The Lahore to Yarkand expedition is probably the first of its kind undertaken through the harsh, mountainous, unbeaten route through Kashmir and onwards. There was little known about Yarkand before this. Its climate, the customs and mannerisms of its inhabitants, fauna and flora were unexplored until 1848 when Dr Thomson, an Englishman, examined its botany as far as the crest of the Karakoram mountains. In 1857 Schlagintweit, the first European, who travelled to ...
