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

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THE SURROUNDINGS of THE SACREZ) LAKE.

79

observed in the ground above the N.E. corner of the lake. Concerning the fourth affluent he felt doubtful; a stream possibly comes from the Nipal Himalaya into the S.E. corner of the lake, but of this he could get no certain account. Except these four affluents which no doubt correspond to my Pachen, Pachung, Samo-tsangpo and Tage-tsangpo, there were, in the summer season, many temporary streams from rain and melted snow, and he thinks it probable that it was one of these that Moorcroft saw, and called the Krishna river, on the S.W. corner of the lake.

He found out the following approximately correct names of the 8 çomj5as : Tokar, Gusur, Ju, which he says are situated on the north bank of the Nikas effluent, Jakyab, Langbuna, i. e. elephant's trunk, Bundi, Sarålung , and Nunukur, but he had no occasion to visit any one of them.

The water of 1\Iapan he found quite clear and sweet. He supposes the average depth of the lakes is i oo feet or so, and the maximum he believes to be the double. It is a pity he desisted from going round the lake, on account of his followers being afraid of detection. Such a wandering, he says, should have lead only to

a little nearer approximation to the true figure and size of its outline and to the exact position of the few unimportant affluent mountain streams and the temples round the bank. He could not know that one of these affluents in later years should be regarded as not so very unimportant. Putting together Moorcroft's and his own observations, supplemented with native information, he regards the geography of the lakes as approximately fixed, though his map cannot pretend to be topographically accurate.

On October 6th he began his return journey on the isthmus between the

two lakes, and here he entered on a small bay of the lake, then half dry, with great quantities of efflorescent salt about the swampy ground. Strachey's description of this bay proves that it had not changed at the time of my visit in 1907. It also proves that a rise of the lake, which is sufficient to feed an emissary of I oo feet in breadth and 3 feet in depth, is not sufficient in any notable degree to change the actual appearance of the salt bay on the west shore. It is, however, probable that this marsh contained more water in 1846 than in 1907. Strachey's account puts it beyond doubt, that even in periods when the lake is overflowing through the Chiu-channel, the

marsh does not send any emissary underground to the west, as, if it did, the water of the marsh could not remain salt.

He reached the S.W. corner of the Manasarovar, where he saw no sign of any affluent and the nature of the ground precluded an effluent. At the south-eastern corner of Rakas-tal he saw the indented outline of the shore as well as the small islands. Gerard was found to be wrong when reporting the existence of a monastery

on one of these islands.

Finally he continued south-westwards and found a ravine from Mount Gurla full of granitic shingle. He went down to the valley of Karnali and passed Taklakhar, called Takla-kot in Hindustani. "Then he crossed the Lip6-Lekh pass and again

entered the valley of the river Kali.

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