Tht: Ullihar. "./,,, 1..". t",,,',',,f 0"(;""11,1 from r,,;ro to Shu/lft1l. tell" tilt: ;dory of 'he gnlllt"",,,.A,jr, rUIII<.. from AI<.£lwder II/(' Ureal 10 1',e8e1l1 ,;"',.".

THE TRANSCONTINENTAL ROUTES OF

By \VALTER J. KAHLER

HE first condition for the economic (in tbe vicinity of Mosul), Alexander con­ development of a country and the quered Babylon, Susa., and Persepolis. T obtaining of markets for its products Later on he turned nortbeastward in pursuit. is the presence of routes of communication. of Darius. He marched via Hecatompyloll ] n the construction of these, three factors (DlI.mghan) to Meshed and thence made a have to be taken into account: first, the detour t.hrough soutbern Afghanistan. In geographical nature of the terrain and its tbe middle of tbe winter of 330 B.C. be obstacles, such n,,1 difficult mountain passes, crossed the snowed.up pas.'ICS (4,000 to 5,000 precipitous river valleys, arid deserts, etc; meters higb) of the Hindu Kusb range. In :

ALEXANDER THE GREAT'S CAMPAION THE o~ ~IL!t~O~ Tho earliest information about Central ABill. camo to us through the expedition of As early 6S one hundred years before the Alexander the Great to India. 2,274 years Christian era, one of the first of those great ago he advanced to tbe Pamir plateau and transcontincntal routes developed which thence across tbe Ox-us (Amu Darya) River traverse the wbole Asiatic continent from as far as Maracanda (Samarkand). Through CIl8t to west. These were tho old silk roods him, Gr<.-'6k coins and Greek art were in­ which conneeted "Sera," the distant eastern t,roduced to Bactria (Balkh) and westeru country of silk, with the Mediterranean lndia. ports. This journey was tartoo early in 313 B.C. Two tbousand years before Cbrist, China with the campaign against Darius, whicb was already producing silk, a commodity in was launched from Egypt. After defeating great demand in the countries of the East. t.llC army of the Pl'rsian King at Gaugamela What vistas of opcned up ~hould THE TRA.NSCONTDH.XTAL ROUTES 010' ASIA

DeW markets in the West be found for this whose influence extended at that time a highly prized product! far as the Caspian Sea. In tho second century RC. the empcrorg After scvt'ral otht'r expeditions sent 01lt of the Han dynasty (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.), by Emperor Wu Ti had also endpd in fa.ilurf', under whom 'hina experienced her most Ho Kiu.ping, n. young, cn('rgetic lead('r, spectacular rise. had expanded the Chinese managt'd to rt'ach the capital of Fergana Empire in the wcst almost as far as Lake \\;th an army of 60.000 mcn consi. ting of Lob Nor. The nt'ighboring rt1gion of ea::ltern infantry and cavalry. At the same tim('. Turkestan (now the province of Sinkiang) he succeeded in driving the Huns toward til£' wa inhabit~d by the Hiungnu or Huns, II. nort,h and in seizing the Tarim basin for restless, predatory nomad tribe wbich con· China. Thus the great t ob tael had stantly menaced China's borders ill the WCllt been removed, and trade connection wit II and in the north. the eastern provinces of thl' Roman Empire could at last be established. It remained for Hsin. Wu Ti (140.87 B.C.), tbe grcate.'lt emperor of the Han dynasty, For the safeguarding of the new trade to conlitruct the fir t caravan road to the routes, fortified military posts, watchtowers. count,ries of the West. Emperor Wu Ti relay stations .lor horses, in liS, and customs first sent Geneml Chang Kien with an stations, were erected along the roads 8 t embassy to the Yue Chili (the Tokhars)­ regular intervals. Transports were gULLrde I who bad settled in Tn Yuan (now the provo by mounted patrols, and mail was forwarded inces of Fergann. and Sama.rkand) after the b) mounted couriers. Buns had driven them westward-in order In 114 B.C, tho first carvan started on to establish relations with these people and its way to the west, From that time on­ conclude n. treaty with them against the ward, every month wituesst."

Trans-Asiatic Routes

Alexander the "real Silk ReGaS MarCO PoIO'S Dou e ,?,. I S C'lfoen·Hoaro Expt'O':'OIl ,0 t ••Q32 AUlt>cr', Qoue '03'- '9 ~ 7 8:lunJcnes

In vi w of the llJ1l1~t1l\lIy lorg(' number of 1'13('0 nnmes mentioned in the lIrtide, tho mup contl\in•. (or reu Ons o( clarity, only the most important onC!! 250 THE XXth CENTURY developed, of which some sections, gradually ·LOulan. It was left for Rven Hedin during foUowing the trend of motorization. are still his expedition into the Takla Makan Desert tI:-led today. in 1900 tOl'rediseover this ancient town buried in the sand. Among the most SKlRTINli THE DESEIIT valuable discoveries made here bv the The Central Asiatic route forks at Tun­ Swedish explorer were-apart from' orna­ hwang, a town lying in the western portion mental objects, old coins, wood carvings, of present-day Kansu Province. The Yu bronze spoons, and pieces of woollen cloth Men just behind this town is a na.rrow gorge with Hellenic patterns-old ChinefIC writings in the rocky mountains which separate on wood, silk, and paper. They are beLicTCd C&8tern Turkestan from China. This gate to date from the year 200 A.D. owes its name to the yu (nephrite, jasper, or jade) found in the vicinity of Khotan in MOUNT.o\lNS the rubble of the mountain streams, and The highest mountain 'barrier which had transported through this rock gate since to be surmounted was the Pamir plateau, time immemorial. At this gate and at the 'which is frequently covered with deep snow:. Yang gate to the south of it were the two The broad valley basins of this desert lie at customs stations at the end of the Great an altitude of between 3,.300 and 4,000 Wall. meters, while the surrounding peaks rise to The heart of eastern Turkestan is formed more than 7,000 meters. But this mountain bv the Takla Makan Desert with the Tarim ,wall also po8llC8SC8 gates through which the basin. It is encircled by three high moun­ regions of the Amu Darya, Syr Darya, and tain rangc8: ill the north by the Tien Shan, Indus Rivers can be reached. in the west by the Pamir plateau, whose From Kashgar there were three routes to S.OOO.meter-high mountain walls drop pre­ the west. The northem one, which is still cipitously toward the deep Tarim basin, and in use today, leads via. the Terek Dawan in the south by the Kunlun Mountains. Ilass (3,900 meters). in the Alai Mounta.in8, The course of the roads was necessarily and the towns of Fergana to Samarkand. determined by the presence of oasetl serving The second route also crosses the Pamir as watering and resting places for man and plateau across the Terek Dawan P808ll; after bmlSt.. The South Road led ~outh of the following the course of the Surkhan River, desert past Lake Lob Nor and ,-ill. the oases a tributary of the Aml1 Darva, for BOrne of CharklikjCherchenjKhotan and Yarkand distance ii joins the road frOnl Samarkand nort,h of Balkh. The third route from to Kashgar. The North Road followed II course leading via Loulan and along the Ynrkand reaches Balkh south of the Pamil'll. Tarim Hivcr via Kurla, Kucha., and Aksu India can be reached by a route acl'Oll8 at the foot of the Tien Shan range to Kash­ the glacier.covered heights of the Karakoram gar. The latter road, being the shorter one, range to LadakJ) and Kashmir, and thence was preferred. 1t is still in use today, over Peshawar to the' Ganges, or along the although traffic now branches off from Anhsi Indus to the ports of Barbaricum and Hary­ toward the north via Rami, Turfan, I\nd gaza near Karachi on the Indian Ocean. Karachar. This road is also still in use tod,a.y during This northern branch bad alreadv devel­ the months from July to &tober when oped llhortly after 270 A.D., although it did Yarkand caravans with yaks travel along i.t not touch Rami then. ThiEl wa~ due to the calTying chiefly yak.hair rugs and hashish singular circumstance that the Tarim Rh-er from Turkestan to India. Many a pack for some unknown renson suddenlv 8hifted animal, however, is lost on tillS journey, its bed toward the south. The 'ri\'er no which involves weeks of exhausting traveling' longer debouched into Lake Lob Nor but over the difficult and st.ecp pa.sses of the formed a new lake, Karako Shun, to the Karakoram Mountains (the Karakoram pa88 I'outhwest of the Lob Nor. In consequence, i8 5,574 meters high). the Takla Makall Desert meanwhile grew Traffic in the region of the Amu Dary.. considerably larger. The drying up of the with Balkh-or Bactra, as it was then water simultaneously spelled the doom of known-as the chief juncture and trading the old commercial and garril;On town of center was especially brisk. }'rom here Loulan on the western shore of Lake Lob merchandise was transported over the p&888lI ~or. In 1273 Marco Polo pa&lCd by a of the Hindu Kush to Kabul, from where Little to the south without beiua aware of it was sent on to Alexandria Arakhoton THE TRANSCONTTNl-:NTAL ROL~rES OF ASIA 251

(Kandahar) or through the Khyber Pass to two stron~er ones, intentionally neglect to Parusapura (pt"8hawar). From Bactra, the build traffic arteries in order to ma.ke it tho ancient Persian imperial road led westward harder for their neigh bors to invade their Yia Antiochia, Margiana (Merv), and Meshed t~rritory. Other countries, again, close to 8ecatompylo~, the capital of the Parthianll their borders hennetically towllrd the outer Further statiollS along the road to the. world in order to make it impossible for Mediterranean ports were Ragae noar Te· foreign agents to poke around for oil, eonl. heran, Ecbatana (Hamadan), and Seleucia minerals, etc., as the presence of such richetl (Bagdad). On the south road leading via generally l'ro,rides great powers with tho Kandahar, Carmana (Kerman), Persepoli". fir!:!t incentive to invade II. weaker country. and SUM, good. from India were principall~' transported. nn: TR..4.V.:LS 01' MARCO l'OLO In the old Phoenician cOlUlllCrcial tow"" The Huns undertook several ('(JllIssal military C'i\iilpaigns in the course of their .. new industry began to flourillh as II result of the silk trade. At Antioch, Tyre, Sidon. history. I n the third century thc.v "u b­ and Beirut thc lSilk was woven intu jected the Chinese, and in the fourth thcy O\-errun all of weak-rn Asia. In 37:) A.D. VariOU8 kinds of material. which Pho('nicillu ships carried to Rome where the valuable they lldvanced IHI far as Hungary. nnd lIIaterials always found eager buyer!!. under the learler!\hip of Attila they l'lpreacl t.error throughollt . "::ven more HUNS devastating was the second invasion of tho nOlllllds under (,~~iJ'l_Khan who expllllded A hundred and twenty yeurs had pMlled the power of the 1tfOrlgo s from the Ea.~t ~ill('C the opening of the silk roads when China Sea to tho borders of Europe a.nd the Hiungnu again invaded the Tarim basin united the largest Asiatic empire in hi:itory. and drove out the Chinese. This inter· The armies of this great conqueror ter­ tUJltion of trade lasted fifty.six yearll till rorized Syria, Turkey, and Poland; iII I t·u General Pan Chau put an end to the rule of they even nd"anced a." far as Silesiu. I:i ill­ the Hiungnu. He crossed the pa.~'les of the tor)' witne~ u repet,ition of this spf'Ctnclc Pamirs, reached the Caspian Sea in tho year one century later when the warriorI'! of 95 A. D., and restored trading connection.... '!'amerh!!!e rava,ged the towns of Ml·.~0J10t.lI­ with the West. A quarter of a century Olln and of the u.,\"antinc (·oast. later, however. China lo!!t thc Tarim basin for ~ood. By 150 A.D. all traffic had cea~l. In the floeond ha.If of the thirteenth eOIl­ tury Genghis Khan's grundsou, Ku bini Dirt.'Ct trading relatiolls between Chinll and Khan endeavored to consolidate t.hi .. t,ht'l the Roman F;mpire had lusted for mort-' grell 'est empire which the world had eVt~r than two hundred and forty .velll'S (114 B.( '. to 127 A.D.). seen. He WIlS a peaceful ruler, toll'rant in religiOllllll1atters and a patron of the SI·lt'nCC_". Those evcntl:! go to Mhow that the factor" Undcr hi8 l'Oign tl'anscontincntlll trrLd(~ \xl. of political securit.y nnd int.ernntionl\l co' tween Europe and China also ('xpt-'ril'lIf'I>c1 It operation plllY a far grt'uter role in UIl' new rl'Yival. maintenance of tmnscontinelltal roads than Aftl-'r two papal embassit's had SUlT(,{'(.lt'tl technical obstacle!! such as hi(lh mountains alltl difficult ri\'er crossings. History shows in 1246 nud 1253 in reaching Karakorum. that the creation of such long-distance then the capital of tho Mongol om pire in routt"H was undertaken chiefly on the initia· the Gobi Desert, it was the fanlollll journey tivl' of strong empires which desired to of the brothers Nicolo and Matteo Polo and expand tht1ir trade. This was the case in of Nicolo's Bon Marco which brought new .-.sill at the time when the borders of China informlltion about the countries of the "'ar and the Roman Empire almost met. The Bast to Venice. connt'cting link between these two great Tho three Pol08 were the first Europeans powt'rs was provided by the Parthians, who to have crossed the continent of Asia in itt! were the intermediaries of trade and for. whole lengt,h: the barren steppe area of tho wardttd the mercha.ndise through Persia. Near East, tho fertile country of FerganR. Trade and traffic on the old routes ex­ and the Pamir plateau covered with the perionced a revival in the thirt.eenth century bones of animals which 8uccnmlJed in thiB when Kublai Khan ruled OVel' the greater wilderness. They traveled along tho olel part of Asia. Weaker states, 011 the other on the southern fringe of tbe hand, es()('(:iaUy thoSt' wedgL'risk t('acle in tho port of Hormuz (Bandar in oighty-one days without /Lny Jll~rticular Abbas) on the Pen;ian Gulf. He de"criucu clifficlI1ty. Hero, however, the expedition the trange hip>!, constructed without nails, was brought t,o /l, hull, by tho might,y mOlln­ wbich brollght Kashmir shawls gold brocade, tain range!; of the Himalayas, the Karako­ precious stonrs, ivory, alld other rare ar­ mm, and the Pamirs, which separate tropical ticles from Asia l\nd Africa und loaded ] ndin. from tho Central Asiatic steppe and. UlOroughbred horses for Jlldia. With grrat dpsert area. In the end, thc dauntless admiration Marco described the well­ leader of the expedition, IClloving all tho organized courier system already existing at other cars behind in Kashmir, started from that time in China. a.nd the thousands of Srinagar on July 12 with only two cator· relay stations to provide fre::>h and rested pillar trucks. horses for the dispatc'h riders, so that it was possible -"0 carry urgent mail four to fivo 'I'UUCKS ON MULF: TR.AILS hundred kilometers in one day and as lllallY kilometers at night. Tho caravan road to Gilgit had until then only been used by mule!; and yaks, but all TilE CTTnOEN EXPEDITIOX the wbole it is fa.irly pussable during the summcr months. Motorcars, however, are WllOn after the death of Kublai KIlnn faced witb almost insurmountable obstacles toward the end of tho thirteenth centllry the by the sharp curves and steep ascents of ~'longol Empire broke up into a number of the nurrow mountuin path which in some autollolllOll1:\ states, tran. contillontul trallie places lends along almost vertical rock waLl~ between Europe and the 1'"ar Ellst was dis­ high nbo\'o roaring mountain streams and rupt.cd again. Not until recent times did rivcrs without bridges, at others O\'cr iC(I­ an expcdition with modern equipment SIlC· covered or snowed-up pa*,cs, while at some ceed in establishing a lIew record by crossing points it is blocked by avalanches. The the whole of the Asiatic continent froUl two cars had frequently to be unloaded and Beirut to Peking with a motor cara\·an. kept from slipping down the ice-covered .HI RO:\DS AND X~ TRAILS IN CENTURY ASIA

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CENJURY Barriers of Rock and Snow

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Tllrk.·... lall til 11101111. 11,,1',' \\" .."" l"H:- I tI Illl .. llI ... 11 ," 1..·1i 111 I.ndllkl, TilE TRANSCONTINE~"ALROUTES OF ASIA 255

i10pes by mE'ans of steel hawsers beld by proceed at once to Urumchi. This involved &he cooli(,!l, or they had to be pulled through a detour of over 400 kilometers. On thE'ir turbulent rivers. Gilgit was tinally reuehE'd entry into the capital on July 8 t.hey wrre ~er fifty days of exhausting tran-1. Tho recci\'ed with military hononi, caunon salvo.;, expedition even IHlcceeded in bringing and Il sumptuous banquet; subseCs of Turke­ as well as the Citroen Expedition-the latt-er, stan and choking lip tho cnrbtll'etor, and to by force of eil'cumst.ance only for part of endurc the iry rold of the ~I.ongolian winter. the way-followed the course of tho old ilk Tho mlLin diflieulties, howevl'r, aroso frol11 roads, ~im ply Localise these present the 1U0:!t; the aU it udo of tho Sinkiang Gon-rnmC'nt. com'enient connection between '''cst I1.nd While the Chinese go\'ornlllent gn\'o t,he Ea,;t, in t.he meantime the Russians have expedit ion a permit for t he journey provided com plct.c.-<1 the construct ion of /l motor road that it took along a uclegation of eight across t.he Terck Dawan pn"sE's from Osh Chinei'e ollicinls and scientists, the GO\'(,l'IIor to ]~Ilshgar, This roarl will link lip ~in· of ~inkian~ refu:l zais, Pathans, Waziris, and the Afridis, U caravans in t.he time of the silk roads re­ weH as by TlII'kmen, Tajiks, and Uzbeks in r, over intentio~1 of racing across the Continent: tea auu cakes, our ca.ptors were unmasked my idclL was to allow more time for making as porfeetly ha.rmless frontier guards. cultural and sociological studies on the way, We had no cause to complain of any lack 60 t.hat I took altogpther six month" to IIf hospitality in the country of the Emir. f('uch Calcutta. from Berlin. The difficulties we experienced were of l\ Shah Reza Pahlevi i'uccceded in sup­ ditTerent nature. In May the hent was pressing the bandl'l of nlh"en~ which used already so intense during the day time that to make the Kurdistan and Afghanistan our tirC'-s burst. We were obliged to travel border regions of Iran unsafe. Hc ere~ted in the evening !lnd at night and to sleep n. strong police force find Rim' 'Itaneolll~ly t.hrough the day in the vaults of some had a large part of thp old caravan caravanserai. THI'; '1 HASSCO~TINENTAL RUL'TI':S OF ASIA 257

Th ReCtion from Herat via Farah t{) (1,400 kilollll'tl':"s) which is to lead through Kandahar (660 kilometers) is onlyI' eara.van the Shan ~ta te~ Ilnd Laos. vaill\nd rarely ulred by cars. After Kanda· As HUle as ten year!:! ago Thailand st ill har, however, the ronti improves. With the poBSCBSCd a road mileage 80 negligible ~ widening of the roads, which chiefly winrt hardly to be worth mentioning. Not until along ri\'er valleyA. the forwarding of good , W37 did the Government begin to open up hitherto taken care of exclusively by cam· the country by construct.jng highways; it vans-there are no railways yet in Afghani­ startoo an eighteen.year plan for road con· Mil-is gradualJy being shifted to truck". Htruction to be completed in three laps of 8&ee1 bridges are being thrown a.crofols the five, five, and eight years in order to cover rivers, and in the larger cities garages, repair Thailand with a modern road system whoso EoJlll' and hotels are making their ap· center will probably be the new capital pearance. Pechabun, 300 kilometers north of Bangkok KaLul, the principal junction of the briBk and 100 kilometers 80utheallt of Pit.sanulok. carlwan traffic between Baluchista.n, Ba.ctria, The first part of the program, 4,400 kilo­ TurkMtan, and India, can also be reached meters, Was recently accomplished at the from Herat bv a northern route via Balkh expenllC of 30 million ticals (now caUcd and the p~ of the Hindu Kush; but thil! baht). far more interesting route is at present In Malai and particularly in French hardly feasible for automobiles. Indo.China, both roads and raihvaY8 are 1'hcre is already considerable motor traffie excellent. The "Route Coloniale No. I" or through the Khyber P&IIll to Peshawar. "Mandarin Road" ifl a first-class highway Since a.ncient times all great conquerors which, starting at Langson on the Chinest: with their armies have traversed the twenty· border, l{'arls along the coast via Houc, eight kilometers of this much.disputed pass. Touranc, Ilnd Saigon to tho Thai railway At Fort Jamrud starts the great North station of Aranya Pradcsa, Il diBtance (If Indian trunk roliO. running via Lahore/ 2,1i20 kilometers. Dt-Ihi Benl\res to Calcutta, an a8phalt road A quartN of 11 century ago, China hardly about :?,300 kilometers in length. possessed lIny highways at nil. During the India possesses an exteru;ive network of last ten yeaf'l'l. however, the Chinese Govern­ I'I)l.UIK and railways. Most of the great llIent hM made great efforts to expand tht' trunk road from Delhi to Bombay and road system. The olr! routcfol were flhorten('(1 Madras (2,800 kilometers) with an I.'xtension lind converted into motor roads. Early in t~ Madura and Colombo in Ceylon (1,000 HI37 it was already JlOSlliblc to travel by kilometers) is also aspbaltcd. Moreover, ear from Tnliftl to Canton and Shanghai, there are good roads leading to all important llnd from there on w Peking. plane" as wl'lI as to tbose of historical in· Hence there is only the connection be­ terest. tween Imphal in Assam Province and BhaJllo or Mandalay in BUrllll\ (700 kilometers) tltill 1'UE MISSING LINK lacking to span the latlt ~ap between the I<:uropean and North African road systems Ali for the topogrnp1)y of Burma, the next and the Chinese rO/HI network via the couutry to be traversed, I have dealt with southern route. that in detail in the article "Burma Trails," appearing in the March 1944 i88ue of thiH R.4.ILW.4.YS magazine. Suffice it to say here that, until recently, the only land cOIUlectionB leading The railwllY lines run in the same direction from Burma to her neighboring countriOtl as the great high,,·&ys. The Russian Trans­ t~ wore narrow jungle and mountain paths. Siberian milw8Y is up now the only one The upheavals entailed by the present war connecting Europe with the porL'! on the have tlCrved to brea.k through the isolation Yellow Sea. The traiJl covers the distance impo:lC<1upon Burma by her natural barriers. of 10,000 kilometers from Berlin to l"usan The widely discussed "Burma Road" came on the ext,reme point of Korea itl tweh·1.' into existence, connL'Cting Mandalay-lying days. 011 the mllin traffic artery of Hurma-with Contrary to the prevailing endeavor of Kunming and the road system of Central all modern states, the Soviet Union, which Chinn. FurthernlOre. there is a project for occupies half of the whole Asia.tic continent, a road to link up Mandalay with Hanoi bas rema.incd aloof from the community of 258 THE XXth CE~"'TURY nations. There is very scanty information with those of India and China, the follOWing concerning journeys in the interior of the projects have been considered: country, its traffic, commercial, and in­ (1) An extension of the Indian railway" dustrial conditions. As a. rule, foreigners which ends at Chittagong on the GuH of were only permitted to travel on the Siberian Bengal, along the Arakan coast across the railway and on the line from Leningrad via 700-meter-high Taungup Pass to Padaung 1\Ioscow and Kiev to the Caucasus. Since on the bank of the Irrawaddy River opposite Stalin has been ruling Russia, the country the Burmese railway station of Prome. has been hermetically sealed to foreign explorers and travelers. Consequently, So­ (2) An extension from whio, the viet Russia canoot be reckoned with in any terminus of the branch line from MandaJay, free transcontinental traffic for the time across the Salween River ferry at Kunlong, ~eing. then south along the Burma Road to Kun· mingo The French railway line Kunming! .Another possibility, namely, a railway line Haiphong was inaugurated in 1910. from Istanbul across Iran and Turkestan, Itas not even been seriously considered yet (3) A railway cOllilection from Moulmein on account of the unsettled political con· on the Gulf of Martaban to Pitsanulok, the ditions in Central Asia. The southern sec· station on the Thai north-south line, 390 tion via India, however, is gradually ap­ kilometers north of Bangkok. proaching completion. During the present (4) The Japanese project, that has fre· war, this project is being promote<.! with quently appeared in tho press since the particular energy by the Allied powers, as conquest of the Malay Peninsula, of con· it provides a strategically important means necting Fusan in Korea by a direct railway for the swift transport of troops and material. line with Shonan. This line is to rUll from The section which still lacked completion Shanghai via Hangchow/ChuchowfKweilin/ lll1t.il recently in the Bagdad li.ne is now LiuchowfNanning to LUllgehow, the north· open to traffic. The Iranian railway ermnost terminus of the French Indo-China from the Caspian Sea to BandaI' railway. The railway system of French Shapur on the Persian Gulf (about 1,500 Indo-China is to be linked up with that of kilometers) was completed just before the Thailand, from where a direct connection olJtbreak of the war in 1938. A branell line with Shonan has been in existence for more which is to connect Teheran with the Turkish than fifteen years. railway lIet at Tabriz is under construction, Only two sections of about 500 kilometers unci so is aJlother line which wi.n connect each are still missing to make this project, the trans-Iranian railway via Kerman with which involves 8,000 kilometers, a reality: tbe Indian t,runk line at Za!Lidan (Duzdab). the section LiuchowfLungchow, and that from Tanap via Pakse to Uban, the terminus The Indian railway system-attaining 0. of the eastern Thailand railway line, unless total length of more than 65,000 kilometers the existing line via Saigon/Pnom-Penh! -whose principal trunk line reaches as far Aranya Pradesa is made lISC of, which, as Calcutt.a, extends in the east to the however, involves a considerable detour. trackless border mountains of Burma which separat.e this country from China. With the opening of this line as well as of the Iranian and Burmese sections men­ ••• AN D PROJECTS tioned above, it would in the future also be possible to reach the great ports of East In order to COUllect the hitherto completely Asia from Europe by train via the southern isulated railway lines of Burma and Thailand route.

1levenge

A citizen of Clevehlnd. Ohio. who had Leon out of work for 0. long time during the depression and who now hus an .."ceUent position in an armament plant. made use of the present shortage of ltillor to apply for a job. He was offered 20 jobs and gloefully turned them nil down.