PREFACE. 



IT is with some diffidence that I venture to 

 offer the following pages to the public, and feel 

 that a short explanation of my reason for doing 

 so will not be out of place. 



In the year 1889 I carried out a long-pro- 

 jected expedition from India via Kashmir, Chin- 

 ese Turkistan, the Pamirs, and Asia Minor, and 

 shortly after my return published a rather full 

 journal in ' Land and Water.' 



At that time very little was known of these 

 regions, and still less interest taken in them, 

 therefore all idea of writing a book on the sub- 

 ject was considered a work of supererogation. 

 Since then, however, the Russian claims and 

 expeditions to our frontiers beyond Gilghit have 

 brought these parts into notice, and other writers 

 have awakened interest in them. 



As I happen to have covered a greater ex- 



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