Portrait of Islam Bai

 


THROUGH ASIA

 

IN TWO VOLUMES

 

By:
 SVEN HEDIN
 

 

NEW YORK:     First Edition  1899

 

 

 

Publisher/Year: NEW YORK, Harper & Brothers, 2 Volumes, First American Edition 1899.
Binding: Cloth Hardcover, 24x15 cm.
Pages: Vol. I: xx + 1-663 ; Vol. II: xii + 664-1278
Illustrations: 260 illustrations, 3 Maps, two of them Large coloured folding maps.

жжж    Please see book CONDITION at end    жжж

Author

Sven Hedin (1865-1952)

Swedish explorer of Asia, writer, and geographer, the last person to receive a Swedish knighthood (1902). Hedin was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1913. Of his journeys Hedin wrote several accounts, which became extremely popular. His classical work, Through Asia, appeared in 1898. Hedin had a phenomenal memory and his books, with their vivid details, are still fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in Asian cultures.
    Hedin began in October 1893 a journey that lasted three years. "The whole of Asia was open before me. I felt that I had been called to make discoveries without limits - they just waited for me in the middle of the deserts and mountain peaks. During those three years, that my journey took, my first guiding principle was to explore only such regions, where nobody else had been earlier." In A journey through Asia (1898) he described how he saved one of his servants by bringing him water in his boots. Later he returned to this episode several times in his drawings and writings.
    Between the years 1893 and 1935 Hedin made four expeditions to Central Asia. He charted maps of significant areas in Pamir, Taklamakan, Tibet, Transhimalaya (also called Hedin Mountains). In 1900-01 he made two attempts to reach Lhasa, but the race was won by a Japanese scholar Ekai Kawaquchi, who was a genuine Buddhist monk. However, Hedin met in 1906 Taši Lama, to whom he gave a medicine box made of aluminum. The Dalai Lama had fled in 1904 when the British troops entered Llhasa, and Taši Lama became the most powerful man in Tibet. In 1909 Hedin returned to Stockholm to his family as a celebrated figure.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

EXTREMELY SCARCE & VALUABLE WORK

Fascinating Journal of a Travel to

CENTRAL ASIA
TIBET, MONGOLIA & CHINA

Over 260  Illustrations & 2 Large Maps

published about 110 Years Ago

From Preface ...

THIS work does not claim to be anything more than a plain account of my journeys through Asia during the years 1893 to 1897. It has been written for the general public, and presents nothing more than a description of my travels and the more memorable of my experiences-not by any means the whole of my experiences. To have recorded everything that I set down in my note-books would have swelled out the book to twice its existing length. Nevertheless those portions of my journey which I have merely touched upon, or have passed over altogether in silence, will not, I trust, be altogether lost. If this book is received with the indulgence which I venture to hope for it, I propose to issue a supplementary volume, to contain a multitude of matters of varied interest and of not less importance than those contained in these pages.

    As soon as I passed beyond the fairly well-known regions of the Russian Pamirs, I took up, in the summer of 1894, the strictly topographical division of my labours, and with diopter, plane-table, and calculation of paces measured the environs of the lake Little Kara-kul ; next I mapped the glaciers of that king of the Central Asiatic mountain-giants, Mus-tagh-ata. After that I surveyed every route I travelled over during the years 1894, 1895, 1896, and the early part of 1897. These important labours were never for a single day remitted. Throughout the whole of the long red line, which marks my travels through Asia, there is not a single break right away to the day (2nd March, 1897) when I rode in at the gate of Peking, and recorded my last entry on the five hundred and fifty-second sheet of my field-book or surveying journal.

Two Mongol men and a boy (Dorcheh at the top)

Contents ...

VOLUME ONE

Chapters

INTRODUCTION

  1. Resume of Central Asian Exploration
  2. The Plan And Objects of My Journey
  3. Across Russia To Orenburg
  4. Across The Kirghiz Steppes
  5. From Lake Aral To Tashkend
  6. From Tashkend To Margelan
  7. The Syr-Daria

 

A WINTER JOURNEY OVER. THE PAMIRS

  1. Up The Isfairan Valley
  2. Over The Tenghiz-Bai Pass
  3. Up The Alai Valley
  4. Over The Trans-Alai
  5. Lake Kara-Kul
  6. Population of The Russian Pamirs
  7. Geographical Summary
  8. Fort Pamir

THE MUS-TAGH-ATA AND ITS GLACIM

  1. From The Murghab To Bulun-Kul
  2. Mus-Tagh-Ata
  3. An Attempt To Climb Mus-Tagh-Ata
  4. Reminiscences of Kashgar
  5. A Chinese Dinner-Party
  6. From Kashgar To Ighiz-Yar
  7. Through The Gorge of Tenghi-Tar
  8. The Plain of Tagharma
  9. Among The Kirghiz
  10. Little Kara-Kul Lake
  11. Little Kara-Kul Lake (Continued)
  12. Amongst The Glaciers of Mus-Tagh-Ata
  13. My Second Attempt To Ascend Mus-Tagh-Ata
  14. My Third Attempt To Ascend Mus-Tagh-Ata
  15. Moonlight on Mus-Tagh-Ata
  16. To Fort Pamir And Back
  17. Boating Adventures on The Little Kara-Kul
  18. Life Among The Kirghiz
  19. Return To Kashgar

ACROSS THE TAKLA-MAKAN DESERT

  1. To Maral-Bashi
  2. An Excursion To The Masar-Tagh
  3. The Shrine of Ordan Padshah
  4. On The Threshold of The Desert
  5. The Start From Merket
  6. Skirting The Desert
  7. An Earthly Paradise
  8. In The Ban Of The Desert
  9. The Camels Break Down
  10. No Water Left
  11. The Camp of Death
  12. The Crisis Comes
  13. A Desperate March
  14. Human Beings At Last
  15. With The Shepherds of The Khotan-Daria
  16. A Rescue Party
  17. Down The Khotan-Daria
  18. From Ak-Su To Kashgar


VOLUME TWO

A SUMMER-TRIP TO THE SOUTHERN PAMIRS
  1. Over The Ullug-Art Pass . .
  2. With The Anglo-Russiaat Boundary Commission
  3. Festivities on The Roof of The World
  4. Over The Mountains To The Yarkand-Daria
  5. Down The Yarkand-Daria And To Kashgar

ACROSS THE DESERT OF GOBI TO LOP-NOR
  1. From Kashgar To Kargalik
  2. Alongside The Desert To Khotan
  3. City And Oasis of Khotan
  4. Borasan And Its Archeological Remains
  5. History of Khotan
  6. The Buried City of Takla-Makan
  7. A Curious Shepherd Race
  8. Down The Keriya-Daria
  9. Where The Wild Camel Lives
  10. Where Is The Tarim?
  11. Through The Forests of The Tarim
  12. At Korla And Kara-Shahr
  13. The Lop-Nor Problem
  14. A Boat Excursion on The Northern Lop-Nor
  15. Along Przhevalsky's Lop-Nor By Boat
  16. The Return To Khotan
  17. The Sequel of My Desert Journey

THROUGH NORTHERN TIBET AND TSAIDAM

  1. Over The Kwen-Lun Passes .
  2. My Caravan : Its Several Members
  3. We Enter Uninhabited Regions
  4. Amongst The Spurs of The Arka-Tagh
  5. Searching For A Pass
  6. The Deceitful Taghliks
  7. Over The Arka-Tagh At Last
  8. The Wild Ass
  9. Hunting The Wild Yak
  10. Lakes Without End
  11. Tibetan Storms
  12. Discoveries of Inscribed Stones
  13. Inhabited Regions Again
  14. Among The Mongols of Tsaidam
  15. Through The Desert of Tsaidam
  16. Among The Mongolian Lakes
  17. An Encounter With Tangut Robbers

FROM TSAIDAM TO PEKING

  1. Through The Country of The Tanguts
  2. Koko-Nor
  3. From Koko-Nor To Ten-Kar
  4. The Temple Of Ten Thousand Images
  5. Si-Ning-Fu And The Dungan Revolt
  6. From Si-Ning-Fu To Liang-Chow-Fu
  7. Through The Desert of Ala-Shan
  8. Wang-Yeh-Fu And Ning-Sha
  9. To Peking And Home

INDEX

Portrait of Islam Bai

Illustrations ...

VOLUME ONE

  1. Portrait of Author
  2. A street in Orenburg
  3. My taratass with a troika (team of three horses)
  4. Kirghiz camel rider on the steppe
  5. The "town" of Kara-Butak
  6. Harnessing a troika
  7. The station of Konstantinovskaya
  8. My tarantass drawn by three camels
  9. The Kirghiz steppe, near Lake Aral
  10. My tarantass drawn by a patyorka (team of five horses)
  11. The Syr-daria, near Kazalinsk
  12. Another view of the Syr-daria, near Kazalinsk
  13. A miserable station near the Syr-daria
  14. Crossing the River Aris
  15. General view of Tashkend
  16. A "bit" of Tashkend
  17. View from the Mohammedan portion of Tashkend
  18. A street in Tashkend
  19. Kirghiz yurts (tents) in Tashkend
  20. A view from Tashkend
  21. The main entrance to a bazaar
    22.
  22. Eu route from Margelan to the Alai Mountains
  23. The station of Austan
  24. The Isfairan valley
  25. View between Austan and Langar
  26. Making a road in the Alai Mountains
  27. A Portion of the Alai Mountains as seen from the pass of Tenghiz-bai
  28. The Tenghiz-bai pass
  29. The Alai and Trans-Alai Mountains seen from the pass of Tenghiz-bai
  30. Our camp at Daraut-kurgan
  31. My caravan in the Alai valley
    32.
  32. Amid the snows of the Alai valley
  33. The aul of Gundi
  34. The Kizil-su
  35. Camels trampling a path through the snow
  36. Our horses endeavouring to find grass in the snow
  37. Jan Ali Emin riding through the snow
  38. Crossing the Kizil-su
  39. Crossing the Kizil-su (a second view)
  40. Marching up the Alai valley
  41. Bor-doba
  42. Some of our pack-horses
  43. Great Kara-kul seen from Uy-bulak
  44. Making a sounding-hole in Lake Kara-kul
  45. Taking a sounding through the ice of Great Kara-kul
  46. A small island in Lake Kara-kul
  47. The stone hut at Ak-tam
    48.
  48. A rest on the pass of Ak-baital
  49. Kornei-tarti (breaking up camp)
  50. The Russian officers at Fort Pamir
  51. The Kirghiz beg of the aul of Murghab
  52. Tajiks from Roshan
  53. A Transitional landscape on the Pamirs (one of our camps)
  54. Northern face of Fort Pamir
  55. Interior of Fort Pamir, looking south
  56. The jighits' tents at Fort Pamir
  57. Russians and Kirghiz at Fort Pamir
  58. The conglomerate terrace on which Fort Pamir stands .
  59. Landscape near Fort Pamir, looking north-west (Russian officers returning from a hunt)
  60. Togdasin Beg
  61. Mus-tagh-ata seen from the north
  62. Our caravan in the valley of the Ghez-daria
  63. The Ghez-daria
  64. Bridge over the Ghez-daria
  65. Shang, Dao Tai of Kashgar
  66. Garden of the Russian consulate in Kashgar
  67. Cattle and sheep near Kara-yilga
  68. A Kirghiz aul in the eastern Pamirs
  69. Kirghiz mother with her boys
  70. A Kirghiz baiga
  71. Kirghiz children
  72. West shore of Little Kara-kul
  73. Our camp at Yanikkeh, eastern shore of Little Kara-kul
  74. Mus-tagh-ata from Bassyk-kul, looking south-south-east
  75. Bassyk-kul and Bassyk-kulden-kiasi-davan
  76. The Lower Bassyk-kul and the Mus-tagh chain
  77. Gorumdeh glaciers, looking south
  78. Sketch map of Mus-tagh-ata
  79. Sarimek and Kamper-kishlak glaciers, looking south-east
  80. The Yam-bulak glacier and its portal in the Mus-tagh-ata
  81. On the Yam-bulak glacier, looking east
  82. View from the Yam-bulak glacier, looking west
  83. The glacier stream of the Yam-bulak glacier, looking east
  84. Building a Kirghiz yurt
  85. Mus-tagh-ata seen from the west
  86. The yaks taking a rest on the lower slopes of the Mus-tagh-ata
  87. Togda Bai Beg
  88. The Terghen-bulak glacier
  89. The Chal-tumak glacier
  90. Chal-tumak glacier, looking north
  91. The Terghen-bulak glacier, looking south
  92. Starting to ascend Mus-tagh-ata
  93. The right lateral moraine of the Yam-bulak glacier, looking east-south-east
  94. The highest part of the Yam-bulak glacier
  95. Our camp near Yam-bulak-bashi
  96. An old Kirghiz from Sarik-kol
  97. A Kirghiz girl
  98. Yeshil-kul, looking south-east from its western end
  99. Islam Bai and two Kirghiz with the plane-table on the Chum-kar-kashka glacier
  100. Kara-korum, on the south of Mus-tagh-ata
  101. Our makeshift boat on the Little Kara-kul
  102. My horse-skin boat in a heavy storm on the Little Kara-kul
  103. Keng-shevar (the place where the Ike-bel-su issues from the Mus-tagh Range) shrouded in mist
  104. My caravan on the march
  105. Kirghiz girl from Tur-bulung
  106. Group of Kirghiz women
  107. A young wife, of the Kara-teit tribe of Kirghiz
  108. One of my arbas (carts) on the road from Kashgar to Maral-bashi
  109. A dervish from East Turkestan
  110. A saint's shrine in Central Asia (the Atturlik Ata-masar at Tashkend)
  111. Entrance to a bazaar in a Central Asian village
  112. Sandstorm at the edge of the Takla-makan Desert
  113. Marching in a sandstorm
  114. A halt in the desert to water the animals
  115. Camp No. IX., on the shore of the desert lake
  116. "The dunes increased rapidly in height"
  117. A desert sandstorm
  118. Marching along the edge of a sand-dune
  119. Digging the deceitful well
  120. The first two camels abandoned in a dying state
  121. The last five camels
  122. The camp of death
  123. Abandoning the wreck of our caravan
  124. The first tamarisk
  125. Crawling through the forest in search of water
  126. The Author carrying water in his boots, in the bed of the Khotan-daria
  127. "Would you like some water?" I asked
  128. Landscape on the right bank of the Khotan-daria
  129. Attacked by a sandstorm in the bed of the Khotan-daria
  130. Bazaar in a Central Asiatic town
  131. Shop in a bazaar
  132. Street in a town of Central Asia
  133. Crowd at the entrance of a bazaar
  134. Part of Kum-darvaseh, one of the gates of Kashgar
  135. Courtyard of a mosque in Central Asia
  136. A group of Kirghiz and a Chinaman

 

Map of the Tarim Basin and North Tibet

Illustrations ...

VOLUME TWO

  1. Portrait of Islam Bai
  2. Portrait of Author
  3. A shop in a bazaar
  4. A merchant of East Turkestan
  5. A Kirghiz girl
  6. The pass of Ullug-art
  7. A Kirghiz aul, or tent-village
  8. Kirghiz aul near Mus-tagh-ata
  9. Part of the Hindu-kush, near Uprang
  10. End of a glacier at Uprang
  11. Chakmalcden-kul, looking west
  12. Group of Kirghiz from the eastern Pamirs
  13. Mi Darin, the commandant of Tash-kurgan
  14. A Tajik tent in the Taghdumbash Pamirs
  15. Crossing the Raskan-daria
  16. A dervish telling stories
  17. Street in a Central Asian town
  18. Bazaars
  19. Li Darin, the amban (governor) of Kargalik
  20. The village of Guma . .
  21. A potai or " mile-stone " on the road to Khotan
  22. A shrine in Guma
  23. Street and irrigation canal in Guma
  24. Crowd in Muji
  25. The Righistan, or market-place, of Khotan
  26. Chinese silver and bronze coins (new and old)
  27. Terra-cotta objects from Borasan (camels and horses)
  28. Terra-cotta heads from Borasan
  29. Terra-cotta lions' heads from Borasan
  30. Griffins from Borasan
  31. Bronze bodhisatvas from Borasan
  32. Bronze Buddhas from Borasan
  33. Gems from Borasan
  34. Copper vase found at Wash-shahri
  35. Medals found at Khotan
  36. Old copper spoons and iron arrow-head from Tavek-kel
  37. The first ancient city discovered in the desert east of the Keriya-daxia
  38. Plaster Buddhas (from the first ancient city west of Keriyadaria)
  39. Mural painting from the first ancient town east of the Keriya-daria
  40. Mural painting from the first ancient town east of the Keriya-daria
  41. Shepherd family at Tonkuz-basste (Keriya-daria)
  42. Substructure of a house (in the second ancient town of the desert west of the Keriya-daria)
  43. Mohammed Bai
  44. Mohammed Bai's reed hut (sattma)
  45. Head of a wild camel
  46. Head of a tame camel
  47. Crossing the Koncheh-daria
  48. Crossing a branch of the Koncheh-daria coming from Maltak-koll
  49. A refractory camel, crossing the Koncheh-daria
  50. Lop-men on the Tarim, near Kum-chappgan
  51. The reeds of Kara-koll on fire
  52. The Author in a canoe on the Kara-koshun
  53. A little Lop-boy from Sadak-koll
  54. A Lop-man in his canoe
  55. Kunchekkan Beg, of Abdal
  56. The daughter-in-law of Kunchekkan Beg
  57. Boys from Kum-chappgan, Lop-nor
  58. Boating among the reeds of the southern Lop-nor
  59. Village near Khotan (a bazaar-day)
  60. Liu Darin, amban of Khotan
  61. A bazaar-street in Khotan
  62. The chapp or ravine of Tollan-khoja
  63. Togda Mohammed Beg, of Kopa
  64. Our camp in the Sarik-kol valley, looking south
  65. One of our Taghliks
  66. Arka-tagh, seen from the Tibetan plateau (south)
  67. Scene of Littledale's camp, not far from my camp No. VIII, in Northern Tibet
  68. Trial of the Taghlik runaways
  69. The Arka-tagh where we crossed it, seen from our first camp to the south of it
  70. A part of the Arka-tagh, seen from the south
  71. A wounded khulan (wild ass)
  72. A gull (hangheitt) from North Tibet
  73. Sunset at camp. No. XV.
  74. The great salt lake of camp No. XV. (view from its eastern shore)
  75. View, looking west, from camp No. XVIII.
  76. The dead wild yak-cow
  77. The wild yak-bull
  78. The wild yak-bull (front view)
  79. King Oscar Mountain, seen from the north
  80. The salt lake at camp No. XXV.
  81. Our caravan in a hailstorm, Northern Tibet
  82. Lake No. 20, looking east
  83. Lake No. 20, looking north-east
  84. Lake No. 20, looking north-west
  85. A hailstorm approaching the western gulf of Lake No. 20, looking east-south-east
  86. The "kitchen" at camp No. XXXII.
  87. "The yak was on the point of tossing horse and rider on his horns"
  88. The "obo"
  89. Sketch map of Northern China and Mongolia, showing Dr. Hedin's itinerary
  90. Two Mongol men and a boy (Dorcheh at the top)
  91. Rocks at Harato, in the valley of the Yilceh-tsohan-gol
  92. The Author arriving at the first Mongol camp at Yikehtsohan-gol
  93. Terra-cotta burkhans from Lhasa
  94. Gavos, or cases, for burkhans (silver and copper)
  95. Mongol camp in Tsaidam
  96. A "tanka," or temple banner
  97. A Mongol beggar
  98. My Mongol guide, Loppsen
  99. Offerings at the "obo" of Hlakimto
  100. "Tangut robbers ! Tangut robbers!"
  101. "We maintained a vigilant watch against the Tanguts "
  102. A Tangut tent at Dulan-yung
  103. A Tangut boy
  104. A Tangut
  105. The north-western corner of Lake Kol.o-nor
  106. A Tangut boy
  107. Cup, prayer-drum, and prayer-wheels
  108. A lama
  109. Tibetan temple banner
  110. Temple of Tsung Kaba in Kum-bum
  111. Temple banner, showing Lhasa, Kum - burn, Tsung Kaba, etc.
  112. A temple building and a group of lamas in Kum-bum
  113. A temple banner
  114. The main street and market-place in Lusar
  115. One of the gates of Si-ning-fu
  116. An ornamental gate in the interior of Si-ning-fu
  117. Ping-fan
  118. One of the gates of Liang-chow-fu
  119. The interior of a temple outside Liang-chow-fu
  120. The god of war at Liang-chow-fu
  121. Temple outside one of the gates of Liang-chow-fu
  122. Pagoda outside Liang-chow-fu
  123. Gate at Ning-sha
  124. The Great Wall between Kalgan and Peking
  125. Mongol daggers from Kalgan

The Author and The Russian officers at Fort Pamir
 

A Tangut boy
 

Starting to ascend Mus-tagh-ata
 

Togda Bai Beg
 

Tajiks from Roshan
 

The Kirghiz beg of the aul of Murghab
 

The last five camels
 

A Lama
 

A halt in the desert to water the animals
 

Mi Darin, the commandant of Tash-kurgan
 

Mural painting from the first ancient town east of the Keriya-daria
 

 

            

 

 

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