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NIEN-CIIEN-TANG-LA AND OTHER NAMES.

li

GI

227

Gang-ri, the Tibetan for 'snowy mountain', by which the Kailas Peak is known in Tibet. But perhaps the most convenient way of distinguishing this important but almost unknown mountain chain will be by referring to it as the inner or northern chain of the Himalayan system.»

We have seen that Markham has pointed out on several occasions the desirability of adopting a name for the whole system. The same wish is expressed by Reclus in the following words:

»Quel nom choisir parmi les appellations diverses? Faut-il laisser à cette chaîne tibétaine, ainsi que le font les frères Schlagintweit, le nom turc de Karakoroum, appartenant plus spécialement à l'arête qui sépare le Kachmir de la haute vallée du Yarkand-daria? Serait-il préférable, ainsi que le propose Hodgson, de l'appeler Nindjintang la, comme le pic superbe du Tengri nor? Mais cette homonymie n'introduit-elle pas une confusion inutile dans la nomenclature du Tibet? De même, ne convient-il pas d'écarter le nom tibétain de Gangri ou 'Montagne Neigeuse' que l'on emploie déjà pour divers sommets du Tibet occidental? Klaproth a proposé l'appellation de Gang-dis-ri, adoptée par Markham, tandis que Petermann et d'autres géographes nomment simplement les chaînes et les massifs situés au sud du plateau 'Montagnes de Tsang', d'après la province tibétaine qu'ils défendent des vents du nord.»

Thus Reclus relates the different names but does not propose which of them should be preferred.

I had crossed the mountain north of the Tsangpo seven times and only the last pass Surnge-la was left when I came to think of the name Transhimalaya. Only when I had the whole system clear before my eyes and on my maps did I understand that this name would be the most suitable one. After my first crossings I used to call it Nien-chen-tang-la in my diaries. By and by I found that there was not one range as the geographers had believed, but many and thus the name Nien-chentang-la would be absurd. So I applied to every new range a new name, either taken from a pass or a lake, for the natives had no general names for the ranges. But finally I thought it necessary to give a general name to the whole system, including all these ranges.

Would the Tsang Mountains do ? No, for the system touches many other provinces and not only Tsang. Nor would the Gangri Mountains do, for I knew a Targo-gangri, a Lunpo-gangri, a Kubi-gangri, etc., but no Gangri. And I had never heard this word used alone as a name, even not at the Kailas, which is only called Kang-rinpoche. Nor would I under any conditions use the name Kailas. For Kailas is a peak on the southern side of one of the ranges and it would be absurd to include the Lunkar range, Lapchung range or Kanchung range under a name given by Hindus to a sacred peak in the west. Already Lassen found that this name gave rise to confusion as it was used for many peaks in the Himalaya. 2

I Nouvelle Geographie Universelle, VII, p. 35.

2 »Der Name Kailâsa wird auf mehrere Theile des Himâlaja ausgedehnt, was wahrscheinlich

Missverständniss und jedenfalls verwirrend ist . . .» Indische Alterthumskunde, Band I, Leipzig 1867, p. 42.