The Crosby Expedition to Tibet 



2 29 



Copyright, 1904, by O. T. Crosby 



Another View of the Monastery at Ladakh 

 A massive native tombstone is seen in the right foreground and others at the base of the hill 



THE CROSBY EXPEDITION TO TIBET 



AT a recent meeting of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society Mr 

 Oscar T. Crosby gave an inter- 

 esting account of his journey through 

 Chinese Turkestan and into Tibet in 

 the fall of 1903. Mr Crosby left the 

 railway at Andijan ; thence he pro- 

 ceeded by caravan to Kashgar, Yark- 

 and, Khotan, and Polu, which is situ- 

 ated at the foot of the Tibetan plateau. 

 Here the real work he had planned — 

 the ascent of the Kuenlun Mountains 

 by an hitherto untra versed route — be- 

 gan. After much labor the party gained 



the plateau, but the zero temperature 

 and bitingwindsatthat height of 18,500 

 feet exhausted their horses and made 

 their guides desert. Provisions fail- 

 ing, they called a halt and sent ahead 

 for help. Fortunately, a party of wan- 

 dering Kirghez met the messengers and 

 conducted the whole party to the known 

 country. They gained Ladakh, crossed 

 the Himalayas, and struck the railwa3 r 

 again. Speaking of the Tibetans, Mr 

 Crosby said : 



" We met with nothing but kindness 

 wherever we went. The savagerv and 



