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
THE INDUS.
2j
Niuibus, a descensu Imai, in agrum Indicum, arcentur toto anno, praeterquam mensibus, Junio, Quintili, Sextili, atque Septembri, quibus niues, propter solis uehementes, in ea regione, ardores, soluuntur .... Ferunt uero, a Nagaris arce, uersus Septemtrionem, ad Caspirios usque. Imai iuga, hanc gentem obtinere: atque idiomate proprio uti. I
Thus the natives are hindered by the snow sin descending from the Himalayas to the Indian land during the whole year, except the summer months, during which the snows in these regions are melted by the glowing heat of the sun. He has been told that the Tibetans occupy the Himalayan ranges the whole way from Nagarkot northwards to the Caspirians and that they have their own language.
The MS. of Monserrate is so full of observations and statements of the most absorbing interest that it is difficult to give an idea of it. One feels tempted to quote everything. I have picked out only a few geographical problems which are directly connected with the object of my own work. Therefore, the following passage,
which is only a part of what he has to say of the Indus, has to be quoted : 2
Jam uero Indus, omnium est maximus, totius Indiae fluuiorum. Nam in ipso sui ortu, et capite, maximam aquarum uim, ex niuibus praecipue Imai, seu Caspi inontis, liquatis, defluentem accipit. Deinde quinque maximos fluuios, supra commemoratos, suo alueo excipit, et in mare deducit. In eius littore, prope fontes, auri optimi, et nitidissimi magnam copiam, qui uicini sunt populi, expiscantur. Ex angustijs montium, et conuallium Imai, supra Caspiriam, et Casiriam, atque adeo Bothorum, uel Bothantum regionem ad septemtriones, uarijs flexionibus, in planitiem, ab ortu uersus occasum flectens ... .
The Indus, in other words, is the largest river of India, for already at its source and origin it receives a tremendous volume of water flowing down from the melting snows of the Imaus, or Caspus mountain especially. Herewith he shows that he places the source of the river at a great distance from the region where it is really situated.
He, however, after having enumerated the five tributaries, mentions the great quantities of the best and most splendid gold that is dug out by the peoples living in the neighbourhood of the banks of the river near its sources. By these words he proves that he has information of a very large portion of the upper course of the Indus, and as a matter of fact, the latter is entered on his map so far up into the mountains as to a point situated at no great distance west of Lake Manasarovar. It is indeed surprising to find such a deep perspicacity at so early a date ! In the history of Asiatic exploration we have to proceed some 2 50 years to find anything that could be compared with Monserrate. Between him and the other Jesuit Father, TIEFFENTHALER, there intervene two centuries of ignorance regarding the Manasarovar, disregarding DESIDERI, whose MS. was found only a few years ago.
He also quite correctly states that the river, coming from the narrow passages of the mountains and valleys of the Himalayas, above Caspiria and Casiria, and
I Op. cit., F. 61 a. 3 and F. 61 b. 3. 2 Op. cit., F. 68 b. 3, 4•
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