IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.7 |
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Citation Information
CHAÎNE DUPLEIX.
r,
385
On his journey in 1889--1890 GABRIEL. BONVALO'I', accompanied by Prince HENRI D'ORLÉANS, discovered a range of mountains which he called Mts Dupleix, situated at 34° N. lat.' This range seems no doubt to be the western or W. N. W. continuation of the Tang-la, which earlier, though 2 2° farther east, had been crossed by HUC, A—K--, and PRSHEVALSKIY, and which, nearly at the same place, or at about 9o° East long., two years later would again be crossed by ROCKHILL. Between BONS" ALO'l' and PRSHEVALSKIY the intermediate space may, without any hesitation, be said to be filled up by very considerable mountains, all belonging to the same system of Tang-la. As to its eastern prolongation it continues to the S. E. and south. To the west it continues in the high mountain ranges, which Bonvalot discovered. He does not say very much of geographical value regarding this important discovery on his plucky dash across Tibet.
Le 14 janvier, nous campons dans le bas de la passe qui nous permettra de franchir une énorme chaîne à laquelle nous donnons un des plus beaux noms de France: nous l'appelons chaîne Dupleix ... Nous sommes plus haut que jamais. A côté de notre camp se dressent des pics de glace d'au moins 8000 mètres, et depuis trois jours nous louvoyons dans un fouillis où nous cherchons le sentier qui nous mènera de l'autre côté de la chaîne. Mais la série de pics, la brume qui les cache juste assez pour les rendre plus effrayants encore, l'impossibilité à peu près complète de se mouvoir à une altitude d'environ 6000 mètres , ce sont là autant de causes de découragement .... Ces montagnes apparaissant chaque jour plus nombreuses éteignent le courage de nos gens .... Les hauts plateaux ont l'air de n'avoir pas de fin .... Le 15 , nous franchissons la passe, d'environ 6000 mètres, en suivant une pente douce. A l'ouest, nous voyons descendre des glaciers vers une large vallée que nous suivrons et où la glace sera notre chemin. Des pics blancs se perdent dans la brume : nous estimons leur altitude à 8000 mètres au moins. Dans toute cette région, les petits lacs, les étangs sont nombreux.
The 16th of January they found that a large river took its origin from the mountains of Dupleix. »It is possible», he says, »that we are at the sources of the Yang-tsé-kiang».
The following absolute heights on Bonvalot's map will give an idea of the profile across this part of the Tang-la: Lac Montcalm, in the north, 4,96o m., and then: 5,200, 5,500, 5,76o (Pass), 5,450, 5,700, 6000 (Pass Dupleix), 5,48o, and finally, 5,26o, at a little marsh in a large valley south of the Tang-la.
The pure geographical results of Bonvalot's expedition were not very great. The map is insufficient and unreliable. One misses in his book a real physicogeographical description of the interesting countries he has passed, and as a rule he does not tell us very much about the stretching of the ranges he has crossed.2 Still the journey had a great importance as a pioneer work, as it proved the possibility of crossing High Tibet in winter.
I Gabriel Bonvalot, De Paris au Tonkin à travers le Tibet inconnu. Paris 1892, p. 213. 2 Cp. Dr. Georg Wegener: Petermanns Mitt., 1892, Bd. 38, p. 165.
49. VII.
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