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

I22   I:AWAGUCHI.

another stream of the same name. Here he is right and he clearly points out that these rivers are tributaries of the Langchen-Kamba.

Then he came to a >>town» called Reta-puri (Tirtapuri), where he visited the divine Grotto and the hot springs. He returned north of the two lakes and made the pilgrims' way round Kailas. The names he gives of the four temples do not agree with the ordinary ones. But for the pass, Dolma-la, he has the right name, and so is the case with Darchen Tazam.

His further way goes over »Tokchen Tazam to Kong-gyu-i Tso» (Gunchu-tso). He did not take the road over Maryum-la but went in a more southern direction as will be seen later on.

qu'elles font honneur à sa résistance physique, les tortures de M. L. ne sont pas steriles. Elles donnent un grand enseignement: ces peuples qu'on dit immobiles sont sujets aux changements, à des sautes de caractère subites et inexplicables. Mais pour donner géographiquement raison à M. Landor ..., il faudrait admettre que les pays, les montagnes et les fleuves sont sujets aux mêmes caprices que les peuples. Je n'ai pas cru pouvoir aller jusque-là.»

No less than 42 pages in his book are filled with certificates which probably are meant to prove that there is no humbug in the story. Mr. J. Larkin specially has been busy. He tells us (p. 223) that the Tibetans who took part in the tortures did not try to hide it. And »there can be no doubt that the above account is true and unexaggerated, for the whole of Byans and Chaudans are singing with it.» Ten years later, when I passed 'l'uksum (Toxem) and other places on the road to the west I could not find one Tibetan who remembered that any foreign traveller had been tortured in their country. Which by no means argues against the veracity of the victim! It only gives us an opportunity for another interesting discovery: the Tibetans are very short of memory. — Further the Pioneer Mail of October 14, 1898, has the following with reference to the certificates in the Forbidden Land: »We have the best authority for stating, as we did the other day, that Mr. Landor was told that his report was confidential, that no copy was given him, and that he was not authorised to publish any Government report. The certified copies of depositions made in Mr. Larkin's Court should not be mistaken for M. Iarkin's report.»

All the names on the western part of the map accompanying »In the Forbidden Land» were known before, except »Devil's camp» and »Terror camp». A circumstance that makes the book comfortable to read and the itinerary easy to study is the complete absence of geographical names east of Maryum-la. Except Toxem and Narnj Laccé there is not one name. Nain Sing has nine.

The weather report he gives from the summer of 1897 is extremely interesting. »Downpours, torrents and bucketfuls» of rain, hail and snow almost every day. Only approaching Tuksum, where other hardships were in store, did the weather improve. Such abundant precipitation is quite exceptional in the part of Tibet where our lakes are situated. But it really happens from time to time, periodically, and in such years the channel between Manasarovar and Rakas-tai is filled with streaming water, although the surface of Manasarovar does not need to rise 30o feet, which he says was the lowest point in the neck of land between the two lakes. And it may even happen that a river goes out of the Rakas-tai, which, judging from his map, seems to have been the case in 1897! As a curiosity it should be noticed that in his book of two volumes the name of Satlej is not even mentioned, though the author, 13 years afterwards, tries to make the members of L'Asie Française believe that he has discovered two sources of this river.

But »such trifles» as some 90 miles more or less or the probable appearance of Mount Everest in Western Tibet, do not seem to matter very much to »the innocent public» for whom the book is meant. For the really innocent public would probably not have minded if he had said Chimborazo instead of Mount Everest. But in »so-called scientific societies» this sort of geography is not accepted. We listen with delight to the old missionaries who expect that their simple tales shall be believed — without certificates. And with intense interest we try to make the best of the accounts of the fakirs and other natives, for they give their misunderstandings nolens volens and bona fide, and they are honest.