DESIDERI THE FIRST EUROPEAN OF MANASAROVAR. 279
material we now possess one may be allowed to assert that Desideri, in Maryum-la, has discovered the water-parting between the Satlej and the Brahmaputra. Desideri is, finally, the first European who has followed the course of the Tsangpo the whole Way from Maryum-la to Chetang and at the same time he has discovered the source of the tributary to the Tsangpo, which is called Maryum-chu.
Add to this the general merit of his narrative, the absence of fantastical speculation, the quiet matter-of-fact way in which he gives his observations and nobody will call it an exaggeration if I regard Ippolito Desideri as one of the most brilliant travellers who ever visited Tibet, and, amongst the old ones, by far the most prominent and the most intelligent of all.
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