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In the Footsteps of Marco-polo: A Journey Overland from Simla to Pekin
Description of a voyage from the summer capital of british india – simla to the capital of china – peking a long over land journey through the wild lands of tibet, high asia and china under taken in the early 20th century
380 pages, Hardcover
First published December 9, 2008
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October 22, 2021
As a student I used to spend a lot of time wandering through used book stores in New England, trying to build a library related to my field of study: Asian history and art. Over time, I accumulated a large collection of 19th and early 20th century travelogues; it seemed as though every traveller from that period kept a diary that found its way into print. They were cheap and bountiful and I loved their look and feel. However, I confess I read few of them at the time and those I did dip into I found less than captivating. Decades later, I am finding them absolutely fascinating, especially those from regions of the world I have since travelled in myself. In the footsteps of Marco Polo: A Journey Overland from Simla to Pekin is such an example although it's more about the author's own journey in 1906 than following in the footsteps of the famous Venetian traveller who left on his own journey in 1271 to serve eventually in the great court of Kublai Khan.
Why are these works now so captivating? Because one would never believe one had travelled along the same routes. Major Clarence Dalrymple Bruce travelled with a fellow British officer and entourages of bag carriers, porters, donkeys, camels and ponies in parties that varied between a dozen to several dozen; I, on the other hand, travelled with friends and colleagues, sometimes with only a companion or two, sometimes with more, but by jeep, train, and at times, busses. The difference is what we marked enroute. Omitting the Simla to Kashkar part that he covered on pony or on foot (which I have not travelled), but beginning in Kashkar, you would have thought we were on different planets. In Dunhuang, for example (known to Major Bruce as Shachu, literally 'sand district'), he writes of "outer and inner walls enclosing an area 1000 by 800 yards square...30 feet high with towers every 50 years". By the time I reached Dunhuang, a western outpost town I've visited four or five times, there were no more city walls of any sort remaining, although a tiny part of the old Great Wall was still in existence, being pumped full of some chemical to preserve its remaining few meters. He describes the town as an "oasis in a fertile country" with "considerable trade", and writes at length about what can be found in the marketplace ("articles of cheap German manufacture, such as buttons, needles ... and the well-known British house of Ilbert & co. ... with their cotton goods") but NOT ONCE does he mention the town's most famous feature--its incredible Buddhist caves! Along hundreds of miles of the mountain ranges surrounding the Taklamakan Desert, he writes of distances, grasslands, game and "pitiful scenes of desolation" but not of the abandoned ancient cities nor Buddhist stupas that still dot the skyline.
His arrival at the town of Jiayuguan he describes as "somewhat imposing...the frontier fortress in the Great Wall of China, this gate has for centuries played an important part in the history of that nation" where trade missions for foreign lands had to wait for approval from the Emperor in Beijing to give approval for the delegation--in parts or its whole--to enter China proper. He describes entering through a mud brick gate with three big gate-towers surmounting each gate and of how pitiful a fortress it would have been in terms of defense. "Here was no question of artillery. We were still in the days of David and Goliath" (p. 246). A century later, my travel companion and I were dumped off a train at the Jiayuguan train station in the middle of the night together with heaps of black garbage bags filled with plastic bottles and discarded instant noodle packages along with a large number of domestic tourists dressed for the part in 10-gallon hats, to confront a giant neon statue of a dolphin wearing a Gene Kelly top hat. The desert fortress had been turned into a 'Water world' tourist site. The famous fortress was a disgrace to tourism crowded with touts, and the true beauty of the location, not mentioned by Major Bruce, was the terrain in which recently have been found thousands of outstandingly beautiful tombs from the W. Jin and Wei Dynasties (220-420 CE). And while 'water world' was doing a brisk business, we were the only visitors at the tombs.
Such books can help us remember why we travel. For Major Bruce, it was the adventure in part, which he justified by drawing local maps and marking his routes for other travellers, so one can see how his focus was on valleys, waterways, crossable streams, fortifications, the hospitality of the 'locals' and availability of local game (rabbits, mountain goats and the like). Mine was on history--ancient cities, tombs, Buddhist stupas, mosques, and a warm bath at the end of the day. It can be quitejolting to see familiar landscapes through distant eyes.
Why are these works now so captivating? Because one would never believe one had travelled along the same routes. Major Clarence Dalrymple Bruce travelled with a fellow British officer and entourages of bag carriers, porters, donkeys, camels and ponies in parties that varied between a dozen to several dozen; I, on the other hand, travelled with friends and colleagues, sometimes with only a companion or two, sometimes with more, but by jeep, train, and at times, busses. The difference is what we marked enroute. Omitting the Simla to Kashkar part that he covered on pony or on foot (which I have not travelled), but beginning in Kashkar, you would have thought we were on different planets. In Dunhuang, for example (known to Major Bruce as Shachu, literally 'sand district'), he writes of "outer and inner walls enclosing an area 1000 by 800 yards square...30 feet high with towers every 50 years". By the time I reached Dunhuang, a western outpost town I've visited four or five times, there were no more city walls of any sort remaining, although a tiny part of the old Great Wall was still in existence, being pumped full of some chemical to preserve its remaining few meters. He describes the town as an "oasis in a fertile country" with "considerable trade", and writes at length about what can be found in the marketplace ("articles of cheap German manufacture, such as buttons, needles ... and the well-known British house of Ilbert & co. ... with their cotton goods") but NOT ONCE does he mention the town's most famous feature--its incredible Buddhist caves! Along hundreds of miles of the mountain ranges surrounding the Taklamakan Desert, he writes of distances, grasslands, game and "pitiful scenes of desolation" but not of the abandoned ancient cities nor Buddhist stupas that still dot the skyline.
His arrival at the town of Jiayuguan he describes as "somewhat imposing...the frontier fortress in the Great Wall of China, this gate has for centuries played an important part in the history of that nation" where trade missions for foreign lands had to wait for approval from the Emperor in Beijing to give approval for the delegation--in parts or its whole--to enter China proper. He describes entering through a mud brick gate with three big gate-towers surmounting each gate and of how pitiful a fortress it would have been in terms of defense. "Here was no question of artillery. We were still in the days of David and Goliath" (p. 246). A century later, my travel companion and I were dumped off a train at the Jiayuguan train station in the middle of the night together with heaps of black garbage bags filled with plastic bottles and discarded instant noodle packages along with a large number of domestic tourists dressed for the part in 10-gallon hats, to confront a giant neon statue of a dolphin wearing a Gene Kelly top hat. The desert fortress had been turned into a 'Water world' tourist site. The famous fortress was a disgrace to tourism crowded with touts, and the true beauty of the location, not mentioned by Major Bruce, was the terrain in which recently have been found thousands of outstandingly beautiful tombs from the W. Jin and Wei Dynasties (220-420 CE). And while 'water world' was doing a brisk business, we were the only visitors at the tombs.
Such books can help us remember why we travel. For Major Bruce, it was the adventure in part, which he justified by drawing local maps and marking his routes for other travellers, so one can see how his focus was on valleys, waterways, crossable streams, fortifications, the hospitality of the 'locals' and availability of local game (rabbits, mountain goats and the like). Mine was on history--ancient cities, tombs, Buddhist stupas, mosques, and a warm bath at the end of the day. It can be quitejolting to see familiar landscapes through distant eyes.
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