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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DESCRIPTIONS OF TIBET.

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and trade, the naval achievements of a set of very clever and courageous, and — sit venia verbo — stupid sailors, who had no interest for the country at a few leagues from the coast.

I will now say a few words about ABUL GHAZI's genealogical work on the Tar-

tars, specially on account of the accompanying maps.   On p. 41 of the French
edition we are told that Ogus-Chan conquered the Empire of Kitay, the City of Dsurdsut, and the Kingdom of Tangut together with Cara-Kitay, the capital of which is a great Town; »this country is inhabited by people, as black as the Indians; they live in the surroundings of Lake Möhill between Kitay and the Indies, a little on the south). Behind Kitay and near the Sea Ogus-Chan came across a Chan called Itburak. Some of the strange names in this passage are to be found on one of the two maps in the work, which I have reproduced as Pl. XLIII.2

The source of the Indus is situated in the Imaus Mons on the very frontier of Bucharia Minor or Eastern Turkestan. The source of the Ganges is a nameless lake further east in the same mountain. East of the source of Ganges Tibet is shown as situated in Desert Goby, surrounded by mountains. Between both is a )Camp d'un Chan tributaire au Dalay Lama). South of Tibet is a river Yekegoll falling into two lakes, probably a survival of Cinhaï and Coconor. South of this river is Tangut with another tributary chief, and Barantola, and, in the southern part, Lassa and Potala, )Residence du Dalai Lama Grand Pontife des Callmuckes et Mongales».

From this arrangement one gets the impression that Tibet is represented twice on the map, the southern one being called Tangut.3 Lassa and Potala show that Tangut stands for Tibet Proper, and in Mongolia Tibet is indeed called Tangut. Barantola is the Mongol name for Lhasa, and the capital therefore is marked twice. If the northern Tibet of the map is also meant as Tibet Proper, Yekegoll may be the Tsangpo or Tsangpo-chimbo, which, as Yike-gol, means The Great River.

I Histoire Genéalogique des Tartars. Traduite du Manuscript Tartare d'Abulgasi-BayadurChan ... Leyde 1726. Abul Ghazi, Khan of Khiva, died in 1663. How his History, in 9 books, of Jengis Khan's family, was discovered, is told in the »Au Lecteur' of the French edition : »Le Public est obligé du present Traité à la prison des Officiers de Suede en Siberie; car quelques uns de ces Mrs. qui estoient gens de lettres ayant acheté le Manuscript Tartare de cette Histoire d'un Marchand Bouchare qui l'apporta à Tobolskoy le firent traduire à leurs despens dans la Langue Russe, & le traduisirent ensuite eux mesmes en diverses autres Langues.» These »Mrs» were the Swedish officers Schönström and Strahlenberg, of whom more later on. Schönström presented a MS copy of the work to Uppsala in 1722. The work was published in several European languages. The English edition is known under the title : A General History of the Turks, Moguls, and Tatars, Vulgarly called Tartars ... etc., London 173o; and Vol. II, bearing the year 1729: An Account of the Present state of the Northern Asia, Relating to the Natural History of Grand Tatary and Siberia, etc., the whole compiled out of the Notes belonging to the foregoing History, and digested into Method by the Translator. — The French edition is published by D***, i. e. the Dutchman Bentinck (Barbier).

2 »Carte Nouvelle de l'Asie Septentrionale dressée Sur des Observations Authentiques et toutes Nouvelles». On the copy at the Royal Library of Stockholm, Aug. Strindberg has written a pencil note: »This first map is the one published by Bentinck in Leyde 1726, and based on Strahlenberg's map.» There is no doubt a considerable resemblance in type between the two, though Strahlenberg's map was published only in 1730.

3 In a note, p. 42, the editor also says of Tibet: »I1 est partagé en deux Parties dont la Partie Meridionale s'appelle proprement le Tangut & la Septentrionale le Tibet.»