IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.7 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
246
JOHNSON'S JOURNEY TO KHOTAN.
On Johnson's map E 57 has an altitude of 21,767 feet, and E 58 21,971. These are probably identical with Stein's peaks of 21,75o and 21,96o feet, and here both maps agree tolerably. The two peaks are situated quite near the Camp of Kara-kash, the height of which is given as 15,491 feet,' and two ascents of resp. 6,276 and 6,48o feet would not be too much for a trained surveyor who had 20 days at his disposal. This lapse of time would also be sufficient for an additional excursion of 5o miles to E 61 and an ascent of its 8,399 feet above Kara-kash.
Provided that E 61 is identical with Stein's Murtagh (K 5), as has been maintained, both having an altitude of 23,890 feet, and provided that the part of the Yurung-kash which is dotted on Stein's map is approximately correct, there is no physical possibility to travel from the Kara-kash camp of Johnson to E 61 without crossing the Yurung-kash. Neither is it possible for a man who by some curious roundabout way to 82° east has reached the top of E 61, to be quite blind to the existence of the enormously deep-cut valley of the river just below his feet and to the south of his standpoint. But on Johnson's map there is no sign of the Yurungkash, except to the north of the Murtagh Range of the Kwen-lun.2 Therefore, and as Johnson was known to be a very able surveyor, and as it would be absurd to doubt the correctness of Stein's map, there remains only one way of explaining the puzzle, and that is that Johnson never ascended E 6 or Murtagh. The general discrepancies of his map of which Stein speaks are far more serious. He makes, for instance, the uppermost Yurung-kash flow from west to east, north of the Kwen- lun ridge; in reality it flows from east to west, south of the same range. From his E 61 he has drawn straight south a mighty meridional mountain range between 36° and 35° North. lat. in a region where the ground, to a traveller from the west to the east, is perfectly level. This and other facts do not in the least diminish the value of his courageous feat, and mistakes are made even by the best trained explorers.
~i
i
I Stein has only 14,695 feet.
2 Saunders, on his very well made map of 1877, had, of course, nothing else to do than accept Johnson's orography and hydrography. Cf. Vol. III, Pl. XXI. Nay, even on the map in Stielers Hand-Atlas for 1901 (Vol. III, P1. XXIX) it remained. Only on the sheet of 1904 (Vol. III, Pl. XXX)
the new discoveries were entered.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.