IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE TSO-MORARI COMPARED WITH THE
MANASAROVAR.
In his article quoted above: Observations on the Spill Valley and circum-
jacent country within the Himalaya,' Dr. J. G. GERARD compares the hydrography
of the Manasarovar with that of the Chumoriri or Tso-morari, and it may be of
some interest in this connection to make a short review of the history of the latter
lake as reported by a few prominent travellers from different epochs.
Gerard found that the Tso-morari had no passage outward, though it was fed
by considerable streams. In the dry atmosphere the evaporation would be sufficient
to graduate the marginal limit of Tibetan lakes to the extent of 4 or 5 feet. Gerard
travelled one day along the lake and camped at its eastern extremity. He saw no
watermark above 5 feet. His visit fell at the end of September, so he considered
the 5 feet as the limit of fluctuation, a circumstance which had been »assumed by
theorists in regard to Manasarovar as proving the reverse of what Mr. Moorcroft
asserted, or that there must be a drain from the waters of the lake». The Tso-morari
had no efflux either, and evaporation preserves the balance; he found it more sur-
prising that any water should remain at all, than that no outward communication
should exist. In spring the torrents from the surrounding mountains cause the surface
of the lake to rise to its maximum limit. By the end of August the lake has sunk
to its lowest depression. »Mdnasarovara is precisely similar, but upon a much larger
scale in respect to the volume of its waters, its elevation and magnitude of the scenes
around it. The water is well tasted, which would seem to argue some outlet, which
the oral accounts of the Lamas would confirme to be that of the Satlej ; ... the
waters of Lake Chumorerfl (as might be expected from their having no drain) are
unfit to drink, though barely differing in taste from that of running streams.» Captain ALEXANDER GERARD, on the other hand, says the Tso-morari has an
outlet: »The Lee or Speetee river is formed of two large branches that unite below
I Asiatic Researches, Part II, Vol. XVIII, 1833, P. 259.
26-131337 //.
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