Men and Gods in Mongolia (Mystic Traveller Series)

xvi, 358, [9] pp. Translated into English from the original Swedish by Elizabeth Sprigge and Claude Napier. Map of expedition precedes text, illustrated with black-and-white photographs. First published in 1935 by Kegan Paul of London, this rare and unusual book takes us into the virtually unknown world of Mongolia, a country historically cloaked in secrecy, but not anymore. Henning Haslund was a Danish adventurer who accompanied Sven Hedin and other explorers into Mongolia and Central Asia in the 1920s and 30s. Also author of In Secret Mongolia Haslund takes us to the lost city of Karakota in the Gobi desert. We meet the Bodgo Gegen, a god-king in Mongolia and Dambin Jansang, the dreaded warlord of the "Black Gobi." There is material in this book on the Hi-mori, an "airhorse" that flies through the sky and carries with it the sacred stone of Chintamani. Aside from the esoteric and the mystical there is plenty of adventure in it: they journey across the Gobi desert by camel caravan; witness initiation into Shamanic societies; meet reincarnated warlords; and experience the violent birth of modern Mongolia.