The sun., 1898-12-18

Ikeceut hApioEbtiuhb IN Nho "NhFb W FAHiHs
The record OF one OF the most remarkable Of
the explorations accomplished in our time will
he found set forth In the two volumes com
prisinR the work entitled Through Asia, by
gtEN HEDIN tHarpersl This is a popular mar
rative OF the journeys performed by the author
through some OF tho most inaccessible parts Of
inner Asia during the years 1893 20 1897 1t Ia
written for the general public. and presents
scarcely anything more than a description OF
his travels and OF his more memorable expe-
yiences The great bulk Of the scientific OBJ
uervations made finds no place IN the present
volumes although the geoRrapher will be able
20 discover in them many interesting data.
The author contents himself with a bare
mention OF tho scientific labors upon
which the chief part OF his time. energy
and attention was expended, to wit:
tho drawing OF geological sections Of the
meridional border ranges on the east sido
of tho Pamirs, and OF the mountain chains OF
the Kwen-lun system the collecting OF anthro-
pometrcal measurements from number OF
Eirghz: an inquiry into the periodical migra-
tions OF the nomads: study OF the etymoloRy
Of the geographical nomenclatures; the meas
urement OF the volume OF every river crossed; ;
bathymetrlcal soundings in tho lakes, and the
accumulation OF botanical specimens. more
especially OF alg@ from the lofty Alpine regions
of the Pamirs and Tibet. Special heed was also
given to the taking OF meteorological observa-
tions regularly three times day. Another
important task was the collection Of vou-
minous materials dealing with the geo.
graphical character and extent OF the Des-
srt OF Cobb. as also with the complicated
river system OF the Tarim. which our explorer
was enabled to study at many different points
all tho way from the Pamirs and the highland
regions OF Tibet down to the termination OF
~ t, ba fa nf lalya Of Nor
Mr.. Hedin further noted the periodical fuctu-
ations in the volumes OF the Central Asiatc
rivers: how. during the summer. they swell to
Hood-like dimensions and then, In many cases.
dwindle away during the winter to laltry rivu-
let's or even dry up altogether. and how these
fluctuations occur with unvarying regularity.
representing so to speak. the ebb and flow
that accompany the heart beats OF the mighty
continent.
As soon as Mr.. Hedin had passed beyond the
fairly well-known regions OF the Russian
Pamirs. he took up In the summer of 1894. the
strictly Typographical division Of his labors..
and with diopter plane table and calculation
OF PAGES. meas ued the environs OF the lake
Little Kara-kul; he next mapped the glaciers
of that king of the Central Asiatic mountain
giants. Mus-tagh-ata. After that he surveyed
every route he travelled over during the years
1994-95-o6 and the early part OF 1897. Never
for single day were these surveying labors
remitted. Throughout the whole of the long
red line which marks his travels through Asia.
there is not single break up to the
day, March 2. 1897 when he rode in at the
gate OF Pekn and recorded his last entry on the
b52d sheet OF his field book. or surveying
journal. As rule, our explorer laid down his
maps on the scale 49, 900 Across the level of
the expanses. however. he worked to the scale
1:200.0 900: and. in mountainous regions. where
the road wound through deflles where numer-
GUS side valleys Joined the main valley, and
where the morphological character OF the sur
face underwent frequent and varying changes.
he used the minor scale OF / 10000. The aggre-
gate distance of the route mapped by him in
this way amounted to $500 English miles;
that is to say, nearly four ard a half times
the distance from London to Constantinople.
two and half times the distance from New
York TO San Francisco and one half times
the distance from Cairo to Cape Town; in other
words more than quarter OF the earth's cir
cumference If to this be added more than
eight Thousand miles which he travelled by
carriage or rail in the better known portions of
the Asiatic continent, We get. for the entire
extent Of his travels. grand total of 1900
miles. or more than the distance from the
North Pole to the South Pole. The rate OF
travel of his caravans. calculated from the re-
suits OF the whole of the journey. averaged
little over % miles an hour We should here
note that out Of the aforementioned $3.50
miles no fewer than 2,020 were through re-
gions which no European had ever before
visited Over certain portions of the re-
manning $500 miles one traveller had pre-
ceded him: over other portions, two trav-
ellers: but in no case, more than three. De-
spite the fact that. in certain sections OF his ex-
plorations. he had one or more predecessors,
his observations. even there, may lay claim to