hundred and thirty-six years was the North-East Passage at last
achieved."

Sailing through the Behring Strait, they anchored near Behring Island
on 14th August. As they came to anchor, a boat shot alongside and a
voice cried out in Swedish, "Is it Nordenskiold?" A Finland carpenter
soon stood in their midst, and they eagerly questioned him about the
news from the civilised world!

There is no time to tell how the _Vega_ sailed on to Japan, where
Nordenskiold was presented to the Mikado, and an Imperial medal was
struck commemorating the voyage of the _Vega_, how she sailed right
round Asia, through the Suez Canal, and reached Sweden in safety. It
was on 24th April 1880 that the little weather-beaten _Vega_,
accompanied by flag-decked steamers literally laden with friends,
sailed into the Stockholm harbour while the hiss of fireworks and the
roar of cannon mingled with the shouts of thousands. The Royal Palace
was ablaze with light when King Oscar received and honoured the
successful explorer Nordenskiold.

CHAPTER LXX

THE EXPLORATION OF TIBET

Perhaps no land in the world has in modern times exercised a greater
influence over the imagination of men than the mysterious country of
Tibet. From the days of Herodotus to those of Younghusband, travellers
of all times and nations have tried to explore this unknown country,
so jealously guarded from Europeans. Surrounded by a "great wilderness
of stony and inhospitable altitudes" lay the capital, Lhasa, the seat
of the gods, the home of the Grand Lama, founded in 639 A.D., mysterious,
secluded, sacred. Kublai Khan, of Marco Polo fame, had annexed Tibet
to his vast Empire, and in 1720 the mysterious land was finally
conquered by the Chinese. The history of the exploration of Tibet and
the adjoining country, and of the various attempts to penetrate to
Lhasa, is one of the most thrilling in the annals of discovery.

We remember that Benjamin of Tudela in the twelfth century, Carpini
and William de Rubruquis in the thirteenth, all assert that they passed
through Tibet, but we have no certain records till several Italian
Capuchin friars succeeded in reaching Lhasa. There they lived and
taught for some thirty-eight years, when they were withdrawn. And the
little "Tibetan Mission," as it was called, came to an end.

It was yet early in the eighteenth century. England was taking up her
great position in India, and Warren Hastings was anxious to open up
friendly rela