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JUNE, 1917] A THIRD JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
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A THIRD JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION IN CENTRAL ASIA, 1913-16. BY SIR AUREL STEIN, K.C.L.E., D.Sc., D.LITT.
(A paper read at the Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on 5th June 1916, and reprinted by permission from the Society's Journal.)
Abundant as were the results brought back from the journey which during the years 1906-08 had carried me through the whole length of Eastern Turkestan and portions of westernmost China and Tibet, they could not keep my eyes long from turning towards plans of another Central Asian expedition. It was not the mere call of the desert "-strongly as I have felt it at times-but the combined fascination of geographical problems and interesting archæological tasks, which drew me back to the regions where ruined sites long ago abandoned to the desert have preserved for us relics of an ancient civilization developed under the joint influences of Buddhist India, China, and the Hellenized Near East. I well remembered the openings for fruitful exploratory work which, on my previous travels, disproportion between the available time and the vast extent of the ground had obliged me to pass by, and I was anxious to secure these chances afresh while I could still hope to retain the health and vigour needed successfully to face the inevitable difficulties and hardships.
The arrangement of the large collection of antiques which I had brought to the British Museum from my former expedition, and the multifarious efforts which I had to organize and direct for their elucidation, helped by the staff of assistants and numerous expert collaborators, kept me busy in England until the very end of 1911. Work on the big publication which was to record the scientific results of that journey still continued to claim most of my time after I had returned to duty in the Archæological Survey of India, on the familiar ground of the North-West Frontier and Kashmir. That heavy task was not yet completed when in the autumn of 1912 a variety of considerations induced me to submit. to the Indian Government my formal proposals for the long-planned expedition, by which I wished to resume my geographical and archæological explorations in Central Asia. Among these considerations regard for the favourable political conditions then actually prevailing in respect of the regions to be visited played an important part. In this connection I have reason to remember gratefully the shrewd advice by which two kind friends, Sir Henry McMahon, then Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, and Sir George Macartney, H. B. M.'s Consul-General at Kashgar, helped to decide me for an early start.
The kind interest shown by H. E. Lord Hardinge, then Viceroy of India, in my past labours and in my new plans had from the first been a most encouraging augury. My gratitude for this help will be life-long. With it accorded the generous support which the Government of India in the Education Department, then under the enlightened direction of Sir Harcourt Butler, extended to my proposals. This included the payment in three successive years of a total grant of £3000 to cover the cost of the intended explorations, the Indian Government reserving to themselves in return an exclusive claim to whatever archæological proceeds" my expedition might yield. It was understood that the new Museum of Indian Art and Ethnography planned at Delhi would be the first to benefit by prospective "finds."
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For the geographical tasks which formed a large and essential part of my programme, the ready assistance secured from the Indian Survey Department was of the utmost value. To Colonel Sir Sidney Burrard, Surveyor-General of India, I owed already a heavy debt of gratitude for the very effective help he had rendered towards securing and publishing
