Lhasa and its Mysteries
With a Record of the Expedition of 1903–1904

Illustrated with photographs, maps and drawings, this 1905 publication provides an eyewitness account of the recent British expedition to Tibet.

L. Austine Waddell (Author)

9781108081818, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 March 2015

792 pages, 142 b/w illus. 4 colour illus. 9 maps
21.5 x 13.8 x 4.6 cm, 1.01 kg

A successful officer in the colonial Indian Medical Service, Glasgow-educated Laurence Austine Waddell (1854–1938) was fascinated by the landscapes and cultures of Darjeeling and Tibet, studied local languages, and spent his leisure time researching and writing on Tibetan topics. His earlier books The Buddhism of Tibet (1895) and Among the Himalayas (1899) are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Waddell had attempted to enter Lhasa (then closed to foreigners) in disguise in 1892, but did not succeed until he accompanied the controversial British expedition to Tibet in 1903–4; he describes his arrival there as 'the realisation of a vivid and long-cherished dream'. His eyewitness account of how the 'peaceful mission' became an 'invasion' occupies the first half of this 1905 publication. The later chapters vividly portray the city and its inhabitants. The book includes more than a hundred of Waddell's own photographs, as well as maps and line drawings.

Preface
1. Lhasa the forbidden
2. The grand lama and his evolution as the priest-god of Lhasa
3. How the British mission came to be sent
4. Forward! The peaceful mission becomes an armed force
5. Invasion of the Chumbi valley across the Jelep pass and occupation of Phari fort
6. Advance to Tuna on the Tibetan plateau, across the formidable Tang pass
7. Wintering in Tibet
8. On to Guru, with battle at the Crystal Springs
9. The Tibetan army
10. Dash on to Gyantse
11. Gyantse, its fort and town
12. Temples, priests, and convents of Gyantse
13. Besieged at Gyantse
14. Relief of Gyantse and storming of the Jong
15. Gyantse to Lhasa
16. Lhasa, 'the seat of the gods'
17. Temples and monks in the hermit city
Appendices 1-17
Index.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]