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

GORDON, TANNER AND WADDELL.

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slave in the Pemakoi country and then disappeared. Tanner examined the explorer on his return and believed in his story. K—p, however, reached Onlet and heard

that the next stage, Mini Padam, was about 35 miles from the nearest plains of

India. »The general direction of the Sangpo for many miles of its course, as estimated by K—p agrees very nearly with that of the Dihang as estimated by Captain

Harman.-' Tanner's Memorandum is illustrated by a rather good sketch map on

the course of the Tsangpo from K—p's information. The map of the great bend has since then only been altered in details. The falls of the Tsangpo below Pemakoi,

not far S.E. of the northernmost point of the bend, are described by K—p as a cascade of some 150 feet in height; there is a basin below the cliff, and in the spray hanging over it the rainbow can be seen; the rock is called Sinje Shejal and there is a shrine. Nearly 3o years later K—p told Captain Bailey that the falls were only 5o feet in height.

G—m—n had not reached the falls. Colonel WADDELL maintains they are known only from hearsay reports, and have been placed about 29° 36' N. lat.

Waddell got an interesting picture of the falls from a Lama artist who was a native of the district. For several miles above the falls the river is known to run in a narrow precipitous defile without a road. Below the falls, in the gorge, there is a rude monastery. The height of the falls is estimated at 7o feet, and they are enveloped by clouds of mist and spray.

Waddell gives us an important etymological evidence of the identity of the Tsangpo and Brahmaputra. The Tibetan word Ts'ang-pu means »the son of Brahma»,

just as the Sanscrit Brahmaputra. This is, however, a more modern mythological

meaning given to the word by the Lamas; for the ordinary name of the river is Tsang-po which means »the pure one.,, or, in this case, The River par excellence.

Tsang is the name of the province through which it flows. Yaru-Tsang-po means »The Upper River». Still Waddell thinks the root of the Tibetan name is certainly cognate with that of Brahma.'

But we must leave this interesting problem of the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra which lies outside the boundaries of my own exploration. I have only touched a few important epochs of the controversy, in which so much hard work, knowledge and pertinacity has been wasted in vain, but which, even for this reason, has helped us to penetrate the dark and mysterious problem.'

I The Geographical Journal. Vol. V, 1895, p. 258. -- Of the word Tsangpo Sarat Chandra Das says in his dictionary: »gtsafi-po any river, but usually a large one; esp. the great river of Tibet flowing through the heart of 'Tibet from west to east and called the Yeru Tsang-po. This river is believed to enter Assam as the Dihong where it presently joins the Brahmaputra just below Sadiya», p. I,000.

2 For the principal literature, see Richthofen, China III, p. 38o et seq. In 1913 Captain F. M. BAILEY and Captain MORSHEAD made a most important journey in this little known or quite unknown part of the famous river. Amongst their results was 3the mapping of some 38o miles of the Tsangpo,

which had previously only been done by untrained or unreliable explorers.),   Exploration on the
Tsangpo or upper Brahmaputra. By Captain F. M. Bailey. Geograpical Journal Vol. XLIV, 1914, P. 341. et seq.