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

I~I

THE FIRST CROSSING.

262

:I

i~

pass Takte-la, crossed by the road; Dem-tanar, valley looking S.E.; then the valley Sagung looking north and coming from the low pass Sagung-la; then the valley Kuju-tagma looking north; and finally the very high pass Pa-la, the highest of all on the eastern road. On its other, obviously S.E., side are Tsamalung and Tanak or Sta-nakpo, »the black horse», not far from the mouth of the above-mentioned tributary Ta-nakpo-chu.

Only a few suggestions can be made from this itinerary. One of them is, however, important, and, combining all the existing facts, I now feel inclined to abandon the assumption I maintained in my popular account,' where I regarded it as probable that the Sela-la and Khalamba-la were situated in one and the same range, namely the western continuation of the classic Nien-chen-tang-la, the existence of which was already known by the Capuchin missionaries. For it is more likely that the Pabla, from Sela-la, continues E. and E.N.E. in the direction of the S.W. corner of the Tengri-nor, but comes to an end before reaching so far. Goring-la and Khalamba-la are situated in the Nien-chen-tang-la, which from there continues to the W.S.W. Therefore the upper Shang-chu, from Khalamba-la to Namling-dsong is nearly parallel with that range, which sends down right tributaries to the river. Further W.S.W. the high and difficult Pa-la is a pass in the Nienchen-tang-la, and the Ta-nakpo-chu is a comparatively short river. Still further W.S.W. Dangbä-la is a pass in the Nien-chen-tang-la, which then, somewhere east of Pa-la, ceases to function as a water-parting between the closed plateau-land and the Tsangpo. For already Pa-la is only a water-parting between Bup-chu and Tanakpo-chu, and Dangbä-la between Bup-chu and Rung-chu. In spite of there being only two principal ranges, the Pabla and Nien-chen-tang-la, there are, as on the western road, a labyrinth of ridges and ramifications, and south of Sela-la the road crosses four passes instead of one, namely Kungcha-la, Takta-la, Sagung-la and Pa-la.

Of some interest is the name Nien-chungsa as compared with Nien-chen, »the little and the great Nien», indicating that Nien-chungsa should rather belong to Nyen-chen-tang-la than to Pabla.

If my assumption is correct, the Nien-chen-tang-la is, west of Dangbä-la, pierced by Mü-chu-tsangpo and continues westwards along the northern bank of Raga-tsangpo to the neighbourhood of Amchok-tso, where it comes to an end. This explanation is more natural than my earlier belief that Khalamba-la, Sela-la, Chang-la-Pod-la and Angden-la. were all situated in one and the same range, and that there should exist between the Mü-chu and Ta-nakpo-chu a meridional ramification or several irregular ramifications to the south or S.W. from Nien-chen-tang-la.

There is also a hydrographical indication that my theory is correct. For if we regard the northern tributaries to the Tsangpo, from Lhasa to Amchok-tso, we find that they decrease in length from east to west, which, of course, depends upon the fact that the range and the river-valley slowly diverge from west to east. The

= Trans-Himalaya, I. p. 267.