REVIEWS

1. UNKNOWN KARAKORAM.
2. FORSGHUNG AM NANGA PARBAT: Deutsche Himalaja Expedition 1934.
3. WILLY MERKL: EIN WEG ZUM NANGA PARBAT.
4. A HERMIT IN THE HIMALAYAS.
5. THE SOCIAL ECONOMY OF THE HIMALAYANS.
6. SCRAMBLES AMONGST THE ALPS.
7. THE ASCENT OF MOUNT STALIN.
8. THE CLIMATES OF THE CONTINENTS.
9. AN ACCOUNT OF TIBET.
10. KARTE DER NANGA PARBAT GRUPPE.

 

 

UNKNOWN KARAKORAM. By R. C. F. Schomberg. London: Martin Hopkinson, 1936. 8 ¾ x6 inches; 24 illustrations; 15s.

Colonel Schomberg had already travelled widely in Chinese Central Asia and in the mountain states of the Gilgit Agency, and had made a close study of the various races bordering the inaccessible upper tributaries of the Yarkand river, before he undertook the journey he describes in this book. He was therefore well qualified to study more than the mere physical geography of the little-known Raskam and Shaksgam valleys. The experience of previous explorers since Sir Francis Younghusband first descended the Shaksgam led Schomberg to attempt the forcing of the Shaksgam gorge from the Shimshal side. This meant basing himself to a large extent on the people of Hunza and relying on them for the carriage of his supplies. The Shimshal valley is now fairly well known; it was first explored by Cockerill in the nineties of last century, and later officers of the Gilgit Agency have been up it to examine the great glaciers that feed it. It was not, however, until the Vissers explored the valley thoroughly in 1925 with Khan Sahib Afraz Gul, of the Survey of India, that the valley was properly mapped. Schomberg, with the promised support of the Mir of Hunza, crossed the Shimshal pass, hoping to traverse the gorge of the Shaksgam as far as Suget Jangal, where the Sarpo Laggo tributary joins the Shaksgam from the Muztagh pass. Younghusband followed the gorge down when the river was low in 1889. Schomberg's two attempts were made too early and they were foiled by flood water. It seems that this gorge is impassable from early in July to the beginning of November; and that considerable mountaineering skill of a very high order is necessary to get over the cliffs that shut the river in during this period.

Schomberg's journey was not, however, wasted. He made a careful study of the Shaksgam valley down to its junction with the Raskam, and followed that river up for some distance. The Mir of Hunza lays claim to Raskam and the lower Shaksgam; but he exercises little control over the region, or indeed over the people of Shimshal. Courtesy and polite promises made in Baltit, therefore, are of little value beyond the Shimshal pass, and Schomberg had a good deal of trouble in persuading the men to carry for him. The difficulty is much the same whichever line of entry is made into the middle Shaksgam, for the people of Askole are also shy of giving aid. Undoubtedly the best method of completing the exploration and mapping of this region is to bring in supplies and a small party of porters who can be thoroughly trusted, from some distance away. Perhaps not unnaturally the people in the immediate neighbourhood are loath to disclose their secret bolt-holes, which they find so useful in times of trouble. That such times come upon them is shown by the author when he explored the Oprang tributary to the Oprang pass, leading to the Taghdumbash Pamir, just after a brutal raid by Andijani riff-raff, encouraged from over the Soviet border. This once happy, prosperous valley had been ruthlessly devastated. T wished', writes the author, 'that the fools who think lawlessness and revolt a fine thing, and the unrestrained will of the mob desirable in itself, could see this ravaged district.’

The book is a valuable contribution to the scanty literature of this region, chapters on the old routes, Hunza raids, and linguistic problems being especially clear and interesting. The author did not survey the ground topographically, but corrected and added to the old map of the Survey of India. A very useful map showing these alterations is included. There is still a very interesting piece of exploration left to be done by some of our younger mountaineers in these parts; and it will be of great interest to learn how the northern 'Braldu glacier' discovered by Schomberg connects up with the 'snow basin' of the Biafo, and whether there is any link between it and the Nobande Sobande glacier of Godwin Austen, or the Wali glacier of Younghusband.

Kenneth Mason.

 

 

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FORSGHUNG AM NANGA PARBAT: Deutsche Himalaja Expedition 1934. By Richard Finsterwalder, Walter Raechl, Peter Misch, and Fritz Bechtold. Hannover: Hel- wingsche Buchhandlung, 1936. 10x7 inches; 145 pages \ numerous illustrations, plans, and diagrams. (No price stated.)

This book is mainly a summary of the researches carried out during the second German Nanga Parbat expedition by the scientist members thereof. It is an elaboration, which Finsterwalder excuses as 'premature', of the paper translated in the Himalayan Journal, vol. vii, pp. 44-52. It is prefaced by notes in memory of Merkl, Welzen- bach, Drexel, and the six Sherpa porters who lost their lives on the mountain, and of Dr. Walter Raechl, who was killed five months later on the Watzmann. The purely scientific chapters by Finsterwalder, Raechl, and Misch would require more space for adequate review than is available. It suffices to say that they deal with the methods and results of the geological and topographical survey by photogrammetry and triangulation, and of research in geomorpho- logy, glaciation, glacier movements, geology, and compass variation. Notes on high-altitude physiology and on meteorology which were to have been made by Dr. Bernard and the late Herr Wieland respectively are not forthcoming. The thorough organization of the expedition by Merkl and Wieland, the excellent relations between climbers and scientists, and the devotion of all personnel to their leader are repeatedly stressed by Finsterwalder.

The concluding chapter, 'Der Kampf um den Nanga Parbat', is a straightforward, modest, and brief account of the expedition from its inception to its tragic ending. There are numerous fine photographs and a number of plans and diagrams. The frontispiece is interesting, being a reproduction of a water-colour sketch of Nanga Parbat from the east, by A. von Schlaginweit, dated 1856. An excellent map shows the peaks and the Rakiot glacier in detail.

H. W. Tobin.

 

 

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WILLY MERKL: EIN WEG ZUM NANGA PARBAT. By Karl Herrlig Koffer, assisted by Fritz Sghmitt. Munich: Rudolf Rother, 1936. 10x7 ½ inches; 235pages', numerous illustrations. (No price stated.)

Merkl's stepbrother Karl and acquaintance Fritz Schmitt have collaborated to produce this biography, of which the key-note is their affection for and admiration of their hero. A brief introduction by his superior, Dr. Kleinmann, Deputy Director of the German State Railways, stresses the deep regard and respect which his railway comrades had for the young engineer. The first two chapters describe Merkl's systematic training and his progress to realization of his ambition to become a great mountaineer. Starting guideless climbing at Traunstein as a schoolboy of 15, he worked through his apprenticeship in rock-climbing in the Kaiser, the Karwendel, and the Dolomites. He had found, in his schoolmate Fritz Bechtold, 'the necessary companion who will stick to me through thick and thin'. So began their climbing partnership of eighteen years.

The third chapter is taken from Merkl's own journals, which show how he gained experience on ice and snow and in storm. These extracts take us from the Dauphine to the Glockner group, and in 1929, with Raechl as well as Bechtold, to Ushba and Elburz. His narrow escape, with Welzenbach, in a snow-storm on the Grands Gharmoz is also described. An abridged account of his first attempt on Nanga Parbat concludes this portion of the book, which is simply and modestly written. The actual author of the final chapter is not clearly indicated. It is the epic of the 1934 expedition briefly related. It tells of the high hopes of the 6th July and of the unrelenting storm which brought death to so many. The account of the return of the surviving climbers and porters and of the attempts to rescue those left behind is harrowing. The volume ends with a touching tribute to the loyal Gaylay and his gallant leader, who 'share one of the highest graves on earth'.

H. W. Tobin.

 

 

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A HERMIT IN THE HIMALAYAS. By Paul Brunton. Madras: B. G. Paul & Co. (No details given regarding size or pages); illustrated. Rs. 3/8.

The author went to think in a bungalow on the top of one of the tree-covered hills of Tehri-Garhwal. In order to concentrate his mind, he proceeded, as a yogi would, to think more slowly than his normal wont.

His thoughts are, however, somewhat disappointing. The hills prompted him occasionally towards that mountain religiosity of which we have recently read so much. Other thoughts are more mundane, e.g. tea-drinking, the effect of increased air travel on the seclusion of Tibet, &c. It hardly seems necessary to waste two pages explaining that he wears old clothes in the hills.

Like many another sojourner in the hills, he felt a profound peace enveloping him. Many of his descriptions of scenery are charming and full of truth. Of the country he passes through he writes, 'The heights have been thrown up haphazard, just anyhow. There is nothing Euclidean here'; 'Some peaks are sharp cones, others are great humps. One by one I pick them out on the long hundred-mile line which confronts me'; and again 'We have to make considerable detours ... no short cuts are possible'. How often have travellers in the hills disobeyed the last rule and taken twice as long over their short cut as they would have in completing their detour?

He hardly proves to be the hermit he set out to be, for he has many interesting visitors who discuss philosophy and tell him interesting tales, historical and mythological.

There are not many new ideas in this book, and one would have preferred the more ordinary thoughts to be set before the reader in a better style. The frontispiece does not do justice to the printing of the book, which is otherwise good. It is time publishers in India produced better 'half-tone' pictures.

E. A. L. Gueterbock.

 

 

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THE SOCIAL ECONOMY OF THE HIMALAYANS: Based on a survey in the Kumaun Himalaya. By S. D. Pant, m.a., ll.b., ph.d. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1935. 8 ½ X5 ½ inches; 264 pages.

This book has developed out of a thesis presented in 1928 for the M.A. degree of the Lucknow University, and it bears a foreword by

Sir Edward Blunt, i.c.s., whose interest in that University is of long standing. The area treated by Mr. Pant, who is a native of Ranikhet, may be divided into two parts by a line drawn from Kapkot in the NW. to Askot in the SE. The whole area is important to the Himalayan traveller, for in Ranikhet or Almora in the southern section his expedition will have its base, and in the northern he will find his peaks and his porters. Here in the upland valleys, from Mana in Garhwal to the villages on the Kali, are the homes of the Bhotias and Dotials, the former giving their name to the whole of this northeastern part of Kumaun. Many members of this Club will have had experience of these men, and Eric Shipton in particular has lately testified to their powers of endurance; but to get the best out of them, as from all human material, one has to understand them, and any information about their customs and general way of life must be of interest and value. With information of that kind this book is plentifully supplied; it treats of their methods of agriculture, of their summer trade across the passes to Tibet and the winter migration to the shelter of the Bhabars, of their social ceremonies and village economy.

But a good deal of it must be received with caution, and the first chapter especially calls for some revision. It is difficult, for example, to reconcile the statement that the Milam glacier 'is at places more than 25 miles in width' with the evidence of its size as shown on the author's map on page 35.¹⁶ Some of the writing is careless, as when we are told, 'From March to October the valleys are no more agreeable than the tropical plains, for being shut in by the hill-sides, which reflect the rays of the sun, the middle of the day is extremely very sultry', or when Nanda Devi is described as 'somewhat lower than Gaurishanker (Mt. Everest)'.

 

The 'select bibliography' at the end is a curious selection. It contains two books on Kashmir and others which do not appear to be relevant to the subject; among journals and periodicals there are the Leader of Allahabad, the Hindustan Times, and the Statesman in a list of nine only, which includes the Scottish Geographical Magazine and omits the Geographical Journal.

 

 

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SCRAMBLES AMONGST THE ALPS. By Edward Whymper. 6th edition. Revised and edited by H. E. G. Tyndale. London: John Murray, 1936. 8 ½ x6 inches; xxii+414 pages\ illustrations and maps. 10s. 6d.

The fifth edition of the Scrambles, the last to be published in the life-time of its author, appeared in 1900, and it is surprising that we have had to wait till 1936 for this, which may be called the definitive edition of the greatest of all Alpine classics. It is unlikely that any new material will come to light, for Mr. Tyndale has had access to all the relevant documents and diaries, placed at his disposal by Mrs. Woodgate, the niece of Edward Whymper, and has used them judiciously in foot-notes and appendixes. To these has been added an interesting article on the 1865 Matterhorn accident by the late Capt. Farrar, reprinted from the Alpine Journal, vol. xxxii. The original illustrations and maps have been reproduced, and a few modern photographs of great beauty are a welcome addition. With this splendid edition before us, we shall all be reading the 'Scrambles' again, however familiar it may be, and perhaps we shall try to discover the sources of the perennial appeal which it undoubtedly has. The clue is to be found in the preface of 1900: 'Generally speaking, the salient points alone have been dwelt upon and the rest has been left to the imagination.'

Here Whymper, the draughtsman and water-colour painter, is applying the principles he had learnt in one art to his new art of writing, and reveals in part the secret of his success. It has too often been forgotten by later climbers. Either the description has been crowded with detail, or the impression has been anticipated by personal reflections on the sublime and beautiful.

'The ablest pens have failed,' he writes, 'and I think must always fail to give a true idea of the grandeur of the Alps.' But Whymper, with his restraint, comes as near to success as any, and his methods are worth study. Here is the opportunity to study them in this desirable edition.

S. G. Dunn.

 

 

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THE ASCENT OF MOUNT STALIN. By Michael Romm; translated by Alec Brown. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1936. 6x9 inches; 268pages', illustrated. 7s. 6d.

This book gives an unpleasant insight into modern Russian methods of advertisement and propaganda. It is the story of the mountaineering group, one of forty, of the Russian scientific expedition which was sent to the Western Pamirs in 1933. The group, under the command of Nikolai Gorbounov, was set the official task of climbing 'Mount Stalin', alias Garmo, 24,590 feet, the highest peak in Russian territory. By no means all of the party seem to have seen a mountain before, and the writer appears to have been there as an official observer, to see that no spanners were thrown into the works. His account bears the mark of a rather futile effort to impress, and it is more interesting as a commentary on the extent to which some countries will go to advertise themselves than as a record of mountaineering or as a contribution to knowledge.

There are many exaggerations and inaccuracies. It is, for instance, not true that pre-War Russian scientists and explorers had not the necessary alpine experience or technique for Pamir exploration, that the Russian Pamirs were unmapped before the War, that the Kara Kul lake was legendary. Russian officers had already carried a chain of high-class triangulation across the Pamirs in 1912, broken it down to secondary triangles, and a detailed topographical survey was nearly completed before the War broke out. None of the great Russian explorers would have been guilty of the folly of crossing Pamir rivers in the late afternoon when they were in flood, or of losing fourteen lives in doing so; and I find it difficult to imagine Grombchevski, for example, sitting up late at night studying a text-book on mountaineering before a climb, like a child cramming for an examination.

Far too little credit is given to Rickmers' expedition of 1928, to Biersack or Finsterwalder, for their map of the whole region. The map issued with the book is terribly crude, and names have been altered in a most exasperating manner: Darwas is renamed 'Pik Garmo', and Garmo renamed 'Pik Stalin', the reasons given being quite unconvincing. Other summits are plastered with the names of political characters of passing notoriety; while it is unlikely that 'Pik German-Communist Party' and 'Pik Ogpu' will find a permanent place in international geography. These things are not the fault of the translator, who deserves our gratitude for giving us this insight into Russian mountaineering methods. But surely there is no excuse for such monstrosities in the English translation as Kouen-Louen, Hindou-Koush, Moustag-Ata, Kzyl-Art, all of which have definite and accepted spellings in English geography.

Kenneth Mason.

 

 

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THE CLIMATES OF THE CONTINENTS. By W. G. Kendrew, m.a. 3rd edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937. 473 pages', numerous diagrams', 21 s.

Normally one would not call attention in a Journal devoted to mountaineering to a general text-book on climates. This book is, however, much more than a text-book on the climates of all the continents; it is an exhaustive account of the climates of each of them, and, if there is anything to choose between Mr. Kendrew's treatment of any one continent, possibly his account of Asiatic climates is the best. The available evidence has been subjected to the closest scrutiny, and where the earlier editions were content to state 'There are not yet sufficient data to determine' the author has now in some instances been able to reach a conclusion. To Himalayan mountaineers the complete revision of the sections dealing with Afghanistan and Baluchistan and the careful treatment of western disturbances and the monsoon in northern India will be most welcome, particularly because the author's style is so readable and his knowledge exact. To members of the Club who have left India and gone farther afield the book can be equally recommended. The large number of new blocks and the careful revision and resetting of all the tables more than justify the price.

K. M.

 

 

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AN ACCOUNT OF TIBET: THE TRAVELS OF IPPOLITO DESIDERI OF PISTOIA, s.j., 1712-27. Edited by Filippo de Filippi. 2nd edition. London: The Broadway Travellers: G.Rout- ledge, 1937. 8 ¾ x6 ¾ inches:; xviii+475 pages; illustrations; indexes, bibliography, and notes. 25s.

A detailed review of the first edition of this book was published in the Himalayan Journal, vol. v, 1933, pp. 130-3. Within a few years a second edition has been called for, and Sir Filippo has taken the opportunity of profiting from the reviews of the first edition and correcting a few minor misprints and errors. Some references have been added owing to more recent publications dealing with Tibet. There is little for a reviewer of the second edition to add to the tributes already paid. Desideri ranks with the greatest travellers of his time, and we are fortunate in having this English translation by so experienced a traveller as Sir Filippo de Filippi. No one interested in Tibet should be without a copy of this book.

K. M.

 

 

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KARTE DER NANGA PARBAT GRUPPE.

The new German map of the Nanga Parbat group, published under the auspices of the Deutscher und Osterreichischer Alpenverein, is one of the most beautiful examples of mountain cartography in existence and well worthy of that most attractive of mountains. On a scale of 1150,000 and with contours at 50 metres, it is drawn throughout with the accuracy and thoroughness attainable only by modern stereo-photogrammetry, and is a great credit to all concerned. The field-work was done by Professor Richard Finsterwalder and Walter Raechl on the luckless expedition of 1934 with a light Zeiss photo-theodolite, and the plotting has been carried out by Hans Biersack under Finsterwalder's direction at the latter's Geodetic Institute at Hannover. The combination of beautiful rock- drawing and exact contours in black with light sepia shading harmonizes remarkably with a similar technique in the representation of ice features, which are in blue. The whole massif of Nanga Parbat is included, while a key map showing the details of the stereo- photogrammetric stations is issued with the map, and is of considerable interest to surveyors.

Since writing the above note we have learnt with much regret that the talented Hans Biersack perished when engaged in survey work in the Stubaier Alps. He was killed by an avalanche when ski-ing on the 19th February 1937. A baker by trade, he became interested in cartography and since 1923 rapidly worked his way up to become a master craftsman in photogrammetry and mountain cartography. In 1928 he was a member of Rickmer Rickmers' Alai-Pamir expedition, and a considerable part of the cartographic results of this expedition was due to him, including the discovery of Garmo and the mapping of the long Fedchenko glacier. Under Professor Finsterwalder's direction also he drew the map of the Zemu glacier which was published with the permission of the Deutscher und Osterreichischer Alpenverein in the Himalayan Journal, vol. vii, 1935. It is sad to think that we shall have no more examples of his fine craftsmanship.

K. M.

 

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