WORLD’S BY-WAYS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10169, 28 July 1924, Page 8

WORLD’S BY-WAYS.

WOMAN’S LONELY TRAVELS

• ADVENTURES AND PERILS. When a girl sets out alone to travel round the world bv its by-ways instead of its highways, earning her living by her pen as she goes, it is only to be expected that adventures and experi■ences will befall her such as .young women seldom have to. face. Ibis expectation has been fully ''f 1 . 15 ®'?,.''' -the case of Miss Alma Maxemilia Warlin a young novelist and journalist of Jugoslavia, who, five years ago, set out from her own country with the idea of making a world toui, tra veiling as fancy might lead and means permit. The' object of the trip was to see places off the beaten track,, to study the habits and- customs of native races and the plant life and folk-lore of obscure corners of the globe. In the course of her wanderings a^' os f, world she recently came to Auckland, and is pausing here awhile m full enjoyment of the comforts of. civilisation before she sets forth again on her conquest of the unknown. Miss Karlin told an interviewer an amazing story of travel and adventure in places where few white women have ■ever ventured, and where, from h■own description, it would seem highly desirable that they should uever venture says the “New Zealand Herald .{Auckland). Her wanderings have extended from Italy and Spam to the West Indies, Trinidad, up the Orinoco, down through Colombia, Guatemala, Equador, Honduras, Isicaragua, and into the heart of Peru, From Central America this intrepid little lady, who is still in her twenties, wandered across to Honolulu and the East, spending many months in China and Japan, and then moving to Kor&a, Formosa, rvoitn Borneo, and the Celebes, thence to Australia and New Zealand. Her next port of call will probably be the Sommon Islands, followed by a trip to Java and Sumatra. After that, home .

Wanderings in Peru. Such a breath-taking itinerary reveals a courage of purpose and resourcefulness not very often found m a young woman of Miss Karlin s age, but she has been tremendously helped in her wanderings by the fact that she speaks ten languages—practically every language in Europe, and English in addition. She lias acted as interpreter, translator, and teacher in .various countries, the money thus obtained, m addition to her earnings with her pen, having enabled her to extend her -travels. ~ . , One of the most interesting features of her travels mentioned recently by Miss Karlin was her visit to Peru, where she spent nearly five months, with the object of studying the antiquities and ruins of the Inca civilisation. “All that remains,” said Miss Karlin, are the. ruins of some of the ancient stone temples at Cuzco and at Tianuanaco. The latter place is near Lake Titacaca, a wonderful lake, 12,000 feet above sea level, on the borders of Bolivia and Peru. These ruins are quite different from those at Cuzco, and indicate that there was once an immense city belonging to some civilisation which, according to scientists, flourished many thousands of years ago. All there is to be seen now is a vast -rtMib r.rS hw ?J; oeautifui Stone rr-orvW Tif an*' unknown design. ‘“At” Cuzco, the Capital of the Inca • civilisation, one sees the remains of the old stone temples, built of enormous Flocks, and formerly set with bands of •gold, studded, with precious stones, which were stolen long since by the >Spanish invaders. Some of the ancient tenmCg been converted into Catholic monasteries, and it 13 very difficult' to gain access to them.

A Gruesome Phenomenon, Speaking of the many strange sights she had seen in her wanderings m Central America, Miss Karlin mentioned a special trip she had made into the mountains near the city of Tegucigalpa, in Honduras, to see the Spring or Blood. “For three months m the year, from May till August,” she said, “a little stream running down from the mountains to the high meadowlands turns red with blood, bo far as <can bo ascertained, it lias its source 1 .a deep cave, which we visited. Ihe phenomenon has not been scientifically explained, but the cave is known to he filled with thousands of bats at this time of the year, and it is supposed that the blood comes from these creatures, which prey on the cattle n the meadowlands. We went right up to the entrance of the case, which is very low, just a hole where the water ■comes trickling out; but I assure 3 it wasn’t a spot in which one would care to remain to make close investigation. The natives will not go near it, thinking it a place of demons. No Place For Ladies.

At Panama Miss Karlin acted for ten months as official interpreter to the "Law Courts, being the first woman to act in this capacity in the Panama Republic. “It was interesting work she said, “but it brought me into touch with a phase of life which oroduced some exceedingly awkward adventures. I may say at once that it is not sate for' aiiv white woman to be alone anywhere ’• in Mexico, nor in Central America, where the inhabitants for the most part are half-breed SpamshIndians. The latter have no respect .■whatever for women, and I was more -than thankful to get back to more civilised countries. The diet alone is almost enough to kill a white woman, anyway, not to mention the frightfu y primitive ideas of sanitation and hygiene. One of .the outstanding horrors of my stay in San Salvador, in Honduras, was a meal at which l tried two of the national delicacies, snakes cooked like eels, and iguana, or giant lizard, eggs. I daresay the snake wasn’t so bad, but, unfortunately, I knew it was snake. . . . Ihe iguana egg was like nothing on earth X had over tasted, and it made me •deadly sick.”

Airan* the Head-hunters. BSa, 25 University, m Tokw, ** and made before th f whcre she made tspeSl s°tudy v Of tbetextile nidustry the territory notorious the fnSSnte of the tenoi aii.w * + ravelled, under polme SStScn. Vth>ir mountdn and into one to the Tay- j where the ohi custom of bmyi. ;. beneath the native huts std. *ui I

vives. The head-hunters’ area, according to this intrepid traveller, is enclosed by a wire fence, charged with electric current from a plant built exclusively for this purpose high in the mountains. This ingenious means of preventing the head-hunters’ constant and disastrous raids, said Miss Karlin, was introduced by the Japanese Government after they took Formosa over from China, and it had proved most effective in reducing the annual loss of heads among the peace-lovers of the lowlands. „ . , . ~ “It has been a very wonderful trip, said Miss Karlin, in summarising her travel impressions, “but I would not care te go through parts of it again. A sense of humour and a steady nerve are all that have pulled me through many a time. The. worst of all, though, was the loneliness. But I love the adventure of it all, and am now looking forward to what. my trip to the Solomons may bring.”