BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1806, 19 July 1913, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

BVEN HEOIN AND TRANS-HIMALAYA Sven Hedin's famous work, "TransHiinalaya; Discoveries and Adventures in Tibet," of which two volumes have already been published, has nOw been completed, a copy of the third and concluding volume reaching me from tho publishers, Macmillan and Co, The courageous Swedish explorer, to whom already iveowe so much nciv information concerning Tibet and the less-known portions of Cen ; tral Asia generally, devotes a largo amount of space in this third volume to a most dotailed and certainly most interesting resume of all the various journeys ' .of exploration which have touched tlio > margin of the central chains of tho Trans-Himalaya. Specially interesting is his account of the courageous work done by the Catholic missionaries in the thirteenth century. - Muiiy good people still imagine that Tibet wa9 first visited by Europeans in quite rccent years. v. , Catholic Missions to Tibet. / As a matter of fact, a European, tho Franciscan monk, Odorico de Pordenone, passed through Tibet, and actually visit--3d the Sacred City of Lhasa as far back as the 'year 132ti. A Jesuit father, Johanns Uriieber, with a fellow-traveller, Albert Dorville, who left Pekin in the year 16111,' successfully made his way through ail Eastefn Tibet, and reached Agra, in India, -in • 1662. A Capuchin mission was in existence in Tibet for four decades, the last missionaries being driven out'of Lhasa in 1745. Their houses were • destroyed, and a hundred years were to to elapse before, missionaries from Europe —the Lazarists, Hue, end Gabet—again penetrated -the holy city. Yet, as late as the year 1901, the English, under Youiighusband, fdund a bronze bell in the Potala (the monastery-place of the Dalai Lama) which had once rung for servioo in the Capuchin Church. These chapters. on the earlier history of European exploration in Tibet are singularly interesting, but much more so is the author's account of his own journey to the sacred Jake of Manasarowar, and the source regions of the great Indian rivers. An Intropid Explorer. To reach the Trans-Himalayan region the traveller has to climb precipitous mountains, 1 ford dangerous rivers, penetrate through dense jungles, and unuergo all the troubles and dangers which arise from- terribly sudden, changes of climate. Sven Hedin, • however, as readers of his earlier works know full well, is not a man to exaggerate the dangers or magnify the difficulties which he ha 3 faced and surmounted during his long years of .wanderings and exploration, in Central Asia. From first to'last,- also, in his latest book there, is no trace' of any desire, to belittle', or .underrate,; the efforts and' achievements' of other , 'travellers— modesty and ''.generosity, .areclearly just as, 'prominent - characteristics 'in. this plucky Swedo as 'are determination and daring. The book- contains .much exceedingly Valuable geographical information, and the omission therefore-of a good sketch map of tho regions traversed and described by the''author is all tho more regrettable. To the general reader, however, the ethnographical-matter and the records .jol.the experiences and adventures will prove more attractive than tho provision of matter for "discussion' by the European geographical societies. 'The author has again much to say on the Buddhist monks who, lias, appear to l>o. as a class, a 9 physically unclean as.they claim to be spiritually pure. He has, also, much to say on the quaint and curious habits and customs of the Tibotati people. Curious Marriage Customs.', He omits to allude, in any detail -to, that most curious-of Tibetan customs,-, polygandry. His. only reference to the customs under which the Tibetan- wife has generally. .rtiore than one i 9 in his account of an interview he had with the chief of C'hokchu. -one. Sonam Ngurbu, whom'Hedin-met at the famous monastery of Sfelipuk. The. chief was on a pilgrimage to the holy mountain of Kang-rinpoche, ■ of' which he would make three circuits, plus one -of tho holy lake at its base. This procedure, so he told the explorer, he followed every third year,, thereby gaining" good luck for himself, his family, and his flocks. As to the chief's martial- relations, Sven Hedin says: • ■ Sonam Ngurbu had two brothers. The three had two wives among them, which .works out at. two-thirds of a' wife per man. These ladies left much to be desired.in feminino grace, cleanliness; and youthfulness, and it is no wonder, that his shore was enough for each brother. - Their faces were painted dark brown, they wore in their cars -silver -plates and pendants ■ of beads and turquoises, ribands hung from their pigtails down their backs, whole sashes, with shells,"rupees, and silver ornaments sewed' thickly on them. How. matrimonial squabbles are settled in such'a singularly composed;family is hard to understand.. Probably they do hot occur. 'In Tibet jealousy is unknown, und conjugal i fidelity- is an unknown and superfluous virtue; .Tibetan Fare, The author got terribly tired of Tibetan food before he reached the end of his journey .and enjoyed the dainty AngloIndian fare provided at the Vico-Regal Lodge at Simla, where, lie says, he was so hospitably entertained. Tibetan mutton is tough, . and it requires Tibetan fangs to chew to pieces tho tough yak meat. The.national beverage, of course, is tea. Even Mr. AVeller, senior, who, it may be remembered, was so exercised in mind at the positively heroic tea-drinking capacity of the female members of the Brick Lane Branch of the United Temperance Association, would have been astounded'at some of the feats of teatippling which Svpn Hedin records. Russians use no milk with their tea, but put pieces of lemon in it, but the Tibetans nave a practice yet more curious to the mind of the average New Zealand patron of the "cup which cheers but does not inebriate." "The beverage," says Sven Hedin, "is mixed with butter, which floats in small yellow blobs on tho top of the tea. . All who drink it have o shining ring of butter round their mouths." N Some General Remarks. For over four years was the Swedish explorer away from Europe.- Twelve years in all has he spent in Central Asia, amassing curious and useful information for the world's benefit. The purely scientific side of his discoveries will be treated in detail in a special work shortly to be published at Stockholm. Meanwhile, the present narrative of the final stages of his wanderings, supplementing and completing, as it does, the two earlier volumes, is sure to attain the wide popularity it deserves. There are a few illustrations and a'full, and in every way admirable index, but the omission of a map was surely a grave mistake. Those who piu-ohnsr; "this book should secure a clothbound copy (price three and sixpence) for the publishers have generously given the reading public a "colonial" edition. The copy sent mo is a paper-backed edition, ami no book of such permanent interest value as this work of Sven Hedin's can long be preserved in so flimsy and completely unsatisfactory a covering as inert; paper. I wonder why the English publishers still publish these paper backs: Many book-buyers, so tho booksellers tell me, simply refuse to look at them.. 4very man his own builder/ Tn« title is-decidedly attractive, foi ttio't of U-" have our own ideas as tc houso-building, arid would vastly like t< he able tu carry them out. As a rul(

thfl possession of such an idea on the client's part is regarded as a mortal sin by the arohitect and builder, all of the present time,' but in default of tho necessary courage and knowledge to build his own house himsolf, the client is powerless and generally humbles himself before tho imperious expert. And yet if ono cculd build one's own house oneself! Well, hero is a book, "Every Man His Own Builder" (Crosby, Lockwood and Son; per Whitcombe and Tombs), in which Mr. G. Gordon Samson tells you how to do it. It is claimed by tho publishers that the author "must be given the credit of having succeeded to an extent whioh will astonish those even who are well versed in the technicalities of the building .trade." An early fact which is impressed upon readers is that "the man who has once built unaided only one small room—say, a tiny outhouse, 8 or 0 feet square, for example, if he has formed a fireplace in it, put a floor and a ceiling and a door in it, and roofed it —will never afterwards feel tho slightest fear that he will not be able to build a good-sized house. No one particular operation in building a house is very difficult." The difficulty rather is," as, in most, other thihgs, one of method—of knowing the proper order in which fo do caoli particular thing—and the author has endeavoured in the pages of the book to elucidate all the mysteries and explain all the difficulties that will be encountered, for the benefit of the uninitiated. When one considers,' says an English critic of the book, that out of every. iIOO expended on » house, about one-half, roughly speaking, represents the cost of labour,-it is plain that if a man learns how to build a house himself half his erstwhile insuperable difficulty will be overcome. The subsidiary title of Mr.. Samson's "work is: "A.book for everyone who owns a piece of land." The author has taken for his purpose one particular, and, lie typical, little house, and desoribed each proccss of the building, from the digging out' of the foundations to the putting on of the last coat of paint. Dite allowance made' for the differences between_ building conditions in England and New Zealand, I should imagine, as a layman, that Mr. Samson's book should prove very useful to settlers in new districts,,and to'those who are making new homes and desire to do so at the least possible cost. The author, I may add, has published several works .on domestic architecture. The • volume contains a number of . illustrations and several "detail. drawings," / and its practical utility is enhanced by its excellent index. (Price 65.).