CENTRAL ASIA

Evening Star, Issue 22031, 17 May 1935, Page 10

CENTRAL ASIA

MOTOR CAR JOURNEY STRANGE EXPERIENCES In April, 1931; two caterpillar-car expeditions set out to cross Central Asia. One started from ‘Tientsin to trek west; the other from Beirut to trek east,, and they were to meet halfway. The latter had to cross the Himalayas and Pamir Range, where motor cars had never yet penetrated; the former, to-negotiate wild countries infested with bandits and—almost as bad —petty -Chinese officials. The organisers (writes Trevor Allen, in 4 John o’ London’s Weekly ’) were M. Georges-Marie Haafdt and M. Auclouin-Subreuil, who had already made historic motor treks across the Sahara and from Algeria to Cape Town and Madagascar, The promoter was M. Andre Citroen, the motor car manufacturer. The personnel comprised a small party of jFrenchmen and one American, and included a number of well-known scientists. ‘ An Eastern Odyssey,’ by M. Georges le Fevre, who accompanied Haardt, is the chronicle of tho expeditions, in a painstaking and spirited translation by Major-general Sir .Ernest ( D. Swinton.

IN THE TOILS OF RED TAPE. Some of the experiences of the eastern , group in China, under Lieut. Victor. Point, a •; young French naval officer, were both, dramatic and farcical. No wonder the author is induced to say of the Chinese : “ The better we knew them, the less we understood them.” One mandarin would take a perverse delight in acting contrary to a neighbour; passports might have been sweep tickets for all the respect they commanded at sundry places on the way. They were always being called in, the convoy was held up, it was ordered . to camp, on mosquito swamps, once at least it was all but confiscated. eh bloc. When Point was in’the toils of red tape at Suchow he obtained.permission to “ use the Chinese telegraph to wire to Peking; and an urgent message at triple rates addressed to the French Legation, was taken by Li to the telegraph office. The clerk, after accepting payment-r-for which he gave a receipt—informed Li in confidence that in accordance with _ the explicit instructions ,he, had received the message: would not be signalled. But why did he issue a regular receipt?’ asked Point, when Li reported this incident. ‘ One must live,’ replied Li with candour.” On arriving at the walls of the great city of Ku-cheng, the caravan centre of Sinkiang, at 2 in the morning, the expedition found .the gate locked. “ Open!” the leader commanded. “ The gate is never opened at night,” a voice replied,' “The keys are,at the magistrate’s.” The man was ordered to wake the magistrate. Half an hour passed. Theix the gate swung open, and it was explained that the magistrate kept the keys under his pillow. THE GOVERNOR CALLS. At another place the travellers were informed that the Tao-Tai, or Civil Governor, would call on" them. An hour later 15 horsemen with drawn swords clattered up through the crowded streets, clearing the way for a prehistoric bottle-green coach, upholstered with sky-blue silk. As the vehicle drew up before our gate the trumpets sounded a flourish, and from it was .helped, or,, rather, extricated, the TaoTai,, dressed in a white satin robe and a jacket of brocaded silk.” All of which would, of course, have been very pleasing had not His Eminence come rather to obstruct further the plans of the party, a business at which he was benignly adept. ■ In the vast province of Sinkiangthe book tells' us it is. both as large and twice .as large as France and boasts 14 different races—the expedition, ran into a battle between Mohammedan rebels and soldiers of the Central Government*. In a valley ahead “ there were at least a thousand soldiers firing independently as they ran towards the surrounding hills, on which were groups of horsemen galloping about. The. surprise and curiosity caused by the sudden appearance of the cars seemed to paralyse both sides, and all firing ceased.”

The rebel cavalry, apparently, mistook the caterpillars for armoured cars, and the cinema-camera on its tripod for a machine gun. When they found out their mistake they hastened to welcome the expedition—while the Chinese equally hastened to occupy all the strategic points. Eventually the travellers reached the Chinese forces, which wex*e being swept by fusillades. One officex - , who was hit tinder the collarbone, “ refused to wait for the doctor’s aid. Anxious to return to the fighting, he dug into his own flesh with a rusty knife and extracted a piece of lead. Then, while Delastre flushed the wound with, iodine, he yelled to the men present to get back into the firing line, where ho shortly joined them.” At Hami, where'a- Chinese force was beseiged by the rebels, there was terrific fighting. • The < air “was rent by the shrill battle-cries of the Tnngaris and the yells of defiance of the defenders. In spite of a murderous fire, ladders wore placed at different spots, and the rebels, like fed monkeys, began to climb up one after the other. Then the defenders discarded their firearms for pikes and axes, and hurled down on the attackers heavy rocks, blazing tow soaked in oil, arid hand grenades—from which in their excitement they forgot to withdraw the safety pins. OLD AND YOUNG. A meriiber of the expedition who contrived to get out of Hami and then in again while the siege was in pi’ogress was conducted to the Chinese General’s headquarters, where the whole Defence Council had assembled, and was asked about the ■ rebel commander. “ Did - you see Ma Chung-y ing ?’ ’ “Yes.” “ Is it true that he is only 21 years old?” ■ , “Yes.”-; “ ‘ Gentlemen!’ The general got up with an effort, supported on both sides by his bodyguards. ‘ 1 am 81 years old, and my hair was .white before Ma Ohung-ying was born. How dare you ask me to surrender the city to this infant robber, this, suckling ... to this Tzei-Wa-tze (cub?’ ” He decided that noj; orily would the city be held; there must be'a sortie to' thrash the rebels in the open and collect wheat. “ Hao-shuo, hao-shuo,” assented the council. “ Let’s all go out and fight.” But when the general called upon his most valorous officers in turn they all discovered they had prior engagements. Colonel Chang pleaded that his men were too old and

all opium-smokers, Colonel Shih that his were raw recruits. “ ‘ Then I shall go,” announced a very fat man—the Civil Magistrate commanding the militia. “‘ A civilian!’ everyone laughed, and the general put an end to this delicate situation by adjourning the meeting. He declared that as the matter was of great importance, no hasty decision should he taken. And that was that. . . THE TWO GROUPS MEET. A dramatic moment was the meeting of the two groups near Aksu on October 8. There was no suave “Mr Livingstone, X presume?” about this momentous encounter. A rider appeared on the horizon, waved an arm, then a hat. “ 1 It’s Carl,’ cried Hackin, ‘ my assistant, Carl!’ “By now wo could distinguish the blonde beard, the glasses, the beaming face. The rider dismounted. “‘ Mr Haardt, here 1 am. . , “ ‘ Alone?’ “ 1 Yes, that is *he replied, stuttering with excitement. ‘ Yes, the others are there. Aksu is 35 li from here—they all wanted to meet you—the Chinese —well, we are under strict observation—l managed to escape. A friendly Chanto lent me a pony at the last moment. You ’ He was getting more and more incoherent. ‘ How are you?’ ” They were nearly eleven months on the trek. Two were not to survive it long. Haardt died of double pneumonia, Point soon followed him. But the buses achieved their journey’s end in the tracks of Marco Polo aiid carried with them 5,000 photographs and 200,000 feet of film.