Page:Across Thibet Vol. 1.djvu/14

viii writer were describing a journey to Cairo or some other well-known place in touch with civilisation. Starting from the frontiers of Siberia, and coming out at the other end of Asia, on the coast of the new French colony of Tonquin, M. Bonvalot and his companions not only traversed that portion of Thibet which several English travellers, such as Dalgleish and Carey, and the great Russian Prjevalsky, had explored, but going beyond the limits which their predecessors had reached, forced their way over the tablelands and came out on the other side, this journey being one which no European had ever accomplished; the only persons who had trodden the same paths being the Thibetans on their way to and from the holy city of Lhassa. Although they encountered many obstacles, and must at times have been in considerable peril, they met with no active hostility worth the name, so that the narrative of their journey is not a sensational one.

In translating the book into English, I have endeavoured to remain as far as possible true to the original meaning; but as the work is a very large one, I have taken it upon myself to omit certain passages—chiefly of dialogue, especially in the chapters relating to countries where other travellers had been before. The list of the collections which the explorers brought back with them has also been omitted in this edition, these collections having been exhibited in the Paris Natural History Museum, and not being destined for England. Pains have been taken to reduce to uniformity many place-names which in the original are given in a variety of forms, but in not a few instances the text furnishes no data for determining whether the names are those of different or of the same places, and in such cases there was no option but to follow the original. I may add that the figures relating to the temperature have been altered to the Fahrenheit scale throughout.