The San Francisco call., 1898-04-05
& :. 8 8 . :: 8 8 EMBARRASSMENT aaaaa s 8 
 SVEN FED1N IN THE HFAPT OF ASIA 

petition over the "Pamirs" and through Thibet, recently accomplished by Dr. Sven Hedin, the Swedish naturalist. has attracted great attention in European circles.
 Dr. Hedins journey lasted some three years and half, during which long peri cd his routes covered a large part Of Gen. tral Asia, crossed and recrossed them selves on the Pamirs and the Hindoo koosh as well as on the sandy deserts of Chinese Turkestan, and then on through Thibet to Peking. whence he turned back to the northwest and reached Europe again by way of Irkutsk and the Trans Siberian Railroad.
 Choosing Russian Turkcstan for his point of departure, the explorer reached the foot of the PamirS by way Of Tas- kend early in 1893. This region. fifteen years ago, by Mahometan fanaticism, was closed entirely to Europeans. but since then the Russians, with their Trans-Cas- plan Railroad and their marvellous way of dealing with these most refractory people, have brought them well under the influences of European civilization As proof of this, among other things, pr. Hedin has a photograph of a dervish tell ing the news to group or ms lelio" Mussulmans against the wall of a mosque. It is we'll known that the law Of Mahomet forbids its adherents from having tnelr features reproduced in any way. LIT. lie din has numbers of such photographs. showing that the religious sensibilities Of these natives are becoming less acute
 The assault of the "Pamirs" was begun on the 23d of February, 1884, This quad rilateral mountain mass Is surrounoeo oy mighty crests, some of whose peaks' as that of Mustag-Ata, reach helgnt or 25 900 feet and more. Polar winter reishs in these elevated regions until late spring and the cold was intense, &S degrees O' below zero on April l.
 This was not the greatest obstacle, how ever. The "Mal de Montague" (mountain sickness) was terrible The rarefacuon of the air made travelling painfully dim- cult often impossible. Suffocation, nau- sea and vomiting, with intense headaches rendered the men incapable or exertlon' while the horses. not less sensitive to the variations of atmospheric pressure, often fell under their charges.
 This extraordinary region has few 1n- habitants. The forms of the women in a group photographed in front of one or their habitations do not remind one or the Venus de Milo.
 From the Pamirs, Hedin went through the Tarim basin and the Takla-Makan resert to Lab Nor, the phenomenal lake which, filling with the sand driven by the wind the principal formative agent in this country, shifts its position from time to time over a range of 100 miles from north to south.
 The Takla-Makan is a vast sandy soli- tude more desolate than the Sahara and without oases or springs. No European ever before attempted it's passage. Re tarded by sand storms In crossing 1t the water supply gave out and two of his men perished from thirst, while pr. Hedin himself was only saved from a like death by his energy and will power.
 Dr. Hedin afterward traversed the mountain deserts of Thibet, living for months at an altitude of 13,000 feet. He replaced his horses with camels. which with wonderful endurance drew his tar antass, primitive travelling carriage, over the moving sands as we'll as the mountain steeps with little or no food or water for days at a time.
 Reaching Picking on February 3. 1897 and resting for some time, Dr. Hedin again turned to the interior. and crossing the Mongolian deserts via Ourga and Kiachta arrived later in the year at Irkutsk. and returned with more comfort than he had known for a long time to Sweden.