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

ABDULFEDA. - IBN BATUTA.   67

villes de Kesch et de Samarcand, et se réunit à la montagne de Bokhara, connue sous le nom de Ouarka.

Reinaud thinks that either Abulfeda did not know the name of these mountains or he believed that the native name was synonymous with »mountain). At one place I Reinaud writes »Djebel (Thibet)» as if Abulfeda had especially meant that part of the system which borders upon Tibet.

India is bordered on the west by Sind, on the east by the deserts which separate it from China, and on the north by the country of the Turkish nomads.

Regarding Tibet and its situation he only quotes ISTAKRI, and MOHALLABI who says: »Le Tibet (Tobbat) tombe au nord du royaume de Canoge: une grande distance sépare ces deux pays.»

Nor has the famous traveller IBN BATUTA much to tell about our parts of Asia. He lived from 1304 to 1377. Like nearly all other travellers and geographers he avoided Tibet, the inaccessible country beyond the mountains. Of the Indus he says that zit is the greatest river in the world, and overflows during the hot weather just as the Nile does ...» 2 And of the other great river he says: »Some of the Hindoos drown themselves in the river Ganges, to which they perform pilgrimages; and into which they pour the ashes of those who have been burnt.»

In 1340 A. D. we find Ibn Batuta at Sadkawan, a place in Bengal: From Sadkawan I travelled for the mountains of Kamru, which are at the distance of one month from this place. These are extensive mountains, and they join the mountains of Thibet, where there are musk gazelles. The inhabitants of these mountains are, like the Turks, famous for their attention to magic.» This is obviously the eastern Himalaya, for in Alberuni we have found that from the point where one turns northwards to Nepal the mountains of Kamru »stretch away as far as the sea.» 3

Then it »happened» that he entered the country of China, and came to a city called Jabnak; »it is divided by the river which descends from the mountains of Kamru, called the Blue River. By this one may travel to Bengal and the countries of Laknouti.» From Yunnan and the Blue River one may indeed travel to Bengal, though Ibn Batuta places the sources of the river too far south, instead of in the ranges north of Tang-la.

The knowledge of the world regarding the geography of Tibet cannot be said to have been more augmented by the journey of Ibn Batuta than by that of his contemporary Friar Odorico de Pordenone, though the latter travelled straight across Tibet.

I Op. cit. p. 89.

2 The Travels of Ibn Batûta; translated from the abridged Arabic manuscript copies, ... by

the Rev. SAMUEL LEE. London 1829, p. ioo.

3 KuuN says that Mount Kamru, or Kamaru as he has it, is situated in the province of Assam.

Op. cit. p. 78.