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

sources he concludes that Chaparangue was situated in Tebeth and thus in Bolor,
and that in this neighbourhood Andrade was fortunate enough to make several ad-
mirable discoveries, amongst other things the sources and the fountains of the Ganges
and the Indus, about which Kircher had got his notion from JOSEPH MOGULENSE
who was a Christian and who accompanied Andrade on all his journeys, and further
from Father HENRI ROTH, who, on his arrival in Rome, told all about Andrade's
journey. Amongst other things Kircher learnt was the following statement, which,
on account of its importance, I give in the original text: ¹
»Il y a un grand Lac sur les plus hautes Montagnes de Tebeth lesquelles sont
toujours couvertes de nege, duquel prenent naissance les plus grands Fleuves de
l'Inde; puisque l'Indus, le Gange, le Ravi, l'Atech ² sortent de ce gouffre. Le Gange
prent son cours vers des precipites, où venant à tomber il fait un bruit effroyable,
après quoy il arrouse une agreable valée, & continué de rouller ses flots vers la Mer,
où il se va rendre.³ Pour ce qui est de l'Indus & des autres fleuves, ils coulent
doucement le long de la Montagne, comme la Carthe nous le fait voir.«
Kircher indeed seems to be responsible for the belief that Andrade discovered
the Manasarovar, for later on in his work he says again: ⁴ »il vint ensuite (after Chapa-
rangue) à traverser une haute montagne au sommet de laquelle il y a un grand lac lequel
est (à ce qu'il dit & selon ce qu'il reconnut) la Source du Gange, de l'Indus & des
autres plus grands Fleuves de l'Inde; de la il prit la route vers Radoc qui est une
Region extremement froide & septentrionale, & très difficile à passer; c'est pourquoy
après avoir resté long temps à traverser ce pais, il arriva à la Ville qui porte le
mesme nom«, . . .
Andrade has never pretended to have discovered anything except what he de-
scribes in his narratives. Kircher did not know the existence of the Manasarovar
and never mentions its name. And still, when he talks of a lake, which is the source
of the Ganges, the Indus and the other greatest rivers of India, he means, without
knowing it, the Manasarovar. The belief that the great rivers began from the
Manasarovar was common in India, and it is extremely likely that both Joseph and
Roth had been told by natives that such was the case. Without having heard or,
perhaps, after forgetting the name of the lake, they have told the same story to
Father Kircher, who made his combinations at home and found that the story of the
lake feeding all the great rivers of India, agreed very well with Andrade's: »onde
nasce o Rio Ganga de hum grande tanque«, etc. It is hardly possible to think that
Andrade should have lived on the banks of the Satlej for years, without knowing
the existence of the Manasarovar. But that is another question. He does not say
a word of the lake. He knew it, but he does not speak of it. Kircher does not