It is not at all unlikely that this volume, which affectionate hands have put together from the papers Mr. Gilmour left behind him, will have as large a circulation as Among the Mongols. It is much on the same lines, and is invented with the same interest. Here and there it traverses much the same ground as the earlier volume, still there is no want of freshness or novelty about it. The earlier chapters are taken up with an account of Mr. Gilmour's journey across the great table-land or desert of Gobi, during the time when ...
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It is not at all unlikely that this volume, which affectionate hands have put together from the papers Mr. Gilmour left behind him, will have as large a circulation as Among the Mongols. It is much on the same lines, and is invented with the same interest. Here and there it traverses much the same ground as the earlier volume, still there is no want of freshness or novelty about it. The earlier chapters are taken up with an account of Mr. Gilmour's journey across the great table-land or desert of Gobi, during the time when he was, so to say, serving his apprenticeship and endeavouring to acquire facility in the Mongolian tongue. The difficulties he had to contend with and the many incidents he met with in his travels are all graphically related. Hairbreadth escapes and such like do not of course appear in the volume. The incidents Mr. Gilmour met with are, as readers of Among the Mongols are aware, of a much quieter nature. All the same, whatever Mr. Gilmour has to relate is strangely attractive. He was an acute observer, and in possession of considerable descriptive power. His pictures are never elaborate, but they are always vivid. Some of the incidents he met with were by no means pleasant. At one place we have the entry: 'Numerous human skulls lying just outside the town, some of them fresh, and scarcely having the gristle picked off the bone.' Here, again, is something of the same sort: 'Was sleeping about 9 A.m. in cart, turned and looked out, saw commandant going towards two little flags that fluttered a little way from the road: he waved, and I followed. We found the corpse of a Mongol laid out on the bare ground. The body had no covering but a piece of paper over the face, and a large piece inscribed in the Tibetan character, covering from the shoulder to the knees. The body was not "laid out," but left in the position the deceased had been in at the moment of death, legs doubled and crossed, arms crossed. To all appearance the body had not been out long, perhaps a day or two at most. The paper that fluttered about was not destroyed much. The body for the most part promised not to corrupt. The person had been old and shriveled, and the wind and the sun were completing what old age had begun, and converting the body into a mummy until such time as rain should come, or wild beasts and birds make havoc of it. It was still untouched. There were two cloth flags on a small staff, both pieces, one white, one a faded yellow, covered with dimly inscribed Tibetan characters.... -- The Scottish Review , Vol. 22
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Seller's Description:
Good+ Hardcover. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Moderately age toned endpapers and textblock, moisture stained bottom edge/gutter on endpapers. Age toned edges, else tight and clean. Shelf soiled top edge. Moisture rippled foot of spine, less so to bottom edges, lightly character worn, bumping to head and foot of spine, and to corners as well; Binding protected by clear, five-mil mylar jacket; 320p.
