THE JOURNEY OF COLONEL PlUEVALSKY TOWARDS TIBET.
ACTING on the principle that adventures are still to the ad- venturous, the Russian explorer, Colonel Prjevalsky, has just set out for a third--if, indeed, it be not a fourth—time from the Russian frontier, with the firm resolve of penetrating into Tibet, and of visiting the Dalai Lama at Lhasa. That person would indeed be a churl who would permit political opinions HO to warp his understanding, as to induce him to refuse his mood of admiration to the deeds of a Russian officer who, in daring and tact, has already rivalled the very greatest of travellers in the past. Whatever opinions may be formed on the subject of Russian policy, there cannot be two with regard to the gallantry of those officers and explorers who serve the Czar, and of whom Prje- valsky is the foremost, but not the only one. Of all geographical enterprises in Asia, none appeals more strongly to the imagina- tion than an attempt to enter the little-known land of the Lamas. Englishmen, whose territory touches that State, know something of the difficulties of that task, which, either through Chinese exclusiveness, or, as the late lamented Mr. T. T. Cooper believed, through the hostility of the Lamas them- selves, appear to be almost insuperable. But we ask, has any one pictured to himself the enormous difficulties which Nature has interposed between the Russian territory at Kuldja and the capital of Tibet ? There are a sandy desert of such extent, that the wastes of Western Turkestan would fit in a corner of it ; five mountain ranges, at the least, whose altitude exceeds that of the loftier peaks of the Alps ; elevated plateaus, on which the cold is of an Arctic rigour, and valleys where shelter might be expected, but from which the human species has long been banished, either by the harshness of nature or the cruelty of man. Along that inhospitable track, the traveller has to expect little save danger and personal suffering. For hundreds and hundreds of miles he will meet with no one except a few nomadic Calmucks, and these will be only too willing, if the opportunity offers, to show their hostility to the stranger who has ventured into their solitudes. To the Russian explorer, there is everything to deter and little to encourage in such a journey as this. It must be taken for the purposes of geographical research, and in the pursuit of a great idea. The rumours which have been circulated of political motives being at the root of this enterprise are too palpably absurd to be entertained for a moment, although it may be ad- mitted that it will serve the one political purpose of adding something to Russia's actual stock of knowledge in respect of the Chinese Empire. To say that Colonel Prjevalsky has set out with the object of setting the Emperor of China and the Dalai Lama by the ears, cannot appear more ridiculous to those who know anything of Tibet, than it must to the gallant ex- plorer himself. Nothing but a fevered imagination could regard Prjevalsky's journey to Lhasa as in the same category as Stole- toff's to Cabul; at the same time, it is no doubt a reflection on the enterprise of Englishmen, that a Russian should undertake an enterprise from which the boldest Englishmen have quailed for sixty-eight years. The difficulties which the Russian officer has to overcome are also, it must be remembered, infinitely greater than those which an English explorer would have to encounter.
The latest information which had been received of Colonel Prjevalsky's whereabouts told us that on May 13th he had reached the River Balgantai, south cd the Tian Shan, and that he was about to make his way to the town of Hamil. In this Portion of his journey he has principally to avoid as much as possible coming into contact with the Chinese soldiers, who are stationed in considerable numbers in all the chief towus and who are disposed to be very unfriendly to everything Russian
at the present time. If 'he has ben able to make his way un- molested to Hamil, it is most probable that his further journey will be unrestricted. He will have passed through the military circle, and. reached a place where his movements will be freer and less liable to supervision. It is most probable that he will succeed in reaching Hamil, for the Chinese authorities in Central Asia are by no means so disposed as is assumed to pre- cipitate the solution of the Kuldja question. Time is on their side, and THO Tsung Tang is not the man to weaken his chances by an unwise precipitancy. In his eyes, Colonel Prjevalsky's journey will appear to be of little signific- ance. He has no concern in the affairs of Tibet, and if the explorer should acquire any information likely to prove inconvenient, it would be so much easier and less suspi- cious-looking to prevent his return, than to refuse him admis- sion into the State. Had the Russian officer gone to Aksu, Karakaru, or Mama, it would have been different, for there he would have acquired most valuable information as to the pre- sent condition of the Chinese army at those places. But he has studiously avoided them, and Tso Tsung Tang will therefore not interfere with his. journey towards Tibet. It must also be re- membered that Colonel Prjevalsky is, of all travellers, the most experienced in dealing with the Chinese. He knows when to be discreet, he is well versed in the weaknesses of Man- darins, and. in the sentiments that guide the decrees of the local yamens. On this occasion, too, he is not, as be sometimes has been, ill-provided with money—a most necessary article for those travelling in China, as elsewhere. It is, therefore, most probable that Colonel Prjevalsky will succeed in reaching the Chinese town of Hamil in safety. He will then have to decide what his further course is to be. There will be a choice of three roads open to him. The first will be to take a south- westerly route, in the direction of Lob Nor, thence following over the Altyn Tagh range, that Calmuck trade route of the existence of which he learnt in his tour of 1877. This is, so far as distance goes, the shortest, being about 1,100 miles ; but in Colonel Prjevalsky's eyes it will have the special recommendation of enabling him to settle the vexed Lob- Nor question, and of conclrisively replying to the strictures of Baron Richthofen upon his former conclusions. Another ad- vantage will be that by this route he will have least to dread from the interference of the Chinese authorities. The second road will' be to travel by the Soulousoun Tagh range, and crossing the Bulunghir River at Ngitu-si-chau, to endeavour to make his way beyond Shachau into Tibet. The difficulties here would probably be greater than anywhere else, and for that reason alone this is the least probable choice of the three. The distance by this route would be, at least, 1,500 miles. It is much more likely that the third route, via Kokonor, will be selected, and of this Prjevalsky has already a certain knowledge, for in 1872 he travelled by it to within a short distance of Tibet Proper, reaching an elevated pass called Cocosai. This is the longest of all, but in every other respect is superior to either of the others. If Colonel Prjevalsky can consent to put off his natural desire to solve the Lob Nor question, this is the route which offers least difficulties, and presents the best approach to Lhasa from the north.
Of the ultimate success of Colonel Prjevalsky's journey it would be rash to hazard an opinion. It may, at least, be said that if any man deserved to succeed in an arduous enterprise, that man is the Russian officer of whom we are speaking. He has apparently omitted no pre- caution calculated to conduce to a happy result for his labours, and his experience and tact will suggest to him ways. of evading difficulties which to other men would prove invincible. 'When we remember what has recently been accom- plished by English travellers in China, who possessed neither the experience nor the means of Colonel Prjevalsky, it appears to us that it would be a very hasty expression of opinion to say that he will not triumph over all his difficulties, and succeed in reaching the capital of the Dalai Loma. Four hundred years ago, a Russian traveller, Athauasius Nikitin, explored the chief States of Asia, despite of the greatest obstacles. There are good. grounds for believing that his not unworthy successor, Colonel Prjevalsky, will have equal success in the great task he has set before himself.
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