WALKING ROUND THE WORLD.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8151, 29 May 1906, Page 3

WALKING ROUND THE WORLD.

YOUNG NEW ZEALANDER'B VARIED ADVENTURES.

An interesting figure at the meeting of tbe New Zealand Assooiation the other night, says a London oorrespondent, was Mr J. H. Garter, a young New Zealander who is walking round toe world. Athletio of build, bis .clean shaven face well tanned by sun and wind, he looked well fitted to play the adventurous yavt he has chosen and oarried through successfully for four long years. In the course of a chat at tbe close of the meeting, Mr Garter gave me a Bketch of his travels, and showed me his papors, signed by British Consuls and other officials in eaoh of the towDS he had called at. He is not yet 23 , years old, but has crowded ENOUGH ADVENTURES ~~~ into a few brief years to for a lifetime. He lives at Kilbiruio, in Wellington, aud until startwalk around the world was a reporter in that ojty. He left Wellington on January 21st, 1902, with flvepenoe in hie pocket, and a fixed reaolve to encircle the globe on foot within five years. Since then be libb covered a dintanoe of 43,000 miles on foot, tramping every country in the world. He began by walking through New Ze«land, Tasmania * and Australia. His worst experience on this part of the journey was in the Australian interior, where he -- jnEARLY DIED •of thirst. A well in thedeserfc>pon which he had been relying for water, 'proved to bo dry, and as he could go no further without water there was nothing for it but to cut the telegrapb wire and wait until the c repairing party rescued Dim. rvf-n* ■>-? Then he sailed to South America, -•and walked through every country on that vast continent, traversed the United States from San Francisco to New York, and through Canada up to Alaska, tramping all tbe way. HeXwas twice shot in Paraguay, « WAS SHOT in the thigh by brigandish?Ecuadoor, and wan laid up in Mexico, From British Columbia ho took ship for Japan, tramped through that country, aud then crossed over to Mauohuria. Be found himself along with the g 'BESEIGED RU3SIANS IN POtiT mi ARTHUR and waa wounded in the lee by a splinter from a Japanese shell—an injury from which he has not yet quite recovered. "How I managed <to get into Port Arthur, or to get away from it afterwards, is a mystery to me," he says. Esoape, however, he did, and managed to get clear of Manchuria into Siam. Thence ho worked his way through Burmab, the Himalaya Country, •and India to Ceylon, and thence, via Bombay, Afganistan, Persia | And Turkey to Arabia. Here befell his most romantio and one of his most dangerous experiences. Wild Arabs CAPTURED AND IMPRISONED Mm, but,an Arabian girl, falling in love with the interesting captive, gave him some of her clothes to use as a diguise, and in this way he esoaped. He exchanged rings with the fair Arabian, and wears her to this day. cut his worst experience wac in Turkey-in-Asia. Here there was no -clement of romance to relieve the trial of captivity or lighten the danger of impending death. Young Carter waa ARKESTED AS A SPY at Aleppo a city in North Syria, sixty miles from the post of Alexancfretta, and for three weeks ho was imprisoned in a dungeon into which no light could penetrate. Aa a result he went very near to losing his eyesight. His case became known, and numerous paragraphs apneared in the English papers concerning the arrest, but it was left to the American Consul at Aleppo to seoute his release. "A 'white' man, that Consul!" is the traveller's verdict. From Arabia Mr Cartor went by boat to Spain, and tramped northward to Paris, and then on to Rubaia. He arrived in, London on April 9th by a*timber boat. The total distance he has walked on the journey jrom New Zealand to London is 43,000 miles, and the longest day's tramp so far has been 48 miles. He has never stayed more than ten days in any town yet visited. He has neither "begged, Borrowed, nor stolen," but has supported himself by giving lectures and writing articles. Perhaps the worst part of Mr Oarter'ajourney is still to come. He expeots to be back in Wellington by next Chriatmas, but he has yet to travel through the vast wilda of the Dark Continent. He proposes to tramp through Morocco and down through the Congo country to German West Arfica, and thence via the Zambesi to Sooth Africa. When he reaches Capetown his walking will be over. From there he will take a passage to New Zealand by a mut. ton-boat, and he hopes, as 1 have said, to be home again by the end of the year. "And once back in New Zealand," he said, with a laugh, "I'll never want to lenve it again. I've seen almost all the countries in the world now, and there's not one of them comes up to little New Zealand !"