THROUGH ASIA 
I 2 
and on the 23rd crossed the Altyn-tagh, leaving Przheval- 
sky’s and Carey’s routes behind them. They then struck 
a direct course to the south across unknown country and 
without guides. This march lasted till February 17th, 
1890, and extended to two days’ journey south of the 
Tengri-nor. The Tibetan plateau, on which they were 
travelling for three months, nowhere falls below the 
altitude of thirteen thousand feet. Some of the mountain- 
chains of the Kwen-lun system were crossed by passes 
at more than 18,000 feet in altitude, and numerous lakes 
were discovered. The country was barren in the extreme, 
totally devoid of trees or bushes ; it did not even provide 
sufficient provender for the camels and horses of the 
caravan, which, in consequence of the fatigue, the priva- 
tions, and the severe cold, gradually died off until very 
few were left. From December 4th to January 30th 
not a human being was encountered. Two days’ journey 
south of the Tengri-nor the expedition was stopped by 
the Tibetans, and in spite of negotiations lasting nearly 
seven weeks it failed to obtain permission to continue 
its march to Lhasa. The travellers were therefore obliged 
to make a considerable circuit, and reached Tongking 
in September. 
In May 1890 the Russian Captain Grombtchevsky 
endeavoured to penetrate into western Tibet from Polu, 
but being unsuccessful, he turned aside to Khotan, and 
spent July and August in exploring the Tisnab valley, the 
upper Yarkand-daria, and the watershed between these 
two rivers. After a visit to the Pamirs, he proceeded, 
by way of Kashgar, to Tashkend (Tashkent), where I 
met him at the end of the same year. He had covered 
a distance of more than 4700 miles, and his researches 
form a connecting link between those of Kuropatkin 
(1877), Forsyth {1873-74), Przhevalsky (1885), and 
Pievtsoff (1889-90). He met the last-named in Niya, 
where the two travellers were able to compare notes and 
place-determinations. 
In 1889 and 1890 General Pievtsoff, accompanied by 
Przhevalsky’s companions, Roborovsky and Kozloff, and 
