Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1907 — A RECORD JOURNEY THROUGH ASIAN WILDS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A RECORD JOURNEY THROUGH ASIAN WILDS

Time waß when Africa was called the t)ark Continent, partly because so little was known of Its tast Interior, and the maps furnished by the cartographers took so much for granted, when they did not absolutely misrepresent the country. But the Dark Continent now is fairly well explored, and parts of Its interior are as well charted as many places nearer home. But Asia, evefi now, centuries after Marco" Polo traversed It, seems to contain much that 4s new, because It Is so little known. That part of the continent which lies along the Himalaya and on rts crest, has been so little traveled by moderns that until the British entered Tibet *by force recently the country practically was an unsealed book to the outside world. An adventurous Englishman, David Fraser, who represented Jfhe London Times In Manchuria during the RussoJapanese war, has just finished one of the most fernaTkahle Journeys ever undertaken in Asia, and has brought back some most alluring photographs and an entertaining tale of his experiences.

Franeht with Excitement. Even in the remote East, whore civilization still is of the most primitive pattern, It is not Impossible to take a journey without having any thrilling tales of danger to tell. The people in the interior of Asia are as a rule pacific, and the traveler who does not make himself offensive to the natives generally arrives at his journey’s end without serious difficulty. To imagine there are no natural dangers Is, of course, erroneous. There are; for to climb some of the highest mountains in the Himalaya range is Itself an an experience fraught with excitement, and, at times, of positive danger. Mr. Fraser, Indeed, nearly lost his life in attempting to return by way of In<lla, through a pass blocked with snow. The regions In which he traveled are generally held to be the wildest and taost Inhospitable In the Eurasian Con tinent, but the traveler, who had a companion a British officer, succeedet In making his remarkable trip withou. any serious mishap. After the close of the war Mr. F-ru •er decided to make a survey of tin Interior of Asia, In the little knowi regions of Chinese Turkestan, Tibet. China, India, Russian Turkestan and Persia. Of these, perhaps, Chinese Tur kestan is the least known to the outei world, although Persia, beyond thi

chief cities, is almost an unknown quantity to the average person, even If the latter affects to be experienced. Tibet has been entered by several trav elers during the last decade, notably by Sven Ilcdin. The Tibetan war, 11 the conflict may be so dignified, brought that hidden country to the front, aud many of its peculiarities have become familiar,. although Mr. Fraser found there was still something to learn there. Russian Turkestan has been visited, along the line of the Rus •lan railway advance, nnd, consequently, is not altogether an unknown country. '

In the course of his wanderings through this high region, where foi months at a time the traveler was at an altitude of a mile or more, Mr. Fraser crossed the Himalaya three times, and also made Jburneys across the Karakorum, Kuen Len, and the A.lal, the names of some of which are unfamiliar to most renders. He used some of the most remarkable modes of conveyance. Through Chinese Turkeatan he bad to rely on camels; In Tibet ths homely bnt entirely efficient yak was used, aud In parts of his tour he mads use of a donkey caravan. In addition to these means of transportation he also covered 800 miles on foot Bome of the ground covered by Mr. Fraser has been traversed by on» or two other travelers during the last few years, but the part of Tibet In which be wandered may be said to have been never trod by Europeans. He was much Impressed by the hill country of Sikkim, a small State north of India, which nestles at the foot of the Himalayas like a pass through the great mountains, At one aide lies Nepal and on the other la Bhotan. Beyond Ilea tbs weird and mysterleus country of Tibet. J One of th# World** Marvel*. The SJhk country, be relates, “Is probably one of the most marvelous regions lu (he world, presenting, as it does, in close proximity the rich lux Wlance of tropical regetatton and the

wintry solitudes of everlasting snow. Marching along the slopes of one of its exquisite valleys at a height of 3.500 feet above sea level we came to one point where we were able to look oyer a precipice that sank straight down for 2,000 feet to the bed of the Teesta River Itself, here no more than 1.500 feet above the sea. “On the opposite side of the valley was a deep rift in the tree-clad hills, and looking up this gorge the eye surmounted ridge after ridge in quick succession, until It Anally rested on the top of Klnchinjunga, 28,150 feet, the third highest mountain in the world. No more than thirty miles separated the Teesta from the top of its lordly neighbor, and In the clear air It was almost Impossible to believe the distance was so great.”

The panorama spread before the traveler at this point did not fail to make a conquest of Mr. Fraser. “It looked,” he said, “as if the very foot of Kinthinjunga was set In a tiny thread of silver that gleamed far below us, and that his mighty flanks rose sheer until they ended in the twin white peaks, 26,650 feet above. The dark bmslde“'Bira~Fu§hlng Waterfall, of serrated ridges and gloomy gorges, of blue glacier and lofty snow fields afforded by this scene is surely one of the wonders of the world.” Peak Five Mile* Hlgli. Heights of mountains in the Himalaya region, where they are the greatest in the world, are difficult to comprehend by those who have never been so fortunate as to climb, or attempt to climb, these immense elevations. But a fair idea of the height of Kinchinjunga may be had by the simple statement that, could the mountain be laid on its side, and Its base placed at Delaware avenue, its summit would be found to be at GOth street, or within a few hundred feet of five miles. The traveler found another marvelous country in the regions stretching uirth from Simla, where official India pends the summers, 1,000 miles west >f Sikkim. “From the summer capital >f India,” he says, "the foothills of the ;reat backbone of mountain lie tumbled In Inextricable confusion and scored at Intervals by the sources of lie famous rivers that give Its name to the Punjab. The first encountered Sutlej, rising In the distant mountains of Tibet and racing through lark gorges until It debouches In the plains 300 miles below tho point where we crossed. Over the Jaolewrl Pass, 10,200 feet, we cross Into the lovely valley of Kulu, which lies about 4,000 feet above the pea. Then over the Rotang Pass, 13,500 feet, Into Lahoul, a couutfy bare and desolate beyond belief, nnd at no point lower than 10,000 feet. Crossing the Shingo Pass, 16,600 feet, we are In the most rugged of all Himalayan countries, Zanslsar, where we cross four passes of over 16,000 feet above sea level before descending Into the valley of the Indus nnd reaching the ancient and curious town of Leh, 11,500 feet.” Trawl Through Cloudland. Here It seems that the voyagers have hardly made a beginning, for immediately north of Leh lies the Khardung Pass, 17,800 feet, quickly followed by a drop to 10,000 feet, and then another rise to the Saser Pass, 18,000 feet “Between these two,” says Mr. Fraser, "we engage a large caravan of ponies to carry the baggage, for In fourteen days’ travel there will be no habitations, no food for man or beast, nor even fuel by the way. Everything must be carried except water, of which, alas, there Is too much In this summer season, when the hot sun dally attacks the eternal snows that flank the route. From the top of the Saser we drop Into tbs valley of the Sbyok River, 13,100 feet, where great glaciers poke their snouts across the valleys and choke up the passes. Through a long, deep gorge we slowly and laboriously climb to the Depsang plain, a great stretch of smooth gravel beds, 17/

000 feet above the sea, and over which we take a day to travel. “Beyond Dopsang we rise to the lofty Karakorum Pass, 18,560 feet, and In three days later cross tbs Snget Pass, 17,600 feet, after which we drop dowiJjto 11,000 feet, and once more encounlfr human being; and some vegetation." from Caacli to Yak*. Arrived at Kurgab, the travelers were on Chinese territory, and the ponies were exchanged for camels, for

horse transport Is useless la the bed of the rushing Karakash River, which had <o be forded many times during the four days they followed Its course. Tha Sanju Pass, 10,600 feet, had to be surmounted, and this necessitated a change of the baggage from camels to yaks,' for only the latter patient beast can climb Its steep and dangerous ascents. Chinese Turkestan, says the traveler, Is a desert Indeed, but his route lay through a succession of the most delightful and refreshing oases, where “milk, cream and honey, vegetables and the Anest fruit iu the world, are obtainable almost for the asking.”

At a height of only 4,000 feet, according to Mr. Fraser, travel is easy and pleasant compared with the toil and hardship of the mountainous regions passed. The travelers rested at Kashgar, and then plunged Into the mountains once more, crossing the Alai range by the Terek Pass, 12,600 feet, and then Andlng themselves in Russian territory. There were still 200 miles of caravan traveling before the travelers reacheil the Transcaspian railroad at Ahdijan, whence they were sped to Askabad, a town on the Persian border. Meshed, the famous city of pilgrimages, was reached after crossing mountain passes of the comparatively low level of 7,000 feet. *- Cangbt in a Blizzard. • While crossing a Persian pass at an elevation of 10,000 feet the explorers were caught In a blizzard, but they, escaped without even a frostbite, and continued to the tomb Of Omar at Nalshapur: Finally the route took them to Baku, where the adventurous part of the Journey ended. In the course of the tour across unknown Asia they traveled about 2,500 miles on various primitive modes of transport and about 800 on foot, to say nothing of the countless miles covered by railroad and by carriages.

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