TRAMPING THE WORLD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4608, 1 October 1923, Page 2

TRAMPING THE WORLD.

i ; REMARKABLE WAGER. On Thursday last two years and a month had elapsed since Mr Herbert set out from London to circle the.j globe under conditions which, , if adhered to, will carry a reward of £lOOO • to cash and the proprietorship of an hotel in England (states the Wellington Dominion). A reporter of that journal interviewed M!r f Herbert on the steamer < Maunganui at Wellington while he was atending to the duties of “peggy, ’ otherwise steward to the. ship's}firemen. Mr Herbert signed on the Maunganui’s articles at Sydney for the run to Wellington, and. cheerfully turned-to in his temporary vocation. The terms of his wager require that he must visit all the principal countries of the world, travelling by foot overland and working his way by sea. He is not to beg, borrow, or steal money, and must prove his safe return to London exactly at on the fifth anniversary of his (W parture from that city. Convincing proof of his presence in London at the hour prescribed is to be afforded ! by his breaking a window, for which he will seek to be arrested. He fiF not permitted to wear boots or shoes, and to overcome this, disadvantage he wears sandals improvised from . portions of .the outer coven of a motor j , car tyre. Mr Herbert has become , quite accustomed to this novel foot- > wear, and to alleviate any inconvenience arising from it he wears thick stockings. At every town and city [ he visits Mr Herbret has to get the t sear of the Mayor or other official ( affixed to the books he carries for > that purpose. The protection of firearms is denied the adventurous globe- ; trotter, and he must carry all his luggage, which, however, he has B°t down to the irreducible minimum contained in a knapsack and tiwo haversacks. He is also required towrite an account of his world tour. The identity of the parties to the wager is not being divulged by Mr Herbert who by the way, is travelling under a pseudonym. Leaving London in August, 1921, Mr Herbert walked to Dover and ' crossed by steamer- to Calais. DoWlfthrough France ,Spain, and Italy, he 1 tramped and stopped long enough at ’ Monte Carlo to win a small sum at the gaming tables. He took steamer from Italy to Alexandria and resumed his trudge, passing through Cairo and L visiting the great Pyramid. Thrpugh F Fashoda he went, along the White ' Nile,' and into the Belgian Congo. In ’ 3 the latter country he was arrested as 1 a .spy, but soon proved his innocence f and pursued his way. He passed ’ through German East Africa,, the ? Dinkadinka country, Portuguese East Africa, all three Rhodesias, Zululand, 5 Swaziland, North and South Trans--5 vaal, Griqutaland, Natal, and Cape 3 Colony. At Cape Town MT Herbert embark--1 ed as a seaman on the liner Runic, ‘ which carried him to Port Adelaide,, 1 where he disembarked. The voyageri • walked from Adelaide, via Melbourne, 5 to Sydney, and from the New South ! Wales capital crossed to Wellington. Mr Herbert has managed to make sufficient money for his needs by giv- * ing lectures at various places. His ! health has been generally good, ab ’ though after leaving Adelaide he Experienced an attack of dysentry. He 1 proposes to tour, through portion -of New Zealand and then proceed to ’ Darwin, on his way to India, China, 3 Siberia, Japan, North and South America. Mr Herbert is a native of the Midlands of England, and al--1 though he is 52 years of age is as t robust and active as a man twenty years younger. He saw active, sprL vice in the Matabele war, the Zulu Rebellion, and was on active service ' ! for three and a half years in the Great War, in w'hich he fought as a ’ second lieutenant to the Royal Field : Artillery. He has been in the Navy ’ also. I