CURRENT LITERATURE.
Across Asia on a Bicycle. By T. G. Allen, jun., and W. L. Sachtleben. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—Messrs. Allen and Sachtleben, having graduated at the University of Washington, Mo., and so, it might be said, completed their theoretical education, proceeded to add the practical element by going round the world. The Asiatic part of their journey they accomplished on bicycles, a mode of travel which they also employed elsewhere. They crossed from Constantinople to the Asiatic side, and thence made their way to Pekin. It takes but a few words to write it, but the journey itself was one of vast difficulty and, though our travellers never permitted themselves to think so, of danger. When one comes to think of traversing Persia and China without protection, it is evident that there would be the greatest need of courage and patience, not to speak of physical strength and health. The details of the journey, as the travellers give them in a very modest and unaffected style, fully bear out the anticipa- tion. Among other qualifications may be reckoned the digestion of an ostrich. The staff of life in Asiatic Turkey, for instance, is ekmek, "cooked bran-flour paste, which has the thinness, consistency, and almost the taste of blotting-paper." " As it was made in huge circular sheets," the writer goes on, " we would often punch a hole in the midst, and slip it over our arms." They saw many things, discovered that the lower the rank of a Turk the more likely he is to be honest, that the Kurds buy guns and ammunition from the Turkish Government, though the sale is nominally prohibited, formed a mean opinion of the Persians, and had reason to believe that the Russians know what they are about in Asia. Two of the most interesting chapters in the book are the ascent of Mount Ararat, a feat accomplished with amazingly little preparation, and the interview with Li Hung Chang.
Previous page
