Mr. Teichman, as representative of the British Government, acted as
mediator between Tibet and China in 1918 and suc- ceeded in bringing about a cessation of hostilities and the recog- nition of a provisional boundary line between Szechwan and Tibet. He begins his book with an historical sketch, fifty- eight pages in length, of the relations between China, Tibet, and India. The account of the travels is given in the form of a diary. Mr. Teichman has undoubtedly made a valuable contribution to the literature dealing with Tibet, and we have every admiration for his perseverance both as a writer and as a traveller. " The long and arduous journeys," he writes in his Preface,
" through remote and largely unknown regions of Eastern Tibet necessitated by these frontier peace negotiations appeared to be of sufficient interest to warrant their being recorded in this book. For some people, including the writer, there are few pleasures, sports, or pastimes to compare with the interest and excitement of travelling through and surveying, however inadequately, remote regions hitherto unmapped and unexplored."
The only fault we have to find with Mr. Teichman's book is that as a book of travels it is disappointing. It omits so much that the greedy reader is thirsting to know—the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of these remote and little known regions. But though the details which appeal especially to the reader are too rare, they are by no means entirely absent. Here is an interesting description of a very unusual variety of tea- making :— " As I write these lines the Tibetan members of our party are preparing their evening meal in full view. First a fire is quickly lit between three stones with the help of the Tibetan bellows, an indispensable adjunct to travel in these parts. It consists simply of a metal pipe attached to a skin bag. Every Tibetan can operate this contrivance, which is useless to a Chinese or European unless he has discovered the peculiar knack of working it. A handful of pressed leaves and twigs is broken off the brick of Yachou tea and boiled in a copper bowl over the fire, and the tea is then poured
through a strainer into a churn, a pat of butter (usually rancid) and some salt are added, and the whole churned up until it resembles
cafe an fait in appearance. . . . When the tea is ready it is mixed by means of one's fingers with (samba (the flour of roasted barley) in a small bowl which every Tibetan carries in the folds of his gown, and is eaten in the form of damp lumps of dough."
The book is amply provided with photographs and maps.
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