What do you think?
Rate this book
An Explorer's Adventures In Tibet: An 1897 Epic
A. Henry Savage Landor headed North from Bombay, India into uncharted territory to explore the magnificent mountains and wild glacial rivers of Tibet, trying to reach the Province of Lhassa deep into the Forbidden Land without the benefit of maps, or previous knowledge of history or local customs.
- GenresTravelNonfictionHistory
202 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1910
About the author
Arnold Henry Savage Landor
53 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 22, 2015
My wife scours the used bookstores for exotic journey books, to keep me in supply. They can be a great source of ideas for fiction, and they reveal many forgotten details of strange lands, while revealing the assumptions and prejudices of the narrators, as well.
This book seems to be the popularization of Landor's bigger In the Forbidden Land, which came out in 1898, one year after Landor's incursion into Tibet. This volume came out in 1910. (Looking on Project Gutenberg, I see that the earlier version was twice as long, and had five times as many illustrations. Clearly a more expensive copy.)
The book relates Landor's attempt to reach Lhasa, despite the death penalty for Europeans entering Tibet. He pretended to be a Hindu physician, hired an expedition of 30, and went into Tibet anyway. The gall of it is stunning, except that Americans keep sneaking in where they aren't wanted these days, so it's not entirely new. Some of his carriers quickly desert, and most of the rest are left behind when a Tibetan official allows him to forward with only nine men. Then more run away, until it's just him and two men, who are soon captured and tortured by the Tibetans. He is hauled to Lhasa, but since he's tied up, we get almost zero description of what the whole expedition was supposedly trying to find.
Landor was a painter, an explorer, and supposedly an anthropologist, and seems to have been interested in languages. He is utterly condescending to the native people, however, and thinks of them as children. He is very proud of his modern rifle, especially as compared to the Tibetan soldiers' matchlocks, but it's clear that he measures all men by their access to science and European technology.
This was just a few years before the Younghusband invasion of Tibet, and I expect the torture and robbery of Landor helped set the stage for that event. The Government of India investigated the event, and got the Tibetans to return a good deal of Landor's equipment, including photographic plates.
The book reads like a bit of a tall tale, but the author's dry wit keeps it lively. He gets it wrong about Lake Manasarovar being connected to Lake Rakshastal, but he was at the wrong end of the two lakes, and apparently walked out on the dividing ridge far enough to be convinced there was no connection. Looking at it from satellite photos, you can see that the connecting channel would be invisible from that angle. It's an interesting, if somewhat bizarre, adventure. Not a great read, but I'm glad it's on my shelf.
This book seems to be the popularization of Landor's bigger In the Forbidden Land, which came out in 1898, one year after Landor's incursion into Tibet. This volume came out in 1910. (Looking on Project Gutenberg, I see that the earlier version was twice as long, and had five times as many illustrations. Clearly a more expensive copy.)
The book relates Landor's attempt to reach Lhasa, despite the death penalty for Europeans entering Tibet. He pretended to be a Hindu physician, hired an expedition of 30, and went into Tibet anyway. The gall of it is stunning, except that Americans keep sneaking in where they aren't wanted these days, so it's not entirely new. Some of his carriers quickly desert, and most of the rest are left behind when a Tibetan official allows him to forward with only nine men. Then more run away, until it's just him and two men, who are soon captured and tortured by the Tibetans. He is hauled to Lhasa, but since he's tied up, we get almost zero description of what the whole expedition was supposedly trying to find.
Landor was a painter, an explorer, and supposedly an anthropologist, and seems to have been interested in languages. He is utterly condescending to the native people, however, and thinks of them as children. He is very proud of his modern rifle, especially as compared to the Tibetan soldiers' matchlocks, but it's clear that he measures all men by their access to science and European technology.
This was just a few years before the Younghusband invasion of Tibet, and I expect the torture and robbery of Landor helped set the stage for that event. The Government of India investigated the event, and got the Tibetans to return a good deal of Landor's equipment, including photographic plates.
The book reads like a bit of a tall tale, but the author's dry wit keeps it lively. He gets it wrong about Lake Manasarovar being connected to Lake Rakshastal, but he was at the wrong end of the two lakes, and apparently walked out on the dividing ridge far enough to be convinced there was no connection. Looking at it from satellite photos, you can see that the connecting channel would be invisible from that angle. It's an interesting, if somewhat bizarre, adventure. Not a great read, but I'm glad it's on my shelf.
December 18, 2023
Keeping in context that this book was authored in late 1800s, Arnold Landor's account of his adventure in Tibet is coloured with white supremacy. However, it is approximately honest in chronically assessing the events that transpired in his excursion in 1897 into the forbidden kingdom of Tibet (via Maium Pass). One has to also trust British India's enquiry into the incident by J. LARKIN to backup Landor's story. Tibetan's are primarily described as poor and in a state of perpetual wanting. Corruption is rampant. Landor's account shows him as a hero, saviour of his hindoo bearers Chanden singh and Man singh, which are also shown to display exceptional qualities. Regardless, his observations have an honest tone.
This book is a refreshing read, a time machine into himalayan adventures over a 100 years ago.
This book is a refreshing read, a time machine into himalayan adventures over a 100 years ago.
June 9, 2009
Landor writes about his exploration in Tibet during a time when foreign travelers into this land was prohibited. I found him to be arrogant and disrespectful. He's lucky he lived through the experience to write about it. But, what did he really accomplish by forcing himself on a people and a land where he was unwanted?
September 10, 2016
This was written in the late 1800s, when it was illegal to enter Tibet and not many people had been there (although it's still difficult to visit now - and very sadly much of the culture has been destroyed).
The author tends to be a bit pompous and full of himself and a bit disrespectful towards the then quite alien culture (racist, sexist) as many writers and people of that time seemed to be.
I got a good impression of how brutal the weather and landscape in Tibet could be. I also learnt about some of their customs before the 'cultural revolution' when it was invaded. I also learnt that most of the people were quite poor although the lamas were not at all. I learned about the sort of food they ate and a little about the Tibetans' way of living and cultural behaviour.
Savage Landor keeps talking about how inhumane and brutal they are, and also how cowardly they are. I think this is mostly a misunderstanding of their culture (peace loving) and their lack of knowledge and lack of communication with the outside world.
It was quite hard to rate because although the main character isn't at all appealing (though I did not expect him to be, as explained in the second paragraph), it was interesting to see some of the ancient Tibetan culture and I did keep wanting to read on to learn more and see what happened next. I personally am probably biased as this is a specific interest of me and overall quality would be maybe 2/5 and enjoyment 3.5/5 but it is a book I remember and some of it sticks in my head.
The style of writing is not too formal as it was a diary. I would really have liked some pictures. The author did take quite a few but they are not in this book. Apparently this book is actually from a longer one he has written.
Definitely worth it as a free ebook!
The author tends to be a bit pompous and full of himself and a bit disrespectful towards the then quite alien culture (racist, sexist) as many writers and people of that time seemed to be.
I got a good impression of how brutal the weather and landscape in Tibet could be. I also learnt about some of their customs before the 'cultural revolution' when it was invaded. I also learnt that most of the people were quite poor although the lamas were not at all. I learned about the sort of food they ate and a little about the Tibetans' way of living and cultural behaviour.
Savage Landor keeps talking about how inhumane and brutal they are, and also how cowardly they are. I think this is mostly a misunderstanding of their culture (peace loving) and their lack of knowledge and lack of communication with the outside world.
It was quite hard to rate because although the main character isn't at all appealing (though I did not expect him to be, as explained in the second paragraph), it was interesting to see some of the ancient Tibetan culture and I did keep wanting to read on to learn more and see what happened next. I personally am probably biased as this is a specific interest of me and overall quality would be maybe 2/5 and enjoyment 3.5/5 but it is a book I remember and some of it sticks in my head.
The style of writing is not too formal as it was a diary. I would really have liked some pictures. The author did take quite a few but they are not in this book. Apparently this book is actually from a longer one he has written.
Definitely worth it as a free ebook!
June 19, 2012
This book is a short version of the previously published In the Forbidden Land. Basically it is a summarized description of Landor's attempt to reach for the forbidden city (at the time) of Lhassa.
During the way, Landor was betrayed by some of his coolies, some of them progressively leaving the party as the journey became tougher thru the Himalayan range. Eventually Landor is left with only his two most loyal coolies, Mansing and Chanden Sing. The threesome would eventually get caught at a Tibetan settlement when looking for provisions and rides.
It's after this event that the three men became prisoners of Tibetan authorities, and allegedly suffered from terrible tortures. Although the three of them would be discharged.
This is not the typical explorers book in the sense of scientific rigor, so to speak. It is more read like an adventures book as Landor made the effort to point out all the toils and hardships he and his men went through. From this point of view, the book is really compelling as you can see the situation of these men gets more and and more fragile as time goes on.
Overall it is a worthwhile book. Some people might have their reservations in regards Landor's way to address the native people throughout the book. It seems a natural thing for this people of late XIX century to consider themselves lords and masters of their party members, and hence treating them like beast of animals. Anyhow, this is thoroughly recommended book to anyone interested in general adventure stories.
During the way, Landor was betrayed by some of his coolies, some of them progressively leaving the party as the journey became tougher thru the Himalayan range. Eventually Landor is left with only his two most loyal coolies, Mansing and Chanden Sing. The threesome would eventually get caught at a Tibetan settlement when looking for provisions and rides.
It's after this event that the three men became prisoners of Tibetan authorities, and allegedly suffered from terrible tortures. Although the three of them would be discharged.
This is not the typical explorers book in the sense of scientific rigor, so to speak. It is more read like an adventures book as Landor made the effort to point out all the toils and hardships he and his men went through. From this point of view, the book is really compelling as you can see the situation of these men gets more and and more fragile as time goes on.
Overall it is a worthwhile book. Some people might have their reservations in regards Landor's way to address the native people throughout the book. It seems a natural thing for this people of late XIX century to consider themselves lords and masters of their party members, and hence treating them like beast of animals. Anyhow, this is thoroughly recommended book to anyone interested in general adventure stories.
July 12, 2012
In 1897 Henry Savage Landor set off to explore Tibet. At this time in it's history Tibet was totally isolated, deeply superstitious, and hostile of anyone beyond their immediate borders, though they did have trade with India and Nepal and a few others. It was also a feudal society, with different areas run by different lords and/or monasteries who were often at war with each other.
This story of Landor's trails and tribulations while trying to penetrate to Lhasa are fascinating as well as horrifying. He was the first white man to get as far as he did and discovered the sources of the Indus and Brahmaputra Rivers. It is amazing that he he survived when one realizes the privations he suffered. But then he was captured and tortured. Still, somehow, he survived and lived to tell the story. Yes, his very English and European attitude comes through in his writing, but he could also be coolly observant. I found this a most interesting read.
Landor, besides being an explorer and adventurer who traveled in the U. S., Korea, and Japan (to name just a few places) was also an artist.
This story of Landor's trails and tribulations while trying to penetrate to Lhasa are fascinating as well as horrifying. He was the first white man to get as far as he did and discovered the sources of the Indus and Brahmaputra Rivers. It is amazing that he he survived when one realizes the privations he suffered. But then he was captured and tortured. Still, somehow, he survived and lived to tell the story. Yes, his very English and European attitude comes through in his writing, but he could also be coolly observant. I found this a most interesting read.
Landor, besides being an explorer and adventurer who traveled in the U. S., Korea, and Japan (to name just a few places) was also an artist.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews