The halo of romance and the magic of the unknown which have for so long drawn the adventurous as by a magnet to the mysterious land of Tibet have now been in great part dissipated. Dr. Hedin was among the last travelers who penetrated into the Land of Snow trusting to their own resources alone. When the traveler of today enters Tibet, it will be under the protecting aegis of the modern civilization; but no reflection of the romantic will envelop him as he treads in all security the last hermit " kingdom " of the world, the revered Holy Land of Lamaism and the Sacred Books. This book has, however, nothing whatever to do with politics. It is simply the narrative of Hedin's journeys in that lofty region where the wild yak and the kulan browse amid the hailstorms and the driving sleets of summer. And if it teaches no other lesson, it will perhaps serve to remind the reader of the difference that exists between the life of activity spent among the powers of Nature and the sedentary and stationary life of the great city.