Bibles to the Gobi

A book which I have had for some time, and first read some time ago, but one which I was pleased to turn over again. A tale of some intrepid lady missionaries spending some years on and around the eastern portion of the Silk Road, say between Wuwei and Urumchi in the words of the map left - with the fluctuating transliteration of Chinese and other place names being a constant source of confusion during this reading.

A confused and sometimes troubled area, containing a shifting mixture of peoples, not least the Chinese coming in from the east and the Moslems coming in from the west - these last rolling in, in round terms, about the time that we were fighting the battle of Hastings. Plus the Russians pushing down from the north west. One can see something of why the Chinese do not trust the peoples' on their western borders.

Peoples which had included, over the years, as well as the Moslem invaders, both Greeks and Nestorians - these last being enthusiastic missionaries as well as heretics, being unsound on the three fold nature of our Lord. Not to mention his mother. Plus, by the time of writing, little nests of Russian exiles from the revolution, crossing over from Siberia.

An area which had once been less of the desert, supporting many towns, cities and fortresses which were ruins by the time of these travels.

A harsh world where accidents of behaviour, commissariat and navigation were apt to be fatal. Often unpleasantly hot during the day and cold during the night, with a lot of the travelling being done on foot by night. Carts were for bibles and food, not people. Water was a problem and apt to be salty. Lots of sand storms. There was little room or mercy for the faint hearted or weak, for whom the carefully staged caravan could not afford, for its own safety, to wait. Plus there were plenty of robbers about, lurking in some of the many recesses of the Gobi hills and mountains.

But our intrepid ladies coped. They managed years of discomfort and squalor. They spoke fluent Chinese. They found people, including devout Muslims and Buddhists, who took an interest in the word of our Lord. And they must have had a way about them as they seemed to get on to good terms with all kinds of important people, albeit on their own telling.

All that said, a rather confused, a rather amateurish book with not much more than the one, not very good fold out map at the end, this despite all the fascinating material therein, dating from the years just before the old desert and the old desert towns were overtaken by wars, revolutions and motor roads. In that way a record from a world which was vanishing, rather in the same way as 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' was, in part at least, a record of another world which was vanishing, at the other end of the Silk Road. I see room for a reissue of the present book as one of those picture books by Thames & Hudson. Perhaps in two page format with the original text on the right and supporting text, pictures and maps on the left. Perhaps with some cunning dictionary of place names at the end which would enable one to track the places down on the Internet and in atlases. Of which, as regular readers will know, I own an unusual number. Perhaps, even, an index.

Perhaps also, time to revisit Stanfords in their new home in Covent Garden and see what they can do in the way of maps of the area.

Reference 1: The Gobi Desert - Mildred Cable and Francesca French - 1942. My copy, 1943. In deference to the times the book includes the inscription: 'The typography and binding of this book conform to the authorised economy standard'.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaochang. The source of the map above, the best that I have come across for present purposes. A  map with a German flavour.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/singing-sands.html. For an earlier mention of the book.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/01/footnote-to-everest.html. For an earlier mention of the famous Turpan Depression.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Cable. Some background, including a mention of pharmacy. It was no doubt a good plan to back up the bibles with a medicine chest, with some of the prospects spurning the one but perhaps taking the other - after which who knows?

Reference 6: https://rsgsexplorers.com/2017/05/14/mildred-cable-eva-and-francesca-french/. Some more background.

Reference 7: The Archaeology of Nostalgia - John Boardman - 2002. A good example of a Thames & Hudson picture book, drawn from the very top left of the map above.