Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-28

they attempted to go farther, and many,
many others have lost their lives But
| shall not.
u should tell you, BY the way, that,
unlike Capt. Haines. who started from
Alden. and Mr.. Bent. who began at Oman
in other words, from the SOUTH shall
begin from the north. Arranging my
caravan at Jedda. on the Red sea, I
shall make my real start at Bishah, and
so go on. at the rate. ! hope, of fifty
miles day. until l reach Jalib- ell Talh-
takh, the last known town before one
enters the Great desert. Then, il ! sue
coed in geeting across. ] hope to come
out at Mascat on the Gulf of Oman And
| snail get across. i know it. | know
the dangers. but I know | shall pass
through them. And what an achievement.
cities that they say are there. the Won
derful inscriptions that tell the history
of long dead races, the treasures in ore
and minerals that may be hidden await
ing Il diScoverert
II would be hard to eXaggerate the
perils the countess is counting SO blitnely.
The hard bitten explorers, scientists and
custodians of the ''outposts" of the EN-
pire who gather together in the rooms
of the Royal Geographical Society are
not in the habit of using hyperbole or
making mountains out of molehillS, yet
here are Il few Of the comments on the
difficulties Of exploration i'll Arabia which
the writer finds in an address that was
delivered 10 his fellow Royal geographers
while ago by d. G.. Hogarth. one of
the great authorities on the east.
1T VIII take Il bold man declared the
lecturer. ito venture out for the passage
of either $50 miles west to east or too
north to south III the zone of the world S
greatest heat with no better information
than we possess. and ne had better make
his will before he starts, or. better still.
be a friendless orphan with no Will To
make
Then. after describing how the ex-
plorer Halevy, was kicked from pillar
to post through Yemen and Narib.'' and
julius Euting as flying for his life most
OF the way from el-Ala to el-Wij. in
1854, the lecturer remarked, 'perha ps
some air pilot IN the far future will be
the first to try to cross the Ruba el-khali
Itself Then, after expatiating upon
what the explorer into unknown Arabia
will have to tell Hogarth added: "All
this. of course. if he comes back. 1t is
a serious reservation 1t is difficult to
get in. and yet more difficult to get out,
except to another world, by short shrift
of club or spear. But it will be a great
day for this society, if. thanks to it's sup
port, even a corner should presently be
lifted OF that vast south Arabian VEIL
K
What do you suppose the rich and
comedy Russian aristocrat who will at
tempt TO lift considerably more than a
corner of that veil Is doing, meanwhile
in such time. that is, as she can spare
from talks with men who know the east,
and from endless researches in the Royal
Geographical Society's maproom? Three
days in every week. dressed in orthodox
babies clinic in Plaistow, to which the
poor mothers of that typical slum dis
trict of London bring their ailing infants
to be examined. bathed and finally pre-
scrbed for by the countess. whose iden-
tity-n none of them guesses. For among
all her other accomplishing this pa
trcian woman is an expert and qualified
nurse. For something like year after
her husbands death, which followed the
loss of both her children she studied
nursing in the hospitals of Wisbech, in
Germany. She also studied for short
time in n German school for training
evangellsts. Between this time and that
of her arrival In England, whittier she
came to offer her services to the church
army the countess INDUCED to the full
her love of aerial adventures. first max
ing the fight over the Alps. of which
mention has been made, and later visit
ing Monte Carlo, where she made several
aeroplane trips, both alone and as pas
Senger.
Apropos of these the countess remarked
that she had known Parseval when Ger
manys most famous maker OF dirigibles,
next to Zeppelin, was lust 3 little army
captain" and then had made many as