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WARREN HASTINGS' OPINION REGARDING TIBET.   65

4 than the other. They are visible from the plains of Bengal, at the distance of 150 miles, and are commonely covered with snow. These are a continuation of the mountains Emodus and Paropamisus of the ancients; and are sometimes by the moderns erroneously called Caucasus. By the Thibetians, they are called Rimola. I take them to be in point of elevation equal to any of the mountains of the old hemisphere. Indeed, the country of Thibet is, altogether, one of the highest in Asia,

it being a part of that elevated tract which gives rise not only to the rivers of India

and China, but to those also of Siberia and Tartary: for if we examine the map of

Asia, we shall find that most of those capital rivers rise between the 31st and 47th degrees of latitude, and between the loth and 97th degrees of longitude; from whence

they run in every direction to the sea, as the Rhine, Rhone, Danube, and Loire, do from the Alps in Europe.»

He did not and could not go further than to say that Tibet was one of the Ô highest regions in Asia. It is a fruitless task to search for a sign of the Trans

himalaya, and when he says that from the top of Kambala »may be seen towards the north, a range of still higher mountains covered with snow», this phrase is taken from Georgi or rather della Penna or Beligatti.2

When GEORGE BOGLE started from Calcutta in May 1774, he had been furnished with some »Private Commissions» by the great Governor-General WARREN HASTINGS, where § 6 says the emissary had »to keep a diary, inserting whatever passes before your observation which shall be characteristic of the people, the country, the climate, or the road, etc.», and § 7 that he had »to inquire what countries lie between Lhasa and Siberia, and what communication there is between them. The same with regard to China and Kashmir.» In his Memorandum on Tibet, accompanying the instructions to Mr. Bogle, Warren Hastings begins by saying: »Tibet is a cold, high, mountainous country.» And he continues: »I have been told that a

large river forms a boundary between China and Tibet, which was carefully guarded

by the troops of both countries; and that Tibet received European commodities by

the valley of Kashmir. But I have learned nothing satisfactory on these subjects . . .

The history, government, and religion of Tibet are no doubt more interesting objects

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of inquiry than its climate or topographical and physical characters; yet these, too, are highly curious. The great rivers of the south and east of Asia appear to issue from its mountains. It is probably, therefore, the highest land in the old continent, and this circumstance, together with the difficulty of access to it, give it a striking analogy to the valley of Quito, in South America ...»

It would be unjust to Bogle to expect the same perspicacity and intelligence from him as from Warren Hastings. But as he was specially asked to make inquiries about the countries between Lhasa and Siberia, he ought, at least, to have tried to find out where the road of Namling-dsong went. In Namling certainly every-

I I

I Op. cit. p. 99.

2 Compare p. 2 i above.

9-141741 III.