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

SIR THOMAS H. HOI,DICI-i.

I27

(p. 228): One of the earliest was also one of the best, for it opened up to us a new era in Trans-Himalayan knowledge. It revealed for the first time something of the nature of that central watershed which separates the rivers of the north, the upper Indus, and the upper Brahmaputra, from each other, or rather from the intervening lake land which gives birth to the Sutlej.»

Thus in one case the source of the Satlej is situated on the southern slopes of the Kailas, in another near the Rakas-tal, and in a third in the lake land between the upper Indus and upper Brahmaputra. All this may, of course, be said to be correct, except the first mentioned case, for even if the whole of Kailas belongs to the Satlej, the source of the river cannot be placed on the southern slopes of this mountain, from which the Indus also is said to take its rise. If this were true the Kailas would be a very important watershed, which is not the case. The right view is embodied in the third case, where it is said that the intervening lake land gives birth to the Satlej. In 1904 nothing else could be said, as the principal original feeder and the genetic source of the Satlej were still unknown.

Many travellers and geographers have slightly touched upon the periodicity of the channel, I but none has, so far as I know, in a scientific way proved that the periodicity is a phenomenon depending on meteorological factors. Thus Colonel Holdich says : 2 »Moorcroft failed to note the connection between the two lakes, the existence of which was subsequently established by the two Stracheys.». As shown above the channel was not in function in 1812.3

In his last book published immediately after his death, the Rev. Graham Sandberg gives some new information about the lakes. He had never undertaken any journeys in Tibet himself, but he had been stationed near the Tibetan frontier and had, as he says in his preface, for many years studied matters Tibetan. He directly refers to the periodicity in the following passage:4 »The earliest source of the Sutlej is undoubtedly Ts'o Lag-ran; but the outflow is intermittent, during some periods ceasing altogether, the main feeders of the river being streams from mountains to the north and south of its early course.» It is true that his authority loses some-

I In Vivien de Saint-Martin's Nouveau Dictionnaire de Géographie Universelle, Paris 1 87 9, it is said, from English sources: »Le Satledj ne sort pour ainsi dire qu'intermittement du Lanag, car il se dessêche parfois à la fin de l'été, et n'a de cours permanent que plus bas, où il commence à suivre son chemin à travers les débris, dans la plaine de Goughé.» This passage was used by Reclus, as quoted above.

2 Op. cit. p. 124.

3 Professor WILHELM SIEVERS' view is more correct: »Der Satledsch entspringt in den heiligen Manasarowar-Seen Tso Maphan und Tso Lanak oder Rakustal, an einer der heiligsten Stellen der indischen Mythologie, in der Nähe des Götterberges Meru in 4660 m Flöhe. Diese Seen liegen am Nordrande der Himalayakette zwischen dieser und dem Gangri- und Kailaszuge, ... Aus dem Tso Maphan fliesst der Satledsch in der Breite von 3o m und mit einer Tiefe von i m in rascher Strömung hervor, aber anscheinend nicht immer, und auch sein Ausfluss aus dem Tso Lanak, den der Strom am nördlichen Ende passiert, ist versumpft.» This description is from Henry Strachey, but the periodicity is pointed out. Asien. Zweite Auflage. Leipzig und Vien, 1904, p. 46o.

4 Tibet and the Tibetans. London 1906, p. 38.