The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-02-06
WITHIN FORTY MILES OF LHASA.
Experiences of English Travellers In the
UnexpIored Wilds of Thibet.

Experiences OF English Travellers In the
Unexp1ored Wilds of Thibet.
st. George Littledale and Mrs. Little
dale have just returned to England after
accomplishing a remarkable and hazard-
Gus journey across Thibet. They were &C
companied by Mr.. Littledale's nephew,
w. A. Fletcher.
The party left England in the autumn OF
1894. They entered the north of Thibet
from Kashgar across the Kuen-lun Noun
tains by the Cherchen River with great
caravan of horses, mules and donkeys.
The travellers kept well to the west of the
route followed by Prince Henry of Orleans
and Nj. Bonvalot. For two months they
were travelling at an altitude of 1900 feet,
and on their approach to Lhasa had to
cross difficult pass, rising to height Of
about 10000 feet.
The hardships that were endured were
most trying to all, and Mrs. Littledale suf-
fered seriously. OF about a hundred ami
mails only score or so succeeded in reach
ing the neighborhood of Lhasa. The re-
suit was that Mr. .Littlefeld had to aban-
don most of his collections, including
many natural history specimens. Still, he
has succeeded in bringing home a fair col
lection of birds.
By the pass referred to above the party
succeeded in reaching within forty miles
of Lhasa, nearer than any European has
got since the days of Able Hue. This sue
cess was not attained without risk. Leav-
ing the pass was a troop of $50 men armed
with matchlocks, who threatened to fire
| If the party dared to pass. No one was
more determined to go on than Mrs. Little
dale, although there were only three armed
Sepoys with the party. AS matter OF
fact the travellers did pass through the
| gantlet of matchbox men, not one of whom
fired shot.
Mr.. and Mrs. Littledale had quite made
up their minds to enter Lhasa. They
would have done so, but when they
camped, after crossing the pass, the dom
keys, on which were all their baggage,
provisions, ETC., had not turned up, and,
| indeed, they did not do so till after the
lapse OF some time. Partly on this &C
count and partly on account of Mrs.
Littledale's health, Mr.. Littledale deter
| mined not to force the position, but to
turn westward toward Ladak. The Thibet-
ans insisted on the party returning as they
came, across the terrible pass, but this
| they absolutely refused to do, and, as
usual, on the display of frmness, the
Thibetans yielded and allowed the
! travellers to 60 their own way. Mr.. Little
dale would have liked much to go south
! into Sikkim, but under the circumstances
| this was impossible. He therefore pro-
ceeded northwest by Tengri-Nor and the
group of lakes which lie between that and
Dadak. The party arrived at Srinagar q
few weeks ago.
| Although Mr.. Littlefeld did not succeed
in actually entering Lhasa, he has accom-
| plished far more than any one expected he
would do, considering the conditions un-
der which he Travelled. He has traversed
very great extent of unexplored country,
both in approaching Lhasa and in leaving
| it. His map is an admirable piece of work
in view of the circumstances under which
it must have been executed. There are
about thirty sheets, each about eighteen
| inches square, on which are plated, with
wonderful minuteness. the features OF the
country through which the party passed
| The scale of the map is five miles to the
lnchs 1t forms substantial addition tc
the least known part of Central Asia. AL
together the expedition promises to take 6
high rank IN the history of geographical
| exploration london Times