The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-28
Copyright, 1918, by Curtis Brown.)

Copyright, 1918, by Curtis Brown.)
ONDON, December N.-(Speciala
Two of the most intrepid explorers
- living, half dozen others who are
only slightly less well known, and one
of the greatest authorities ON geography
and travel generally, have been spending
most of theip' time lately in attempting
TO dissuade a rich, titled, young and de-
cidedly attractive woman from attempt
ing project which she has set her heart
ON carrying out, and, of course, the whole
lot of them have failed.
The two explorers in question are
Henry Savage Landor and Harry de
Windt while the great authority on travel
who Is joining his protests to theirs Is
DR.. Scott Kettles, the secretary of the
Royal Geographical society, and the
woman whom these experts have been at
tempting to dissuade from what they de-
scribe as something like deliberate sui
eide is the Countess Noitor, whose late
husband was the owner of a big estate
near Moscow, and who although she is
Just out of her twentes. already has
risked her life more times than she can
keep count Of and altogether has had
as strange and varied a career per-
haps any woman of her age living.
Besides her estates In Russia. which
she now is selling as rapidly as possible,
third home in Germany. Yet she declares
that she longs for nothing so much as
wonderful life in the midst of compare
tive solitude-anything so long as 1t is
not our humdrum civilization. This crav-
ing 1t was which first made the Coun-
tess Noitor half decide to be a mission
ary and which now has determined her
to turn explorer and to attempt, practi-
caIly alone, to wrest it's secrets from one
of the earths last unexplored and ad-
mittedly most dangerous regions. the
great Desert of Arabia called by the
Arabs who live on its fringe, THE DWELL
ing of the Void" a region that is three
times as large as Great Britain, and
upon which no European foot is known to
have trod.
Only three European travellers have
claimed even to have gazed upon the
uttermost fringes of this vast desert,
while the bones of those who have per-
ished in the attempt to do so now whiten
the path from the Yemen to Nejran.
These facts. however, do not deter the
Countess Nolitor who already has wan
dered with only a small escort of ma
tive bearers through savage southeast
Africa and been captured there and held
for ransom by native torturers. who has
adventured, too, among the Turegs of the
Saharan desert, known as the most blood
thirsty tribe on earth, who has crossed
the Alps in a balloon, made between 60
and 20 flights in aeroplanes and water
planes been attacked by apaches in
Paris and narrowly escaped from them,
and who has nursed in the hospitals of
Germany and carried on rescue work
in the slums of London. At the outset,
by the bye, she thought of gratifying
what she calls 'the strain of gypsy in
me- only by taking a trip around the
world, and the blame for putting the
'acrbss-Arabia' project into her head lies
at the door of DR.. Scott Kettle although
as soon as the famous secretary of the
Royal Geographical society found that
the countess not only was taking his sug-
gestion seriously, but going his original
IDEA about 1000 per cent better, he has
tilY tried to pour cold water on the
projects.
i"My brother. Captain Otto Won
LFncke, is anxious to come with me-"
explained the countess. but he Is the