BOOK REVIEWS

CONQUISTADORS OF THE USELESS.
PLANTS OF WEST PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN.

CONQUISTADORS OF THE USELESS. By Lionel Terray.
Victor Gollancz. Price 30s.

Lionel Terray, one of the world's greatest mountaineers, tells the story of his life. The ascent of Annapurna in 1950 was a landmark in the history of mountaineering. It was the first summit over 8,000 metres to be climbed, not without a desperate and almost disastrous struggle. Terray was a member of this expedition, but the events leading up to this highlight of his career are told with frankness and wit. As we follow his early training, then his brilliant climbs, we realize his mental and physical qualities as a great climber. Common to all great mountaineers past and present, the irresistible urge to climb is given free rein—one climbs as much as possible, as often as possible; but in addition one has to develop technique, strength and stamina. The training is a series of exhausting climbs. The ropework is improved until it is automatic ; the footwork on mixed terrain assumes a sureness born of confidence; the hands and fingers get used to negotiating overhangs ; the constant practice of driving oneself to the limit of one's endurance stretches that limit to the utmost. Here then is the secret of ⁶ grande alpinisme'.

Terray describes the evolution of a professional guide. His own development, as one of the greatest in his profession, serves as a dynamic illustration. Throughout he qualifies himself as he advises and instructs. There are good guides and bad guides. There are good mountaineers and bad ones. His own personal thoughts and ideas may not find acceptance with all mountaineers. At first reading one might find him almost ruthless, but this is an illusion. The passion for climbing leads him on at a terrific pace. He is as delirious on easy climbs as on the severe, but the development of his technique, experience and ambition tempered with maturity drives him on to a succession of what are renowned as the most fantastic climbs in the Alps—the Walker Spur of the Grande Jorasses and the North face of the Eiger. One marvels at the fitness of the pair (Louis Lachenal and himself)—the training to which they subject themselves so that they could be fit enough to ⁶ train for the EigerOnly then one realizes the aspects of skill, the perfection of teamwork, the speed and the stamina required to ensure a margin of safety, and above all the courage and will power to overcome the hundreds of obstacles the mountain places before them.

Terray now turns more to his guiding, a decision brought on by necessity rather than by preference. A short spell in Canada, and then the invitation for Annapurna. We have already read Maurice Herzog's stirring tale. Terray's account, simply told, gives us a picture from a different angle—it is as personal as that of Herzog's and worthy to stand by it for its humility and sympathetic approach.

Now follow expeditions in quick succession, mainly to the Patagonian and Peruvian Andes. In 1954 he cannot resist the temptation of climbing Chomolonzo during a Makalu reconnaissance ; Makalu is climbed the following year. In 1962 he revels in a phenomenal burst of energy by leading the successful French Expedition to the mighty Jannu, one of the most difficult of Himalayan giants; following this by leading another French Expedition to Chacraraju East in the Andes and crowning his triumph with Nilgiri (Nepal) with his Dutch friends. Three major peaks in three distinct ranges in the same year made no less easy by an accident a few months before the first and in which he broke six ribs and perforated the pleura—what a wonderful man he must be, dedicated to a life amongst the mountains that he loves, living a full life, living dangerously and living it the hardest possible way.

The photographs are good and as usual supplement the narrative of the climbs. The epic loses nothing in the excellent translation by Geoffrey Sutton.

S. S. Mehta

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PLANTS OF WEST PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN. Edited by Siro Kitamura. Published by the Committee of the Kyoto University Scientific Expedition to the Karakoram and Hindu Rush. Kyoto University. 1964.

Plants of West Pakistan and Afghanistan is another magnificent volume of 283 pages profusely illustrated with coloured and black and white photographs and pen and ink sketches of new and important flowering plants including descriptions with figures of freshwater algae of Afghanistan. This is part of a series of publications edited by Siro Kitamura embodying the Results of the Kyoto University Scientific Expedition to the Karakoram and Hindu Kush, 1955, Vol. III. In this volume is also incorporated the Vegetation of the Upper Swat and the East Hindu Kush by K. Ogino, K. Honda and G. Iwatsubo, Flowering Plants of West Pakistan by S. Kitamura, Bryophytes from Afghanistan by N. Kitagawa, and Freshwater Algae of Afghanistan by M. Hirano and three maps of Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Western Himalayas are valuable additions.

In his introductory report Prof. Siro Kitamura has ably dealt with the past and present work on the botanical collections of these interesting mountain ranges and his observations are of considerable value to the phytogeographical distribution and endemism of the flora of this part of West Himalaya bordering India, West Pakistan, Afghanistan and Baluchistan mountainous regions. After recording briefly the previous botanical works on the flora of the Central Asiatic region during the middle of the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century by several distinguished botanists as J. F. Royle, A. P. Condolle, J. D. Hooker and C. B. Clarke, one of the well-known ex-superintendents of the Royal (now Indian) Botanic Garden, Calcutta, and the famous botanical collector and writer and a co-adjudicator to Sir J. D. Hooker in the preparation of the flora of British India. It is time, as observed by Kitamura, that ' Chitral was surveyed several times, while Swat remained unexplored yet. Swat was considered as a tribal territory and only a small botanical collection had been made by General Gatacre in 1895. The botanical observations made by the members of our expedition are worth reporting. The materials collected by the Japanese collectors contain some novelties, for example, Corydalis swatense, Eleocharis obscura, Acontium swatense, Euphorbia swatense, Scutellaria swatensis, Macrotomia Oginoi, etc.

In 1955, the present writer herborized in Nuristan, the southern part of Hindu Kush.

Thus we have collected the specimens from West Karakoram and Swat Himalaya to East Hindu Kush in a continuous series.

There is no sharp disjunction between West Karakoram and Swat Himalaya and Hindu Kush geographically as well as phyto- geographically. Some species described recently from Nuristan were also found in Swat.

While, from south to north, there is the climatic change as well as the floristic change.

The climate of Swat Himalaya is not so dry as that of Karakoram. There is much precipitation. The flora of Swat Himalaya is similar to that of Western Himalaya (Kashmir). There are tall Gymnosperms, namely, Taxus Wallichiana, Abies spectabilis, Cedrus Deodar a, Picea Smithiana and Pinus Griffithii, and deciduous trees such as Corylus Jacquemontii, Parrottia Jacquemontiana, Sorbus lanata, Acer caesium, Acer Cappadocicum var. indicum, Viburnum cotinifolium var. and V. foetens.

All the species mentioned above are Himalayan. It is interesting to read in the flora of Tadzikistan, recently published (1957), that there is no indigenous Taxus, Abies, Cedrus, Picea and Pinus in Tadzikistan which is situated very near to the north of West Pakistan.

The climate of the eastern part of Hindu Kush behind Swat Himalaya is as dry as that of Karakoram. As for the rest of Hindu Kush, the southern side facing directly on the Arabian Sea without any high mountain between has much rainfall, and the northern side has little rainfall.

Phytogeographically, the northern side of Hindu Kush belongs to the Central Asiatic region and the southern side of Hindu Kush and Swat belongs to the Sino-Japanese region.

The flora of Murree Panjab belongs to the Sino-Japanese region.

The flora of Quetta and Chaman is mainly Central Asiatic.

Recently, the botanists of West Pakistan published several interesting and excellent taxonomic works. We expect the compilation of the flora of their country by the Pakistan botanists based on the fresh materials collected by themselves and on their field observations.'

As regards freshwater algae of Afghanistan, Minora Hirano of the Yoshida College, Kyoto University, has made valuable contributions to our knowledge of freshwater algae of Afghanistan since such algae were first recorded by J. Schaarschundt in his paper on 'Notes of Afghanistan Algae' published in the Journal of Linnean Society, Vol. XXI, 1884. Recent work was in 1959 by Niels Foged on 'Diatoms of Afghanistan' published in Kong. Dans. Vidensk. Biology Skro_f Vol. II, No. 1, 1959. His observations on the distribution of algae as Sino-Japanese and Eurasian and some cosmopolitan is more or less in agreement with previous reports. Several new species have also been recorded.

The vegetation of the Upper Swat and the East Hindu Kush is a valuable contribution useful to the botanists as well as mountaineers interested in the flora of this rather unexplored and what may be called a closed sanctuary of tribals of this part of Asia.

'The authors, students of the Kyoto University, two of them were specialized in Forestry, and the other was in Agricultural Biology, took part in the Panjab University-Kyoto University Joint Scientific Expedition to Upper Swat and Eastern Hindu Kush, 1957. This is a report based on their field research. The collected botanical specimens were submitted to Prof. Kitamura for identification. The expedition team entered the Swat Kohistan which was entirely closed against foreigners as a tribal territory until recently, and then went to the north over Dadarili An (pass) and reached the Ghizar River. They continued the north-bound trip to Yasin, then came to Mastuj over two passes in the Hindu Kush ranges.

There are many conifers in Swat Kohistan, and this area has been left unsurveyed from the standpoint of vegetation. There is no description even in the laborious vegetation map of " Die Horizontale und Vertikale Verbreitung der Vegetation im Himalaya" by Urlich Schweinfurth which covers all research works published in this field.'

The vegetation has been treated under (1) topography, (2) climate as related to vegetation and (3) observation along the expedition route in which several zones of vegetation have been described, namely, south slope of Swat Himalaya (subtropical steppe to Nival zone), Bahren Kalam (temperate forest to the foot of cool temperate forest), Kalam-Faraksar (cool temperate coniferous forest zone), Faraksar-Diwangal (subalpine forest zone), Diwangal-Dadarili An (alpine zone and Nival zone), the north slope of Swat Himalaya and the Hindu Kush region, Dadarili An- Ghizar (alpine zone, subalpine steppe and Artemisia steppe), Chizar-Gupis-Yasin (Artemisia steppe and semidesert steppe), Yasin-Nazbar An-Zagar An (Artemisia steppe, alpine zone, semi- desert steppe), and the west and east slopes of Lawarai Pass (vegetation of humid Himalaya).

The distribution of the flora of Swat has very ably been dealt with by K. Ogino, K. Honda and G. Iwatsubo.

Mr. Azuma Okuda, D.Agr., President of Kyoto University, and his associates and particularly the Hindu Kush and Karakoram team deserve congratulations for such a monumental work which is very useful to mountaineers and all plant lovers of this region of Asia.

K. Biswas

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