IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.3 |
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Citation Information
TURNER, MANNING AND MOORCROFT. 67
back which is said to go »from Teshoo Loomboo to Lassa, twelve days; from Lassa ~ô to Daum, ten days; from Daum to Sullum, thirty days.»' Daum is probably Dam
It and Sullum »Silling» or Sining. From his apartment in Tashi-lunpo he could see
the road that leads to Bootan and Bengal; »on my right, the roads to Luddauk and Cashmeer; to the mines of lead, copper, cinnabar, and gold; and also by Tingri Meidân to Nipal: on my left, are the roads to Lassa and China: on the north is situated the territory of Taranaut Lama, bordering upon Russia, and Siberia, and whose influence more especially extends over the Kilmauks or hordes of Calmuc Tartars.»2 His idea of Sining is not nearly so good as Desideri's. He only says: »The commerce between Tibet and China, is carried on principally at a garrison town, on the western frontier of China, named Sinning, or Silling: thither merchants resort from Tibet with their manufacture ...» On Turner's map there is no room at all for the country north of the Tsangpo.
THOMAS MANNING in I8I1-12 says of the Kamba-la: »The height of the mountain was trifling. After a mile and a half or two miles easy ascent we were at the top; but the level of the valley on the other side was considerably lower than the one we departed from. The descent was long, tedious, and in many places troublesome.»3 He does not know the name of this important pass, so familiar to the Capuchins a hundred years earlier. The mountains to the north, mentioned by them, have not caught his attention. This may have depended on clouds, but during his stay in Lhasa he could easily have gathered much valuable information. But his account, published more than 6o years after the journey, hardly contains a word of any value. »It is a meagre record of so important a journey) says Sir FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND, who nearly I oo years later followed Manning's steps.4
An excellent map by TREL. SAUNDERS, 1876, illustrating the journeys of Bogle, Turner and Manning, has been added to Markham's book (Pl. XXI). On his map the Nien-chen-tang-la has been marked as a very sharp and well defined ridge between Tengri-nor and Lhasa.
MOORCROFT who in the history of exploration in Tibet occupies such a prominent place, could hardly be expected to have heard anything of the Transhimalayan ranges. On the map to his journey 1812 (Vol. II, Pl. III) he has, north of Manasarovar and Rakas-tal a mountain range stretching N.W. to S.E. and called Cailås Mts. Near its N.W. end he has »Mts totally covered with recent snow», further S.E. Double Snowy Point» and finally »Mt Cailåsa». On his map these mountains are not shown as a range, but rather as the edge of a plateau-land, or the abrupt and steep step from the plateau to the depression or plain where the lakes are situated.
I Op cit., p. 274.
2 Ibidem p. 296.
3 Markham, op. cit. p. 25o.
4 India and Tibet. London i o To, p. 39.
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