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
CSOMA, ZIMMERMANN, HELMERSEN, AND OTHERS.
X84
the Indus, this to the southeast, and forms afterwards the Brahmaputra. I Beyond the fourth range of the Himalaya mountains, or in the next valley to the north of Ladak, there are the following districts, counting them eastward: Nubra, Rudok, Tsotso, Bomba, Chang-ts'hak'ha, Chang-ra greng.
The fourth of these ranges is the Transhimalayan System or at least the southern
ranges of it, and, therefore, is also in connection with the Kara-korum. Of the latter the Tibetans have nearly no knowledge at all. — Csoma's description of Ngari from
Tibetan information runs as follows:
The northwestern part of Tibet from Tsing to Ladak, is called Nari. It is of very great extent but the number of inhabitants is inconsiderable, not exceeding fifty thousand families together with Ladak and Beltistan. There have been several small principalities formerly in Nari, as, Gugé, Purang, Kangri : but all these belong now to the great lama
at H'lassa, and are governed by k'harpons (commanders of forts) sent from H'lassa. There are also in Nari very extensive deserts. The inhabitants dwell in tents, made of hair cloth; excercise a pastoral life, without any agriculture. Their number is said to amount to ten thousand families, and they all are under the sgar-pon or chief officer residing at sear or sGaro, who is sent from U-tsang or H'lassa, and generally remains there for three years. ,
Gugé, part of Nari, lying to the north of Garhwal and Kamaon, consists of two
valleys, inhabited by somewhat more than two thousand families. The principal places are Tsaprang and Tholing, not far from each other. The first is the residence of the commanding officer called the K'harpon of Tsaprang and the second is a large monastery and the seat of a lama styled the K'hanpo of Tholing. He resides during the summer at Teshigang, another large monastery, a few days journey to the north from Tholing. These two places, Tsaprang and Tholing, have been the residence of the princes that have reigned there from . the i o th till the end of the i 7 th century.
Ladak, formerly called Mar-yul, still has its own prince, but he must accomodate
himself to the political views of the Chinese. Zanskar, Purik, Nubra, form part of this principality. In the whole of Ladak the number of the inhabitants does not exceed twenty thousand families. Nearly the half of them are Mohammedans, mostly of the Shia persuasion. Lé (Slé) is the capital of Ladak, the residence of the prince, and the emporium of a considerable trade with Turkestan, H'lassa, and the Panjab countries. It is about
15 to 20 days' journey from Cashmir to the east, and nearly under the same latitude (i. e. 34° north).
Little Tibet or Beltistan (Belti-yul in Tibetan) , is the most northwestern part of
Tibet. There are several chiefs. The chief residing at Kardo is the most powerful among them; those of Kyeré and Kuru, with some others, depend on the former. The chief of Shigar holds sometimes with the prince of Ladak and sometimes with the chief of Kardo. The chiefs of Minaro , Hasora etc. are the heads of some predatory tribes. In the several defiles to the south, in the neighbourhood of Beltistan, there live some predatory tribes, among whom the most notorious are the Dardu people. These barbarous tribes are either of Afghan or Hindu origin. The inhabitants of Beltistan are Mohammedans of
I As a curiosity the following note in The Chinese Repository may be quoted — in which we recognize the great mistake made by Klaproth: The Tsanpo or Pari Tsangbo is now ascertained to be the Irrawady, the great river of Burmah. The Sengé k'ha-bab is probably the Ganga or Kang-hoh of Chinese maps. Cf. Chin. Rep. Vol. I, pp. 176, '77.
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