The little-known...hair-raising story of 19th-century European exploration in the Western Himalayas--a protracted adventure as exciting and significant as the search for the sources of the Nile.'' The Times (London) The forbidding mountain complex of the Western Himalayas was second only to deepest Africa as an arena of 19th-century exploration. Seduced by the secrets of its lost valleys and the challenge of its ethereal peaks, a procession of romantics, spies, scientists, and eccentrics trailed up into the unknown. Originally published as two books (When Men and Mountains Meet and The Gilgit Game), this volume at last combines these two halves; in so doing, it restores the original idea of presenting what was the first--and is still the only--comprehensive narrative of European exploration of the noblest geographical region on earth. 584 pp 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 50 photos, maps