National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

90   WEI-TSANG-T'U-CHIH.

au sud du Lo so tchhouan I, s'appelle aujourd'hui Zzang 2; c'est de cette rivière que le Tubet a relu le nom de Si tsang.3»

»Sous la dynastie des Ming, cette contrée porta le nom de Ous tsang (Ouï Zzang) 4. Ouï Zzang 4 est la même chose que Thou pho 5, ou Tubet; mais sous le premier nom les provinces de Ouï 6 et de Zzang 2 étaient seulement comprises.»

The Chinese author's description of Western Tibet is very short: »En allant du H'lasseï-tsiô-k'hang, à l'ouest, on arrive, par Djachii-lounbo, à San-sang et à la frontière du Nga-ri. De San-sang on va, par le mont Gängtes, au Nga-ri, jusqu'à la frontière de Gardou. Un autre chemin conduit de San-sang, par les monts Mer-la et Thoung-la, et par Hiegar à Gnialam, ville située sur la frontière des Gork'ha. Le Tubet se partage en quatre provinces, dont la 4e est le Nga-ri (les grands monts), contrée assez étendue, et située au nord-ouest; elle est contiguë aux deux tribus de Latak et de Gougou-dze ...»

The map which accompanies this article, 7 and which is reproduced here as Pl. VI, is translated from the Chinese original by Klaproth. It gives a very curious representation, or rather deformation of Tibet. One sees how the errors grow towards the north and west, and how the northern and western parts are quite out of proportion as compared with the south-eastern part or the part through which the author has travelled and the troops were brought. The distance between Lhasa and Tashilunpo is greater than the distance between Tashi-lunpo and the Manasarovar. Tashilunpo is as far from Tengri-nor as Keriya-la. In fact Tengri-nor occupies the centre of Tibet. The whole Kwen-lun is there, and in its eastern part »the sources of the Hwangho» are placed. South of Tengri-nor we recognise a part of the eastern Transhimalaya. L. Daryouk may be meant as Tarok-tso, as a river flows into it from the south. The Chaktak-tsangpo, — if it is meant to be that river — comes from far in the north. The interior plateau-land is full of lakes. San-sang (Sangsang) is N.E. of Manasarovar; Gartok, Ngari and Ladak are all on the map, although placed in a perfectly fantastical way. There is a nameless lake N.W. of Lac Map'ham, which must be the Rakas-tal, although a river falls into it from the west. There is no channel between the two lakes. N.E. of the lakes there is a mountain range,

M. Gandis, and on its north-eastern side the F. Zzang tsiou (Tsang-chiu) takes its rise. Thus this map places the source of the Brahmaputra on the eastern slopes of the Kailas, a view that not very long ago was not unfamiliar to European geographers. i\Iourou oussou is regarded as the source branch of Sin-sha-chiang which is correct. North of Tengri-nor is »Pays de Dam», a name that returns in Nain Sing's Dam-largen-la.

I In Wade's transcription Lo-so-ch'uan.

2 Tsang.

3 Hsi-tsang.

4 Wei-tsang.

5 T'u-fan (old pronunciation tu-po).

6 Wei.

7 Nouveau Journal Asiatique, Tome VI, p. 35o.