国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

38   PTOLE` Y.

I 25° E. Long. and 37° N. Lat., farther north than the sources of its tributaries, except the Koas, and 6° above the confluence with the latter. Lassen therefore believes that he does not mean the real, upper Indus but the Shayok, a view that cannot possibly be correct. For even of Kashmir, Kaspeira, he had a rather vague idea,

as Dr. STEIN has shown. 1

We now come to the most interesting question, namely, about the Tsangpo. Lassen regards it as very likely that the greatest geographer of antiquity should have known the Brahmaputra, and he positively affirms that Ptolemy calls this river Bautisus. 2 The feeders of Bautisus come from the Emodus, the Kasian and the Ottorokorrhas mountains. Lassen identifies the Kasian mountains with the ranges west of Kashgar, the Emodus with the ranges between Buthan and Tibet, and Ottorokorrhas with the Tibetan Lo-kaha-ptra. It would take us too far to follow Lassen's argument ; be it sufficient to say that he finds an argument in the very name as well, for the name Bautisus is derived from Bhota, the Indian name of the Tibetans; therefore Bautisus must be identical with the upper Brahmaputra or Tsangpo.

Amongst the very great number of authors who have tried to identify Ptolemy's geography with our present knowledge of Central Asia, I will quote Richthofen. He finds it easy to explain why Ptolemy places the origin of the Bautisus on the Kasian mountains. S He agrees with Lassen in identifying the Bautisus with the Yeru-tsangpo or upper Brahmaputra, and he finds it natural that the southern branch should come from Emodus.

Both the situation and the name of the river are striking facts, and at first sight one feels tempted to agree with Lassen and Richthofen. For my own part I am, nevertheless, far from persuaded. On Plate III we find two source branches which, after their junction, flow eastwards and empty themselves in a lake without outlet. Near the lake is a town, Sera metropolis, and south of it, quite close to the lake, is a range of mountains, Ottorocoras Mons, which is, it is true, the immediate continuation of the Serici Montes, Emodii Montes, and Imaus Mons. This orographical arrangement indeed seems to indicate the Tsangpo. But it is more than doubtful whether Ptolemy with his long range of mountains meant one single system, which, compared with our actual knowledge, should represent the Himalaya system only. I believe his long range includes the whole mountainous land north of India all the way up to Kwen-lun. The country south of the range is India, the country north of it is the deserts and steppes of Central Asia.

,,.

I Memoir on Maps illustrating the ancient Geography of Ka§mir. Calcutta 1899, P. 9•

2 Indische Alterthumskunde I. p. 131. »Dem ersten Geographen des klassischen Alterthumes

war höchst wahrscheinlich, um nicht zu sagen gewiss, die Kunde von dem Brahmaputra, dem grössten Zuflusse des Ganges, zugekommen, der diesen in der Länge seines Laufes übertrifft, und wie der Indus

im Norden des grossen nördlichen Gränzgebirges entspringt ....A Ibidem, III, p. 131.

3 China, I p. 487.