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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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shooting. But he reiterated what he had said in his paper, viz. that it was»simply impossible for any water to run from Rakhas lake to reach the Sutluj, for it would have to run up-hill ; — he hoped that some other traveller would go and clear the matter up». To this Dr. Thomson repeated that he did not think it at all likely that Major Strachey would be mistaken in his observations. He was well able to judge of the physical contour of a country. The situation was the following: The most reliable experts who had ever been in Tibet, had surveyed the country and given a detailed and scientific description and maps of it. Later on a sportsman goes up to the same country, shooting and fishing, and on his return he turns the geography of the place upside down. When not believed he proposes that somebody else should go and clear the matter up ! This is really touching. In our days such papers are not accepted at all in the Royal Geographical Society.

In August 1865 Captain ADRIAN BENNETT paid a short visit to Daba.' He entered Tibet by the Chor Hoti Ghaut (18,30o feet). Daba itself has not changed very much since his days. As to the extraordinary morphology of the country round it, he believes that during passed ages the ground has been worn by the action of water into the queer tower-like buildings, which afterwards had been hollowed and inhabited. He easily settles the question about the sources of the Satlej and the Indus, saying: »Both rivers take their rise here; the former from some lakes, and the latter from the hills beyond.» This information was probably given by some native. After a month's stay in Tibet he returned by way of the Niti pass.

Although the journey of THOMAS W. WEBBER belongs to the chapters on the Brahmaputra, I will mention a few words about it here, so far as it comes in contact with the lakes and the Inclus. The journey was undertaken in June 1864 and the party consisted of four, the Hon. ROBERT DRUMMOND, B. C. S., HENRY HODGSON, Lieutenant-Colonel SMYTH, and Webber.' Colonel Smyth was an experienced traveller and had made many trips across the frontier into Tibet, and had been over most of the passes. He joined the party for the purpose of getting as far into Tibet as possible. Several times he had tried to get beyond Taklakar, but had always been turned back. In the narrative it is said : 3 )Colonel Smyth and Mr Drummond explored a considerable extent of country, the former having marched east and northward over the Mariam La.» If this be correct Smyth must have been the first Englishman to cross the Maryum-la. He was the man who selected the young Pundits and sent them to the Engineering College at Roorkee to be trained under the instructions of Colonel Montgomerie. Drummond had visited the Manasarovar in 1860, and had ;given great offence» by putting a boat on the lake.4

Rough Notes of a visit to Daba, in Thibet, in August, 1865. Proceedings of the Royal

Geogr. Society, Vol. X. 1865-66, p. 165 et seq.

2 The Forests of Upper India, London 1902.

3 Op. cit. p. 13o.

4 Sherring tells us that this achievement took place in 1855.