348 



NA TURE 



[August i i, 1898 



lying rather further west than the traverse of M. Bonvalot 

 and Prince Henry of Orleans ; but Littledale's return 

 journey from Tengri Nor westward to Ladak was south of 

 the high Chang throughout. At last, as related in the 

 work now under notice, Captain Wellby and his com- 

 panion, Lieut. Malcolm, have succeeded in crossing Tibet 

 from west to east by a route tliat ran for a long dis- 

 tance in the neighbourhood of the 35th parallel, and that 

 admirably intersects the tract hitherto unexplored. 



The two travellers started on May 4, 1896, from Leh, 

 in Ladak, with one trained Indian surveyor, Shahzad 

 Mir, dufifadar (serjeant) of the nth Bengal Lancers, 

 who had a considerable experience of Central Asiatic 

 travelling, and ten other men, Ladakis and Yarkandis, 

 as muleteers and servants. The first attempt to pene- 

 trate into Tibet by a route across the middle contracted 

 portion of the Pangong lake was frustrated by Tibetan 

 opposition ; and after Captain VVellby's party had gone 

 round the north-western extremity of the lake, and then 



in China, five miles from Tankar, 



travelled for some ten marches to the eastward, they 

 were again stopped by the people of Rudok, compelled 

 to recross a formidable pass, the Napu-la, and to go north 

 as far as the Lanak-la before they could resume their 

 journey to the eastward. After this their course lay first 

 to the north-east for about 100 miles, and then in an 

 ■eastwardly direction, no human beings being met with 

 from the Lanak pass, close to the Ladak frontier in 

 longitude 80° on May 29, until more than three months 

 afterwards, when a travelling cainp of Tibetan merchants 

 on their way from Lhasa to Kansu in China was 

 accidentally overtaken on September 6, close to the 

 93rd meridian. From these merchants, whose great 

 caravan of 1500 tame yak is well described, the travellers 

 met, on the whole, with hospitable treatment, and shortly 

 after leaving the caravan they found some friendly 

 Mongolian nomads, by whose aid Captain Wellby and 

 his party, now greatly reduced in numbers, were enabled 

 to pass through part of Tsaidam, and, after skirting 



NO. 1502, VOL. 58] 



Koko-nor, to reach on October 14 the frontier town of 

 Tankar (the Donkir or Donkyr of maps) in the Chinese 

 province of Kansu. Here a friendly missionary — Mr, 

 Rijnhart — was found, who, having occasion to go east- 

 ward, accompanied the travellers down the Great Yellow 

 River of China and as far as Peking. In company with 

 Mr. Rijnhart a visit was paid to the great Kumbum 

 Monastery near Tankar, and at Sining Mr. Ridley, of 

 the Inland China Mission, gave an account of the Kansu 

 Mahommedan rebellion of 1895-6, which had just been 

 suppressed. The remainder of the journey through 

 China, though of interest, contains descriptions of 

 countries already comparatively well known. 



The " Unknown Tibet " of the title is of course the 

 region traversed between the Ladak frontier and 

 Tsaidam, and the journey, of which a good route map 

 has been made, has added greatly to our knowledge of 

 the region. The country is very similar to that a little 

 to the southward, described by Captain Bower, and 

 appears to differ in no 

 great degree, except in 

 its almost arctic climate, 

 from the usual type ot 

 Central Asiatic scenery. 

 Wild yak, Tibetan ante- 

 lopesandkyang abounded 

 in those parts of the area 

 in which grass and fresh 

 water were obtainable, 

 the chief other animals 

 mentioned being the Ti- 

 betan gazelle or goa, a 

 large wild cat (probably 

 a lynx), hares and mar- 

 mots. Some of the latter 

 appear to have been very 

 large, and if they attain 

 the dimensions attributed 

 to them by Captain 

 Wellby, who says they 

 were " of enormous size, 

 as large as men," it is 

 probable that some un- 

 known form was seen by 

 him. Bears were only 

 met with to the east- 

 ward. It is impossible 

 to help regretting that 

 neither of the travellers 

 appears to have had any 

 knowledge of zoology or 

 geology, and it is difficult 

 to avoid contrasting them 

 in these respects with most 

 of the Russian explorers. 

 On two occasions (pp. 76, no) fossils appear to have 

 been observed, but we remain in ignorance of what they 

 were. The only specimens brought back consisted of 

 plants, of which a list is given. It is, however, only 

 right to say that these specimens were brought back 

 despite most serious difficulties through deficiency of 

 carriage, and that, in addition to the geographical 

 observations, careful records were kept of barometrical 

 and thermometrical readings. 



On the whole the journey would have been a great 

 success but for the loss of the muleteers, and the sad fate 

 of at least two of them. These two men, one of whom was 

 sick and the other dangerously injured by a gun accident, 

 were left behind with a supply of food and a pony in the 

 middle of the wilder^^ess. No more was heard of them. 

 Three weeks later the remaining muleteers struck 

 work, and left in a body, and, although one subsequently 

 was taken on again, the tra\ ellers refused to take back 

 the others, who had behaved badly throughout. As the 



