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In the Forbidden Land An account of a journey in Tibet, capture by the Tibetan authorities, imprisonment, torture and ultimate release
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512 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1898
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About the author
Arnold Henry Savage Landor
155 books2 followersArnold Henry Savage Landor (1865 – 26 December 1924) was an English painter, explorer, writer, and anthropologist. Landor wrote in an often witty style.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 6, 2014
Have all ebooks been designated kindle nowadays?
I endeavour to read the Project Gutenberg edition: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22210/...
PREFACE
In this book I have set down the record of a journey in Tibet undertaken by me during the spring, summer and autumn of 1897. It is illustrated partly from my photographs and partly from sketches made by me on the spot. Only as regards the torture scenes have I had to draw from memory, but it will be easily conceded that their impression must be vivid enough with me.
The map is made entirely from my surveys of an area of twelve thousand five hundred square miles in Tibet proper. In Chapter VI. the altitudes of such high peaks in India as Nanda Devi and others are taken from the Trigonometrical Survey, and so are the positions fixed by astronomical observations of the starting and terminating points of my surveys at the places where I entered and left Tibet.
In the orthography of geographical names I have adopted the course advised by the Royal Geographical Society—viz., to give the names their true sound as they are locally pronounced, and I have made no exception even for the grand and poetic "Himahlya" which is in English usually distorted into the unmusical and unromantic word "Himalayas."
Having just read through a synopsis of this adventure in Trespassers on the roof of the World, this will be a skim-through to look at the pictures.
Chinese Passport
Kiang - Tibetan Wild Ass
Persian Goodbye
Tibetan Hello
Tibetan Mastiff as drawn by landor
To give you the size of the beast...
Spring 2013 Himahlya Reads:
CR In the Forbidden Land
4' Trespassers on the Roof of the World
CR In the Himalayas
I endeavour to read the Project Gutenberg edition: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22210/...
PREFACE
In this book I have set down the record of a journey in Tibet undertaken by me during the spring, summer and autumn of 1897. It is illustrated partly from my photographs and partly from sketches made by me on the spot. Only as regards the torture scenes have I had to draw from memory, but it will be easily conceded that their impression must be vivid enough with me.
The map is made entirely from my surveys of an area of twelve thousand five hundred square miles in Tibet proper. In Chapter VI. the altitudes of such high peaks in India as Nanda Devi and others are taken from the Trigonometrical Survey, and so are the positions fixed by astronomical observations of the starting and terminating points of my surveys at the places where I entered and left Tibet.
In the orthography of geographical names I have adopted the course advised by the Royal Geographical Society—viz., to give the names their true sound as they are locally pronounced, and I have made no exception even for the grand and poetic "Himahlya" which is in English usually distorted into the unmusical and unromantic word "Himalayas."
Having just read through a synopsis of this adventure in Trespassers on the roof of the World, this will be a skim-through to look at the pictures.
Chinese Passport Kiang - Tibetan Wild Ass Persian Goodbye Tibetan Hello Tibetan Mastiff as drawn by landor To give you the size of the beast...Spring 2013 Himahlya Reads:
CR In the Forbidden Land
4' Trespassers on the Roof of the World
CR In the Himalayas
August 7, 2019
This is a very linear and very readable account of the authors journey into Tibet which was forbidden just because. The account given here of the land, the places, the terrain seems to match out. I have myself checked places mentioned here on a pre-1900 AD tibet map and the places like Gyanema Khar and Gartok (no longer marked on Google maps) are present on this old map.
About the writing, the style is interesting and fluid. It changes between informative and intriguing as per the requirement. In places where the author explains the customs and traditions, hierarchies of the Shokas or Tibetans, he is richly informed, mildly opinionated and presents a stark picture. In other places, where he recounts his trials and tribulations and the indecisive nature of his torturers, his style varies between gripping, sombre, funny and tragic. He knows how to hold the tension, even for a reportage like this, and the incidents recounted in such sequence provide you just enough incentive to keep on reading.
Great ethnography and great narration. Also, great photographs and paintings.
About the writing, the style is interesting and fluid. It changes between informative and intriguing as per the requirement. In places where the author explains the customs and traditions, hierarchies of the Shokas or Tibetans, he is richly informed, mildly opinionated and presents a stark picture. In other places, where he recounts his trials and tribulations and the indecisive nature of his torturers, his style varies between gripping, sombre, funny and tragic. He knows how to hold the tension, even for a reportage like this, and the incidents recounted in such sequence provide you just enough incentive to keep on reading.
Great ethnography and great narration. Also, great photographs and paintings.
August 4, 2011
Great adventure but I think he enjoyed suffering a bit too much.
October 19, 2025
This is an amazing account of an Englishman determined to see Tibet at a time when travel by foreigners was banned-- when it was truly the "hermit kingdom". The descriptions, and the photographs and illustrations , are fascinating.
However, the author's main interest is geography, so there are endless details of the course/depth of e very river snd the height of every mountain pass. Then, after describing his c a pture and treatment by Tibetan authorities, he doubles the length of the book by including the report he sent the British gov e recent, recounting these same experiences.
And yes, the author is a true imperialist and racist, although he does acknowledge the Indian /Nepalese guides and trekkers without whom he would probably have perished. One aspect of exploration from this period which struck me was the inadequacy of clothing for extreme cold.
However, the author's main interest is geography, so there are endless details of the course/depth of e very river snd the height of every mountain pass. Then, after describing his c a pture and treatment by Tibetan authorities, he doubles the length of the book by including the report he sent the British gov e recent, recounting these same experiences.
And yes, the author is a true imperialist and racist, although he does acknowledge the Indian /Nepalese guides and trekkers without whom he would probably have perished. One aspect of exploration from this period which struck me was the inadequacy of clothing for extreme cold.
June 16, 2020
Great adventure
This story about this journey is full of new things not seen in other adventure books. Some names are now spelled different, since he was one of the first Europeans in Tibet, but it gives you an idea of how our recent past was so different from today.
This story about this journey is full of new things not seen in other adventure books. Some names are now spelled different, since he was one of the first Europeans in Tibet, but it gives you an idea of how our recent past was so different from today.
June 4, 2012
About half-way through, I began to wonder if this tale were really true. Apparently so, but what an adventure! I'm not sure why this guy felt such a strong need to get into Tibet, when he had to battle horrific cold weather, traitorous servants, lack of food for days on end, and decidedly hostile and ruthless officials on the hunt for him. He was either a determined explorer or else he was completely crazy. Maybe a bit of both.
March 23, 2020
I could not put it down.
March 23, 2020
This is 7 years in Tibet, unsanitized. These people were not nice to this English explorer intruder.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews