ELIAS, NEY:
British consul-general at Meshed, Persia, and explorer; died in London May 31, 1897. At an early age he found his way to China, and in 1871 conceived the daring project of returning to Europe overland, across the entire continent of Asia. The report of this journey was recorded in the "Journal" of the Royal Geographical Society, from which it appears that he crossed the desert of Gobi by a hitherto unexplored route, traveled amid the opposing factions of the great Mohammedan rebellion of that time, and traversed the breadth of Siberia to Russia.
After this, Elias accepted service under the Indian government and was sent to Yunan, and afterward to Ladak. Later he was despatched on a political mission to Chinese Turkestan.
In 1885 he traversed the entire length of the Pamirs, traveled through Badakhshan and Afghan Turkestan to the neighborhood of Herat, and returned to India by way of Chitral and Gilgit. For this he was made a C.I.E. In 1889-90 Elias demarcated the frontier between Siam and the Shan States of Burma; and in 1891 he was appointed consul-general at Meshed, in Persia.
- Times (London), June 2, 1897;
- Jew. Chronicle, (London), June 4, 1897.
