National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

anything from the Lamas' map, but has gathered his information from Indian sources
and from pilgrims who have been at the place and related to him what they have
seen. But he also thinks the matter worthy of further exploration, for he says:
»Fontes hujus fluminis, ex narratu viatorum, qui ad hunc lacum peregrinantur, com-
perti sunt. Certioria alias exploranda.» His wish was to be fulfilled some 80 years
later, when H. STRACHEY went to the place.

In the chapter on »the identity of the lakes Mansaroar & Lanka dhé with
the lakes Mapama & Lanken», Anquetil du Perron compares the Lamas' map
with those provided by Tieffenthaler. He reminds his readers of d'Anville's
words that Kang Hi's curiosity had given the world the knowledge of the situation
of the source of the Ganges. He ordered some men, »instructed in mathematics»,
to penetrate to the very place, from where the Ganges originates. From their map,
»the Lamas' map», d'Anville had learnt that Mount Kentaïssé was the water-shed
of two great rivers. One of them, the Ganges, was formed from several sources,
and went through first one and then the second of two great lakes and took its
course towards the west until it met with a mountain that forced it to turn to the
south or to India and only by force could it secure for itself a passage through the
mountains.

We have seen before that the explorers of Kang Hi were not less successful
than those that Akbar sent out for the same purpose. In the case of Kang Hi's
explorers the most serious misunderstanding was the identification of the Satlej with
the Ganges. And the same confusion arose from the information brought by
Tieffenthaler, who mixed up the Satlej and the Gagra and believed his Gagra to
begin from Langak-tso. D'Anville had to trust to the material brought to him,
although he found the Ganges to be rather long.

Comparing the Lamas' map with the Indian one of Tieffenthaler, Anquetil
du Perron, to begin with, concludes that the lakes are the same, as in both cases
they are surrounded by mountains and give rise to several big rivers going east
and west. He also compares the names; Chinese: Lanken and Mapama, Père Gau-
bil: Lanka and Lapama Talaï, the Indian map of Tieffenthaler: Lanka Dhé and
Mansaroar.

Then he approaches the question of the rivers.¹ The Chinese map (Pl. LI)
shows a great river called Latchou coming out from the mountains, at the foot of
which are the lakes; it flows to the west. On the Indian map, Pl. LII, the Sat-
lej issues from Lake Mansaroar, and flows first to the N.W., then to the Panjab.
But he forgets that on d'Anville's Lama map there is also a Lanctchou, which
issues from Lake Lanken and comes from Lake Mapama. So Anquetil du Per-
ron ought rather to have compared the »Satloudj» of the Indian map with the
Lanctchou instead of the Latschou, which does not at all touch the lakes and in