国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

vi   FOREWORD.

accepted system, regardless of pronunciation, which readers unacquainted with the

language will in any case distort—in obedience, it would seem, to a perverse instinct

misguiding all alike, whether dotti or indocti, in the presence of unknown vocables.

Prior to the appearance of Cunningham's Ladák (London, 1854)—with which we

should associate the likewise valuable work ( Western Himalaya and Tibet, London, 1852)

of his fellow-explorer, Dr. Thomas Thomson—information concerning Western Tibet

was based almost exclusively upon the reports of travellers, Chinese travellers from the

fourth to the ninth century A.D., Roman Catholic missionaries during the seventeenth

and eighteenth, British travellers (Moorcroft, Henderson, Vigne) during the first part

of the nineteenth. Some lists of kings were supplied by Csoma Cörösi, who lived in the

country from 1823 to 1830, in Prinsep's Useful Tables, pp. 131-2 ; and a few isolated

notices have been traced in the Sanskrit chronicles (Rdja-tarangini) of Kashmir.

Cunningham's work was of great importance, furnishing not only a great deal of

systematic information concerning the geography, topography, meteorology, and

economics of the whole region, but also a description of the ethnology and common

life, the government, the religion, the languages, and the history. He supplies

genealogies of kings and successions of priests for the several districts, and details the

substance of local chronicles and narratives. His remarkable historical and

topographical insight enabled him to produce a work which is susceptible much more

of amplification than of correction, and which will retain its value as an original

source. Since his time the region has been extensively visited by officials,' explorers,

mountaineers, scientists, travellers, and sportsmen ; and Ladakh in particular has been

found not beyond the reach of ordinary tourists. The most marked deficiency in our

present knowledge of the whole territory affects its early history, which is not without

importance, seeing that the trade route viâ Ladakh bas from ancient times connected

Kashmir and India with the life and politics of Central Asia. Dr. Francke's work,

providing definite outlines for the later centuries, may furnish threads leading back to

the beginnings.

F. W. THOMAS.

August, 1925.

1 One Englishman, an ex-Corporal named Johsnon, even held under the Kashmir Maharaja the office of Wazir of Ladakh (1871-1883). He left a very honourable reputation (see p. 142 of the present work).