464 The National Geographic Magazine 



tively insignificant portion of Alaska, 

 and emphasized but one of the treasures 

 in its vast, unexplored storehouse. 



"In the north and east, and over b} 7 

 the Canadian border-line, is the world- 

 famous Klondike region. Fifteen hun- 

 dred miles distant to the west, close 

 to Siberia, are the Nome gold-fields. 

 Southeast are found seemingly inex- 

 haustible quartz-gold mines, the greatest 

 salmon fisheries in the world, and a 

 climate and soil which will make agri- 

 culture possible and profitable. And 

 away to the south and west are im- 

 mense forests, mines of copper, and the 

 Pribilof Islands, the home of the fur- 

 seal. Within the boundaries of Alaska 

 there lies a country incomprehensible 

 in its extent and difficulties, inconceiv- 

 able in the possibilities of its latent 

 wealth. The marvelous discoveries of 

 gold at Cape Nome, which have entailed 

 so much hardship and scandal, bring- 

 ing riches to many and disappointment 

 to more, will at least have worked a 

 highly beneficent result in bringing 

 earlier to light the neglect and needs 

 of our wonderful Alaska. ' ' 



Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet. 



By Sarat Chandra Das. Edited by 



W. W. Rockhill. Illustrated. Pp. 



285. London : John Murray. 1902. 



The author of this volume was born 

 of a Hindu family of the medical caste 

 in Eastern Bengal, in 1849. In 1S79 

 he entered Tibet and remained for six 

 months at Tashilhunpo, a great center 

 of lamaist learning, as the special guest 

 of the Prime Minister. He had pre- 

 viously thoroughly mastered the Tibetan 

 language, and was thus equipped to 

 gain the most from this opportunity for 

 research. In November, 1881, Sarat 

 Chandra started on his second journey 

 to Tibet, and this time succeeded in 

 making a short visit to Lhasa and ex- 

 tended explorations along the Tsangpo. 

 On his return to India in 1883 he began 

 editing and publishing in English text 



some of the 200 manuscripts and vol- 

 umes he had brought back with him. 

 The present volume is a narrative of 

 his second expedition to Tibet. The 

 illustrations in the volume are very clear 

 and give a good idea of the people and 

 country. Two photographs of Lhasa 

 are specially noteworthy — one a general 

 view of the mysterious city and one 

 showing the imposing palace of the 

 Grand Lama. 



Prisoners of Russia. By Benjamin How- 

 ard. Illustrated. Pp. 389. New 

 York: D. Appleton & Co. 1902. 

 In 1 89 1 Dr Howard passed several 

 weeks in Sakhalin, the island on the 

 northeastern coast of Asiatic Russia 

 where Russia sends her most dangerous 

 criminals and such politicals as are con- 

 sidered equally dangerous. Dr Howard 

 died before this volume of his observa- 

 tions was published, and in his stead 

 Gen. O. O. Howard, a personal friend 

 of the author, contributed the preface. 

 Sakhalin is as long as England, about 

 650 miles, but her width is less, rang- 

 ing from 50 to 150 miles. There were 

 about 12,000 convicts on the island at 

 the time of Dr Howard's visit. Several 

 chapters are devoted to describing the 

 island, the life of the convicts, their 

 work, punishments, etc., and then sev- 

 eral chapters to a discussion of the rel- 

 ative merits of the Siberian and Anglo- 

 American penal systems. Dr Howard 

 concludes the comparison as follows : 

 " In America and England, but perhaps 

 in England more especially, the adminis- 

 tration is remarkabl}' good, the principles 

 outrageously inhuman and bad. In the 

 Siberian system the administration has 

 rarely been good and frequently has 

 been outrageously bad, but, as regards 

 the general principles of the Siberian 

 system, they are in accordance with the 

 constitution of man, of laws, both nat- 

 ural and revealed, and are therefore 

 exceedingly good." Dr Howard was 

 the author of the ' ' Direct System of 



