Nov. 4, 1875] 



JMA TURE 



the greater part of the journey recorded was through Kash- 

 mirian territory. But the two works differ in many 

 respects in design and plan. Mr. Drew has brought 

 together so full and trustworthy a mass of information of 

 all kinds about Kashmir as must render his work the 

 great authority on the subject for a long time to come ; 

 his style is perfectly plain and unadorned ; nearly every 

 sentence is a positive statement of fact ; he does not spend 

 many words in admiration of the unparalleled scenery in 

 the midst of which he lived for ten years, and he is never 

 tempted into rapture. The attraction of Mr. Drew's work, 

 and it is distinctly attractive, lies in the high interest and 

 value and frequent novelty of the information contained 

 in it. Mr. Wilson's aim, on the other hand, is to enable 

 the reader to share, as far as words can go, the sensations 

 which he himself felt in journeying for weeks in the midst 

 of scenery whose grandeur cannot be adequately expressed, 

 to present an impressive panoramic view of the "peaks, 

 passes, and glaciers," and the fearful ravines of the 

 highest mountains in the world, and to picture the scanty 

 life which lurks in their lofty valleys or clings to their 

 steep and rugged sides. His work is written, he tells us, 

 "for those who"' have never seen and may never see the 

 Himalaya. I have sought," he says, " to enable such 

 readers in some degree to realise what these great moun- 

 tains are, what scenes of beauty and grandeur they 

 present, what is the character of the simple people who 

 dwell among them, and what are the incidents the tra- 

 veller meets with, his means of conveyance, and his mode 

 of life.'" Mr. Wilson has accomplished this task as suc- 

 cessfully as it is possible to do it by means of language. 

 Without apparent effort or artifice the current of his 

 narrative flows on with delightful sweep ; his style is 

 vigorous, clear, and really eloquent, never bombastic 

 or stilted, and with an under-current of genuine humour. 

 He follows the only scientific method of reproducing in 

 his readers the impressions made upon himself by the 

 Himalayan scenery — by representing in simple but striking 

 language the features which stirred his admiration and 

 awe, never indulging in those futile and vague expres- 

 sions of ecstasy which are a mark of the feeble observer, 

 unscientific thinker, and unskilled writer. At the same 

 time Mr. Wilson manages to convey a very considerable 

 amount of information, and whoever reads his work with 

 care will have realised to some extent the character of 

 the region which it attempts to describe. 



Mr. Wilson's main object in undertaking his toilsome 

 tour among the Western Himalayas was to invigorate a 

 constitution prostrated by the trying climate of India. 

 His original intention was simply to visit Masuri and 

 Simla, "but the first glimpse of the Jumnotri and Gangotri 

 peaks excited longings which there was no need to re- 

 strain," and he plunged into the heart of the Himalayas. 

 His journey lasted from June to November 1873. His 

 real starting-point was Simla, though he gives valuable 

 information as to other routes, and makes many shrewd 

 comments on the men and manners of the various places 

 through which he passed before reaching this point, on 

 society and politics, and on certain burning questions 

 connected with our Indian Empire. From Simla he 

 proceeded up the stifling valley of the Sutlej to Shipki, 

 where he made a vain attempt to get into Chinese Tibet ; 

 he was worsted by the women of the place. Hence he 



proceeded in a generally north-west direction by the Lee 

 River, through the Schinkal pass, past Padam in Zanskar, 

 to Dras, visiting Sirinagar and the Vale of Kashmir, and 

 on westwards by the Jhelam River to the Khyber Pass. 

 This is easily told, but the difficulties Mr. Wilson had to 

 encounter are almost incredible, especially when it is con- 

 sidered that he was an invalid in search of health ; for a 

 month hejwas'.laid up at Pu, not far north from Simla, by 

 an attack which nearly proved fatal. He camped out 

 nearly all the time, had frequent difficulty in procuring 

 provisions for himself and his small retinue, had often to 

 scramble along paths not much broader than a mantel- 

 shelf, overhanging ravines many thousands of feet deep, 

 had to risk being lost in glaciers and frozen to death on 

 passes upwards of 16,000 feet high. He bore it all with 

 infinite good humour, and reached the Khyber Pass, we 

 have no doubt, a stronger and a wiser, and quite as cheer- 

 ful a man as when he started from Simla. 



Mr. Wilson's work, as we have hinted, is something 

 more than a fascinating tale of travel. While he gave 

 himself up unrestrainedly to the scenic influences in the 

 midst of which he sojourned for five months, he was quite 

 alive to all the principal features of interest which presented 

 themselves. There are frequent references to the animal 

 and vegetable life of the region, to its grand physical and 

 geological phenomena, and especially to the charac- 

 teristics of the interesting people who inhabit the not 

 infrequent villages' on the route. He has added some- 

 thing to our knowledge of the glaciers of this part of the 

 Himalayas. Mr. Wilson had several opportunities of 

 observing closely the life of the people, and the informa- 

 tion he gives will be found of value even by those who 

 are familiar with the literature of the subject. He speaks, 

 as might be expected, at considerable length on the 

 polyandry and Lamaism which prevail over a consider- 

 able part oi his route, and his remarks are character- 

 ised by great moderation and good sense. We wish we 

 had space to quote the exquisite picture of domestic life 

 which Mr. Wilson witnessed while snowed up at the vil- 

 lage of Phe, in Zanskar. He seriously suggests the 

 possibility of the Turanian Zanskaris being "congeners of 

 the Celtic race." 



He tells us a good deal, of course, about the Vale 

 of Kashmir, and, like Mr. Drew and other geologists, 

 concludes that it was at one time, and that not very 

 remote, a great lake ; he enters into some interesting 

 speculations on the prehistoric inhabitants and condition 

 of Kashmir. When near the end of his journey he 

 made a bold raid across the Afghan frontier, and has a 

 chapter on Afghan ethnology and the Afghan character. 



In a chapter written under the influences of a moon- 

 light midnight among the Himalayas — and how awe- 

 inspiring and " other-worldly " such influences must be, 

 one can easily imagine— Mr. Wilson indulges in some 

 curious speculations on the struggle for life in the organic, 

 and especially in the animal world, as contrasted with 

 the inorganic. We think he has struck quite a wrong key 

 here, and has not an adequate grasp of the facts of the 

 case ; but even if we had space we could not enter into 

 his argument, as it is mixed up with certain subjects that 

 are beyond the sphere of Nature. 



" The Abode of Snow " will, we believe, take its place 

 as one among the few of our really classic works of travel. 



