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

PURANGIR's PILGRIMAGE TO MANASAROVAR.   15

called in India the pool of Ra'vana: and because he is the Lord of Lanca, his pool is called the lake of Lanca, or Lanken, in the maps.»

This passage contains some geographical features of great interest. The very condensed orography is good. At least it seems as if he had observed that the Kailas and its eastern continuation was not the head-range, when he says that to the north, beyond the crest, the mountains are very high. He has also observed that the crest which rises from the southern shore of the lake, i. e. the Gurla-mandata, is Much higher than any other mountain in the vicinity.

The form between irregular oval and circle, which he gives to the lake, is perfectly correct. The two small lakes on the northern shore are, of course, the same as on d'Anville's map. Purangir could easily have passed without seeing them. If one goes quite close to the bank, the beach which accompanies it will hide the two small lakes. In 1907 and 1908 only one of them was filled with water and on the place of the other the ground was swampy. But the one existing was much smaller than on d'Anville's map, showing that the precipitation was much smaller in 1908 than 200 years before. For it is obvious, that during a particularly wet period, when the channel carries issuing water, the lagoons on the northern shore must be bigger than in a period when there is no water in the channel, as in 1907 and 1908.

Five clays for a man going on foot round the lake will perhaps be the ordinary rate, though it is slow, making only 9 miles a day; but then, perhaps, they spend some part of the time in the g omßas. The Gombal—v or place of worship is Tugugompa on the southern shore. There may easily have been some irregular steps down to the lake 140 years ago.

The Ganges (i. e. the Satlej) is positively said to issue from the NIanasarovar in the year 177o or thereabouts and the channel is said to carry water even in the dry season. It is more difficult to understand how he could make the channel turn round to the S. E. of Langak-tso, instead of emptying its waters into that lake. It is chiefly owing to the fact, that pilgrims who came to worship the 1'vIanasarovar did not care in the least for the western lake. As it is specially pointed out that the issuing stream does not go through Langak-tso, Wilford herewith probably wishes show that the Lama map was wrong on that point. But it is curious how he could accept that interpretation, remembering the statement that the highest mountains rise directly from the southern shore of the lake. The misunderstanding is the more extraordinary as Wilford believed that the river issuing from Langak-

tso really was the Ganges and not the Satlej.

»To the West of this lake springs the Sita-Cånt'hå, probably the Sitocatis of Arrian. It is called also the Mlech'hå Gangå, or impure Ganges: and is supposed, by some, to be the same with the Satlaj or Sitlodå in the Panjåb : this erroneous idea seems to originate from its being called by pilgrims Sitlodå, but its true name is Sitodå, nearly synonymous with Sitacånt'hå. The famous Jaya-sinha, Rajah of Jaypoor, sent people as far as the Cow's mouth. and they found that the Sitodå, after flowing for a considerable space toward the West suddenly