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

THE HIMALAYAN RANGES OF SAUNDERS.

I 83

the ground, they consist of a series of comparatively short ranges overlapping each other at their extremities. — Though it is impossible to give any definite idea of the detailed orography of the Himalayas it is possible to divide the mountains into orographical regions sufficiently distinct from each other, even if their exact boundaries are somewhat indefinite. The innermost of these is the upland of Tibet, characterised by great elevation and a dry climate ...» The orographical region, which in fact is identical with the Transhimalaya, is therefore, according to Oldham, a very high and dry upland, and hardly anything else could be said of it in 1893.

The name of TRELAWNY SAUNDERS is intimately associated with the history of speculative exploration on the Transhimalaya. To give an idea of his position and views it is sufficient to refer to two different papers of his, published in 187o and 1877 resp. In the first2 he represents on his maps the great peaks »as a culminating outer range, separated by a chain of elevated valleys from an inner range which forms the water-parting between the basins of the Ganges and Sanpu-Bramaputra.»

Within this double range of the Himalaya he distinguishes the following. parts: I) The great trough of the Tsangpo, the Satlej and the Indus. 2) The high uninhabited plain of Tibet, which is, 3), »succeeded on the east by a part of the highland, cut up by vast gorges and narrow ranges, watered by great and rapid rivers, of which the Sanpu is the most westerly, and the Yalung, an affluent of the Yangtse, is the most easterly. In these maps the basin of the Sanpu is made conterminous with that of the Yang-tse, but some would carry the three distinct basins of the Irawaddy, the Salween, and the Mekong or Cambodia rivers up northward into the narrow space between the Sanpu and the Yang-tse. This is one of the

I Dr. H. Lullies (op. cit. p. 34, 41) expresses the following opinion of the Transhimalayan mountains: »Die südwestliche Fortsetzung dieses Gebirges ('rant-la) ist ebenfalls nachgewiesen, denn östlich des Tengri-nor überschritten die Panditen von 1872 und 1875 eine gewaltige von NO. nach SW. sich hinziehende Schneekette, auf der sich der Nin-tschin-tangla zu 7 193 m erhob. Oestlich sind diesem Gebirgszuge, welchem Richthofen den Namen Tangla giebt, jedenfalls noch einige Parallelketten vorgelagert.

Auch die Ansicht Markham's, welche Saunders auf der Karte 'The Himalaya and Tibet' in sehr charakteristischer Weise zum Ausdruck gebracht hat, dass das tibetanische Plateau nämlich im Osten auch von einem Walle, gleich dem Himalaya im Süden, in ebenso scharfer Weise begrenzt werde, und dass dieser Wall mit dem Himalaya in engstem, ununterbrochenem Zusammenhange stehe, ist nicht mehr haltbar, zumal er das ganze meridionale Gebirgssystem nun als nichts anderes betrachtet, wie den Absturz dieses Randgebirges.» Thus, already in 188o, some German geographers did not accept Markham's orography. Dealing with Markham's views the Calcutta Reviewer gives the good advice (op. cit. p. 155): »When in doubt use dots is an axiom wisely accepted by official map-makers in this country .... The extension eastwards of the Kuen Luen mountains, about which Colonel Walker is judiciously silent, and the physical features of the country between Lhasa and the western boundary of China are also drawn with a degree of detail which the available material hardly warrants ....»

According to Prof. GEORG WEGENER our topographical knowledge of Southern Tibet does not reach beyond the sacred lakes. i. e. »nur bis an die Schwelle der zusammenhängenden Hochländer des Nordens.» Festschrift Ferdinand Freih. v. Richthofen, p. 389.

2 A Sketch of the Mountains and River Basins of India; in two maps, with explanatory me-

moirs, London 187o. — Compare Pl. XX.