The sun., 1903-12-13
...--60AfE-sNEW hooks.
Central Asia.

,tien..vhjch has been published Tor some
wears will be found set forth in two volumes
'Ecollectiyely entitled Central Asia and
Tibet. by SVEN HEDIN (Scribners) This
lisa narrative of the authors latest travels
hn'. Asia, together With description OF
,th& regions which he crossed and recrossed
sth6 total distance traversed being some
six khousand English miles. AS the book
* .,HSnded for the general reader. the scien'
'tiffcstesu Of the journey are only cursoriiy
Indicated. detailed account Of them being
reserved for a separate work. which Is ef-
ipected to appear in the course OF the next
three years. As he does not pretend
to be a historical or an archaeological
soholar, the author quotes the opinions
of Prof. Himly and Mr.. Mccartney. who
are known to be conversant with such SUBJ
,jects lin reference to the ruins Of the ancient
towns which he discovered beside Lake
J.op-nor. We should note in passing that
We are Indebted for the English version OF
the present work to Mr.. j. T. Bealby, who
translated the authors Through Asia"
! or the twelve hundred pages comprised
in this capacious work. there are very few
that can be safely overlooked by readers
interested in central Asia. There are GER
tain parts of tho narrative, however, that
seem worthy of particular attention. We
refer to the sections of the second volume
which describe the authors journey across
the waterless desert Of Cow; which sum
up his observations among the ruined
towns of Lou Ian. that may be termed a
vanished country, and which recount an
unsuccessful dash for Lassa, the forbidden
city of Tibet. Nevertheless, the author
managed TO see good deal Of Tibet
sand what he has to tell will prove helpful
10 thoae who would forecast the future Of
that country, .,.., ,.....-. a...,s, ..
From political point of view, his book
would have been commended by another
memorable feature had he been permitted
to carry out his original plan Of proceeding
from Merv to the fortified post which the
Russians are known to have constructed
on the road to Herat. At Askavad he
asked the station master. a Finn, whose
ACQUAINTANCE he had made some years
befoIe, TO give orders for the funcoupling of
his railway carriage at Merv, and for at
taching il to the 6tst tisantthat rhn down to-
the much talked dY fortress of Kushk
He. pIssented his railway ticket. which
&aid that aDr- Sven. Hedin is to be granted
ires 1raAssaEe for himself and his belonging
SvSri all che imperial Russian railways.
SoShr1n Enfops and ,Asid.r' On seeing the
ticket, the station master smiled sgnifi-
6aptly. .apd drew forth from his pocket
book a telegram from the Russian Minister
of War to the following effect "In case
DIR. Sven Hedin should contemplate going
TO Kusbk, please inform him that this par
'ticular line is closed to all travellers In
our authors opinion. the Russians are quite
right to keep jealous watch upon a place
o. SO great strategic importance. He
was told ahat, the line was kept closed,
even to ordinary Russians, and that nobody
was allowed to use it except those who
formed the. garrison at Kushk.
t 1t was at kashgar. which he reached
the l7thp pf August. 1859. that DR.. Hedin or
ganized and equipped a caravan with
which .he ,meant to penetrate the deserts
of inaeumost Asia. He, seems to have
been helped in every possible way by the
Russian 'Consul-General Pet rovsky, who
welded what n described as a we'll nigh
pmnipotent influence in Eastern Turkestan.
Kashgar, it win he remembered, was re-
coEared from Yakub Bey by the Chinese,
who have since retained possession of it
II was from Kashgar that Or. Hedin started
FOR the Iop country. To reach 1t he had
first to float down the lonely Tarim River.
and then to traverse the Takla Maxim
desert, W hich is described as land Of per-
petual twilight if' ',7 .
:r.-,s.N ].
Near the site ofthe ancient but now buried
city of Lop-nor our author found the re-
mains of what was once Buddhist temple.
The outcome OF his excavations proved that
this edifice must have been gem OF artistic
construction. Il can imagine" he says.
ehow beautiful a spot it was-the temple
with it's elegant facade, which was probably
painted, al we'll as adorned with wood carv-
hgs, embowered amid shady poplar groves,
with On arm of the lake touching it, and the
green OF yellow reed beds spread all round
It, except where they wsre interrupted by
patches Of cultivated ground, irrigated by
tAewaterof, winding canals. Round about it
1t were scattered villages, their clay towers
peepihs over the tops of woods, and high
enough to show signal fires to neighboring
han3lets when danger or war threatened,
but. in times of peace marking the great
highway which passed near thh sacred spot.
Hputhwardstretched far and wide the BLUSH
green waters Of the lake d,op-nor) net about
With groves and bordered by immense ex-'
IhIlScs vi icChS uiiu seiBC' SwdifllHH WIFI
fish, wild duck and wild geese. The back
grdufid OF the picture to the north would be
then. as now. in clear weather. the Kurruk-
tagh. where the people were in touch with.
Springs and GASES. and across which road
led to Turfan. In other words,
II was plain to us pilgrims of a laterage that
this region had once been more beautiful
than any now existing in East Turkestan
For at the present day one could nowhere
find in that part of Asia houses decorated
with such tasteful and artistic feeling as
these we're, And it requires no great effort
OF imagination to conceive how effectively
the dense masses OF foliage and their vivid
greenness would show up the architecture"
With such picture is contrasted the present
scene of desolation. What has caused the
extraordinary change? DR.. Hedin answers:
ut is simply because river. the Tarim,
has changed it's course. and now empties
itself into new lakes further to the South.
The ancient lake 1.-THE old Iop-norl would
seem to have dried up very quickly, perhaps
in the course ofa few years, though the for
ests and the reeds subsisted for long time
upon the moisture which had been absorbed
nv the proundr Now howeyer the ,nost