Fraser was exceedingly anxious to get information about the Satlej and its sources, and paid particular attention to all the natives said relating to that river. He has some confidence in what they told him, about the river coming from a considerable distance to the eastward and behind the Himalaya range. But the natives could not distinctly say where the river was derived from. His intention was to follow the river up to its very source, but he found that it was too large and rapid. He is of opinion that the Satlej is, in all probability, chiefly supplied by the melting of the great bosom of snow that terminates the valley, and lies between the peaks of the mountains spoken of above. This mountain, reckoned the loftiest and largest of the snowy range in this quarter, and probably yielding to none in the whole Himåla, obtains the name of Rudra Himåla, and is supposed to be the throne or residence of Maha'deo himself . The mountain has five principal peaks forming a semicircular hollow, filled with eternal snow. From this the principal part of the river flows. He is certain that the Satlej comes through the Himalaya and that the Bhågirat'hi rises within the same mountains.
Fraser travelled three years after Nloorcroft, and his account was published two years after Moorcroft's in the same journal. Under such conditions it is curious that he does not make any allusion at all to the very valuable and important results of his predecessor. He does not seem to have had any knowledge of Moor-croft's journey, for if he had known of it he would hardly have reported the native information that beyond the Rudra Himalaya, at only I2 COS' distance there was a plain and well cultivated country, which was impossible to reach, except by a very circuitous route. »But whether they alluded to the great plains of Tartary, or to some intervening valley it was impossible to discover.‘, Moorcroft had heard from the natives that the Satlej issued from the Rakas-tal. But of this there is not a word in Fraser's account.
This omission, however, Fraser made good in his great, and, for the time, very remarkable work containing the results of his journeys and which was published the same year as the above quoted article. Regarding the holy lake and the sources of the Indus and Satlej he there publishes some information he got from a native, and >»which nearly corresponds with that of Mr Moorcroft».I This native said that -)the holy Lake of Mantullaee, or Mansrowar, is about eight days' journey from Gårå (Gartok). Gårå appears to be situated near the forks of the Sing-kecho, or rather the Eekung, or chief branch of the Attock, where it collects the different streams from the mountains in the vicinity of this great lake, if not from the lake itself.» In the Sing-kecho we easily recognise Singi-chu. Concerning this river he says in another place :2 »Hynlap is on the banks of the great river Sing-kechoo, which, rising in the mountains around, and to the north of lake Mantullaee, runs by Gard through Lud-
IIIFカラー高解像度
