In the beginning of Vol. II of my book Through Asia, London r 898, I have sacrificed only a few pages to the description of my journey in the eastern parts of the Pamirs, accomplished during the summer of 1895. On p. 682 of the work quoted I say: »The length to which this book is growing precludes me from describing this present expedition with anything approaching the same circumstantial minuteness. Perhaps I may be permitted on another occasion to relate the results of my 1895 journey in the southern regions of the Pamirs.»
Although twentysix years are gone since the journey alluded to was under- taken, the promise just mentioned has never been fulfilled, nor has the map drawn during the journey been worked out. When Dr. B. HASSENSTEIN after my return transformed my field maps into the excellent sheets of Eastern Turkestan, North Tibet, and parts of Mongolia and Northern China which were published in Petermanns Mitleilungen, Ergänzungsband XXVIII, 1900, it was decided that the field maps from the Eastern Pamirs should be left for a later occasion. And this occasion did not come. My years were filled with new journeys, new maps and new projects, and the Pamir sheets were always put aside as being of inferior importance.
During my studies of the remarkable journeys of the great Chinese pilgrims, my interest in the southern parts of the Pamirs has again been awakened, and I have believed it advisable to look up my old diaries once more in the hope that my own experiences may to a certain degree facilitate the solution of the dark points of the Chinese itineraries. In my personal narrative quoted above, I have briefly described the northern part of my journey in the Eastern Pamirs and the return journey to Kashgar. This part has very little to do with the Chinese pilgrimages. Still, for completeness' sake I will make a résumé of it again before dealing at some length with the southern portion of the same journey. In this connection I will, of course, only deal with the geography. The meteorological observations and absolute altitudes, have been published by Professor NILS EKHOLM, in Vol. V, Part Ia , of my Scientific Results of a Tourney in Central Asia 1899 —1902,
4. IX.
IIIF Color HighRes
