RUSSIA'S GREAT TRAVELLER. Adventures and Discoveries of Colonel Prejevalsky in the Heart of Asia.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 78, 29 November 1884, Page 5

RUSSIA'S GREAT TRAVELLER. Adventures and Discoveries of Colonel Prejevalsky in the Heart of Asia.

Russia, writes a St. Petersburg correspondent of the New York "Sun," is after Asia all the time, the assurances of Russian ,1 diplomats to the contrary notwithstanding. It is enough to say that during the last quarter of a century the Czar has conquered and annexed to his empire in Middle Asia a territory of about 3,000,000 square miles, having over 5,000,000 inhabitants. European Russia constitutes to-day but a quarter of the Czar's possessions, although his European subjects six times outnumber his Asiatic subjects. It seems as if the Czars were preparing an immense territory for a future Russian empire of unexampled magnitude. Be the cause what it may, it is a fact that Russian diplomats, generals, merchants and servants arc all looking eastward. Curiously enough, the Russian generals of to-day who have made themselves famous by their conquests beyond the Captain Sea have carried out the plan of Peter the Great. Russian morchants who are no*' penetrating the very heart of Asia aro only continuing the business of their forefathers. Russian missionaries who both procode and follow the Russian I conquerors in Asia are only fulfilling the behest of the Russian monks of olden times to erect tho cross in Asia. Even Russia's learned travellers to-day are only retracing the .steps of thoir countrymon who explored Asia centuries ago. Of tho Russian travellers in Asia, Colonel Prejevalbky certainly stands foremost. Now he is again in Thibet, on his fourth Asiatic expedition. According to his latest letter, Prejevalsky, with his party of fourteen men, is exploring tho sources of the Yellow River. In August the Colonel intended to try once more to penetrate Lha&ha, which no European is allowed to enter. This time, as in his former expedi'ionb, the Colonel keeps his party con htantly on a Avar footing. They never part with their Bordan rifles and muskets, and they keep sentinels posted day and night. Ho tar they have met no obstacle, but it is not likely that they will continue to be let alone by the barbarous tribes inhabiting Central Asia.

IN Tin. JM.SERT OK lIOI'.I. In his capital A\oik, "A Third Journey in Central Asia," which ha*, been lately published here, l'lejevakky givesa full account of the tribes and places ho vwlcd in his third expedition. Uis idea was to penetrate the^iy heait ot Thibet. What ho could not accomplish in that expedition lie intends to do now. In hid third expedition, Prejeval&ky'a paily con.si.sted of thirteen; men. "Out happy journey," he pays, "ought to convince superstitious people of theinjusticc they do to the number thirteen, otherwise called the devil's do/en." For nearly two jcais the party travelled through some of the most desolate places upon the globe, yet all the men .safely returned home. The desci t of Uobi, or Shamo, is described by PrcjevaUky a.s a vast region destitute ot any sign ol life. Thcie is no vegetation of any kind, no animals \\hatc\er, not even injects. Lt is an ocean of sand, co\eied with gravel and pebbles, and occasionally tiding in hills and plateaus. The Russian tiis often noticed the dry bones ol camels, mules, and hoise.s, and aecasionally of men. Cher the heated ground hangs a motionless and dusty atmosphere. Occasionally, however, liere and thcie hot w hiilwindh dash .icio^.s the de-ci t, laising big column-, ot .salty dust. Mitagcs are common. In the middle of the day the giound was heated up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Tho Russians not only failed to get any a—.i>4ance Jll| -' m *-he nati\es>and the Chinese authorities*, but were continuously deceived and misled by them. The local petty princes caused much annoyanrc and trouble to the tra\oHcis. The Colonel soon found awavto bring the princes to teims. He usually refused to talk with ihcm at all, but pointing on one side to his Beidans, and on the other to Russian gold, offered them their choice. The Asiatics, promptly showed their preference for the gold. The prince^, with their owj- hands, picked out the sheep for the party, trying always to catch the "« orst animals in the flock. They also measured out the barley, which they kept in pits. Every time a little wooden measure appealed from the pit full of grain, the prince shouted "One!" and all his suite solemnly repeated "One l " 1 "My Cossacks," says Projcvalsky, "laughed at this procedure until the tears stood in their eyes. It is almost incredible," he adds, " that the whole of Central Asia swarms with this sort of princes and khans. However petty thee potentates Mere, they delayed the party for days at a time over the sale of provisions and camels or the hiring of a guide. The Russians found that, of all the presents they could give the natives, electric batteries and coloured pictures of acti esses possess the most charm for them."

A LAND OF STOKES AND >\ILI> J)KA,ST\S. In Northern Thibet the storms and hurricanes arc terrible. The author explains them by the very rapid heating and cooling of tho ground and air which takes place there. Once he took the tempera tureat the same time on the sunny side of his tent and on the shady side. The former was 61 degrees, and the latter IS degrees. The summer is very rainy, and the rest of the year Ls very dry, so much so that the grass turns into dust, and animals, instead of picking their food, have to lick it up. Nevertheless large animals abound there. "In no other plaoe on our globe," says Prejevalsky, " with the exception, perhaps, of tho interior of Australia and Africa, can one find so many animals as in Northern Thibet. Sometimes for days we saw herds of yaks and flocks of antelopes, containing hundicds of animals, grazing without tho least fear of man, their cruel enemy." In the Thibetan mountain the Russians had to defend themselves from robbers. These appeared in parties numbering from twenty to seventy, armed with swords, guns and slings. The Russians, however, never gave tho robbers a chance to attack them, for with their Berdan rifles they kept them at a distance of one thousand feet, whence the arms of the robbers were useless. The natives of Thibet somewhat resemble gypsies. They never cut or comb their hair. The women are a shade lighter than the men, but are rather ugly in feature. They arrange their hair in small braids, ornamented with corals, little bells, and copper coins. Both men and women wear sheepskin caftans and loggings. All the men carry swords. They live in tents covorcd with haircloth of their own make. Mutton, and sometimes yak moat, is their principal food. They cat their meat uncookod, " Each person," says Prejovalsky, "sitting at tho hearth is served with a piece of moat. The head of the family throws tho pieces right and left, as if to dogs. Each member of the family then unsheaths his knife, cuts his portion into small pieces, and devours it." The Thibetans raise cattle, yaks, sheep, goats, and horses. Their hox-ses, though small, are remarkable for strength and endurance. Instead of corn, they are fed upon dried cheoso, andj oven meat. " I never met an honest and upright Thibetan," aaya Ere-

jevalsky. They practice polyandry, one woman having two, three, and even four husbands. Well-to-do men, however, have one or two wives.

CUSTOMS OF THE THIBETANS. Some of the customs of the Thibetans are very curious. At parting a junior person takes off his cap, bows, and puts his tongue out. They pull their cheeks in order to show surprise. Turning up their big finger means approval, and turning up the little finger means the contrary. The reßt of the fingers signify an indifferent quality of thing or person. All the men and women smoke. The nomadic Thibetans do not bury their dead, but throw them to the wild beasts and birds of prey. In the capital of Thibet the clergymen decide as to the disposal of a dead body, whether it shall be buried, or thrown into a river, or left as a prey for beast and birds. The nearer the Russians approached Lhassa, the capital of Thibet and the residence of the delay-lama, the Pope of the Thibetans, the more opposition they met. At last, at the distance of 170 miles from the capital, they were met by a regiment of armed men. The natis'es believed that th« Russians wished to kidnap the delay-lama and abolish their religion. Prejevalsky had no choice but to turn back. Although the Russians were not allowed to visit Lhassa, yet their journey is regarded here as highly successful, for Prejevalsky had opened a new road to Thibet, The Colonel is of opinion that the Shamo oasis, which he has described in detail, would be of great military importance in case of war between Russia and China. On their way home the party went to the sources of the Yellow River, where they saw some tribes never before described. Among them there are the Khara-Tanguts, who pass their lives in robbery, murder, and piayer. The praying is done by machinery. The prayers are written on hollow cylinders turned by water-wheels. During his three journeys, Prejevalsky travelled about 15,000 miles, and collected 90 3pecies of mammalia, 400 species of birds, 50 species of leptiles, 53 species of fishes, and 1,500 species of nlnnts