Southern Tibet : vol.2 / 93 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0093	Southern Tibet : vol.2
南チベット : vol.2

première source du Setledj se trouve donc bien dans le lac Mansaroar, et non pas dans le
Ravanhrad. Votre commission a pensé qu'il convenait de revendiquer en faveur des savans
voyageurs français et allemands le mérite de ces découvertes géographiques.

This protest is only partly correct. But it also contains grave mistakes, and
this is not the only case where the learned Klaproth was mistaken in his geo-
graphical speculations. He regards Tieffenthaler and Anquetil du Perron as more
reliable authorities than the Lama surveyors and Moorcroft, although the two first-
mentioned had never been to the place. He blames Moorcroft for denying the
existence of the channel, although Moorcroft was one of the most reliable travellers
who ever visited Tibet. He is correct in saying that the Satlej goes out from the
Manasarovar and flows through the Rakas-tal, but he forgets that the Lamas had
represented the hydrography exactly in the same way, although they mistook the
river for the Ganges, instead of the Satlej. He blames the Jesuits for calling the
lake Mapama instead of Mapinmou which, he says, is its Tibetan name.¹

Klaproth did not understand the periodicity of the effluent, for if he had
he would have been more careful regarding Moorcroft. Ritter, who quotes only
Moorcroft in his description of the lakes, as Moorcroft was the »single eyewitness«,
is more clear-sighted. Comparing the information on the effluent to the Rakas-tal
obtanined by Webb, with Moorcroft's observations, Ritter concludes that the effluent is
periodical.² The protest of Klaproth and Vivien de Saint-Martin only proves that
geographical discoveries are seldom made at home, and that the observations made
at the very place by such men as Moorcroft should not simply be denied.

I cannot desist from quoting here an extract from a description of Tibet which,
some 85 years ago, was regarded as a very important source, and still may be re-
membered as classical on account of the great name of its author: ALEXANDER
CSOMA DE KÖRÖS:³

»The whole of Tibet occupies high ground, and lies among snowy mountains. Hence
it is called in Tibetan books, by several poetical names, expressive of snow, ice, or frozen
snow, cold, and high elevation. The highest ground in Tibet is in Nári, especially the peak
called Tisé or Tescé, in Tibetan, and Kailasa in Sanscrit, about 80° E longitude, and 34° N
latitude. The sources of the Indus, Setledge, Gogra and the Brahmaputra rivers are in Nári.
There are several large lakes also.«

And further:

»There are also in Nári very extensive deserts. The inhabitants dwell in tents made of
hair cloth; exercise a pastoral life, without any agriculture.«

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

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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

引用情報

OCR読み取り結果

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