196 E. T. ATKINSON.
How little the geology was known may be seen from the following passage, dealing with STOLICZKA's section in the west: »It cannot be supposed that the rough cross section we have sketched near the west end of the Tibetan mountain mass can be taken as a type for the immense region to the east. Already within known ground, some interruptions can be pointed out to the longitudinal extension of the several structural zones. Of the continuation of the Karakorum and Kuen luen, and even of the middle gneissic range, we may be said to know nothing. Stoliczka describes the nummulitic band as completely stopped out against the syenite at Kargil; and although this obtruding rock is at least in part of later date, it is suggested that the termination of the eocene beds here is probably aboriginal. The eastern extension of these deposits is quite unknown, save that nummulitic strata occur in the far east north of Sikkim.»
Atkinson is right. It would be ridiculous to expect even the remotest knowledge of the geology further east from the scanty researches carried out in the west. We have seen that the information brought back by Pundits from west and east is not sufficient to interpolate the orography of the central parts of our system. How much less then the geology ! Only the eight geological profiles I have made across the system, compared with the researches of the Stracheys, Godwin-Austen, Hayden and others, and which are elaborated and published by Professor A. HENNIG as Vol. V of the present work, will give an idea of the geological structure of the Transhimalaya.
I Atkinson's volume is adorned with a map. Of this map, Pl. XXII, it has been said (January 1909): »The delineation of the range in the map issued (1882) with Vol. I of Atkinson's 'Himalayan Districts' is practically identical with that shown in Dr. Sven Hedin's sketch-maps which have appeared in various magazines and newspapers.» (Geographical Journal, Vol. XXXIII. Jan. 1909, p. 98.) Atkinson himself says in his preface: »The map of the Himalaya-Tibetan region is taken from one prepared by Mr. Trelawnay Saunders, omitting the eastern portion.» So that the map which was said to be practically identical with mine, is simply an exact reproduction of our old friend, that of Saunders! Nobody would have been more astonished than Atkinson himself had he known that he should be brought forward as an authority on the Transhimalaya. And there is a new link attached to the chain, which runs: The Chinese original sources, Klaproth, Humboldt, Ritter, Hodgson, Saunders and Atkinson. The Chinese explorers are the root; Klaproth is the translator; Humboldt and Ritter quote Klaproth; Hodgson quotes Ritter, Saunders is, for the unknown central section, combining the Chinese, Hodgson and the Pundits, and Atkinson has copied Saunders. Had it been desirable to diminish the value of fresh European exploration, it would have been better to go back to the Chinese root than to bring forward the last link in the chain.
IIIFカラー高解像度
