d of the mountains, and the source
and course of the rivers. But looking back now I see that my natural
instinct was a right one--that a knowledge of the beauties of Tibet
was not only one geographical result of the Mission, but the chief
geographical result; and that, in fact, I ought to have paid not less
but more attention, both in Tibet to noting its beauties in all their
multitudinous variety, and in writing my lecture to expressing with
point and precision what I had seen, so that you might share it with
me, and learn what is the most valuable characteristic of Tibet.

When the new tradition is established, and travellers become aware
that we regard knowledge of Natural Beauty as within the scope of
our activities, the error into which I fell will be avoided. We shall
think travellers barbaric if they continue to concern themselves with
all else about the face of the Earth except its Beauty. We shall no
longer tolerate a geographer who will learn everything about the
utility of a region for military, political, and commercial purposes,
but who will take no trouble to see the beauty it contains. We shall
expect a much higher standard of him. We shall expect him to
cultivate the power of the eye till he has a true eye for country--a
seeing eye; an eye that can see into the very heart and, through all
the thronging details, single out the one essential quality; an eye
which can not only observe but can make discoveries. We shall
require him to have the capacity for discriminating the essential
from the unessential, for bringing that essential into proper relief and
placing upon it the due emphasis. When he thus has true vision and
can really see a country, and when he has acquired the capacity for
expressing either in words or in painting what lie has seen, so that he
can communicate it to us, then he will have reached the standard
which this Society should demand. And this is nothing less than
saying that we expect of him that he should have in him something
of the poet and the painter.

Careless snap-shotting in the field and idle turning on of lantern
slides at our meetings will no longer satisfy us. A traveller if he is
going to photograph must spend the hours which a real artist would
devote to discovering the essential beauty of a scene, and to
composing his picture before he dreams of exposing his plate. But
we want more than photographs: we want pictures to give that
important element in Natural Beauty--the