Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-14
WILD ROUTE LIES
BEFORE ZEPPELIN
Germany to y Japan Leg of
Flight Is Over Hodge lodge
of Peoples.

Some 1000 miles of geography,
wild East" geography. lie between
Friedrichshafen. Germany, and Toxic,
Japan. the next leg Of the Graf Yep
pelin's world flight.
Savants of the National Geographic
Society declare that no matter what
route the commander, DR.. Hugo Eek
ener, follows in the long. long sail to
the Japan or OkhotSk Seas, he must
traverse pioneer Siberia. OF vast unin-
habhed areas, infreQuent and very bad
roads, q nodge-podge of peoples, speak
irg literally scores of different Ian
guages, few transportation ana COM
munication facilities.
Due to postwar changes, some OF
the geography Ii new, indeed. Should
the airship unexpectedly come to grief
and be compelled to descend, Ameri-
cans following the flight will have to
become familiar with regions many of
them never have heard Of, and unless
the radio appG ratus is In first-clasS
working order. conditions just right
for transmission and reception of sig
mails, DR.. Eckener may be days and
even weeks making his position known.
Grosvenor Reports Used.
Only last year DR.. Gilbert Grosvenor.
president of the National Geographic
Society. crossed Siberia His reports,
with those Of other explorers of the
society, provide a basis for conjectures
on the most feasible route for the Graf
Zeppelin and give indications of what
the dirigible travellers might encounter.
Another visitor found AL the in
teresting people In Siberia" explaining
that the old exile system sent many
of Russia's brightest and most fear
less citizens there. Might life is never
dull" was another comment, and high
tribute was paid to the colorful Sibe-
rian sunset-a chance for the Zeppelin
to find q proper frame.
Geographers consider IL likely that
Or. Eckener may follow rather closely
the Transsiberian Railway on the
eastern half Of his trip because of the
communication protection 1t would af-
ford in an emergency. They also sug-
gest that the strained relations between
Russia and China might lead him to
stay over Russian soil all the way to
the sea. instead of taking the short cut
across Manchuria. Since there Is
Russian meteorologist aboard. and
since so much of the route must be
made with Russian cooperation, they
say, it would appear to simplify diplo-
matte problems to remain in Russia.
Expected to Avoid Middle.
II that Is done the travellers would
avoid the great Cobb Desert. and would
cross the defunct Far East Republic"
which flourished briefly after the World
War. The people of this region, which
lies In the southern route" are q
mixture Of Russian and Buriat-Mon-
gol, and soon will have for their
neighbors the largest Jewish, state in
the world, to be created In the BRO
Bidjan district along the Amur river.
A middle route along the sixteenth
parallel would be wilder and more prirn:
tive all the way, but widest and most
primitive would be q distance shorten
ing swing to the northward. There,
aboriginal Yakuts, fungus and Yuka-
ehirs trek the "Taisa," forests, such as
only Siberia breeds. or chase reindeer
over the frozen tundra. For these rea-
sons, however, DR.. Eckener is expected
to avoid both Of those routes, II pos
sible.
Should present low pressure continue
over Russia, forcing Or. Eckener to
take the southern route, as dispatches
from Friedrichshafen indicate, he will
have to 60 farther but q more beautiful
and interesting earthscape will reward
him.
Mountain chains fringe the trail, from
the Caucasus to the Hindukush and the
Altai. The ship would first cross old
Turkestan, with the many new Soviet
coined names, Uzbekistan, Karakir-
ghizia, Turkmenistan. A map OF ITS
racial population would look like
zy-quilt, with every bizarre block
desert tribe.
Semi Desert Of Tartars.
Then would come thousands of miles
of semi.desert. the region to which
Leon Trotsky was exiled. 'Sarts. Tartars
and Asiatic KirghiZ, roam about Rus
sian settlements reclaimed from aridity
by irrigation. Severe earthquakes
shake the towns. The architecture II
all of one story. Brave false fronts"
more elaborate than those Of Amer
ica's pioneer West, simulate the second
story.
would find in those false fronts, 30 like
the saloons Of the old West, q correct
KEYNOTE OF the life farther on, from
Krasnoyarsk to the coast. For travel
ers have agreed that the "howling
wolves and snow weighted pine trees"
concept of Siberia must 60. Siberia
should be thought of rather as another
frontier, like the American West OF 50
to 100 years ago.
"Lawlessness, freedom, opportunity, q
place to live life over again, great dis
tances, yastness and glortousness OF
scenery" was the word picture OF one
recent rambler who insisted that the
only changes required to transform the
present wild East" into the old Amer
lean wild West would be details Of
Language and custom and names OF