4 o8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



with which I again saw my home, after my tedious travels, may be 

 easily comprehended. But the more that every-day life demands its 

 rights, the more actively does the pressure toward the far-off deserts 

 of Asia, which once seen can never be forgotten, the longing to 

 visit them again, rise in my soul. Yes, in those deserts," he added, 

 " an unlimited freedom reigns. The traveler stands opposing the wild 

 robber-hordes with the weapons of science and civilization. The dan- 

 gers which he encounters every day for his love of science are quickly 

 forgotten, while the recollection of the moment of success and of real 

 happiness remains fixed and clear in the mind. The picture of those 

 past joys floats before him day and night, and entices him, even from the 

 midst of the enjoyment of the rest of civilization, to that life of labor 

 and freedom." This book was published in London in 1879 as 

 "From Kuldja, across the Thian-Shan, to Lob-Nor," translated by 

 Mr. Morgan, with an introduction by Sir Douglas Forsyth. 



In 1883, Colonel Prejevalski went on his fourth expedition to the 

 same regions, having the country of the Yellow River as his objective 

 point. He started in November, and, traveling in a cold under which 

 quicksilver was frozen, found himself in February, 1884, again in Thibet. 

 In May he went down to the south of Zaidam, whence, having left his 

 baggage with a guard of Cossacks, he started again for the sources of 

 the Yellow River. They were found to lie in a region uninhabited by 

 man, but peopled by innumerable herds of yaks. Thence he turned 

 to the shores of the Blue River where he suffered an attack from hos- 

 tile Tanguts. He repelled them, but they succeeded in preventing his 

 crossing the river, and forced him to turn back. They continued to 

 annoy him for several weeks, when he again went back to the head- 

 waters of the Yellow River and the lakes by which it is fed. Leav- 

 ing Southern Zaidam, he went westward with thirteen persons into a 

 desert where even camels could not live. He came at last to the shore 

 of an impenetrable swamp, which was well inhabited by pheasants. 

 He remained for three months at a place called Gaz, whence he pene- 

 trated to a part of Western Thibet, where he discovered three pre- 

 viously unknown mountain - ranges. From Gaz the road went on 

 through a labyrinth of narrow passes and defiles to the Turkoman 

 town of Loto, where the population was friendly. The people of 

 Western China, where it borders on East Turkistan, were likewise well 

 disposed toward him. The country is described as being very attract- 

 ive, without winter, populous, and as yielding two crops of grain a 

 year. 



Colonel Prejevalski's return from his fourth journey was celebrated 

 at St. Petersburg by a special session of the Geographical Society, on 

 the 10th of February, which was attended by members of the imperial 

 family, ministers of state, diplomates, and learned men, all eager to pay 

 their respects to the energetic traveler, who, on this occasion, was 

 made a major-general. 



