To the Alps of Chinese Tibet: an Account of a Journey of Exploration up to and among the Snow-clad Mountains of the Tibetan Frontier

Abstract

THERE are certain regions of the earth which will always have a fascination for the geographer who has some knowledge of geology, or the geologist who is interested in geographical problems, by reason of the unexplained peculiarities which they present when he sees them depicted in an atlas. Of these, one of the most remarkable is that region, lying between India and China, where the scattered drainage of a large area in Tibet is collected in three great rivers, the Salween, the Mekong, and the Yangtse-kiang, which flow for more than 150 miles in channels straight, parallel, and separated by high mountains, but so close together that the distance between the two outermost is barely more than 50 miles. It was to this region that Prof. Gregory, accompanied by his son, made a rapid excursion in the summer of 1922, and the book before us is one result of this journey. It is the joint production of the two travellers, who are somewhat quaintly referred to as the Chief and the Assistant, or occasionally as “one of us “; and the bulk of the book is taken up with a narrative account of the journey, mainly the work of the junior, though the inspiration, if not the I hand, of the senior can be recognised in places. Of this, all that need be said is that the Assistant has done his work well, and produced a very readable book of travel; for readers of NATURE the main interest lies in the first and last chapters, which must be solely the work of the Chief, for he alone could have written them.

To the Alps of Chinese Tibet: an Account of a Journey of Exploration up to and among the Snow-clad Mountains of the Tibetan Frontier.

By Prof. J. W. Gregory C. J. Gregory. Pp. 321+16 plates. (London: Seeley, Service and Co., Ltd., 1923.) 25s. net.