INTREPID FRENCHWOMAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21414, 11 February 1933, Page 6 (Supplement)

INTREPID FRENCHWOMAN

'I j ARTIST AND EXPLORER. '} • S • jffjtr ! > Eight years of wandering in al£«orners e, r 6f the ~East r -.earning her her W brush .*> adventurea in the waste' 'deserts [ of Tibet, "where no white woman's foot » had ever trod before; long and lonely w treks on foot and horseback with only native servants to accompany • her 'into ,wild and remote country—these are some of the ingredients which go to make up thef-life of Mme. Lafugie, French artist and explorer, who, between her adven- " tures, mana'ges to sandwich here and 7 there a. short.trip to Paris, says an ex- > jchange. i She is a small, brisk woman near the J forties, as well groomed and immaculate '•ft as the most stay-at-home Parisienne. Yet Bhe finds the unknown deserts of Tibet safer for a. woman, than the .streets .of European cities, and gains all her inspiration from the life, .of- Eastern, natives in ths furthest camera of tWiworld. <. > Eight years ago, stirred by the spirit of adventure, Mme. Lafugie left home, taking with her merely her personal v luggage and her painting materials. Her object was to travel all over the East, painting scenes and portraits, and giving exhibitions in towns and villages to pay her way. From time to time she would take a flying trip back to Paris before setting off once more alone into the unknown; Mme. Lafugie has crossed the Himalayas, she has witnessed the most intimate religious rites in Bali, lived among the nativaa of Java and Borneo, camped in the icy: Tibetan' deflerts underthe shadow of legendary temples and monasteries. ? ' She brushes-' fear away from her with the lightest gesture. "I have never had the least fear," i she said. " I would rather sleep alone in af'tent in the Tibetan desert than in < any open field in Europe or America. •, Why, I have travelled with six months' i provision of money in coins carried in i chests and boxes, and never once have I i been attacked or robbed." \