206 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



£i 







been raining heavily and the air 

 was still thick with drizzle. The 

 prospect was not good for cross- 

 ing the island, which, though 

 only a few miles wide, is inter- 

 sected by an irregular range of 

 mountains, of which the famous 

 Mount Ida is one of several 

 peaks. But, with our experience 

 of the muddy aerodrome at Pisa 

 fresh in our minds, we decided 

 to get aloft as soon as possible 

 rather than risk the ground, 

 which was already becoming soft, 

 degenerating into a bog. 



THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN PASS 



We took off quite easily, and 

 soon after leaving the ground 

 encountered a layer of cloud, but 

 pushed through and out — only 

 to find ourselves beneath another 

 stratum. Our charted route lay 

 southeast, then south, with the 

 southernmost point of the island 

 as the objective, and I had been 

 told that it was easy to follow a 

 rough track leading from Canea 

 through a pass in the mountains ; 

 but, with clouds above and be- 

 low, it was not so easy. 



I decided to try to locate the 

 pass in the hope of getting 

 through without the necessity of 

 climbing above the mountains, 

 and so wasting valuable time. 

 Fortune favored us. I found the 

 pass and to my joy discovered 

 that there was just sufficient 

 room for us to scrape over the 

 top without entering the cloud. 

 We appeared to be only a few 

 feet above the rocks when we 

 cleared the crest, but it was pref- 

 erable to having to barge blindly 

 through the clouds, running the 

 consequent risk of hitting a 

 mountain crag. 



On the southern side of the 

 ranges the air was much clearer, 

 and we were soon flying over the 

 coast-line. We took observations 

 and set a compass course for 

 Sallum, on the African coast 

 Two hundred and fifty miles of 

 open sea had to be crossed. Be- 



