lO 
THROUGH ASIA 
to Lop-nor and Khotan, at the northern foot of the Kwen- 
lun Mountains, and finally down the Khotan-daria and over 
the Tian-shan Mountains. 
The extensive journeys in 1878-82 of the intrepid Indian 
pundit Krishna, commonly called A — K, were of the greatest 
importance for the geography of Northern Tibet. In the 
spring of 1878 he was ordered by the Indian Government 
to explore the territory bordered on the north by 
Przhevalsky’s journeys, on the east by the routes of the 
French missionaries Desgodins and Durand and of the 
Englishman Gill, on the south by the Sang-po (Brahma- 
putra river) and the Himalayas, and on the west by the 
meridian which runs through Lhasa and Lop-nor. In 
more recent years this region has only been crossed by 
Huc and Gabet, and by Bonvalot and Prince Henry of 
Orleans. 
Disguised as a merchant, and provided with plenty of 
money and instruments, A — K went, by way of Sikkim, to 
Lhasa, reaching that city in September 1878. There he 
stopped for a whole year, waiting to find a large and well- 
armed caravan with which he might travel northwards, as 
the Tangut robbers make the roads in that direction very 
unsafe. On September 17th, 1879, a Mongol caravan 
arrived. A hundred of its members, Mongols, with a few 
Tibetans, were going back at once. All were mounted 
and all armed with spears, swords, and firearms. A — K 
seized the opportunity. Great caution was observed during 
the march ; patrols were sent on ahead, and a watch kept 
at night. The route which was followed at first coincided 
with that of Nain Singh in 1875, when he journeyed from 
'Pengri-nor to Lhasa. South of Tan-la A — K touched the 
route taken by Przhevalsky on his third journey. The 
highest pass in the Tan -la, 16,400 feet, marked the 
watershed between the upper Mekong and the Yang- 
tse-kiang. After five months on the plateau he reached 
the Anghirtakshia Mountains over a pass 15,750 feet in 
altitude. A halt was made at Tenghelik in Tsaidam ; 
but just as the caravan was on the point of starting again 
it was attacked by two hundred robbers, who relieved 
