In the Land of the Blue Poppies: The Collected Plant-Hunting Writings of Frank Kingdon Ward (Modern Library Gardening)
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN: 0812967399
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A Modern Library Paperback Original
During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on twenty-four impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. He was responsible for the discovery of numerous varieties previously unknown in Europe and America, including the legendary Tibetan blue poppy, and the introduction of their seeds into the world’s gardens. Kingdon Ward’s accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Drawn from writings out of print for almost seventy-five years, this new collection, edited and introduced by professional horticulturalist and House & Garden columnist Tom Christopher, returns Kingdon Ward to his deserved place in the literature of discovery and the literature of the garden.
separates the waters flowing past Wei-hsi from those which, gathered throughout the length and breadth of the Li-ti-p’ing, flow out at Ka-ka-t’ang to join the Wei-hsi river fifteen miles below the city. Had I continued down those seemingly endless valleys, therefore, I must eventually have come out at Ka-ka-t’ang, though it is probable, as already remarked, that I should have come across Lissus before finally emerging from the mountains. From the pass I descended the extremely precipitous road
path, a prisoner. One of the young men, stung to action possibly by the imprecations of the virago, dashed up the hill to lead a rescue party; but Chimi drew his sword and turning on him suddenly, sent him headlong in flight. It was the first really comic interlude, and I could not help laughing. The valiant Chimi—what a hero! The youth who had slunk away blubbering when Tsumbi got drunk and abused him! Needless to say it was Tsumbi, Kele, and a yak driver who had captured the prisoner. The young
and grunted in a syncopated chorus of lamentation; and our super-saturated solution of men and mules entered into combination and residence. It was quite a small inn. Two sides of the yard were occupied by the stables, the cook-house filled a third side, and on the fourth was the guest-room, its lattice doors provided with paper windows. I requested an upstairs room, was told there were none, and was politely invited to step inside the only guest chamber. The little old lady of the inn,
makes him look slim for, when stripped, the great depth of his muscular chest and the set of his powerful shoulders give an indication of his unusual strength. I found them pleasant and friendly people, though filthy. It was rare indeed to meet a man who did not salute me by spreading out both hands in front of him, palms upwards, perhaps a survival from some form of greeting indicating that the hands conceal no weapon. Less frequently they greeted me by putting out their tongues, but when they
had no illusions about his qualifications as a horticulturist, botanist, or geographer. He had none, in the conventional sense. Indeed, as someone who remained at heart an outsider all his life, Kingdon Ward seems to have relished this fact. In any event, he knew that the essential qualifications for his work were not university degrees, but rather an ability to withstand hardship and an insatiable appetite for the hunt. If Kingdon Ward had few illusions about himself, he also was keenly aware