A Conquest of Tibet by Svend Hedin is the amazing tale of a journey to the inner Tibet. The book was published in 1935 and was instantly a success. Hedin had the decades before published books from his fascinating and perilous adventures in remote and unknown areas of Asia. Every child knew his name in his homeland Sweden, and his books were translated into many languages. A Conquest of Tibet was his second adventure in Tibet and here he tells the story of everyday life in the forbidden country of the Dalai Lama. At that time only a very few Europeans had ever crossed the dangerous, and icy passes, fewer still had ever penetrated to the holy city of Lhasa. Svend Hedin had a sense of putting himself in dramatic situations and in the book you will find accounts of barbaric savages attacking, hordes of yaks charging and strange customs of the forgotten people at the top of the world. The books is richly illustrated by Hedin himself. From the book:
“I counted a dozen horsemen with bifurcated guns thrown over their shoulders. Islam, Parpi, Lobsang and I took a stand on the crest of a small hill eight feet high, back of which the other men and the caravan had cover. We were eight against twelve, three guns against a dozen. But ours were the better weapons. We threw off our fur coats. The men from East Turkestan were in fearful anguish, and as for myself I found the situation far from reassuring. The Tanguts could readily secure reinforcements from the nearby valleys and annihilate us, or in any event fleece us of everything even to the bare skin of our bodies. On the surface I indicated no apprehension, but calmly lit my pipe.”
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