Reconnoitring Central Asia: Pioneering Adventures In The Region Lying Between Russia And India

Through this rare yet valuable work, the author has attempted to give a popular account of the principal pioneering exploits in the region lying between the Caspian and India. It would have been easy to have extended the series, so as to have included the very large band of explorers who have laid bare the geographical secrets of Kashgaria and the region adjacent. A moment's reflection, however, served to convince him that he should make it unwieldy by doing this, and that further he should distract the reader by calling away his attention from time to time to a part of Central Asia, having nothing in common with that extending from the Caspian Sea to the river Indus. In his writings on Central Asia he tries to arbitrate impartially between Russia and England, Liberal and Conservative, Russo-phobe and Russophile, and if he has failed on this occasion to deal with equal fairness, and with equal freedom from carping, ungenerous criticism, in treating of the achievements of the various Russian and English explorers, the fault is neither due to personal bias nor to narrow views of patriotism. The book is very useful for the students of history.