IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.7 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
UJFALVY, FEER, MATUSOVSKIY.
~
351
On Ujfalvy's map the Hindu-kush and Kara-korum are sketched as one continuous range.
It is surprising that so late as in 1885 the Salwen could be supposed to take its origin from the far west of Tibet between Himalaya and Kara-korum. ROBERT GORDON finds this statement of Chinese sources in accordance with the information given to NAIN SING on his journey in 1873, when it was said that the river came from the extreme west of the plateau, in longitude 83°. The possibility of such an idea proves how little was known of western Tibet only 35 years ago. But the FORSYTH and other expeditions had not proceeded so far as 83° east.
In his excellent little book, LEON FEER distinguishes between three different
and parallel mountain chains belonging to the Himalaya System. He remarks:
A l'extrémité occidentale, la chaine septentrionale, qui prend le nom de Karakoroum, se relie aux monts Kien-loun. Ceux-ci, se dirigeant de l'ouest à l'est, unissent en quelque sorte les deux extrémités de l'arc décrit par la chaîne septentrionale, forment la corde de cet arc, et enferment avec lui un vaste espace très peu connu , à peine exploré, que nous appelons, à tout hasard, le plateau tibétain, et qui doit être soigneusement distingué du Tibet propre, tout entier compris dans le massif himâlayen. i
Objection has been raised against such terms as Tibetan plateau, plateau-land or table-land. But, as YULE and BURNELL say: »It is a technical expression in geography, applicable to a considerable area, of which the lowest levels are at a considerable height above the sea.2
It is, however, not the altitude, but the morphology that is decisive in the choice of the term. The eveness of the great latitudinal valleys, and the insignificant difference of height between their floors and the crests of the flat ranges give us the right to use this term.
In his Geographical description of the Chinese Empire, MATUSOvSKIY has no objection against the term plateau-land.
He describes Tibet as an enormous mountainous plateau-land with an average height of 13,000 feet calculated from 26o observations made by PRSHEVALSKIY and other travellers.
This is the highest plateau-land on the earth's surface. On its southern side it is bordered by the Himalayan mountain chain, in the north by the Kwen-lun, in the east by its several ramifications, and to the west by the mountains of Kara-korum, joining Himalaya with the Kwen-luns. From this plateau-land the biggest rivers of Southern and Eastern Asia take their origin. In the N. W. it has the character of an extensive plateau, crossed by ranges of second rank, forming closed depressions with lake basins in the interior of them .... In the west the Tibetan plateau-land is bordered by the mountainsystem of the Kara-korum, which is a link between Kwen-lun and Himalaya and represents a very wild alpine country, where the summits of the mountains to a very great extent are covered
I Le Tibet, le pays, le peuple, la religion. Paris 1886, p. 9. 2 Yule-Burnell: Hobson Dobson. London 1886, p. 698.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.