Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-03-13
Mistellaneuus Readins.
EXPLORED TIBET IN SECRET.
Remarkable Journeys Of the Pundit
Ak,

Ak.
The survey of India has produced
in its annual report the portrait Of
the greatest Of native Indian explor'
ers. He was known to geographer:
for years as the Pundit AK. Hi:
identity was not revealed as long a.
he was likely to be employed again ir
J the exploration of Tibet, where nc
white man or East Indian was per.
mitted to travel.
When he became superannuated
the government gave AK a grant OF
| land and other rewards for his re-
markable services, and since then he
has been known as the Pundit Krish-
ma. The story Of his wanderings fol
nine years in a forbidden land, even
when told in the plain, dry style OF
official reports, reads like a romance
There was not a waking moment
when he was not acting a part. 5trr
on the frontier Of Tibet, he could talk
the language Of the country like ma
tive, and this was his one great ad-
vantage.
He travelled always as a Tibetan
now as merchant with a considera-
BILE stock Of goods, then as an itinerant
pedler, again as a Buddhist devotee
reciting sacred verses from hamlet
to hamlet, and on two or three occa-
sions, when necessity compelled, he
secured employment as a herder OF
sheep and goats.
II his secret had been discovered
his pife would have paid the penalty
He was in peril many times and was
occasionally arrested and detained as
suspicious character, but he always
hadla straight story to tell, and the
truth was never known till he was liv-
ing in the retirement and peace
which he had earned.
His greatest mishaps were that rob-
bers despoiled him twice of nearly
everything he could use in paying his
way. Otherwise he never met with
any personal i'll treatment, and the
reports he made are remarkable for
the absence Of any expression Of ami
mostly against those who did him
harm.
The Indian government thought II
politically Of great Importance to
learn more about the vast closed
country to the north, in which were
hidden the resources Of three of the
greatest of India's rivers-the Indus
the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra. So
the government trained a number OF
Hindus who gave promise of becom-
ing intelligent and skillful observers
and taught them the arts of explora-
ton.
They learned how to make route
surveys and to determine heights and
latitudes. 1t was strongly impressed
upon them that they must keep an
unbroken record Of the bearings and
distances on their routes from place
to place and also determine few lat
itudes. With this information a fairly
accurate map might be made of their
travels.
They were to obtain distances by
counting their PAGES. This is a very
tiresome thing to do, but the Pundit
AK kept it up for practically every
step on his Journeys through Tibet.
Sometimes he was so we'll to do
that he had two or three horses to
carry his trade goods, and the people
thought it astonishing that they never
saw him riding. Once he was clapped
into Jail by the governor of a district
who thought him worth watching. He
was released through the good office;
Of lama. or Buddhist priest, who
had seen him before and thought hin,
the humblest and most devout man
he had ever met.
The lama invited the Pundit to his
monastery 600 miles away through
an unexplored region, and the explor-
er had to ride horse to keep up with
the party. He counted every pace OF
his horse, kept up all his scientific
observations. and no ono was the wis
err
The way he contrived to lull suspi-
cion all through his four great jour-
neys was very effective and ingenious
He managed matters so that the more
scientific work he did the larger grew
his reputation as Tibetan Of remark
able sanctity. AS he walked his lips
were always moving and it was evil
dent that he was praying.
Appearances are deceptive, for he
was merely counting his PAGES under
his breath He was always lingering
his Buddhist rosary and every minute
or so he would drop a bead. This act
did not record another prayer utter
ed, but one hundred PAGES walked.
And then the Tibetan prayer barrel
was always slung over his shoulder
the instrument that places a prayer
to the credit Of the devout person
every time he revolves it. But the bar
rel was packed with tiny field books
and surveying instruments. and no one
ever thought of looking in so harm
less a place for anything contraband
Thus the rosary and the prayer bar
rel were Of much practical service as
surveying instruments, and their con-
stant use gave the explorer an air of
the highest responsibility and propri-
ETY..
1t was necessary at one time for
him to travel about 200 miles in COM
pany with a party, and this was the
only occasion when he did not dare to
take any observations for latitude or
heights or to use his surveying instru-
ments in any way. 1t was near the end
Of his last and most remarkable jour-
ney when he had in his prayer barrel
the results Of about four years of in
cessant field work, and all would be
lost if he had any serious mishap. He
dared not run the risk
On his last journey the explorer
spent several months in Lhasa and
collected a great deal of information
about the holy city which enabled the
survey of India to print the first de-
tailed account of this centre of the
Ruddhist faith since Fathers Hue and