[Originally published in the December, 1897 issue of McCLURE'S MAGAZINE]

Of the achievement of Sven Hedin, the young Swedish traveler, but meager accounts have reached the West, and, indeed, beyond Sweden itself—if we except Germany and Russia—his name is practically unknown. Yet for pluck and perseverance in overcoming obstacles and difficulties, and for courage before danger, Dr. Sven Hedin can take rank with his fellow-countryman, Dr. Nansen; whilst in accomplishment, his travels have perhaps been even more prolific than Nansen's. Of his recent journey through Central Asia, which lasted for a period of three years and seven months, and which took him from Orenburg in the West to Pekin in the East, this may be said: that he not only did all that he had promised his King that he would do when the King equipped him for the expedition, but many things besides of high scientific importance. He discovered the ruins of two Buddhist towns in the heart of a Mohammedan country, ruins which tell of high civilization where now