TRAVELS IN THE EAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23071, 23 June 1938, Page 5

TRAVELS IN THE EAST

SYDNEY GIRL'S ADVENTURES To have motored alone 400 niilcs into the middle of Sumatra, to have disguised herself as an Jndian in order to attend an Indian festival, and to have been lost in the rice fields of Japan are some of the experiences of which Miss Helen Jean Beegling told when she arrived in Sydney after several years spent away from her native land. While in Sumatra, Miss Beegling was the guest for several days of the Batak natives, who she considers are the most primitive race she saw during her three and a-half years' travelling. When she was lost in the rice fields of Japan, near Matsushima, it was growing dusk, and the only people in the fields were peasants who could not understand English. "However, after 1 had imitated the sounds of an engine, it became clear to them that I wanted the train, and so they showed me the way," slie said. To Miss Beegling goes the distinction of being the only woman ever' to have take\i part in the Indian festival at Thaipusam. To do this she disguised herself as an 'lndian, and bribed the driver of one of the ears following the procession, which stretches for tlircd miles and a-half. Another unusual feat which Miss Beegling accomplished was to motor 110 miles inland over the dreaded White Pass.