with which I again saw my home, after my tedious travels, may be easily comprehended. But the more that every-day life demands its rights, the more actively does the pressure toward the far-off deserts of Asia, which once seen can never be forgotten, the longing to visit them again, rise in my soul. Yes, in those deserts," he added, "an unlimited freedom reigns. The traveler stands opposing the wild robber-hordes with the weapons of science and civilization. The dangers which he encounters every day for his love of science are quickly forgotten, while the recollection of the moment of success and of real happiness remains fixed and clear in the mind. The picture of those past joys floats before him day and night, and entices him, even from the midst of the enjoyment of the rest of civilization, to that life of labor and freedom." This book was published in London in 1879 as "From Kuldja, across the Thian-Shan, to Lob-Nor," translated by Mr. Morgan, with an introduction by Sir Douglas Forsyth.
In 1883, Colonel Prejevalski went on his fourth expedition to the same regions, having the country of the Yellow River as his objective point. He started in November, and, traveling in a cold under which quicksilver was frozen, found himself in February, 1884, again in Thibet. In May he went down to the south of Zaidam, whence, having left his baggage with a guard of Cossacks, he started again for the sources of the Yellow River. They were found to lie in a region uninhabited by man, but peopled by innumerable herds of yaks. Thence he turned to the shores of the Blue River where he suffered an attack from hostile Tanguts. He repelled them, but they succeeded in preventing his crossing the river, and forced him to turn back. They continued to annoy him for several weeks, when he again went back to the headwaters of the Yellow River and the lakes by which it is fed. Leaving Southern Zaidam, he went westward with thirteen persons into a desert where even camels could not live. He came at last to the shore of an impenetrable swamp, which was well inhabited by pheasants. He remained for three months at a place called Gaz, whence he penetrated to a part of Western Thibet, where he discovered three previously unknown mountain-ranges. From Gaz the road went on through a labyrinth of narrow passes and defiles to the Turkoman town of Loto, where the population was friendly. The people of Western China, where it borders on East Turkistan, were likewise well disposed toward him. The country is described as being very attractive, without winter, populous, and as yielding two crops of grain a year.
Colonel Prejevalski's return from his fourth journey was celebrated at St. Petersburg by a special session of the Geographical Society, on the 10th of February, which was attended by members of the imperial family, ministers of state, diplomates, and learned men, all eager to pay their respects to the energetic traveler, who, on this occasion, was made a major-general.
