SVEN HEDIN IN TIBET 



MR. JOHN B. JACKSON, Secre- 

 tary of the United States Em- 

 bassy at Berlin, sends to this 

 Magazine an abstract of a letter from 

 Sven Hedin to King Oscar of Sweden, 

 describing Sven Hedin's march across 

 Tibet. The letter is dated at Leh, 

 India, December 20, 1901, and was 

 received at Stockholm late in January 

 of this year. During the last three 

 years that he has been in Asia, Sven 

 Hedin has explored and mapped six 

 thousand miles of territor}' previously 

 unknown to civilization. He has taken 

 over 4,000 photographs and sketches. 

 This expedition, in its results, is the 

 most important he has ever made, and 

 marks him as one of the most dauntless, 

 accurate, and original explorers of his- 

 tory. Before the publication of the 

 more scientific results of his journey he 

 will write a large book for the public 

 describing his travels. An account of 

 his work during the first two years of 

 the expedition appeared on page 393, 

 volume xii, of this Magazine. 



Dr. Sven Hedin left his headquarters 

 in northern Tibet July 27, 1901, and, 

 disguised as a Buryat and accompanied 

 only by Lama, a Mongolian belonging 

 to the caravan, also disguised as a Bur- 

 yat, set out on his march to the south. 

 They carried only absolute necessities, 

 but when two days out were attacked 

 by robbers and relieved of various arti- 

 cles besides their two best horses. This 

 taught them the need of night watches, 

 so they took turns in watching every 

 night three hours at a time, which was 

 a hardship, for it was the rainy season, 

 and it poured. The further south they 

 went the more wet it became, until at 

 last the ground was little better than a 

 deep morass, which threatened to en- 

 gulf them. But they worked through, 

 and at last reached inhabited land, 

 where the black tents of the nomads 

 greeted them and the rich grass prom- 



ised fine feed for their cattle. Tama 

 was able to communicate with these 

 nomads, and was shown the way toward 

 Lhasa. 



They went on for two hard days' 

 marches, when one evening they were 

 suddenly halted by some native chiefs. 

 Three soldiers appeared before their 

 tents and informed them shortly that 

 they were to consider themselves pris- 

 oners and forbidden to attempt to escape 

 under penalty of death. The}' were 

 very well treated, however. Every- 

 thing they required was supplied, but 

 they were kept in ignorance of what 

 was to become of them pending the 

 arrival of the "banbo," the governor 

 of the province, who had been notified 

 of their capture, and who would on his 

 arrival decide what was to be done with 

 them. Meanwhile their anxiety was 

 increased by the departure of a large 

 force, fully armed, back on the track, 

 and they reared that an attack on their 

 headquarters was contemplated. Fi- 

 nally the banbo arrived, and word was 

 sent to Hedin that he would receive 

 him. To this Hedin replied that he had 

 no special desire to see him, but that if his 

 excellency desired to meet him he was 

 always to be found in his tent ! The 

 result was that the governor, accom- 

 panied by 67 chiefs and courier soldiers, 

 appeared at his tent, gorgeously ap- 

 parelled. They informed Hedin that 

 he was known to be an Englishman, and 

 that it was impossible to allow him to- 

 proceed to Lhasa. He was also informed 

 that they were aware that he had a large 

 caravan in the north, which was attempt- 

 ing to enter his province of Nokktgin, 

 and accordingly all northern entrances 

 were strongly guarded. The banbo then 

 gave Hedin presents of horses, sheep, 

 etc., and returned him to the border as 

 a prisoner of war under guard of 20 

 soldiers. 



They reached their caravan on the 



