IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
THE START FOR TIBET 119
by an easy descent reached Ma-la-yi-kou, a big
open valley or small plain with a stream and fair
pasturage. At the start a bitter north-east wind
had been blowing, but when the sun came out in
the early afternoon it was quite hot.
The Yellow River plain was reached the next day after crossing the West Ma-la-yi Pass, 14,490
feet. The Huang Ho, or Yellow River, so mighty
and so dangerous in its lower course, was here a small river, 30 yards wide and from 2 to 21
feet deep, flowing over a gravelly bed. No bridge
was here necessary, and Pereira records with
justifiable pride that not many other Europeans
could say they had forded the Yellow River.
He also records that this is perhaps the only big
river in China that keeps its name throughout its
course. Other big rivers change their names, and
small rivers generally have different names at
each village on their banks. Possibly the Han
River might also keep its name, but Pereira had
not seen so much of it as he had of the Huang Ho.
Of course the Tibetans have a different name for
it. They call it Ma Chu, mother of rivers. Pereira made it 2861 miles from Tangar.
On the Yellow River the uninhabited region
stretching back to Ta-ho-pa is left behind and the
country is now inhabited by nomadic Tibetans,
and Pereira saw several camps of Yü-rung-wa
Tibetans with their flocks of sheep and yaks.
Leaving the plain he ascended a bare ridge and
encamped by the Tsa-shung-chu, a river flowing
from a beautiful lake 3 miles long and 3 miles
wide and of a deep blue colour. The pas-
turage was poor but there were three Tibetan
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