356 THE PROGRESS OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE. 



be well to wait for the records of that most intrepid traveler, Sven 

 Hedin, who promises us material of scientitic and historical interest 

 as the result of his last three years' travel far in excess of the monu- 

 mental contri])utions which he has already made public. Historically 

 the interest of the world of inquir}^ in Asia where we find the origin 

 of the great races of the world and the birthplace of all religions must 

 alwa3"s be immense; but that history can only be elucidated by a clear 

 illustration of the great highwa3"s of the continent whicli were open 

 to the vast migrator}^ movements of mankind in prehistoric periods. 

 We do not in the least understand the condition of climate, nor are we 

 quite certain even of the relative distribution of land and water in 

 high Asia in the days when its swarming population first began to flow 

 south and west, carrying the elements of a language which we have 

 been accustomed to regard as primeval into the swamps and plains 

 which lay beyond the Himalayas or the Caspian. It is onl}^ through 

 geographical research that some dim outline of those early stories can 

 be realized; and although the researches of Stein and the marvelous 

 discoveries of Sven Hedin around the ancient lake district of Lob Nor 

 will, after all, only throw the world's history back for a few centuries, it 

 is by means of these lirst steps backward that we can feel our way to an 

 appreciation of the earlier processes of this phase of human evolution. 

 Nor in the interests of utilitarian conunercial speculation is geograpiiical 

 research in Asia yet to be set aside. We indeed know comparatively 

 nothing of its resources in mineral wealth. It is quite within the 

 bounds of possibility that one of the groat central treasure houses of 

 nature lie enveloped in the geological axis of the highest mountains of 

 the world, and that we may yet be enaV)led to explain why every river 

 which flows from Tibet washes down gold in its bed. But this will only 

 be when the Tibetan Lama is prepared to shake hands with the Uit- 

 lander; and I fear that recent South African history will not encoui'age 

 the em))race. Meanwhile there is no more promising field still open to 

 the bona fide explorer than that of Tibet and the farthest ranges 

 of the Himalayas. Few people are aware how vast an extent of the 

 Himalayan area still remains untrodden by any P^uropean. This is 

 due to no want of enterprise on the part of our Indian surveyors and 

 political officials. It is due partly to physical inaccessibility and partly 

 to that intense (and easily understood) objection to the interference of 

 the stranger in which many of our transfrontier neighbors permit 

 themselves to indulge. Nevertheless would I commend to those who 

 still desire to walk in the rough and thorny i)ath of pioneer geograph- 

 ical discovery a similar enterprise to that of our aforetime secretary, 

 Mr. Douglas Freshfleld, who latel}' succeeded in passing beyond the 

 bounds of official exploi'ation into the eastern Himalayas. We have 

 had many travelers in the Himalayas, but they have not always dis- 

 tinguished between the fascinating pleasuivs of romantic adventure 

 and the earnest pursuit of geographical l)usiness. 



