The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-02
Remarkable Traveller.

Sven Anders Hedin. the Swedish ex-
plorer-whose name is pronounced
double "e,'' with the accent on the
second sylable-is not outranked by
any other traveller of modern times,
with the possible exception of Henry
NJ. Stanley. The medal conferred up
on him, in absentia, at the meeting of
the Philadelphia Geographical Society,
last Wednesday evening was in recog-
milton of series of notable ascieVe-
ments, beginning with his Mespota-
milan journeys of 1885 when a lad of
20, and including in the quarter CEN
fury since that year the waste places
of central Asia, Mongolia, Siberia, and
in particular the country of Tibet.
1.-The roof of the world His last
he has just returned was in some re-
spects the most Interesting of all
Since the British. under Younghus-
band and Macdonald, in 1903, entered
the holy city of LI1asa and effected a
commercial treaty there had been an
understanding between the govern
ment of India and that of Tibet that
foreigners were to be vigorously ex-
cluded from the country. The mem
bers of the British expedition of 1903
had been the first Englishmen to en-
ter the sacred city since. in 1912,
Thomas Manning, the friend of Charles
Lamb, gazed upon the gold-roofed
palace of the grand lama. According
~ WIGH sven I1SOlIl applied u Tic
British government for permission to
enter the country he was met with a
courteous but firm refusal. He waited
at SimlaL for some weeks as the guest
of the viceroy, the Earl of Mimic, until
the ultimatum came from the prime
minister himself, in London, that the
mountain passes leading into Tibet
were closed absolutely to the intrepid
Swedish traveller
Nothing daunted, Hedin procuered,
lS-1,
| lister in London, a passport for eastern
| Turkestan, to the north of Tibet, and
under pretext of journeying thither en-
tered the forbidden country surrepti-
| tiously at the northwestern corner.
For nearly three months after leaving
the frontier town of Leh he did not
meet human being outside of his own
party. He frequently encamped at e1e-
vations between 1900 and $4,000
| feet. The whole country was a
dreary, treeless waste, absolutely desti-
tute of any signs of previous human
occupancy. AS fast as his baggage
animals died off, the ravens. vultures,
and wolves made short work of the
remains, the birds beginning their
hideous repast by picking out the eyes
| of these faithful horses and mules,
which were gradually replaced by the
! shaggy yaks (Tfbetan oxen) purchas-
! ed from the natives when the
! caraven came to the first wretched
| nomad encampments. OF several score
of animals, six horses and one mule
were left when they reached the town
| of Shigaste. where the Tashi Lama
| (Spiritual pope of the Tibetans) is in
! residence. DR.. Hedin had two pro-
tracted interviews with his holiness, a
young nan of %. of whose engaging
| personal qualities he gives most en-
thusiastic description.
/ The most remarkable contribution to
| geographical science of DIR. Hedin's ex-
/ pedition-and with the possible ex-
4 ception of the attainment of the poles,
the most remarkable conquest remain
ing for any explorer to make-was the
discovery of range of mountains In
northern Tibet. in the white area
marked "unexplored" on the Royal
Geographical Soeiety's map This
mounteip range which its discoverer
has named Trans imalaya, is long
4 enough to reach from Philadelphia to
i Denver, and in many places attains ar
altitude of more than 10000 feet
above sea level. Uutil Hedin's lonely
and adventurous voyage European
geographers were unaware of its ex-
istence.
There can be no reasonable doubt OF
the authenticity Sof .Hedin's discoveries
Gifted with the constructive and ro-
mantle imagination that justifies the
appellation of the Swedish minister
"a Kipling with a sextant,' Hedir
likewise has the severely scientific
habit of mind that analyses and
weighs submitted evidence: upon thi:
latest journey he constantly took OBJ
servations and made some 900 maj
sheets under the most adverse and diff
ficult conditions. His results have re-
peatedly been submitted to the scru-
tiny of "juries of his peers" in the
learned societies of Europe. and his
good faith and sound scholarship
have never ben called in question
Philadelphia Public Ledger
I T-x-ar,bod,- reads ~. journal