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

EMPEROR KANG HI's GREAT MAP OF CHINA.   263

sciences and whose abilities he admired, to undertake the work. They began round the great wall. The Fathers Bouvet, REGIS, and JARTOUX determined the situations; the two last-mentioned continued the work throughout the year 1708.I In January 1709 they returned to Peking with a map 15 feet long which pleased the Emperor so much, that he desired to have such maps of the whole of his Empire. In May 1709, Régis, Jartoux and FRIDELLI drew the map of Manchuria and the province of Chi-li which kept them busy during 1710. In 171I Régis and CARDOSO made the map of Shan-tung. Later on Régis was assisted by MAILLA and HENDERER for three more provinces. In 1715 Régis made the map of Yunnan, and afterwards, together with Fridelli, he carried out the mapping of two other provinces. RÉMUSAT says that Régis did most of the work himself.2 Two memoirs of Régis are published in DU HALDE, namely about Korea and Tibet. But much of the other material in du Halde is taken from Régis, although his name is not mentioned. Du Halde tells us how the missionaries proceeded when surveying the great Empire, »which until now has been so little known, even to the most able geographers». But when the Jesuits began their topographical work they found earlier Chinese maps in every province. No such maps of Tibet, however, were known to exist, though DELLA PENNA mentions some sort of a map in Potala, which he calls a Tabula Clorograj5hica.3

Tibet was not included in the work of the Jesuits. But Emperor Kang Hi had already sent a special embassy to Tibet. Although the chief object of this mission was a political one, namely, to try and gain the Tibetan princes for the new Chinese policy, the ambassador, who stayed two years in Tibet, had been ordered to have a map drawn of »all the countries which are immediately submitted to the Grand Lama».

In 1711 the map was ready and presented to Father Régis, who was to work it out in the same form as the maps which had been made of the Chinese provinces; but after having examined the materials and put some questions to the surveyors, the Father found that he had no fixed points to start from, and that distances were simply taken from native information. He therefore declined to use the material brought to him.4 But it was obvious from the material that the country was much

I ABEL-RÉMUSAT: Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques. Paris 1829. Tome II, p. 235 et seq.

2   . et quand on songe qu'une entreprise géographique, plus vaste qu'aucune de celles qu'on
a jamais tentées en Europe, fut achevée par quelques religieux en huit années, on ne peut s'empêcher d'admirer cet effet d'un zèle qui n'était pas uniquement celui de la science, quoiqu'il en servît si bien les intérêts. Ibid. p. 237. »Jean Baptiste Régis, jésuite francais, missionaire à la Chine, et habile géographe, doit être compté parmi les savans religieux qui ont fait le plus d'honneur à cette mission de la Chine, si fertile en hommes distingués ... Tout ce qu'on sait de lui se borne à ce qu'il a fait de glorieux pour les sciences et d'honorable pour son pays.» He lived 36 years in Peking, and died, in 1759, 71 years old. In the history of exploration in Asia Régis' name has a very prominent place.

3 RITTER; Die Erdkunde von Asien, Bd II, p. 466.

4 Le P. J. B. DU HALDE: Description Géographique, Historique, Chronologique, Politique et Physique de l'Empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinoise. Paris 177o. Vol. IV, p. 459 et seq.