Thirty Years In Kashmir

Book excerpt: The stupendous natural surrounding amidst which they well have inspired sojourners in Kashmir and other Himalayan countries to produce some of the finest books of travel to be found. Among them will have to be included in future this book of Dr. Arthur Neve in which so effectively does the author reveal the wonders of the land of towering peaks and huge glaciers where he has made his home for the last thirty years.Going out to Kashmir in 1882 under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society, Dr. Neve took over the charge of Kashmir Mission Hospital at Srinagar from Dr. Edmund Downes, who was retiring, and has stayed there ever since. In his earlier chapters he gives some account of the Punjab and Kashmir in the eighties, and also of the work of the mission. He then gets to the principle motif of the book-the exploring tours and mountaineering expeditions to which he has devoted his spare time. Nanga Parbat, Nun Kun, and many other Himalayan giants, are within hail of Srinagar, and before he has finished with the book the reader will find he has acquired the next best thing to a first-hand knowledge of this magnificent country. Dr. Neve has also a great deal that is interested to tell about the people of various races and religions who inhabit the valleys, and from whom his medical help gained him a warm welcome at all time.