The Washington times., 1935-11-12
BY H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
CWOrld Copyright 1888. by International
News Service. reproductions in
whole or part fOrbidden.)


News Service, reproductions In
whole or part fOrbiddenO
Adds ABABA, Nov. 12.-The
Incredibly rarefied air Of this
lofty altitude, thinned further by
the proximity to the Equator,
gave the ships wings only the
most feeble grip. 1t was a teeth
gritting moment as we bounced
twice before taking the air q
third time at exactly 9 a. m.
Retracting our under-carriage,
we gained speed and zoomed up
ward in the face Of a dazzling
sun.
At 10000 feet we circled spar
king Adds Ababa, trimmed by
golden mountains. How easy it
would be to bomb Adds Ababa,
for the eucalyptus groves which
conceal the dwellings of its 100.-
900 inhabitants from the ground
conceal nothing from the air, and
the Emperor's palace and radio
and railroad stations stand out as
more perfect targets because they
are framed by the dark-leafed
trees!
Laboring upwards to $4,000 feet
we gasped for air and grinned:
maybe we're leaving after all! !"
We took a route northeast for
Dessye, a refuelling point. at 100
m. p. h. At $40 a. m. we passed
over an endless plain gashed by
monstrous canyons. At the left
opened a chasm too deep to see
the bottom and ten miles across.
Like Grand Canyon
Over this territory caravans
plod IL miles a day, covering the
same territory we covered in six
minutes. At 9:35 the gorge is as
big as the Grand Canyon OF
Colorado.
The enormous dimensions Of
Ethiopia, a third larger than
Texas, now are realizable, for it
has not one but scores Of grand
canyons" AS far as the eye could
see, the earth was riven by pro-
found gorges.
We flew directly over Wanscit,
whose sides went down perpen-
dicularly like the face of the
Matterhorn. Just 80 miles to the
left, the Blue Nile flowed to
Egypt.
Around us rose savage peaks
worn down on top by erosion like
the teeth of an old lion. On these
flat mountain tops we saw dozens
Of tiny hamlets and their circular
compounds of round mud hutS
looking like oil drums on water.
The land seemed fertile, but it
would take an aviator or noun
taineer to reach it. If any Eu-
ropean nation got the country as
a gift it is hard to see what it
could do with it.
Sighting DeSsye
Straight UP Wanscit we drove,
and at 1915 o'clock Drouillet anX-
1ously scanned for Dessye, but at
the critical moment we plunged
into a sea of fleecy clouds.
Dropping beneath them at
1922, Drouillet, with a faulty
chart and flying over an unknown
terrain, sighted Dessye after an
hour and % minutes Of flying at
$50 miles per hour as straight as
a homing pigeon.
For a quarter of an hour we
searched for the landing field,
and finally spotted it far below, a
white dot. We swooped down and
landed on waves of heat which
Suffocated us and sent our
plane rocketing up and down.
At first not a soul was in sight,
and then came running a swarm
OF pickaninnies, naked and with
shaven heads. Alighting, we
looked vainly for hangers. a SER
vice station, gas tanks and atten'
dants. The plain stretched abSo.
lutely empty before us save for
the gathering of natives, who
dumbly stared.
All three of us asked questions
in English, French, German, Rus
sian and Arabic. and finally one
boy averred "speaky Itahano,"
but that was his entire
vocabulary.
While flies assailed us fero-
ciously, we learned by gestures
that Dessye lay far away, but
that mules were coming. Miracu-
louSly, at the stroke of noon they
appeared. gay in red silk
Caparisons.
A bearded Dessye official
graVely read our credentials as
we trotted and walked and
climbed and slid through groves
Of lofty euphorbia candelabria
Abyssinica, as Vilmorin, who is a
botanical scholar and a partner
of the greatest seed firm in the
world, named it.
Scarlet bushes and bright lilac
flowers harbored electric blue and
rainbow-Colored small birds. Corn
fields and graceful, nodding mil
let acres were at the foot of a
chain of mountains.
We climbed and descended in
terminably, C-aversing five hills.
We dismounted at places too
steep for the mules to carry US.
We scrambled upwards. struggling
for breath under a relentless sun,
while natives laughed and sober
chieftains, followed by retinues Of
gun-bearerS bowed solemnly.
Finally, after three hours and