GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 325 



in other ways ; at least two sand-buried cities of considerable antiquity 

 were brought to light ; the camel was found wild, under such conditions 

 as to suggest to the author a domesticated ancestry ; and the shiftings of 

 Lob-nor, which, with so slender observational basis, have given rise to 

 so voluminous literary discussion in the last lustrum, were analyzed with 

 no little acumen. One of the most fruitful trips was the final 



journey eastward from Khotan through northern Thibet to Tsaidain 

 desert and the Koko-nor ; a full half of the route traversing a desolate, 

 plateau, uninhabitable by reason of aerial rarity and consequent sterility. 

 The plateau, fronted on the north by the Kuen-lun mountains, is corru- 

 gated in east-west ridges like the Pamir ; but they rise so far above the 

 zone of vapor-weighted clouds that the precipitation is insufficient to 

 produce waterways opening to the sea, and the intervening valleys 

 are lined with wind-blown as well as water-borne detritus and dotted 

 with saline lakes, while the slopes are mantled with frost-fractured de- 

 bris well toward the crests. Here the classic khulan (wild ass) and the 

 wild yak live, enjoying a seclusion so perfect that the passing car- 

 avans awaken curiosity rather than fear. The plains over which they 

 skurry, and even the lakes whose shores they haunt, are amid the 

 higher clouds, 15,000 to 18,000 feet above tide; the low pass in the 

 second range (Arka-tagh) stands 18,180 feet; and even in midsummer 

 the mountain chill is below freezing, always by night and often by day. 

 The trip was not made without effort ; all suffered from mountain sick- 

 ness, Islam Bai narrowly surviving, while the Chinese interpreter was 

 sent back ; and of the six camels, twenty-one horses, and twenty-nine 

 donkeys of which the caravan consisted at the outset, but three camels, 

 three horses, and one donkey crawled feebly down to the settlements on 

 the borders of Tsaidain. Yet the observations, geographic and geologic, 

 with studies of yak and khulan and smaller life, well repaid the cost. As 

 the party pushed eastward through Tsaidam, the to- be- expected brush 

 with Tangut robbers — who slew Dutreuil de Rhins and assailed Przhe- 

 valsky and Roborovsky— was realized; yet by some chance (or trick of 

 Tangut superstition) the explorers, with three rifles, five revolvers, and two 

 marksmen (not including the leader) escaped actual assault. The 



exploration was conducted under patronage of King Oscar of Sweden, the 

 Nobel family, and other donors of the $8,000 or $10,000 expended ; the 

 support finding its warrant in the admirable outline of past and pro- 

 spective Asian exploration incorporated in the introductory chapters, 

 and finding justification in the important results attained by Dr Hedin. 

 The narrative is naive, and reveals the personality of the author in 

 attractive fashion. By the vigorous and self-reliant explorers and sur- 

 veyora who have pushed geographic knowledge over the North Ameri- 

 can continent, this quiet, spectacled student, chronically homesick and 

 frequently helpless, would be voted a tenderfoot; yet the fact remains 

 that '_'!>"d chance and persistence carried him through stress of weather, 

 hunger and thirst, tricky theft and threatened robbery, with all other 

 explorers' ills, and enabled him to consummate a memorable task in mak- 

 ing known the previously unknown world. W J M. 



