Innermost Asia : Travel and Sport in the Pamirs. By
R. P. Cobbold. With Illustrations. (W. Heinemann. 21s.)—As the Indian Government can only be persuaded with the greatest difficulty to allow Englishmen to explore even in their own" sphere of influence," we must be grateful to men of Mr. Cobbold's stamp, who can tell us what is really going on in the Pamirs and in liashgar. Only a small portion of his narrative is devoted to Ovis Poll, ibex, and the Thian Shan deer ; the rest records the itinerary of his journeys, the aspect of the country, and the political views of the inhabitants. Mr. Cobbold was struck by one feature which is always grateful to Englishmen,—the universal confidence in an Englishman. For instance, in Kashgar a native trader, a Peshawari, took a cheque on a London bank, and paid the equivalent in Chinese tungas, relying entirely on the fact that Mr. Cobbold was an Englishman, though no one in the country had ever heard of the bank, and pounds, shillings, and pence were unknown denominations, and he had to accept the stranger's calculations as to the exchange ! Another fact struck him,—the very comprehensive knowledge of Indian affairs and boundaries, and all matters of frontier importance, possessed by every Russian officer. Compare this with the ignorance dis- played by the Indian official whom Mr. Cobbold in the course of his travelling arrangements had to interview. This man did not know the frontier had been delimitated, and had not heard of books of Asiatic travel which even the man in the street knows. These are the men who cost us so much in blood—the treasure we can afford—when we have to fight for a finish. Some beautiful photographs illustrate Mr. Cobbold's travels, and a good map. Beyond a temporary detention at the hands of the Russians, owing to a misrepresentation of his proceedings by the Kirghiz, a detention which proved an acceptable rest, Mr. Cobbold's travels went smoothly, and he had certainly not less than the average good luck of travellers, and perhaps rather more.
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