PREFACE. 



The object and scope of the present volume are set 

 forth at sufficient length in the opening chapter, 

 and no further explanation on this score is required 

 from me here. With regard to arrangement, it has 

 been my endeavour to place before the public an 

 account of some of the less accessible countries of 

 Asia and of the problems to which their existence 

 and present position give rise, which may appeal 

 equally to the general reader and to the student of 

 Eastern questions. With this object in view I have 

 caused to be inserted a number of illustrations, 

 reproductions in every case of photographs taken by 

 myself, in the hope that they may prove of assistance 

 to the reader in forming a mental picture of the 

 countries and peoples that I describe. The countries 

 through which I passed being many and various, I 

 have divided the volume into sections, each one of 

 which may be read without reference to the others. 

 In Section I. will be found a synopsis of the chapters 

 that follow ; in Sections II. -YI. a description of a 

 journey the length of an ancient continent ; and in 



