The Crossing of Tibet. 253 



The Crossing of Tibet.— The expirations of Mr. Rockhill in 

 Tibet and his renewed attempt to reach I^assa, the " holy city " 

 of that country, creates an unusual interest for Americans in the 

 account of the crossing of Tibet by M. G. Bonvalot, Prince Henri 

 d'Orleans, and P. Dedeken, pulilished in the last Bulletin of the 

 Paris Geographical Society. 



Six daj^s' journey from Moscow brought the party through 

 Russia and Turkestan to Kouldja (45° N., 41° W.), in extreme 

 western Mongolia. Having obtained authority from the Chinese 

 governor of the province to proceed, the party, aggregating 15 in 

 number, left that place S^tember 12, 1889, with Batang, China, 

 as an objective point. On October 5, after a journey of about 

 450 miles, during which they crossed the. Thian-chan ("heav- 

 enly ") mountains by Narat pass, they camped at Korla, near 

 Bagratch-koul. Here they were warned that they could proceed 

 no farther, and the governor of Hi sent an order to arrest them. 

 The mandarin and other local authorities did not, however, 

 actively oppose their departure, which took place during the 

 night of October 10, the party then consisting of 20 horsemen 

 and 40 pack-animals. On October 28 they reached Kara-douran, 

 the western end of Lob-nor. A side trip by d'Orleans and Dede- 

 ken to Lob-nor proved it to be no longer a lake but a series of 

 swamps and sandy islands, with the water nowhere more than 

 four feet deep. Meantime Bonavolot accumulated supplies and 

 replaced from the hardy Mongols the more timid among their 

 camp-followers, the part}^ being reduced to seven, with a few 

 extra men for a short distance. 



Quitting Tcharkalik on November 17, they followed the route 

 taken by Carey ; but on the advice of the natives they resolved 

 after crossing the Alt5''n-tagh to go directly southward instead of 

 turning eastward, and thus to attempt a new route, on which they 

 were beset by the usual physical discomforts attendant on travel 

 at great elevations. On these mountain ranges they saw only 

 wild sheep, blue hares, wild horses, crows and partridges. On 

 December 5, just south of a large salt lake (Ouzoun-tchour), they, 

 saw a cara^^an of Kalmouk pilgrims returning from Lassa by an 

 unknown route, which they refused to make known, and decided 

 to temporarily abandon their idea of reaching Batang and instead 

 to go direct to Lassa by retracing the caravan trail. From this 

 point (about 38° 30' N. and 87° 30' W.) they proceeded directly 

 southward. The region penetrated was unknown, the winds 



34— Nat. Ceog. Mag., vol. Ill, 1891. 



