THE GREAT EXPLORER SVEN HEDIN

The Swedish scholar, author, photographer, artist and debater who explored and mapped much o f Asia

INSPIRED BY NORDENSKIÖLD
Sven Hedin was born in Stockholm on February 19, 1865, the son of an architect. Already as a young boy, he was thoroughly fascinated by explorations. At the age of 15, he experienced the return of Vega, a whaling ship with which the famous explorer Adolf Nordenski6ld had sailed through the Northeast Passage, along the Norwegian coast, passing by North cape, the mouths of Ob and Yenisey, heading east. Yokohama was the first harbor Nordenskiöld and his crew visited. In Hongkong, Colombo, Aden, Cairo and especially in Naples, the Vikings were celebrated as if they had conquered a new continent for Italy. Finally Vega made its way through the Strait of Gibraltar to the Atlantic Ocean. In London, Paris, Copenhagen and Stockholm, the celebrations had no limits. The 15-year-old Sven Hedin made up his mind. One day, he would also return as a national hero.

AZERBAJIAN
Shortly before he left school at the age of 20, Sven Hedin was offered the job of tutor to a Swedish child whose family was stationed in the town of Baku (in Azerbajian) on the Caspian. Such was his interest in travel that he accepted eagerly. The assignment lasted seven months, and after its completion Hedin made his first journey in Asia. He travelled overland to the Persian Gulf, by steamer up the Tigris to Baghdad, and from there across the desert to Teheran. On his return to Sweden, he studied geography and geology at a school in Stockholm and at Uppsala University and Friedrich Wilhelm Universität in Berlin. He also published his first book, the story of his experiences in Persia.

PERSIA
Hedin had learned Persian during his visit to the country, and in 1889 he was appointed interpreter to the embassy sent to the Persian Shah by the king of Norway and Sweden, which were at that time united under a single crown. The mission left in April 1890 and its work was completed by July, but instead of returning to Sweden with the members of the embassy, Hedin remained in Teheran. He-was determined to travel into central Asia, visiting Merv, Bukhara and Samarkand. He made his way east to Kashgar and then, with three Cossack companions, crossed the Tien Shan (Heavenly Mountain) to Lake Issyk Kul. Hedin returned to Europe, eager to solve the immense geographical problems still presented in Asia, "content with nothing less than to tread paths where no European has ever set foot."

THE PAMIRS
Hedin's first major expedition began in October 1893 and centered on the region between the Tien Shan and Astin Tagh mountains occupied by the Tarim basin and the Taklamakan Desert. He also explored in the Pamirs, the lofty "roof of the world." There, where the
mighty Hindu Kush, Tien Shan, Kun Lun; and Karakoram mountain ranges come together, he attempted unsuccessfully to scale the summit of Muztagh Ata, 24 386 feet high. When he continued into the Taklaman Desert with its great sand dunes and vast waterless reaches, his career of exploration nearly reached an untimely end. The caravan was about 200 miles east of Kashgar when water began to run short, and although the remainder was strictly rationed, Hedin's supplies were soon gone. The sand dunes of the Taklamakan stretched to every horizon with no sign of water or stream.

DEATH MARCH
The camels began to die first. To keep themselves alive the men drank rancid camel oil. Hedin even sampled some Chinese brandy intended as fuel for a lamp stove, which made him very ill. A sheep was slaughtered for its blood, but no one could stomach it and members of the expedition fell by the wayside one by one. Finally Hedin and his servant Kasim were left trudging "like sleepwalkers" across the dunes. When they discovered that they had been going around in circles, they gave way to despair, stopped where they stood and fell asleep. The following morning, however, "from the top of a dune, where nothing obstructed the view toward the east, we noticed that the horizon which for two weeks had revealed a row of yellow saw-teeth, now disclosed an absolutely even, dark green line." It was the forest which lined the Khotan River, and the discovery gave them strength to struggle on. They were but a few hundred yards from the forest when Kasim collapsed, unable to go farther, but Hedin continued alone to the river. He was so weak that he had to travel long distances on all fours. At last he reached the river bed, only to discover that it was dry. The perseverance that throughout his career aided Hedin, once again came to this rescue. Determined not to die of thirst, he pushed himself to search for a pool. He was rewarded when a bird rose into the air ahead of him and he heard the splash of water. In the deepest part of the river bed lay a large pool 70 feet by 14. "In the silent night I thanked God for my miraculous deliverance," Hedin wrote later. "I drank, and drank again." He had no water bottle with him but filled his boots with the precious liquid and returned to save Kasim.

ANCIENT CITY OF LOULAN
During his first expedition, Hedin made some valuable archaeological discoveries, although he was not essentially an archaeologist. Guides from Khotan took the explorer to one buried township that they called Takla-Makan, or Dandan-Uilik, the "Ivory Houses" and later a shepherd directed him to another ruined city known as Kara-dung, the "Black Hill". The most important of Hedin's archaeological discoveries however, was the town of Loulan near Lake Lop Nor. This turned out to have been a frontier town on the Silk Route, that great ancient trade route by which the Chinese silk had reached the West in the days of the Roman Empire. From the documents found in Loulan it was possible to piece together a picture of life in this remote Asian city in the 3rd century AD. "Here I stand," he wrote after his first discovery, "like the prince in the enchanted wood, having wakened to new life the city which has slumbered for a thousand years."
Two years later he was in central Asia again exploring the area of Lop Nor. From there he made his first visit to the shuttered and mysterious land of Tibet.

ORDER FROM DALAI LAMA
Lhasa, which had been visited by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries, was by that time closed to foreigners, and Hedin's only chance of reaching the city was by stealth. Disguising himself as a Mongol and hiring a Tibetan monk as his interpreter, he led a large and well-equipped caravan south across the plateau of Tibet. It would obviously be impossible for him to enter the Tibetan capital at the head of such a large company, so in July 1901 he left the caravan and, accompanied only by an interpreter and another man, pushed swiftly toward the south. His map, notebook, and a few scientific instruments were well concealed in hidden pockets in his mongol cloak. As visible proof of his assumed identity, he wore a 108-bead rosary and carried an image of Buddha. The journey was hazardous in spite of careful preparations. On the second night out two of the horses were stolen. Later the remaining horses lost their footing and were nearly swept away while crossing a ford. Hedin and his companion succeeded in reaching the main road to Lhasa, but soon found their way barred by a party of Tibetan warriors who informed them that the road was closed. Escorted by the soldiers, Hedin made his way back to his caravan. Then he made another attempt to cross Tibet, aiming for India to the south. Once more he was stopped, this time by orders sent, directly from the Dalai Lama, Tibet's supreme ruler. "It's quite beyond any need," wrote the Dalai Lama to the governors of the provinces through which Hedin was going to travel, "for Europeans to enter the Land of the Holy Books to look about them ... if. .. they should proceed, your heads will be forfeit."

"EVERY STEP WAS A NEW DISCOVERY "
Despite the problems he had encountered in trying to reach Lhasa, Hedin went back to Tibet in 1906, aiming for a region that the later British map simply designated "unexplored." It covered a mountainous area north of the Tsangpo, or upper Brahmaputra River, and, as far as was known, no European had entered it before. This time Hedin reached Tibet from the south. He travelled from Srinagar in Kashmir to Leh, then over the Karakoram mountains to the plateau of Tibet. The area seemed even more unwelcoming on this visit. It was intensely cold. One night the temperature fell to S0F below freezing point. Horses and sheep froze to death and Hedin had to provide his dogs with felt sleeping jackets to keep them alive. For months the expedition saw no other human beings, which at least reduced their chances of discovery by the Tibetan authorities At last they stood on the very fringes of the region they had come to explore. It was at this crucial moment that Hedin received a visit from the governor of Naktsang province, one of the rulers who had turned him back on his previous journey. He again told Hedin that he could not pass through Naktang and would have to retrace his steps. "I started out on this journey with 130 beasts of burden," retorted Hedin, "I have eight horses and one mule left. How can you ask me to go back...?" The request was first refused but the governor relented the following day for no apparent reason. Hedin was able to go on his way. Passing through regions in, which every step was a new discovery, he at last reached the valley of the Tsangpo. The land abounded in villages and gardens, in contrast with the desolate regions through which Hedin had passed.

TIBETAN NEW YEAR IN TASHI-LUMPO
The season of the New Year celebrations was approaching as Hedin made his way toward Tashi-limpo, and he found himself in company with many Buddhist pilgrims on the journey toward the shrine. some of the pilgrims embarked on the river in boats made of yak hides fastened to rectangular frames, and for the last day of his journey Hedin joined them, thinking that he had more chance of being allowed to continue in this way. He reached Shigates safely, and received a welcome from the Tashi Lama, head of the Tashilumpo monastery, and second in importance only to the Dalai Lama. Surprisingly Hedin was interviewed by Tashi Lama who gave him permission to visit and photograph any part of the town he wanted to. The explorer witnessed the Losar, or New Year festival and observed the customs, rituals and inhabitants of this centuries-old monastic town. After more than six weeks, messages came from Lhasa making it clear that his stay had been too long. .

MAP OF UNKNOWN AREAS
Leaving Tashi-lumpo, Hedin attempted to reach the holy lake of Dangra-yum-tso, but was turned back. He was more successful in reaching the source of Tsangpo river and in
exploring Lake Masarowar in a region that was hardly known to Europeans. Hedin's exploration resulted in the first maps of the unknown areas through which he had travelled. He had cleared up so many problems of Tibetan geography that no major discoveries remained to be made; the work of future explorers would be simply to fill in the details on Hedin's map.

THE WASTED YEARS
After nearly 20 years of adventure and discovery in Asia, Hedin took a long break before his next journey. His exploration had brought him fame and many honors. In 1902 he was taken into the ranks of the Swedish nobility and in 1909 Great Britain named him an honorary Knight Commander of the Indian Empire.

SINO-SWEDISH EXPEDITION
It was in the late 1920s when Hedin next visited central
Horses below King Oscar's Alps in Tibet Asia. The Sino-Swedish expedition lasted for six years during which its members filled in other blanks on the map. No sooner had the expedition ended than Hedin, then in his 69th year, set out on his last journey into Asia. Its purpose was to survey the eastern part of the Silk Route. It was Hedin's last expedition although he did not die until the age of 87.
Michael Wang