98 



NATURE 



[December 3, 189 



what deductions may be drawn from pirlicular facts. In 

 short, they are to be regarded as sign-posts pointin^^ out 

 some of the highways and bvways of geological inquiry, 

 but leaving the reader to perform the journey in his own 

 fashion." 



^ At the outset it is made clear that, though some loca- 

 lities supply more material than others, even the most 

 unpromising are far from barren of interest to those who 

 have eyes to see. The necessary equipment is fully de- 

 scribed. In addition to the "cheese-taster" mentioned 

 on p. 29, the portable boring-apparatus devised by Bel- 

 gian geologists has been found useful. So much stress 

 has been already laid on the value of mapping, that it 

 will be enough to say that, in the author's opinion, the 

 geologist " acquires by it a thoroughness of grasp attain- 

 able in no other way." It would have been well if the 

 meaning ^of contour lines, and the way in which hill- 

 shading is used to denote the shape of the surface, had 

 been treated of more fully. The illustrations of the 

 sinuosities of outcrop across uneven ground, on p. loi, 

 are beautifully distinct, but nothing is said as to the value 

 of models in making clear this point to the beginner. Of 

 course they tell most when he makes them himself : a 

 little modelling clay can generally be obtained ; but, in 

 default of better material, an apple or turnip can be made 

 to do good service. In the very handy approximate rule, 

 on p. 116, for determining the thickness of a bed when 

 - its dip and the breadth of its outcrop are known, it is not 

 stated that the surface on which the breadth is measured 

 must be horizontal; or, if it be an inclined plane, we 

 must substitute for dip the sum or difference, as the case 

 may be, of the dip of the bed and the inclination of the 

 plane to the horizon. The error committed in using this 

 rule for a dip of 5° is a little over 4 per cent, in defect ; it 

 decreases as the dip increases up to 30° : for that angle 

 the rule is accurately true. For dips over 30" the rule 

 gives the thicknesses too great; the error increases 

 rather rapidly with the dip, and at 45° amounts to 6 per 

 cent. ; for a dip of 50° it is nearly 9 per cent. 



The great value of the book consists in this: from 

 beginning to end it embodies the experiences of one who 

 has spent a lifetime in field-work, and so it is full of 

 " wrinkles " which could not possibly have been picked 

 up in any other way. Most of these anyone who has in 

 him the making of a field-geologist would sooner or later 

 have found out for himself; but it is no small gain to 

 the beginner to be put on the right track to start with, 

 and to have his instructions conveyed with the life and 

 freshness that practical acquaintance can alone give. 

 The present writer feels proud that in one respect he can 

 claim even a more extended experience than the author 

 of the book : the latter, apparently, has never been sus- 

 pected of being an incendiary (see p. 20), a fate which once 

 befell him who pens this notice. A. H. Green. 



THE LAND OF THE LAMAS. 

 The Land of the Lamas : Notes of a Journey through 

 China, Mongolia, and Tibet. By William Woodville 

 Rockhill. With Maps and Illustrations. (London : 

 Longmans, Green, and Co., 1891.) 

 1\/rR- ROCKHILL has for so long a time taken 

 IV J. special interest in Tibet that he is able to speak of 

 it as his "life hobby." Accordingly, when, in 1884, he 

 NO. I 153, VOL. 45] 



was attached to the U.S. Legation at Peking, he looked' 

 forward with pleasure to the chance of exploring the- 

 country ; and he began to make the best of all prepara- 

 tions for the undertaking by studying the Tibetan, 

 language. At this he worked for four years, during 

 which he also gave some time to the study of Chinese. 



In the winter of 1888 he resigned his post of Secretary 

 of Legation, and made ready for his long-anticipated 

 journey. He determined to enter Tibet from the north, 

 and started from Peking on December 17. The choice- 

 of this route made it necessary for him to make in the 

 first instance for Lan-chou, the capital of the province of 

 Kan-su ; so he arranged with a cart firm to supply him 

 with two carts, with two mules to each, to take him there 

 in thirty-four days. For every day over this they were to 

 pay him two taels, he giving them the same amount for 

 every day gained on the date agreed upon. This plan 

 worked admirably, and he reached his destination two 

 days ahead of time. The distance was 1350 miles. 



From Lan-chou, Mr. Rockhill advanced to Hsi-ning, 

 the residence of the Chinese Imperial Controller-general 

 of the Koko-nor, an official known to the Tibetans and 

 Mongols as the Amban. As this magnate was strongly 

 opposed to foreigners, Mr. Rockhill made off from Hsi- 

 ning as soon as possible, going to Lusar, a village near 

 Kumbum. Kumbum is a great religious centre, and he 

 was fortunate enough to be present on the 12th of the 

 first moon, when the Chinese in every village and town 

 of the empire celebrate the dragon festival. After 

 looking through one of the temples, he and those who 

 accompanied him walked round it, keeping it on the 

 right hand— "a mode of showing respect for sacred 

 things observed in all lamaist countries." At a lamasery 

 in the neighbourhood, where he found a native who had 

 taught him Tibetan at Peking, he had much pleasant 

 talk with various lamas. These authorities were, he says, 

 " immensely amused " by what he had to tell them about 

 esoteric Buddhism and the Mahatmas. 



Mr. Rockhill's final preparations were miade at Tankar,. 

 the most westerly border town in that part of Kan-su. 

 From this place, with his men, he set out on March 24, 

 1889, and was soon across the frontier. His intention 

 was to visit Lh'asa ; and had he succeeded in carrying 

 out this plan, his narrative would probably have taken 

 rank among the foremost modern books of travel. 

 Unfortunately, the difficulties in the way proved to be 

 insuperable, and he was obliged to content himself with 

 a much less ambitious enterprise. The first country 

 traversed by the party was Koko-nor, their route taking 

 them past the northern shore of the great lake from 

 which the region derives its name. This lake is some 

 230 miles in circumference, and its altitude is about 

 10,900 feet above sea-level. Looking at it from a low 

 pass to the north-east, Mr. Rockhill describes it as " a 

 glistening sheet of ice, stretching as far as the eye could 

 reach to the west, and bounded to the south by a range 

 of high, bleak mountains with snow-tipped peaks." To 

 the north and west of the lake there is fine grazing-land, 

 which is watered by many streams. Here nomads find 

 excellent camping grounds in swales and hollows, which 

 afford protection from violent west and north-west winds. 

 After leaving Koko-nor, the party passed in a southerly 

 direction through Ts'aidam, crossing the Timurt^- 



