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Southern Tibet : vol.2 |
CHAPTER IV.
WILFORD'S COMMENTS ON THE LAKES AND RIVERS OF
SOUTH-WESTERN TIBET.
Klaproth had no high opinion of Captain F. `VILFORI) and he was no doubt right in saying that some of his deductions and theories were somewhat audacious. In his long article on The Sacred Isles in the West ' there is, however, to be found a great amount of valuable information about the two lakes and the rivers supposed to rise from them, and as Wilford has taken great trouble to gather all material existing at his time, or at the beginning of i Boo, I think it necessary to quote the more important passages of his article.
Of the N Ianasarovar he says : 2
»From Mana-Sarovara or, according to the vulgar pronunciation, Månsaraur, the lake of Mana or Månasa, issues the Ganges. According to Pura'n-gir, who accompanied the late Lama to China, and had seen that lake in his way from Lassa to Lddac, it is called in Tibet, ChuMåpanh, or the lake of Måpanh. In the Lamas' map it is called Mapama: but Pura'n-gir, a well informed man, assured me that its true name was Måpanh. It was probably written at first Mapam by Portuguese Jesuits, in whose language the letter M, at the end of a word, has a nasal sound, as it had in Latin, and is to be sounded like the letter N at the end of a word in French.»
After having tried to elucidate the confusion in the Purcinas about BinduSarovara and Mana-Sarovara, Wilford continues:
»According to Pura'n-gir, this lake (Måpanh) is situated on an elevated plain covered with long grass, to the north of which is a conical hill called Khyem-lung, and dedicated to Maha-deva; and which is inserted in the map of the Lamas, but without name, and with two roads ending there. It is one of the southern peaks of mount Cantaisch,3 which rises above the rest to an amazing height. A small stream, rising behind the subordinate peak of Khyem-lung, is considered by pilgrims as the source of the Ganges. There ended the survey o1 the Lama mathematicians; and the countries to the South, and South-West, were added afterwards, from
I An Essay on the Sacred Isles in the West, with other Essays connected with that work. By Captain F. WILFORD. Asiatic Researches, VIII. 808, pp. 245 et seq.
2 Op. cit. p. 327 et seq.
3 Kentaisse, Kailas.
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