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

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166   BENEDICT GOES AND ANTONIO DE ANDRADE.

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sources he concludes that Chaparangue was situated in Tebeth and thus in Bolor, and that in this neighbourhood Andrade was fortunate enough to make several admirable discoveries, amongst other things the sources and the fountains of the Ganges and the Indus, about which Kircher had got his notion from JOSEPH MOGULENSE who was a Christian and who accompanied Andrade on all his journeys, and further from Father HENRI ROTH, who, on his arrival in Rome, told all about Andrade's journey. Amongst other things Kircher learnt was the following statement, which, on account of its importance, I give in the original text: I

»Il y a un grand Lac sur les plus hautes Montagnes de Tebeth lesquelles sont toujours couvertes de nege, duquel prenent naissance les plus grands Fleuves de l'Inde; puisque l'Indus, le Gange, le Ravi, l'Atech 2 sortent de ce gouffre. Le Gange prent son cours vers des precipites, où venant à tomber il fait un bruit effrc yable, après quoy il arrouse une agreable valée, & continué de roulier ses flots vers la Mer, où il se va rendre.3 Pour ce qui est de l'Indus & des autres fleuves, ils coulent doucement le long de la Montagne, comme la Carthe nous le fait voir.»

Kircher indeed seems to be responsible for the belief that Andrade discovered the Manasarovar, for later on in his work he says again: 4 »il vint ensuite (after Chaparangue) à traverser une haute montagne au sommet de laquelle il y a un grand lac lequel est (à ce qu'il dit & selon ce qu'il reconnut) la Source du Gange, de l'Indus & des autres plus grands Fleuves de l'Inde; de la il prit la route vers Radoc qui est une Region extremement froide & septentrionale, & très difficille à passer; c'est pourquoy après avoir resté long temps à traverser ce pals, il arriva à la Ville qui porte le mesme nom», . . .

Andrade has never pretended to have discovered anything except what he describes in his narratives. Kircher did not know the existence of the Manasarovar and never mentions its name. And still, when he talks of a lake, which is the source of the Ganges, the Indus and the other greatest rivers of India, he means, without knowing it, the Manasarovar. The belief that the great rivers began from the Manasarovar was common in India, and it is extremely likely that both Joseph and Roth had been told by natives that such was the case. Without having heard or, perhaps, after forgetting the name of the lake, they have told the same story to Father Kircher, who made his combinations at home and found that the story of the lake feeding all the great rivers of India, agreed very well with Andrade's: »onde nasce o Rio Ganga de hum grande tangue», etc. It is hardly possible to think that Andrade should have lived on the banks of the Satlej for years, without knowing the existence of the Manasarovar. But that is another question. He does not say a word of the lake. He knew it, but he does not speak of it. Kircher does not

I Ibid. p. 67.

2 Athec on the map, i. e. Attock.

3 Compare Plinius, Naturalis Historiæ Liber VI, Cap. XVIII.

4 Op. cit. p. 88.