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

He says: »He (the author) then kept south of the river, touching our route at Lak-
tsang, and marching up the main branch of the Brahmaputra to its source, which
he located accurately and surveyed. In the R. G. S. Journal, Vol. 38, p. 146, Nain
Sing mentions being in sight of the gigantic glaciers which give rise to the Brahma-
putra. On our journey we surveyed, though only roughly, the main branch»; and
then, referring to my expedition he says that, as it was the first to actually follow
the main branch to its source, we obtain a more detailed survey than Ryder's own,
»which was only a distant sketch». In the same article Ryder returns to my survey
of »the true source of the Brahmaputra. This, however, had been approximately
located, I think, by Nain Sing, and fairly well surveyed by Rawling and myself»,
and he adds that as I visited the real source my map would be more accurate. To
this I will only add that my map of the source would be of very little value if I
had not had at my disposal the admirable and conscientious map of Southern Tibet,
drawn by Ryder and his comrades.
But Nain Sing's approximation referred to quite another source, as Montgomerie
proves: »The river Brahmaputra was ascertained to rise in about N. latitude 30¹/₂,
and E. longitude 82°.»¹
I have shown in the preceding chapters how very slowly the European geo-
graphers and travellers have approached the source of the Brahmaputra. In some cases,
native information seems to have given some assistance. But the very heart had
not yet been reached. As I have proved above, two or three travellers cannot at
all be taken into serious consideration. Kawaguchi is to be accepted only with
the greatest criticism. In reality there remain only two expeditions which have
furnished us with reliable results, and of them only Ryder's and Rawling's are first
class work (Pl. XVIII). But they never proceeded to the source. They travelled in
the winter and could not make any measurements. It is extremely difficult to judge
the dimensions of a river during the winter, specially if it is frozen and if the
ice and the banks at the sides are covered with snow. This explains the fact that
on Ryder's map it is almost impossible to tell which of the southern source-branches
is meant to be the Kubi-tsangpo and which the Chema-yundung. On Ryder's map
the main river seems to rise just south of Gunchu-tso. From there it flows S.E.,
and turns, south of a high peak, almost at a right angle, to the N.E. Finally
it receives the Maryum-Chu, makes the sharp bend to the S.E. and receives a small
tributary just north of Chiru. This last-mentioned river corresponds, so far as the
place of confluence is concerned, fairly well with the Kubi-tsangpo. For otherwise
there is no room for a Kubi-tsangpo. The river, which in reality receives the
Maryum-chu is the Chema-yundung, and so, the river which, on Ryder's map, begins
just south of Gunchu-tso cannot possibly be anything else than the Chema-yundung.
But where is then the main river the Tamchok-kamba or Kubi-tsangpo? In reality the