Going home, Peking to Stockholm

I had arrived in Peking on March 2^nd 1897. The feeling of joy and happiness I felt upon entering was so great that even today I simply can not put it into words!   My Patience was at an end, I was tired, weary, lonely and worn down by the constant travelling. At this point I had been travelling throughout Asia now for 3 years and 7 months. I simply wished to returned home to my glorious and beloved  Stockholm. I had made the decision to abandon my caravan in the charge of my faithful servant Islam Bai on February 12^th, out side of the Chinese village of Boa-to. I had hired a local Chinese driver to transport me in a little two wheeled carts drawn by mules as quickly as possible to the gates of the Chinese capital of Peking.  We had travelled east through the towns of Sa-lac-hi, Dor-chi and Beh-sia-chi . We had made a short stop over in the village of Kwei-hwa-chung or Kokohoto where I had the unexpected   pleasure of running into no less than eighteen Swedes, one Norwegian and one Dane all of whom were members of the American Christian Alliance. The American Christian Alliance are a group of Christian missionaries who are tasked with the conversion of the local Chinese population through a series of missions scattered through out China.  How good it felt to converse in Swedish again! It was simply glorious. But alas I could not stay, if I hoped to return home in a timely manner I must push on!

           For 8 days we drove through, Meidar, Ch-ka-bu-lo, No-bo-sha, To-do-go, Wo-ja-wa ajd, Jo-jeh-chong all the way to Jan-ja-khu also known as Kalgan where the great wall majestically winds up and down the crest of the hills that shutter the town in on both sides. A truly extraordinary sight!  Unfortunately, at Kalgan I was informed by my Chinese driver that he wished to return home and I was forced to hire another local Chinese man to transport me within a to-jo (also known as a palanquin or sedan chair) and two mules to me the remaining distance to Peking. A journey of approximately 4 days. These 4 days were perhaps the most trying and tiresome of my entire life!  We passed through innumerable villages, crossed innumerable canals, it seemed as this voyage would never end! To make it worse any attempt at progress and speed was stifled by massive crowds of travellers that appeared as if out of no where!  My Chinese driver attempted to lift my spirits by continually stating that “We shall soon be there!”  What a liar this man was! New villages, new temples, new gardens kept popping up, and to make it worse we kept losing our way in the long-crooked lanes that passed for roads in this part of the world.  For more than 1000 days I had been travelling through Asia but that last journey from Kalgan to Peking seemed to me longer than all the preceding days put together. But then I saw a glimpse of something off in the distance! “Peking’! cried my servant. He was for once speaking the truth, It was the great city of Peking. Never in all my travels had I seen a more majestic sight!

We entered through the southern gate of the city. The city of Peking is so vast that for over an hour our mules carried us along the stone paved road which runs through the western and southern sides of the great Northern capital. The walls of this city are a most impressive site they were massive and grey and stretched to a height of over 40feet and encompassed over 4/5ths of the city.  We passed through the “Gate of Heaven” with its massive square projecting tower and long tunnelled archway. Within which a swarm of people, carriages, and animals were going back and forth about their business-like ants swarming to and from an ant hill.

At long last we reached the street of the European Ambassadors, where a I knew a French hotel was situated. Owing to my long journey my clothes showed terrible signs of wear and my otter appearance was so unkempt that I thought it would be wiser to stay in the hotel incognito for a few days until I could make my self until I made my self more presentable. My palanquin had not advanced very far down the street when my eye well upon a large whitewashed gateway, outside which stood a couple of Cossack sentries. I called to them asking who’s house this was and they informed that it belonged the Russian legation. I immediately jumped out of my cart and dashed in. I did not care about my appearance. I rush passed the sentries and crossed through a garden, and continued right into the dwelling of the Russian ambassador. I eagerly rang the bell numerous times and inquired immediately inquired if Mr. Pavloff, the charge d’ affaires and one of my most trusted friends would receive visitors. I found from the local Chinese attendant that the ambassador Count Cassini had recently left Peking leaving   Mr. Pavloff in charge not only that but Mr. Pavloff was expecting my arrival for quite a long amount time. He had received word from St. Petersburg that I was on my way to the Chinese capital. Perhaps the greatest news I received was that a couple of rooms had already been prepared for me! They had been ready for over a month. This then became my incognito getaway, a handsome room, furnished with all the refinements of European luxury- costly carpets on the floor, Chinese silk embroideries, antique vases and most gloriously a European style bed! Compared to the wretched guest houses that I had been staying in for the past 2 months this was heaven!  The best sight of them all was that on the table in the middle of the was a perfect mountain of letters and newspapers from home! Some dated i to over 13 months prior! I eagerly devoured their precious contents while an English-speaking Chinese tailor sent for by Pavloff measured for a new suit of clothes. After a few of rest I was once again ready to venture out.

            I Then began to visit the various European embassies was received most warmly and with great welcome.  I visited with England’s ambassador, Sir Claude MacDonald, the French ambassador M Gerard and his secretary the Comte de Sevey, Baron Von Heyking of Germany, the American ambassador Mr. Demby and M Knobel of the Netherland who I had previously met in Teheran. All welcomed and congratulated me on my journey, I even received a congratulatory telegram from the great King Oscar. But years of travelling among the savage and semi savage tribes of Asia had altered me.  I soon grew weary of the gay feasting and began to feel awkward and out of place among such splendor. The change from the lonely deserts of Tibet, Tsaidam and Goi was too sudden and abrupt for me! After 12 days of rest I said good bye to my many new friends and decided to head home! Mr. Pavloff very kindly offered to undertake the search for my baggage caravan and have it transported right across Siberia free of expense. I had my choice of 3 routes to take to return home. The shortest was via a ship to Vancouver, then a journey by train to New York followed by another nautical journey across the Atlantic. The most comfortable would have been to travel by mailboats stopping in India and going through the Suez Canal. The longest and most tiring of the 3 was to go overland through Mongolia and Siberia. But none the less this was the route I had chosen. This way I could once more travel across Asia but in a very different manner.

I rode in a two wheeled Chinese cart at express speed, across the endless plains, deserts and steppes of Gobi through Sair-ussu and Urga to Kiakhta. The cart was drawn by four mounted Mongols by means of two fastened ropes, to the ends of the cart shafts. A cross bar thrust through the loops in the rope near the shaft ends and  was held by two of the men on their knees while the other two men tied the ends of the ropes round their waists and away we went at full gallop across the steepe. The cart rattling and jolting to the point that I was almost shaken to death! You can only travel at this express speed under the authorization of a special pass from the Tsung Li Yamen. Couriers are sent on in advance at each stage so that you always find fresh horses waiting for you. There twenty mounted men accompany you at each stage. As soon as one set of four are tired another set take their take place. The change is made so quickly that the traveller hardly notices unless they happen to be looking out the font front window at the time! There is no exact road on this route.  You travel between a series of way station each of which ends at the site of a Mongolian tent village. The whole route is entirely dependant on the existence of these Mongol camps. Each relay was done in straight line across the  steppe. On some of the stages in northern Mongolia the ground was so covered with deep snow so that camels were used in place of horses.

At Urga I paid a visit to the temple of Maidari the future Buddha. There too I parted from my ever faithfull attendant Islam Bai who had travelled across Mongolia in my wake in a second cart. He desired to return with me to Sweden. But it could not be! We were forced to part ways. Mr. Luba the Russian consul in Urga took charge of him and sent in the capacity of a Russian post courier to Uliassutai then he travelled via Urumchi to Kashgar and thence to Osh in Fergane where he arrived safety and was warmly welcomed by his wife and family.

Thanks to the kind courtesy of Mr. Pavloff I had an escort of Coassacks all the way from Peking to Kiakhta, from Kiakhta I travelled though Baikal and Irkutsk as far as Kansk and from Kanksk I took the train, a  journey of nine days to St Petersburg. Eventually making it to Stockholm on the 10^th of May 1897, I was home at last! Now it is time for some rest before I begin planning my next great expedition!

Source

Hedin, Sven Anders, and J. T. Bealby. 1899. Through Asia. New York and London: Harper and Bros. This book is Sven Hedin’s first-hand account of what is known as his first large expedition throughout Central Asia. The chapter used for this entry is chapter Chapter C "To Peking and Home".