In the Footsteps of Marco Polo-Being the Account of a Journey Overland from Simla to Pekin

Contents: 1. The avoidance of beaten paths--A busy week at Srinagar--"Mr. Cook"--A valley of Loveliness--The Zoji Pass--The religion of the Ladakis--Prayer cylinders--Polyandry--An elaborate coiffure--Leh--A Lama temple. 2. Preparing the caravan--Ladak slimness--Horse buying by arbitration--A grand polo-match in the street at Leh--The Lapchack mission--The difficulties attending a start--Training as a cure for mountain sickness--A primitive pair of scales--The silent land--How to drive a yak--Hunting the Tibetan hare. 3. Entering Tibet--The detection of "the Lama"--Robbers--Stalking under difficulties--A heavy sleeping suit--The Curzon range and Kitchener group--Character of the Ladaki--Hints on transport--The history of Tibet. 4. The passage of the Kuen Lun--A perilous descent--A miserable camping ground--Gold "pockets"--A pleasant surprise--The luxury of eggs--The welcome sight of a tree--A hospitable beg--Entering Polu in rags. 5. An ideal place for a rest-cure--A house in Polu--Flesh-pots and luxury--The turkis of Polu--Hawks and hawking--A diplomatic "deal" in donkeys--The Kiria river--Two selfish aksakals--The oasis of Kookhia--Kiria--A friendly Amban--Chinese Turkestan--The Eastern Turkish dialect--The Andijanis as traders. 6. Introduction of Buddhism into China--A garden encampment--A Chinese octroi--Niya and its buried ruins--A sporting Beg--A variety pack of hounds--Primitive spears--Hawking--A pig hunt--A picturesque beat--An impromptu horse-race--One of nature's gentlemen.

7. The mountain route to Cherchen--The gorges of the Niya river--Sorghack--gold diggings--Down the mine--Prehistoric methods--Variable measures of distance--The shepherds of the Kuen Lun--Kopa--The mystery of a soup tin--The march to Cherchen--A rush for water--An unfriendly aksakal--The Amban of Cherchen--The veracity of Marco Polo--Chinese and Indian traders--The Amban's cigar. 8. Lou-Lan--Two descriptions of 77 B.C. and 1900 A.D.--The Lopnor controversy--Marco Polo's description of the desert--Sven Hedin's discoveries--A bewildering jungle track--Gigantic trees--Changing waterways--An Ocean of Sand--The conquest of torrents by sand--The value of a dead pony--A pony in a corn pit--A wandering sportsman--British boots in fashion at Lhasa--The Oasis of Chakalik--An aged Amban--A present of Dover powders. 9. Tearful farewells--An ancient sea-shore--Abdal-Marco Polo and the desert sounds--Rootheaps--A Christmas Eve dinner in the desert--The finding of a bag of corn--A desert tragedy--The Chinese torla or watch towers--A wind-storm in the desert-Kara Nor--A devoted surveyor-Sachu. 10. The boundaries of Chinese Turkestan--Interior routes--The five routes of entrance and egress--Ancient connection with India--Buddhism as a power--Chinese administration--Currency and taxation--Mining--Military organisation--The courier post-Russian domination--Signs of a new era in Asia. 11. Sachu--Marco Polo's accuracy--A hospitable reception--The introduction of Western ideas--The temptation of lump sugar--A display of marksmanship--Chinese carts--A nerveshaking ordeal--A decaying town--Street stall bargaining--the intricacies of payment by "cash" --Silver shors--Mohammedan risings--In the track of war--Comfortless lives--A mud-brick fort. 12. Su-chou-Post houses--Beacon-signals--The Feast of Lanterns--Kan-chou--A Colossal figure of Buddha--Town defences and forts of refuge--The question of Chinese missions--Monseigneur Otto--Possible railway routes--Liang-chou--The story of the death of Yu-Hsien. 13. Natives of western Kansu--Opium-smoking--The Pekin edict--Travelling carts--Lan-chou--A bridge of boats--A surprising dinner-party--The meeting of East and West--Comic opera army manoeuvres--Fair women and famed tobacco--Primitive machinery--The future of Kansu and Sze-chuan. 14. A week at Lan-Chou--The problem of the loess formation--Richthofen's theory--Contrasts of scenery--Difficult locomotion--Camel caravans--A historical retrospect--A dangerous ferry--Cave villages--A remote Catholic mission--A quaint oblation--Ching-yang-fu-A remarkable tunnel--A Chinese Ivanhoe. 15. Petroleum and coal--Cave-dwellings--A visit to a mine--Tai yuan-fu--The university of Shansi--A native newspaper--The Ku kuan Pass--A great coal and iron field--A railway at last--Signor Philipetti's hotel--China's haste to become western. 16. The growth of a military spirit in China--Signs of upheaval--Three possible causes of the subterraneous movement--The emperor--The Dowager-Empress--The effect of the Japanese victories--The past history of Chinese arms--Kublai Khan's unsuccessful attacks on Japan--Reasons for doubting the renascence of a military spirit. Appendix. Record of temperature and weather. Leh to Polu. Index.