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

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52   DUTREUIL DE RHINS.

Lanc pou L., which on the Chinese map is called Langbou and placed at the southern foot of Mt Lang bou ri. But this lake and mountain are situated in a

part of the country which is north of my routes.

Excepting the northern tributaries of the Tsangpo, spoken of above, I the rest of the country north of the Tsangpo is a great confusion where it is difficult to make any identifications, and where, if this is possible, the Chinese representation has not the least resemblance to the reality. This is particularly the case with the western basin of Tengri-nor and with the course of Tarkou tchou of which I have spoken in connection with Klaproth's map. Here, indeed, a river enters the lake and we shall return to it later on. But it is a small river. On the Chinese map it is the largest of all north of the Tsangpo. The Pundits have crossed it near its entrance in the lake. So has LITTLEDALE and Count DE LESDAIN. Dutreuil de Rhins and Grenard were not far from it. But nobody has followed its course and nobody knows from where it comes. And still it is easy to see that the Chinese map here has caused a great confusion, where it is even impossible to tell how such mistakes could be committed. The Chinese text says:2

»Le Tengri nor, le plus grand lac du Thibet proprement dit, est situé à 220 li (48 milles) au nord-ouest de Lhassa. Il a 600 li (132 milles) de largeur, environ i 000 li (22o milles) de circonférence; et il s'étend surtout dans le sens est et ouest. — Il reçoit, à l'est, les trois rivières nommées, en mongol, Djakhasoutaï ou les poissonneuses, et à l'ouest, le Lou sa gol ou rivière Sirkalosse et le Tarkou tsang po tchou qui a un cours de plusieurs centaines de li. Au nord de cette rivière s'étend, sur une longueur de loo li (22 milles), la chaîne du Tarkou ri qui est couronnée de sept pics très hauts et escarpés. La source du Tarkou tchou est la rivière Po tchou qui sort des montagnes au nord-ouest de Chigatzé, coule à l'est et forme le lac Chourou you mtso. En sortant de ce lac, elle prend le nom de Tarkou tchou, forme le lac Tang la et suit la même direction jusqu'au Tengri-nor.»

One remarks the uncertainty of this description if compared with those of other rivers. The Po tchou begins from a pass situated as it were in the principal

water-parting range of the Transhimalaya. Then it flows to Chourou you mtso, leaves the lake under the name of Tarkou tchou and continues to the east, entering a second lake called Tangla mtso, from where it has a long way straight eastwards to Tengri-nor. Now this lake, Tangla mtso, is meant to be Dangra-tso or Dangra-

yum-tso. We have seen that Klaproth on his map had a river, Targo-tsangpo, connecting the Shuru-tso and Dangra-yum-tso, and he goes so far as to connect the

last-mentioned with Tengri-nor. The whole representation reminds us of the extra-

ordinary hydrographical system which Nain Sing constructed west of Chargut-tso in parts of Tibet where he had never been.

I Vol. I, p. 96.

2 Op. cit. p. 548. According to de Rhins the following passage is taken partly from Tai Thsin

i tong tclié as translated by the Missionaries in Peking and Klaproth, and partly from Tai Thsing Hoei tien (Journal Asiatique de Paris 1834).