WOMAN'S GREAT FEAT

Evening Star, Issue 18998, 21 July 1925, Page 11

WOMAN'S GREAT FEAT

HOW SHE REACHED LHASA A remarkable story of exploration and ndvenlure in the most inaccessible regions of China and Tibet is told by Aline Alexandra David, who has returned to Paris after an absence of fourteen years. She is accompanied by her adopted son, a young Tibetan, who has been her sole companion in perilous journeys over uncharted mountain ranges and unknmrn rivers,_ and with whom she entered the Forbidden City of Lhasa.

Mine David, a small, frail-looking woman, went out to Burma in 1911 to study Buddhist, philosophical texts. Sue soon became obsessed by a desire to visit the mysterious capital of Tibet, and to this end settled down to years of careful preparation. For two years she lived alone in » mountain cavern at a, height of 13,000 ft studying ancient manuscripts and Tibetan under the guidance of a neighboring hermit. Then from 1018 to 1921 she lived in a monastery, perfecting her knowledge of the Tibetan language and customs until she was confident of her ability to pass as a native.

Then came her bold attempt to penetrate to Lhasa. Time after time, having traversed great tracts of virgin forest, she was discovered and turned hack, so in 1922 she decided that her only chance of accomplishing her purpose was to travel with only one boy as her companion. On this attempt she appeared to ho mailing good progress, hut yet again, after having traversed snow-blocked passes and climbed dill's which could only be scaled alter cutting steps in their almost perpendicular faces, she was tracked by mysterious natives and turned back. .

- She then resolved to approach Tibet from China. Disguised as a beggar, and accompanied by her adopted son, she slowly made her way across Mongolia,, travelling only at night, and biding during daylight. A range of mountains some l(i,o(Joft high was tho limit barrier, which was crossed only after days of arduous climbing and several narrow escapes from deatji by exposure. But at length the explorer’s stubborn courage and endurance'wore rewarded by the sight of Lhasa, in which, thanks to their disguise as beggars, they were able to live undisturbed and nnsuspecled for over two months—the first time, Mute David believes, that a foreigner has oven entered and left the Forbidden City undiscovered. The return to civilisation feels, she says, like waking from a dream of fourtoeen years.