May 4, 1876] 



NATURE 



everywhere the silence of the Valley of Death." Kiakhta 

 was reached on October i, 1873. 



Such is a very brief outline of the route traversed by 

 the small expedition under Col. Prejevalsky. It gives 

 no idea of the amount of work done, ayd the many diffi- 

 culties which had to be overcome. Though the Colonel 

 had a pass from the Chinese Government, it was not of 

 much use to him. At almost every stage obstructions 

 were thrown in his way, and had the party not been able 

 to obtain a living by their guns they would either have 

 had to starve or turn back. The whole distance traversed 

 was upwards of 7,400 miles. 



Col. Prejevalsky's object was not simply to get over a 

 certain amount of ground. In many respects he is well 

 qualified to conduct a scientific exploring expedition. 

 Not only is he skilled in all kinds of surveying work 

 necessary to map a country, but has evidently a good 



Fig. 2.— Mongol Girl. 



knowledge of geology, and is above all an accomplished 

 zoologist and botanist. At every stage he stops to de- 

 scribe deliberately the natural features of the region, its 

 inhabitants, its history, and to give long lists of the ani- 

 mals and plants collected. Some idea of the import- 

 ance of the expedition from a scientific point of view 

 may be learned from the fact that the plants collected 

 amounted to 5,000 specimens, representing upwards of 

 500 species, of which a fifth are new. But especially im- 

 portant was the booty in zoology, which is Prejevalsky's 

 own specialty, for this included thirty-seven large and 

 ninety smaller mammals, 1,000 specimens of birds, em- 

 bracing 300 species, 80 specimens of reptiles and fish, and 

 3,500 ot insects. 



It would be impossible within the space of a notice like 

 the present to give any adequate idea of the kind and 



amount of information contained in these volumes. No 

 such keen-sighted and accomplished traveller has been 

 over the same ground before. We shall endeavour to 

 indicate a few of the points referred to. In the Introduc- 

 tion, besides the matters already referred to, Col. Yule 

 adduces strong proofs for the existence of the wild camel 

 en the north-west borders of China, and gives a few valu- 

 able notes on the real nature of Tibetan Lamaism. 

 The Gobi desert, both in its eastern and central positions, 

 is at last described with something like adequacy ; it is 

 probably one of the dreariest tracks on the face of the 

 earth. One of the strong features of the book is its 

 ethnology ; all the groups of people passed through are 

 described in detail. A whole chapter is devoted to the 

 Mongols, containing minute particulars as to their manners 

 and customs. In the same way many important notes 

 are given concerning the Chakhars, the Ordos, the Oluet 

 or Ala-shan Mongols, the Tangutans, and the Dungans 

 or Tungani. A large space is devoted to an account of 

 the Mongol camel, in which some points are brought out 

 that will be new to many ; and the Argali {Ovis argalt) 

 and its habits are described in considerable detail, as also 

 the White-breasted ArgaU of Northern Tibet {Ovis poli)- 

 Geographers will find some valuable information con- 

 cerning the present course of the northern bend of the 

 Hoang-ho, which is many miles ^south of that which is 

 found on many modern maps. There seems to be now 

 only one main channel, the two northern ones being dry. 

 Many evidences are adduced to show that much of the 

 region through which the expedition travelled was at one 

 time an inland sea ; most of the lakes are salt, and the 

 country of Ala-shan seems to be one great desert of sand 

 and clay mixed with salt. Col. Prejevalsky mentions an 

 interesting fact showing how particular may grow into 

 general terms. He tells us that the Mongols apply the 

 term " Russian " to all Europeans, and affix " French " or 

 " English " as they wish to designate either of these 

 nations. They also believe the latter to be vassals and 

 tributaries of the former, and Col. Prejevalsky mentions 

 several circumstances tending to show the great opinion 

 of Russian power held by the inhabitants of Central 

 Asia. Lake Koko-nor and the region around it, as well 

 as the province of Kan-su generally, in which the expe- 

 dition spent many months, are described in all their 

 aspects with the .greatest minuteness. 



But it is needless to attempt to give any adequate 

 idea of the contents of these two volumes ; they are 

 a perfect mine of information about the whole of 

 the little-known region visited by Col. Prejevalsky 

 and his companions. The work is a fine example 

 of what the narrative of a scientific exploring ex- 

 pedition should be, and although Col. Prejevalsky 

 delivers " a plain unvarnished tale," his work is full of 

 interest from beginning to end, even for the omnivorous 

 "general reader." The map which accompanies the 

 work is on a large scale and is filled in with such 

 minuteness as to present a satisfactory bird's-eye view of 

 the principal results of the expedition, and the illustra- 

 tions are both attractive and usefiil. To quote the words 

 of Col. Yule, " the journey and its acquisitions form a 

 remarkable example of resolution and persistence amid 

 long-continued toil, hardship, and difficulty of every kind, 

 of which Russia may well be proud." 



