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Across Coveted Lands; Or, a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta, Overland - Volume I
Arnold Henry Savage Landor (1865-1924) was a painter, explorer, writer and anthropologist, born in Florence. His grandfather, Walter Savage Landor, had been a celebrated poet and writer, himself living for long periods in Florence. Henry Savage Landor led an intense and adventurous life. There remain above all his vivacious paintings, documents of extreme human and artistic interest, scenes inspired by the daily life of distant peoples, ever expressed with a purity of tender and vivid colours and with an acute spirit of observation and great immediacy. His autobiography Everywhere: The Memoirs of an Explorer (1924), written in a pleasing and passionate way, is an extraordinary document of a life lived intensely, a witness to the history and customs of far away people of the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the first twenty years of the twentieth one. Among his other famous works are: Alone with the Hairy Ainu (1893), Corea or Cho-sen: The Land of the Morning Calm (1895), and In the Forbidden Land (1898).
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1902
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About the author
Arnold Henry Savage Landor
46 books2 followersArnold Henry Savage Landor (1865 – 26 December 1924) was an English painter, explorer, writer, and anthropologist. Landor wrote in an often witty style.
Landor was born in Florence, Italy, where he spent his childhood. The writer Walter Savage Landor was his grandfather.
He left for Paris at age fifteen to study at the Académie Julian directed by Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre. He then traveled the world, including America, Japan, and Korea, painting many landscapes and portraits.
He had an active role in World War I, designing tanks and airships. Eventually, he retired to write his autobiography in Florence, where he died in 1924. He is buried in the English cemetery in Florence.
Landor was born in Florence, Italy, where he spent his childhood. The writer Walter Savage Landor was his grandfather.
He left for Paris at age fifteen to study at the Académie Julian directed by Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre. He then traveled the world, including America, Japan, and Korea, painting many landscapes and portraits.
He had an active role in World War I, designing tanks and airships. Eventually, he retired to write his autobiography in Florence, where he died in 1924. He is buried in the English cemetery in Florence.
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February 5, 2016
The 'coveted lands' of Landor's title are Afghanistan, Beluchistan and Persia (Iran) at the turn of the 20th century, because at that time Britain and Russia were competing for commerce there, with Russia predominant in the north and Britain in the south.
As such, this fascinating and exhaustive travel book is as much as anything else an information resource for statesmen and businessmen about the people and resources of the region.
It's a contest that Landor foresaw Russia winning, most obviously due to her proximity, but more tellingly due to her greater observation and respect of the 'oriental' culture.
On his countrymen in Iran and elsewhere, Landor laments the proclivity to 'habitually treat natives with much needless harshness and reserve, which far from impressing the natives with our dignity—as we think—renders us ridiculous in their eyes.'
When I read a travel book I always want the writer to be empathetic and generous towards the countries they enter and the people they meet, but you can't always be certain of that, particularly when the traveller is a 19th century one, and a Victorian at that!
So what kind of a man and writer is Arnold Henry Savage Landor, artist, adventurer, and portraitist of the great and good?
Well, I think this early observation on the Russian character, specifically their reputation as 'barbarians' in the West, told me all I needed to know to read on:
'He is possibly a barbarian in one way, that he can differentiate good from bad, real comfort from "optical illusions" or illusions of any kind, a thing highly civilised people seem generally unable to do'.
Landon is no Victorian supremacist, but neither is he an Oriental romanticist. He gives a balanced, forward thinking account of the country. Upon arriving in Persia at the Piri Bazaar he notes:
'Orientals ... usually try to obtain money by pleasing you and being useful and polite, where the Persian adopts the quicker, if not safer, method of bothering you and giving you trouble to such and unlimited degree that you are compelled to give something in order to get rid of him'.
Still, even then he further acknowledges that this wasn't the case 'in parts not so much frequented by Europeans', which shows that this grasping nature is not something innate, rather something adopted for an invading audience.
This exchange with and Iranian Mullah best typifies his outlook:
"In your travels do you find the people generally good or bad?"
"Taking things all round, in their badness, I find the people usually pretty good."
This first volume of his six-month journey over land starts in Holland, skipping over pretty much the whole of Europe by train before reaching the first 'coveted' land, Persia, then crosses the western and central parts of that vast, ancient land via horse and camel, stopping off at all the major towns along the way, recording all the topographical and trading points of interest.
He has a few adventures too as you would expect. He uses a diplomatic invitation to meet the Shah himself, is accosted by brigands (but avoids being robbed), and visits the famous carpet factory in Isfahan, where he is amazed to witness intricate Persian rugs being weaved by six year old hands in near darkness!
Finding adequate drinking water is a frequent concern (more so in volume 2), and decent accomodation is in very short supply. My favourite instance of this was at a Swiss-owned hotel in Resht, Iran:
'The proprietor, when found, received me with an air of condescension that was entertaining. He led me to a room which he said was the best in the house. on inspection, the other, I agreed with him, were decidedly not better.'
Landor always respects the fact that he is the 'ferenghi', the foreigner, but he never comes across as slavish to the demands of the places he goes, regardless of how grand: e.g. 'The strict etiquette of any Court—whether European or Eastern—does remind one very forcibly of the comic opera, only it is occasionally funnier'.
Landor comes across as a genuinely forward-thinking Victorian, devoid of the chauvinism that blighted that generation.
After reading the second volume of this book I will try to find out more about him, and read his other accounts of journeys across China, Japan and Tibet too.
n.b. there are a whole host of accompanying photographs and sketches from Landor too that paint a vivid portrait of a fascinating country, rarely seen by western eyes and largely unchanged by the modern world at the time of his travels.
As such, this fascinating and exhaustive travel book is as much as anything else an information resource for statesmen and businessmen about the people and resources of the region.
It's a contest that Landor foresaw Russia winning, most obviously due to her proximity, but more tellingly due to her greater observation and respect of the 'oriental' culture.
On his countrymen in Iran and elsewhere, Landor laments the proclivity to 'habitually treat natives with much needless harshness and reserve, which far from impressing the natives with our dignity—as we think—renders us ridiculous in their eyes.'
When I read a travel book I always want the writer to be empathetic and generous towards the countries they enter and the people they meet, but you can't always be certain of that, particularly when the traveller is a 19th century one, and a Victorian at that!
So what kind of a man and writer is Arnold Henry Savage Landor, artist, adventurer, and portraitist of the great and good?
Well, I think this early observation on the Russian character, specifically their reputation as 'barbarians' in the West, told me all I needed to know to read on:
'He is possibly a barbarian in one way, that he can differentiate good from bad, real comfort from "optical illusions" or illusions of any kind, a thing highly civilised people seem generally unable to do'.
Landon is no Victorian supremacist, but neither is he an Oriental romanticist. He gives a balanced, forward thinking account of the country. Upon arriving in Persia at the Piri Bazaar he notes:
'Orientals ... usually try to obtain money by pleasing you and being useful and polite, where the Persian adopts the quicker, if not safer, method of bothering you and giving you trouble to such and unlimited degree that you are compelled to give something in order to get rid of him'.
Still, even then he further acknowledges that this wasn't the case 'in parts not so much frequented by Europeans', which shows that this grasping nature is not something innate, rather something adopted for an invading audience.
This exchange with and Iranian Mullah best typifies his outlook:
"In your travels do you find the people generally good or bad?"
"Taking things all round, in their badness, I find the people usually pretty good."
This first volume of his six-month journey over land starts in Holland, skipping over pretty much the whole of Europe by train before reaching the first 'coveted' land, Persia, then crosses the western and central parts of that vast, ancient land via horse and camel, stopping off at all the major towns along the way, recording all the topographical and trading points of interest.
He has a few adventures too as you would expect. He uses a diplomatic invitation to meet the Shah himself, is accosted by brigands (but avoids being robbed), and visits the famous carpet factory in Isfahan, where he is amazed to witness intricate Persian rugs being weaved by six year old hands in near darkness!
Finding adequate drinking water is a frequent concern (more so in volume 2), and decent accomodation is in very short supply. My favourite instance of this was at a Swiss-owned hotel in Resht, Iran:
'The proprietor, when found, received me with an air of condescension that was entertaining. He led me to a room which he said was the best in the house. on inspection, the other, I agreed with him, were decidedly not better.'
Landor always respects the fact that he is the 'ferenghi', the foreigner, but he never comes across as slavish to the demands of the places he goes, regardless of how grand: e.g. 'The strict etiquette of any Court—whether European or Eastern—does remind one very forcibly of the comic opera, only it is occasionally funnier'.
Landor comes across as a genuinely forward-thinking Victorian, devoid of the chauvinism that blighted that generation.
After reading the second volume of this book I will try to find out more about him, and read his other accounts of journeys across China, Japan and Tibet too.
n.b. there are a whole host of accompanying photographs and sketches from Landor too that paint a vivid portrait of a fascinating country, rarely seen by western eyes and largely unchanged by the modern world at the time of his travels.
Displaying 1 of 1 review