REVIEWS

1. THE KANGCHENJUNGA ADVENTURE.
2. IM KAMPF UM DEN HIMALAJA.
3. PLANT-HUNTING ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD.
4. L'OEUVRE DE SVEN HEDIN ET L'OROGRAPHIE DU TIBET
5. GEOMORPHOLOGISCHE STUDIEN ZWISCHEN OBEREM IN- DUSTAL UND SUDLICHEM TARIMBECKEN.
6. ALAI! ALAI!
7. THE RECORD OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 1830-1930.
8. WILD FLOWERS OF KASHMIR.
9. MAP OF MOUNT EVEREST AND ENVIRONS.

 

 

THE KANGCHENJUNGA ADVENTURE.—By F. S. Smythe. London : Victor Gollancz, Ltd. 9 ½ X 6 inches; 464 pages ; 47 illustrations ; sketch-maps ; 16s.

IN The Kangchenjunga Adventure Mr. Smythe tells the story of the attempt on Kangchenjunga in 1930 by the international expedition led by Professor Dyrenfurth.

Mr. Smythe's name is familiar to mountaineers both as one of the most notable of our younger climbers and as a writer on mountaineering and ski-ing. His name is particularly associated with his two ascents of Mont Blanc by the south face ; the second of these was described by Dr. Wilson, the President of the Alpine Club, as probably the greatest pioneer ascent ever made in the Alps by guide or amateur.

Mr. Smythe prefaces the story of the 1930 expedition by a brief historical survey of previous attempts on Kangchenjunga, in which he does full justice to the remarkable achievement of the Bavarian expedition of 1929 in reaching a height of 24,272 feet on the north-east ridge. The rest of the book is devoted to a description of the 1930 expedition : the plans and preparations, the journey through Sikkim and Nepal, the two unsuccessful attempts on Kangchenjunga and the subsidiary results of the expedition, including the ascent of the Jonsong Peak, the highest summit yet attained. He concludes with a chapter on the lessons of the expedition and two appendices on Himalayan glaciology and the weather of Kangchenjunga.

Those familiar with Mr. Smythe's writing will open this book with high expectations and they will not be disappointed. It is eminently readable, the story is full of incident and excitement and the author's comments and criticisms are throughout sound and well balanced. Mr. Smythe writes modestly and with admirable loyalty to his leader and his party. The reader, however, particularly the reader with Himalayan experience, can hardly fail to read between the lines unspoken or merely hinted criticism of the preparation and conduct of the expedition.

Considering the records that have been left by previous expeditions it is hard to understand the absence of any attempt to send an advanced party to Darjeeling some weeks before the arrival of the main body to collect and equip a suitable caravan of porters ; the failure to provide boots, snow goggles and adequate clothing, not to mention food, for the bulk of the porters who were asked to cross the 16,000-foot pass, the Kang La, in early spring might well have led to an even more complete breakdown of the transport arrangements than actually occurred. It was here that the really splendid efforts of the British transport officers, Colonel Tobin and Messrs. Wood Johnson and Hannah, saved the situation, though the tasks that were demanded of them were often unfair. The fact is that, despite the accessibility of the fullest possible information and advice on the subject, the whole question of supply and transport seems to have been neglected until the eve of departure from Darjeeling ; the effect of this was to over-strain the powers of endurance of all the porters with the exception of a proportion of tried and tested veterans of previous expeditions. Pre-eminent even in this chosen band was that sterling character Lobsang, whose splendid qualities brought him so much to the fore on Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924. Nor is it easy to understand the predilection of the organizers of the expedition for supplying single layers of heavy warm clothing and boots weighing—as Mr. Smythe feelingly assures us—as much as six and a half pounds the pair, in the face of all experience—Antarctic and Himalayan-in favour of a diametrically opposite policy.

The story of the attempts on the mountain itself is a grim one. To put it in a nutshell : the great north face of Kangchenjunga, lying between the converging north-west and north ridges of the mountain, the face on which the efforts of 1930 were concentrated, is frankly an impossible proposition and the expedition spent itself in attempting the impossible most gallantly. The ice-work entailed was of a technical difficulty which is never attempted in the Alps : to try at heights of 21,000 feet and over to hew through such defences a path which can be traversed by laden porters is to court failure. The difficulties of the actual climbing were only a secondary obstacle ; the prime one was the danger of avalanches. It appears that in the whole of the vast basin which lies below the north face of the mountain, not to mention on the face itself, there is no camp-site and certainly no route between camp-sites, which can be made safe against the cataclysmic ice-avalanches which perpetually sweep the whole area ; sleeping and braking the climbers and their devoted porters were never free from the imminent fear of destruction by these avalanches. It is clear that nothing but amazing good fortune limited the casualty list to_% one valuable life—that of the gallant Chettan, hero and ' bad hat’ (in his wild youth), of the 1922 and 1924 attempts on Mount Everest, proved and tested veteran of four subsequent major expeditions.

Of the climbers, Herren Hoerlin, Schneider, Wieland and Mr. Smythe himself, bore the brunt of the work—an exceptionally strong team. Schneider is obviously a Himalayan mountaineer of outstanding mettle, displaying those same indomitable qualities that distinguished Mallory, Somervell and Odell, and it is impossible to read of his endurance and technical proficiency on rock and ice or of his ski-running on snow-slopes of daunting steepness without a longing to see this master-mountaineer at work.

In his description of the effort entailed by high climbing in the Himalaya Mr. Smythe confirms what, I suspect, his predecessors have all felt, though all are not so frank in describing their feelings. It is pain and grief, a painful taste of the treadmill, divorced from all the exhilaration that makes Alpine climbing so different from these campaigns against the giants.

The successful ascent of the Jonsong peak was in the nature of a consolation prize and a prize well earned by sound organization ; but as a mountaineering feat it scarcely merits the prominence accorded to it in the press last autumn, for the Jonsong peak, 24,344 feet high, and presenting no serious technical difficulties should be, and is, comfortably within the powers of an expedition equipped for the conquest of Kangchenjunga. By comparison, Dr. Longstaff's feat in conquering Trisul, 23,360 feet, in 1907, by a climb of 6000 feet up and down in one day, constitutes a tour de force worthy of more remark than it has received in all the quarter of a century during which he held the world's record for the highest summit conquered.

Mr. Smythe's book is admirably illustrated with 48 beautiful photographs, but it lacks any adequate map ; this is a serious and somewhat incomprehensible omission, considering the existence of Mr. Garwood's excellent map which illustrates Mr. Freshfield's Round Kangchenjunga.

E. F. NORTON.

 

 

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IM KAMPF UM DEN HIMALAJA.—By Paul Bauer. Munich: Knorr and Eirth, 1931. 7X9J inches; 174 pages; maps and numerous illustrations.

THIS book, containing an account of the Munich Expedition to Kangchenjunga in 1929, is in many ways a model of what such a book should be. In the first place, it is printed in the clearest of type, and got up in an attractive way. In the second place, it is just the right length ; not too long, as are some climbing books, yet long enough to give an account of the whole expedition in fair detail and often with great vividness. Most important of all, especially to those of us for whom the reading of German is a slow or even an impossible task, it is illustrated so well and so profusely that we can follow the journey with the aid of the pictures alone, from the start at Darjeeling and up the Zemu glacier ; we can share with the explorers something of their life in the high camps ; we can climb with them up that terrible Northeast Spur, the conquest of which is the greatest feat of sheer hard work and determination in the history of mountaineering. We can stop now and then and look around at the magnificent views from the ridge, and finally share in their intense disappointment when, after overcoming the chief of their difficulties, they had to fight their way back through several feet of fresh snow to the camps below, and to return defeated—but with an honourable defeat if ever there was one.

I advise that those who cannot read German, should get the book for the pictures alone, and read the long article by Paul Bauer in the Alpine Journal, following the text with the illustrations of this book ; in such a way a very vivid idea of the expedition could be obtained.

This German account is written in a straightforward and businesslike way. Though perhaps the travelling through Sikkim is described rather too fully, yet one must remember that to the non-climbing reader this part has a very definite appeal, though personally I felt that too much was said about the feeding arrangements and the exact divisions of the parties, etc.—an unnecessary thing to do in view of the fact that there is an excellent and detailed " Journey-day-book " printed as an appendix, which contains all the details of the personnel of the various parties from day to day, and tells one, in fact, exactly " who was where " at any particular time.

When the expedition reaches the mountain, the writing becomes more vivid and the following sixty pages are really excellent. Those abortive attempts to find the best way, which take up so much time and thought and energy on an expedition of this kind, are dealt with graphically, but not at too great length ; and when at last the summit of the North-east Spur is attained—by a route that involved much step-cutting, or shall we say, path-cutting, and a few places of real danger—our minds are fresh and eager to climb the spur in detail. And in this, the really unique part of the expedition, we are helped, not only by the graphic and impressive, yet never emotional, style of the narrative, but also by the splendid series of photographs. The amazing ice-work which was found to be necessary between Camps 8 and 10 is described in detail and with that combination of vividness with reserve which is characteristic of mountaineering classics ; and we can follow almost every step on the pictures, which are as good as anything we have ever seen of their kind. We get an intimate acquaintance with the formation of that variety of Himalayan ridge- ice and snow, which so many of us have seen from below and ruled out as impossible, but which, though difficult and exposed, is nevertheless climbable by men like Allwein, Beigel, Kraus and Thoenes,

As a mountaineer may I make one observation regarding the route of this expedition ? Kangchenjunga is a very dangerous mountain for avalanches, yet the expedition made a route up one of the very few places where avalanche-danger is practically absent. They preferred hard, gruelling work to danger ; and how hard the work was only those who have tried similar cutting at a similar height can know. But the route was a safe one, as far as any route up Kangchenjunga can be safe, and the choice of it, and the way they overcame it, reflects the greatest credit on the mountaineers of the expedition.

From October 4th to the 7th, an extraordinary snow-fall stopped their attempt. It must have been heart-breaking, having overcome all the chief difficulties, to find that all was in vain, and to be compelled to retreat. This part of the book is written with reserve, but we can imagine something of the disappointment, though it was borne with great cheerfulness. The fact that two metres of fresh snow did not cause any fatality on the way down the ridge is a sufficient commentary on the wisdom of the choice of route.

The return journey is rightly dealt with very briefly ; and the book closes with an excellent and helpful series of appendices ; the " Day-book " already mentioned, a statement of the cost of the expedition and of the commissariat arrangements ; a full account of the equipment, some practical observations on the medical side, and short' meteorological and photographic supplements. Altogether it is a very complete book, in spite of being kept within reasonable limits of length. Every Himalayan climber, whether he can read German or not, should have a copy.

T. H. SOMERVELL.

 

 

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PLANT-HUNTING ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD.—By F.

KINGDON WARD. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1930. 8 ½ x5 ½ inches ; 383 pages ; 16 full-page illustrations ; 21s. IN THIS BOOK Mr. Kingdon Ward has written a most fascinating account of his expeditions in search of plants at the north-east end of the Himalaya, where the northern frontiers of Assam and Burma meet and abut on the edge of the high tableland of Tibet. The actual routes followed by him and the sites of his hunting-grounds are shown on a map included in the book.

The main object of his expeditions has been to obtain new species of hardy beautiful plants suitable for cultivation in English gardens, an object which is necessarily more specialized than that of a field botanist and one which requires a different scientific and mental equipment. There is no doubt that Kingdon Ward successfully achieved his aim in a manner far exceeding expectations, for he discovered and brought back to England a very large number of plants of exquisite beauty. A list of some of these in cultivation in England at the time of writing is given in an Appendix at the end of the book, and contains no less than sixty new species—some of which are not yet named—of which twelve are Primulas and thirty Ehododendrons. Besides those mentioned in the list many other species of Rhododendron were found, and it is a remarkable fact that so many different species of the same genus should be found growing in so comparatively small an area, a fact which inspires new thoughts with regard to the distribution and origin of species.

It must not be regarded as certain that all plants mentioned a& being now in cultivation in England will continue to flourish in the English climate, for although many Himalayan Alpine plants have become definitely established in gardens there, others have flourished for a short period and then disappeared. Is it not possible that the failure of these to establish themselves permanently is due to unsuitable conditions of soil rather than to climate alone ? For if some flourish in the English climate, why should not others from the same locality also succeed ?

In the chapter on " Flowers of the Alps," at page 295, the absence of trees at high altitudes is attributed to the rarified atmosphere ; but may it not be due simply to the severity of the climate, low temperatures with icy winds and heavy snow-fall, conditions which would induce the vegetation to adopt a dwarf habit enabling it to lie warm and snug under a protective coat of snow throughout the winter ?

The book is full of thrilling incidents of adventure, glowing accounts of wonderful scenery and magnificent vegetation, graphic descriptions of the physical features of the country and interesting anecdotes of the habits of local tribes. It may perhaps be sufficient to quote one passage, which reveals the pleasures of plant-hunting and the ecstasy which may be experienced when suddenly the hunter comes upon some new gloriosa superba.

" But I had scarcely reached the bank when I stopped suddenly in amazement. Was I dreaming ? I rubbed my eyes and looked again. No ! Just above the edge of the snow a vivid blush-pink flower stood out of the cold earth.... Yet so fascinating was it to stand there and gaze on this marvel in an aching pain of wonder that I felt no desire to step forward and break the spell. Indeed, for a minute I was paralysed with an emotion which perhaps only those who have come across some beloved Alpine prize in Switzerland can faintly appreciate   In the face of such unsurpassed loveliness one is afraid to move, as with bated breath one mutters the single word ' God ' !—a prayer rather than an exclamation ! And when at last with fluttering heart one does venture forward, it is on tiptoe,, and hat in hand, to wonder arid to worship."

Such was the feeling and emotion inspired by the Tea-Rose Primula (Primula Algeniana, var. thearosa), but very many difficulties and hardships had to be overcome. There is an account of the final effort made in October to obtain the seed of the treasures found in flower earlier in the season, which explains very graphically how difficult it may be to collect those seeds which ripen late in the year when the traveller may at any time be overtaken by snow-storms, with his retreat threatened or his communications cut, and a perilous return journey ahead.

Mr. Kingdon Ward was awarded the Founder's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for 1930, a very well-deserved honour. His book is one which every lover of plants—and who is not 1—should read. And all who read will feel the debt they owe to Mr. Kingdon Ward and his predecessors among the great explorers of the past, who, like him, at the risk of their lives, have filled our English gardens with plants of such exquisite beauty.

B. 0. COVENTRY.

 

 

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L'OEUVRE DE SVEN HEDIN ET L'OROGRAPHIE DU TIBET : Extrait du Bulletin de la Section de Geographie du Comite des Travaux historiques et scientifiques.—By Emm. de Margerie, President de la Section.

Paris : Imprimerie Nationale, 1929. 10 X 6 inches ; 139 pages, 28 diagrams and illustrations. This pamphlet, reprinted from an article by the well-known French geographer M. de Margerie, presents a detailed and critical resume of Dr. Sven Hedin's magnum opus which was published at Stockholm during the years 1917-22 under the title of " Southern Tibet: Discoveries in former times compared with my own researches in 1906—08." Some idea of the scope of Sven Hedin's vast undertaking may be inferred from the fact that it occupies nine quarto volumes comprising the stupendous total of 3771 pages and 599 plates, together with two portfolios of maps and a folio album of 657 plates and panoramas. With the exception of certain scientific appendices, the English language is used throughout.

The high cost of the publication (700 Swedish crowns) must in any case impose a strict limit on the possible number of subscribers to a work of this nature ; while the notorious attitude adopted by Sven Hedin during the Great War probably accounts for the fact that his magnificent volumes have so far been suffered to pass almost unnoticed at least amongst the allied nations.

M. de Margerie remarks : " Laissons a nos amis britanniques le soin de prote ster au nom de leurs compatriotes : qu'auraient dit, en effet, un Kitchener, un Minto, un Curzon, apres tant de marques de l'hospitalite la plus genereuse et la plus cordiale, prodiguees au voya- geur suedois, en apprenant sa soudaine volte-face a l'egard de l'Angleterre ? Mais comment un Fran£ais—fut-il geographe-—pour- rait-il oublier la conduite de ce ' neutre,' venant, des le debut des hostilites, mettre sa plume au service de l'Allemagne, et, tandis qu'il parcourait, a la suite des armees imperiales, la Belgique et nos departements envahis, ne trouvant pas une parole de blame, pas un crid'indignation a propos de 1'incendie de Louvain ou des massacres de Dinant ?"

Having thus relieved his feelings, he dismisses the unpleasant topic, and in the course of his long and singularly unbiased review proceeds to render unstinted praise to the world-renowned and tireless explorer, paying particular homage to his remarkable artistic talents sustained throughout his many difficult campaigns by a will of iron.

Separate chapters of the review are devoted successively to (i) the illustrations, (ii) the maps, and (Hi) the text of this monumental work. Several specimen illustrations are reproduced in the review, and M. de Margerie, in summing up his impressions, remarks that one and all are executed with that scrupulous exactitude and sense of character which form the distinctive essentials of Sven Hedin's talent.

As regards the maps, portfolio No. 1 contains inter alia 26 sheets of a hachured map on the scale of 1/300,000 in six colours drawn by the Swedish General Staff in 1917. No. 2 portfolio consists of 52 sheets of a contoured map of Southern Tibet on the 1/200,000 scale in four colours, drawn in 1922, and covering the same area as the map in portfolio No. 1. In the compilation of the latter series, Colonel Bystrom of the Swedish General Staff has made use of Sven Hedin's numerous panoramas, and has thus been able to extend the topography to a greater distance on either flank of the author's routes ; otherwise the information given on the two series of maps is practically identical. M. de Margerie pertinently suggests that it would have been easy with a little forethought to avoid the necessity of issuing the second series of maps with the consequent squandering of labour, paper and money thereby entailed.

Portfolio No. 1 also contains 15 sheets of a general map of Eastern Turkistan and Tibet on the 1/1,000,000 scale embracing Sven Hedin's routes of 1894-1908 as well as all other available data. These sheets, each measuring lljx21 inches and published in six colours, are reviewed in detail by M. de Margerie, who compares them very favourably with the corresponding layered maps published on the same scale and at approximately the same date by the Survey of India.

Turning now to the text, it is to be noted that less than one-filth of the total letterpress (viz., parts of Volumes II, III, IV and IX) is allotted to Sven Hedin's personal explorations. Of the remainder, Volume V (published in German) is devoted to a study of Tibetan geology by the late Professor Hennig ; Volume VI comprises appendices on meteorology, astronomy and botany ; in Volume VIII Sven Hedin, in collaboration with Dr. Herrmann, presents a study of the Chinese sources of geographical knowledge regarding Tibet.

The greater portion of Volumes I, II, III and VII deals with the geography of Tibet from the historical point of view. Of this portion, Sven Hedin writes : " I have done my best not to forget or overlook a single traveller or scholar from the remotest times to our own days,"    a claim which his reviewer finds completely justified. Volume I opens with a generously worded dedication to the Survey of India, an institution to which and to several of whose individual officers Sven Hedin pays frequent tribute. He is, however, less flattering in his comments on certain other British authorities of a past generation— notably Brian Hodgson, of whom he writes " On Hodgson's map everything is wrong, even those parts which were correct 124 years earlier (d'Anville)   Hodgson was the first Englishman, although by no means the last, to bring confusion into the geography of those parts and to bring our knowledge a great step in the wrong direction."

Sven Hedin is no doubt justified in considering his greatest achievement in Southern Tibet to be the elucidation of the Trans- Himalayan Range—a name which, it is interesting to note, was first propounded by Godwin Austen as long ago as 1884. It is, as he himself remarks, a curious fact that his predecessors in this region, from the Pandits to Ryder and Rawling, have had so little to say regarding this complicated series of ranges which extend for hundreds of miles across Tibet, between the Tsangpo on the south and the chain of great lakes on the north.

In closing his review, M. de Margerie opines that this great publication of the Swedish explorer will almost certainly be the last of its kind to cover such vast territories. We are to-day witnessing the end of an epoch in Asia ; with the spread of communications and the increasing specialization of the scientists who devote themselves to these researches, the area covered by new expeditions tends continually to diminish, while on the other hand the rigour and precision of the results demanded in the various fields of investigation are for ever increasing. Sven Hedin himself furnishes an example of this change which is taking place in the methods of exploration, in the campaign which he is now conducting in Kansu and the neighbouring provinces in company with several European and Chinese assistants. But apart from whatever additions may thus yet accrue to the total mileage of his journeys, this eminent geographer will surely retain in the verdict of History his justly acquired reputation of being one of the greatest explorers of all time.

H. T. MORSHEAD.

 

 

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GEOMORPHOLOGISCHE STUDIEN ZWISCHEN OBEREM IN- DUSTAL UND SUDLICHEM TARIMBECKEN.—By HELLMUT DE TERRA. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie, Bd. XY, 1930, pages 79-131. Illustrations, sketch-map, and section-plans.

IT is to be hoped that some specialist will come forward and translate into English this important paper by Dr. de Terra, so that those interested in the mountains of Asia may follow, all the arguments put forward.

Dr. de Terra accompanied Dr. Ernil Trinkier on his last Central Asian expedition and has now attempted a morphological analysis of the mountain-belt which lies between the upper Indus valley and the Tarim basins. He bases his study on the fact that the relief of existing features gives a comparatively complete expression of crustal movement in recent geological times. According to Penck, the majority of geologically young ranges, such as the Alps, the Cordilleras, etc., show a distinct arrangement of different reliefs which indicate the process of their structure. Such evidence points to a succession of warping effects on a grand scale, resulting in the appearance of arched sectors of the crust (" ge-anticlines ").

The first part of the pamphlet deals briefty with the orography of the region and with some of the main climatic agencies involved in the relief-making processes of recent age, and it is easy to see that almost at once the writer has considerable difficulty in fitting in the results of modern exploration with the material shown on the maps of the last century. A brief sketch of the geological history as derived from recent exploration points to these two facts ; the different structural development of single ranges from Palaeozoic times to Cretaceous, and a more uniform history of the area during the younger crustal movements. The marine Eocene deposits which are only to be found south of the Ladakh range and north of the western end of the Kun-lun, seem to point to the former existence of an upper Cretaceous upland (covering the Karakoram-Kun-lun region) at a time when the Himlaya were submerged.9 The post-Eocene Himalayan folding however adds a third chain of ranges to the two (Muztagh and Kun-lun) already in existence. The folded sector which then grew from north to south is bordered by the two great depressions that exist to-day : the Tarim Basin and the Indo-Gangetic trough. Bemnants of Tertiary and Pleistocene continental deposits help to reveal ancient processes of denudation on various surfaces of this upland and bear witness of a former extensive erosion under more humid conditions than now exist.

The morphological chapters deal with the evidence of this erosion and the processes by which it was brought about. Various surfaces of erosion are found from the northern slope of the western end of the Kun-lun as far south as the Indus valley. Uniformly-featured plateaux exist between the Kun-lun and Muztagh ranges, e.g., the Aghil Depsang, the Depsang, the Lingzi-tang, and the Aksai-chin, which can be proved to represent typical old surfaces of erosion of peneplain-like appearance. They cover the region of the oldest, late-Cretaceous uplift. In spite of the later transformation through glaciation, the Karakoram valleys show clear evidence of their pre-glacial existence (high terraces and spurs), and indicate a former continuation of those ancient levels towards the south. Dr. de Terra enumerates four different surfaces of erosion, of which three are in the Karakoram region. One is represented by the high ice- covered peaks of the Muztagh ; a second shows a peneplain at about 20,000 feet ; and a third and lowest represents the high plateaux. De Terra gives the altitude of this as 15,500 to 15,000 feet ; I would have thought it was about a thousand feet higher. These surfaces are clearly shown on the mountain-profiles given with the text.

Dr. de Terra suggests a continuation of the lowest level in the Indus valley near Leh, in the pre-glacial relief of the Ladakh range, and he adds that a fourth distinct relief covers the Himalayan ranges in Kashmir and Ladakh, remnants of which are the Deosai plains and the high levelled spurs projecting into the various valleys. This relief he considers restricted to the regions of young Himalayan uplift.

The final conclusions drawn from these general relief features are both geological and morphological: geological, inasmuch as the different reliefs cover areas with different structural development, and morphological, in that they indicate a distinct arrangement of the relief, which has been eroded at different periods. As it is obvious that such levelling by erosion cannot be effected while the whole region is at an altitude of over 15,000 feet, a succession of great uplifts has to be assumed, and these must have occurred since Middle Tertiary times. The nature of these movements was very possibly epirogenic with local deformation (e.g., in the Chang-chenmo, western Pangong basin, Shyok valley, etc.).

Dr. de Terra concludes that the existence of a uniform peneplain covering the whole of this part of Central Asia, as has been assumed by former writers on this subject, does not seem to be in accordance with existing morphological evidence, which, on the contrary, shows different reliefs in type and age. At the same time the author admits and realizes the difficulties of a complete analysis when the geographical and geological record is still incomplete.

Those who have travelled in the Karakoram region will find in Dr. de Terra's paper a probable solution of many points that must have puzzled them. Not least of these is the apparent lack of parallelism of the Karakoram ranges with those of the Himalaya.

KENNETH MASON.

 

 

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ALAI! ALAI!-By W. E. Rickmers. Leipzig : Brockhaus, 1930. 6 ½ X 9 ½ inches ; 300 pages.

THIS book gives a popular account in German of the adventures of the joint Russo-German expedition to the Pamirs from May to October 1928. A brief summary of the expedition has already appeared in the Himalayan Journal, vol. ii, p. 116. Mr. Rickmers, the well-known German explorer, who had made eight journeys in Turkistan between 1894 and 1913, was the organizer of the expedition,, which left Moscow on 22nd May 1928. The Germans would no doubt have preferred a purely German personnel, but the Soviet Government made joint participation a condition of their sanction.

Relations between Germans and Russians are said to have been good, possibly because most of the actual work was done by the Germans ! Soviet methods are well illustrated by the difficulty experienced in getting the stores imported from Germany through the Russian Customs; in spite of the semi-official nature of the expedition and the patronage of the Soviet Government, it took about a month to get these stores through the Bolshevik barriers of officialdom. In one passage the author describes his Russian liaison official, one Perlin, as follows :—" He acted principally as our liaison officer with the local Soviet officials, with the postal and railway authorities. Dripping with perspiration, but without a word of complaint, he piloted us through the rocks of bureaucratic and police regulation."

The organization of the expedition was evidently carried out with German thoroughness, and nothing was left to chance. On leaving railhead, the expedition consisted of 65 men, 160 horses and 60 camels, and was therefore on a large scale. On the other hand, there seems to have been no undue luxury and personal baggage was apparently cut down to a minimum, e.g., no camp-beds were allowed, and only very small tents were carried.

Decentralized methods were adopted, i.e., work was carried out by small parties (mountaineers, topographers, geologists, etc.) sent out from a central camp, from which they drew their supplies, and to which they reported progress and requirements from time to time.

The area explored included a large part of the Russian Pamirs, mainly south and west of Lake Karakul. The results of the expedition have been considerable, especially from the topographical, geological and mountaineering points of view. A large area of difficult and practically unknown country was surveyed ; the largest glacier in the world, the Fedchenko glacier, 48 miles long, is claimed to have been discovered and surveyed. Mount Kaufmann, 23,382 feet, on the Trans-Alai range, which was then believed to be the highest mountain in Russian territory, was climbed on 25th September, while Peak Garmo, on Peter the Great range, was discovered to be higher, 24,590 feet, and fixed for position and height by stereo-photographic methods. It is obvious that though scientists of both nations took part in the expedition, the most important work and the main discoveries fell to the lot of the Germans.

The party was lucky in having little or no sickness, though there were several unfortunate accidents, such as men being kicked by horses. Two hardy explorers were nearly drowned in a decidedly collapsible boat on Lake Karakul—a lake half the size of Lake Constance, which contains no fish of any kind.

Hunting and shooting seems to have been discouraged ; or else the members of the expedition do not appear to have been keen or skilful shots. There is no mention of ibex or ovis poli having been shot, although these animals must have been fairly common. On one occasion a caravan of 40 donkeys, laden with ovis poli horns, apparently for sale in Turkistan, was met with.

The book is well arranged and has some 90 illustrations from photographs, many of which are very good ; it has also 25 diagrams, 2 panoramas and a map. One grave disadvantage of the latter is the unfamiliar German method of spelling, e.g., Kashmir for Kashmir, Pendschab for Punjab, Jarkent for Yarkand, etc. It is a pity, too, that the book is printed in German characters, surely somewhat out-of- date in these days.

W. L. 0. TWISS.

 

 

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THE RECORD OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 1830-1930.—By Dr. Hugh Robert Mill. London : The Royal Geographical Society, 1930. 10x6 ½ inches ; xvi+288 pages; 35 illustrations. 10s.

The Centenary of the Royal Geographical Society was celebrated in October 1930. Among the numerous Societies, Clubs and Institutions honoured with invitations to attend the Centenary was our young Himalayan Club, now situated very much in the same position as was the Royal Geographical Society a hundred years ago. This Record, therefore, apart from its own fascinating interest, is well worthy of careful study by all those who have the welfare of the Himalayan Club at heart.

It is not Dr. Mill's purpose to give a detailed account of the Society's activities in the field of exploration, though it is not altogether impossible to eliminate these altogether. These activities are better studied in the Proceedings and Journals of the Society. Nor would it be possible, in the compass of a single volume, to summarize these active enterprises. Dr. Mill rather concentrates on an analysis of the beginnings, the early struggles, the trials, the prosperities, disappointments and victories, that have brought the Society to its proud position as the leading Geographical Society in the world to-day.

The volume opens with three chapters—Forerunners, Founders and The Happy Start—which give a remarkable and delightful picture of the early days and of the personalities of those who counted for anything in geography and exploration. There must be much that has never hitherto been published, for Dr. Mill has had access to all the archives of the Society, including the Council Minutes. These happy chapters hardly prepare the reader for the next period, one of gloom, when from 1841-51 the Society's ship all but ran aground. Dr. Mill speculates on the causes which so nearly caused shipwreck, and, after the most diligent research, lays " most of the blame for the lean years on the political troubles and the deplorable depression of trade and agriculture which made discontent and misery the portion of the land." There can be little doubt that this is true, but on a second reading of this chapter IV, one wonders whether sufficient justice has been done to those " amiable, learned and interested " presidents who ruled during " the Hungry Forties." These years of depression followed a similar period of enthusiasm and prosperity ; and it must be remembered that it was not the practice in those days to lay up reserves.

In May 1849 Captain Smyth, R.N., took over the ship in a spirit of cheery optimism, convinced that the Society had started on its course with more sail than ballast. The Jonahs were pitched over- board and Smyth set a fresh course, assisted by the fair weather of returning prosperity throughout the country. Smyth was succeeded by the great Murchison, and from his day the record of the Society has been one of steady and increased usefulness. Murchison ruled the Society in 1843-4, 1851-2, 1856-8, 1862-71, that is, for 16 years out of the hundred. During the last half of this period he was associated with Markham and Major as Honorary Secretaries and with Bates as Secretary, and it was during this period that the reserves were built up. Since then the Society has steadily grown in membership and in popularity.

It is said by some that the Society has concentrated too much of its energies on the " seven problems of discovery " : The attainment of the North-West Passage, the North-East Passage, the North Pole, the South Pole, the Sources of the Nile, the Forbidden City of Lhasa, and the Summit of Everest. It is only in the last decade of this century that the last of these problems has come into the picture at all, since the attainment of the other six. But is it not a wise policy to aim at an object of supreme difficulty, the training for which entails an apprenticeship in less strenuous fields of endeavour ? It is not fair to say—as some have said— that the exploration of Asia has been neglected in favour of the barren useless Poles! Grants have been made from the funds of the Society to explorers of Asia as to those of other parts of the world, but very naturally, when funds are limited, it has been deemed expedient to leave much of the exploration of the Indian borderland to officials of the Indian Government. It has been the policy to reward successful exploration rather than to finance it in such regions; and on more than one occasion in the past the Society has been discouraged from ^'4butting in " by the seeretiveness of the Indian Government. These days are happily long since past, and wherever possible, the Indian Government now encourages and assists the private explorer. It may be not out of place here to call attention to the fact that no less than fifteen members of the Himalayan Club have been awarded Gold Medals by the Royal Geographical Society for explorations in the Himalaya and Central Asia, while many recipients of the award would have been members had they been alive when the Club was founded. Many others of us can testify to the help and encouragement, both moral and material, that we have received from the Society ; while the Club itself owes a debt of gratitude both to individual Fellows and to the present Secretary, for much' wise advice.

The Himalayan Club stands to-day much in the same position as did the Royal Geographical Society a hundred years ago. We include amongst our objects many of the aims of a Geographical Society. . Our ship sails seas as tempestuous politically as any that ever were sailed by Captain Smyth ! May we, with wise guidance, weather our first hundred years and emerge ninety-seven years hence with as proud a record as that of the Royal Geographical Society.

KENNETH MASON.

 

 

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WILD FLOWERS OF KASHMIR.—By B. 0. Coventry. London:
Raithby, Lawrence & Co. Calcutta : Thacker, Spink Co., 1929.
7 ½ x5 inches. Series III. Coloured illustrations. Rs. 12.

THE publication of a third volume of Wild Flowers of Kashmir by Mr. Coventry, the Technical Correspondent of the Himalayan Club for Botany, will be very much appreciated by members. The beautiful reproductions of flowering plants fully maintain the high standard set in the first two volumes. We do not ever remember seeing a more perfect reproduction of natural colour photography than the frontispiece to this volume, where Cremanthodium decaisnei and Corydalis thyrsiflora give a lovely foreground to a glacial cirque near Sonasar in the Liddar valley.

Once more Mr. Coventry has selected fifty species of Kashmir flowers, illustrated each with coloured photographs, and described them faithfully and simply, so that anyone finding them in nature may identify them easily and with certainty. The volume is arranged on similar lines to those of the previous two, but a useful Introduction on the pronunciation of the scientific names has been added, and in the descriptions of the plants the pronunciation of such names has been systematically indicated by dividing them into syllables. Once more we repeat that we sincerely hope that Mr. Coventry will continue this series of publications in conjunction with Messrs. Raithby, Lawrence & Co., who also deserve the greatest credit both for the excellence of their work and for the modest price of the volume.*

KENNETH MASON.

 

 

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MAP OF MOUNT EVEREST AND ENVIRONS.—1 inch to 2 miles.
Survey of India, 1930. Rs. 2.

THE Map of Mount Everest and Environs, on the scale of 1 inch to 2 miles, published by the Surveyor-General of India in 1930, deserves the gratitude of mountaineers in general and of everyone interested in the Everest problem in particular. For the first time we now have, shown on one sheet, the country from Kyetrak to Makalu with the upper glens of the Dudh Kosi including all the southern, or Nepa- lese, side of Mount Everest. The latter details are of course the result of the survey of 1924-1927 under the orders of the Nepalese Government ; but the new form of representation of the glaciers and other ice-features, which is a great advance on anything hitherto attempted, reflects great credit on the draughtsman and on those responsible for the new experiment. Snow, glaciers, moraines, neves, and ice-slopes are for the first time distinguished, and the map is very much more ‘readable' than any of the older Survey of India productions. For example, the contrast in the scenery between the precipitous glens of the upper Dudh Kosi and the rounded mamelons of the Chodzong Dzakar Chu is immediately apparent. A comparison between the courses and alignments of the streams on the Tibetan and Nepalese sides respectively, combined with the contrast in sculpture, shows us at a glance which is the dry and which the rainy side of the range.

It would be a grand thing if the Survey of India would bring out a similar map of Kangchenjunga and K². There is perhaps already enough information to justify a sheet for Nanda Devi, while Kamet and Nanga Parbat may soon be candidates for consideration. Ever since the days of Rennell the Survey of India has had no need to fear comparison of its standard of field work with that of any other service in the world, but it has lagged behind in its representation of mountain regions on its map sheets ; thus it has undoubtedly lacked its due measure of appreciation from the public, whose only measure of value is the printed map.

May I repeat in the Himalayan Journal a point I have often emphasized in the Alpine Journal and in the Geographical Journal. We know quite well that the field parties in charge of the old Himalayan surveys were instructed not to ' waste' time and money over the uninhabited higher regions, but merely to sketch the high mountain topography as quickly as possible. The old maps are admittedly inaccurate in detail. But this is merely a matter of degree. If any explorer be given a map of any imperfectly surveyed region, and cannot in the course of his travels improve that map, he proclaims himself thoroughly incompetent! Every explorer who makes the first map of any unknown or imperfectly known region, always makes mistakes in his map. If subsequent travellers cannot improve upon the first explorer's map, they too proclaim themselves thoroughly incompetent. Of course the first map in a difficult country is always ' wrong ' somewhere. But so long as it is better than any previous map, its publication is justified. There is a certain type of traveller whose chief stock-in-trade is the belittlement of his predecessors on the same ground : he has so little positive material to contribute that he is compelled to pad it out, with negative platitudes, which, though good enough for the popular press, cut no ice at all with the real expert. It therefore appears a pity that the Survey of India should hold its hand indefinitely because it is not satisfied with the absolute trustworthiness of its material. It is knowledge that we seek: the Survey of India can stimulate Himalayan exploration by the publication of such composite sheets as that under review and should not be deterred by any fear of comment about inaccuracy of detail.

I should like to make one small criticism of this map because it is a matter of principle. Such names as ‘Chang La’ which were given by the Everest Expeditions to natural features but were not used previously by the local inhabitants, are printed in inverted commas, as if they were in suspense, or still under consideration. The logical purism of such a method is beyond dispute. But is it wise ? To my knowledge, some of these names were actually used by Chettan and Lewa in 1927, so that they have already come into colloquial use. If the Survey is satisfied as to the suitability in general of nomenclature, then I think they should definitely support the usage of such names ; because otherwise, these names occurring in the original books and papers of the earliest explorers, confusion is likely to arise in case of any change in the future. In uninhabited countries, where there are no local names except for passes, the nomenclature is merely a matter of identification labels for certain spots on the map. The Survey of India is the one and only competent judge in this matter. But if they are reasonably satisfied with a name, let them place it boldly and irrevocably on the map and so avoid the risk of subsequent change and confusion. After all, many of our best-known Himalayan names were ' coined ' originally.

T. G. LONGSTAFF.

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