Paesi e Genti del Caracorum: Vita di Carovana nel Tibet Occidentale

Abstract

THE Karakorum Mountains are of special interest, as they contain the greatest glaciers known outside the polar regions and Mt. Godwin-Austen, or K.2, the third highest summit of the Himalaya. Scientific knowledge of the country has been collected by many distinguished explorers, including the brothers Schlagint-weit in 1854–6, Godwin-Austen in 1860–1, Sir Francis Younghusband in 1887j and Sir Martin Con way, who in 1892 traversed the full length of the three longest glaciers and mapped them. In 1913–14 the country was visited by an Italian expedition under Dr. Filippo de Filippi, who had accompanied the Duke of Abruzzi on his expeditions to the same region and East Africa. When de Filippi received the medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his share in these explorations, the two Asiatic expeditions with which he was concerned were described by Sir Francis Younghusband as the best led and scientifically equipped expeditions which had up to then worked in the Trans-Himalaya. The full narrative of the expedition will be given in a promised monograph by de Filippi. The present work consists of the journals of its geologist, Dr. Giotto Dainelli, and it records his personal experiences and observations. H6 is well known from his work in East Africa, reminiscences of which lead to his contrasts between the modest simplicity of African caravans and the large cavalcade and numerous companies of coolies of Asiatic expeditions. The work also expresses the fascination of this country as compared with tropical Africa, owing to the more advanced architecture, culture, and religious development.

Paesi e Genti del Caracorum: Vita di Carovana nel Tibet Occidentale.

By Giotto Dainelli. (Pubblicato sotto gli auspici della R. Società Geografica Italiana.) Vol. 1. Pp. viii + 291 + 74 plates. Vol. 2. Pp. iv + 323 + 95 plates. (Firenze: Luigi Pampaloni, 1924.) 120 lire.