Book excerpt: "While traveling in disguise in Tibet in the early 1930's, Illion made some chance acquaintances which led to the contacts with an occult fraternity and an invitation to visit the underground city. There he had some truly remarkable experiences, which are recorded in this book. Ilion was one of the first travelers to penetrate Tibet while it was still sealed off from the outside world. Some believe these stories are clearly symbolic but may have some basis and fact and probably capture some of the spirit of popular belief in the region. Determining the account's precise accuracy is difficult from a Western standpoint."--Back cover