A FRENCH EXPLORER

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3822, 16 October 1936, Page 7

A FRENCH EXPLORER

SEEING LITTLE-KNOWN PLACES. NOWi ON LAST STAGES OF HIS JOURNEY. To every man, sooner or later, comes the urge to travel and to sea other parts ot this wonderful world. To few comes the actual realisation; and they, perforce, content themsedves with reading of the travels of others. Te Awamutu district has, for some weeks now, been sheltering a real world traveller in the person of M. Louis Bouvier, a Frenchman who became infected with the. “wanderlust,” and had the courage and enterprise to indulge his fancy. His wanderings in many little-known parts of the world entitle him to be termed an explorer, and even a brief description of some of his wanderings makes interesting reading. At the outset it may be explained that he arrived in New Zealand about a year ago, and his ramblings through the: Dominion have taken him to practically every part of interest between the North Auckland peninsula and Invercargill. He now plans to move on to complete the circle of the: globe by embarking for Tahiti, and thence via Panama back to his beloved France. M. Bouvier, in an interview with a Courier representative, talked interestingly of his travels, and produced two albums of snapshots taken (mostly by himself) in all parts of the world. Of special interest were those taken in countries along or near the Equator from Central America through the Mediterranean, across the Indian Ocean, through the East Indies to China, and down through the Western Pacific to Australia and our own Dominion. Mr Bouvier said he first left France in October, 1929 exactly seven years ago—and travelled to, and through, the whole of Western ar.d Equatorial Africa. From Dakar he crossed over the South Atlantic to Natal, Brazil, and then worked round the coast to travel up the mighty Amazon river, crossing over the Andes to reach Lima, the Peruvian capital, ascending en route to more than 17,000 feet.

From Peru M. Bouvier walked northward to the boundary of U.S.A, traversing en route Equador, Columbia s Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, San Salvador, British Honduras. Guatemala, and Mexico. With all these countries traversed in an interesting though obviously arduous way, he returned to France for a few months; but the urge to travel was soon upon him again, and he responded by going south to Spain, and across the Straits of Gibraltar to Northern Morocco, thence seeing Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli and Cyreniaca—not walking all the way, of course; but alternating his ramblings with coastal voyages, working his way for the most part, but at times proceeding as a passenger. Soon he found himself in Egypt, and then he crossed the Suez Canal into Palestine, and on northwards to Syria, Irak, and into Persia. Steadily working eastwards he “looked in” at Baluchistan, before reaching India. Here he visited many historic and important places in the northern parts, including little-known Sikkim, and proceeded to Burma, on through the Shan States to Siam and Indo-China —where, of course, among the French-speaking community he was as much at home as English folk are in New Zealand. The next objective was mighty China, and he worked steadily northward. tarversing the province of Yunnan, and eventually down the Yang-tse-kiang to Shanghai; from there he went on to Harbin, in Manchuria (or Manchukuo, as it is now known), seeing Peking, Teintsin and Port Arthur en route. Secluded Korea was next visited, and on to Japan, and from there back to Indo-China, where he- explored the seldom-visited back highlands to reach the mighty Mekong, which river he followed for some considerable distance, eventually returning to the coast at Hue, the capital of Annam. Then from Saigon he journeyed back to Singapore and on to Ba.tavia, visiting many of the Diitch East Indies islands and norts, including Java. Bali, the Celebes, and Borneo. Thence by stages he reached New Britain and the New Hebridres and so to Noumea (New Caledonia.), and on to Australia and New Zealand. The traveller has, as already stated, seen most of this Dominion, and now is preparing for a visit to Tahiti and other islands of Polynesia, and expects to return to France via Panama and the West Indies, with Christmas, 1938, as the date for his arrival in his homeland. Questioned as to his means of doing all this travelling, M. Bouvier said he worked and saved, worked and saved, and was occasionally able to work his passage on boats. Ablebodied and enterprising, hei has found a great deal of pleasure in the carrying out of a project that would daunt most people. But “the fly in the ointment” just at present is to secure and save enough money to provide, for his voyage to Tahiti, and s-till have sufficient money with which to

satisfy the authorities there that he will not become a tax on the community of that French possession. He had thought of giving addresses, in various centres; but his command of the English langauge is inadequate. Therefore he seeks work—ever with the objective stated ahead of him. Truly he is an interesting man, and we have no doubt that he will achieve his end—and return to France full of knowledge of a wonderful world, seen under conditions that the ordinary tourist misses. M. Bouvier carries with him albums of photographic views and a folio of press cuttings secured in most of the settled countries that he has visited.