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

THE LAMA OF DARLING.   55

The same Lama told him the old story of the four rivers originating from

the lake. He called them: Tamja Kampa flowing through Ussang (= Utsang); Mamja Kampa through Pûrang; Lang Jing Kampa through Kanåwer; and Sing Jing Kampa through Ladak. The Lama had seen them repeatedly and said that they proceeded from the four opposite corners of the lake. Herbert finds this assertion completely contradicted by Mr. Moorcroft's journey, and thinks the whole story is some legend from their sacred books. »There is a second lake, close to Mapang called Langa Cho; it is smaller, but in the rainy season they unite and form but one.» The Lama stated that the Satlej began from Manasarovar and 4lows through the small lake'.

Herbert seems to have taken great interest in the celebrated hydrographic problem, for, in an appendix he returns once more and in a somewhat different way to the statements of the Lama of Dabling.2 There he gives the names Måpang and Langkachu and reiterates the tale of their communication during the rains.

The statements of the Lama were given in 1819 but it is not said from which year he had got his experiences of the place. It may have been from the last rainy season before Herbert's visit. Very likely there has been a gradual rise from 1812 to 1818, as concluded above, and in 1818 the precipitation seems to have been

sufficient to cause the Manasarovar to overflow. Otherwise the Lama could hardly have pretended that the lakes communicate during the rainy season, although his information loses very much of its value when he adds that the three other rivers as well originate from the lake.

In Shipki Herbert met a »Tartar Beapdri e, CHANG RING JING from the village

of Maryum, four days' journey beyond the Manasarovar. This man said that the Mansarowar was a snowy range and the lake was called Matalae, which Herbert thinks is a mistake, as Sarowar signifies the same as Talae. Herbert believes that this confusion of names may have given rise to the story of the Dabling Lama of the four rivers originating from the Manasarovar. The Maryum native who had lived so near the place in question, had the following, more correct view : »no river originates in the lake, but from Mansarowar, which he calls a cluster of snowy peaks, four rivers proceed : 1. Lang Jing to west and south; 2. Tamjok to the west and north;

3. Sing Jing to Ladak between the two preceding; and Mamjo or Mamjok opposite the preceeding towards Gerhwal».

When this informant says no river at all originates from the lake, his statement is exactly the reverse of the Lama's and may be derived from another year. But his information about the Mount Manasarovar and the Tsangpo going west-

I On a (Geological Map of the Mountain Provinces between the Rivers Sutluj and Kalee by Captain J. D. Herbert, 1826), the Lake Munsuwara has no affluents and no effluent. To Lake Rahwun Rhud three rivers go down from Kylas Mountains, and from the same lake the upper Satlej takes its rise. Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. XIII, 1, 1844, illustrating a paper in Vol. XI, 1842.

2 Loc. cit. p. 424.