3 Review(s)

This amusing and often exaggerated account of an adventurous Englishman’s journey into Nepal and Tibet was received with much scepticism and ridicule by the scholars of those days. Written to thrill and amaze the reader, this book includes very illuminating paintings by the author who was, undoubtedly, a gifted artist. Whether or not he actually travelled to the parts he described is open to question; and he takes all opportunity to further his desire to be recognized as an explorer, naming peaks and glaciers after the members of his family, and leading us to believe that he travelled in some of the coldest and most inhospitable climates in nothing but his summer clothing. Of special note is his supposed capture and escape from the Tibetan authorities and their tortures. This is more of a novel than a travelogue.