IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
11,
CHAPTER XII.
THE LAKES AND THEIR SURROUNDINGS BEFORE THE
JOURNEYS OF THE STRACHEYS.
Very little reliable information touching western Tibet was brought to the knowledge of Europe in the years between the visits of Moorcroft and the Stracheys to the sacred lake. In this chapter I have collected some scattered statements and discussions concerning the region in question.
In the journal Asiatique we find a curious protest from MM VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN and J. KLAPROTH concerning Tieffenthaler's map. The protest was addressed to' the Société Asiatique and shows that already 94 years ago there was a controversy as to who had the honour of having discovered the source of the Satlej. The two members think it just to observe, that the real source of the Satlej, which issues from lake > Mansarovar», was very correctly entered upon one of Tieffenthaler's maps, and that the late Anquetil du Perron had entered it on his general map of the Ganges and the Gagra, where he had even entered the Persian legends of the original: the river Satlej flowing towards the Panjab.
From this fact the two famous orientalists think it obvious that the source of the river was known as early as in i 784 or 28 years before Moorcroft's journey.
L'honneur de l'avoir fait connaître en Europe appartient donc aux Allemands et aux Français, et non pas aux Anglais, qui s'attribuent maintenant tout le mérite de cette découverte.
The same thing could be said about the sources of the Ganges. On Tieffenthaler's map the river came out from Gangotri, whereas, until 1812, all English geographers had accepted the erroneous opinion of d'Anville, who, on the authority of the Jesuits in Peking, made the river originate from the Rakas-tal.
Suivant la grande géographie de la dynastie Thai-Thsing, le lac nominé Manas-Sarovar, ou Mansaroar par les Hindoux, s'appelle Mapinmou en Tibetain, et non pas Mapama, comme on le lit dans les cartes des jésuites. C'est de ce lac que sort la rivière Langtchou ou Setledj, qui coule à l'occident pour passer par le lac Langa, appelé Ravanhrad par les Hindoux. La jonction entre les deux lacs, niée gratuitement par M. Moorcroft, existe donc en effet; et la
I Jour. Asiat. Tome II, Paris 1823, p. 177.
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