96 ALEXANDER CUNNINGHAM, TIIE SCHLAGINTWEITS, AND OTHERS.
In July 1855 Adolph and Robert Schlagintweit left Milum in disguise and, only with a few followers, crossed the Ki6ngar pass (17,331 feet), which is not in the main range, although the country already proved to have perfect Tibetan character.
At Laptel they found fossils of Silur, Trias and They ey reached within a few
miles of Daba, where they were stopped by Hunias, and so their intention to proceed to the Manasarovar, was frustrated, which was a great pity, for a description of the lakes made by such conscientious and well-trained observers as the Schlagintweits would have been particularly valuable. Between Gyûngul and Mila they crossed the Satlej on a bridge, and they got permission to proceed to the Chåko-la (17,56i feet). So far they succeeded in eluding the watchfulness of the Tibetans, that they managed to proceed some distance beyond the pass. Here Adolph made some sketches and in one of them a part of Rakas-tal is visible as well as parts of the snow-covered range of Kailas and the valley of Gartang. Hermann speaks of the Tise as the principal peak of the Kailas-mountains. Although Adolph and Robert saw and even sketched parts of the Kailas range, this range does not, curiously enough, appear on their map. They then proceeded to Gartok, where they found an absolute height of 15,090 feet.'
On the map there is no Singi-kabab at all. In the text it is said that the Pundits on their way northwards were the first to settle the three uppermost branches of the Indus: the Sénge Khabåb or Singi-chu with the Lang-chu and the Gårtung (Gartang), on the right bank of which Gartok is situated. Of the two first it is said that they are situated south of the Chomorång range, but north of Gartok, although divided from it by a ridge. Hermann von Schlagintweit is right in saying that the northernmost branch has the greatest amount of water and is the longest of the three and must be regarded as the principal source of the Indus.2 He mentions the mistake of Moorcroft who called the Gartang the Indus, and made it rise north of Rakas-tal, without knowing the Jerko-la, which is situated to the N.W. at a considerable distance from the lake and constitutes the watershed between the Indus and the Satlej. And still Moorcroft's map is more correct than that of the Schlagintweits! But we must remember that the map of the Schlagintweits was published in 1861 and as the Pundits discovered the N.E. branch only in 1867, they are perfectly innocent as to the missing head-branch. The text is published in '871 and therefore sometimes it is not easy to see whether Hermann has got his information from his brothers or from the Pundits.
I The Pundits found it to be 14,24o feet.
2 Op. cit. p. 78.
3 Regarding the names of the two lakes he has the following passage : »Manäsa Sarôvara bedeutet: Der See, geschaffen aus seinem (Brahma's) Geiste; Råkus tal, der See des Räkus, bezieht sich auf einen indichen Helden ; dieser See wird auch Ravanrhåd, der See des Råvan, genannt, nach einem der Dämonen der Hindû-Mythologie, einst König von Ceylon. Die tibetischen Namen, für die wir jedoch keine Interpretation uns verschaffen konnten, sind Tso Måpan oder Mäpham und Tso I,ågnag oder Lanag.» Op. cit. Band III, Hochasien: II Tibet, p. 58.
IIIFカラー高解像度
