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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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I ro   THE PUNDITS OF MONTGOMERIE.

discovery that »though the water was sweet no exit was seen: at one point on the west the ground near the Ju monastery was low, and looked as if water had perhaps at one time flowed through, towards the Rakas Tal lake, though it is now too much above the lake to admit of it.»

Here we have a perfectly reliable statement, that in 1868 there was no communication between the two lakes. But the Pundit observed the channel and saw there had been communication before. This may have happened only the year, or a few months before. It very much depends also on the season, at which the Pundits

were there.

Although the expressions: the Pundit, the chief Pundit, the 3rd Pundit, the servant of the Pundit, the agent of the chief Pundit, the I st and 2nd Pundit, cause

some confusion when we try to follow the red line of the journey, it is sure that the »Pundit» made his way along the great road to Shigatse, where he was stopped. »Whilst marching between the Manasarovar and Shigatse he was able to take bearings to various peaks north and south of the road, which no doubt will add considerably to our knowledge of the mountains on either side of that route» ... So far as the northern mountains were concerned this hope was never fulfilled. The return journey touched Tradum, Liktse and Lohtod, »four or five miles south of the Himalayan watershed. The ascent up to the watershed was found to be very slight. It could hardly be called a pass. He is right in this, for the pass is Kore-la, which is only some 300 feet above the Tsangpo, and which he calls Photu-la (I 5,08o feet).

In his report, Dehra Dun, November 1872, T. G. Montgomerie tells us that his explorers, from the Panggong, had extended the survey-line by a traverse to Rudok, and thence, over the very elevated plateau north of the great Aling-gangri peaks, to the Thok-jalung gold field, passing through a succession of gold and borax fields. From Thok-jalung the line was extended S.E. through Måjin to the Shellifuk lake, N.E. of Kailas over the most elevated plateau in the world. This portion of the outer line had thus been connected with lake Månsarowar. Further extensions had been made to the west and north of Lhasa, and Montgomerie trusted eventually that a junction would be effected between this and the portion near Selipuk and thus open out a large portion of the geography of Central Tibet.' From this one gets the impression of a survey to the very neighbourhood of the Nganglaring-tso though I have not been able to find any detailed report of its results. I never heard the name Måjin near Selipuk, but it may be the same as Yumba-matsen. 3

I J. As. Soc. Bengal, loc. cit. p. 56, and Proc. R. G. S. loc. cit. p. 211.

4 General Report of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, 1871-72, p. 19.

3 In an article: »Das Quellgebiet des Indus und Satledsch», Petermann's Mitteilungen, Band T 7, 1871, P. 434, FR. HANEMANN gives a general view of the results of the Pundits, His map illustrating his paper — or the paper is rather an explanation to the map, -- is excellent. It embraces only Ngari-khorsum and small parts of the adjacent country. It is based upon Montgomerie's map: Upper basins of the Indus and Sutlej Rivers with sources of the Brahmaputra and Kurnali Rivers, from route surveys made by the Pundit explorers, compiled from the original materials by Captain T. G. Montgomerie, G. T. S. of India, — and Map of the Punjab, Western Himalaya, and adjoining parts of