Report on the Explorations of Lama Serap Gyatsho, 1856-68. Explorer K—P, ... 1880-84. Lama U.G., ... 1883. Explorer R.N., ... 1885-86. Explorer P.A., 1885-86 in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet.

£8,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A rare copy of the Survey of India’s consolidated publication of exploratory intelligence gathered in the eastern Himalaya between 1856 and 1886, documenting reconnaissance in Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet by the pundits, i.e. Native surveyors known in print chiefly by their codenames. “In the public documents of the Survey of India, these men came to be called ‘pundits’ or ‘native explorers,’ but in te losed files of the government of British India, they were given their true designation as pies of secret agents. The use of these agents was sanctioned in the 1860s only after the closing of the borders of Tibet to foreigners, the deals of several European explorers in Central Asia, the unwillingness and inability of Chinese authorities to make provision for British travelers, and decares of reluctance by the government of India to allow technically qualifies Indians to surveys beyon the frontier” (Waller). Jules Stewart expands on their role: “The Pundits provided the Government of British India with a wealth of Intelligence on the movement of Russian troops beyond the Himalaya and the devious machinations of Central Asian politics, as well as the route surveys of totally unexplored territories. These men fixed the altitudes of peaks, traced rivers to their sources, kept secret log books of trade routes and mapped the exact location of territoires and even cities that were previously blanks on the map. They were able to do so because they were prepared to spend months and

• Binding: Hardcover

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