THRILING MOTOR JOURNEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 79

THRILING MOTOR JOURNEY.

OTEB THE ROCKIES IN WINTER. A remarkable addition has been made to motor literature by Signor Antonio ■ Scarfoglio in his stirring narrative, "Round

| the World ia a Motor Car," "which has been 1 [ translated by Mr J. Parker Hayes. (London: Grant Richards.) The story is admirably told, and is hardly inferior in interest to Signer Barzini's account of Prince Borghese's journey from Peking to Paris. The journey, especially that part of it across the American plains and over the Rocky Mountains in the depth of winter, could only have been accomplished by travellers of exceptional phtck and , powers of endurance. In ploughing their way across the snow-bc«und plains and mountains, Signor Scarfoglio and his companions had to face hardships, resembling those of the Arctic explorer ; and the j petty miseries experienced by the motorists , in traversing Siberia and vividly described, ' though matter for laughter afterwards, were at the time- very real and intolerable. The Italian is a keen observer, and writes , in « vigororos and picturesque style. — Across Snow-clad Plains. — ■ Of the other motors competing in this ■ long race, the only two of -wiiom the ItaiiaHß took any accomrt were the Thomas ' , (American)' and i,he De Dieo (Trench). ; 'They had- not gone v«ry for before their , . rivals frtve 4>lock, in. the snow, and they 4iad to help^ them -to dig out their ma- , chines. The motors fought their way ; men by inch and too* t»y foot-orer ti*e- sa-| mileft- between Albany and Hudson. • At' Albany they nad the triumphal reception which became a common experience. In ■ a small village they found an old newspaper, in which they read, "The auto- ■ mobiles, it is calculated, will traverse tbe , 5000 miles -of America in 15 days." The writer remarks, "and to think that we als» believed &ds foily before the Tftart. They left Para on January 28, and reached j San Francisco on April 5. The arrival \ of th© Zusfc at Utica before the other cars made tbe Italian resident* almost delirious with joy. It was the same wherever they stopped. Naturally tbe Americans reserved their enthusiasm for the Thomas. Signor Scarfoglio Ternaries that- in America the "high rood' is hardly known, as the j need for it does not exist. The railway j was already in existence when America ■ became~an organised nation, so there was no use for the high road. The American landscape is pronounced by the Italian to be ugly, for want of green, and he hae nothing better to say of the provincial towns, with their "capitals,' "pantheons," and "coliseums" — "grotesque imitations oi the great things of the past, ludicrous nmscairriages of magnificence." At a small village calledCanastota, th* Zust arrived first, to the disappointment of the residents, who were assembled on the bridge with flags and a band. But they could* not check their applause when they saw the arrivals, three Italians, "poor wretches, sick with bronchitis in this frozen, country." Some days fetter they encountered a> terrible storm. The cold was intense, the thermometer falling to 15deg Fahr. below zero. They had* to break the corned beef with a hammer and chisel, and white of e gg solidified. Ons of the three travellers (Haaga) fell asleep in the snow, and had to be roused hurriedly, lest he should be frown to death. The car turned over in a snow drift, and at a tempera-tore of 27deg below zero, with no gloves, wttih hands swollen and painful, and buried up to the thighs in snow, they set to work to diig it out. They suffered terribly, the skin being torn off their hands by contact with the cold metal. But all their efforts failed to move the car. Luckily a motor came up, and towed them out of the snow drift. This was only one of many like experiences. Sometimes the country people refused to help them, because they , wanted the American car to win. The Thomas was the first to arrive at San Francisco, but, says Signor Scarfoglio, ft did not come to Los Angelies. Against ! all the regulations for the race, it cut across the desert, and thus saved' 600 miles. It made naif the journey on the railway line and in railway trucks. It avoided the Rocky Mountains by passing through the tunnels instead of over the mountain tops as the Zust did. It ohan.ged its engine four and its driver i four times. It -was hauled by homes and by electric trams. After passing Chicago the country changed.- Itr was "mud, mud, i mvd — a sea of mud spread' over the road, i denser and deeper at every mile." Rain fell in torrents, and the roads became a glutinous moTase. They obtained permission to take tbe car along the railway line as far as Omaha ; and travelled aJon-2 the slas]*rs, wifch one wheel inside andi the other outside the ••ails. Below the track was an embankment 20ft deep, and beside this precipice they jumped from one sleeper to another /or 67 miles. So this part of the journey was not without danger. — Welcomed by Excited Girls. — ' At Ogallala they had a meal in a bar off a zinc table, sitting on very high chairs. What followed is graphically told by Siginor Scarfoglio. A crowd of girls watched them through the windows. They seemed to hesitate and take counsel together. Then one, -more courageous than the rest, entered, and the whole troop poured in after her. "Slie approached me, blushing and confused, still b&sitating, and then in one breath asked me, 'Will- ■ you-give-me-a-kiss V Without replying I ■ carried my lips to hers. Then, in the twinkle of an eye. we were a-H seized and plunged into a seething whirlpool of arms and protruded lips. We were dragged from our seats and taken into the middle of the room. We were suffocated. Kieses, [ kisses, kisses everywhere — on the hair, on the mouth, on the hands, on the clothes ; ' ferocious, violent kisses, given by chance and thrown at us in disordered! masses. The girls buzzed round us, disputed for our possession. Held tight, submerged, suffocated by these furies, we defended ourselves as best we could with our arms. • shoulders, and heads. W© proa.uedi and begged for pity." At length the mammas came to the r-esoue and escorted the tra- • vellers to their car. Tbe field of battle

was strewn with hairpins, ribbons, T flowers^ and combs. — Peril in the Rockies. — ■ At Lairamie,- in Wyoming, the last town before the Rocky Mountains were reached, tbe party began the most formidable journey ever undertaken by a motor car during the winter. All round was the desert fend solitude. There was no road, but < the direction was marked by thousand® of wooden posts. It was an oppressive thought that the first house to be met with was 90 miles away ; that from south to north for; 100 miles there was "not a, heart tliat beat, not a hearth that burned, not a man that worked." At 9 o'clock in the evening they had reached) an elevation of 6200 ft, the enow being 3ft deep. They were sitting resting round a big wood; fire, when the cry was raised, "The car is sinking in the mud." It was only too true. The situation was appalling. There was nothing for it but for two of them to struggle along on their legs to Medicine Bow, 'the nearest village. They arrived tibere quite worn out, obtained horses, and returned, to find that tbe car had stopped staking, and. could be hauled out of the tenacious swamp. But a fax greater danger was met with some days later. Scarfoglio suddenly felt himself being pushed out of tbe car, and self!" They had onl* just escaped gcdnjr over a precipice- 150 ft deep. The wir-sels had not completely avoided the edge, but the brakes had taken holds, otherwise they would have been dashed on the rocks below- The car stood with two wheels suspended' over the void, and the axies Testing <m the sfronad. It was a nnraculoue escape. There was still tbe danger of ksinc the motor in extricating it from its perilous position. The utmost case had to be taken to prevent the ground from earumblTftg away at tbe edges of tie precipice. Another difficult*! was sormounted wii*n the Zust fell into a. faozwn stream and bad. to fee pulled out by 150 Japaa-ese labourers. — Mysterious Household.-— i Near Salt Lake the motorists had an. experience. Having to repair the machine, they took it into the empty courtyard ofa Large faomhoa&e. The doors of tbe stable were open,, and flocks of sparrows flew in a<Qid out of the windows. Not a soul was to be seen. There was a breakfast room, neat and clean; a blue-papered bedroom; a little dark boudoir, on whose walls was a picture of a young lady ; a kitchen, shining like silver They found that the damage to the motor was caused 1 by a nail, which hadi evidently been deliberately inserted in the machine by some patriotic Yankee, who wished to ensure tie victory- of his own country. This was- not the first time something of the Kind had happened, and "we could not help- -reflecting on the predatory " instincts which still find a home in the depths of the American soul, and are ready at any moment to explode violently."- Suddenly the tread of a trotting horse was heard, the gate of the courtyaird was opened, and, led by a tall, powerful-looking man, a buggy entered, w which a young lady was sitting. She was young, with a maiss of golden hair and large brown eyes — the lady whose pßotograph was on the wall of the boudoir. Thej showed no surprise, ti-stmed without paying much, attention to the excuses made by one of the party for the invasion, replied with a friendly wave of the hand, and entered the house, leaving the door open. While the man attended to the horses, the lady came and wen.' between the kitchen and the dining room. Now and then they wottld speak to one another, and would embrace quite calmly, as though there was no one within miles. The motorists had not completed their work, when the man -same to the door and asked, "Have you finished?" " No." "Will you have some food?" "Thank you very much; if you want " "All right." They "entered the dining room, in which plates had been laid on the table. They ate porridge and corned beef, and not a word \ras spoken. Then, the man. conducted them to the stable, a wretched place, with a leaky roof, damp, cold, and dirty. At dawn they rose, finished their work, and departed, not a word being said by either the man or his wife, who stood on the threshold of -the house, without making a sign. As the engine was started, and the travellers left, the couple were motionless, and showed no surprise and no interest. Who are theee mysterious people? queries Signor Scarfoglio, and what is the romance they have come to hide in the desert? But this' was not the only romance of the desert. A few miles from Troy they came to the house of a Frenchman, who told them his liistory Thirty y*ars before he had left his wife and children in search of fortune for them. He wandered over land and sea, suffering endless hardships, but never finding a forture. He l'.«ard nothing more of his wife and family, and they heard nothing more of him. At length, hopeless and exhausted, knowing that he wovdd never fee his country again, he retired to the spot where the traveller found him, where Ite had a small mine, from which he had no hope of getting anything, but from which he could not tear himself away. In the earlier stages of the journey the sufferings of the motorists were from intense cold. Later, as they approached San Francisco. th< heat was terrible, insupportable, until the sun went down. Heat equally intolerable was afterwards endured b\ the party in Japan. — A Siberian Landlady. — Signor Scarfoglio, in th. course of his journey, had an amusing experience with a Siberian landlady. She was well dressed and good-looking, riid poured out her woes to the tourist in a flood of words. She married to an old paralytic general, instead of to the hero of whom elie bad dreamed. But when she 6aw the Italian, "young and beautiful," on his car, she knew that the right man had appeared. 'She loved him," -jhe said, "loved him

immediately, was mad for him, mad" for his eyes, mad for his love, mad for so many things, that she had broken every bond, defied all apeazances, and come to him, trembling with passion." In the account rendered on his leaving was included the item, "Passion, 30 roubles." — The Argus.