Lahore to Yarkand: Incidents of the Route and Natural History of the Countries - Softcover

Henderson MD, George; Hume, Allan O

9784871877756: Lahore to Yarkand: Incidents of the Route and Natural History of the Countries

Softcover

ISBN 10: 4871877752 ISBN 13: 9784871877756

Publisher: Ishi Press, 2016

This is a report on the first of two expeditions to Yarkand. It was an expedition of major importance, In 1870, Yarkand was part of the Kingdom of Kashgar and had a ruler named Yakub Beg (1820–1877). England was considering expanding the British Empire to include Kashgar. The journey from Lahore to Yarkand and back, a distance of two thousand miles, was accomplished in six months. However, it failed in its purpose because after the second expedition China attacked and conquered Kashgar and closed the region to foreigners until recently.

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About the Author:

George Henderson, MD, the principal author, was medical officer to this expedition and was officiating Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Gardens of Calcutta, India. Co-author of this book was Allan Octavian Hume, born 6 June 1829 died 31 July 1912. He was apparently not a member of the expedition but he wrote about it based on the bird and plant specimens brought back. He was a member of the Imperial Civil Service, a political reformer, ornithologist and botanist who worked in British India. He was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, a political party that was later to lead in the Indian independence movement. A notable ornithologist, Hume has been called "the Father of Indian Ornithology" Thomas Douglas Forsyth was a leader of this expedition but not an author of this book. He was born 7 October 1827 in England. In 1869, the Amir of Yarkand and Kashgar, being desirous of establishing relations between his country and India, had sent an envoy to the viceroy with the request that a British officer might be deputed to visit him. Forsyth was accordingly instructed to return with the envoy, without political capacity, for the purpose of acquiring information about the people and country. The journey from Lahore to Yarkand and back, a distance of two thousand miles, was accomplished in six months, but the expedition failed to produce all the results expected from it, owing to the absence of the amir from his capital on its arrival. He died 17 December 1886 in Eastbourne, England.

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