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THE GUNCHU-TSO AS SOURCE OF THE SATLEJ.

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talks of a river of some size entering the Manasarovar, called by the natives Satlej, and coming from the Chomik Tingdol, and at the same time says that this river forms the Gunchu-tso, he confounds two rivers, namely, the Tage-tsangpo, which is the one called Satlej by the natives, and the Samo-tsangpo, which is the one coming

not from Gunchu-tso, but at least from its neighbourhood.' So when it has been pretended that Gerard's opinion should have been that the source of the Satlej should be equivalent to the source of the river which falls into the Gunchu-tso and continues from there under the name of Samo-tsangpo to the Manasarovar, such a pretention has no foundation whatever. 2

Major RYDER gives the following description of Gunchu-tso: »... a lake I i miles long by 2 or 3 miles broad, with an area of 2 2 square miles, completely frozen over, and h'aving no outlet at all.» 3

Captain RAWLING says: »Gün-chu Tso has obviously diminished in size within comparatively recent years, for about ten square miles of excellent grazing ground lies at the eastern end. This area is almost flush with the level of the water, and in summer forms a dangerous quagmire. ... Gün-chu Tso, along the shores of which we travelled, was entirely frozen over, and the ice of sufficient thickness to bear laden animals; this surprised us, for the Tibetans stated that the waters were bitterly salt, and this is more than probable, as there is no outlet. During the summer rains, and when the snows are melting, the lake steadily rises, but never to a sufficient height to drain into any other lake system.»4

HERMANN VON SCHLAGINTWEIT pays clue attention to the fact that Gunchutso is a salt-water lake. 5

To recapitulate : the problem whether the Gunchu-tso belongs to the drainage of the Satlej or not, has the following situation. The river which the natives call the uppermost Satlej was misunderstood by Gerard as coming out from the Gunchu-tso. This mistake has been used to prove that the source of the Satlej 90 years ago was situated between Gunchu-tso and Maryum-la. But Gerard did not

I Gerard's Chomik Tingdol, or 'Spring of Tingdol», is obviously the sacred spring Langchenkamba, which I visited on the Tage-tsangpo in 1907. »Trans-Himalaya», Vol. II, p. 105. Langchenkamba is the Tibetan name for Satlej. As Gerard says the river coming from Chomik Tingdol is called Satlej, it is proved beyond doubt that he means the Tage-tsangpo. That he confounds the two affluents is far from surprising, as no European had ever been in the region.

2 Geographical Journal, April 1909, p. 427. »The source of the Satlej was formerly that stream which enters the Gunchu Tso on the west side of the Maryum-la. It is interesting to recall that Alexander Gerard placed it there ninety years ago. This lake formerly discharged into the Tokchen river, and so reached Mansarowar.»

3 Geographical Journal, October 1905. Vol. XXVI, p. 387.

4 The Great Plateau, London 1905, p. 244.

5 >rVon ähnlich gelegenen Seen des centralen Tibet sind der See Kongkyti in der Nähe des 15,500 F. hoch gelegenen Maryfm La-Passes and die schon länger bekannten grösseren Seen Mansaräuer and Räkus Tal, Höhe 15,250 F., noch anzuführen. Nur der erstere ist ein Salzsee; die beiden letzteren, die man früher ebenfalls für solche hielt, haben sich als Süsswasser ergeben.» — Untersuchungen üder die Salzseen im westlichen Tibet und in Turkistan. Von Hermann Schlagintweit-

Sakiinlünski, München 1871, P. r .

7-131387 I/.