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BR SVEN HEDIN'S TRAVELS.

ADVENTURES IN .CENTRAL ASIA,

On Dr. Sven Hedin'a recent arrival in England Reuters representative had an interview with the cejebrated Swedish explorer, who has lately returned home after accomplishing what may justly be described as the most remarkable-land journey of modern times. His travels in Central Asia occupied three years and three days, and for two and a half years he was entirely cut off from all communication with the outer world. During this period the explorer traversed at least 6000 miles of absolutely unknown lands. The hardship- encountered among tho mountains, and especially in the interminable sand wastes of tho desert's, ivfw at times almost unendurable, and the caravan lost heavily, both in men and an maJs. The tloctor, however, is in the best of health, and says he is nona tha worse for his experiences. During his expedition Dr. Sven lie-din made two atUmpis to re_d_ Lhassa, disguised aa a Mongcuan pilgrim, and succeeded in getting within one day's journey of that mysterious centre, when he was turned back. The result- of the expedition will prove of the highest scientific va.iu, as the explorer has culiosted an imnier_.a amount of data, rncludihg a map 1000 feet long, in 1149 sheets, and nearly 3000 photographs. The scientific data will, take several years to work at, and will bo inauded in a book of five volumes and an atlas of two volumes. RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION. The general outline of the explorer's jour-n-?y had a-ready been telegrapiied to England ; but Dr. Sven Hedin courteously gave to Reuters representative some fiesh dttaik of his remarkable experiences. He said: — "'lhe reiUits of my expt-u-won, tn.i_ a _.ograplucal point of view, are the mapping of 000. miles of new country, and, m consequence, a complete alteration of the existing charts of Central Asia, The vexed question of the ancient Lake Lob has also bc-n finally disposed of, as I shall show i.ater- On its shores I have discoveied ruined cities and temples, and manuscripts -which will shed much light on the political and physical conditions of lite region in the third century. I have determined the astiononucai. position of 113 places. To deal with the whole of tihe journey in the limits of an interview is quite impossible; but I will giv#_om_ of the most striking incidents of my travtiS. , DYING FROM THE ____T UPWARDS. "The hardest part of the Expedition was my experience in Thibet. During my second journey from Charkllk to Ladakh, which lasted eight months, I lost nearly the whole of my caravan, owing to- the enormous altitudes at which we were travelling, toome vague idea of this may be gathered when I tell you that even in the valley-' we were higher than, the, summit of Mont Blanc. The mere act of bre_thing was most difficult, and on this one trip four of my companions died, simply for this reason—they cou-d not breathe. When we came to our evening campingground two of these devoted follower- were found stark dead on ih-ir camels. The others died gradually from their feet up- I warc_i, retaining itheir senses to the end, the brain being" the last to be attacked. The experience was weird and awful, and certainly the worst I have ever had. I was not affected to the same degree, but I was quite unable to march, and had J o remain immovable in -he saddle the whole day. "Even to unbutton one's coat meant acute pain and tension to an overwrought heart, which, literally, was at the point of breaking. The poor animals, too, suffered much. Out of 45 horses I lost 44, and 30 out of 39 camels left their bones in these terrible altitudes. My only safety lay in the fact that I never left the saddle for a single moment from morning till we pitched camp in the evening. Had I done so, my heart, too, would probably have given way. During this one Thibetan journey of a thousand miles icy gales blew in our faces' the whole way. Bad as my former experiences of the sand wastes of the Takhla _iaka_ Desert were, I would scoiter endure them ten times over than again cross Thibet. ACROSS THE UNTRODDEN DESERT. "The meat difficult desert journey was from _angikul to the Oherchen Daria. The d. stance was only 180 miles, but it was cno vast sea of sand, with dunes from 300fi. to 400 ft high, and it took us three weeks. The dis-tance was double that which was covered in my 1896 Expedition, when I lost the whole of my caravan, except two men and one camel. During this last journey the mercury almost froze, the 'thermometer registering 33deg. below zero,- but on the whole the weather conditions were favourable. I entirely recognised the gravity of this trip, and so I only had with me four Mohammedan comp__i__s, seven camels, and one horse, and we all came through except one camel. Of course, we never met a single soul,' for we were the first living beings to cross this desert waste. Four of my can_?ls were laden with blocks of ice—for there was no water—-nd two camels carried our supply of wood. Had either one or the other given out we should never have survived. My men were plucky and would have followed' me anywhere, but _s day after day the sand dimes grew higher and higher, and the camels Rank a foot or more into tha soil at every step, my companions began to lose heart. We were but half through when they said we should ■sieve? come out alive. Secretly I was of the same opinion, especially a-s our ice and wood had almost gone. Suddenly a change <___>, and we were overjoyed at the approach of heavy snowstorms." This entailed hardship of another character, as we had no tent with us, and on waking in the mornings we had to di? ourselves out of ihe snow, but it supplied us with wat?r. and so enabled us to cross "this part of the Gobi desert, never before trodden by man." THE ATTEMPT TO REACH LHASSA. Speakinjr of his experiences near Lhassa Dr. Sven H* din said: —" In the summer I made two attempts to reach Lhassa. Leaving; the bulk of my caravan behind, on th* first occasion I started off with only two companions, four horses, and five mules. We did not deceive ourselves as to the

risk we ran if w* were caught. One of my companions had been in Lhassa, and from him I learned something of the place, and he—in -fact, all of us—h_S quite made up our minds that discovery meant, death. The city itself, which is not very extensive, and consists mostly of temples, would at that period of the year be very full, owing to the pilgrim caravans which go there during the sumnter. The Dalai Laroa, I was informed, vl-as a man of great stature, 27 years of age, who never leave* his house, where he is continually engaged in his devotions. We disguised ourselves as Mongolian pilgrims, and our 'getup' was perfect, but in this mysterious land it seems that everything is* known. We journeyed along quietly, little thinking that the isolated shepherds and yak hunters we passed were watching us keenly, and that they had sent off mounted messengers to Lhassa, reporting that three strangers had left a big caravan, and were travelling towards the place. But on we wont; no one molested us, and as we nenred our destination we continually jwsed collections of black tents, whose inhabitants were suspicious, but kind. So we got to within one day's ride of Lhassa. when one dark night we were suddenly surrounded by Thibetans, all armed to tne teeth, who told us that if we attempted to move we should be killed. There were many Lamas among our captors, and one aged priest, who was kindness itself to us. On making us prisoners the first thing they did was to request me to remove a pair of big black spectacles. They said I was an Englishman, and as such expected me to have blue eyes. But they were surprised when mine were found to be dark. We were kept close prisoners. Thirtyseven guards were put round my tent, and there was a perfect network of bonfires at night to prevent any attempt at escape. Of course, we were helpless—three unprotected men among hundreds of annel Thibetans, but I think, even at this tiuK*. so leng after the event, my surprise °t not being killed is greater than my chagrin at being stopped 'from carrying out my plan. A PRISONER AMONG THE THIBETANS. "We were kept prisoners for five day« while they sent for the Governor of Xaktchu to come down and deal with ua Our captors persistently refused all informaticn about Lhassa. and declined to say why we were stopped. They merely replied that if we moved we should bs killed. I found them very ignorant, knowing nothing of the outside world, but from what I saw and heard I am convinced that their object in keeping up the idea of sanctity and isolation of Lhassa is based on political, and not on religious grounds. At the end of five days the Thibetan Governor arrived, accompanied by 67 high dignitaries, all on horseback, and clad in the very richest garments. They, too, insisted that I was an Englishman, and tola me that the Dalai Lama himself had seuf a message that I was to be well treated and supplied free of all cost with anything I wanted, but that if I made the slightest show of resuming my journey towards Lhassa I was to be killed. Then they released us, escorting us to the frontier of Naktchu, with five officers and 20 soldiers. Notwithstanding this experience, I soon made a second attempt—this time with the whole of my caravan. I travelled from a different direction, but three days from Lhassa I was stopped by _ body of 500 cavalry, well armed with nfles, swords, pikes, and lances. This time I did not look for any mercy, but again my treatment left nothing to be desired. One of the officers told me that he had a .letter from the Dalai Lama to the effect that the troops would lose their heads if I went on. This force followed us for ten days, to see. that I did not make a third attempt/ I am quite sure that it is impossible for a European to penetirate to Lhassa even in disguise. Now, of course, the vigilance of the officials will be much greater than before." REMAINS,, OF PAST CIVILISA-TONS. .The explorer then proceeded' to give some new details concerning his visit 'to Lob Nor. "The site of this ancient lake," he said, "I found to be merely a dried-up depression. The d solation was awful, and there was no sign of organic life of any kind. It was a dead country. On the Northern shorts T discovered ruined temples and houses with- high ■ towers. I found four villages on one direct line within a few miles cf one another. Thete were remains of wide streets, avid the., rums showed that some of tha temples mucti have been very fine structures. Amon?. the ruins I found cait wheals, iron axes, gieat jars of clay, and a nunicei ot manuscripts, written in ordinary Chinese, which I proved to be 1600 years old. One of these letters, which I deciphered,, was from an official, saying that an army with forty officers was to arrive at that places and making arrangements for its reception ou the shor* of Lob Nor. The dreariness of the neighbourhood was enhanced by the bleached remains of immense forests. Many of the dead trees were standing up, but in the majority of cases they were prone on the ground. They were as brittle as glass." There is no doubt that 1600 years, ago a great postal highway extending" from Peking to Kashgar existed—probably the longest road in the world. ANOTHER DEAD SEA. ' Dr. Sven Hedin also had some weird experiences in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, which he discovered in Eastern Thibet. "This was," he said, "of enormous extent, but not very deep. I navigated its waters in my little collapsible boat through some terrible gales, in somof which we almost lost our lives. It contains an incredible quantity of. salt, of which the bottom is an unbroken crust. Our boats, oars, dresses, eve ything were ns white as snow, and the wale., when dropped on the ground, formed into white globules. All around was a howling wilderness. During this part of my journey another of my attendants died—-an Afghan —whom, poor fellow, .we found dead orr his camel, having met his end in the same mysterious manner as some of~_vy other companions."

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19030122.2.13

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11488, 22 January 1903, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,148

BR SVEN HEDIN'S TRAVELS. Press, Volume LX, Issue 11488, 22 January 1903, Page 3

BR SVEN HEDIN'S TRAVELS. Press, Volume LX, Issue 11488, 22 January 1903, Page 3

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