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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sounding in the least like Luk-u-Labuk. Only the latter half of this name has a vague likeness with Se-Libuk (Selipuk), which, however, should change the lake into Nganglaring-tso. From Selipuk there is the Serpun-lam to Lhasa, but it is not likely that an army would have chosen such a way. The heavy losses in horses cannot have been caused by »dam-giri» as he says, specially not if the horses were from Ladak. They must have died from fatigue, which points to the hardships in very high regions. But then it is difficult to account for Hari. "There is nothing to be sure of, even not the statement that he arrived within 8 days from Ursang or Lhasa. In Saka-dsong there is, at least nowadays, a little temple which may have been called Saka-labrang, which has a faint likeness with Askabrak. But this place is much more than 8 days from Lhasa, though it can be said to be 8 days from the western frontier of the province of Utsang.

LATER MOHAMMEDAN WRITERS.

The Ain-i-Akbari compiled under the superintendence of ABUL FAZL, prime minister to Emperor AKBAR, has rightly been regarded as a gold mine of information regarding Hindustan, as it was in the days of Akbar. Of geographical matter it does not, however, contain so much as one could have expected, although it is known how Akbar took special interest in at least one of the great rivers, namely, the Ganges, even to such an extent that he sent a special expedition in search of the source of the sacred river, I and that he, as we are told by Abul

i MANOUCHI, a Venetian physician, who served at the court of Emperor AURANGZEB, tells us how the »native explorers» of Akbar discovered the source of the Ganges: »Another of Akebar's Curiosities was, that of knowing the Source of the Ganges. That River the Most Eastern of all Indoustan runs its Course from North to South ... It's Source has always been the Ground of a Dispute between the Brachmanes of these, and the Gymnosophists of former times. In the days of Akebar it was still unknown, as the Source of the Nile was unknown not above an Age ago. The Emperor therefore spar'd no Cost to discover the Head of a River which was the best Jewel in his Crown. He Commissionated certain Persons, with orders to steer Northwards by the Banks of the Ganges, till they arriv'd at it's Fountain. He furnish'd 'em with Provisions, Horses, Mony, and Letters of Recommendation for passing undisturb'd thro' all the Countries bordering upon the Ganges, and which were not of his own Dependance. They kept on their Course towards the North, and the nearer they approached the Source, the narrower the River grew. They pass'd through untrodden Forests, where they were forc'd to cut out Paths for themselves. At last they arriv'd at a high Mountain, which seem'd to be shaped by Art into the Form of a Cows Head. Out of it issues a vast Quantity of Water, which the Commissioners supposed to be the Source of the Ganges. They penetrated no farther, they return'd after having run through various Dangers, to give the Emperor an Account of their Travels. Their Relation was inserted in the Chronicle from whence I have taken it. And after all, they have told us nothing new. Long before Akebars Time, the People in the Indies were perswaded that the Ganges took its Source in a high Mountain, whose Figure resembl'd that of a Cows Head ... The Indians since the Days of Akebar have made some further Discoveries, and found that the Ganges only forms a Cascade on the Mountain from whence they believed it took its Source; but rises much higher in the Country towards the middle of great Tartary.' The General History of the Mogul Empire, From it's Foundation by Tamerlane, to the Late Emperor Orangzeb. Extracted from the Memoirs of M. Manouchi, a Venetian, and Chief Physitian to Orangzeb for above forty years. By F. F. CATROU. London 1709, p. 152 et seq. — On European maps from Aurangzeb's time the source of the Ganges is indeed placed far away to the north, in Tartaria Magna.