TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XIIX, Issue 14553, 2 January 1913, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A record walk of 5000 A miles has recently been 0000-iuilo completed by Mr Emil Walk. Lund, a Rhodesian settler. Mr Lund walked by himself all the way from Capetown to Cairo, not, as might be expected, in order to test a system of diet or training, or to win a wager, but simply out of love of adventure. 'My wish," he explained to a representative of tho "Standard" who interviewed him about bis achievement, "was simply to bo the first man to accomplish tho feat. 1 am proudest of having walked across the Nubian desert. That was tho hardest tramp of all." He took no porters with him on his journey, and carried all his own baggage, weighing 701b, an extremely trying task in tropical regions. For a solitary traveller the dangers from wild boasts were naturally considerable. Mr Lund met with a good many lions, but was never actually attacked by one. On one occasion he was bitten by a largo snake, and would probably have died had not a native woman tended him and cured the bite with a decoction of herbs, tho secret of which sho refused to impart to him. At another time he all but lost the sight of one eye through being bitten by a malignant tick, but luckily he arrived in time at a European settlement, where he was ablo to obtain medical treatment. During tho course of his travels Mr Lund fell in with tho Baluba and Valossi cannibals. When theso tribes indulge in a cannibal feast they customarily select a man who is accused of some crime. The victim is forced, in such cases, to da'ink a poisonous decoction. If he takes a long drink tho poison docs not operate, producing merely nausea, but if he drinks only a little the effect is instantly fatal. Luckily for Mr Lund the natives did not hit upon him as a suitable subject for experiments, but on another occasion he was forced to undergo an ordeal which, while not exactly dangerous, was, to say the least of it, decidedly unpleasant. This was the "nkola donga." or "ordeal by dirt," to which ho was subjected by a suspicious chief. The ordeal constitutes a kind of oath, and consists in eating a mouthful of earth picked up from tho ground. Tho belief of tho native is that anyone swallowing tho earth and not speaking thp truth afterwards will be condemned after death to an eternal o>ot of dirt. Mr Lund masticated his unpleasant mouthful as best he could.

Ono of tho weirdest colA lections of heterogeneous Curious rubbish which human osCollection. centricity has ever accumulated was put up for sale by auction not long ago at Cheyne House, Chelsea. Tho owner, Dr John Phone, who died a few months before, had lived entirely alone for GO years mi tho gloomy tomb-like mansion, and had spent tho better part of a lifetime In buying and hoarding up wliat he fondly imagined to be "bargains." The garden of the queer old house, itself rem in'scent of a confused multitudo of architectural styles, and bristling with odd columns and capitals, statues, and gargoyles, presented tho appearance of a chaotic wilderness. Everywhere were fungoid-covered heaps of stones, battered statues, and masses of iron and marble. Thero were rows and rows of statues and busts in all conceivable stages of dilapidation, statues headless and handless, weather-stained, crumbling into decay. Hero a 12ft-high figure of Queen Victoria, crazily arch-°d over, stared across a pathway at tho Apollo Belvedere. Nelson and Julius Cresar, Pitt and Fox, politicians, soldiers .and heathen gods, jostled ono another in all directions. Then there were baulks of timber innumerable, cromlechs of carved stone, greencrusted fountains, stone Calvaries, South Sea idols, Norman arches and iron gates, weather v«ines, bronzo bells, a Roman marble bath, and unlimited loads of bricks. All this jumble of incongrous and'useless rubbish, together with tho equally nightmare-ish contents of tlisi house itself, were put up to auction, and brought prices varying from 2s to £200 or more. Seldom did the bids rise ftbovo half-sovereigns or sovere'gns. Ono bit of old oak. panelling fetched as much as 225 guineas, but shillings wero tho more usual medium for bids. A set of moulded architraves fetched fourteen shillings, aud a set of moulded marblo shelves fivo shillings; Artemis of Ephesus was knocked down for five shillings and sixpence, while Ariadne in Naxos went with two marble baths for fifteen shillings, and what had once been a really magnificent grand piano realised exactly ten shillings.

The name of Greece is Greek ono abounding in unPatriotism. forgettable associations. but to many it is nothing but a name to be glibly mouthed without meaning or understanding. "Tho mast salient impression that I have received since my arrival in this country," says tho correspondent of a London journal writing from Arta, "is the abysmal ignorance that prevails in England regarding Greece and all thintis pertaining thereto. Any schoolboy "can tell us more about ancient Greek civilisation and politics than the average British statesman knows about modern Greece." The foremost trait in tho Greek character, the writer continues, is its patriotism. Although geographically a divided people, scattered about in many lands, in Epirus, in Macedonia, in Egypt, or in Tripoli, living under many different rules, the Greek people are essentially one in their aspirations and yearnings. Tho Greek always remains true in heart and <oul to his native land, and is for ever dreaming of a day when his people, speaking its native tongue, and retaining its native habits and customs will be- united under ono rule and one flag. These aspirations do not concern" themselves with national expansion outside the range of those lands which aro at present inhabited by Greoks. All the Greek patriot de-

sires is to see those islands and tracts of country brought once and for all under a close Greek dominion. An important factor in the situation is tho national tendency to preserve national customs under all circumstances. For close on 500 years, for instance, tho Greeks of E pints have been under Turkish rule—or rather misrule—yet the cities of Epirus remain as absolutely Greek in character as in the days of Alexander. The conquerors of Greece havo never succeeded in subjugating tho national spirit. Roman. Venetian and Turk have been rather visitors than victors, rulers but never conquerors in the true sense of the word. Greok patriotism is not of the strident variety, nor does it manifest itself with much blaring of trumpets and beating of drums. "To ask a Greek if ho loved his country would be as impertinent as asking an Englishman if he loved his wife, and would probably call forth a somewhat similar answer."