A GREAT TRAVELLER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2361, 30 November 1908, Page 7

A GREAT TRAVELLER.

'« DR SVEN HEDIN’S LATEST r JOURNEY.

Dr. Sven, the great Swedish traveller, has once more returned from his journeys in Tibet, and' the .London “Times’ ’ has published some most interesting details concerning them. “For the past two years Dr Hedin has been once more engaged, "with little. intermission, in-- the task of pejvhratlrg into the -unknown recesses of Tibet. The first year’s exploration of which the results were made known last year, resulted in many valuable additions to our knowledge of Central Asian geography, and, in' particular, to the discovery of the true sources of the Brahmaputra and Indus. In December last, as ihe now informs , us, Dr Hedin started 'from Leh, in Kashmir, on a second journey, which for romantic interest, for the magnitude of the hardships overcome, ais welt -as for the" extent of its addition to geographical knowledge, *rhust be awarded a brilliant place in the annals of adventurous exploration.

“Since, .in 1890, Dr Hedin first applied himself to the solution of the geographical .problems of Contrail Asia by his journey through Khoras--SSjt and Turkestan, he has secured a wdrid-wido reputation as one of the hardiest as well as one of the most adventurous and successful of explorers. None of his former travels, however} surpass in the variety of their perils the story of the journey which has just reached its last stage at fhmla, after the prolonged absence of' news had begun to cause keen anxietv for Dr Hedin’s safety. The traveller in the widcls of Central Asia, and especially in Tibet, lias, perhaps, to reckon with a more daunting combination of difficulties interposed by men and by nature

than is now to bo found in any other quarter of the globe, with the possible exception of the )i)ntorior or Arabia. The traditional exclusiveness of that Tibetan character now shows .some signs of relaxation, in virtue of that contact with the outer world which even the Lamas, in their remote and wintry highlands, have not wholly been able to pi event. It is gratifying for Englishmen to recall that Dr Hedin has borne special testimony to the far more cordial treatment which ho experienced on his journey an 1907 than during its predecessors, and that lie attributes this welcome change of attitude to the excellent understanding established by Sir Frank Younghusband at Lhasa four years ago. “But the difficulties of ’ this Hast expedition consisted no less .in elud 1 - ing the vigilance and suspicion of the inhabitants than in sustaining health or bare life in the members of the expedition, in faco of the terrible ordeals 'of storm, cold, and hunger which were experienced throughout a great part of the journey. “Dr Hedin must surely sometimes reflect that on his own most characteristic excursions no prospects please, while both nature and man arc vile. The ordinary European, in whom the primal Aryan, passion for exploration has long 'been atrophied by civilisation, may well . feel the keenest admiration for such feats of courage, ingenuity, and endurance as have been once more displayed since December last, in a new quar-' ter of 'his own familiar field, by the famous Swedish explorer.’ 1