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 XXXV.
KAWAGUCH I.
We left KAWAGUCHI in Hor-tosho after he had crossed the river Kyang-chu. I I will now quote some important passages from his description of the uppermost part of the Tsangpo. 2 On his way farther N.W. he reached four tents. »At one day's distance from the station I was to come to Tamchok Khanbab, which forms the upper course of the Brahmaputra, and is the greatest of Tibetan rivers.» After 17 miles he reached the Tamchok Khanbab.
»The river was a mountain stream of considerable breadth, with extensive sand-beaches on either side. The width of the beach alone on the eastern side was about two and a half miles, and that on the opposite side about half as much; the width of the stream itself, when I crossed it, was not more than a little over a mile .. The condition of the stream with its cuttingly cold water was much the same as that of the Kyang-chu (except for the greater width to be forded) and the water in some places was not more than seven or eight inches deep ; but the sand was so treacherous that we often sank in it right up to our hips ... Upon terra firma on the other side, my men pointed to a gorge between two mountains rising to the N.W., and told me that I was to go through the gorge, and thence to Lake Manasarovara, after traversing an uninhabited region for fifteen or sixteen days; the road would take me to Manasarovara first and then to Kang Rinpoche.»
After that he took farewell of the party, which advised him to recite the sacred text from time to time in order that he »might not be set upon and devoured by snow-leopards»!
In this case there is no doubt about the river. The Kyang-chu is a southern tributary. But where is he, when 15 days more were reckoned to Manasarovar? And where are the broad sand-beaches, and where is the Tsangpo more than a mile broad? South of Tuksum I found the broadest place I saw to be 973 yards across.
I P. 115 above.
1 Three Years in 'Tibet, Madras 1909, p. i oq et seq.
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