JULY 29, 1922] 



NA TURE 



i39 



The Border Land of Tibet and Nepal. 



Mount Everest : The Reconnaissance, 1921. By Lieut. - 

 Col. C. K. Howard Bury and other Members of the 

 Mount Everest Expedition. Pp. xi + 356 + 33 plates 

 + 3 maps. (London : E. Arnold and Co., 1922.) 

 255-. net. 



THIS is a very attractive book with its wealth of 

 beautiful illustrations, and the interest is great, 

 whether told by Col. Howard Bury himself, or in the 

 introduction by Col. Sir Francis Younghusband, by the 

 surveyors — Major Morshead, Major Wheeler, and Dr. 

 Heron — by other members, Dr. Wollaston and Mr. L. 

 Mallory. The latter's knowledge of the Alps makes 

 his portion a valuable contribution. The description 

 of the monasteries, the beautiful type of their archi- 

 tecture shown in photographs, will be new to many. 

 Of the Lamas themselves and their orderly system of 

 government we find the same from one end of Tibet 

 to the other. This will interest and prove instructive ; 

 readers will find they are not ignorant savages, but a 

 people highly advanced in arts and education, and in 

 many respects far more practical, united, and sensible 

 than we are. Of course it is not new ; much can be 

 seen in Ladak and in the fine monastery of Himis 

 near Leh, but what is new is the degree to which the 

 tameness of wild animals and birds has been brought 

 by the Buddhists living under the shadow of Mount 

 Everest, markedly by those leading a hermit life in 

 the Rongbuk Valley. 



There are some striking lines in chapter 12, p. 183, 

 where Mr. Mallory describes his feelings on the first 

 good view of Everest, feelings shared in by Mr. G. H. 

 Bullock, on their sighting it at 57 miles distance from 

 Shiling, west of Tinki, their first impressions of what 

 was before them. I was struck by, and like, what 

 Col. Howard Bury says on " Back to Civilisation," 

 p. 176. The right type of traveller is shown here : 



" There was sorrow in our hearts, however, at parting 

 with the friendly and hospitable folk whom we had 

 encountered, and at leaving behind us the familiar 

 landscapes with the transparent pale blue atmosphere 

 that is so hard to describe and the distant views of 

 range upon range of snowy mountains often reflected 

 in the calm waters of some blue coloured lake. The 

 attractions of Tibet may yet be strong enough to draw 

 us back again once more." 



It is very disappointing to read in the Geographical 

 Journal for May, p. 380, that " No Survey of India 

 party is to go this year, and that Dr. Heron of the 

 Geological Survey has not been allowed by the political 

 authorities to continue his geological work." This 

 may possibly be got over, but I fear that what I said 

 in my article in this journal last year on our successful 

 entry into Tibet, quoting the president of the Royal 

 NO. 2752, VOL. I 10] 



Geographical Society, " Our geography of it must be 

 complete," may not be realised. 



These are investigations of true interest and value in 

 connexion with the history of the Himalayan Range, 

 the combining of accurate topography with knowledge 

 of the rocks, so that a formation, say like that of the 

 Ladak Range, can be traced mile after mile for a con- 

 siderable distance, defining the age of the rocks both 

 on the north and south of it. 



The climbing of Mount Everest, on the other hand, 

 is of secondary importance compared to what will be 

 lost by political exigency, partly because " there was 

 some little difficulty last year about the disturbance of 

 the dragons that live under the sacred mountains " 

 (quoting from the Geographical Journal, May 1922, p. 

 380). As a member of the Bhutan Mission in 1863-64, 

 I remember what unreasonable, unexpected difficulties 

 they will throw on the traveller going to any particular 

 peak, or in any particular direction. 



The past year's work, so well recorded in this book, 

 has given us an insight into the geology and topography 

 of the great peak. We know of the many valleys 

 descending from it, towards the northern Tibetan side, 

 and the type of the glaciers. It is lamentable to be 

 told that Dr. Heron will not be able to complete his 

 survey of the metamorphosed sedimentaries and 

 associated granites, even on the limited slopes above 

 the Chang La, which this year's expedition will reach, 

 for there would be much detail for Dr. Heron to observe, 

 and whether the " Daling Series " extends thus far. 



I draw a line between climbing and mountaineering. 

 There is a charm in the first, similar to that felt in the 

 rigging of a ship by every sailor when he ascends to 

 the main truck or lays out on a yard in a stiff breeze — 

 there is a spice of danger in it. The second — and 

 Mallory comes in here — demands a period of apprentice- 

 ship to gain that eye for ground which tells the surveyor 

 where he can go, where he cannot, and the time it will 

 take him to get over any particular section of country. 

 Mountaineering is the highest form of athletic exercise 

 that can be conceived ; mind and knowledge enter 

 into it. 



I have long doubted the possibility of reaching the 

 summit of Mount Everest by several thousand feet. 

 What is the possible height attainable only those who 

 have been on its side can guess. It is now being solved. 

 I am guided by past experience at much lower eleva- 

 tions, less than 21,000 feet, but at a much higher lati- 

 tude in Kashmir territory. There are so many uncertain 

 factors, such as the impossibility of waiting for any 

 length of time for a change of weather at the highest 

 camp ; strength of wind ; cloud and snow and moun- 

 tain sickness, which will prostrate a whole party at 

 even 19,000 feet (Baltistan and Ladak). 



