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

2I8   THE CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES ON THE UPPER TSANGPO.

was given by natives. It is said that the Tsangpo flows past Lhasa and, after some extraordinary adventures, joins the Ganges.

Another version of the old native legend is found at another place in Alftlaabetum Tibetanum: ' »Saxa IV. ingentia juxta caudicem arboris originem prxbent sacris IV. fluminibus : Gand, Sintlzù, Pahkizù, Sita. Primum quod Orientem respicit, caput pra sefert Elephantis. II. Ouod est ad Austrum formam Bubaliiii capitis. III. Equi viridis ad Occasum. IV. Leonis ad Boream», where the directions of the Satlej and the Tsangpo have been confounded.

ORAZIO DELLA PENNA has the following passage: »Per passare detto monte Kambalà si salisce certamente per un mezzo miglio, e poi si scende per cinque buoni miglia; d'indi si trova un flume ben grande, che si chiama C'iasum, altrove perö dicesi Tzam pè, o Tzangciù, che ha la sua sorgente in Ngari.» 2 Speaking of the rivers in Tibet, the Tsangpo amongst others, he adds: »Oueste notizie si sono avute da persone ben pratiche, quali assolutamente affermane essere la sorgente del Gange dalla parte di Ngari verso la Tartaria.» 3 By »Ganges» is always meant the Satlej.

He does not give us any detailed description of the very place in Ngari, from which these rivers should come. »Ngari», he says, )si divide in tre provincie, Ngari Sankar, Ngari Purang e Ngari Tame)». 4 From his description it is difficult to make out which particular part he means with Ngari Tame). But when he says: »Ngari Tame) a ponente confina con Ngari Purang, a tramontana colla Tartaria, a levante colla provincia di Tzang, a mezzogiorno col Mogol», it can hardly be anything else than the country S.E. of the Manasarovar, where the Tamchok far préférence is situated and where we find the pass Tamlung-la. The confusion enters, when, at another place, he says that Tame) is north of Tzang.

In his great work on China, DU HALDE pays more attention to the question where the Tsangpo goes to than to its origin, and he arrives at the right conclusion — that it goes to the gulf of Bengal. He says that the Chinese call Tibet Tsan or Tsan-li from the name of the great river Tsan-pou. »La grande riviere qui traverse tout le Thibet, se nomme Yarou tsanpou ou Dsanpou», and he knows that although Tsanpou is the name given to every river in Tibet, it belongs specially to the Yarou tsanpou. 5 As to the origin of the river he has only the following interesting passage: »Mais ils 6 manquerent à un point essentiel, qui étoit de prendre hauteur auprès du mont Kentaisse, ou autrement Kan te chan, comme le

I P. 186.

2 Breve Notizia del regno del Thibet, dal frà Francesco Orazio della Penna de Billi, 173o, with notes by Klaproth. Nouveau journal Asiatique, Tome XIV. Paris 1834, p. 177 et seq.

3 Ibidem p. 202.

4 Loc. cit. p. 183.

5 Description de l'Empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinoise. Paris 177o. Vol. 1V, p. 459 et seq.

6 The Lama surveyors.