RITTER's OPINION REGARDING THE RANGES NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE TSANG-PO. 87
and used eastern sources as well as western, it is of a certain value, when considering the history of exploration in the southern half of Tibet, to remember that the greatest authority of the period and one of the greatest who ever lived, calls the mountains of the part of southern Tibet where Transhimalaya is situated, an absolute terra incognita. And he arrives at that conclusion after an expos, the principal features of which are in general correct. This proves that he was sceptical regarding the Chinese maps and texts. Or that he regarded their material as wholly un-sufficient for the strict scientific geography of which he was the greatest representativ. Thus we may start again from the fact that in 1834 the existence of a Transhimalaya was, in geographical circles, regarded as pretty certain, although it was wholly unknown.
Of the southern range, south of the Tsangpo, Ritter says: »Dagegen zieht sich, als Südkette von da (Kailas) auf eine Strecke von 6o geogr. Meilen (I 000 Li), auf der Grenze gegen Nepal (Bhalbo), das "Tung-la-Gebirge, dessen Gipfel sehr hoch und steil sind, dessen ungeheure Schneemassen, die dasselbe bedecken, niemals schmelzen; dies ist also die Nepalesische Himalaya-Kette mit der Dhawalagiri-Gruppe.» And between these two, the northern and the southern, and in the western part of the valley, is the source of the Tsangpo, which Ritter, in spite of Klaproth, has not the slightest doubt is the upper course of the Brahmaputra. But he regards even the Tsangpo as pretty unknown, and what else could be expected in 1834!
In the next chapter we shall have to return to Grimm's map of 1832, illustrating the Tibetan orography of Ritter.
I He says. (Ibidem, p. 22o): »Leider sagt das Wei tsang thou chy, ausser einer Notiz, dass alle Flüsse in Nga-ri, bis Dschaschi-lumbo im Sommer, wenn sie bei den grossen Wassern ausgetreten seyen, den gemeinsamen Namen Luhai, d. i. die Sechs Meere, führten, was wol auf ihre grossen Ueberschwemmungen hindeuten mag, nichts genaueres über diesen Hauptstrom des Landes. Diesen Mangel
ût hat, was das Topische dieses hydrographischen Systemes betrifft, die bekannte und berühmte Arbeit
hlaproths über den Lauf dieses Stromes und seine Identitet mit dem Irawaddi erzetzt ...»
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