nigh
untouched region of Egypt that
stretches down from the Nile to the
Red Sea. a region neglected by the
archaeolOgists as well as by the tour
lists. who have concentrated their at
tention on other parts Of the old en-
pire. Here is Kossier, "the dream
city of the Red Sea" here are the
white granite quarries Of Mons Claud-
Janus. the imperial porphyry quarries
of Gebel Dukhan. the breccia quarries
Of Hammamamat, the gold mines OF
Wadi Abad For 1900 years this re-
eion formerly the scene of much ac'
tivity on the part of a large popula'
ton. has been a desert. The Pharaohs
the Ptolemies and the Romans all lef,
their records here: in the dry climate
Of the desert many beautiful and i'm
portant things must have survived.
Their, are emerald mines. too. anC
II is quite probable that the golc
mines worked by the ancients were
not exhausted. This will. almos,
without doubt be found prosperous
l. N1EFy ytg.f n ~ n