William Leonard Hunt, also known by the stage name The Great Farini, was a well-known nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Canadian funambulist, entertainment promoter and inventor, as well as the first known white man to cross the Kalahari Desert on foot and survive. He also published under the name Guillermo Antonio Farini.
Hunt with Krao Farini, 1883
Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope walking and slacklining.
The feet of a tightrope walker
Tightrope walking, Armenian manuscript, 1688
Maria Spelterini crossing Niagara Falls on July 4, 1876
Jultagi, the Korean tradition of tightrope walking