Shorn of its political prestige, Pokiny iv rapidly deriving fame in different sphere from its connection with a number of enterprises whose activities are commanding world-wide attention. Among other things, it is the headquarters of two expeditions which year ly year are adding steadily cur knowledge of the vast Central Asian Plateau. One of these, the Central Asiatic Expedition, has, under the Andrews, beea engaged si upon the' task of exploring 1 Desert in search of evidence, abundantly found, to support the theory that some millions of years ago this region was a fertile centre of mammalian life, During the past three or four years, work of equal scientific value, though perhaps less spectacular so far, has been carried on in Kansu and Chinese Turkestan by an expedition of which Dr. Sven Hedin, the veteran Swedish explorer, is leader.
When Dr. Hedin's expedition started out' from Peking the of 1927 it consisted mainly of Swedish and Chinese scientists but included also a number of German aviation experts, for it was hi intention to investigate, from the of the desert which were other inaccessible, To this end landing pinices were selected and routes mapved, but permission to use aeroplanes: was withheld by the Chinese government, and has not yet been given. Dr, Hedin has not abandoned hope of some day carrying out this plan, but meanwhile the scientific mem: bers of the expedition have found more than enough to keep them busy on'terra firma.
One of the primary objects of the expedition was to establish a group of stations for the collection of meteorological and astronomical data, Four such stations, the only: ones of their kind in an' area the size of Australia, were set up and hourly observations have been made there for more than three years. At Turfan, which lies eastward of Kashgar on the northwestern edge of the Tarim basin in a depression some 200 fect below sea level, Dr. Nils Ambolt is making some parti ularly interesting experiments. relating to gravity, by measuring the variations, amounting sometimes to one-millionth of a second, in the swing of a pendulum. In order to protect it against changes in tom: perature, the delicate instrument use by Dr. Ambolt is housed in a specially constructed tent enclosed Within a Mongolian yurt with walls of thick felt, His is an exacting task,, for some of the tests call for 55 hours of almost continuous observatica, during which he is able to permit himself not more than five hours of rest. been made, chiefly by Dr. Birger Bohlin, the Swedish palwontologist hho played a prominent part in the Man" discoveries at Choutific Koutien.
Many gaps in our limited {knowledge of the physical geography. of the great Tarim Basin are being filled in by the work of two Swedish geologists, Dr. Erik Norin and Dr. Nils Hoerner. The former, who at the moment is somewhere in the Incighbourhood of Kashgar, is making Jo map of the beach lines and terraces of the old Tarim lake, which filled the whole of Chinese Turkestan in tertiary times and constituted a sort of Asiatic Mediterranean, of which Lob Nor is the largest' remaining fragment. Near Nanshan. in the Gobi Desert Dr. Hoerner is working on problems connected with. the Edsin Gol basin and the Inkes belonging to that system. His investigations into the glaciation of the Nanshan mountains are expected to throw much light upon climatic changes in those parts during recent geological periods.
A large collection of rare plants thas been made by a botanical section which is operating in the district of Tebbu near the borders of Tibet, and an ethnological contingent has been at work for some time in North China and in Mongolia, mak Ing researches in connection' with the Iamaistic cult. Dr. Hedin is also planning to despatch an_ex-edition of three Swedish archwologists to Russian Turkestan, providing that satisfactory arrange ments can be made with the Soviet authorities, and a botanical pedition is to be sent to Eastern Himalaya, With all of these far-flung enter prises Dr, Hedin keeps in touch from his base in Peking as best he can with the limited communications facilities at his disposal. How difficult this is may be gauged from the fact that a telegram he received recently from the nearest of his outposts took nearly three weeks to arrives some members of the expedition who are working in.the Te-moter parts of Chinese Turkestan can be reached by camel. couriers only after months of arduous travel through the desert. Dr. Hedin, who has made periodical trips to Mon-olm since he started the expedition at work early in 1927, is busily o¢- cupied with the task'of preparing for publication the enormous. mass fof scientific data which his sub-
'A popular ition's work up already published in and German, is to appear in English early next, year, and forther instalments will follow.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.