TURKESTAN SOLO
By Ella K. Maillart. Translated by John Rodker
Turkestan Solo (Putnam, 10s. 6d.) tells a tale of some adventurous chapters in the life of a remarkable young woman. She tells her story of travel in the high mountains of Central Asia and in the cities of the Golden Road in language which, though easy to read, is only .occasionally skilful. Mlle. Maillart is an expert alpine climber and is already- famous in Europe for her ski-ing exploits. In Khirghistan she taught herself to ride in 24 hours. Despite the inter- ference of the ubiquitous bureaucrat she succeeded in joining a party of Russians who were intent on holiday making in. the T'ien Shan, the Mountains of Heaven. The country there should still be the preserve of nomads, who hunt with eagles, and drink blood and milk. They move from pasture to pasture, the *omen often carrying the heavy yurts—felt tents. Now, these noinads are being settled in stone-built houses there is no reason to doubt that their health and prosperity will inevitably decline. The next stage of Mlle. Maillart's journey led her through the cities of Russian Central Asia : Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. The Russians have gone far to ruin the stately majesty of these once glorious cities:: but in Samarkand, the new city of functional architecture is some distance away from the.Registan where it is possible, surrounded by the scintillating facades of the three most beautiful monuments of Islamic art, to feel something of Hit! spirit and energy of the world-conquerors who built them. Mlle. Maillart succeeds in capturing much of the present for the reader, but fails to catch the colour and temper of the Turk i civilization. However, the many excellent illustrations do much to compensate for any inaccuracy in historical back,- grotmd and nobody can fail to -be excited by Mlle. Maillart's story of her 300-mile trek across the snow-covered wastes of the Kizil Kum.
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