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
DELMAR MORGAN AND MARKHAM.
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blocked by glaciers. But rumours were persistent that there was a practicable pass, though
its existence was always openly denied My judgement, backed by the. experience of
Ney Elias, was against the possibility of the `existence of such a pass; still there might be one. Some of the shrewdest Kashmir officials believed in it, and they were most anxious to prove the mystery, for, in case of any further trouble with Hunza, a turning road might be invaluable.
Later exploration showed that no pass existed over the Saltoro , and that the tradition as to the existence of a road must have descended from remote times. It is pretty evident that in this portion of the Hindu-Kush the glaciers have advanced, for there seems good ground for believing that Skardu, in Buddhist times, was on a well-used high road leading to Kashgar, and that this high road has been closed by glaciers. It was a relief to find that no easy pass led to the north, for its existence would have very seriously affected the solution of the frontier problem.
In 1894 E. DELMAR MORGAN published an article on The Mountain System of Central Asia' in which he pays due tribute to HUMBOLDT and RICHTHOFEN.
In spite of the title of his paper, Delmar Morgan does not say anything of the Kara-korum, and, of course, nothing of the Transhimalaya, which does not belong to Central Asia Proper.
A very good little map is added to the paper, and was fairly well up to date in 1894. His Mustagh or Kara-korum Range is strongly marked and stretches, S. E., being in connection with the Aling Gangri, but farther east it disappears in the country Katchi. In the far east the Tang-la Range is marked, without any connection with the Kara-korum. The Nien-chen-tang-la is continued westwards along the southern shore of the Dangra-yum-tso and all the way to Manasarovar, a new form of HODGSON'S range, but no improvement of the original. As usual all the mighty systems are called Ranges and are drawn as such.
In 1896 UJFALVY returns to mention the trade across the Kara-korum Pass, though his statement is now not quite in accordance with the one quoted above:?
Actuellement, les passes entre Cachemire et Yarkand sont peu fréquentées, toutefois il est établi que la passe du Karakorum est ouverte pendant toute l'année, de plus, la communication entre l'Inde et Yarkand par cette route est devenue plus fréquente dans les dernières années; il est reconnu aussi qu'autrefois l'Hexapole était beaucoup plus peuplée qu'actuellement.
In Vol. III, p. 211, I have referred to Sir CLEMENTS MARK HAM'S excellent address to the Royal Geographical Society in 1896, and will, therefore, here only remind the reader of the cardinal points of his speech.3 In eloquent words he directs the attention of geographers to the importance of exploring the Nien-chen-tang-la. His Northern Himalaya Range, identical with the Nien-chen-tang-la, was called Karakorum in its western part, which shows that Markham had the right grasp on the
I The Scottish Geogr. Magazine. Vol. X. 1894, P• 337 et seq.
2 Charles de Ujfa]vy : Les Aryens au nord et au sud de l'Hindou-kouch. Paris 1896, p. 69.
3 Geograph. Journ. July 1896. Vol. VIII, p. I et seq.
46. VII.
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