Background
Sven Hedin was born on Feruary 19, 1865 in Stockholm.
(This is that rarest of books, the one you grab when the h...)
This is that rarest of books, the one you grab when the house is on fire, or you're about to be marooned on a desert island with nothing else to read. Sven Hedin was not only one of the greatest explorers of the nineteenth century, he was also a brilliant storyteller. Nowhere does the Swedish author tell a tale of excitement, adventure, danger, travel, and hair-raising escape like he does in ""My Life as an Explorer"". Written in an engaging anecdotal style, Hedin explains how he first went to Persia in 1885. Even this first trip was full of mishaps, as he nearly lost his life riding across the snow-covered Elbruz mountains during a fierce snow-storm. Yet Hedin miraculously survived and went on to meet the Shah of Persia. Thus was set the pattern for his remarkable future, which was one part royalty and ten parts danger. ""My Life as an Explorer"" regales the reader with almost more adventure than one can bear to read. Hedin raids the burial grounds of a secret Asian sect. He courts disaster with the Emir of Bokhara. He climbs accursed mountains in China, discovers lost cities in the Gobi desert, infiltrates Tibet, outwits Torgut bandits, and of course becomes close friends with royalty from Peking to London, including the rulers of both the Russian and British empires. In short Hedin lived a life so full of adventure and escape that merely reading about it is exhausting. Illustrated with dozens of his own drawings, this remains the single most exciting adventure travel book written in the early twentieth century.
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(Excerpt: Just as we were setting out on February 19 a sm...)
Excerpt: Just as we were setting out on February 19 a small caravan arrived from Khur on its way to Cha-meji. Its leader warned us most emphatically not to cross the great Kevir bay, which would certainly be under water in some parts, and where in any case we should quite ruin our camels. Ah, well, we thought, we shall see when we come nearer, and we marched on in good but cold weather (38.8° at seven o'clock) and under a sky streaked and mottled by small white clouds in quite the same regular arrangement as the small ridges and lines in the sand of a shallow lake. Small dwindling rain-furrows ran towards the east-north-east, and on the right we left a small longish pool formed by rainwater. Beyond the eastern point of the range of hills on our right now appeared another higher range with snow on its crest, called Kuh-i-pusht-i-badam, while to the southeast the country was quite flat and open, and to the eastsouth-east was seen a hill called Kuh-i-rabat-i-khan.
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(Excerpt: The flood bore towards the right bank, and inun...)
Excerpt: The flood bore towards the right bank, and inundated the principal street of the town. It poured into the lower-lying houses, and kept on rising and rising. The people who lived next the river came rushing out of their dwellings, shouting excitedly and dragging their household possessions after them, and sought safety upon the higher terraces. Some, bolder of heart, began to "cradge" or throw up temporary ridges of clay, to keep the water from entering their houses and so washing away or destroying their property. In a couple of minutes the whole of the lower portion of the bazaar was muddy water. The air trembled with the aweinspiring roar of the torrent. Women were wading up to the waist in water, carrying little children in their arms. Every
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(In the first place I desire to pay homage to the memory o...)
In the first place I desire to pay homage to the memory of my patron, King Oskar of Sweden, by a few words of gratitude. The late King showed as warm and intelligent an interest in my plan for a new expedition as he had on former occasions, and assisted in the fulfilment of my project with much increased liberality. I estimated the cost of the journey at 80,000 kronor (about £4400), and this sum was subscribed within a week by my old friend Emmanuel Nobel, and my patrons, Frederik Löwenadler, Oscar Ekman, Robert Dickson, William Olsson, and Henry Ruffer, banker in London. I cannot adequately express my thanks to these gentlemen. In consequence of the political difficulties I encountered in India, which forced me to make wide detours, the expenses were increased by about 50,000 kronor (£2800), but this sum I was able to draw from my own resources. As on former occasions, I have this time also to thank Dr. Nils Ekholm for his great kindness in working out the absolute heights. The three lithographic maps have been compiled from my original sheets with painstaking care by Lieutenant C. J. Otto Kjellström, who devoted all his furlough to this troublesome work. The astronomical points, nearly one hundred, have been calculated by the Assistant Roth of the Stockholm Observatory; a few points, which appeared doubtful, were omitted in drawing the route on the map, which is based on points previously determined. The map illustrating my narrative in the Geographical Journal, April 1909, I drew roughly from memory without consulting the original sheets, for I had no time to spare; the errors which naturally crept in have been corrected on the new maps, but I wish to state here the cause of the discrepancy. The final maps, which I hope to publish in a voluminous scientific work, will be distinguished by still greater accuracy and detail.
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(In the first place I desire to pay homage to the memory o...)
In the first place I desire to pay homage to the memory of my patron, King Oskar of Sweden, by a few words of gratitude. The late King showed as warm and intelligent an interest in my plan for a new expedition as he had on former occasions, and assisted in the fulfilment of my project with much increased liberality. I estimated the cost of the journey at 80,000 kronor (about £4400), and this sum was subscribed within a week by my old friend Emmanuel Nobel, and my patrons, Frederik Löwenadler, Oscar Ekman, Robert Dickson, William Olsson, and Henry Ruffer, banker in London. I cannot adequately express my thanks to these gentlemen. In consequence of the political difficulties I encountered in India, which forced me to make wide detours, the expenses were increased by about 50,000 kronor (£2800), but this sum I was able to draw from my own resources. As on former occasions, I have this time also to thank Dr. Nils Ekholm for his great kindness in working out the absolute heights. The three lithographic maps have been compiled from my original sheets with painstaking care by Lieutenant C. J. Otto Kjellström, who devoted all his furlough to this troublesome work. The astronomical points, nearly one hundred, have been calculated by the Assistant Roth of the Stockholm Observatory; a few points, which appeared doubtful, were omitted in drawing the route on the map, which is based on points previously determined. The map illustrating my narrative in the Geographical Journal, April 1909, I drew roughly from memory without consulting the original sheets, for I had no time to spare; the errors which naturally crept in have been corrected on the new maps, but I wish to state here the cause of the discrepancy. The final maps, which I hope to publish in a voluminous scientific work, will be distinguished by still greater accuracy and detail.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EVVENWK/?tag=2022091-20
(Excerpt: The sun has broken through the clouds, but the ...)
Excerpt: The sun has broken through the clouds, but the mist has wiped Trelleborg and the Swedish coast from the horizon. A fresh breeze is blowing from the south-west, the Baltic is coated with swirling white-capped waves, and the ferry cuts through the foam on its way to the German coast. There is not a ship in sight, no cruisers, no destroyers or torpedoboats, none of the greyhounds of the sea to track and hold up doubtful shipping. These are peaceful waters. None of the hot winds of war are yet blowing over this sea, only the cool autumnal breezes caress the wave crests. But no doubt grim times are in store even here, so it is as well to make the most of the fleeting hour. At Sassnitz we set foot on German soil which formerly belonged to us. Everything is as usual, the traveller's excitement has been groundless. Nothingunless it be a solitary Landsturm soldier with shouldered rifleto remind one of war. On landing, our passports are vised and our hand luggage is examined at the Custom House. Everything is done in a quiet and orderly manner. The German railway and customs officials are most polite, and look very well in their new ornamental uniforms. The train swings across Riigen to Altefahr and boards the ferry for the mainland. Here the time-worn churches rear their spired over our old possession Stralsund, where we stop a while at the station. Everything is as it used to be, no hurry or bustle; people go about their business as in times of piping peace. But just as the train is about to steam out, a squad of Landwehr soldiers with their kits under their arms rush on to the platform and take their seats in the last carriage. They are not bound for the front as yet, for they alight at Greifswald. A blurred mass of red-tiled roofs framed in the luxuriant foliage of late summer, and a number of churches pointing their spires aloftthat is all we see of the old university town. But there is nothing unusual to be seen, everything runs its normal course. "Papers!" "Beer!" cry the boys on the platform, and, anxious for news, one buys a paper from one and, to quench one's thirst, a glass of good, dark beer of the other.
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Sven Hedin was born on Feruary 19, 1865 in Stockholm.
He was educated at Uppsala University, and at Berlin and Halle.
In 1885 he traveled through Iran and Iraq, and in 1890, while attached to King Oscar's embassy to the shah of Iran, he visited Khurasan and Turkestan.
From 1893 to 1897 he traveled through Asia from Orenburg to Peking via Lop Nor and Tibet.
Retruning through Mongolia and Siberia, he crossed the Gobi Desert to Tibet.
Hedin made two unsuccessful attempts to enter Lhasa, Tibet.
From 1905 to 1908 he journeyed from Iran to India through Tibet, making a number of meteorological observations.
He traveled around the world in 1923 and from 1927 to 1935 was attached to the Sino-Swedish Expedition.
(This is that rarest of books, the one you grab when the h...)
(Excerpt: The sun has broken through the clouds, but the ...)
(In the first place I desire to pay homage to the memory o...)
(In the first place I desire to pay homage to the memory o...)
(Excerpt: Just as we were setting out on February 19 a sm...)
(Excerpt: The flood bore towards the right bank, and inun...)
(HardPress Classic Books Series)