Kashgar 2

Intrepid plant hunter Major George Sherriff captures local customs during his tenure as Vice Consul at Kashgar.

This film by Kashgar's Vice Consul Major George Sherriff focuses on wrestling matches and Sikh soldiers on parade at Lucknow. The Soldiers are drilled in marching and the assembly of field guns. The film also features a journey by river, with scenes depicting people boating for trade and riverside life in Lucknow.

Kashgar is China’s westernmost city, home to the Chinese Muslim Uyghur minority, and has for centuries been a site of political conflict. Major Sherriff (1898-1967) later filmed several expeditions to Bhutan, Nepal, northern India and Tibet, where he ran the British Mission at Lhasa in the 1940s. His celebrated Himalayan garden at Ascreavie in Scotland was created using plants collected on his travels.