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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

THE LANGCHEN KHANBAB.   121

Langchen Khanbab. There were two others running parallel and at a short distance from one another. They are called Tokpo Rabsum.>> After I1!4 mile he came to

encampment. Twenty eight out of his 3o servants had bolted when he followed the second river (Sarno-tsangpo) on its right bank (the left on his map). »>A chain of snowy peaks stretching from south-west to north-east» was seen. It is not said whether this chain was north or south of the route, but it does not matter much, as there is no such chain in this part of Tibet. His further route does not agree with any existing map, but as he travelled between Tokchen and Maryum-la, as Nain Sing had done in the opposite direction, he obviously followed the tasam. On his way to Tokchen he must have crossed the lower course of the Tage-tsangpo, but there is no sign of it, either in the text, or on the map, although, 13 years later in Paris, he pretends to have discovered both the eastern source of the Satlej (Tage-tsangpo), where he had never been, and the western, Darma-yankti, which was discovered by Henry Strachey in 1846. (Journal Asiat. Society of Bengal, as above).

However, he crosses Maryum-la. :-A little rivulet, hardly six inches wide, descended amongst stones . .. This was one source of the great Brahmaputra, one of the largest rivers of the world. I must confess that I felt somewhat proud to be the first European who had ever reached these sources ...» (Op. cit. Vol. II, p. 4o). Desideri and Freyre were the first Europeans to cross the Maryum-la and to see the sources of the Maryum-chu. which is a tributary to the uppermost part of the Tsangpo.

What he says of the »Gangri Chain» stretching eastwards from the Maryum-la, and of which only the southern ranges can be seen from his route, is correct, and had already been said and proved by Nain Sing. To the S.E. and S.W. he could see »a very high, snowy mountain range», of which, however, there is no suspicion on his map. Nain Sing had it on his map 3o years earlier and gives the correct legend: »Many large glaciers". Webber and his party had crossed it somewhere.

On leaving Tarbar (not on his map, nor on any other map) he admired the 'magnificent panorama of the great rugged mountain-range to the S.V.» The higher peaks were nearly all of a pyramidical shape, and at 226° 3o' (b. m.). »I observed a gigantic quadrangular peak, which I took to be Mount Everest.» Op. cit. Vol. II, p. 84. Which is situated some 30o miles or 31/2° east of the point where he must have been when he believed he saw it to the 5.W.!

The critical encampment was called Toxem or Taddju, from where he was brought to »Namj Laccé Ga]shio or Gyatsho". There was on a hill a fortress and a large lamasery, which had, however, disappeared when Ryder and I travelled that way, unless the poor little Ganjo-gompa should be meant, which is, however, situated at 83° 37' E. long., whereas Namj Laccé is at 85° 8' E. long. We have already seen that he has placed Toxem (Tuksum) at 84° 48' E. long., instead of 83° 3o', by which manipulation, so easy to control, he gained some 93 miles towards the east.

From »Namj Lacce» he is brought back to the west. »On reaching a spot which from observations taken on my outward journey I reckoned to be in longitude 83° 6' 3o" E. and latitude 3o° 27' 3o" N. I had a great piece of luck. It is at this point that the two principal sources of the Brahmaputra meet and form one river, the one coming from the N.W., which I had already followed, the other proceeding from the W.N.W. The Tibetans, to my delight, selected the southern route, thus giving me the opportunity of visiting the second of the two principal sources of the great river. This second stream rises in a flat plain, having its first birth in a lakelet in approximate longitude 82° 47' E. and latitude 3o° 33' N. I gave the Northern source my own name ...» (Op. cit. Vol. II, p. 178). I do not need to discuss this passage, as it is sufficient to refer to the chapter dealing with the source of the Brahmaputra, which is one and situated 82° 16' E. long. and 3o° 7' 3o" N. lat. There is not even a small tributary which rises in a lakelet on a flat plain, as even the lakelets must be fed from somewhere. And as to the »Northern source», to which he modestly gave his own name, it should be baptised after its first surveyor, Nain Sing, who was a reliable and trustworthy man, — if it had not already a Tibetan name: Maryum-chu.

His Tibetan geography has been characterised by Jacques Bacot in the following words: »Il est déjà extraordinaire que M. Landor ne veuille pas reconnaître son erreur passée. Mais qu'il s'obstine à faire confirmer et endosser cette erreur par tous les voyageurs qui l'ont démentie, c'est là un cas spécial qui sort du domaine géographique ... Je ne sais quelle préoccupation le pousse à ces dénégations répétées de l'évidence; elle ne peut être qu'étrangère, à moins que hostile à la géographie.» (L'Asie Française, Mars 1911, p. 113, 119). Jacques Bacot who knows the Tibetans from his own experience (Vide: Dans les marches 'Tibétaines, Paris 1909: Le Tibet Révolté, Paris 1912, etc. etc.), in regarding the tortures as the single certain result of this journey, adds : »Il a trouvé des Tibétains lâches et cruels alors que les voyageurs qui l'ont précédé et suivi au Tibet ont vu des Tibétains doux, gais et hospitaliers. Outre

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