Southern Tibet : vol.2 / 357 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0357	Southern Tibet : vol.2
南チベット : vol.2

0357

Southern Tibet : vol.2

南チベット : vol.2

petrified in Lake Mapang from the rocky mouth of which creature the river is sup-
posed to gush forth. Yeru Tsangpo he translates as »the river of the right-hand
banner». The following passage, in which he first describes the source and then
says it is unknown, is, however, of great interest and must be quoted in full: »In
fact the Yeru Tsangpo has its sources in a long narrow valley cradled in a remark-
able manner between three separate ranges of mountains, each of which is literally
loaded with glaciers. — Into this womb of the Ice Mothers which, conjointly, breed
the mighty Brahmaputra, even Tibetans themselves have scarcely ventured. The only
entrance seems to be at the S.E. extremity of this mountain-locked valley, at the
end where the river issues forth. No tracks pass up the valley; for the mountains
at the head of it, which separate the valley from the lakes at the base of Mount
Tisé Kailas, have no way over them, and the whole terminates in a stupendous
cul-de-sac. The actual place where the river first forms is said to be a large grav-
elly marsh, fed from the adjacent glaciers, and styled Chema Yundrung 'The sands
of the Mystic Wheel'. This lies at an altitude of about 14,700 feet above the level
of the plains of India . . . — Lonely, impenetrable, unknown, it seems meet that
the weird and famous stream should thus be born in utter secrecy in this remote
valley so far to the west. — But the solitude must be one not of barrenness, but
of grandeur. On three sides, let us remember — N.W., N.E., S.W. — the birth-
place is girt about by monster sentinels crowned with helmets of never-melting snow
and standing shoulder to shoulder with glaciers for each epaulette.»
It is a pity that Sandberg has not quoted his own sources when speaking of
those of the Brahmaputra. His description gives the impression that he has spoken
with some Tibetan who has been, or who has known somebody who has been to
the sources of the two southern rivers. The long narrow valley surrounded by ranges
loaded with glaciers is not at all unlike the source of the Kubi-tsangpo. It is correct

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

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