Evening star., 1941-11-02
(Sirth OF a Series.)
By RALPH INGERSOLL.

lu,UUU-lOOI Spli nl OiioO VIC dAA POA Y VI
a town-a city, rather-called Alma
Alta. The plane was familiar
American Douglas DC-3, flown by
| Russian pilots. 1t had been up
| 10000 feet to get over the mountain
range to the east.
The Soviet border is an exciting
border to cross here, even high in
the air. You have left a rugged,
desolate country, passing mountain
peaks on which you look out at
nomads camped in small, round
Mongolian tents. In the valleys
over the Chinese border the fields
are small and pushed together.
Then, suddenly, as you cross the
land Of the collective farm, there
are great, sweeping fields below.
huge and impressive even from the
air.
I was filled with an immense
curiosity to see what this Gargan-
tuan land was like.
had come across the Cobb Desert
because from long way of in New
York and Washington l had been
told that was the quickest way. Five
days by clipper across the Pacific to
Singapore, up through Rangoon,
over the Burma Road and to Chung
king. From there was to head al
most straight east, still in the sky.
Germans Pioneered Route.
Not many foreigners have been
over this airline-if you can call it
an airline. 1t is an irregular joining
OF two services-One Chinese and
one Russian. The most elementary
facts about it are unknown at either
terminus. The route was pioneered
several years ago by Germans. 1t
flies over an ancient caravan trail,
more recently improved into a route
which trucks may travel, and have
Travelled, bringing such Russian sup
plies to Chang Kai-shek as he could
wangle. Sir Stafford Cripps. the
British Ambassador, went in this
way last year. But mainly the air
connection is to carry mail and oc-
casionally military experts and ad-
visers to and from Moscow and
Chungking
The Chinese plane is an old Jun
kers tri-motor, which lumbers across
( the endless mountain ridges of
China at 80 or 80 miles an hour.
Beyond Chengtu the rich valley land
| peters out. There are only the
deserts and the mountain ranges
/ that rise up in them. In the middle
/ of the desert is a dot called Hami
/ The Junkers set us down on de-
! serted piece of this desert near
/ Hami alongside a wind sock and a
/ tWo-story stone building which was
/ the outpost of the Russian airline.
Several families of young Russians
lived there. They were the first
Russians I met, and l was interested
in everything about them. I was
with Archie Steele-A. T. Steele of
the Chicago Daily News-with whom
I was to travel to Moscow He
spoke enough Chinese to get us
along. A Mongolian kitchen boy at
the airport was our interpreter.
Temperature l20, Humidity 0.
1t was four days before the Rus
sian plane came in-four days we
spent drying up in a temperature of
l20 degrees. humidity zero.
The life than the Russians lived
did not seem strange. There was
nothing communal about it that I
could see. There were several chill
dren in each family. Their parents
were devoted to them and they were
a little spoiled. l showed them
copies of PM. They were fascinated
with some pictures of Nazi atroci-
ties. They shook their heads over
them for a long time They were
angry.
The town of Hami is an ancient
caravan city Of mud and dust. It is
just over the fiat horizon from the
airport and the Russians took us
there in their station wagon. 1t was
a Russian-built imitation of a Ford.
We were in the Sinkiang Province
OF China. about which there is a lot
OF talk in Asia. The talk is about
whether 1t is province of Chang
kal-shek's China or of Stains Sow
let Union. 1t has dictator, named
Sheng Shih-tsai, who gets his pic
ture in all the stores either on a
/ par with Chang Kia-shek's or alone
Produce Of Russia.
All the merchandise in the stores
In Hami-they open up on one side
OF the street or the other, depend
ing on which side is in the shade
at that time of day-are of Soviet
manufacture. We found wines from
the Caucasus, canned fruit from
the Ukraine. clothes from Moscow,
everything from embroidery to hack
saws.
Haml is famous for its melons.
They tasted good in the heat. and
Steele and I would shop the Soviet
stores for while, stop to eat a
melon, stop again and then buy
melons to take back to the airport.
Late on the fourth afternoon a
Soviet plane came in out of the skv
from the west, its only passengers
two Polish refugees who had some
how beaten their way across the
continent from Latvia. They felt
they had reached civilization in
Hami. They didn't like countries at
war.
Steele and I left early the next
morning. We crossed above Russian
territory shortly after noon. Our
arrival in Alma Alta made anecdotes.
I was still under the impression
that we were there to connect with
another Soviet plane which was to
take us to Moscow-as I had been
promised in Washington. The Rus
sian Ambassador in Chungking said
he had wired ahead to the local
representative of the Foreign Office
in Alma Alta, Smirnof1, to take
care of US.
Mr.. Smirnoff in Person.
We walked 100 yards from the
airplanes to a little waiting room
which was equipped with armchairs
and a game of checkers to play.
We were surrounded Immediately by
five gentlemen in Russian smocks
or shirtsleeves, whom we took to
be the customs officials. But there
was no way of communicating with
them, since neither of us spoke