November 3, 1898] 



NA TURE 



9 



IN THE FORBIDDEN LAND} 



AMONGST the many travellers who wander to and 

 fro in the untrodden parts of the world there has 

 lately been a marked development of the journalistic 

 class. 



Ever since the days when the New York Herald 

 achieved such a grand success with Mr. Stanley, and 

 was instrumental in the discovery not only of the lost 

 Livingstone, but of a vast new world for future enterprise, 

 we have had from time to time new schemes for ex- 

 ploration initiated and supported by leading exponents 

 of popular literature. The difference between the 

 special correspondent and these emissaries of what 

 we may call geographical journalistic enterprise lies 

 chiefly in this ; the special correspondent finds the 

 subject-matter of his correspondence ready made for 

 him ; he has but to record the sequence of events as 



knowledge, and who will, in the pursuit of hi-s object, 

 avoid rather than court those situations which may 

 peril the safety of his mission and impede his purpose, 

 even if they may add picturesque detail to his narrative.- 

 Mr. H. S. Landor is an adventurous traveller wh«> 

 possesses by heredity the eye of a poet, and a greati 

 power of graphic description. His book is interesting 

 all through, but we must not take him too seriously as a 

 great geographer. A journey through the Kumaon dis- 

 trict (which constitutes a great part of his book) is but 

 the periodic experience of every official Englishman who- 

 is appointed to the administration of that corner of the 

 North-west Provinces, and even a visit to the Mansara- 

 war Lake has not proved to be beyond the powers of 

 several sportsmen lately, who have been more fortunate 

 than Mr. Landor in their relations with the frontier 

 Tibetan authorities. But beyond the Mansarawar Lakes, 

 on the direct route to Lhassa, it has been known for many 



ti*ii»S!»!; 



■•^■^steamittaBmmx^imai: 



Fig. 1. — Escaping in a snowstorm. 



they pass before his eyes"; over them he has no control, 

 and his success depends largely on the chances and 

 accidents of a campaign or political mission. The 

 journalistic geographer, on the other hand, has to make 

 his own straw before he can produce his bricks ; and if 

 startling sensation and thrilling incident are necessary to 

 his success, he must find them for himself There can 

 be no reasonable objection to this form of enterprise, 

 although the dangers that beset it (both moral and 

 physical) are obvious. Haply the traveller who starts in 

 search of a sensation may discover much that is of real 

 value to science, and may prove to be a sound geographer. 

 But his metier should not be confounded with that of the 

 true geographer, the seeker after scientific truths, whose 

 aim is the enrichment of the world's store of exact 



1 By A. 

 + 263. (Lo 



enry Savage Lando 

 " : W. He- 



' vols. Pp. 



NO. 15 14, VOL. 59] 



years that no European has a chance of i>enetrating far 

 It is a most jealously guarded route, and those travellers 

 who have studied the subject of traversing Tibet be- 

 forehand, and who have lately succeeded in crossing the 

 great northern plateau from west to east, have entered 

 Tibetan territory at points less exposed to the hostile 

 and unrelaxed vigilance of the Tibetan officials. It is 

 true that the region of the Mansarawar Lakes, and, in- 

 deed, the whole route to Lhassa has been pretty 

 thoroughly explored and surveyed under conditions of 

 much less difficulty than those experiericed by Mr, 

 Landor ; but this has been accomplished by trained 

 employes of the Indian Survey department, who, being 

 either residents of Kumaon or educated Tibetans, have 

 been able to identify themselves with the people of the 

 country, and have experienced no particular difficuJty in 

 reaching Lhassa, and describing it in comprehensive 



