Evening star., 1922-07-03
WORLD-G|RD[|NG
ROUTE ROMANTIC
Possibilities Of Course Fol-
lowed by British Ayiators
Fascinating.

The route holds the true romance
OF the globe-girdling flight OF Mai
Blake and s!s British ASSOCIATED"
remarks . bulletin from the Wash
ington headquarters OF the National
Geographic Society.
Personal adventure and service tests
paramount as they were when Lieut..
Commander Read few across the At
lantic ocean The voyages % Magel-
Aan ana Colunbus are remembered be-
cause they cut new paths for civili-
xation. II you will trace out on a
Maj. Blake's party you will realize
very quickly why generations to come
may rank their course as epochal.
Follows Land Routes.
1T follows the land wherever land
Is to be found. Hitherto interconti-
mental travel has been concerned
with finding the shortest water
routes. But these ayers are blazing
trail which skirts the edges Of the
two great oceans to follow the chain
Of the desolate AieutiAns and to touch
the southern tips OF Greenland and Ice
land
IF your mind goes along with those
airpIane travel win suppisnt the
ocean liner, and IL you will recall
what being along the travelled way
das meant to Portugal, Chicago, Bag
dad and Terra Haute, you will find
yourself in an o. Henry frame of
mind-wondering what eoon may be
doing in Kodiak, ReykJavik, or Cape
Farewell.
The shortest way around the world
by airpIane, 1t would seem, IL some
$4,000 miles. As you view the route Oh
your globe it looks like two festoens.
fvnv r.
Alaska, with one strand dipping to
Karachi and Calcutta and the other to
New York and Chicago.
SeSments Already Traversed.
The flyers will not cover the whole
distance IN unchafted air. That part Of
the route which lies from London,
through Rome, Cairo and BaEdad to In
dia, is substantially the course taken
by the tate Sir Ross Smith on his air
cruise TO Australia.
"The Atlantic has been crossed BY
Lieut.. Commander Read of the Ameri-
can Navy and in a nonstop fight by
Capt, Aicock OF the gritish army; but
foundlAnd, Greenland and Iceland Is
new. 1t may well be that the trans
atlantic air travel, which seems q GER
tainty Of the not distant future. may
ardous. From Newfoundland to the
Azores is approximately 1,leo miles.
while it is about SOC to Greenia nd, with
even shorter .jumpse from Greenland to
Iceland and Iceland TO Scotland.
1900 Miles Nearer Japan.
"The British flyers also have as
precedent on the western hemisphere
the carefully planned round-trip flight
of Capt STREET., L. S. A. between New
York and Alaska Perhaps no portion
OF the flight is of more Interest to
Americans than that from kamchatka
to Alaska. Such a passage makes the
old world seem infinitely closer. Geog-
raphies have been briefly diepcsing of
the Aleutian chain Of rocks, Hover
patches and volcanoes az q barrier be-
tween the Bering sea and the Pacific,
but these islands now loom as stepping
stones between Two areas OF great eco
nomic potentiality. Japan Is some 6,oo0
niles from continental American soil
by steamer out OF San Francisco. but lis
only 5000 miles removed by atrship out
of the Alaska peninsula.
even more fascinating conjecture
arises about the crossing OF the Aiaskan
gulf from Kodiak to Sitka, for OF ko-
fiiak is situated tnat eighth world won.
der, the Valley Of Ten Thoueand
Smokes, discovered by National Geo
graphic Society expeditions sent to
study Katmai, the worlds greatest ac-
tive volcano. This region has been
made a national monument. and when
II is accessible it's ATTY square Hliee OF
steaminK assures and rainbcws OF Mss
ing gassts will form one OF the most
fascinating national parks.