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
216 THE LATEST DISCUSSION ABOUT THE TRANS1IIMALAVA.
peaks, comparable with Mount Everest, were situated to the north, was of importance.
Captain WOOD of the same expedition says of the country to the north: »The valley of Raga Tsangpo is narrow, running almost due east and west, parallel to
and about 3o miles to the north of the main river. Into this distance is crammed
a tangled mass of hills, whose crests average about 18 500 feet, with several peaks of about 22 00o feet, covered with permanent snow.» At Ku-la, 16 700 feet, Wood
found the headwaters of Raga-tsangpo, and Chour Dzong, my Chomo-uchong he
calls a »snowy range, whose peaks range up to 21,000 feet». Wood ascended a peak north of Saka-dsong, 19 30o feet, from which he had »a fine view north up the
valley of the Chata Tsangpo». This view could not, however, reach very far, as is shown on the map of the expedition. Finally, at Tradum, Ryder says: »From the hills to the north we had a fine view of a snowy range reaching an elevation of
2 3 200 feet.»
In Rawling's book' on his exploration in Tibet I cannot find a word about Transhimalaya, the Gangri Mountains, Nien-chen-tang-la, or whatever it may be called. This is not said in a critical mood, for I point out, that it is impossible to get an idea of a continuous and mighty mountain system from the road taken by the Tibet Frontier Commission. Therefore we find in Ryder's account only independent references to isolated peaks north of the Tsangpo, but no conception of an uninterrupted system, and in Rawling's account no reference at all to this most important geographical feature. It may seem surprising that the first scientific expedition which ever followed the southern front of Hodgson's Nyenchhen-thänglå, Saunders' Gangri Mountains and Markham's Northern Himalayan range, has nothing to tell about its existence or non-existence. But I regard it as a mark of conscientiousness of both Ryder and Rawling that they only describe what they have actually seen, without loosing themselves in theoretical discussions about theoretical mountain ranges.
Therefore Sir THOMAS HOLDICH is only partly right in saying that Ryder »has gone far towards answering several questions which arise when the northern water-parting — the great divide — between India and central Tibet is under discussion. It seems unlikely that he has established the position of that dividing line between the central lake region and the Brahmaputra basin, one of the most important geographical features in Asia . . .» 2 The first and second halves of this passage say the opposite thing and only the second half is right. For how should it be possible for whomsoever it may be to survey any part of a watershed, without crossing it. And how could Ryder be expected to have been in contact with a watershed of which the same author says, a few pages above in the same work,3 and speaking of Little-
0
I The Great Plateau being an Account of Exploration in Central Tibet, 1903, and of the Gartok Expedition, 1904-1905. London 1905.
2 Tibet the Mysterious, London 1904, p. 296
3 Ibidem p. 285.
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