travel along the Silk Route 

   Stretching east from Beyrouth or Antioch (Antakya) on the Mediterranean, it was known to Darius before Alexander and to the Assyrians before Darius. Imperial Rome used it as a direct means of communication with the East.

   By it Greek merchants, coming through Antioch, crossed the deserts of Mesopotamia (now Iraq). They paused at the mighty city of Baghdad before passing through the defile of the Zagros Mountains to reach the great trading center of Tehran and its near-by Caspian ports. After putting behind them the deserts of eastern Persia and the two-mile-high passes of the Hindu Kush, they crossed the Khyber and other passes to the gold and spices of India.

   In the 7th century parts of this mighty caravan route of the dead past were traversed by the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang. Six centuries later Marco Polo followed similar parts of its tortuous course.

   Changes were made in the great land route from time to time as a result of new geographical discoveries or political complications, but the general direction remained the same.

   We planned to follow with our modern caravan the western portion of this ancient route, reaching its beginning at Beyrouth by traveling first across the Atlantic to France, and thence overland from Paris through western and central Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, and Syria. At Kabul the road split, it's northern branch crossing the Oxus to China, its southern fork, which we meant to follow, going to India.

   To say it was hot in the forward hold of the President Roosevelt on June 22, 1939, would be ridiculous understatement. Yet six of us were toiling in the stagnant air of that hold, making a valiant effort to wedge into two specially constructed Chevrolet trucks some ten tons of film, camping equipment, food supplies, and miscellaneous gear. We had sailed from New York the day before.

   Our labor was required because Larry, fearful that a war might interrupt the plans which had required two years of unremitting effort to perfect, insisted that our vehicles be loaded and ready to start the moment they were slung over the side of the ship in Le Havre.

   Around the enormous heaps of materials and the seemingly tiny trucks that must hold them we staggered: John Boyle, cinematographer (Director of Photography, A. S. C.); Earle Fahrney, mechanical engineer, lent to us by the General Motors Corporation; Larry, the cause of it all; and three unsuspecting friends, fellow passengers, shamelessly inveigled into yeoman service.

   A tiny patch of blue sky showed through the hatch opening far above us, except when it was obscured by Peggy (Mrs. Thaw). From time to time she would peer down and ask whether we were ever going to be finished.

   Our lunch was lowered on a line at noon and at dusk we climbed out, too weary to take much interest in the night life of the ship. Loading operations, as far as the capacity of the trucks permitted, were completed in four days. Larry had wirelessed for a third truck to follow on the next boat, which docked only two days after us.

   Besides the trucks, we had a Buick car with a small trailer for camera equipment; and on the deck reposed our "land yacht," a fantastic contraption weighing nearly 13 tons. Little wonder that planning had taken so long. We had been obliged not only to arrange transportation for this modern caravan over a 20,000-mile route, but-vastly more important to the photographic success of our mission-to take measures which would insure us the position of honored guests within each country or principality to be visited.

   After the two Chevrolet trucks were loaded, the boys had a few days to relax before the…"