UNKNOWN LANDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18574, 29 November 1920, Page 8

UNKNOWN LANDS.

Within a very «hort time ©very square mile of the earth's surface in all details will bo known to man, twin* to the perfecting of the science of aviation. It is estimated that at nresaut one-seventh of tho earth u actually undiscovered. That so much of the earth to-day remains unexplored is duo of course, to the fact that theso region's are the moat difficult, dangerous and All sorts of barriers hloclc the way to the moat daring explorer on foot, but to the adventurer on wing all obstacles will ranish as thin air itself. , Nature in theso remote regions, Das defied all the white man's attempts to »cale her heights, intrude upon her arid solitudes, escape from the lurking dancers of her virgin forests, or least his 7i«l't upOM her snowy wastes, laughed his foot expeditions out of court; but she oannot laugh at the equipment of the winged explorer. In fact, there is little the airman camiot ' °Even tho bravest surveyors daro not i.fctompt to penetrate on foot some places, and these regions are now to be survo/ed by airplane. One of tho new avenues of experiences opened up by airplane exploration is the greatly increased range ot vision. Some persons have looked from the top of a mountain range and recognised another more than 100 miles away. However, seldom is the opportunity to be nad to seo clearly for this distance The range of vision increases with the square loot of altitude. At an altitude of four milna tlus range of vision on a Hear, cloudless day is approximately 200 miles. A writer in " Strand Magazine pictures tho possibilities of the aeronaut timely s " From Gilraltar ho can peep upon tho tribal fanatics.of Southern Morocco and dwell a while on tho Western Atlao Mountains. From Egypt he has a living ground of thousands of square miles in the Eastern Sahara and, if he is fond of rolling sand, tho deserts of Arabia, too. The coast of the Guianns is ideal for slipping into the malarial fancies of tho Cordillera of Southern Venezuela, and when tired and seeking a brief rest he should find a convenient landing spot on the Tumao Humac. Or else itie Desert of Gobi from the Siberian railway, or portions- of the Polar area that are not the home ot the blizzard, might be woith his atten"But let him beware of the illimitable' forests of Brazil, the hurricane lands of Western Antaictica, the windy heights and Joy create of the Himalayas, without proper regard to the pittaus that bewt the unwary in these regions. "An airman would probably fly a thousand feet above the Great Himalava. The main range from the south appears like a gleaming wall of snow and ice. Some of the snow fields of the Himalayas are only accessible from the air, and if ho landed on one an engine stoppage might leave him marooned in an exposed and precarious position. „ , "It would be hard to find any scientific task more interesting than the exploration of certain regions of Afghanistan and the study o> its wild, pagan inhabitants, the boM Kaffirs and other stranee tribes. In tho north-east corner of the country large portions of Badakshan and Kaffirstan are entirely unknown. . . . , " The aerial wanderer, inspired with a true love of adventure, will doubtless be pleased to know that not all the Dark Continent is yet an open book. In fact, it still jealously eoariln some v«ry Wack spots. Even in British territory how much is known of the inner Shilluk districts of the Soudan v the region between the upper waters of the Blue Nile and the limits of the Uganda, or the line of the Senussi oases from Tripoli, or the Cyrcnaica toward Wadai? " Who has seen, much less trod, huge areas within the desert regions of Southern Asia or that great central reg.ion of Australia P "Tho greatest unseen area lies in Arabia, almost all! the southern half t of which is occupied, according to native reports, by « great wilderness known as the ' Dwelling of the Void.' Three travellers have claimed that they have srazod on its uttermost fringes from the west, south and. east, respectively, but no European has ever entered this immense tract of 600.000 square miles. " The biggest feat left for a traveller tr» perform in Arabia, perhaps in afl Asia, is to cross the Yemen, then on to Neiran. from there along the Wntly j Dauaßir to Aflaj and Hinrh Nejd. Tho r southernmost provinces of these lands,. ' noted for their waters and comparative fertility, have still to bo seen by western ej'es, and it would now seem that these eyes will bo those of an airman, whose airship will be more than probably worshipped as a miracle from tho celestial blue. Ho will have to determine what becomes of the inland | flowing waters of West Central Arabia. i and to throw litrhfc on tho mysterious vnHev region which Moslems in the Middle Ages said existed on the northcentral fringe of the Great Desert, and contained half-buried t cities among whose ruins tho Bedawis found coins. He should learn much about the Hystericus Kahtan Arabs, and their possible African origin. "But for the modern investigator South America still offers the largest field of intelligent inquiry. _ Recions near the poles and in tho arid deserts can only lend themselves to tho progress tof mnterial development in a purely auxiliary capacity, or provide quaint lore of the customs and conditions of effete, or almost non-existent, tribes. But South America ia teeming with virgin riches that are only waiting the magic sesame of tho aerial pibneei. ■ " Aerial science seems to be keening pace with the demands which wiU be mnde upon it. Ono of these is the resistance of the engines to frost while inactive; otherwise there is the ri<v'c of frozen engines and nermnnent steppage upon landing. Tin's difficulty has no doubt been presenter} between Vancouver and the Yukon, where there have been experiments with an aerial post, but flying in this region is simple to the long distances to be covered in Arctic exploration."